Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. In fact, Noah did not just kill Margaret alone. Even Skadi, who had not had time to express her feelings, was affected by the AOE. She actually had a similar problem to Margaret. She also wanted to ask Noah about his feelings for her. Moreover, Agor actually allowed same-sex marriage and bigamy, so she did not expect Noah to be so "loyal". She felt like a fishbone was stuck in her throat. She could only breathe out but not in.

Feelings are something that cannot be forced. Even Skadi, who is a bit silly, knows that she has a problem that she may not be able to ask.

I can't cause more trouble for Noah... and...

Compared to Margaret, she was at least truly loved by Noah... Skadi felt that she was even just an outsider, a complete outsider. When she thought of this, she felt that she was somewhat redundant here.

—Ah… Think about it carefully. If the Third Captain were here, what would he do and say…

——It's so boring. Love and romance will only slow down the speed at which I wave the anchor.

Well...the way Captain Three acted cannot be used as a reference at all!

There is no way to refer to it!

So thinking about what the second captain would do, Skadi immediately began to think about the second captain's approach which seemed more reliable.

If it was the second captain, he probably wouldn't care about such things.

【Second Captain Case】

So what? What's mine will always be mine.

——Something is wrong. It seems that the Second Captain has no reference value in this regard.

The second captain is the kind of person who doesn't care about other people's thoughts at all. If someone like her were to fall in love, she would probably be the overbearing type who would say, "I love you, and your thoughts have nothing to do with me."

Furthermore, in this kind of emotional confrontation, the Second Captain couldn't possibly lose...

That...that...Laurentina.

Laurentina's Occasion

"It doesn't matter, let's go SOX first."

……

That's not right! Why doesn't the entire Deep Sea Hunter team seem to have a reliable concept of love?

But that's also true... The deep-sea hunters' job is special, which may lead to their special views on love. In short... the views on love of a group of weirdos cannot be used as a reference.

Well... I am one of the weirdos too.

When I think about it this way, even though I like Noah, Noah probably never considers me as a romantic partner...at most, he's just a very good friend?

It's even more embarrassing when I think about it...

Alas, the poor little whale is almost broken.

If Margaret and Mace are evenly matched, and Mace has won now, then Skadi is just cannon fodder here, and is not an opponent of the same level at all!

Margaret stopped talking, so Jian had no choice but to take over and speak.

"...Let's put this aside for now. The important thing is that there are still several questions that haven't been asked, Noah... What is that thing that you have been hesitant about and haven't told us before?"

Finally, the key question was asked. Although the previous question was somewhat awkward, Noah immediately perked up when it came to such a serious matter. In fact, this question was rather vague - but Noah also knew what was most important now.

"It's actually a question of my identity. In your eyes, who am I, specifically?"

"...Noah Kirilet, the head of the Kirilet family, an excellent businessman, and many other titles. Listing them all would be too long, so I won't list them all here."

Mace replied, "Besides this, is there any other identity?"

"Yes... that's the most crucial point... When I was thirteen, Margaret and I were assassinated. We should start from that time." Noah nodded. "Actually, Noah Kyrielight was too young at the time, was seriously injured, and was infected with oripathy... The chances of survival were actually very low."

"I know about this, but didn't you survive?" Margaret frowned. She still remembered what happened when she was thirteen years old. She was so worried that she couldn't eat. She came to ask about Noah's situation every day, but Noah was not in Casimir at that time. She was taken away by her grandfather for treatment, so there was no news.

"My grandfather brought me here," Noah replied. "This laboratory, my grandfather, or rather, my family, guards the secrets of this laboratory. We are the gatekeepers of this ruin. This is my family cemetery, and it is also the greatest secret we guard."

"This is also the ancestral land of Kuranta—or at least the ancestral land of the three gods." Margaret nodded, still remembering the contents of the mural. "You mean you survived because you received treatment in the ancestral land?"

"Yes, it's considered treatment, but... it might be a little different than you imagine." Noah paused, as if weighing his words. "Actually, as a child, there was no way I could have survived that situation. Grandfather discussed it with the administrator and decided... to use one of the relics of a previous civilization preserved in Lab Zero, and to create Creation Zero using the administrator's soul as raw material."

