"I just remembered I have something else to do."
"I'm heading out first."
Ruan Mei organized the data at hand and watched Mobius walk away. She felt as though she'd been played by the other woman.
Shaking her head, she didn't dwell on it and continued organizing her report on the Heliobi.
"You arrived at just the right time."
Seeing Mobius approach, Levi, Sushang, and Guinaifen broke apart from their shoulder-to-shoulder huddle.
"Don't forget what you promised me."
There was much more emotion in Mobius's voice now. It was clear that her conversation with Ruan Mei had put her in a good mood.
At the very least, it had eliminated the negative effects brought on by Mr. Tail.
"Also, I need a laboratory. That should be something you can arrange."
Hearing Mobius's additional request, Levi pondered for a moment. Whether buying or renting a laboratory on the Luofu, it really wouldn't be difficult for him.
So he nodded and agreed to Mobius's conditions.
Then, after glancing at the two Pokemon Masters, Stelle and Huohuo, who were still battling, Levi called out to Huohuo, the professional responsible for dealing with Heliobi.
After all, their job was only to lure the Heliobi out. The actual capture work still had to be handled by the professionals from the Ten-Lords Commission.
"How about I go get Lady Xueyi..."
Huohuo cautiously glanced at Mobius, who was standing beside Levi. She noticed that Mobius was smiling as she stared at her ears, and her heart tightened. She silently looked away.
"I-I might not be able to handle that many on my own..."
Judging from the fact that Mr. Tail had kept glancing toward Mobius while arguing with Cirrus, it seemed that an existence like Mobius, who was practically an open buffet, held an enormous attraction for the Heliobi.
When they went to the area where the Heliobi were active, there was a good chance that a large number of them would show up.
And on Huohuo's side, the Ghost-Hunting Squad only had her as a member of the Ten-Lords Commission.
For Huohuo herself, this might be more than she could handle.
"Tch! They're just a bunch of trash. What's there to be afraid of?"
"Of course Mr. Tail, the greatest being under heaven, isn't afraid. But we're just fragile humans. Of course we're afraid of those Heliobi that devour souls whole."
"Heh, now you're even dragging me into this."
Mr. Tail rolled his eyes at Cirrus, who had just spoken, as if Cirrus itself weren't a Heliobus.
"Aw, Huohuo, don't be afraid. It's not like you only have me... and Levi here. No matter how powerful those Heliobi are, they're still no match for our Levi's family!"
Guinaifen comforted her from the side.
At first, she'd wanted to say that she and Sushang were here too. But then she remembered how she and Sushang had been so frightened by Mr. Tail that they'd run all over the Fyxestroll Garden in a panic.
If she said that, it wouldn't be reassuring at all.
It would be better to use Levi to comfort Huohuo. After all, Levi was originally the person she and Sushang had dragged along when they first went exploring.
On top of that, he had the ability to handle Emanator-level Heliobi. He was the perfect person to reassure Huohuo and make her feel at ease about going to work with them.
"Just think about it. Even Phantylia isn't a match for him..."
"O-okay."
After struggling with the decision for a while, Huohuo agreed to go with them and court death.
Mobius stood to the side, listening to their conversation. She suddenly felt that something wasn't quite right.
But by then, Levi had already set off in the direction of one part of the Fyxestroll Garden. She could only follow him. She was unfamiliar with the place, and getting lost would be a lot of trouble.
Especially in her current state.
———
[Fyxestroll Garden]
It had once been a gathering place for the Foxians.
However, the war against the Abundance had resulted in the deaths of many Foxians. As a result, many Foxians had come to the garden to commemorate the deceased. Gradually, the Fyxestroll Garden had evolved into the graveyard it was today.
Later, the Great Heliobus, Ignamar, had arranged to fight the former Luofu general in the Fyxestroll Garden. It had been smashed into countless fragments during the battle.
The Xianzhou people had then built the Cauldron of Creation right there to seal away the rampaging Heliobi.
Thus, the Fyxestroll Garden had also become a place where Heliobi were sealed.
Now, a problem with the Cauldron of Creation had allowed the Heliobi inside to escape.
A small number of Heliobi had fled the Fyxestroll Garden and gone to other abodes, while most of them had been trapped within the garden by the Binding and Evil-Quelling Array established there by the Ten-Lords Commission.
They were waiting for the Ten-Lords Commission to finish repairing the Cauldron of Creation before capturing them.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
Mobius looked at Levi, who was speaking at length, her words filled with curiosity.
She was here to study why the Heliobi could feed on emotions. Why was Levi telling her the history of the Fyxestroll Garden?
Levi turned his head to look at her. "The Cauldron of Creation has already been repaired."
"Mm, and then?"
"We need to find a way to capture those Heliobi."
"Mm."
"But catching them one by one is too much trouble."
"Mm... Hm?"
Mobius's brows instantly furrowed as she stared at Levi, who was looking directly at her.
"What do you mean?"
Levi stopped walking and faced Mobius with a calm expression.
"Forgive me, Mobius."
With that, he turned and ran.
Mobius looked back. Huohuo, Sushang, Guinaifen, and the others, who had been behind her moments ago, had already stopped walking.
They stood at a not-too-near, not-too-far distance, watching her.
The corner of Mobius's mouth twitched slightly.
Levi jogged over to the others and asked Guinaifen, "Are you sure it's here?"
"Positive!" Guinaifen nodded and said, "We haven't cleared out the Heliobi here yet. They've already been caught everywhere else."
"What about the other parts of the Luofu?"
"We haven't started on those yet. Huohuo and I discussed it, and we decided to finish catching the ones here first before moving on to clear out the other places.", Guinaifen answered.
Although Heliobi possessing human bodies would have a negative impact on those bodies, a possession lasting only a few days wouldn't cause any major problems.
At most, the person would have to report to the Ten-Lords Commission.
"Report to the Ten-Lords Commission?!", Levi's voice rose.
After all, life was just a matter of your head hitting the ground. Wasn't reporting to the Ten-Lords Commission the worst that could happen?
"I misspoke! I misspoke, family! I meant the Alchemy Commission! The Alchemy Commission!"
Guinaifen hurriedly explained that she'd made a slip of the tongue. She even symbolically slapped herself in the face a few times in front of Levi.
Seeing this, Levi rolled up his sleeves and offered to do the job for free.
But Guinaifen insisted that how could she trouble her family with such a tiring task?
What if he hurt his hand?
Right?
"So, you really do care about me?"
"Of course!"
Guinaifen puffed out her chest. Levi glanced at it but made no comment.
At any rate, it was bigger than Qingque's.
"We're family, after all. Of course we should care about each other."
"Then you wouldn't mind lending a family member some credits to spend, right?"
Guinaifen's expression instantly became awkward.
"Well... uh..."
She cautiously glanced at Sushang.
"How about... you ask Sushang to lend you some? It's not that we don't want to lend you any. We just started out, so we really don't have many credits!"
"Stop talking, stop talking! They're coming, they're coming!"
Sushang's voice was excited as she gestured for Levi and Guinaifen to look toward the area beside Mobius.
Ghostly flames flickered dimly as they slowly approached Mobius.
Mobius remained standing where she was, allowing the ghostly flames to draw near without making a move.
Seeing this, Levi frowned slightly and reached out his hand.
A long blade was drawn out of thin air.
In an instant, as the long blade appeared, an ominous aura began to spread through the surrounding area.
"..."