I don't want to be an elf!

"Hey, Sumire." Honjou Nia greeted her warmly. "My name is Honjou Nia, just call me Nia."

“Very well, Ms. Honjo.” Sumire Muroto said coldly, “It seems that it’s you, not Rentaro, who’s come to see me this time.”

"Yes, yes, I hope I didn't bother you."

"The thing I have plenty of right now is time."

Sumire Muroto stirred the hot coffee in her beaker with a glass rod, looking all ears: "Although I don't know what your job is, since Rentaro brought you here, it means he trusts you. So let me hear what you have to say."

Since the New Human Creation Project was dismantled, she has been holed up in this house she renovated and has hardly ever gone out.

Rentaro Satomi was one of the few people who was qualified to see her, and also one she was willing to see.

Because both sides knew each other well, and Rentaro Satomi also knew that she did not like to interact with outsiders, he had never brought anyone here.

However, today, contrary to his usual behavior, he brought a woman whom Sumire Muroto had never seen, heard of, or even mentioned in conversation before her.

Therefore, the matter being discussed must be significant.

Sumire Muroto sat down in a chair, sighed, and said, "Rentaro, you really know how to cause me trouble."

"I'm sorry, doctor," Rentaro Satomi said with a wry smile, "It's precisely because only you can solve this problem that I decided to bring Nia along."

"Yes, I guessed it, otherwise why would you bring a stranger here?"

Sumire Muroto took a sip of coffee and said calmly, "Let me guess, this trouble is definitely related to saving someone else."

"How did you know?"

"Besides doing something stupid like this, what other things do you get involved in?" Sumire Muroto asked with an expression of utter familiarity. "Every time you come to me with that look on your face, I know you're about to do something stupid again."

“Every time… I don’t think it’s that many times,” Rentaro Satomi said awkwardly. “It sounds like you’re saying I’m a stupid idiot who likes to play the hero.”

"Aren't you just a fool who likes to play the hero?" Sumire Muroto retorted. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Tell me, just like countless times before, what do you hope to get from me this time?"

"Your wisdom and assistance," Nia Honjou replied first.

"what......"

Upon hearing this, Sumire Muroto impatiently ruffled her messy long hair: "This is more troublesome than I imagined."

"I haven't said what it is yet."

"I already know without you having to tell me."

Sumire Muroto pursed her lips, the bitterness of the coffee seeming to travel from her taste buds to her facial nerves, and she gave a wry smile: "I originally thought you wanted to get some data or information from me, or at most, make me pick up my old job again and modify the human body."

She sighed deeply and then said, "Ms. Honjo, your greed is beyond my imagination."

“To be honest, I’m someone who knows how to be content with what I have,” Nia Honjou said innocently. “But if I want to change the world, I have no other choice.”

"Then convince me, just like you convinced Rentaro."

With her fingers interlocked and elbows propped on the table, Sumire Muroto said expressionlessly, "In your grand plan to change the world, what is your purpose? What is the mission I am to accomplish?"

"My goal is to make this rotten world a better place, and the first step is to change the current situation faced by the cursed children."

Nia Honjou put away her playful expression and said solemnly, "And your job is to help me create an erosion rate inhibitor."

"what......"

Faced with such a grand and pure ideal, Sumire Muroto couldn't help but widen her eyes.

So shocked was she that she even forgot to hide her thoughts.

One of the four wise men who stand at the pinnacle of wisdom in this world exclaimed from the bottom of his heart:

"This is truly the dumbest thing I've ever heard of."

Chapter Forty: The Essence of the World - A Two-in-One

This is an absolutely stupid plan.

It's not just Sumire Muroto who thinks this way; anyone with even a slight understanding of the world would probably think the same after hearing about this plan.

The fact that Sumire Muroto didn't burst into laughter was already a great favor to them.

“I know this sounds stupid,” Nia Honjou added calmly, “but what if I said I already have the formula for the erosion rate inhibitor?”

Upon hearing this, Sumire Muroto paused, taken aback.

If that's the case, then it's a different story.

She had just thought that Nia Honjou's visit was to ask her to find the formula for the blocker and then make it.

Unexpectedly, the formula had already been found; all she needed to do was create the blocker according to the formula.

But is this possible?

Sumire Muroto felt genuinely that it was absurd.

Elite scholars from around the world gathered together, but none of them found a way to overcome the invasion of the human body by gastrulatory viruses. They hoped to solve the problem of gastrulatory viruses at its root.

However, to this day, scientists have not found an effective way to eliminate gastritis.

Even Sumire Muroto and the others, who were known as the Four Sages, racked their brains but only managed to develop a slowing agent that reduced the rate at which Gastrea virus eroded human DNA.

This remedy has no effect on Gastrea at all; at best, it can only delay the transformation of humans into Gastrea.

As one of the four sages, Sumire Muroto's insights into gastrulovirus were among the best in the world.

It was precisely because of this that she knew how invincible this demonic virus, which was even more troublesome than cancer cells, was that she abandoned the research on gastroenteritis and turned to overcoming the rejection of citric acid by the human body in order to create mechanical warriors.

