"Alright, my hair's dry. And as luck would have it, I don't have any field missions today. Come on, I'll take you to—"
"Learn archery?"
"To see little Griseo! I'm telling you, little Griseo doesn't look like her dad at all. She's adorable." A doting smile appeared on Elysia's face at the mere thought of Griseo.
"Hen will be heartbroken to hear you say that. But it's perfect, actually. Griseo's mother works in Mobius's lab, and I need to see Mobius to hand over some mission items."
"What items?"
"Youkai flesh and blood," Chen Li said.
As for what Mobius could research from that, it wasn't Chen Li's problem.
Could anything Mobius cooked up be weirder than a Curio?
He was already dropping Curios into the Previous Era; what was he supposed to worry about now?
---o---
"There's a mole. Terminate the transaction."
The next moment, a blindingly bright light flared up.
As if heralding the capture of the two conspirators.
"Hey, why didn't you turn on the lights?" Elysia asked, confused, as she expertly flicked on the lab's lights. She looked at Chen Li and Mobius, who were huddled together as if up to no good.
"He requested it," Mobius said, lazily getting up and glancing at Chen Li.
"I figured a shady deal like this needed some atmosphere," Chen Li explained.
"What shady deal? This is a dedication to truth and science, understand?" Mobius shot Chen Li a disdainful look.
"I don't understand, but I do understand that you need to pay up."
"..."
"Why aren't you talking? Say something, Mobius!" Noticing her silence, Chen Li clapped a hand on Mobius's shoulder.
The current Mobius was still an ordinary researcher; she was no match for a Chen Li who knew a little bit of boxing.
"Calm down. We've just run into a small problem."
"What small problem?" Although the Soul Steel Chen Li possessed was sufficient, its ability to change shape made it perfect for use as a Curio embryo.
It didn't help improve a Curio's power, but it greatly increased its convenience.
"In consideration of that longevity pill of yours, the higher-ups at the Flame-Chasers didn't veto our deal. However, they said the budget for the Soul Steel has to be deducted from my biology lab."
Simply put, the Flame-Chaser leadership had granted her lab the qualification to acquire Soul Steel.
"And?"
"The lab has no budget. So there's nothing to deduct from."
"Hm? You have such a huge lab. Where did all the budget go?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. In short, you'll probably have to wait until next quarter to get your Soul Steel," Mobius said.
"How long is 'next quarter' in your terms?"
"Two months."
"I could save the world in two months!"
"Alternatively, you could invest in the lab. With a sufficient budget, we could deduct from it to get the Soul Steel. Soul Steel isn't for sale, you know. An allocation slot is something money can't buy," Mobius said, turning to Chen Li.
"Well, I'll be. So you were just trying to trick me into investing?" Chen Li stared at Mobius, shocked.
"Consider it a debt I owe you," Mobius said, her eyes fixed on the youkai flesh that had already been placed in a cultivation tank.
She couldn't help it. Chen Li's youkai flesh was outside her original plans, which meant researching it would be an additional expense.
Although the Flame-Chasers had symbolically increased her lab's budget after hearing about the research proposal, it wasn't enough.
Mobius understood why.
The leadership's own research into the longevity pill had shown that the powers of two different worlds were difficult to reconcile, so they didn't hold high hopes for her research.
"...Fine. But I have a condition," Chen Li said after clenching his fists.
"What condition?"
"I want you..."
"You're even interested in me? What kind of taste do you have?" Mobius looked at Chen Li with surprise.
"I want your patents for the next two quarters!"
"Deal. A pleasure doing business with you."
"Not a pleasure at all." Chen Li reluctantly shook hands with Mobius.
"Also, you once promised to forge a scalpel for me. The payment for that was also a portion of Soul Steel, and the budget for that..." Mobius trailed off.
"You want me to cover that too?"
"Mhm. Just name your price. I'll do my best to satisfy you," Mobius nodded.
"Here. Swear on this. I can provide you with a sufficient budget, including but not limited to these two portions of Soul Steel. As for what you can offer in return... think carefully before you speak. All your future patents and all items you create whose ownership you can decide will belong to me! Think it over before you answer. I'm serious," Chen Li said, holding out the Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin to Mobius.
"As long as you can provide me with a sufficient budget at any time, all my future patents, and all experimental products whose ownership I can decide, will belong to you," Mobius said casually.
She didn't care how much money her experiments made; her only concern was the pursuit of infinity.
"Deal," Chen Li nodded.
The coin instantly emitted a golden light, illuminating Mobius's face, on which a sense of foreboding was beginning to dawn.
"What is this?"
"The Compulsory Transaction Gold Coin. Once an agreement is made, it will be enforced without fail. My dear Dr. Mobius, you'd best not break this contract." Chen Li immediately recalled the coin to his Omni-Archive.
This coin only recognized the agreement, not the person. If he accidentally made some strange promise, even Chen Li himself would be in trouble. It had to be recovered immediately after use.
"..."
"What's wrong? That look on your face... Don't tell me you were planning to trick me and had no intention of actually honoring the agreement?" Chen Li looked at Mobius suspiciously.
"Of course not. I, Mobius, am a woman of my word."
"Good." Chen Li nodded and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"To make money for you. What a sin..."
"Dr. Mobius, why do you look unhappy?" Elysia only approached Mobius after Chen Li had left.
"I'm not unhappy. With a major backer like him, the lab's budget problems are solved. I was just thinking..." Mobius's brow furrowed.
"Thinking about what?" Elysia asked curiously.
"No, it's nothing." Mobius truly had no intention of breaking the contract. However, she had just realized something.
Suppose—and this was just a supposition—she were to experiment on herself. What then?
Would she count as an experimental product she herself had created?
And as it happened, Mobius had always been in the habit of experimenting on herself first to see the effects before trying it on others.
"It... probably won't come to that, right?"