Chapter 109: Thoughts of the Heart
"Kl... Klein?" Mobius's voice carried an indescribable tone, perhaps even sounding a little fragile.
Nuwa and Fuxi looked at each other; they had truly never seen Mobius speak in such a tone before.
It seemed that Dr. Mobius did indeed miss Senior Klein. After all, even though she had made a puppet to find some comfort, it was not the person herself, and the regret had always remained.
"It is me, Doctor." Klein looked at the photo album, gazing at the portrait of Mobius upon it. "Are you... doing well?"
"...I am doing very well; I couldn't be better." Mobius's voice seemed to return to its usual state. "So, Klein, your situation should be the same as that kitten from the parallel world, right?"
However, even though Mobius tried her best to conceal her agitation, Irene, Little Corruption, and the two sisters to the side exchanged glances, smiles appearing on their faces.
Even if Mobius tried her best to feign calmness, how could Nuwa and Fuxi, who had been in contact with Mobius for so long, not hear the trembling in her words?
As for Irene and Little Corruption, one understood Mobius extremely well, and the other had made this photo album and had long since been monitoring Mobius via the Corruption virus.
The Mobius in the laboratory was not nearly as calm as her tone suggested.
"That should be the case, Doctor." Klein nodded, and finally looked at Mobius very naturally, asking, "Do you need me to come over to work?"
"...No need to come over for now. You stay over there and help Irene." Mobius took a deep breath. "I am currently in the Realm, and you... Irene."
"What do you need me for?" Irene looked down at Mobius's photo. "Actually, I could snap this photo right now and pull you over."
"Don't you really want to come and take a look?"
"Isn't this photo very precious? Using it in such a place would be too wasteful, Lab Rat." Mobius looked at the photo in her hand, suppressing the urge to agree. "I haven't reached the point where I absolutely must see Klein."
"Really? I might not have time to come to your place recently, you know." Irene's tempting voice came from the other end of the photo. "Do you really not want to meet the living Klein?"
"There is no need. Klein, you stay there and collect current data from the outside world. I am very interested in the situation outside. You know what you need to do. That is all."
Mobius flung the photo in her hand away, completely severing the connection. She took a deep breath. Did she not want to see Klein? She did, but...
Mobius was somewhat afraid. Yes, Mobius felt that she was actually afraid—afraid to see Klein. Why? Mobius didn't know.
Was she afraid of getting an answer from Klein? Was it because of her that Klein became the Herrscher of the Legion? Or was it... that to make up for her regret, she had actually created the puppet Klein to find some comfort?
Or perhaps both.
Mobius placed her hand over her chest. Although her body was made of digitized memory, at this moment, she could actually feel a trace of stinging pain coming from her heart.
"Klein, Klein..."
Outside the laboratory, the puppet Klein heard the commotion and walked in holding a tablet, looking at Mobius: "Was the Doctor calling me?"
Hearing Klein's voice, Mobius's body suddenly trembled. After taking a deep breath, Mobius turned her head to look at Klein.
"Is something wrong, Doctor?" The puppet Klein looked at Mobius. "This is the experimental data report you asked me to do. The components of the reagent have been completely analyzed."
The puppet Klein hadn't finished speaking when she was interrupted by Mobius: "Alright, give me the things and you go out first."
"Okay, Doctor." Although Klein felt it was somewhat strange that the Doctor seemed a bit irritable, she only needed to serve the Doctor. She directly handed the tablet to the Doctor, then turned and left to continue the reagent analysis.
Mobius looked at the tablet in her hand, wanting to calm down and focus her energy on researching the reagent. After all, this reagent was also very important right now.
But Mobius, who could clearly shut out all distractions during research, could not stop her gaze from drifting toward the photo at this moment.
"Sigh." Mobius looked at the reagent analysis in her hand. It would be better for her to quiet down properly. But just as Mobius sat down, that photo suddenly snapped.
