The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

Griseo and Pardofelis were the only two among them who still retained enough reason to communicate. Unfortunately, neither had the strength or wisdom to make crucial decisions.

With all of the Previous Era's plans having failed, the situation was dire. The strongest of the three remaining warriors had instigated a civil war and was ultimately banished to the Sea of Quanta. Now, Elysia needed a new objective—whether to prepare for the inevitable arrival of the Honkai or to find new vessels for the consciousnesses of billions.

For that, she required wisdom.

Among the currently revived consciousnesses, Su, Mobius, and Vill-V were perhaps the best candidates to offer advice. But regrettably, bringing them together would only lead to immediate conflict. Elysia had just separated them and had no choice but to temporarily abandon that idea.

That left her with only one option—reawakening a top-tier human scientist.

MEI.

Thinking of this, Elysia felt relieved that she hadn't summoned MEI earlier. In the chaotic events that had just unfolded, MEI, who lacked combat abilities, would have likely died multiple times.

Hopefully, she could provide some reliable suggestions…

...

Mobius didn't receive Elysia's summons.

She understood why. Deep down, she knew that Elysia had most likely gone to awaken MEI as her advisor.

At first, she had wanted to ask a few more questions, but now…

Mobius lifted her head, scanning her surroundings. Everything around her was a recreation of the place she felt most comfortable in—her subconscious mind's sanctuary. And she knew it all too well.

The laboratory.

More precisely, the headquarters of the Fire Moth—the same place that had long since sunk with the Mu continent.

Looking at the familiar sights, she felt as if she could see the past unfolding before her.

Blanca, organizing data at the lab table.

Griseo, curled up on the corner sofa, quietly flipping through a picture book.

Elysia, chatting away as usual.

And… Lee, sitting beside Griseo, smiling as she looked at her.

Thinking carefully, Mobius realized something.

Even though the Honkai and Herrschers had been looming threats, even though humanity had been constantly fighting for survival—those days had been the happiest of her life.

But just like this long-buried laboratory, those moments were lost to time.

Even if others could be revived from their consciousness, the most important person was gone forever.

She lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper.

"Elysia…"

Why her?

Why did she entrust her dreams—her everything—to Elysia… and not to herself?

Was it because she had neglected Lee after the Herrscher of Dominance incident?

Because she had refused to perform the MANTIS surgery on her?

Or because she had failed to stop those people from draining Lee of her blood and essence?

Mobius knew she had made many mistakes. But even so…

She had always thought she was special.

After all, Lee only ever called her "Doctor."

Lee always used names—she called Elysia and Kevin by their full names. She addressed other scientists with "Doctor" out of politeness. Even MEI was no exception. She had even called Vill-V by her old online alias from when they first met.

But when it came to her, to Mobius—Lee never used her name.

Just "Doctor."

As if, in Lee's mind, that title belonged only to her.

And yet—when Lee left, she hadn't even left behind a sliver of consciousness to say goodbye.

The lab still stood, just as it had in her memory. But the person who mattered most would never return.

For the first time, Mobius—stubborn, defiant Mobius—admitted the truth.

She regretted it.

But it was too late.

Time moved forward, indifferent to sorrow.

It would stop for no one.

---

The sadness, pain, and regret of others were no longer related to the instigator of all this.

"...Heh, heh heh~"

"Host, what are you doing!"

On Blue Earth, the system was creeped out by its host's eerie laughter. "You're laughing like a supervillain!"

"I'm just marveling... marveling at my talent for earning energy!"

In the hotel, Li Bei silently lowered the hand that had been covering his face as he laughed wildly. His eyes were full of satisfaction.

"While gaining a super-powered alt account, I also earned so much energy—I'm definitely a genius!"

"Of course! Do you think my eyes are blind?" The system's tone was even more proud than his own. "I could tell at a glance that you were born to be a bad girl!"

"This kind of thing doesn't necessarily need to be innate..."

After casually bantering, Li Bei lay down on the hotel sofa and happily opened the settlement page for his newly acquired alt account.

Name: Lee

Traits: Charisma, Honkai Affinity, Honkai Incarnation, Artificial Herrscher, Battle Continuation, Herrscher: Origin, Herrscher: Sentience

Skills: Martial Arts Mastery, Inch-Shattering Palm: Heaven Splitter, Future Foresight, Weapon Proficiency, Salaryman Skill Set

Important Items: None

The alt account's panel had fewer traits because low-level traits like Brute Strength and Agile Movement were already covered by higher-level traits.

For example, the buffs provided by the Honkai Incarnation trait were far superior to those cheap traits.

In the final battle, although Lee was beaten by Kevin to the point of being unable to get up—and was ultimately killed by a group of ordinary people—this didn't change the fact that her traits at the time were among the strongest in the Honkai world.

In fact, if Kevin hadn't severed the connection between her Artificial Herrscher body and the core, those ordinary people wielding anti-Honkai weapons would have struggled to even scratch her.

But now, this alt account redeemed by Lee didn't have that seriously injured debuff!

Even better, although the Herrscher core originally came from Elysia, it was considered part of the alt account during settlement because it was inside her body.

As a result, Lee was now in her strongest form since the creation of the alt accounts. With the power of dual cores, she could obliterate Blue Star's human civilization at any moment—if she wanted to.

Of course, Li Bei would never do such a thing. His goal had always been a peaceful life, so he naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to wipe out humanity.

What thrilled Li Bei even more was the energy harvest this time.

Thanks to Lee's relentless farming, constant pressure, and sheer bad luck, she had multiple opportunities to score big. As a result, the final energy gain was—nearly 12 million!

And that was after deducting all expenses during the alt account's run.

Map components, Battle Continuation, and other miscellaneous costs had stacked up to a total of nearly 7 million. The biggest expense? The new delayed withdrawal function, which ate up most of it.

Without those deductions, Lee's total earnings would have been close to 20 million—and this wasn't some audience payout.

This was real, hard-earned energy!