In the following days, Chen Ran lived his usual life. However, after the system's one-week self-check was completed, it began maintenance, with the reopening time to be announced later.
Chen Ran suspected that the system was still undergoing self-checks, just using maintenance as an excuse.
But he didn't care much about that; Chen Ran was quite busy within Fire Moth.
While researching what materials could build reactions with Honkai and consciousness, he encountered a special problem.
This problem was that he was out of money.
"Research materials really burn money; I'm even considering selling myself."
Chen Ran looked at his expenses and couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
Fire Moth's salary was decent, but he had only joined Fire Moth for a few months. He had already asked Blanca for an advance on a year's salary.
Experiments were always costly; even the first research institute often had its funding blocked by higher-ups, and Mobius had to participate in various banquets to pull in funding.
Lack of money was a problem every scientist found hard to solve.
"I can't continue like this."
Chen Ran realized that what he wanted to do was not something he could manage right now.
Either the project had to be temporarily halted, or he needed to bring people in.
But Chen Ran was reluctant to stop the project, and as for the latter...
The premise of bringing people in was that he had to produce early results from the project, and the project had to bring benefits to others.
Chen Ran didn't think that anything related to Wendy could bring any benefits to anyone in this era besides himself.
He had to find new sources of funding.
"Coincidentally, Vill-V is also troubled about money."
Chen Ran decided to consult someone.
He wasn't very familiar with the means of making money in this era, but Vill-V should be quite knowledgeable.
After all, before she joined Fire Moth, the drones she made had caused quite a bit of trouble for Fire Moth, so the money spent on those drones was needless to say.
He arranged to meet Vill-V in the break area.
However, Vill-V's reply was, "I'm busy; just come find me in the engineering department."
...
...
Vill-V was very busy.
Especially after Chen Ran handed over the core of the Herrscher of the Void to her, she had hardly left the engineering department, and the corner was filled with fast food boxes.
When Chen Ran opened the door to this room, he found it filled with the smells of engine oil and instant noodles.
"Cough, are you making biochemical weapons?"
"Biochemical weapons? At this level, it shouldn't be deadly yet."
Vill-V's calm voice rang out, and Chen Ran looked over to find her once smooth and delicate face now visibly oily.
"Can I ask how long it's been since you last cleaned yourself?"
"About four days, I can't help it; my brain is overflowing with inspiration right now, and even eating feels like a waste."
The girl's voice still carried excitement, and Chen Ran noticed that there were many drafts on her desk, along with a box of instant coffee.
Since she got the Herrscher Core, she had maintained this state for quite a while.
"If this continues, your health will deteriorate."
Chen Ran instinctively expressed concern, but this was of no use to Vill-V.
She said, "Regarding the Divine Key design you mentioned, I already have many ideas. These are all design drafts, but now we face a problem."
Vill-V's hair was a bit dry, and she rubbed her head, "We're out of money."
"Currently, the only material that can meet the requirements for your Divine Key is Soulium. However, Soulium is an expensive metal that only exists within Fire Moth and the Mu Continent, and the resources available in the engineering department are far from enough."
Although she was nominally the head of the engineering department, the resources she could leverage were not much, even less than MEI's current resources.
Chen Ran: "..."
"How coincidental, I came to ask you about this."
The girl smiled faintly, "What, are you going to fund me?"
"No, I wanted to say I'm out of money too."
He said, "Blanca has already advanced a year's salary for me, but the materials are too expensive."
"Biochemical materials, a dead end."
Vill-V yawned widely, "Since you're not here to give me money, you can leave; I'll think of another way."
"You should rest first."
Chen Ran frowned and said, "Although I know I can't stop your actions from any standpoint, I still think you shouldn't continue your research."
"What's wrong, are you worried about me?"
"Sort of," he admitted, "After all, if you have health issues, I will also have trouble."
There were too few people Chen Ran could turn to for help within Fire Moth.
He wasn't omniscient; even though the knowledge-based genes implanted in his body by No. 666 didn't mean he could focus all his energy on it.
Zhuge Liang was thorough in everything he did, yet he still ended up exhausted.
For now, although he and Vill-V weren't perfectly in sync, there had been no disputes or conflicts of interest.
He could provide Vill-V with materials and information she couldn't access, and Vill-V could offer him new design results.
"Pfft, you have a point."
Vill-V paused and said, "But there's one thing you got wrong."
She paused, "You are now my boyfriend."
Chen Ran: "A boyfriend who I can't even see for days?"
