The Artifact Forger from the Beginning of Collapse

"I was just kidding."

"Scared me."

"Actually, it was 15 minutes ago."

"..."

"So you can go out now, right? I still need to dry my hair, or do you want to help me?" Alicia said, one hand on her hip and the other fiddling with her still slightly damp hair.

"Damn it, I should have time-traveled 15 minutes earlier! It's all Kaguya Houraisan's fault!"

Because after waking up in the morning, Kaguya Houraisan clung to Chen Li's leg until Chen Li ordered breakfast for her before letting her go.

The money that was originally meant for Kaguya Houraisan? She spent it all on in-game purchases.

Chen Li was curious about what kind of game cost so much money. After glancing over, he discovered that the other person was playing Three Kingdoms Kill.

Oh, that's okay.

I'm going to give Three Kingdoms Kill a bad review right now!

"Then you'd better be careful not to get silenced. You can't just come into a girl's room without being invited." As Alicia spoke, she pushed Chen Li out of her room and into the dormitory living room.

Instead of kicking Chen Li out of the dormitory, Alicia sat with him in the dormitory lobby and then picked up a hairdryer to dry her hair.

"Speaking of which, how's Kikyo doing?" Alicia asked while drying her hair.

The day after Chen Li finished clearing out the demons in that world, he took some time to send a message to Alicia, briefly describing what had happened.

After Alicia finished showing concern for the humans in that world, she obviously started to care about Kikyo.

Kikyo is trying to teach her younger sister how to use a bow and arrow, and asked me if I wanted to learn a thing or two.

"So, have you learned it?"

"No, didn't we agree that I would learn archery from you? So I politely declined," Chen Li said without changing his expression.

The main reason Chen Li politely declined was because he was in a hurry to retrieve the relics of the slain demons that he had asked the surviving demons to collect.

Chen Li threw all the miscellaneous items he received, except for a few that were intact, into the recycling center.

The Peace Longbow was so powerful that very few complete items survived, resulting in the item's attributes becoming dull and lifeless.

Using this kind of term to forge rare items, Chen Li will lose everything.

"Sigh, I really want to learn archery from Kikyo too," Alicia said, her voice filled with longing.

"???" by Chen Li.

Are you after their bow and arrows? Or are you after them?

Chapter 51 Mebius: Oh no, did I sell myself?

"Okay, your hair's done. We don't have any fieldwork today, come on, I'll take you there..."

"Learn archery?"

"Go see little Gresh! Let me tell you, little Gresh doesn't look like her father at all, she's very cute." Alicia's face lit up with a doting smile at the thought of Gresh.

“If you say that, Hen will be sad. But it’s just so happens that Gretchen’s mother works in the Möbius lab, and I also need to go to Möbius to submit the mission items.”

"What item?"

"Demon flesh and blood," Chen Li said.

As for what Mebius could research using the flesh and blood of these demons, that was not Chen Li's concern.

Even if what Möbius researched was bizarre, could it be any more bizarre or bizarre?

Chen Li has already deployed artifacts from the previous civilization, so why worry about this?

……

"There's a mole inside. Terminate the deal."

The next moment, a blindingly bright light shone.

This seemed to foreshadow their eventual capture.

"Hey, why aren't you guys turning on the lights?" Alicia skillfully turned on the lab lights, looking at Chen Li and Mebius, who were huddled together as if doing something naughty, with a puzzled expression.

“He requested it.” Möbius lazily got up and looked at Chen Li.

“I think there needs to be some kind of atmosphere for this kind of wicked deal,” Chen Li said, expressing his thoughts.

"What is an evil deal? This is about appearing for the truth and for science, understand?" Möbius glanced at Chen Li with disdain.

"I don't understand, but I remember to pay the bill."

"..."

"Why aren't you saying anything? Say something, Möbius!" Chen Li noticed Möbius's silence and directly put one hand on Möbius's shoulder.

Mebius is currently just an ordinary researcher and can't beat Chen Li, who has some martial arts skills.

"Calm down, it's just a minor problem."

"What minor problem?" Although Chen Li had enough Soul Steel, its ability to change shape made it very suitable for use as a rare artifact embryo.

It does not help increase the strength of rare items, but it can increase their convenience.

"For the sake of your longevity pill, the higher-ups at Firemoth didn't deny the deal between us, but they said the budget for Soul Steel would be deducted from my biological lab."

Simply put, the higher-ups at Firemoth granted the lab the right to purchase Soul Steel.

"and then?"

"But the lab is out of budget. So we can't cut it."

"Huh? With such a big lab, where did all the budget go?"

“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained, so I probably won’t be able to give you the Soul Steel until next quarter,” Möbius said.

"How far in the future are you referring to as the 'next quarter'?"

"Two months later."

"Two months is enough for me to save the world!"

“Alternatively, you could invest in the lab. With a sufficient budget, you could use it to buy Soul Steel. Soul Steel is not for sale, and you can’t buy a quota for it even with money,” Möbius said, turning to Chen Li.

"Good heavens, so you've come here to scam me out of investment?" Chen Li looked at Mebius in shock.

"Consider it a debt I owe you," Mebius said, looking at the demonic flesh that had already been placed into the incubation chamber.

Mebius was helpless, because Chen Li's demonic flesh and blood were outside of Mebius's original plan, which meant that researching demonic flesh and blood would be an additional expense.

Although the Moth of Fire symbolically increased the lab budget a little after hearing about the research project, it wasn't enough.

Mebius could understand this.

Because the higher-ups of the Firemoth had researched the Longevity Pill and found that the forces from two different worlds were unlikely to be compatible, they had no expectations for Mebius's research.

“…Okay. But I have one condition.” Chen Li said after clenching his fist.

"What conditions?"

"I want you……"

"You even like me? What kind of taste do you have?" Möbius looked at Chen Li in surprise.

"Your patents for the next two quarters!"

"Deal made. A pleasure doing business with you."

“It was unpleasant at all.” Chen Lixin reluctantly shook hands with Mebius.

"And you once promised to forge a scalpel for me, the reward being a piece of soul steel, this budget..." Möbius hesitated, then stopped.

"I have to pay for it too?"

“Yes, just let me know what you need, and I’ll try my best to meet your needs,” Möbius nodded.

“Come on, swear an oath to it. I can provide you with a sufficient budget, including but not limited to these two portions of Soul Steel. As for what you can give in return, think it over before you speak. All your future patents and all items you manufacture that you can decide to own will belong to me! Think it over before you answer, I’m serious.” Chen Li said to Möbius, taking out the contract gold coins.

“As long as you can provide me with a sufficient budget at any time, all my future patents and all the experimental subjects whose ownership I can decide will belong to you,” Möbius said casually.

Möbius didn't care how much money his experiments could earn; he only cared about whether he could pursue the infinite.

"Deal." Chen Li nodded.

The gold coin instantly emitted a golden light, illuminating Mebius's ominous face.

"This is?"

"Contract coins. Once the agreement is reached, it will be enforced. Dear Dr. Möbius, you'd better not break the contract." Chen Li immediately put the contract coins back into the Myriad Knowledge Vault.

This contract coin only recognizes the agreement, not the person. If a strange agreement is accidentally reached, even Chen Li will be in trouble. Therefore, it must be retrieved immediately after use.

"..."

"What's wrong? The way you look... you weren't originally planning to trick me, and you didn't really intend to keep your promise, were you?" Chen Li looked at Möbius suspiciously.

"Of course not, I, Mebius, keep my word."