At the same time Lucius was having a heart-to-heart with Nicholas.
First Research Institute.
Two girls with similar appearances and brown hair were lying on a desk piled with reports.
One had red eyes, named Nuwa. The other had blue eyes, named Fuxi.
The two were twin sisters and simultaneously researchers in Mobius's laboratory.
But now, both had dark circles under their eyes like thick ink that couldn't be dissolved. They lay on the desk continuously sighing.
Nuwa smelled the documents piled beside her face, emanating an inky smell. Her little face showed bitterness. She couldn't help complaining to Fuxi.
"Fuxi, when do you think the Doctor will recruit new people? These days are too hard to bear."
Recently, Blanca had seemed stimulated by something. They often heard her muttering incomprehensible things like "terrifying Mei," "out of place," "Klein save me," and other meaningless phrases.
The two had originally thought she was just experiencing mental anxiety from increased work recently, so they prepared to slack off thirty minutes less each day to help reduce her pressure.
But a few days ago, Dr. Mobius suddenly told them Blanca had chosen to resign.
Thus, all the work originally handled by Blanca fell entirely on the two of them. The sudden increase in workload immediately made these two slackers cry out in suffering.
Only now did they understand how incredible Blanca's work ability had been.
These tasks now—even with the two of them working overtime slowly—couldn't be completed!
Hearing Nuwa's complaint, Fuxi, who was similarly lying on the desk, also couldn't help lamenting.
"With the Doctor's financial resources and reputation, there's probably no way to recruit people in the short term. Next, we sisters will become slaves to work."
"Wuu... I miss Blanca so much... God, let Blanca come back!"
As if fate in the darkness truly heard their prayers, the sound of the laboratory door opening came.
Nuwa and Fuxi hurriedly got up and looked toward the entrance. As expected, they saw Mobius coming in.
"Doc, Doctor, we weren't slacking off!"
However, Mobius paid no mind to the guilty expressions on their faces. Instead, she said quite happily: "Little Su, come in. This will be your workplace and study area from now on. Don't be polite, just sit anywhere."
At this moment, the two slackers realized another person was following behind Mobius.
It was a youth with gray hair, features so beautiful gender was hard to distinguish, currently following behind Mobius somewhat stiffly.
It was precisely Su, whom Lucius had recommended to Mobius's laboratory.
"Doctor, who is this?" Upon seeing Su, a hypothesis arose in Nuwa and Fuxi's minds, and expectation rose in their eyes.
Sure enough, next they heard Mobius say: "This is my upcoming research assistant, Su."
"Senior sisters, hello." Su politely greeted Nuwa and Fuxi.
After receiving Mobius and Su's responses, Nuwa and Fuxi immediately became enthusiastic, hurriedly running to Su's side and asking after his well-being:
"Oh my, calling us senior sisters is too formal! We'll be colleagues from now on. Just call me Sister Nuwa."
"Nuwa's right. Just call me Sister Fuxi. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask us."
Regarding Nuwa and Fuxi's excessive enthusiasm, Su felt extremely unaccustomed and could only respond in confusion.
Seeing Su's awkward appearance, Nuwa and Fuxi exchanged glances and both saw the secret delight in each other's eyes.
As twin sisters, the two could communicate smoothly through eye contact alone.
"Hehe, now there's another person to share the work."
"Yes, yes! This little Su looks like excellent material for janitorial work!"
"Ah... the days of happy slacking are about to return~"
But just as the two were secretly rejoicing, they heard Mobius say: "We don't need you two anymore. Go pack up your things."
Hearing this, Nuwa and Fuxi didn't understand.
"Doctor, what do you mean?"
"Perhaps I expressed it poorly. What I mean is you've been optimized. Pack up your things and leave."
"Op... optimized?!"
Hearing this word, Nuwa and Fuxi's expressions immediately changed drastically. They hurriedly asked:
"Doctor, why?! We've always been diligent. Even without credit, we've worked hard!"
Hearing their words, Mobius became furious.
"You two actually dare call yourselves diligent? This isn't a drying rack. I can't keep you two salted fish."
Seeing the determination on Mobius's face, the two realized she was serious. They hurriedly rushed forward, each hugging one of Mobius's arms, pleading pitifully:
"Doctor, I'll work hard from now on. Don't drive me away."
"Doctor, don't optimize me! I still have a mortgage and car loan to pay!"
Nuwa and Fuxi knew well the Doctor's tough-talk-soft-heart personality. In the past, whenever she was about to get angry, basically acting pitiful could fool her.
But this time Mobius showed extreme determination, pulling her arms from their embrace.
"My decision is made. You two have been optimized!"
Hearing this, Nuwa and Fuxi seemed to have their souls extracted. Their entire beings seemed to dim.
"It's over, Fuxi. My life is ruined..."
"My car loan, my mortgage, Nuwa, I'm going to be homeless..."
"Wuwaaa...!" The two hugged each other and cried.
But just as despair descended upon their hearts, they heard Mobius say again: "Although there's no position for you two here, I can introduce you to a new job."
The two's crying immediately stopped. They looked at Mobius with some expectation.
"Doctor, which company's offer is it?"
"Shencheng Pharmaceuticals."
"Shencheng Pharmaceuticals? Never heard of this company. Fuxi, do you know it?"
"Never heard of it either. Probably just some roadside company..."
Soon, Nuwa and Fuxi finished packing their things and said goodbye to Mobius with deep reluctance.
Only at this moment did Mobius have a chance to brief the quietly waiting Su.
"Su, next you'll take over their work. I know the workload is quite large. In a few days there will be another colleague reporting in. Then your pressure will be much less."
"I'll be fine, Doctor."
Honestly, Su also felt it quite incredible to come here.