A suction force directly pulled Mobius in, while Little Corruption's voice rang out:
"Dr. Mobius, it's better to come and meet her, right? Don't miss out on such a long-held regret."
"I! Little Corruption, Irene!!!" Mobius couldn't resist that suction force at all, or perhaps, Mobius simply hadn't wanted to resist. She was sucked in just like that.
When the view before her returned to brightness...
Back in the lab, Klein, hearing the commotion outside and feeling somewhat uneasy, walked in. But by then, Mobius's voice was no longer in the laboratory. Klein tilted her head.
"Doctor?"
"Doctor." Hearing the call, Mobius opened her eyes and looked at Klein standing in front of her.
"Klein..." Mobius looked at Klein and pursed her lips. She pretended not to care as she looked up at the others who were hiding far away. "So, which one of you pulled me over?"
Being stared at by Mobius, Irene and Little Corruption instantly pointed their fingers at each other.
"It was her idea!" x2
Mobius looked at these two fellows accusing each other, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. She knew that if it was Little Corruption, who was a replica of Elysia, she could indeed do such a thing.
But Irene was probably no good bird either; this guy was likely a partner in crime.
"Cough, cough." Irene cleared her throat twice and looked at Mobius. "Dr. Mobius, I admit we pulled you over, and it might be a slight waste of resources, but I feel it is truly necessary."
"There is absolutely no necessity." Mobius looked at Irene, while Klein stood diagonally behind Mobius very naturally. "How is this kind of thing necessary?"
"Of course it is." Irene looked at Mobius. "Don't let any regret become a blockage in your heart. A bond that has finally returned to your side should be cherished properly."
"You must realize that all the words you once wanted to say to her—you never had the chance. Opportunities don't appear forever."
Not everyone can get what they wish for, and not everyone can be without regrets. When one's friends and family die, how many people dare to say they have no regrets?
If there is a chance, missing it isn't a good option, is it?
"..." Mobius looked at Irene and fell into silence. Subsequently, she turned her head with incomparable proficiency to look at Klein's eyes from an angle she hadn't used in a long time.
It was proficient yet somewhat unfamiliar. How long had it been since she used this angle to look back at the assistant and companion who would always follow behind her?
The puppet Klein was ultimately not Klein. Leaving aside other things, the height difference between her and Klein was significant. Mobius thought she had long since grown accustomed to the puppet Klein's height.
She was used to the posture of looking down at the small puppet, and the way the puppet looked up at her. But now, Mobius suddenly realized that she seemed to have never forgotten this posture of looking back.
This was not right. Her time with the puppet Klein had approached over 50,000 years. The movements of communicating with the puppet Klein had also been performed for over 50,000 years. She should have long been accustomed to that posture.
Yet clearly, Klein had only accompanied her for less than a few years, and hadn't even walked with her to the end. Why was this movement so unforgettable?
"Is there a problem, Doctor?" Klein looked at Mobius. After thinking for a moment, she skillfully fished out a pack of bubble wrap from behind her. "Does the Doctor need to pinch this for a while?"
Looking at that bubble wrap, the corners of Mobius's mouth twitched slightly. She turned her head and immediately looked at those spectators. The two sisters turned around with exceptional self-awareness, as if there was something particularly good-looking in the pitch-black boundary behind them.
The Cat (Pardofelis), having sensed danger long ago, immediately shrank to the side of Kallen and Lixue, pulling them into a chat, adopting a posture of 'I have nothing to do with this matter.'
Only Irene and Little Corruption, those two fellows, were still looking over with faces full of interest. After Mobius looked over, Little Corruption even made a 'fighting' gesture toward Mobius.
"Two bastards. Next time I definitely have to make those two lie on my operating table." Mobius muttered to herself, then decisively pushed away the bubble wrap Klein handed over.
"I no longer need this kind of thing to divert my attention. Tell me, Klein, what happened in your world?"
Klein nodded, and then recounted the story she had told Irene and the others earlier to Mobius again.
