A cold sensation spread from Cyrene's spine to her limbs. She was firmly bound to the gleaming, specially designed "operating table" in the center of Mobius's laboratory.
Her pale white wrists and ankles were locked by dark green energy cuffs. The slightest movement made her feel the contained restraining field.
Mobius had already put on a pair of thin, form-fitting experimental gloves. Her fingertips, with their inhuman coolness, slowly traced along Cyrene's arm, as if evaluating a precision instrument about to be disassembled.
"Ugh…"
Cyrene couldn't help but shiver, her body instinctively tensing.
She closed her eyes, her heart filled with bitter confusion.
(What is going on… Released from the Golden Descendants' confinement, I thought I would gain freedom, but I've only fallen from one predicament into another trouble?)
It ultimately turned into a self-mocking sigh.
Then she opened her azure eyes and looked at Mobius, who was observing her with interest, trying to make her voice sound calmer: "Doctor Mobius? Don't you want to know about the outside world, about Amphoreus and the Path? I can tell you, tell you everything, without any reservations! Really! Just… let me go, okay?"
Her tone carried a plea and a hint of tremor.
"Tell me? Tell me everything?"
Mobius tilted her head, her light green eyes sparkling under the cold light. She smiled sweetly, but her voice was icy, "A very tempting offer, little butterfly. But words are hollow, Remembrance can be faked, emotions can be disguised. How do I know if your 'everything' is the 'everything' I want to hear? Or if it's a 'script'… prepared for you in advance by certain people?"
She straightened up and turned to a trolley filled with various strange instruments. Her fingers lingered over a row of glowing syringes, sensor patches connected by thin wires, and complex helmet devices, as if choosing the most suitable tool.
"So, to ensure authenticity,"
Mobius said, her back to Cyrene, her tone as gentle as if coaxing a child, "we still need a little… auxiliary means. Don't worry, it might cause a slight dizziness, but for science, this price is worth it, right?"
Cyrene's heart sank to rock bottom.
She began to struggle fiercely, pressing her wrists and ankles against the cuffs, but the restraints didn't budge. Instead, they tightened slightly due to her resistance, bringing a clearer sense of oppression.
The power within her, already largely sealed with Madam Herta's help, was only enough to maintain her form and basic activities. Now, it was like stagnant water in a deep pool, completely unable to be mobilized.
Despair coiled around her like icy vines.
(Is anyone there… Someone… Madam Herta… Can you see this? Please…)
Just as Mobius selected a device with numerous probes at its front and turned around, humming an off-key tune—
Thump, thump, thump!
Heavy, urgent, and increasingly close running sounds, like a drumbeat, came from outside the laboratory's thick metal door, clearly penetrating the well-insulated walls.
Mobius's movements paused, her leisurely expression instantly vanished, and her brows furrowed.
(What's that noise? What are those guys outside up to now?)
She put down the device in her hand and, with annoyance at being disturbed, quickly walked to the door, tilting her ear to discern the source of the noise.
The moment her ear almost touched the door panel—
"Boom—!!!"
A deafening roar, far exceeding a "thump," suddenly erupted!
The alloy sealed door, capable of resisting conventional attacks, was instantly twisted and deformed as if hit head-on by a high-speed starship. Then, with a piercing howl, it ripped directly from its frame and flew inward like a cannonball!
And Mobius, standing behind the door, only had time for the rapidly expanding metal shadow to be reflected in her pupils—
**
"Bang—Crash!!!"
She was firmly slammed between the door panel and the wall behind her, embedded with the door, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Cyrene lay on the operating table, dumbfounded by the sudden, lightning-fast change, her mouth slightly agape, completely losing her ability to react.
Before the dust settled, an incredibly swift pink afterimage shot in through the gaping hole, the airflow it created rustling the papers in the laboratory.
The afterimage barely paused, rushing directly to the side of the operating table.
Cyrene only felt a blur before her eyes, and the energy cuffs binding her wrists and ankles made a few faint "click" sounds, their light dimming as they automatically unlocked.
Immediately after, a pair of warm and strong hands gently supported her shoulders, helping her sit up.
"Are you alright? My lovely lost girl ♪?"
A voice as sweet as bells rang in her ear.
Cyrene looked up, feeling a bit dazed, and saw an exceedingly beautiful face very close to hers.
Long pink hair, crystal-clear blue eyes, now filled with smiles and a sparkle like seeing a precious treasure.
This face… inexplicably gave her a deep sense of familiarity and closeness, like looking into a slightly different mirror, yet the other person's vibrant and radiant aura was completely different from her own.
"I… I'm fine…"
Cyrene answered instinctively, then found her voice, filled with the daze and gratitude of surviving a calamity, "Um… thank you… you are…?"
"I am—"
The pink-haired girl had just bloomed into a brilliant smile, ready to introduce herself.
"E—LY—SIA—!!!"
A sinister growl, almost squeezed through clenched teeth, came from the direction of the door panel wreckage.
Suddenly, viscous dark green liquid spread across the twisted metal door, quickly melting a large hole in it.
Mobius's somewhat disheveled figure emerged from the hole.
Her white lab coat was covered in dust, and her slightly curly green hair was messy, with a few strands clinging to her forehead.
Her light green eyes were now dangerously narrowed, fixed on Elysia by the operating table, her gaze practically wanting to slice her into pieces and put her in a petri dish.
Elysia seemed to just notice that there was someone else there. She turned sideways, a surprised expression on her face as if encountering an acquaintance: "Oh~! Isn't this our clever and charming Doctor Mobius? What are you doing here? And… playing hide-and-seek with the door in such a creative way ♪?"
Her tone was sweet, with an upward lilt at the end, carrying undisguised mockery.
"You—!"
Mobius was so angry that her breathing hitched. Too annoyed to speak, she simply raised her hand.
Dozens of sharp dark green energy cones instantly condensed in the laboratory air, their tips gleaming with an ominous light, like venomous snakes ready to devour, all aimed at Elysia and Cyrene.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"
The cones shot out, tearing through the air.
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