I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

"Ah, I'll fix the door for you soon~ Don't worry~"

Then she closed the door and left quickly.

After walking a distance, Alicia quietly tightened her sleeves, paused slightly, and then immediately turned and walked towards the direction of the Mebius Laboratory.

"Dr. Möbius, could you please open the door?"

"...You actually gave me advance notice? What's wrong? Did you get into trouble again? Or are you just here to cause trouble for my lab?"

Mebius's voice came through the intercom at the door.

"I won't open the door for you unless you explain yourself clearly."

"...I need your help."

"...Ha, that's rare."

Although she really wanted to tease Alicia for asking her for help, she could tell that Alicia was talking about something very serious, so she just chuckled and sighed before letting Alicia in.

"Tell me, if your so-called help is something as trivial as trying on clothes, I guarantee, Alicia, you're going to be in trouble."

"I hope you can help me analyze this."

Alicia took out a small candy box.

"Isn't this his? How did it end up in your hands?"

Möbius, who had been trying to get Xiwang onto the research platform, had naturally seen this candy box before. Although Xiwang had never let anyone else touch it, not even Sakura, it was now in Alicia's hands... But thinking about it carefully, it wouldn't be surprising if it were Alicia.

"Please, could you help me analyze the ingredients? This is very important."

"...Wait a moment."

Seeing that Alicia hadn't used that relaxed, joking tone for so long, Mebius clearly understood that Alicia really valued this matter. He immediately took the candy box, called to his new assistant Klein, and asked her to stop her work and help her analyze the situation.

Soon, Mebius returned to Alicia and said to her with a frown.

“Alice, go find Mei now… no, I’ll inform Mei. Tell Kevin to spend more time with Mei lately, just find any excuse… protection, dating, or even if he’s in the mood for some breeding, just have him stay with Mei.”

"……what?"

"Someone wants to assassinate Mei."

Mebius took out a small piece of paper. The cipher on the paper looked somewhat familiar to Alicia, and it was covered with a little powdered sugar, so it was obviously taken from the candy box from earlier.

"The cipher text above is written in that joke-like cipher text that you came up with yourself. The message I just deciphered is this one. Considering what's been happening with the Firemoth recently... the accuracy of this message should be fine. Go tell Kevin and May so they can be prepared."

Alicia remembered. It was a party she organized where she created a puzzle game for everyone to play, and the ciphertext was from that game.

"...What about the other things inside?"

Alicia was stunned for a moment, not even paying attention to why Mebius was able to decipher the cipher she had created as a joke, even though she had said she wasn't interested... But Alicia simply asked this question at this moment.

"something else?"

Mebius was somewhat puzzled.

"It's just candy."

"Just sugar?"

"Otherwise what? Wait...you didn't come here to deliver this message?"

Möbius quickly realized what Alicia was wondering about. She had initially thought Alicia had forgotten the cipher from the game, which was why she had come to find her, but now it seemed...

"...It's alright, I'll go find Kevin first."

Although Alicia still had something to say, considering the message on the note, she kept quiet and quickly left.

There are priorities and urgency in everything. What's more important now is to tell Dr. Mei that someone is already prepared to use "outside the rules" methods.

But, Wang... are you really alright?

Are they really just candy...?

Alicia was worried.

…………

........................

"Ha ha……"

Once Alicia's footsteps had completely disappeared, Xi Wang finally relaxed. Panting, she rushed into the room with hurried and flustered steps, rummaged through the cabinet, found a small box of candy, and poured it into her palm.

At first, he wanted to carefully count the number of candies in his palm, but in the end he couldn't resist and stuffed them into his mouth, swallowing them with all his might.

"call……"

Only then did Xi Wang completely relax, her body slowly sliding down to sit against the wall in the corner of the bedroom.

"I'm sorry... I lied to you..."

Xi Wang murmured softly, then gently rubbed the slightly rough little candy bag in her hand, took out a pink cherry blossom-shaped candy from it, and slowly put it into her mouth.

The unique floral sweetness slowly spreads in your mouth, gradually mellowing the monotonous sweetness in your oral cavity.

