I'm playing Honkai Impact 3

Page 245

Ruan Mei paused slightly, her pink-tinged pupils resembling a plum blossom petal falling into a garden pond.

They stared at each other for several seconds, then Ruan Mei smiled with interest and nodded calmly.

"can."

Ruan Mei gently picked up a piece of plum blossom cake. As she approached, the familiar, delicate plum fragrance lingered around Qiong's nose, intoxicatingly enticing him.

Qiong made no attempt to conceal her sniffing motion.

Is this a natural body odor?

Or is it a pheromone perfume that Ruan Mei herself blended?

It smells amazing, almost intoxicating!

Qiong opened her mouth and took a bite of half a cake. This plum blossom cake was delicious, but the flavor was a bit bland and too delicate.

"I still prefer it a little sweeter."

"I see. I'll remember to add more icing sugar next time."

The cool, silky touch brushed against the corner of Qiong's mouth. Ruan Mei gently brushed away the crumbs from the corner of Qiong's mouth with her delicate fingers.

"So, Qiong, do you still remember my 'research'?"

Ruan Mei's voice was like the soft sound of snow water being boiled into tea, clear and crisp.

"Of course I know, about the research and exploration of the origin of life."

Qiong said with a smile.

Tsk, what a terrifyingly wicked woman, is she using her beauty to seduce me right from the start?

How could she know that this was the only punishment she couldn't resist?

They actually added ingredients to the pastries!

Could it be that she's trying to seduce him and drag his graduate students back to the lab?

Qiong could feel that her body was being affected in some way, but it was hard to say whether it was targeting her mental will or her physical body.

If the complete Qiong didn't have four bodies and a four-core brain, he would definitely have fallen for Ruan Mei's trick!

Fortunately, this drug does not target the physical speech center, otherwise it would also be affected.

Before Qiong's words had even finished, Ruan Mei's eyebrows furrowed slightly for a moment.

"Hmm, this pastry is too soft to prick with a needle. Could you tell me the recipe?"

Qiong seemed to want more.

"He's a gluttonous child."

Ruan Mei chuckled, "Of course, a touch of lotus leaf, plum blossom, glutinous rice, and the delicate fragrance of frosting..."

Ruan Mei described a lot of information, and Qiong nodded repeatedly, looking as if he was taking notes.

After Ruan Mei finished speaking, Qiong shook his head and chuckled softly:

"I think even if you follow the recipe exactly, you still can't make the exact same plum blossom cake. It's missing a unique little ingredient, right? What is it?"

"…Anti-Veritaserum."

After about half a second of silence, Ruan Mei immediately admitted it quite frankly.

"I'm sorry, I meant no harm. The anti-emetic will not harm your body, but it will prevent you from giving your true thoughts when answering questions related to me... I hope you don't mind."

"It's alright, I'm a very generous person. Are all of these pastries included?"

Qiong sat casually in the chair.

"No, only one of these three contains it."

"Oh."

Qiong picked up a piece of food without any toppings and continued eating, casually asking Ruan Mei, "Why do you do that?"

“A few days ago, I hinted to Black Tower that I was interested in you and wanted you to become my research assistant, but there are no secrets in the world, and I find it hard to trust anyone other than myself.”

Ruan Mei did not hide anything, nor did she feel embarrassed by being exposed.

“A single error in any data point during meticulous research will cause problems, and I hate problems that are out of control.”

"I see."

Qiong nodded in realization.

"But my thinking has changed slightly."

Her voice paused slightly, and Ruan Mei's emerald eyes, framed by plum blossoms, seemed to gleam with a moist light as she looked at Qiong: "Besides being a research assistant, now, I want to study you."

The antidote failed to work, which was completely unexpected by Ruan Mei. She could sense that Qiong had not used any power to neutralize it, and ordinary power could not neutralize the effect of the antidote.

In other words, Kyō avoided the effects of the Truth Elixir by means of her body, or by that unique, unprecedented form of existence.

This made Ruan Mei, who was already interested in Qiong, even more interested!

"I would like to invite you to cooperate with my research, and in return for being my assistant, I can give you a reward; I can satisfy any desire you have."

Her blue eyes trembled slightly, and a rare emotion, longing, appeared on Ruan Mei's usually indifferent face.

Another extremely important point is that Ruan Mei suspects that the unknown code in the simulated universe is related to Qiong.

Having cultivated a simulated cosmic star god prototype, Ruan Mei was able to analyze that part of the code was merely a fragment of existence, which in essence had already surpassed the star god!