His ideal was to become a doctor who saved lives and healed the wounded. For this he'd sent enrollment applications to quite a few medical schools and laboratories.
Of course, besides this there was another important reason—using this to escape from things he didn't want to think deeply about concerning his two good brothers...
Originally Su was quite confident in his grades. After all, although he had a good brother with saintly purity to play with, he himself was actually also quite a genius.
But what he hadn't expected was that after sending these applications, they all sank like rain into the ocean—no news at all.
Just when he was feeling anxious about this, a reply from the First Research Institute arrived in his inbox—although Su didn't know when he'd sent an application to the First Research Institute.
But Su didn't refuse, even after learning his mentor would be the infamous Dr. Mobius.
Not that he had no reservations about this. Simply because... he had no choice. If he didn't come here, he could only drop out.
Fortunately, after conversing with this renowned scholar, he discovered she wasn't as terrible as legend had it. Could even be said to be completely different from rumors.
His heart filled with anticipation for studying here, he began organizing the documents Nuwa and Fuxi left on the desk following Mobius's instructions.
Flipping through the information above, interest gradually arose on Su's face.
The document read:
[First Phase Stigmata Genetic Engineering Vaccine Feasibility Plan (Revised Edition)]
...
As Su was about to begin studying under Mobius as a student, Lucius in Otto's mental world was similarly contemplating the education problem of human cubs.
Because just when obtaining intelligence from Nicholas's brain and giving him several slaps for it, little Otto had asked him with an admiring face:
"Me from the future, can you teach me how to be brave and strong like you?"
Looking at the admiration on Otto's face, Lucius felt troubled.
He'd been a father before but never a teacher. He didn't know how to educate a human cub.
Moreover, this was one with infinite potential who, if taught well, could become powerful main force in bringing Finality to their knees.
But if not taught well, perhaps the world would have another world-class madman.
After pondering for a long time, Lucius finally settled on an idea.
"Honestly, I don't know how to teach people. But I think compared to thick books made of text, words and actions should also be a kind of teaching. So Otto, during this time just watch what I do."
This Otto was currently just blank paper, extremely malleable, and right at the critical moment of personality formation.
With himself—a good person so upright he was evil—as an example, surely he couldn't possibly grow crooked, right?
Of course, doing this was also to prevent Mei's situation from repeating. After all... he really didn't want another son.
However, this child looked soft and gentle. He couldn't possibly become anything extreme...
After comforting Otto, Lucius shifted his attention to the real world.
At this moment he and Nicholas were still in the room where the other had installed the 'sacred object.' Not much time had passed.
Although this old geezer was cowardly, sinister, hypocritical, cold and heartless... basically the culmination of Stellaris's xenophobe fallen empire traits.
But he hadn't completely wasted five hundred years. He had the level he should have, just lacking some fighting spirit.
After Fenghuang Down's interference, infinite ambition had arisen in this old geezer's heart, only for climbing to power's peak.
Only the current him had the ability to complete his arrangements—using Fire Moth as the chicken to lay the egg called Schicksal.
At this time, Otto's voice came in his mind.
"This is the first time I've seen Father looking so gentle..."
Hearing Otto's voice, Lucius looked at Nicholas. This old geezer's face showed doting affection, completely like a father full of peace.
However, Lucius knew he looked this way because he'd taken a full dose of Fenghuang Down, filled with favorable feelings toward Otto, this youngest son. Essentially in a hypnotized state.
"Indeed quite gentle. But if I say that if I removed Fenghuang Down's control now, he'd kill you at the first opportunity, would you believe me?"
With these words, Lucius felt Otto's consciousness shrink back like a turtle pulling in its head.
"This old geezer still has quite a bit of screen time before Schicksal's execution ground. After the plot's over he'll be useless. Then just throw him directly into Black Dolphin Prison."
"Prison..."
Lucius sensed a thread of reluctance from Otto's consciousness. Although this old geezer was bad, the still-young cub seemed to possess kindness far exceeding human average.
Regarding this, Lucius didn't rebuke. Instead he said: "True. I've always been an open-minded person. In that case, regarding Nicholas's ending, let's solicit Nicholas's own opinion."
"Solicit Father's opinion?" Although young in mind, Otto still felt something was off.
"Of course. Didn't a certain sage from Shenzhou say? Don't do unto others what you don't want done to yourself."
Thus, Lucius asked Nicholas: "Old geezer, if there's such a person who once plotted to harm me, but now the roles are reversed, how should I deal with him?"
Hearing Lucius's question, Nicholas answered without hesitation: "Just kill him directly. No... that's too risky. Send his whole family to meet God! Families should always be neat and tidy."
"Besides killing, are there any other solutions?"
After all, although Nicholas was a bastard, most of his children were still innocent. They couldn't all be sent to heaven, right?
Hearing "Otto's" words, Nicholas suddenly became frustrated at his lack of progress.
"Otto, my youngest son, it seems you still haven't abandoned your kindness. That won't do. You absolutely cannot be soft-hearted toward people who want to harm you!"
"But old geezer, what if I really don't want to kill?"
"Then ruin his reputation and have him spend his life in prison." Then Nicholas added: "However, this still has hidden dangers. When throwing him in prison, it's best to remove his prefrontal lobe to prevent him from making a comeback."
"What pertinent advice!"
Sighing with emotion, Lucius said to Otto: "See, Nicholas himself has agreed. You don't need to pity him."
"Is... is this right?"
Little Otto fell into confusion. But he quickly thought of what Lucius had just said.
His future self was so mature—he definitely understood more than himself. His confusion was probably because he hadn't understood his meaning yet. Better to note it down first.
Thus, this still-blank sheet of paper was stained with its first drop of ink...
---
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