["Through inquiries with several staff members, Stelle learns that there is a figure named "Cheese Lava Heart" who holds tremendous influence among the staff."]
["He himself is Ms. Ruan Mei's number-one follower and has gathered a large group of people at the space station who respect and adore Ruan Mei. Moreover, this "lord" is not someone one can meet just by wanting to—only by approaching with utmost devotion and plastering "love" all over the places Ms. Ruan Mei has passed by will this lord deign to appear."]
["Although it feels a bit perverted, this elusive "Cheese Lava Heart" has indeed piqued Stelle's interest. After covering an area Ruan Mei once passed through with love notes, Stelle really does sense movement behind her."]
["She turns around and sees an unidentified creature resembling a siu mai jumping onto the table, letting out adorable "woof woof woof" sounds."]
[""Uh… this guy…" Stelle's mind blanks for a moment. "Is this one of the little lives Ruan Mei cultivated?""]
["From who-knows-where, a staff member appears beside her and bows respectfully toward the "siu mai": "We pay respects to Cheese Lava Heart!""]
["Stelle: "?""]
["Noticing that Stelle is still standing there dumbfounded without showing any respect, the staff member hurriedly urges her: "You! What are you standing there for? Oh, you can't understand the lord's language? No problem—we specially prepared a synesthesia beacon just for situations like this!""]
["After activating the special synesthesia beacon, Stelle indeed understands the siu mai's language. It hops around proudly and excitedly: "Wakaka—I am a genius! A genius among geniuses!""]
—
Fullmetal Alchemist.
"How is this even possible? Her creations not only possess souls but also intelligence…"
Edward stares at the "siu mai" on the Celestial Screen in disbelief. This little lifeform clearly has nothing to do with "human," yet it displays human emotions and ways of thinking. Even with just this one achievement—Ms. Ruan Mei would undoubtedly be hailed as a supreme scholar across the continent.
"Brother, 'equivalent exchange' is only the law of our alchemy. In the far broader universe, perhaps they don't have to follow that principle," Alphonse reminds him from the side in a timely manner.
"I know, but the composition of life isn't just material. What's more important is the 'soul.'" Edward pushes open the window and gazes at the two pots of fresh flowers on the windowsill. "If it were plants I wouldn't be surprised, but the biggest difference between plants and animals is the soul—Ms. Ruan Mei being able to create intelligent life means she has deconstructed the 'soul.'"
At this point, both brothers fall into silence at the same time. The wounds engraved on their souls from childhood begin to ache faintly again.
Back then, in order to resurrect their mother, they performed human transmutation. They gathered all the material components needed to build a human body, but they never realized that the weight of a soul was far beyond what the two of them could bear—ultimately becoming the source of their brothers' tragedy.
"Brother, do you think there's a possibility?"
Alphonse suddenly asks: "What if Ms. Ruan Mei didn't 'create' a soul for this little creature, but instead extracted a human soul and placed it inside this little animal?"
"Impossible." Edward instinctively denies it. "Doing that would make her no different from that guy who turned his own daughter into a chimera. Ms. Herta would absolutely never collaborate with someone like that."
"Besides, Alphonse… aren't you underestimating the members of the Genius Society a bit too much? For a lady who wants to become an [Aeon], 'creating life' is probably the least noteworthy achievement among her accomplishments—you can see the staff members' faces show absolutely no surprise. They must be used to it by now, right?"
—
["After Stelle deactivates the synesthesia beacon, Cheese Lava Heart's voice turns back into "woof woof woof.""]
["The staff member beside her simply starts acting as its translator, speaking in a pinched voice: "Cheese Lava Heart says: 'Ms. Ruan Mei has finally recognized this genius!'""]
[""There is a kind of longing called 'creator.' To the world, you are just one person, but to me, you are the entire world—ah! Ms. Ruan Mei!""]
[""…""]
["Stelle rubs her forehead. Hearing this delusional love quote directed at Ruan Mei makes her head buzz."]
["Seeing that Stelle shows no reaction after listening, the staff member's face also turns serious. He crosses his arms and begins to suspect Stelle's identity, thinking that not only does she show no devotion to Cheese Lava Heart, she might even be a spy from the Red Bean Ash Ash faction."]
[""You heartless little pastry." Stelle crosses her arms and looks at it coldly."]
["This remark startles the staff member. He explains that although Cheese Lava Heart appears full of passion, it is actually very delicate on the inside. It has been competing with Red Bean Ash Ash in flavor all along, solely to win Ms. Ruan Mei's approval."]
[""But there's one thing I don't understand. Cheese Lava Heart-sama is so outstanding—why hasn't it received Ms. Ruan Mei's approval? It really yearns for her love…""]
[""What kind of love?""]
[""I don't know either! I don't even know where the edge of the universe is—how would I know what 'love' is?""]
—
Delicious in Dungeon.
Marcille clutches her staff tightly, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper. Watching Cheese Lava Heart hopping around in front of the staff member, the elf's long ears twitch uneasily: "Mmm… I feel like what Ms. Ruan Mei is doing isn't quite right…"
"She doesn't seem to care at all about these little guys' mental state? It feels so pitiful."
"For Ruan Mei, even though they are lives she created, they are still failures—if she poured too much emotion into failed products too frequently, she probably wouldn't have achieved what she has today, right?" Chilchuck says while organizing his backpack.
Marcille puffs out her cheeks: "…You make it sound like Ms. Ruan Mei is some cold-blooded person."
"That kind of thing isn't important at all, is it? If they're failures…" Senshi pulls a gleaming sharp knife from his pack. "Just eat them. I think those little guys look a lot like food too—they seem to have been cultivated to resemble pastries. The flavor should be quite good."
"Hey hey hey! How can you eat them!? They're so cute! And they have intelligence, they can think, they can talk! No matter how you look at it, they don't seem edible, right?"
"Is having intelligence the reason they can't be eaten?" Senshi takes out pre-dried slimes and begins slicing them into pieces in preparation for cooking. "There are plenty of monsters like this in the dungeon—we've eaten quite a few."
Senshi slows his hands slightly: "We still don't know whether creatures like Cheese Lava Heart can reproduce. If they can, we could even cordon off a section of the space station as a dedicated breeding lab… Being able to make practical use of these experimental failures would feel pretty good, wouldn't it?"