***
Where’s MEI? Where’s my MEI?
Kevin, who had searched through the entire Senba Academy, fell into confusion.
How could MEI still be around yesterday, but today she’s completely disappeared?
— Needless to say, this was naturally because MEI had already been abducted by a certain pink girl.
Just like the original interaction between Mei and Mobius, the original Mobius was also a renowned genius scholar, but after joining Fire Moth, she disappeared without a trace in an extremely short time.
Now, dealing with MEI, who was merely a student, was naturally much simpler than dealing with Mobius. At most, she would just need to handle MEI’s father afterward, that famous electromagnetic physicist.
Of course, such behavior naturally caused dissatisfaction among certain people in the organization.
For example—
“Hehe, Elysia~ Since when did you start working in talent recruitment?”
Words tinged with sarcasm and dissatisfaction echoed in Mobius’s office within Fire Moth.
Without needing to elaborate, judging by Mobius’s angry expression, the source of this dissatisfaction was naturally the resume report on the desk—
Just like with Vill-V before, except this time it was MEI.
In the recommender column, Elysia’s name was still prominently signed.
“Hmm~ You know I have good relationships with everyone in the organization. When chatting with colleagues from the external recruitment department, I occasionally hear their complaints about being short-staffed~ I’m just helping the organization solve problems.”
“Besides, MEI is different from Vill-V, her background is completely clean~”
The smiling pink girl didn’t mind Mobius’s huffing appearance at all. Instead, she found this version of the snake quite cute and interesting. She cheerfully placed the prepared tea in front of Mobius’s desk.
The latter took a sip and said irritably, “I know.”
Regarding MEI’s clean background, Mobius actually had no objections.
Although unlike the original situation where it was MEI’s quantum mechanics paper that made her specifically reach out and extend an invitation.
But after a brief examination, with Mobius’s keen eye, she could naturally tell at a glance that MEI was definitely a genius no less than herself, pure gold waiting to be discovered.
She was simply dissatisfied with Jiang Qiao’s frequent recruitment activities.
“I’ll resign from this position with the higher-ups later. If you want to bother someone, go bother someone else, don’t bother me!”
Mobius was more passionate about staying in the laboratory. This kind of review work for special recruitment personnel was just a part-time job forced on her by the higher-ups.
Originally, it wasn’t a big deal, since this rather special recruitment method wasn’t actually common in Fire Moth’s early days. But then this Elysia person…
The snake glared angrily at 【Elysia】. She had been doing experiments before coming here!
“However…”
“First Vill-V, then MEI, what are you trying to accomplish by actively seeking out these kinds of people?”
Her tone shifted, her green gradient snake eyes staring intently at the girl before her, with a hint of playfulness in her voice.
Whether it was Vill-V or MEI, both were undoubtedly top-tier talents in research.
She was merely a Fire Moth warrior, even if Elysia was a hero who had defeated the 2nd Herrscher.
But—
Pulling these two people into the organization with such clear purpose, Mobius couldn’t help but suspect this person had some ulterior motive.
Regarding this, Jiang Qiao showed no flaws at all, naturally displaying that 【Elysia】 smile, blinking her eyes:
“Oh my~ What do you mean by ‘these kinds of people’? Don’t talk about Vill-V and MEI like they’re bad people~ Look, before being geniuses, they’re first and foremost beautiful and lovely girls, aren’t they?”
Among the three research giants of Fire Moth, the most difficult to handle wasn’t MEI or Vill-V who joined the organization later, but rather Mobius, one of the founders.
She was not only suspicious but also had extremely sharp intuition.
You see, just taking a little action had already made Mobius become alert.
The pink girl sighed lightly in her heart, but outwardly lifted her hand to gently cover her palm, putting on a pitiful and delicate appearance:
“Speaking of which, Dr. Mobius~ You’re paying so much attention to me, could it be… you have some feelings for me?”
“Hmm~ If it’s Dr. Mobius, I could consider it~”
“Hmph, I couldn’t care less about you.”
“However—”
“You’d better restrain yourself. If you continue doing this kind of thing…”
Mobius didn’t finish her sentence, but she had already guessed what the other meant.
As a hero of Fire Moth’s Second Eruption, 【Elysia】 indeed had very important influence and symbolic significance within Fire Moth.
But precisely because of this, she was also a key focus of attention in the eyes of Fire Moth’s higher-ups.
If she interfered too much in matters she shouldn’t be involved in, earning the displeasure of those people.
It would be like how MEI later faced opposition from some people when proposing the Divine Key plan and was assassinated by poison needles. Who knows, some early donkey ears carrying a sword might come to trouble Jiang Qiao.
After leaving her warning, Mobius hurried away.
And Jiang Qiao, who left the office, also saw MEI, who had received daily supplies and uniforms from the logistics department and had already changed into the kind of clothing commonly worn by researchers.
“Hmm~ You have the demeanor of that Dr. MEI I know~”
The pink girl smiled as she examined MEI from all angles, then as if thinking of something interesting, she pressed her index finger to her chin and said playfully:
“However… Kevin’s expression right now should be quite spectacular~ I really want to see what he looks like now. When the girl he wants to pursue suddenly disappears, will he be very disappointed?”
“…You only invited me without inviting Kevin. You’re not doing this with such mischievous thoughts, are you?”
MEI, wearing glasses, looked at the mischievously smiling girl and twitched the corner of her mouth.
From Jiang Qiao’s words, MEI already knew that she would be Kevin’s girlfriend in the future.
Of course, she currently had no real feelings about this and no particular thoughts about it. At most, it was just — so I would actually end up with that shy big boy? It felt somewhat peculiar.
As for other things, knowing the truth about the world, she really didn’t have the heart to consider such romantic matters.
“From a certain perspective, you could also say you’ve broken up a couple who were originally meant to be together.”
“Hmm~ Indeed, looking at it this way, I’m really a terribly wicked girl~ So, would you like me to compensate you somehow~ MEI?”
Pressing her palm against the girl’s approaching face, although she would still blush somewhat, Dr. MEI calmly refused:
“No need.”
“Really~ How distant! You’re completely different from your cute appearance when we first met!”
【Elysia】 puffed out her cheeks in frustration, looking annoyed and dejected.
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Hmm~ How could that be? How could a cute girl like 【me】 have such bad thoughts?”
“However—”
She smiled, her gaze toward the window seeming to see that big boy in distant Nagazora City anxiously searching for his beloved:
“If it’s Kevin, I still hope that before pressing the fast-forward button, he can enjoy a bit more of life as an ordinary person.”