And now, a girl who appeared out of nowhere claims that she has developed a formula for an erosion rate inhibitor?

"I do not believe."

Sumire Muroto directly expressed her doubts.

Although she trusts Rentaro Satomi a lot, it doesn't mean she blindly trusts him.

Even if Nia Honjo was a friend he trusted, Sumire Muroto wouldn't believe everything she heard.

Moreover, Rentaro Satomi has almost zero knowledge of Gastrea, making him no different from most ordinary people, and he can easily be fooled in this kind of situation.

If Nia Honjo were to hand her the formula for the so-called blocking agent, she would only need to glance at it to draw a conclusion.

Is this person a smooth-talking charlatan, or a genius whose wisdom and ability surpass those of the four sages?

Sumire Muroto instinctively leaned towards the latter.

Because gastritis is not something that the general public can come into contact with, there is no way that there are any so-called "folk geniuses" or "reclusive masters". Let alone creating an invasion rate inhibitor, even researching gastritis requires instruments and equipment that are far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

In this world, only institutions with ample funds and regimes with abundant power can provide the basic instruments for studying gastroenteritis.

But if Nia Honjo is one of them, she wouldn't need to come to her to discuss cooperation at all.

When Sumire Muroto heard that she had a formula for an erosion rate inhibitor, she actually wanted to kick her out.

To scientists, such statements are as absurd and laughable as someone saying, "I am Qin Shi Huang, and if you 50 times my power, you can revive my army and make you the founding general after I conquer the world."

They didn't kick him out immediately, purely out of respect for Rentaro Satomi.

"Don't rush to make a judgment. Let's at least take a look first."

Under Sumire Muroto's astonished gaze, Nia Honjou summoned the Whispering Scripture. After typing "[Erosion Rate Inhibitor Formula]" on the search page, densely packed small characters appeared.

"It's a little long, take your time reading it, we're not in a hurry."

Honjou Nia handed the eulogy to Muroto Sumire with a confident air.

Muroto Sumire first studied the Whispering Book, seemingly trying to figure out how such a large book came to be.

But after looking around in all directions, he still couldn't find the mechanism, so he had to look at the text on the page.

Initially, she only intended to pretend and take a casual glance.

However, after reading a few lines of text, she discovered that the formula actually contained many of the ingredients found in the erosion mitigation agents she was familiar with, and she couldn't help but become serious.

As she delved deeper into the subject, her brow furrowed as she began searching for data in files she hadn't opened in a long time on her computer, analyzing the feasibility of the formula's ingredients.

Nia Honjo watched her verification quietly, without any worry.

Because the formula provided by the Whispering Book could not possibly be fake.

As an omniscient and omnipotent angel, and the only angel to be classified as an S-rank angel alongside Zafkiel, the Whispering Tome is undoubtedly the highest-ranking angel among all angels.

Perhaps there are some questions it truly cannot answer.

But if it can answer the question, it can never make a mistake.

Holding the recipe, Sumire Muroto seemed to have forgotten that she had two guests, and devoted herself to the verification process, causing Kento's brain to work at high speed for the first time in a long time.

It wasn't until more than two hours later that she finally looked away from the murmured confession.

"I'm not qualified to say this formula is fake, but I'm not qualified to say it's real either. It's 50/50," Sumire Muroto said carefully. "Because some of the steps in manufacturing the erosion rate inhibitor are only theoretically feasible, but the current research equipment cannot achieve the desired effect. As for the ingredients in the formula, there are also some that I have never heard of before."

“It’s alright. Just write down those research devices, and I’ll find ways to improve them,” Nia Honjo said confidently. “The same goes for unknown components; I can find those as well.”

"If you're not lying, then the probability that this formula is effective increases to 80%."

"Is 80% enough?" Rentaro Satomi asked anxiously after waiting for more than an hour. "Doctor, are you confident that you can manufacture the erosion rate inhibitor?"

"Yes, if there is enough funding."

Sumire Muroto nodded, but what she said next took the two of them completely by surprise: "But I won't help you."

"Why?" Rentaro Satomi asked, puzzled. "Isn't the probability as high as 80%? Why can't you help us, doctor?"

"This isn't a question of possibility; it's a question of what you're going to do with this blocker."

Sumire Muroto took a sip of coffee, ignoring Rentaro Satomi's emotions, and asked calmly, "If your only goal is to use the inhibitor on Enju, I won't hesitate to help, but your goal is to make sure all the Cursed Children can use it, right?"

“Isn’t this what we should do?” Nia Honjou said. “My goal is to grant the cursed children human rights and to stop treating them as monsters. This is the first step I must take to achieve my goal.”

"That's precisely why I'm unwilling to help you."

Muroto Sumire slowly closed the murmured document and said in an icy tone, "You are committing suicide."

She locked herself in this dark laboratory so that she would never have to come into contact with that distorted world outside.

In a sense, she and Nia Honjo are the same kind of people.

Nia Honjou is disappointed that true bonds can never be formed between humans, so she devotes herself to the world of anime and manga and is unwilling to have deep relationships with others.

Sumire Muroto's condition is even more severe than that of Nia Honjo.