Knowing that Prometheus couldn't replace Bronya's role, Li Mu didn't stay long in MEI's laboratory.
He prepared to execute his backup plan.
As for the newly born Prometheus, Li Mu arranged for her to take over the pre-built engineering mechs. With her help, the construction cycle of the St. Freya Academy City cluster would be greatly shortened.
And as more mechs rolled out of the factories under Prometheus's control, the construction speed would become even faster.
However, just as Li Mu was about to leave, MEI called out to him.
Seeing the conflicted look on MEI's face, Li Mu smiled and asked, "MEI, is there something else?"
"Uh... it's like this, Father." MEI hesitated, but finally gathered her courage and said to Li Mu, "Father, the school is holding a parent-teacher meeting this weekend. Do you have time?"
"Huh?" Li Mu was a bit confused. "You guys still need to hold parent-teacher meetings?"
He thought parent-teacher meetings were exclusive to elementary school students.
But after MEI's explanation, Li Mu understood what this so-called parent-teacher meeting was.
It was only called a parent-teacher meeting in name; in essence, it was closer to a networking event for Nagazora City's high society.
As everyone knew, Chiba Academy was an aristocratic school. The students attending were basically children from upper-class families in Nagazora City and the surrounding areas.
Therefore, using their children as classmates as a pretext, these upper-class people used the parent-teacher meeting to network and broaden their interpersonal relationships.
Before his fall, Ryoma, as a rising star in the scientific research community, had also stepped over the threshold of high society.
But after Ryoma's fall, his daughter MEI basically became invisible at school.
No one cares about a person who has lost their value, so MEI had always been alone at previous parent-teacher meetings.
But now, the situation had completely reversed. As the CEO of MEI Corp, the status of the current "Ryoma" was naturally completely different. There might even be quite a few people wanting to use this opportunity to curry favor.
Thoughts raced through his mind.
Looking at MEI, who clearly cared a lot but pretended not to, Li Mu felt she probably hadn't thought that much about it. She simply wanted him to accompany her to the parent-teacher meeting.
So, under MEI's hopeful gaze, Li Mu smiled and nodded.
"No problem, I'll be there."
...
MEI stayed in the laboratory to feed data to Prometheus.
Li Mu walked out of the laboratory alone.
Standing at the laboratory entrance, looking at the magnificent MEI Corp building in the distance, Li Mu pondered.
According to the System's judgment, Bronya and Prometheus were two different characters. This meant he couldn't use Prometheus to replace Bronya's role to complete the Trio.
"So, in the end, I still have to pay Mobius a visit?"
His backup plan required Mobius's power. At the same time, as a mid-to-late stage character in the script, it was necessary for him to make arrangements for Mobius.
But before that, he needed the power of another person.
So Li Mu took out his communicator and sent a call request to Vill-V.
Soon, Vill-V's figure appeared on the screen.
"Partner, long time no see. How have you been?"
This time, Vill-V's tone was exceptionally gentle, even doting.
Good, it seems the Vill-V persona this time is easy to talk to.
So, Li Mu voiced his prepared request to Vill-V.
"Teacher Big V, can you teach me how to split my personality?"
Hearing Li Mu's request, Vill-V on the screen looked surprised.
"Partner, do you want to become a mentally ill too?"
So you know you're a mentally ill, Li Mu retorted silently.
"I want to split a personality from myself."
Vill-V shook her head and said tactfully, "This is my personal talent. You probably can't learn it."
Hearing this, Li Mu put on a pleading expression.
"Please help me, Teacher Big V. This is really important to me."
Hearing Li Mu's words, Vill-V sighed softly, a look of helplessness on her face.
"I really can't say no to you..."
"Although you can't learn my talent for splitting personalities, I might be able to make a small invention to fulfill your request."
To this, Li Mu immediately expressed his gratitude.
"Thank you very much, Teacher Big V."
Vill-V gave a thumbs-up, revealing a spring-breeze smile, and said:
"We are like-minded best friends! I am very much looking forward to the play you are directing."
"I will complete the item you need soon, but it might take a little time."
After getting Vill-V's promise, Li Mu knew his goal had advanced a big step.
Now, all he had to do was wait for her to make the personality-splitting item and send it over.
"So what should I do next?"
With these tasks arranged, Li Mu suddenly found himself with free time.
"Should I go find my good bro Kiana?"
Just as Li Mu was thinking this, a familiar pink-haired figure walked towards him. It was Sakura, who was now moonlighting as the Head of MEI Corp's Defense Department.
"BOSS, I have something to report to you."
Looking at Sakura's serious face, Li Mu was curious.
"What is it?"
"You know, BOSS, I used to be an assassin under Chrysalis. A few days ago, I received two missions."
"One mission was to kidnap Ryoma, and the other mission..." Sakura looked at Li Mu and said, "The other mission might be related to you, BOSS. Someone placed a bounty to find your whereabouts."
"Oh?"
Li Mu frowned. He naturally knew the "you" Sakura referred to wasn't his current Ryoma persona, but his true identity.
When doing bad things, he basically always used someone else's persona, making it almost impossible to trace back to his true identity.
Recalling his experiences during this time, there seemed to be only one person likely to do this.
"Mobius wants to dig up my identity?"