"Hmm, feelings aren't everything in life. If you care so much about this, I can compensate you," she pouted. "How about a kiss?"
Chen Ran felt a headache coming on. "So you're willing to hurt yourself by staying up late just to get yourself into this disheveled state as revenge on me?"
"How can you call this revenge? This is a benefit segment!"
At that moment, Vill-V, although still beautiful, was completely devoid of any allure for Chen Ran.
The shine of oil on her face, the lingering smell of machine oil, her messy hair, and the strong odor from days without brushing her teeth…
One could only say that Vill-V's revenge was too strong.
Chen Ran suddenly stepped forward and picked Vill-V up.
"Hey, hey, hey, are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious, but the benefit segment is delayed."
He expressionlessly carried her out of the engineering department.
The girl instinctively wanted to struggle, but soon realized that she had stayed up too long, and her entire body was already exhausted.
In a sense of revenge, she buried her face in his clothes, using them as a towel to wipe herself.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Oh, I'm going to ask Dr. Mobius how much you're worth, and then sell you to me for funding."
Chen Ran said playfully.
Vill-V let out a muffled sound, "Mobius, ha, she wouldn't want to use me for experiments."
"Oh? I don't think she has anything she wouldn't part with."
Just as Chen Ran was about to say more, he heard the sound of even breathing.
Vill-V, held in Chen Ran's arms, had fallen asleep.
She turned her face to the side, burying it directly in Chen Ran's embrace.
Her body was simply too tired; if Chen Ran hadn't come looking for her, she wouldn't have been able to hold on much longer.
He knew that the girl had been holding her breath while working.
She was eager to open the door to Honkai and peek into the unfathomable mysteries.
Geniuses can never accept a gradual approach.
MEI was like this, Mobius was like this, and so was Vill-V.
They always thought the world revolved around them, and in fact, they had the ability to move the world. But because of this, asking them to take it slow felt like it would kill them.
No, perhaps even if they were killed, they wouldn't feel pain, because death was also an unknown realm for them.
Chen Ran sighed and then took Vill-V to his room.
At this time, Kevin should be in the training room. He sent Kevin a message: "You don't need to come back tonight. My sister-in-law said she misses you and wants you to keep her company for the night."
"I won't leave the door open; I'll lock it."
Chen Ran looked at the dirty girl and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. "Cleaning is also a big project."
…
…
When Vill-V was hazily aware, she heard the sound of water splashing nearby.
She felt like she was lying somewhere soft and comfortable.
It seemed something was pressing down on her hair, and the fragrance of shampoo made her feel intoxicated.
The girl tried hard to open her eyes.
But it was too comfortable, and she failed.
She instinctively wanted to turn to the side, which would be more comfortable, but her head was being pressed down.
"Don't move, be careful not to get water up your nose."
"Oh."
She answered drowsily.
Chen Ran looked at his fingers, which were covered in white foam mixed with black grime, and couldn't help but sigh, "How much oil is this?"
At that moment, he and Vill-V were in the bathroom, and the girl's clothes had all been removed by him.
He couldn't stand the thought of a stinky person sleeping in his bed.
Reluctantly, he had to help her take a shower.
Even though he was looking at a graceful body, he had no lewd thoughts at all.
"Bia, help me out. We need more shower gel. If it doesn't work, we can add some Little Su in the bathroom. It might be a bit harsh on the skin, but at least it can remove the grease."
Bia sighed, "You really have some ideas about having a robot help someone take a shower."
"And according to the script, isn't this a benefit segment? I've even prepared the camera!"
Chen Ran: "I'm currently as holy as a Buddha."
"That's not the truth."
"Fine, actually, it's dangerous to provoke this person." He sighed and said, "Even if I'm a pervert, I'm still a pervert who can distinguish between gains and losses."
As he pressed down on Vill-V's hair, he continued, "She's very useful to me, and I'm useful to her as well, so a partner needs to be respected."
"Is this what you call respect?" Durandal's big eyes showed disdain.
Chen Ran smiled, "Bia, the human knowledge you're learning now is all from a social perspective, right?"
"Yeah."
"Help me lift the showerhead."
After handing the showerhead to Bia, Chen Ran began to wash Vill-V's hair.
As he washed, he said, "So you've always been using social moral standards to judge the people here. Vill-V… or rather, every person here will be different from what you think."
"People here aren't really people; they're refined, self-serving animals."