He savored the unique flavor, as if trying to imprint this special sweetness, along with the sentiment behind it, in his heart.

But in the end, he lowered his eyes slightly and muttered to himself with a hint of disappointment.

"Feel sorry……"

…………

........................

A few days later, late at night, in a quiet park, a small boat was drifting silently on the lake.

"...She's here."

Kevin took a quick sniff of the air and said softly.

"Sure enough, she was right on time."

Soon, the girl he was protecting behind him, Mei, also smelled the faint fragrance of flowers.

But what followed was an icy chill, and Kevin kicked up the greatsword hidden on the side of the small boat, shielding Mei behind him with one hand while using the other to parry in a dimly lit direction.

Clang——

A crisp sound rang out as the two weapons collided. The immense force caused the small boat beneath them to sway gently, creating ripples, but the boat was quickly stabilized by the rapidly freezing lake surface.

After a brief standoff, the other party quickly withdrew, but this allowed the two to see the weapon the other was carrying.

The prototype Honkai energy weapon, 【Ice Bloom】, was originally intended to target Honkai Beasts, but it has now been used against humans.

"........."

Clearly, after their initial attack failed, the opponent did not intend to let them go. After a brief silence, they launched another attack, but Kevin blocked them all.

A layer of ice formed on the lake surface around the small boat. The ice was then cracked by the rocking of the boat, but it was quickly frozen again by the cold air. The ice surface went back and forth between cracking and freezing, becoming thicker and thicker.

"Is this enough?"

Mei spoke up at the opportune moment.

“I think this is enough to prove that you can’t kill me in front of Kevin, and therefore you can’t complete your mission.”

"Perhaps we should get down to business, shouldn't we, Miss Forget-Me-Not in the Poisonous Chrysalis?"

“...Your intelligence network is larger than I imagined, Dr. May.”

The cold blades no longer attacked, and a pink figure gently landed on the ice outside the small boat.

"Indeed, you are a very good choice."

Sakura slowly sheathed her sword, sighing softly.

"You used your methods to send us the assassination message, hoping to make a deal with us, right?"

Mei pushed up her glasses and said.

"Yes, but you may need to coordinate with my supervisor later... although the current situation is entirely my own decision."

"But I think you should be interested, since you'd rather focus your energy on fighting the Honkai than on internal power struggles, wouldn't you?"

"...You're right, but what do we get in return?"

"A knife called 'Forget-Me-Not,' and an 'ally' with enough intimidation... although the latter requires your own negotiation."

Sakura said softly.

"In return, I hope you can use your power to protect someone."

"If you mean your sister Rin..."

Before Mei could finish speaking, that bone-chilling coldness struck again, leaving an icy blue trail in the dim night before finally stopping in front of Mei, unable to advance any further.

Kevin intercepted the swift attack.

"what……"

After a brief standoff, Sakura finally sighed and withdrew her movement.

"I must say, as expected of you, Dr. Mei. Logically speaking, my and Ling's information should have been well protected."

As long as there are no signs of defection, her and Ling's information will be kept under the highest level of confidentiality by the Poison Chrysalis, as promised.

"You should have more confidence in the person you've chosen."

Mei pushed up her glasses, seemingly unfazed by the attack.

"Back to the previous topic, if it's your sister Ling, then you can make a different request. She's currently at the Firemoth base, being cared for by one of my colleagues. I can guarantee that your sister will receive protection equivalent to that of a Firemoth warrior's family member. If necessary, you can also request Dr. Mebius for even better protection on my behalf."

"Just like you said, we should focus on resisting the Honkai rather than fighting for power. We do need a stable environment to ensure our research, and a comfortable environment needs sufficient deterrence to maintain it... I'll talk to your boss about the rest."

"However, in order to ensure the smooth progress of things, you may need to stay in jail for a few days."

"It's alright, and... thank you."

Mei had clearly agreed, which relieved Ying slightly.

"So, do you have any other requests? I'll grant them depending on the circumstances."

"……there is none left."

A certain figure flashed through Sakura's mind, then she shook her head and said with a light laugh.