NIKKE, Swordmaster Ark Succubus Daily

“Rosanna, that’s what she said.” Sakura shook her head helplessly, as if she already knew. “There’s nothing we can do. Seimei will leave first.”

“At a time like this, even killing you won’t get anything out of you.” Rosanna sighed resignedly, then called to her men, “Let’s go!”

Soon, both groups left, leaving only Li Zuoyi and Mudan.

“Let’s go too.” Peony stood up and said to the swordsman, “I’ll take you to find my friend.”

"Hmm? You're willing to take me with you?" Li Zuo glanced at her.

"I've already promised to give you the money, and I also believe you're a good person." Peony put her hands on her hips and laughed heartily, "Otherwise, with your speed, you should have been able to walk by yourself long ago. I feel like I forced you to use an ability you shouldn't have used, sorry."

Moreover, he clearly knew some inside information, but he remained silent just now, which can be considered as helping her.

Peony always felt that she could never repay the debt of gratitude.

Unexpectedly, she's quite thoughtful... Li Zuo nodded, accepting her apology: "Let's hurry up and leave, these soldiers might wake up at any time."

So the two of them quickly left the place.

Behind a broken wall not far away, Rosanna and Sakura, two underworld queens, watched the two men leave with cold eyes.

They exchanged a glance and quietly followed.

This time, Peony was more careful and chose a more secluded path.

Li Zuoyi followed behind her.

They arrived at a tin shack next to an abandoned quarry. Peony knocked on the door, but no one answered.

'Boom! '

Peony kicked open the metal door, and Li Zuoyi followed her inside.

The result, naturally, was that Peony's friends were not among them.

Seeing Mudan staring blankly at the empty room, Li Zuoyi finally spoke his mind: "Your friend seems to have betrayed you and even framed you as a terrorist. Did you do something to make her resent you?"

Just like the case with Thea, Peony herself had no bad intentions, but was still forced to be the bad guy because of the circumstances.

“We both lost our parents when we were young and grew up together, relying on each other for survival. I consider her my best friend.” Peony lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes, which should have been full of vitality.

"But one day she started to drift away from me. Once, we had a huge fight over something trivial, and she took all her money to the Ark. I heard she even got into the central government. I thought I'd never see her again, but yesterday she suddenly came back, saying she'd gotten into trouble and hoped I could help her hide. She entrusted her money to me temporarily..."

The rest is clear: the kind-hearted Peony chose to help and took her to Thea's family, but when she realized it wasn't a good fit, she left. However, she was noticed by the people who were tracking her, and in the end, Thea's family was left with only Thea herself.

Peony met Li Zuoyi, but was framed as a terrorist and hunted down by the central government.

"I'm sorry, I owe you 300 million. I'll find a way to pay you back," Peony said weakly.

Seeing Mudan's injured face, Li Zuoyi walked to her side, pressed one hand on her head, ruffled her long hair, and said:

"I do not want it."

Peony grabbed his mischievous hand, looked up at him, and asked, "Why? Didn't you come for the money?"

"To be precise, I don't want your 300 million; I only want the 300 million your friend has," Li Zuoyi said, patting her head again.

"And don't take on other people's responsibilities as your own!"

“But…” Peony wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Li Zuoyi, “Xia too, and this matter too, has nothing to do with you. It’s all your friend’s fault. None of this would have happened without her.”

"So what should I do now?" Peony asked blankly.

Li Zuoyi grasped her hand in return and said:

“Find her, grab her hair, slap her with this hand, and then tell her you’re angry, and I’m taking 300 million.”

Peony finally smiled: "Why does this feel like a child's plan?"

For some reason, being around the swordsman makes me feel safe and secure, as if I don't have to worry about anything.

“The simpler the plan, the easier it is to succeed.” Li Zuoyi asked, “Do you still know any clues about her whereabouts?”

Peony shook her head; she really didn't know anything anymore.

“Perfect timing, I have a clue here.” Li Zuoyi showed Mudan the coordinates that Anick had sent him earlier on his phone. “Take me there.”

34. Entering Heaven (Please click to read further, recommendations are very important)

Central government

Secret meeting.

