Chat Group: Starting by Body Swapping with Elysia? - Chapter 48
Chapter 48: E-L-Y-S-I-A!!!
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A victory banquet?
Such boring affairs held no necessity for participation in Mobius’s eyes.
It was nothing more than smug self-satisfaction after a lucky victory.
This war against Honkai was far from over, so rather than celebrating with those mediocre people who lived in crisis without knowing it, it would be better to consider how to deal with the next Honkai eruption that could arrive at any moment.
For this, she needed experimental materials.
For example—
The 2nd Herrscher’s corpse recovered by Fire Moth that lay before her eyes.
Mobius stared with blazing eyes at the Herrscher’s body that lay before her with a peaceful, serene expression.
For ordinary people, corpses were something to avoid at all costs, especially the corpse of that 2nd Herrscher. But before this genius scholar with extremely low moral standards and rather liberal ethical views, it was like a massive treasure trove!
Eternal life, incredibly powerful recovery abilities, and that authority that only gods could touch, all these things hidden within the 2nd Herrscher’s body made this greedy serpent covet them immensely.
“Hmm~ Found you, didn’t I?”
The voice that rang in her ears made Mobius’s expression change slightly. She suddenly looked toward the source of the sound, and what met her eyes was a pink-haired girl leaning against the doorway, resting her chin on her slender arm while looking at her with a smile. That person she found quite annoying, the Fire Moth newcomer who had recently joined — Elysia.
Though now, aside from the newcomer title, she would probably soon have the new title of Flame-Chaser added above her head.
“How did you find this place?”
Mobius’s expression wasn’t too good. This wasn’t her Mobius laboratory, but a specially designated high-security area for storing the 2nd Herrscher’s corpse.
“I heard from Blanca that you were holed up in the laboratory. When I didn’t find you in the lab, I guessed you’d probably come here. See, Dr. Mobius is indeed here, right?”
“Oh my, it took quite a bit of effort to get in here.”
Unlike Mobius, who was one of Fire Moth’s founders and had extremely high clearance, 【Elysia】 was ultimately just a newcomer. To enter this highly secure Herrscher corpse storage area had indeed taken Jiang Qiao considerable effort.
“That Blanca is really such a blabbermouth—”
After hearing that it was Blanca who had revealed her whereabouts, Mobius couldn’t help but curse under her breath, then gave Jiang Qiao a cold look without putting on a good face:
“The victory banquet is about to start, isn’t it? What are you doing here?”
“Hmm~ Isn’t it obvious? Of course I’m here to invite our Dr. Mobius to attend this victory banquet!”
“I’m not going. You can go back now!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Mobius gave a completely instinctive response.
To this, Jiang Qiao’s smile didn’t falter, but instead pressed her index finger against her chin, putting on a very troubled expression:
“That would be quite troublesome then. If someone suddenly asks me where Dr. Mobius went, how should I answer?”
“— Dr. Mobius is secretly ‘admiring’ the 2nd Herrscher’s corpse? Oh my, that kind of thing probably shouldn’t be said out loud, right?!”
From feigned innocence to a devilishly cunning smile and surprise, watching 【Elysia】 acting like a drama queen before her, Mobius’s expression stiffened.
“…”
“Elysia!!!”
The voice grinding through clenched teeth echoed through the space that contained only two people.
—
“You see, just like I said, Dr. Mobius would come to attend this victory banquet, right?”
Looking at Mobius who sat beside her with an ashen face, as Blanca was amazed that her boss, who had adamantly declared she wouldn’t attend this banquet, had suddenly shown up to participate in the victory celebration, the girl’s voice rang out with a hint of laughter.
Just as Jiang Qiao had predicted.
Given Mobius’s personality, with the 2nd Herrscher’s corpse so close at hand, how could she possibly resist taking action?
But, considering how Fire Moth’s higher-ups had deliberately concealed even the news of the Second Eruption from Mobius, only telling her when they had no choice but to reveal it.
How could Fire Moth’s leadership possibly let Mobius easily access the 2nd Herrscher’s corpse?
In other words, Mobius was actually taking advantage of everyone’s inattention to secretly research the 2nd Herrscher’s corpse.
If this behavior were exposed, her situation afterward would definitely be extremely dire!
Of course, Mobius certainly wouldn’t care about those ordinary punishments. After all, in the time to come, she and her Mobius laboratory would be thorns in the side of Fire Moth’s leadership.
But if it were really exposed, the higher-ups would definitely move the 2nd Herrscher’s corpse to a place where Mobius absolutely couldn’t reach it, right?
So—
“Under my earnest persuasion, Dr. Mobius finally saw the light and realized she couldn’t miss this victory banquet.”
Blinking her eyes, Jiang Qiao shamelessly spoke words that made Mobius’s expression darken further:
“You see, Dr. Mobius is very happy too, right?”
“It’s just a pity that time is limited. That dreary white lab coat is quite unsuitable for a banquet~ Next time, would you like to try the little dress I’ve carefully prepared for you? Trust me, you’ll be very satisfied!”
“…”
Mobius stared daggers at the inch-taking Jiang Qiao.
She felt that this woman was even more annoying than before!
50,000 years later, Nagazora City.
“Geez, calling me over from somewhere else in such a hurry, remember to pay me overtime!”
The complaining voice came from a gray-haired woman with an excellent figure, her red eyes under the raven-feathered hood showing waves of dissatisfaction.
A cadre belonging to World Serpent — code name 【Raven】, real name Natasha Cioara, was Gray Serpent’s adopted daughter rescued from the survivors of the Second Eruption, and also had the reputation of being a small island’s bomb-happy raven.
At this moment, after rushing here as fast as possible, she had finally arrived at Nagazora City.
But for this laborious journey, Miss Raven had to complain to her adoptive father.
Damn it, don’t you know how hard it is for me to support a bunch of kids!
“As long as you investigate clearly the source and details of that abnormal Herrscher-level energy fluctuation in Nagazora City, overtime pay and such are negotiable.”
“Eh? Did you have a change of heart?”
Hearing that hoarse voice, Raven was somewhat surprised.
In the past, this adoptive father of hers had been a complete penny-pincher.
Overtime pay and such… You want overtime pay for tasks assigned by the organization? It seems your ideological awareness isn’t high enough!
“That fluctuation could very likely cause unpredictable errors and failures in our plan, so we must figure out what’s going on!”
Although Gray Serpent hadn’t told his boss about this strange situation, that didn’t mean he didn’t take it seriously.
A qualified subordinate should know how to handle matters properly before reporting to superiors.
If you had to ask the boss about every little thing, wouldn’t that make these subordinates seem very incompetent?
“Whatever you say. Anyway, I just need to investigate the situation in Nagazora City, right? I’m definitely taking this money. I’m hanging up now, I’ll contact you later if I find anything.”
With that, Raven ended the communication.
Her current location was given to her by Gray Serpent, regarding the whereabouts of Jiang Qiao, Kiana, and Mei’s activity traces.
Getting useful intelligence through possibly remaining traces was a standard intelligence gathering method.
And coincidentally, Raven’s location was exactly where Raiden Mei had been attacked by the Seraph-class Honkai Beast!
Her meticulous observational skills quickly led Miss Dodo to a discovery, her red eyes locking onto an inconspicuous small component in a certain corner.
— Through peripheral vision, she could vaguely see what looked like a moth-like pattern.
At this moment, Miss Raven who was working to earn money to support her family had a smile curl at the corner of her mouth.
This money seemed unexpectedly easy to earn!