Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers

"Seriously, this is the Fire Moth headquarters. What kind of assassin would be so bold as to launch an assassination attempt here!" Elysia said, cutting a piece from a peeled apple.

Michael leaned back on the hospital bed, his right arm in a bandage. Instinctively, he opened his mouth, seeking to be fed.

Elysia picked up the piece of fruit, hesitated for a moment, and then stuffed it into her own mouth, chewing it fiercely, as if she was treating the apple like the assassin.

Michael smacked his lips, feeling a little embarrassed.

But then, a piece of fruit was roughly shoved into his mouth.

Elysia glared at Mobius:

"Doctor, are you that free right now!"

After saying that, she didn't forget to secretly take a strawberry from the fruit basket and throw it into her mouth.

"Of course, I'm not free. I have a lot of work to do."

While wearing a faint smile, she cut off a slice of apple and commanded,

"Open your mouth!"

Michael looked at Ellie innocently. Before she could say anything, he obediently opened his mouth.

The doctor's technique was as rough as always. The fruit was shoved into his mouth, scratching his mucous membrane painfully.

Since their last conversation, Mobius had started to look at him in a different light. His status was no longer that of a lab rat but had been upgraded to that of a like-minded collaborator.

She had even started to care about his private life.

She had rushed over as soon as she heard he was injured, and she had happened to run into Ellie.

Hmm… actually, Dr. Mobius wasn't bad either. She was good in every way, but her words were a bit harsh.

Never mind, Ellie was still gentler…

"Crunch…" Michael heard someone grinding their teeth.

"I take back what I said about gentleness…" Michael secretly retracted his previous thought.

"What I mean by busy is that I have a lot of work to do, but no one said that I have to do all the work myself." Mobius said, chewing on her fingernails.

"Is it that new assistant?" Michael quickly interjected.

What Blanka had said about disguising herself as Blanka before the assassination wasn't a lie.

Perhaps it was because it was spring, and everything was… Anyway, Aunt Blanka had been seeing Ato a lot recently, and there was a huge pile of work that Mobius had to do herself.

One day, Dr. Mobius, with dark circles under her eyes, suddenly looked up from the pile of reports:

"I'm going to fire Blanka!"

So, Aunt Blanka had to leave her beloved doctor, half happy and half sad – happy because she had finally left the doctor who routinely deducted her salary for research expenses, and sad because she couldn't take leave for dates in other departments.

"Yes, Klein is much better than Blanka. Hehe, although she doesn't really understand some of my research, she'll try her best to complete whatever I ask her to do… Oh, speaking of which, you don't have to chase her away if you sneak into my lab in the future."

For some reason, even though Mobius looked like a mature woman, whenever she turned her pupils and glanced at Elysia intentionally or unintentionally, Michael would always think of that little Mobius from the future, who was just as stubborn.

Michael smiled nonchalantly. "It's okay. Ellie knows about everything between you and me."

Hearing that, Mobius looked at Elysia, whose cheeks were puffed out and who was glaring at her, as if re-evaluating the importance of this woman.

"The topic has been derailed. Um, weren't we talking about the assassination problem just now?"

Taking advantage of the two women's momentary silence, Michael quickly took control of the topic, forcefully pulling it back on track from the path it was about to veer off.

"There's nothing we can do. The official news is naturally blaming it on Vill-V, that escaped wanted criminal. Who asked her to jump around so much before? But the truth is…"

Mobius quickly glanced at the corridor outside the ward. There was no one outside, the door was closed, and the soundproofing was good. Otherwise, she wouldn't have mentioned Michael coming to the lab here.

But even so, she leaned forward and said softly, "Do you remember the Poison Cocoons that were exposed by that madwoman Vill-V before?"

Michael showed a puzzled expression at the right time.

"Actually, it's normal for large organizations like the Fire Moth to have some unknown departments. These departments are just a string of numbers on the expense reports. But since even I, one of the original founders of the Fire Moth, don't know the situation of the 'Poison Cocoons,' then you two should understand the danger of this department."

