"..."
"..."
"...You really are scum, you know."
Mobius's assessment was as heart-stabbing as ever, but Jun An could only shamefully admit it.
He conceded that the idea—as long as he hadn't gone all the way, it didn't count as lusting after her beauty—was, in hindsight, somewhat brainless.
"Forget it. Seeing as you're back, I'll forgive you." Mobius sighed faintly, lamenting Jun An's denseness deep down, but still asked curiously, "By the way, how did you come back? I remember you truly didn't even have consciousness left."
Confirming whether consciousness survived was actually quite difficult in this world. However, Jun An had the Herrscher of Sentience and Fenghuang Down on his side. Originally, if only Jun An's consciousness could have been preserved, Mobius could have pulled something off for him.
But the problem was, after completing his mission, Jun An had returned to Earth to live the happy life of "lots of money, few problems, close to home," so his consciousness naturally wouldn't be here.
"Don't ask me. I'm not a scientist, after all. I don't really understand this stuff," Jun An replied casually, picking up the weak-legged Mobius and setting her down on a chair. "Speaking of which, about you saying before that you liked someone..."
"I was just playing along with you." Mobius didn't let Jun An continue, retorting instead, "What about you? Since you didn't think it was acting before, does that mean you really got married? To whom? It couldn't be Elysia, right?"
A dangerous signal flickered within Mobius's gradient eyes.
Jun An answered helplessly, "It's Himeko. Your head is usually pretty sharp; you should know Elysia can't even leave the Elysian Realm, right?"
If she couldn't even leave the Elysian Realm, then getting a certificate, getting married, and handling the paperwork was completely out of the question.
"You also get flustered when you care?"
"...Shut up! That's just the delusion of an otaku like you!" Mobius blushed. Jun An couldn't tell why and could only raise his hands in surrender.
Mobius still remembered the name Himeko. After all, she was one of the very few surgical subjects in tens of thousands of years for whom survival was a prerequisite.
"So why her?" Mobius seemed somewhat dissatisfied. "Tell me the reason. Is it because you like them bigger?"
"Is this Captain such a shallow person?" Jun An said with utmost seriousness. "How could someone as universally loving as me only look at chests and butts?"
"Then take your hand off my chest."
"Fine, I'll take it off." Jun An obediently removed his hand, then brought it down with a loud smack on her butt.
Smack!
"You bastard," she looked at Jun An, grinding her teeth slightly. "Do you just love seeing others' pained expressions that much?"
"I like teaching unruly brats a lesson." Especially someone like Mobius with her bratty-girl (meshigaki) attributes; it not only increased his attack speed but also brought a sense of accomplishment.
Jun An continued, "No more idle chat. I came looking for you because I want the Super Transformation surgery."
Mobius pouted. Although the idle chat was over, she clearly had no intention of stopping [their activity].
Besides, Jun An had finally returned after so much trouble; Mobius would find any topic just to keep him there.
"Little Guinea Pig, weren't you uninterested in immortality? Why are you asking for the Super Transformation surgery right after coming back?"
"If I don't do it soon, I'm going to be squeezed dry like human jerky." Jun An was helpless. Short bursts relied on his relatively high stamina, but he couldn't withstand the long-term squeezing from Theresa and the others. Sprinting and long-distance running were fundamentally different events.
"Oh, I see." Although the Previous Era was close to destruction when the Super Transformation surgery was invented, the reality was that due to compatibility issues, many people didn't qualify to become MANTISes. Consequently, there were quite a few couples consisting of a MANTIS and an ordinary person.
For example, Kevin and Dr. MEI.
Mobius had also heard bits and pieces about MANTISes having excessively vigorous stamina.
But back then, Mobius's concept of love was still stuck at the level of "excessive hormone secretion" and "ah, spring has arrived again." She hadn't taken it too seriously at the time.
Now, Mobius still wouldn't admit that back then, it was just a case of sour grapes because she couldn't have any.
"So, you're physically deficient?" Mobius seemed to have understood something. No wonder he stopped moving after just a few rounds.
Clearly, this was evidence of Jun An being repeatedly squeezed dry.
Jun An directly delivered another slap, expressing his dissatisfaction through action.
"You...! " Mobius lightly bit Jun An's shoulder in retaliation. "If you want me to perform the Super Transformation surgery for you, fine. But first, you have to honestly answer a few questions and agree to three conditions."
Jun An said, "Let's hear them."
Mobius began, dissatisfied, "First question: why did you stop moving?"
"Don't feel like moving anymore. You move yourself." Although Mobius wasn't very heavy, Jun An found repeating the mechanical movements quite tiring.
Though dissatisfied, Mobius still wrapped her arms around Jun An's neck, resisting the urge to give this guy an F-choke as she moved herself.
"Tell me honestly, why do you want to become a MANTIS? Are you planning to do something dangerous again?"
