Elysia merely tilted her head slightly, letting the first cone graze her pink hair and embed itself deep into the wall behind with a "thud."
Her movements looked leisurely and casual.
Immediately after, her figure blurred like a reflection in water, leaving behind a slowly fading pink afterimage.
And the real her had already appeared like a phantom on the other side of the laboratory, taking the bewildered Cyrene along with her.
"Goodness, Doctor Mobius~"
Elysia shielded Cyrene with one hand and put the other on her hip, acting helpless and troubled, "Throwing tantrums will affect your skin condition and make you prone to breakouts, you know? Beautiful girls should always keep a happy mood♪"
"Stay... right there!"
Mobius's voice was cold enough to freeze, and more dark green energy surged around her, turning into countless finer spikes like a raging jungle of thorns, enveloping Elysia and Cyrene and almost sealing off all space for evasion.
However, the smile on Elysia's face didn't change at all; it even became brighter.
"It seems today isn't a good time for an in-depth conversation~ So, Doctor, I'll take care of this cute 'little trouble' for now♪"
The moment her voice fell, her figure, along with Cyrene whom she was holding tightly, turned into a dazzling pink stream of light, faster than the limits of visual capture.
The stream of light ignored the dense energy attacks ahead, as if passing through an illusory curtain, and before the dark green thorns closed, it made a light turn and dashed out through the opening of the door that had been knocked open.
Only her melodic, singing-like tail note, filled with a smile, drifted through the wreckage of the laboratory and echoed clearly in Mobius's ears:
"I'll remember to bring a'souvenir' next time I visit—perhaps a sturdier door? See you later, my dear Mobius♪"
The voice drifted away, leaving only the destroyed door, the wreckage on the floor, the energy cones nailed to the wall, and Mobius standing in the center of the ruins with a face so gloomy it was practically dripping water.
She looked at the empty operating table and the vanished pink stream of light, slowly taking off her dust-covered lab gloves.
"...E-ly-si-a."
She pronounced the name word by word, and deep within her light green eyes, a dark light surged, even more intense than before.
She had marked this grudge.
Stellaron Hunters Base
Data slowly converged, and Kafka's elegant figure solidified again in the teleportation area.
The calm and mysterious smile she wore when facing the Astral Express Crew had faded, replaced by a hint of confusion.
"How was it? Did you recite all the 'lines' smoothly?"
Silver Wolf didn't even look up, her fingers tapping rapidly on another screen, seemingly finishing the game match that had been interrupted earlier, her tone casual.
Kafka walked to a small bar counter nearby, poured herself a small glass of amber liquid, gently swirled the glass with her fingertips, and didn't answer immediately.
She was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, "The script was completed. But... the audience's reaction was a bit strange."
"Ha!"
Silver Wolf finally stopped her movements and turned her chair, her face full of "I've been wanting to say this," "How is that 'a bit' strange? It's a huge problem, okay!"
She counted on her fingers, speaking rapidly, "First, who was the most active in responding and making decisions? It was that bartender robot, shut up, that usually only tells cold jokes! Its presence in the conversation today almost rivaled Welt's! Is that reasonable?"
Kafka took a sip of wine and nodded.
She had noticed this too; the performance of shut up was far beyond its usual self, even giving the impression of a real person.
"And then,"
Silver Wolf continued to complain, "That March 7th! She's usually either giggling or taking photos, looking like she has nothing but pink in her head. But today? She looked boisterous, but didn't miss a single key point, and don't even get me started on Himeko, she was sleepwalking the whole time!"
"Indeed,"
Kafka put down her wine glass, tapped her chin with her fingertips, and fell into thought, "It feels like..."
"Like what?" Silver Wolf pressed.
Kafka pondered, trying to find an accurate metaphor: "Like a group of skilled actors who, during an impromptu performance, took each other's scripts by mistake."
Silver Wolf shrugged and casually added, "What other reason could there be? It can't really be like those third-rate novels where they collectively swapped souls, right?"
She said this in a completely teasing tone, with a playful smile on her face.
However, as soon as the words left her mouth, she froze for a moment.
Kafka also looked up at her, a sharp light flashing in her violet eyes.
The air between the two suddenly went quiet for a few seconds.
The smile on Silver Wolf's face gradually stiffened; she blinked and slowly repeated in disbelief, "No... way... right?"
She shook her head violently, trying to shake off the thought, "Wait, this doesn't make sense! Even if they could swap between themselves, what about that robot, shut up? Where would it get a soul to swap with? You can't just replace an operating system with antivirus software, right?"
Kafka, however, wore a meaningful expression; she nodded slightly, signaling Silver Wolf to continue thinking.
Silver Wolf frowned, her fingers unconsciously tapping in the air as if operating an invisible console, "Machina... soul... tsk, if it were a normal robot, it definitely wouldn't have one. But that's the Astral Express, heaven knows what's inside, maybe even..."
The more she thought about it, the more her scalp tingled. Finally, she shook her head vigorously, messing up her gray bangs, "Ugh! Forget it! I'm not thinking about it anymore, my CPU is going to burn out! Anyway, the message Elio asked us to pass on has been delivered, and the coordinates for the Xianzhou Luofu have been given. How they choose to proceed is the Astral Express Crew's own business. Our mission is complete, right?"
She looked at Kafka, seeking confirmation.
Kafka drank the remaining wine in her glass in one gulp. Beneath her elegant posture, the trace of doubt in her eyes did not completely dissipate. "Yes, mission complete."
She looked out at the boundless starry sky outside the window and added softly, "As for what exactly happened to the Astral Express Crew... as long as it doesn't affect the trajectory of the future, it has nothing to do with us for now. I hope we're just overthinking it."
Elysian Realm Hall
The atmosphere here was completely different from that of the Stellaron Hunters; the Elysian Realm Hall was more like a scene of curious toddlers watching rare animals.
Cyrene sat upright on a soft sofa, her back straight, her hands placed neatly on her joined knees. Her azure eyes were cast down, staring at the pattern on a small patch of floor in front of her feet, feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles.
She could clearly feel several gazes scanning back and forth over her, filled with undisguised curiosity.
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