Life that surpasses even the Star Gods!

That was Ruan Mei's ultimate goal!

However, she is not sure yet; otherwise, the value of Qiong alone would surpass the sum of all her other research!

It's worth investing countless hours and energy, and giving everything to explore!

They used the method they learned from Black Tower, who said that as long as the reward was enough, those two gray-haired creatures would do anything.

"Hi~"

Qiong was burned by Ruan Mei's incredibly ardent gaze.

Oh dear, another eccentric old woman who's lusting after me!

Qiong could clearly sense that Ruan Mei was more intelligent, more insane, and more terrifying than Hei Ta!

"There are rewards! And any kind of reward is possible!?"

Qiong's eyes lit up immediately; if you mention this, he won't be sleepy anymore.

"How about you help me make fun of Ah-ha?"

Ruan Mei: "?"

Playing with the Star God of Pleasure?

Even Ruan Mei, upon hearing Qiong's request, couldn't help but become numb.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. The reward I can offer is only within my means."

To be honest, although there are many things Ruan Mei cannot do, in the eyes of normal people, on a cosmic scale, there are very few things she cannot do.

Except for those related to the Star God.

"Don't take it so seriously, it's just a joke."

Looking at Ruan Mei's earnest answer, Qiong raised his hand and smiled.

"Being your research assistant is fine, after all, I came to you this time to ask for your help. However, let's forget about becoming research material."

Although they hadn't known each other for long, Qiong had already gained some understanding of Ruan Mei's personality, and he knew even better about Möbius, who was also a scientist in the field of life sciences.

In Qiong's view, Ruan Mei's moral bottom line is probably even lower than Möbius's, and the morality of scientists in the life sciences field is inversely proportional to the depth of their research.

"why?"

Ruan Mei asked.

"I can give you an even bigger reward."

"But I didn't see any system tasks you triggered."

Qiong shrugged.

"Ok?"

Ruan Mei didn't quite understand.

"You just said that you have a hard time trusting people other than yourself. Coincidentally, I'm the same way."

Don't you trust me?

Ruan Mei blinked.

Do you trust me?

Qiong didn't answer, but smiled and asked in return.

What reward should I offer to gain your trust?

After a brief silence, Ruan Mei continued to ask.

"So what kind of reward do you think would be commensurate with my trust?"

Qiong was not surprised by Ruan Mei's question, which sounded like a distorted value system. He picked up a piece of plum blossom cake and fed it to Ruan Mei's mouth.

Using questions to answer questions is often a very useful communication technique.

"Equal..."

Her gaze fell on the plum blossom cake in front of her, and Ruan Mei softly chewed on the two words.

Ruan Mei does not like equal relationships; once she gives equal trust, she is likely to be betrayed.

This is something she hates.

Of all things in the world, only science will not fail to live up to expectations.

The longest silence since their conversation began. After a long period of subjective reflection and careful consideration, Ruan Mei's desire for science and for researching the existence of the dome outweighed the risk of being let down.

She leaned down slightly, opened her small mouth, and gently bit the pastry in Qiong's hand; her cool, thin lips lightly touched his fingers.

I trust you.

"Trust isn't something you can just talk about. By the way, you're Slice, right?"

Black Tower doesn't like to show its true form, and Ruan Mei, who is known as a loner among geniuses, dislikes showing her face even more.

The only difference is that the Black Tower uses a large number of puppets, while Ruan Mei uses a special method to 'copy' or 'create' herself at a certain point in time, and lets this slice act on her behalf, just like a certain Sumeru male homosexual.

The value of Ruan Mei's slices is far greater than that of the Black Tower dolls. There are hundreds of thousands of Black Tower dolls, while the total value of all of Ruan Mei's slices would not even reach three digits.

“That’s right, but my slice is no different from the original.”

Ruan Mei nodded.

"Oh~"

Qiong nodded thoughtfully.

"We'll talk about trust later. First, let me explain the purpose of my visit."

PS:

238

Chapter 238 Modulation Mode Activation.

"Vital signs verified, hatch opening in progress."

The futuristic, sensor-operated door opens.

"This is it."

Golden plum blossoms entwine at the slit of her dress; as she moved with light steps, the tassels hanging from the openwork on the shoulders of this Jiangnan beauty trembled like snow on plum branches.

Qiong followed Ruan Mei into her private laboratory.

"It looks similar to the Black Tower's laboratory."