"It turned out to be just that." Mobius seemed to laugh out of anger. "A tiny bit of reaction time. Heh, did I lack just that little bit of time?"
Mobius looked at Nuwa and Fuxi. Of course, she didn't wish that back then, Nuwa and Fuxi had truly blocked a blade for her like in Klein's story.
But she also understood that given the state of those two at that time, if they wanted to block the Herrscher of the Legion, they probably could only take two hits. The Herrscher of the Legion, no matter what, was still a Herrscher.
And in Klein's narrative, it seemed those two discovered Klein's actions and lunged at her. Subsequently, each took a hit and was directly pierced through the abdomen by Klein, who then continued to rush toward Mobius.
Yes, it was just one move. At most, it took a little effort to throw those two aside, but that time probably wasn't even two seconds.
And she, surprisingly, could have reacted with just those two seconds of time difference. Two seconds... In the infinity she pursued, two seconds was merely the simplest footnote.
And just because of those two seconds, she would either lose her sympathizer or lose her two assistants. Why couldn't she herself possess those two seconds to save everyone?
And that version of herself, in order to keep Klein from leaving her, went so far as to defy all dissenting opinions to save Klein, even stuffing all the Herrscher of the Legion Cores into Klein's body.
'Defying all dissenting opinions'—Klein said it simply.
But after experiencing the matter with Rin, how could Mobius not know? Just how much did that version of herself endure for this so-called 'defying all dissenting opinions'?
"Heh." Mobius shook her head. Forget it. What meaning was there in knowing this now?
Mobius looked at Klein: "Then let it be like this, Klein. Just as I said just now, you follow her first. I need data on the Honkai from the outside."
"You know what to do, right?"
"Understood, Dr. Mobius." Klein nodded skillfully. It was just work; she was long used to it, even if she had now become a Herrscher.
But she still needed work to numb herself—or rather, to numb herself into believing she was still making contributions to humanity, using this to escape the guilt in her heart.
Even now, here, it was the same. She already knew Irene and the others' purpose, and Dr. Mobius had given her orders, so nothing had changed.
There was no difference, and no difference was needed. This was just work she needed to handle. Just work.
"Mm." Mobius nodded, then maneuvered her floating chair to drift toward Irene and Little Corruption. "Send me back. That is all I have to say."
"Is that really all?" Irene asked, looking at Mobius. "If you don't say it this time, it will probably be even harder to open your mouth next time."
"I said I have finished saying what I have to say." Mobius looked at Irene and spoke, enunciating every word. "Now put me back. That's it."
"Alright, you're the boss. If you want to chat next time, remember to borrow someone else's account." Irene waved her hand at Mobius. Subsequently, Mobius's body began to gradually disintegrate.
At the moment of disintegration, Mobius looked back at Klein one last time and finally let out a deep sigh. Fortunately, by the time she let out this sigh, her body had completely decomposed; only she herself heard this sigh.
She ultimately still lacked the courage to ask Klein why she became a Herrscher back then, and why she chose to kill her.
Let it be like this. She didn't need to know the answer because she was Mobius. She didn't need to ask because she was Klein. So, let it be like this.
Irene shrugged as she watched Mobius leave, then reached out her hand to Klein: "Please take care of me from now on, Miss Klein."
Klein reached out and shook Irene's hand: "I will, Miss Irene. If possible, you can give me more work."
"Mm, I shouldn't have that much work on my side." Irene shook her head. Looking at Klein, Irene still opened her mouth to ask:
"You should know that Mobius still has questions she hasn't asked, right? Aren't you curious?"
"No need." Klein shook her head. "The Doctor is very smart. So if she doesn't want to ask, it must be because she knows the answer to the question. Because she is Dr. Mobius."
I'm afraid it's not that she knows the answer, but that she fears knowing the answer, Irene thought as she looked at Klein, shaking her head. However, she couldn't force Mobius either.
But I've stayed in the consciousness space for too long. Time to go back. I wonder how their chat is going now?
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