Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 312 Close Friend?
"Style One! What are you doing?!" Minks stood up, picked up the chair he had just been sitting on, and slammed it onto the table in front of him, roaring loudly amidst the loud noise.

He couldn't believe that his most powerful blade had fallen so easily into the hands of the puppet opposite him.

The situation was clearly very promising.

Wasn't Isshiki about to win? Why was he suddenly defeated when the puppet charged at him the second time? How could he be so easily defeated?

“A special kind of ability manifests. One move touched that threshold and gained the upper hand, but then the opponent may have also glimpsed that power through the door that the move opened.” Another voice rang in Minks’s ear.

"On what grounds? Even according to your logic, that puppet was a later addition!"

"There's never been a case of the latecomer being unable to surpass the former. Besides, that puppet might just have lacked a trigger. According to reliable information, it might have a deeper foundation than the original in some aspects. However, I'm still researching that area and can't reach it yet. What I'm saying is just speculation." The voice was very calm, even indifferent.

I had absolutely no emotions or opinions about the defeat of the first style.

Minks blushed, took a deep breath, and ran his hands across his nose, down to his brow: "One Form is gone. Those white-clad guys have gone mad. Sloven had them take over the port and control all the factories in that area. This is too deadly."

Zero's emotions also affected Minks, calming him down.

It's gone, so be it. His last remaining source of strength is gone, but Minks's greater anger stems from Isshiki's failure to defeat the opposing puppet. As for Isshiki himself, Minks doesn't believe that the predicament he faces can be solved by a single puppet.

Putting aside his personal desires for the doll, he should now be thinking about what to do in the second half of the council meeting a few days from now.

He can no longer figure out what Slovendo is thinking.

Is the white-clad figure now trying to coerce and entice the parliament into submission in Kabala? That would be the worst-case scenario, and Minks doesn't want to see it.

Damn it, how did things turn out like this?

The speed at which the situation escalated made him feel deeply troubled.

But regretting it now is useless. Who knew that a scapegoat he initially disregarded would suddenly turn into a monster and bite people everywhere? Even if he re-analyzed the situation, he didn't think he had done anything wrong, so there was no need to regret it; it was meaningless.

If I had to say what I regretted, it would only be that I didn't stop my wife and daughter from going out freely during this period.

Yes, he was right.

Minks pondered, "Has the royal family reacted? At this point, are they still just going to stand by and do nothing? Continue to cling to their mysticism?"

His tone carried a hint of resentment. Although the royal family had largely transferred power to the parliament, and now often only symbolic, there was no doubt that the Scallovan royal family still wielded considerable power.

Although the Royal Military Industry is nominally directly under the Scalovarian government, a considerable portion of its internal power still obeys the royal family.

In addition, there are many members of the royal faction in Parliament, who are mostly on the political margins and rarely participate in political discussions, only voting or abstaining.

But no one will ignore them in crucial moments.

Nowadays, even members of the royal family have not appeared in public for a long time, having taken their mysticism to its extreme many years ago.

Since the current parliament is a top-down reform initiated by the royal family, they have complied with various aspects while retaining enough for themselves.

Now, in a sense, the situation has reached a life-or-death point, yet the royal family remains completely unresponsive.

His several attempts to contact them yielded no results.

"It seems so. They might have already given up," the voice replied.

“Mechanical Heart, how are their preparations going? Slovendo can’t be unaware that someone is planning an assassination, especially now that he’s so enraged. There must have been a lot of preparation during the council session.” Minks wiped his mouth with both hands and put them down, exhaling a breath as he said in a deep voice, “According to the last contact, they have done the best they can. If necessary, we will need your cooperation.”

"My cooperation? Ha, it's just a partial overlap of interests. You've got quite the nerve," Minks said sarcastically.

A moment later, the voice said, "If you still need help, give me all the remaining Dream Alloy you've been hoarding."

Minks frowned: "Zero, what do you dare to do?"

"I've been researching this for a long time, and perhaps I can make a breakthrough here. If I succeed, it will also help you, won't it?" Zero's voice lingered in my ears, light and airy.

Minks instinctively wanted to refuse.

These strange beings from another world were not much better to him than the white-clothed figure, but Zero had indeed provided him with a lot of help in his past actions.

The reward it demands is merely what it calls "growth," which is elusive and hard to understand.

The application of Dream Alloy in dolls was made possible by Zero's numerous suggestions and even his participation in the research, which led to such rapid and significant results.

However, Zero also has a thirst for the Dream Alloy. Minks can sense that Zero's extensive research is for its own benefit, and it is also preparing for it.

Is the harvest it's been waiting for finally arriving soon?
After a brief moment of hesitation, Minks replied, "Okay, go ahead."

"Thank you. After this is all done, I might be able to help you even more. Don't be so resistant to me; I thought we were already close friends." Zero's voice faded into the distance.

Although there were no distinguishing features, Minks knew from his years of experience with the other person that they had already left.

However, when asked about Zero's words, he lowered his eyes slightly: "A close friend... huh."

……

Rabbi and Carrot managed to escape safely in the end.

Although they were slapped by both Type-I and Radish, incurring considerable losses in this regard, and although Radish still managed to take them down after slapping them in the face, to be honest, expecting them to take down something they couldn't even do with a few drones is wishful thinking.

There's no reason to blame them for this; the key point is that the initial task was successful.

With the port area sealed off by the Tide Army, Kabala, still reeling from the New City incident, suffered an even greater blow that same day. Was the white-clad figure finally giving up on the act?

The voices of countless people in discussion involuntarily lowered. Now, if you offend the man in white, you might accidentally get beaten to death in the street and no one would care.

Rabbi and Carrot are heading back to their temporary lodging.

"The other end of the communication signal intercepted during the battle definitely shows that it is Senator Minks. The evidence is conclusive," the rabbi said after confirming.

Such obvious signals were easily detected and reproduced by her eyes.

"Beep beep..." Radish responded, probably still immersed in the battle and hadn't come back to his senses.

"Radish, how's your chest injury? Did it hurt some joints?" the rabbi asked.

Radish shook his head: "Beep beep..."

Don't let its tough exterior fool you; it's actually quite resilient, with a long health bar and self-repair capabilities. It'll heal itself naturally over time. For example, the outer shell is already showing no signs of damage, but the internal core connections are more delicate and require more time to repair.

(End of this chapter)