"I can bring her benefits, so of course, she won't refuse. And for Vill-V, being served obediently is also a form of benefit. Moreover, if Vill-V really resisted the current situation, do you think this would be happening? I know you're listening, Vill-V."
Vill-V mumbled, "Keep talking, I haven't heard enough yet."
You can't apply worldly standards to every person here.
There are no traditional good and lawful people here.
Let alone Vill-V, who has an exceptionally high IQ; if she didn't want this to happen, she wouldn't have given Chen Ran any opportunity in the first place.
Chen Ran felt that perhaps at this moment, Vill-V should have that kind of ambiguous affection for him.
He said lightly, "Your hair is washed. You can take a shower yourself."
"You wash me."
She said, "At home, I always use a robot to clean myself. I haven't done it myself in a long time."
Chen Ran: "…"
"Alright, if you don't mind what happens, I don't care either."
He let Vill-V continue to lie down, then squeezed toothpaste onto a toothbrush.
"Before that, let's clean your teeth first."
Vill-V raised her leg, "What? Don't you want to do something?"
"Forget it, I'm not interested."
He casually said, "I'm currently having a headache because of some matters."
Vill-V curiously raised her eyes, "What's wrong?"
Like you, facing a survival crisis.
After wetting the toothpaste, he began to clean Vill-V's mouth, talking as he did, "I also have my own projects I want to do. After all, who wants to be a tool for Fire Moth?"
"I was actually looking for you just now to ask if you have any quick ways to make money. After all, the cost of the drones you had before coming to Fire Moth wasn't cheap. I want to know what your previous sources of income were?"
After he finished asking, he handed Vill-V a cup of water.
After rinsing her mouth, Vill-V said, "Is it hard to make money?"
"If I weren't at Fire Moth, making money would be easy. But now I'm stretched too thin, so I can't help it. After all, you're not a fraudster."
Clearly, the girl's way of making money relied entirely on her intelligence.
After rinsing her mouth, she turned her body, lazily lying on the makeshift bathtub bed made of plastic boards that Chen Ran had set up.
"Help me massage, remember to use essential oil."
"Max, I'll just rub off the dead skin with a towel; don't think about essential oil."
Chen Ran applied shower gel to Vill-V's back, and the sensation of his hands sliding over her skin almost made him lose control of his impulses.
However, at that moment, he was not an animal ruled by his lower body; he said lightly, "The current situation is that both your research and my research are in an economic crisis. Unless we bring someone in… but there aren't many people in Fire Moth that we can both trust."
"What about your little lover Mobius?"
"Let's not mention that she's not my little lover. Even if she were, most of the income of the First Research Institute relies on upper-level funding. Unless you're willing to make your research public," Chen Ran said directly.
Vill-V shook her head, "That won't do. I'm researching this to surprise them."
The girl always had an inexplicable desire to show off.
This desire to show off, along with vanity, was the driving force behind her continuous progress.
She was eager to shock everyone, and that was also the reason the girl kept striving.
She wanted the whole world to be amazed and remember her as a magician.
She paused and said, "In that case, we can only bring in outsiders."
"Outsiders? Who?"
"Eden, do you know her? A singer, she should be quite successful now." Vill-V thought for a moment and said, "I remember she's quite wealthy."
Chen Ran asked, "Are you familiar with her?"
"Not really, I've never chatted or met her, but she should be easy to deceive." Vill-V paused and laughed, "After all, with your abilities, you could be a con artist."
Chen Ran hesitated for a moment, "Let's do it!"
…
…
Meanwhile.
In the independent laboratory where MEI was located.
She looked at Kevin, amused, "So, you were kicked out by your roommate?"
Kevin felt a bit awkward, "There was no choice. When he messaged me, I was in training, and by the time I went back, the door was already locked."
He paused and said, "And there was a girl's voice inside, it was that engineering department head."
Although the soundproofing in Fire Moth's dormitories was quite good, Kevin was not an ordinary person after all.
MEI pondered, "Vill-V? Her talent in weapon design can surpass anyone else. I do have some places where I've troubled her."
She was always rational. Hearing that Chen Ran and Vill-V were in the same room didn't make her think of their gossip; instead, she considered the potential for future use.
For the girl, utilizing all available resources had become second nature.
"Since that's the case, Kevin, you can stay here."
Kevin couldn't help but feel overjoyed upon hearing this.
Then he heard the girl say softly, "There's a recliner here; your physical condition shouldn't have any issues. I'll go back to rest first."
Kevin: "…"
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