"Creation Zero?" Margaret frowned. "What is that?"

"...It's hard for me to describe what happened, but Creation Zero and I merged."

"What does fusion... mean?" Margaret continued to ask. In fact, she had a very strange feeling.

"Literally." Noah sighed. "Creation Zero and I, or rather, the me you met later, are no longer the original Noah Kyrielight. Of course, don't get me wrong, Creation Zero and Noah Kyrielight didn't replace each other, but... in a word, Creation Zero gave me life, and I gave Creation Zero the identity of a human."

Noah's words were actually very simple and clear, but even so, Margaret and others still needed some time to digest them, and Margaret was the first to figure out the situation.

"In other words... you are now a combination of the two?" Margaret described Noah's condition as objectively as possible.

"Not exactly. It should be considered... a complete fusion. I am a single individual, just with two identities and characteristics." Noah explained. "Of course, I also know that my explanation may make you wonder if I did something to the original Noah, but... I think you deserve to know the truth."

"...The truth." Mace sighed. "Actually, it doesn't matter to me. Because the you I know is the you who has already been integrated. So, the you I like is also the you who is like this. Nothing will change."

"Me too... the Miss Noah I knew is the Miss Noah of today, and I think that's fine... it's just..." Skadi looked at Margaret beside her.

Indeed, the one they knew was a hybrid of Noah Kyrielight and Zero, but only Margaret knew the real Noah Kyrielight, so she was the only one who was most likely to be unable to accept it.

Noah, the person he really wanted to tell was Margaret.

But...what about Margaret?

Margaret looked at Noah in front of her, and suddenly felt a little confused. Noah was not Noah... or rather, not the Noah she knew. But she also said that she had not changed, she just had a new identity...

So who did she fall in love with... the Noah of the past, or the Noah after the fusion?

This is a bit philosophical... To be honest, Margaret herself doesn't understand it.

However, she was very clear about one thing.

"This isn't your fault." She shook her head. "She was forced to fuse with Zero because she was protecting me. If there's anything wrong, it's mine."

That’s right, it was Margaret who got Noah into trouble, it was Margaret who hurt Noah, and it was Margaret who finally put Noah in a situation where he had to merge in order to survive...

At this time, Margaret was not so much confused about Noah's identity as she was suffering from her own incompetence.

If she had been stronger at the beginning, would the result have been different?

Or, why wasn't she the one who got oripathy in the first place?

She never blames others, she only blames herself.

So, in her heart, Noah was not wrong—neither the original Noah nor the current Noah was wrong.

The one who is wrong is her own.

"I understand your thoughts, but I am the only one who has no right to blame you." Margaret looked at Noah with a gentle tone.

"Besides, I believe you—you are Noah Kyrielight, and I trust my intuition."

And the most important thing is this sentence.

"Besides, not just me, everyone will believe in you because you have successfully gained their trust. This is your unique charm. I am proud of you and feel lucky that you are the one I love."

Chapter 90: Confused Accounts

Obviously, Noah really underestimated Margaret Linguang. She underestimated the tolerance and sensitivity of her childhood sweetheart. Even in this situation, she still gave an answer that was almost a standard answer.

This answer finally put Noah's heart at ease. Ever since she knew her identity, Noah was actually quite afraid of the consequences of her identity being exposed. She even thought about whether she would be regarded as an enemy by everyone. Even if it really happened, she didn't think it was a strange thing.

After all, although she didn't mean to, she did hide the secret out of fear.

People are often swept up in their emotions, leading to irrational behavior. However, it is precisely because Noya fears these things that perhaps she seems more like an ordinary person. This is one of the reasons why the Administrator chose to fuse Creation Zero with the compassionate Noya. It is precisely because of Noya's strong empathy, moral sense, and tempered willpower that Creation Zero truly understands the concept of "humanity" as a collection of emotions.

