Chapter 1: Rhine Labs

"Hmm..."

As the sun shone in during the early morning, the woman lying on the table in a dim office in the Rhine Lab Building slowly woke up and opened her slightly confused eyes.

"Did I... fall asleep again? Really, Klein..."

As her body subconsciously called out that name, the previously confused Mobius suddenly became fully awake.

Then she sat up, gently stroked her forehead, and spoke self-deprecatingly, "Hehe, I must be a little confused after reading all that information. How could Klein exist here?"

Then, Mobius looked at the scattered documents on the table and seemed to remember something. She stopped tidying up her appearance and spoke silently to herself.

'You're making a lot of noise over there, [Bright Knight]~ Since you're almost done with your work, remember to send Sakura to me after the handover~'

'Also, remember to take the time to come over, as agreed between us~ I've always been looking forward to this experiment.'

After hearing Mobius's "reminder," Bianka's formulaic reply came instantly.

'You don't need to remind me about this kind of thing. Do your job well. I will let Sakura go after I hand over my work.'

'As for the experiment with the Abyss Flower… it will take some time. Recently, various forces have been keeping a close eye on me. I will come to you when I can get away.'

'Hehe~ Then, I look forward to your arrival, [Bright Knight]~'

After receiving the reply she wanted, Mobius smiled softly to herself but didn't care about Bianca's official reply at all.

"…"

After finishing this conversation with "herself," Mobius slowly stood up, stretched, tidied up her white coat, and walked out slowly.

It had been another day since her last meal, and she now needed to go out to "forage."

Although, in her current state, as long as her energy was sufficient, there was no need to eat at all. However, now that she was under someone's watchful eye, she still needed to keep up appearances.

Mobius didn't want to be noticed and suspected by careful people over something as small as not eating. That would be a big loss.

You know, Rhine Lab is not a very clean company now~

However, it is precisely because of this that Mobius has set her sights on this place. After all, some things are not convenient to do in a place that is too clean.

"Really, it seems that I'll have to prepare some instant noodles next time."

After leaving her office, Mobius muttered helplessly, and then she made her way to the cafeteria from memory.

Almost every time she encountered such a situation, she would sigh, but every time she returned from eating, she would dive back into all kinds of new knowledge and experiments on this continent and completely forget about it.

After all, this is not Fire Moth, and there is no hardworking assistant like Klein.

It should be noted that although Mobius did sneak in, because she did it on purpose, the project she submitted to Rhine Lab was relatively minor and not very valued.

In addition to Mobius's own resistance, she had been here for a while, and now she didn't even have an assistant around her. She was now entirely alone in completing this small project.

...

As soon as she arrived at the cafeteria, Mobius saw two acquaintances, Olivia Silence and Joyce Moore.

Of course, this familiarity was only one-sided and only in the game. In the real world, Mobius had no interest in contacting these two people.

To exaggerate a little, except for Ifrit, who has the nickname of Charmander, there is almost nothing in Rhine Lab that interests Mobius.

As for Ifrit... Mobius is only somewhat interested in her body and condition.

But this interest is not very strong, and sometimes it can't even compare to the attraction of the new knowledge here.

These are also some of the reasons why Mobius remains so low-key in Rhine Lab. After all, if she wanted to, she wouldn't be just a small researcher of a minor project under the structural department as she is now.

In fact, if she were more interested in Ifrit, she might have joined the execution team of the [Project Diabolic] long ago.

It's a pity... Mobius really didn't want to work with people she thought were "not very smart and had some problems." Not only was it a waste of time, but it also affected her studies and experiments.

So, after glancing at Silence and Joyce, Mobius retracted her gaze and walked toward the cafeteria window with a calm expression.

After all, she came here just to show her face. After a simple breakfast, she had to go back to reading books and materials.

However, before Mobius took a few steps... a familiar voice suddenly sounded in her mind, causing her eyes to change and her steps to pause slightly.

[Ding - Task Triggered]

[Task content: Save Ifrit, cure her Oripathy, and completely stabilize her vital signs. (The mission has no time limit, and the target fails if they die.)]

[Mission reward: (Helix) Helical Contraption/ Basilisk's Image.]

However, Mobius had become accustomed to the system's deceptive behavior in a sense. After reacting instantly, she listened to the system's mission and continued to walk calmly toward the window.

…

"That person..."

Silence put down the fork in her hand and secretly looked at the back of Mobius in a white coat, with a hint of doubt in her eyes.

"Mobius. The person in charge of the new project not long ago," Joyce Moore explained in her smooth, robot-like tone after noticing her friend's doubts.

And the reason she spoke in this tone was not because she wanted to do so deliberately, but because of a simple experimental accident that caused her to be this way.

"So it's that project..."

Hearing this, a flash of understanding passed through Silence's eyes, and then she lowered her eyes and praised. "She's quite talented to come up with a new idea."

"Yes. But this, this project isn't taken seriously."

Joyce Moore agreed with Silence's words, but at the same time, she also mentioned the "dilemma" that Mobius was facing now.

"Yeah, it's a pity."

...

"Hmm..."

Because of the sudden task and the rush to go back and review the information, Mobius left directly after taking her meal, not realizing that the two "acquaintances" she had just met were talking about her and feeling sorry for her.