There were no patrol personnel.
The passage was wide enough to drive a Titan and tumble inside. Lin speculated that this might have been designed to imprison Honkai Beasts in the future. However, there was no lighting. Lin had to activate his helmet's night vision to move freely inside.
He ran along the corridor wall. His entire body was subtly aching. Fortunately, Lin was long accustomed to this level of pain, and it hardly affected his movements.
The depth and length were astonishing. Before Lin reached the end of the road, he estimated that the size of The Deepest Reaches was already much larger than the headquarters base. It was hard to imagine how the woman who spoke with a hint of an eccentric style managed to build a structure of this size underwater.
Soon, Lin encountered his second problem.
"Still no sign of an entrance..."
This road was bare, with no structure resembling a door. Even at the end, there was only a smooth, seamless wall.
This time, it didn't take Lin long to find some hidden hollow structures, but he didn't know how to open them. He could only stand in front of the wall and tap it carefully.
Forcing his way through was definitely out of the question. Even if he could find a way to enter normally, it would leave a record, which would be troublesome if an investigation was launched.
This time, Lin decided to "skip the class."
"Prometheus, can you hack into the facilities here and delete the access logs?"
[Affirmative, the Doctor implanted a hacking system in me]
A hacking system... Sure enough, Mei had considered the possibility of internal conflict within humanity from the very beginning.
[However, my current computing power is insufficient to hack the entire system. I can only unlock partial locks, and the logs cannot be deleted]
"..."
Less than two-thirds of the twenty-four hours remained. The later he returned, the greater the chance of being discovered. After much consideration, Lin decided to save time for investigation.
"Break through this door, Prometheus. Monitor the vicinity for micro-cameras."
[Affirmative]
"Klein, please compile the data statistics for this experiment. Hand it to me before 6 PM today."
"Yes, Doctor."
Mobius casually placed a thick data ledger on the already towering pile on the laboratory table. She instructed the other green-haired girl, who was buried in her work and writing furiously, and then took a sip of her coffee with delight.
The other green-haired girl, also wearing a white lab coat, looked at the pile of files that was about to bury her, her eyes swirling in confusion, and instinctively agreed.
This scene bore a resemblance to a medieval landlord whipping a slave.
"Wow, Sister Klein takes on most of the work as soon as she arrives." Nuwa pretended to add a few strokes to a blank roster, whispering to Fuxi beside her.
Although they had been employed longer than Klein, her degree and her standing with them, having graduated from the same academy, were enough for them to respectfully call her "Sister"... Besides, she would help modify reports, so a little respect was definitely due.
Fuxi was seriously compiling data statistics, speaking in a low voice without looking up: "Shh, keep your voice down. The Doctor pushed all her work to Sister Klein today. Be careful. If she takes a disliking to you, even a tenth of that work would keep you overtime until tomorrow."
"Yikes—"
"I wonder what the Doctor is doing today. With so much work, she'll probably be eating instant noodles in the lab again. Sigh, I kind of miss that helmeted guy now. His cooking was so good."
"It was. And he'd probably help out if he was here."
"I heard he was at the Fifth Branch when it was attacked. He's probably recovering from injuries right now."
"You two are having a very nice little chat, aren't you? Do you want to take some of the load off Klein?"
Mobius's voice, tinged with cold severity, appeared above their heads, scaring them into writing fiercely without daring to look up. Nuwa was so nervous that she wrote down the names of several figurines repeatedly.
Mobius silently looked at the two clowns of the lab. If the efficiency of the entire lab was 1, then Klein was 1.5, and these two combined were -0.5. It wasn't that she didn't want to assign them work, but she was worried about receiving data that would make her question whether the experiment subjects had been switched.
However, she did have something to go out for today. And only a few people could pull her out of the lab.
She smoothed her lab coat. She had made minor alterations to some of her personal lab coats, but thinking of Lin's observational skills, which practically saw through her, she started wearing only standard lab coats.
Walking down the headquarters corridor, the expressions on the faces of those who saw her were enough to star in a comedy, but Mobius just pretended not to see them.
An anomaly, a monster, a cold-blooded creature. She was tired of these words. Before Lin arrived, these words were exclusively reserved for her, but after Lin came, some of them became his exclusive descriptors.
After all, they were different people, yet both were freaks.
"..." Mobius wiped her face, feeling inexplicably strange.
She had actually felt that Lin might understand her feelings just now, because they were similar people.
No, their philosophies are completely different. With his ideology of human native supremacy, it was impossible for him to get along with her. If anyone had views similar to hers, perhaps it was only...
Mobius stopped in front of an office and knocked on the door.
"Please come in."
She pushed the door open, a look of amusement replacing her face.
"You really are esteemed, having me come to find you personally. Also, is your little attendant tied to you now?"
"He's a layer of insurance, and there are also personal reasons, which I won't deny." The long-haired girl picked up her glasses and put them on, nodding to Mobius. "After all, the Moth of the Fire Chasers doesn't have a rule against members dating."
"...Did you call me here just to talk about this?"
"Of course not, Doctor Mobius." Mei gave a small smile. "But we can if you'd like."
"..."
"Let's get to the point, Doctor Mobius. I invited you here to prevent eavesdropping, as the Moth of the Fire Chasers' attention is highest on both you and me."
Mei looked at the already impatient Mobius and placed an unassuming folder on the table.
"This is the draft proposal for the 'Fusion Warrior'."
The nonchalant statement changed Mobius's expression. She glanced at the document, then back at the smiling Mei, and sneered, "To have a draft ready so quickly... it seems what happened at the Fifth Branch was more alarming than I thought."
"This is the initial draft. Subsequent improvements and changes may take several years, but the biggest problem isn't how to improve it, but how to implement it."
"...I see. That's why you called me here."
"Yes. We've run into a small problem. And right now, Lin is investigating the nature of these problems."
"Him?" Mobius frowned at the name, but quickly relaxed. "I knew that helmeted man made of alloy wouldn't quietly stay in his room to rest. Your efficiency is really commendable."
Mei presented her request: "We need your help, Doctor Mobius... No, Lin needs your help."