She didn't want her creation to become a ruthless savior machine. She deeply understood that if a [creation] with the power to save the world only had cold [execution ability], problems would easily arise. This was the most important reason why cold machines could not replace humans. If you want to save humans, you must first understand humans, and it is best to have the [consciousness] that you are a part of the human race.

This cannot be accomplished through simple settings, and, as it turns out, the administrator's judgment was correct.

A being that experiences fear, worries, and makes irrational decisions may seem unstable, but in reality, humans often come to better solutions after reflection. Only if Creation Zero loves humanity wholeheartedly can it truly save humanity. The ultimate creature created to save humanity must, of course, have a heart that loves humanity the most.

Seeing Noah's smile, Skadi and Mace beside him also felt relieved. It was obvious that from now on, Noah was completely relaxed.

"I thought... something terrible was going to happen." Noah clutched his chest, smiled bitterly, and shook his head. "I reckon the worst-case scenario is that you'll all think I'm a monster or something. After all, merging with a creature from a previous civilization is something that only appears in science fiction, and it's probably not a good thing."

"How is that possible? Noah is Noah, nothing will change." Margaret was the more nervous, but she still took the initiative to comfort Noah and explained. "It's just...it's not that I haven't considered your worst-case scenario, but it's the opposite. My idea is...if others can't accept it, I'll take you away."

"……Eh?"

"If others can't acknowledge you, then I'll do it. It's only natural. We're childhood sweethearts, soulmates, and lifelong... best friends, aren't we?" Margaret replied firmly. "No matter what, I'll always be your partner. This is my promise as Margaret, and it has nothing to do with the Linguang Family."

"...You only have such a sharp mind when you're trying to be cool..." Noah blushed slightly and punched Margaret in the chest in anger. "Okay, any other questions? I'm very busy. If there's nothing else, we should go back to the administrator and the doctor."

"That's true... but where did the doctor and the others go?" Skadi asked curiously. "This lab is really huge. If I were alone, I probably wouldn't even be able to walk out."

"Who knows... But the administrator, the doctor, and Precious will probably have a lot to say..." Noya, well aware of the bonds between the members of Eden, sighed. There was also a tangled mess over there, and it was unclear whether the administrator could resolve the situation. Of course, it would be great if the doctor could recover his original memories and Precious could stop harboring any ill will towards Terran civilization.

She could only pray like this -

-

On the other side, in front of the main machine in the laboratory, Precious and the doctor watched as the little Noah doll climbed clumsily onto the operating table under the operation of the administrator, and ran back and forth several times before starting the main machine. The main machine had been in a very deep sleep state before, also to save energy. The reason why the administrator asked Precious and the doctor to come here together was naturally to deal with the issue of the doctor's amnesia first.

The Doctor's amnesia was not unexpected by the Administrator, or rather, she had this plan when she knew that the Doctor had used the Grey Nail for the Originium Project. The Grey Nail was originally created to allow human navigators to anchor themselves when navigating in the Warp, so as not to be destroyed by the impression of the Warp demons, but this thing has always had a side effect since its appearance.

【Paranoia】

Those who use the Gray Nail will firmly believe in certain things, even believing that "water is highly poisonous."

This conviction has nothing to do with personal will; it's simply a "basic setting" built into the human brain. In fact, when designing Creation Zero, the Administrator built this basic setting into Creation Zero: "If you have to choose between humanity and the world, you must choose humanity."

However, whether this basic setting will still be effective after the fusion with Noah is another matter... In fact, the administrator himself is not sure.

After all, Creation No. 0 itself is a miracle that transcends her own cognition, and it is impossible for her to have a complete understanding of Creation No. 0.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have missed the chance to save the world because she couldn't complete the final step... This was probably a pain etched deep in the Administrator's bones. Watching most of humanity perish without being able to do anything about it was the most unacceptable thing for her, who loved humanity itself. It was also because of this that she would never watch the same thing happen again.

In order to prevent high-dimensional beings like the Lumberjack from continuing to attack humans, the administrator has tried his best, even risking his own soul.

However, even so... can it really save humanity?

tick-

The instruments in the laboratory lit up one after another, symbolizing that the entire laboratory had truly awakened, and a huge medical cabin shaped like a sarcophagus finally rose slowly from the ground.

