Knock, knock...
In the early morning, a long-unheard knocking sound echoed in Mobius's laboratory.
As the First Laboratory, which boasted such illustrious titles as the 'Demon's Nest,' the 'Forbidden Zone of Death,' and the 'Serpent's Den,' it rarely had visitors who knocked.
Because all the researchers here could open the door themselves.
Mobius's icy voice rang out. "Danzhu, get the door."
"Yes." Receiving the order, the usual live wire didn't dare to delay and immediately got up.
Upon opening the door, Danzhu saw a pink-haired pixie and a white-haired, iceberg of a man.
"Sis Elysia? Big Bro Kevin? What are you doing here?" Danzhu's expression instantly soured, and she cast a wary glance back at the Doctor.
Her meaning was clear: if they were looking for the Doctor, now was really not a good time.
Even though today was the Doctor's birthday.
It had also been ten days since Fu Li's death.
"We're here to deliver something."
Elysia wasn't fooling around like she usually did. She led Kevin past Danzhu and came to a stop in front of Mobius's desk.
They just stood there, but Mobius acted as if she didn't see them, continuing to fiddle with some incomprehensible device.
Silence...
"This is something Li asked me to give to you."
With a sigh, Elysia placed the item down. Seeing that Mobius still had no reaction, she patted the shoulder of Kevin standing beside her.
Before leaving, she noticed that the milk tea on Klein's desk had no pearls, and according to the takeout order, it was half-sugar.
But she clearly remembered that was the flavor Fu Li liked.
As if a thought occurred to her, Elysia said no more.
After Elysia had left, Mobius's hands stopped. Her serpentine eyes turned to Kevin.
"Is there something else?"
"MEI said she wants to perform a comparative analysis on the remains of the Herrscher of Sentience... and also..."
"Tell her to forget it. My little brother's body will be preserved by me, and me alone. No one is to even think of using his cor... his body."
Mobius had no intention of giving Kevin any face. She leaned back in her chair, tilted her head up, and stared at him with calm, narrowed eyes.
The atmosphere in the lab instantly turned rigid. Klein stopped her work, while Danzhu and Cangxuan held their breath.
They had no doubt that the Doctor would actually come to blows with Kevin.
In the end, Kevin left without another word.
After he was gone, Mobius's gaze fell upon the bag. She stared at it for a full three minutes before finally reaching out a hand to open it.
Inside, a wolf plushie with a snake coiled around it lay quietly on top, with a colorful, snake-themed birthday card attached to it.
'Happy Birthday, Mobius! -Li'
And beneath the plushie, a videotape rested silently, causing Mobius's mind to drift back to their very first meeting.
From the moment she was born into this world, she knew that the baby who came out a step after her was her little brother. But... he was only a little brother.
In her eyes, blood ties were nothing more than a fragile bridge.
...
That way of thinking lasted until she was nine years old, when she saw the usually foolish Fu Li step forward to shield her.
That was the first time since her birth that she had felt kindness from another person.
And it was on that day that she heard the earnest boy make a solemn promise.
"Okay. No matter where you go, I will go with you. Until death."
...
Death...
Mobius pressed her lips together. She placed the plushie next to her computer and put the videotape into a cabinet.
It seemed she had no intention of watching it.
As if... it wasn't anything important...
Danzhu wanted to say something, but Cangxuan pushed her back down.
...
That night, Mobius uncharacteristically let everyone leave work early, but she herself stayed behind and went to her room.
She opened a hidden cabinet. Inside, it was filled with all sorts of things of unclear significance.
A snakey throw pillow, a custom snake-themed rifle, a snakey robot vacuum, a snakey soft-backed chair—all sorts of flashy but impractical items.
And in the furthest corner of the cabinet sat a somewhat old video cassette recorder.
It was the first gift Fu Li had ever bought for them, with money he earned from a part-time job when they were ten. He had said they could use it to watch movies when they needed to relax.
But from then until now, they had used it less than three times, and all for science fiction films.
"Sigh... I hope this still works... Did you do this on purpose? Insisting on using this type of tape..."
Mobius sighed, pulling it out. She then went to the laboratory and found a room where it could be played.
The new tape was inserted into the old machine. It fit perfectly. Soon, Fu Li's face appeared on the screen.
[We, too, are fleeting. A so-called happy story, bittersweet, mixed with pain and loss...]
As the familiar song began to play, the Fu Li on screen gave a little wave.
"Hey, Sis..."
"Hmm... how should I put this? I know it's probably not right to not tell you about this, but... I already had a premonition about my fate."
"This isn't something Aponia saw. You know if it were her, she wouldn't have just done nothing."
The young man on the screen seemed a bit reserved. He was talking about his own death, yet his face showed no worry for the future, only the same gentle smile as always.
Perhaps it was fate. At that moment, Fu Li and Mobius's gazes met through the screen, as if they were truly speaking face to face.
"Ah, Sis, I know... you'll probably be sad for a while after I die... maybe? Ah, forget it! There's one thing you need to know!"
"Me? I love your smile the most. Whether it's a threatening smile, a smile to trick me into an experiment, or even your silly drunken smile."
"So, you should smile more. It'd be such a waste otherwise. I mean, you have such a beautiful face, you know? Ehe~♪"
"Flatterer... you'd only dare say things like that in a recording."
Mobius sat on the floor. Watching the boy's teasing words, she forced a stiff smile and picked up the bottle of wine beside her.
She had always hated drinking. It dulled the mind and made her do embarrassing things.
But as the cold liquid flowed down her throat, she felt a sharp, cathartic pain.
The young man's voice continued in her ears, nagging about trivial, domestic things.
Things like, 'Remember to drink a cup of warm milk before bed,' and 'Eat less instant ramen, I've wrapped enough dumplings for you to last a long time'...
He was a nagging little brother, even more of a mother hen than an actual mother.
And besides, who was the older sister here...?
The sorrow that the cold liquor had momentarily driven away came rushing back. At some point, crystal clear drops began to trace paths down her cheeks.
The snake who never cries, shed tears.
Liar... You clearly said... you would stay with me, until death...
The image of the boy on the screen disappeared again and again, and the rewind button on the VCR was pressed again and again.
When the endlessly looping words finally fell silent, Mobius at last leaned back against the sofa and closed her eyes.
From the shadows, Klein's figure slowly emerged. She cleaned up the empty wine bottles on the floor, picked up a blanket, and draped it over the Doctor.
Project Ouroboros...
Klein's expression was complex as she slowly pulled a container from her pocket.
Inside, the other eye of [Śeṣa] was preserved, floating quietly.
If Mobius became mad enough to try and resurrect the dead, then she, the one who was saved, ought to contribute her own strength.
After all, she was the one who was supposed to be lying in the deepest part of the laboratory, wasn't she?
---o---
Author's note:
PS:
Did you notice the little details? Like Klein changing her taste in drinks? smirks~