"This matter is full of oddities." Elysia finally finished all the fruit in the basket, not leaving a single one for Michael. "If the higher-ups of the Fire Moth suspect Michael, then they can naturally investigate him openly. Why use assassination? But if it wasn't… could it be that the Poison Cocoons acted on their own? Would anyone really forge a weapon that doesn't obey their orders?"

"It's hard to say. Not everyone is as smart as me." Mobius said shamelessly. "But you reminded me. When the organization was first founded… there was one person who, based on his qualifications, should have become a high-ranking member of the Fire Moth, but I heard that he had committed some kind of mistake and was forced to retire…"

Michael raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Ellie. She had rarely frowned, and the smile on her face had also disappeared.

"But still, as I was saying," Mobius tapped the metal railing of the hospital bed with her fingernail. She was very dissatisfied with the way the two of them were flirting with each other. "If the Poison Cocoons had decisive evidence, then they could have made the evidence public and dealt with you through normal procedures. But since they chose assassination, it means they lack evidence. That's right, only a thorough physical examination can prove that you're a Herrscher, and I've modified your physical examination report, so they shouldn't find any problems and wouldn't dare to touch you easily… By the way, when you faced that assassin, you wouldn't have been so useless that you had to use your Herrscher powers, right?"

Although the tone was a question, Mobius was very sure in her heart. She had watched the battle recordings of Michael in the simulation training room. She could only say that he was indeed a Herrscher. Even without using those unreasonable powers, his physical fitness, reaction speed, and the fighting skills he had gained through hard training weren't something that ordinary people could easily achieve.

If the Poison Cocoons really had such a strong warrior, Phamas would have definitely brought her to the front lines.

"Mm…" Michael nodded. "I used my Herrscher powers, but the camera inside the interrogation room was destroyed at the time."

"?" Mobius looked at Michael in disbelief. Even Elysia widened her eyes, almost writing the words "outrageous" on her face.

"Don't look at me like that." Michael was a little embarrassed by their stares.

"That girl…"

"Which girl?"

"Which girl?"

Elysia and Mobius were in sync for once.

"It was the assassin. She… her swordsmanship was very strong. Without a weapon, I could only use my powers to protect myself."

"How old is that girl?" Ellie asked. Mobius didn't speak, but she was clearly very concerned about this question.

"No, that's not right!"

Before Michael could answer, Mobius suddenly slapped his right leg, and then Elysia also reacted and slapped Michael's left leg. The two attacks came at the same time, making the victim grimace in pain.

"If you exposed your Herrscher powers, why are you still lying here now?"

"That girl is a bit special."

Michael believed in Sakura. No matter what, he remembered one sentence – there were no traitors among the thirteen Flame-Chasers.

And the way Sakura had stopped so strangely, the way she had asked that question, made Michael feel that she wasn't just a weapon.

She had her own thoughts and her own judgment.

Of course, there was also the possibility that he had made the wrong bet. The meaning of "there are no traitors among the Flame-Chasers" was that all the Flame-Chasers were on the path of fighting against the Honkai.

Then, as a Herrscher, was Michael considered to be part of the Honkai or a person fighting against the Honkai?

So, he was waiting now. If he ran away directly, wouldn't that confirm the Poison Cocoons' suspicions?

But this time, could he get away with it?

"By the way, Mobius, what happened with Vill-V in the end?"

Mobius glanced at Elysia, feeling annoyed by her lack of respect when addressing her.

"The Third and Fourth Squads went to handle it, but, well, I heard that they were assigned other missions as soon as they left the base. According to Phamas, they're both fighting against the Honkai. As long as that person doesn't invade the Fire Moth again and doesn't spread information that's detrimental to the Fire Moth, then there's no need to force her capture – mainly because there are too many backlogged tasks. The Fire Moth's enemy is ultimately the Honkai."

"Knock knock knock…"

The sound of knocking on the door rang out.