"Doctor, please come into the medical cabin. I will thoroughly check your brain. If there is no problem, I will try to restore your erased memories through repair." The administrator operated the instrument and spoke to the doctor. Perhaps it was because these instruments were too familiar to him, but the doctor's expression was quite confused.

This confusion is actually a good thing, as it means that the doctor's memory has been stimulated, and the memory deletion may not be as thorough as imagined.

But even though she had already arrived here, the doctor hesitated... because she was not sure whether recovering her memory was a good thing.

In her previous experiences, she had learned some truths, such as that she was the culprit who killed Theresa, and that she had single-handedly shaped the current situation. She even had her own involvement in Theresa's conspiracy. In a sense, he, who was once called the evil spirit of the Tower of Babel, was indeed as terrifying as an evil spirit.

So... she was hesitating.

After regaining her memory, will she still be herself?

"Do I really have to recover those memories?" The doctor looked at the administrator operating the little Noah doll with a confused look on his face. "Is it really worth it for me to recover my memories?"

"Don't think of yourself as an unforgivable villain, Doctor." At this moment, the administrator seemed to have known the Doctor's thoughts for a long time and said, "Doctor, any sins you commit will become insignificant because of the responsibilities you bear. The reason you care is only because your soul itself is noble, and your nobility does not even allow you to transfer this guilt to responsibility. Don't worry, you will always be you. The decisions you made back then were only valid under the circumstances at that time. Now it is completely different."

"I'm just worried... After all, I only know what my past self did, but I don't know what she was thinking." The Doctor's concerns are somewhat similar to Noah's, but the two also have something in common.

That is an extraordinary sense of responsibility.

In fact, when the administrator designed Creation Zero, he thought about whether to let the Doctor and Creation Zero combine. If he hadn't met Noah later, perhaps the Doctor would have been the most suitable person.

But the matter is done, and she is not the kind of person who will hold on to regrets. Now that she has made the decision, she will stick to it!

"In my opinion, this kind of thinking is completely unnecessary. If you were in my shoes, I wouldn't care what the Doctor did to today's civilization. I'm different from you, Doctor. I'm just a selfish person. I can't be so selfless. I just want you to remember me, remember the Garden of Eden."

"Garden of Eden..." It seemed that this word gave the Doctor motivation, and she took a step forward.

"...Everything will be fine. You just need to get some sleep, Prophet, and you'll be back with us." The administrator breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the doctor lie down in the medical cabin. "The medical procedure is completely automatic and painless. Everything will be fine. I promise."

The administrator started the program, and the anesthetic gas quickly blurred the doctor's consciousness. While the program was running, the administrator put down all operations, landed on the ground with a small jump, looked at Precious who was watching her, and said, "Next, is it our turn?"

"I'm used to you being able to easily gain everyone's trust. I actually found it quite strange. But then, I became one of them, so... what kind of magic do you have?" Precious asked jokingly. "You only took off that unfortunate mask before bed, but I still remember it now."

"Memory is something that will beautify the past on its own and is not very reliable. But if there is any magic, it is probably - I do love you, right?" The administrator smiled. She and Precious both have complete memories, but now, she is AI, and Precious has completed his resurrection.

To be honest, she was quite envious of Precious. After all... she was indeed dead.

This AI can only simulate the thoughts of its past self. Once dead, it is dead. There is no reincarnation in this world.

"The doctor needs a little more time. We can chat during this time." The administrator looked at Precious and said, "This may be the last time."

"What do you mean?" Precious frowned. "Since you've uploaded your own consciousness... then you should be able to act with us, right?"

"If it's as you say, then it's true. But actually, I use a different method." The administrator shook his head. "I've always been worried about whether my AI would lose control while retaining my memories. My mind contains almost every memory of human civilization, even more terrifying and dangerous technologies. So, to be on the safe side, I have a strict limit on the number of times I can activate it."

"Number of starts?" The administrator's words gave Precious a bad feeling. "What does that mean?"