The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"A super artificial intelligence computer? Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie."

In Mei's lab, Lee flipped through the proposal documents filled with technical jargon, feeling her head about to explode.

Even with her Worker Bee skillset providing a basic understanding of various fields, her knowledge in most areas was still at a layman's level. When concepts delved deeper and the level of complexity increased, she was just as lost as anyone else.

And unlike Mobius, who would explain things in simple, albeit snarky, terms, even Mei's everyday conversations were often too complex for the average person to grasp. So, relying on Mei to explain these documents was a pipe dream.

"This thing… it'll be a big help against the Honkai in the future, right?"

"While it will play a role, it's something that needs to be viewed from a long-term perspective. The reason for designing it now is mainly for the higher-ups," Mei said, still scribbling amongst the data Lee couldn't understand, not even bothering to look up. "Any plan or design requires sufficient resources, and demonstrating investment value is crucial, especially within Fire Moth."

"That's true. After all, there are so many scientists here—"

"Dr. Mei, there's an anomaly in the gamma section of the data results."

Clearly, what her subordinate researcher said was far more interesting to Mei than Lee's small talk. Mei immediately stood up from the screen, leaving Lee standing there awkwardly as she scrutinized the data.

Unlike Mobius's deserted lab, Mei, as Fire Moth's most prominent rising star, had a large and constantly expanding team. It was foreseeable that in the near future, her lab would become the most important node in Fire Moth's entire research department.

Mei was obviously happy about this. The more people and the more important the department, the more funding and resources she could obtain, allowing her to pursue and realize the countless innovative ideas swirling in her mind.

However, for Lee, the current situation was a bit awkward.

Did Mei have feelings for her? Lee believed the answer was undoubtedly yes… she even felt she might be one of the most important people to Mei.

But the problem was that personal feelings weren't the most important thing to Mei. "I love you, but I love the truth more"—this description fit Mei perfectly.

Back at Chiba Academy, as a student without too many responsibilities, Mei could prioritize her feelings over knowledge.

However, after joining Fire Moth and learning about the impending doom facing the world, Mei, believing she had to contribute to this civilization's survival, naturally pushed personal matters to the back burner.

As humanity's hope, this personality trait was undoubtedly very suitable for Mei. But for Lee, whose main goal was farming goodwill, Mei's current state was quite troublesome—somewhat similar to how Lihua felt back when Otto and Kallen were focused on climbing the ranks and getting stronger, making it difficult for her to farm energy.

"Then, Mei, you keep busy. I'll be going…"

The anomalous data had clearly captivated Mei, to the point where she hadn't even noticed Lee speaking to her.

Surrounded by white-coated researchers bustling about, Lee, standing there awkwardly, felt incredibly out of place, so she could only awkwardly scratch her head and leave quietly.

Although there were many people here, the atmosphere when she was with these research-obsessed sticks-in-the-mud was simply too awkward. That's why she preferred spending time with the more interesting Mobius.

Mei was like this because of her heavy responsibilities. Once the crisis of the End of the World passed and everything settled down, this science nerd would probably come back to her senses—though by then, she might be out of Lee's reach, hehehe…

No choice then, time to go farm Kevin~

That carefree guy should be in the cafeteria at this time, right?

Sometimes, fate is just that coincidental. Important encounters can happen at the most unexpected times.

On her way to find Kevin, Lee happened to pass by a small, long-forgotten training room. This place was usually deserted because its facilities were quite outdated. Not only did it lack Fire Moth's latest technology, it felt more like a small, traditional dojo.

But today, it was actually in use. Lee could even hear faint training sounds from inside.

A faint intuition guided Lee to quietly enter, and as expected, she saw a familiar face.

Ah, such a familiar face. The last time they met was 50,000 years later.

Looking at the grey-haired girl earnestly practicing her moves in the center of the training room, Lee couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion.

A wild Fu Hua—no, she should be called Hua now—appeared!

However, the Hua before her was clearly not yet the immortal of Shenzhou from 50,000 years later. Her movements were full of youthful inexperience. Lee could easily defeat her with both hands tied behind her back.

Sigh, I still don't understand why Hua hated me so much in the future. I don't think I did anything that outrageous? If it was a case of mistaken identity, Lee still hadn't found any other cute girls who looked like her—though, at nineteen, would she still be considered a girl in a few years?

Hua, of course, had no idea what Lee was thinking behind her. In fact, she hadn't even noticed the extra person in the room. The difference in their strength was so vast that Hua couldn't even sense Lee's presence.

What she was pondering right now was how to make her attacks more effective… at least enough to deliver fatal blows to those Honkai Beasts and zombies.

"Your shoulders are too low, and you're not using enough force. While traditional martial arts sometimes emphasize sinking the shoulders and elbows, cun jin (Grip of Taixu Prototype) requires a sudden burst, a swift strike. Being too relaxed will hinder your explosive power."

"?!"

Only when the voice sounded behind her did Hua realize someone had approached. She quickly turned around, startled.

"Hello, I remember you're Hua from the Fifth Squad, right?" Lee smiled gently at the slightly nervous Hua. "Did Himeko bring you back to headquarters when she came to report?"

"Y-You… you are…" Hua's nervousness was evident. She was practically sweating bullets. "Are you… that Lee?"

"Well, if there isn't another person with the same name, then it should be me."