The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

Life at Fire Moth headquarters was surprisingly peaceful. Aside from occasionally beating up rampaging test subjects at other labs, Lee usually stayed in Mobius's lab, watching her work.

Lee also met Blanca, the other member of Mobius's lab. She was a gentle, blue-haired woman, very well-mannered, a stark contrast to Mobius's gloomy scientist aura.

When Lee truthfully stated her opinion, she received a helpless smile from Blanca and a darker glare from Mobius.

'If you can't speak nicely, I can sew your mouth shut'—Lee felt she had reached level eight Mobius-speak. She could understand her even without words.

But despite Mobius's constant snake-like demeanor, Lee had completely seen through her.

Simply put, she was the type who would still say 'I don't care about you' even if she was burned to ashes – yup, a tsundere.

The biggest proof was that Mobius, who always acted like she didn't care about anything and would throw anyone onto the operating table, had quietly reassigned Blanca to less strenuous and radiation-heavy tasks after she returned from maternity leave.

If only she could share some of that gentleness—Lee, who had been forced to take over Blanca's physical labor, lamented.

"Doctor, you're eating instant noodles again."

When Lee walked into the lab, carrying a Honkai beast carcass for experiments, the smell of instant noodles immediately caught her attention.

As expected, Mobius was slurping noodles while staring at the instrument panel.

As one of Fire Moth's top scientists, this pinnacle of human intellect ate instant noodles every day. It was hard to believe. If Lee hadn't witnessed it herself for months, she wouldn't believe it.

But it was true. Especially after Blanca had a baby and was often absent, Mobius's meals had degenerated to the point where sometimes she didn't even have hot water and had to eat the noodles dry.

"Didn't I get you a cafeteria card? Why are you still eating instant noodles?" Lee sighed, silently taking the noodle cup from Mobius. "Eating this all the time isn't good for your health."

"Cafeteria? Heh, they wouldn't welcome me there." Mobius glanced at Lee, not caring about her lunch being taken away. "I don't have the hobby of eating with people giving me the side-eye. Instant noodles are more convenient."

"The cafeteria has nutritious meals. Just add hot water…"

Lee sighed helplessly. She understood. Whenever she went to the cafeteria and ran into people from other labs, they would describe how insane Mobius was and try to poach her.

When they learned Lee wasn't leaving Mobius's lab and even liked it there, they would look horrified, as if they'd seen a lunatic.

If that was their attitude towards someone willing to stay in her lab, their attitude towards Mobius herself was even more obvious.

It was strange. These scientists were all doing equally crazy experiments, how could they judge each other's morals?

But for Lee, it was a good thing. Others bullying Mobius = Mobius feeling lonely (even if she wouldn't admit it) = a good opportunity to increase affection.

"Fine, I'll prepare your meals from now on."

As the saying goes, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Providing meals was a great way to build goodwill, and Lee wouldn't miss it. "If you need to go out, I'll prepare three days' worth in advance and put it in the lab fridge. You can heat it up when you're hungry."

"Your health is the most important thing, Doctor."

"…" Mobius snorted, not saying anything, and continued her research, seemingly uninterested.

[Target Mobius's affection increased, current affection: 8]

[Current target charging efficiency: 720%]

She was really stubborn, Dr. Mobius~

Lee chuckled, not pointing it out, and leaned on the table, watching Mobius's research data.

For the past six months, she had been diligently building Mobius's affection and actively cooperating with her experiments. With the Charisma buff, she had successfully pried open a corner of Mobius's heart.

Although Mobius would never admit it, the system's affection reading never lied.

Lee had high hopes for Mobius, hoping to get a Fusion Warrior transformation from her eventually.

The Fusion Warrior tech was something Lihua had found in the System Shop long ago, priced at eight figures.

A fusion surgery was more expensive than a Herrscher core, which had shocked Lihua.

Back then, Lihua couldn't afford it, not even close. Now, Lee had enough energy to buy it, but—

Why pay when you can get it for free?

But things had hit a snag halfway through. Initially, Mobius was very enthusiastic about using Lee as a test subject, conducting aggressive experiments. The Fusion Warrior prototype experiment was progressing rapidly.

But as Mobius's affection increased, the experiments became milder, and the progress slowed down.

High affection wasn't always good, Lee hadn't expected that.

There was nothing Lee could do. She couldn't tell Mobius, 'Don't pity me because I'm a flower.'

Mobius would really think she was crazy, and might even suspect she had some weird fetish…

Better to die with honor than live in shame. Lee agreed with that sentiment.

She could die, but not socially die.

Anyway, there was still time. As long as she built up Mobius's affection, she would eventually get it for free~