Mobius's intuition was truly sharp. Knowing he couldn't hide it from the hyper-intelligent Mobius, Jun An could only nod and admit it.
"The one who killed me... I have to go back and kill her."
Jun An thought for a moment and added, "Of course, as long as I can recover my original strength and complete two fusions, it won't be anything dangerous."
If the tentative enemy was Su, Jun An felt there was no reason his peak-strength self would lose.
Of course, the prerequisite was still the same as Kevin's: undergoing a second Super Transformation surgery.
However, there was a slight difference from Kevin. Because his stats were already maxed out, even fusing with the Judgement-class Honkai Beast Brahma, for a 'Destined One' like him, it merely added a new special ability. For a simple, unadorned 'stats monster' like him, the improvement wasn't huge.
But for Jun An, every fusion brought enormous progress, akin to the difference between an ordinary Kaslana like Siegfried and someone like Theresa.
And as long as he completed the second fusion, Jun An's upper limit would be somewhat higher than Kevin's before he became Savior Kevin.
"Is this something you saw from another worldline again?" Mobius, being intelligent, had long noticed Jun An's eerily accurate precognitive ability. Jun An had vaguely explained the concept of transmigration using the "from another worldline" phrasing.
"Fine." Mobius sighed helplessly. She couldn't stop Jun An. She was smarter than him, but Jun An always seemed to see further ahead.
"Last question," Mobius rubbed her own slightly raised abdomen (likely metaphorical satisfaction). "You're already married. What do you plan to do about this?"
They had already gone this far; saying "stop here" was definitely impossible.
No matter how you put it, this counted as cheating, right? Sneaking a bite?
Mobius felt a thrill from the affair. The only pity was that the wronged party wasn't Elysia.
But more than the excitement of sneaking around, she wanted Jun An to divorce Himeko and let her take the main position.
So, Mobius tempted him directly, "Why don't you break up with her and be with me, Little Guinea Pig? If you like them big, that's not a problem for me~"
"Even if you have to leave with nothing, it's fine. I can support you. How about it, Little Guinea Pig? Is this the kind of life you like?"
She was a top biologist, after all. Human etiquette, righteousness, integrity, and shame couldn't govern biology. And she had plenty of money.
"This counts as undermining a military marriage."
Of course, Jun An wouldn't divorce easily. He would absolutely be locked up and repeatedly squeezed dry by Himeko if he did.
Incidentally, the Far East didn't actually have a crime for undermining military marriage. Jun An just mentioned it casually, but it roughly conveyed his stance: divorce was impossible.
"But don't worry, there won't be any problems with Himeko. After all, comparing it to Ai-chan's situation, doing it with you is probably, for Himeko, just like me playing an R18 stereoscopic VR game."
"..." Mobius fell silent.
Indeed, the current Elysian Realm, frankly speaking, was just an advanced VR device with a slight hint of danger. The only difference was that the thirteen figures inside were memory simulacra possessing concrete memories and emotions, making them more human-like than artificial intelligence.
In other words, no matter how wildly Jun An played around with Mobius in here, even if he sprayed onto Himeko's face, it would still just be considered playing a game.
"Little Guinea Pig, has anyone ever told you that you really don't understand romance at all?"
"Yes. But I'll never repent, even in death."
Seeing Jun An's expression that clearly said, "I've got you handled," Mobius wished she could just clamp down and snap his 'rod' in half.
"Alright, I'll stop teasing you." Jun An pinched her face, which clearly read 'I'm not happy,' and said, "Anyway, just put yourself in my shoes and you'll understand. I can't get divorced, but can the law stop us from holding a wedding ceremony? Who says the one holding a wedding with me must be my legally recognized wife?"
Of course, this was immoral.
But what did morality have to do with her, Mobius the biologist? And what did it have to do with Jun An, the transmigrator?
It was still that saying: Jun An's greatest virtue right now was that he wasn't a picky eater; he hadn't said, "I don't eat beef."
"Hmph, Little Guinea Pig, do you think a few nice words can coax me? Do I look like some naive young girl experiencing her first love?"
Although Mobius said this, the parts of her that should be honest remained very honest; one could feel it clearly by carefully sensing with body and mind.
Jun An didn't expose her either. "Then what else do you want?"
"Agree to my last condition." Mobius was like a tsundere dog girl; the honest parts were very honest, but her mouth calmly stated, "My laboratory needs an assistant. Just be my assistant until I complete the experiment."
"Oh right, also, my transport tool recently malfunctioned. You'll have to replace it like this and help me complete the gene reagent."
Jun An looked towards Mobius's transport tool, still standing stiffly nearby. "It looks fine..."
Bang!
Several blades formed from black shadows pierced through Mobius's transport tool, which instantly started smoking.
Mobius looked with satisfaction at the voluntarily sacrificed transport tool. "Mm, looks like repairing it will take quite some time. Little Guinea Pig, I'll be relying on you during this period ♫~"
Jun An: "..."