Lifting her head from the pile of documents, Klein smoothed the hair stuck to her face back into her headband, picked up a wet wipe to dry the clammy sweat on her hands, and stood up to press the air conditioner switch in the lab.
Summer arrived particularly early this year. Spring hadn't even ended, but the temperature was climbing like a rocket. The pointer on the thermometer instantly shot up like a speedometer in a race car to a point where one couldn't help but want to take off clothes.
It looked like it would be a hot summer.
"There's a forest fire in Australia." Nuwa, chewing on a popsicle, chatted aimlessly with Fuxi, who was diligently working.
"Mhm. That region has fires of varying severity every year, given the geographical distribution..." Fuxi glanced at Nuwa, reached out and snatched the popsicle from her mouth. "I want some too."
"Ooh! Go buy your own!"
Nuwa, seeing her popsicle snatched, immediately pouted and wrestled with Fuxi.
Klein sighed at the two livewires who seemed never to change. On the bright side, while everyone else mourned the huge losses of the Sixth Eruption, at least these two could still cause a ruckus by brazenly discussing Mobius's exploitation of her assistants on the internal network, only to be caught red-handed by Mobius herself.
"Whoosh."
The lab door opened.
The two passionately scuffling figures immediately returned to their desks, feigning the look of obedient girls.
The matte helmet cast a chilling shadow in the light, and the blue visor was unnerving.
Lin appearance, carrying two bags, brought a cold draft to the originally scorching lab. Klein glanced curiously at the air conditioner, confirming it hadn't started blowing cold air yet.
Lin walked straight to Klein's desk and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with those two?"
"Hehe... Nothing, they might be... sick." Klein didn't feel comfortable explaining that they staged a similar scene every day.
"Oh..." Lin drew out the end of his word. He paused, then raised his voice slightly, "Given how hot it is, it's certainly better to have 'ice' sickness."
"..."
The three people present collectively shivered.
Seeing that no one responded, Lin didn't say anything more. He placed the bag in his left hand on the desk: "I bought ice cream. You should eat it."
"Eh?" Klein took the cold bag from his hand, bewildered.
"What's wrong?"
"No, nothing..."
Strange, had Mr. Lin been coming to the lab too often recently? Almost daily. And why would he buy ice cream...
Lin seemed to see her confusion and said calmly from within his helmet: "Ice cream is half-price at the cafeteria today."
No... that wasn't the problem...
After handing the ice cream to Klein, Lin carried the other bag and entered Mobius's private office.
Nuwa and Fuxi swarmed the bag, snatching the ice cream of their preferred flavors. Klein reluctantly closed the bag after they were satisfied and put the remaining ice cream into the lab refrigerator.
"Ooh—my, my tongue."
Klein watched with a twitching eye as Nuwa, whose tongue was stuck to the ice cream, frantically searched for water, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Speaking of which, the Helmet Man comes here every day now." Fuxi stared at the closed door of Mobius's private office, whether in contemplation or just musing aloud.
"Ooh... yeah, he does. And he doesn't seem as fierce as before." Nuwa, who had finally detached her tongue, chimed in. "Didn't the internal network say his desire to mate is strong? Is that why?"
"...Nuwa, the Doctor is behind you."
"Waaah, I'm sorry, Doctor, I was just joking."
Nuwa turned around in horror and bowed instinctively, apologizing. However, there was no sharp gaze or deliberate sneer. She cautiously looked up, only to see no one there.
"Fuxi—" The two began scuffling again.
Klein watched them with a headache.
"Bang!"
The door to the private office was violently shoved open. A pair of green eyes, like a snake's, glared coldly at the sisters, who had frozen on the floor, their clothes somewhat exposed.
"Shut up! You're so loud!"
"Bang!"
The door slammed shut heavily again.
"Gulp." Nuwa swallowed, quickly got up with Fuxi, tidied their clothes, and sat back at their desks obediently.
"The Doctor seems to be in a bad mood lately..." Fuxi whispered to Nuwa, keeping her voice low and head down.
"Is she? I feel like the Doctor is always like this."
"...That's only because you often make the Doctor angry. Normally, the Doctor is someone whose emotions are hard to read, but in the last few days, ever since the Helmet Man returned to the lab, she's been constantly irritable, like she's going through menopause."
"They don't have a good relationship, do they?"
"True. They should be quite antagonistic."
"Yet they spend so much time alone together..."
"Ahem..."
Klein interrupted their whispering with a cough, saying seriously, "Alright, stop gossiping about the Doctor and Mr. Lin. They definitely have important, confidential matters to attend to."
...
"Today is... sashimi? Hmph, food from your hometown?"
Mobius looked disdainfully as the Helmet Man opened the lunch box. Inside, clear, perfectly sliced fish lay on a bed of ice. Finely minced ginger, used as a condiment, dotted the surface like starlight. The skill alone required for slicing the fish was remarkably high.
Before joining the Fire Moth, she was a globally renowned scientist. She had eaten most international cuisines during the academic seminars on the Continent of Mu, but not all. Raw food like sashimi held absolutely no appetite appeal for her, who was accustomed to cooked food.
"Sashimi originated in Shenzhou but was later introduced to the Far East. However, I have one-half Shenzhou ancestry, so Shenzhou is also considered my hometown."
"I don't want to hear your long-winded explanation of irrelevant origins. Food that has barely been processed like this can't have its flavor controlled by you, can it? What? Have you already run out of ideas for dishes? And you dare to say you can provide me with different dishes every day?" Mobius sneered, looking at the fish slices, which looked like works of art, in the lunch box.
"The preparation of sashimi is indeed not difficult, involving only basic steps like selecting ingredients, knife skills, plating, and seasoning. However, the flavor is actually quite distinguishable."
"...Easy for you to say." Mobius understood Lin words, but she couldn't grasp how those basic steps could affect the flavor. She just pretended she fully understood and scoffed, "Where are the condiments? Bring them out."
Lin nodded, retrieved a small dish filled with dark soy sauce, and then squeezed a bit of a green, toothpaste-like paste into it.
"Wait, what is that?" Mobius frowned, seeing him squeeze only a tiny amount.
"...Wasabi."
"Why only squeeze that little? This tasteless food needs stronger condiments, doesn't it?"
Before Lin could say anything, Mobius snatched the green wasabi paste from his hand and squeezed half of it into the dish, making the entire soy sauce dish thick and murky.
She had a strong fondness for the color green.
In any case, this must be how you eat it.
Lin, who had been about to say something, closed his mouth. He watched silently as Mobius picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a slice of sashimi, dipped the entire thing into the sauce dish, letting the thick, indescribable liquid coat it. Then, she licked her lips and popped the whole thing into her mouth.
Lin closed his eyes and turned off the microphone system in his helmet.