After thinking for a moment, Li Mu roughly guessed what Mobius wanted to do. It was nothing more than the knowledge of Stigmata genetics in his hands.
Figuring this out, Li Mu smiled, shook his head, and said to Sakura, "This is nothing to worry about. Ignore it."
But after reassuring Sakura, Li Mu thought of another interesting question.
"Where did a broke ass person like Mobius get the money to post a commission to Chrysalis? She didn't embezzle research funds, did she?"
Thinking of this, Li Mu's expression turned weird, vaguely carrying some schadenfreude.
Corresponding to her outstanding IQ, this woman's EQ was quite lacking. If Mobius really embezzled research funds to post the mission, she had probably dug a massive pit for herself.
...
While Li Mu was taking pleasure in her potential misfortune, Mobius, far on the other side of the Earth, was actually quite happy.
For some reason, the pesky bureaucrats had been fussing over her lately, basically granting her every request.
Without these constraints, the progress of her various experiments advanced by leaps and bounds.
And today, there was an even more joyful event.
"Blanca, my dear Blanca, they actually approved my plan to verify the Stigmata genes."
Mobius waved the documents in her hand. They contained approvals from the United Government and a massive amount of funding.
However, compared to Mobius's joy, Blanca's face held a look of doubt.
"Doctor, why are those penny-pinchers so generous this time? The last time I applied to buy a printer, they didn't approve it, and I ended up paying for it out of my own pocket!"
"This time, such a huge sum of money was approved after they only asked a few questions?"
Doubt also appeared on Mobius's face. She also felt this matter was somewhat bizarre.
But thinking that with this money she could verify the Stigmata genetic engineering based on that knowledge, she tossed her doubts aside for now.
"Who cares? Since the money is in our hands, they won't get a chance to take it back."
She began to plan the use of the money.
"I want to build a laboratory to verify the Stigmata genes. This will require many live Honkai beasts—the stronger, the better."
"So this laboratory must be sturdy enough, and the restraint devices must be foolproof."
"Besides that, I also need to purchase some other equipment..."
Seeing the excitement on Mobius's face, Blanca knew the Doctor was already lost in her thoughts. It was basically impossible to pull her back now.
Soon, news came from the First Laboratory under the United Government that they wanted to build a massive laboratory and were open for public bidding.
Li Mu, who had long been paying attention to Mobius, naturally knew of this news as well.
And conveniently, because he was carrying out the land reclamation project, he had long integrated a construction company under MEI Corp.
Era-transcending engineering mechs, future architecture, and the super AI Prometheus coordinating everything... Not only did they have a technological advantage, they also had a cost advantage.
Because he needed Mobius's help next, he didn't mind doing her a favor. Therefore, he instructed his construction company to participate in the bidding with an extremely favorable price.
Li Mu was confident. With both technological and cost advantages, as long as Mobius wasn't stupid, no one could beat him.
However...
"Honto ni sumimasen!"
The bidding team bowed deeply to Li Mu, who was sitting in the CEO's seat, their faces filled with deep apology.
"Mr. President, we failed to secure the project."
This result surprised Li Mu.
"Failed the bid? That shouldn't be..."
"We have better technology, lower costs, and with the super AI Prometheus coordinating, we can greatly shorten the construction period. How could other construction companies compete with us in the short term?"
Hearing this, the bidding team lowered their heads in shame.
"We are extremely sorry, Mr. President. The price offered by that construction company was too low. We estimated it and felt it wasn't even enough to cover the cost of building materials."
"We don't know how they dared to accept this project. Are they going to subsidize it with their own money?"
...
While Li Mu was confused by this, another small clique was overjoyed beyond control.
"Hey! That stupid woman Mobius has finally wised up. Of course, when asking for money from above, you ask for a lot!"
"Every time she just applied to buy a printer or set up a few computers, always so stingy. How were we supposed to make money?"
Hearing this, another person in the clique glared at him.
"What are you saying? Make money? We are clearly doing this for progress!"
"Right, right, right! We are doing this for progress. With so much money, it's definitely enough for us to take a further step."
"I've had enough of this unprofitable place for a long time... But now that woman Mobius has wised up, maybe this place will become a lucrative position in the future. Sigh... what a dilemma."
But just as the few of them were celebrating, one person suddenly said:
"I heard the higher-ups take this project very seriously. Even the Fire-MOTH organization is involved. It's said to concern humanity's fight against the Honkai... Should we maybe not go too far this time?"
"If something goes wrong, none of us will be able to escape."
Hearing his words, the group fell silent. After a while, they exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
"That makes sense. The higher-ups are keeping a close watch this time, and it concerns the future of humanity. We can't let our selfishness ruin humanity's future."
"So let's not take a cut this time. Anyway, Mobius has wised up. We will have plenty of opportunities to make progress in the future. We won't miss this one time."
The group exchanged glances, regret evident in their eyes, and left one by one.
However, the moment they turned around, they all simultaneously let out a cold sneer.
Not take a cut? What a joke! Whoever doesn't take a cut is the real idiot!
We're all old foxes here, not blockheads like Mobius. Who are you trying to fool?
If I don't take it, you guys will take it all!
Not only will I take it, I'll take it hard!