"Hey! Number Four! What do you mean?!" Number Three slammed his fist on the table, craned his neck, and roared at Number Four, who was sitting upright, "What are you doing on my turf!"

"The outer perimeter is such a mess. I've seen you haven't cleaned it in so long. What's wrong with me cleaning it for you?" Number Four glanced at the furious Number Three and said coldly, "All you do is stay in the deepest part of the outer perimeter, Zone Z, and do nothing you're supposed to do."

Number Four received intelligence that a small team he had sent out had been completely beheaded at the metal barrier door in C1.

Moreover, based on the wound examination report sent by Number Two, the murderer is the ghost who killed Ethel.

What concerned Number Four was that the metal door of the C1 barrier was open at the time. Could it be that Ghost had already left?

"I have my own things to do too." Number Three snorted, crossed his arms, and said with dissatisfaction, "I'm not like you guys."

"you!"

"Don't argue, don't argue," Number Five said with a grin, trying to smooth things over and changing the subject. "Number Four, didn't you find out who the owner with the authority to open the barrier door is?"

Number Four, suppressing his anger, said, "I've found it."

"Who is it? Who is it?" Number Five asked with great interest.

“A former deputy commander named Theodore, who has been nominally a military advisor, is now too old to walk and is bedridden,” Number Four said. “He applied for full retirement some time ago, and it should be approved tomorrow if nothing unexpected happens.”

Number Three chuckled, "That Ghost is quite capable, isn't he? He even has someone helping him steal the Vice Commander's authority."

“What did Anik say?” Number Five asked.

As the most advanced artificial intelligence in the Ark, Anik possesses a vast amount of data.

“She was certain that Theodore opened the door, but he hadn’t left the house at all during that time.” Number Four sighed in relief; no matter how many times she asked, Anick gave the same answer.

Number Five shrugged and shook his head:

“Anik doesn’t lie, which means someone has fooled Anik. Who on the Ark has that ability?”

“Artificial intelligence is not perfect. The most typical example is nineteen years ago, when Anik often made mistakes, and it took several years for her to automatically update.” Number Three said, “I remember one day it was a summer day, but the Ark was as cold as winter.”

In other words, it is possible that someone exploited a vulnerability that Anik himself had not yet discovered.

This is something that only Anick can handle by checking and repairing it himself.

Because a hundred years have passed, Anik has automatically updated to the point that no one can perform maintenance on her anymore.

"Was there nothing left near the C1 barrier door? Like a car or something?" Number Five continued to ask.

"..."

The 3D projection of number four suddenly stopped moving, as if it had gone to consult its subordinates.

After a while, Number Four said, "They searched carefully, but found nothing."

“Yeah, right—” Number Five slumped onto the table, his head bobbing back and forth. “Even if it did, that ghost should have driven away by now.”

“No, I received a report that he hasn’t left yet,” Number Four said.

"So your Number Three team didn't leave, right?" Number Five said. "They have strength comparable to the non-mass-produced Niki, they should be able to go toe-to-toe with Ghost."

“They will bring the ghosts to me,” Number Four said confidently, “because they have never let me down.”

……

……

Outer edge region, D region.

The dirty streets were bustling with people, and the construction of various illegal buildings divided the sky overhead into several small pieces.

Everyone walked with their heads down, afraid of getting themselves into trouble.

But a man wearing a clown mask was standing in the middle of the road.

Li Zuoyi gazed at the second floor of the Rust Bar, keeping a close eye on what was happening inside.

Just a short while ago, the two arrived at this bar based on the coordinates given to them by Anick.

She had intended to go in together, but because of what had happened before, Mudan had asked him to keep watch outside while she went in to test the waters first, so she went in.

Li Zuoyi agreed and waited outside the bar after seeing her led up to the second floor.

Oh no, my car… He caught sight of the abandoned car frame by the roadside and suddenly remembered that his car was still parked outside the barrier gate. It would be troublesome if the underground bank or the central government found it.

He immediately messaged Anik, telling her to quickly cancel all the license plate information.

Hopefully it's not too late.

"Clearance complete," Anick replied.

That's reassuring, Anik...

'Boom! '

The second floor of the bar seemed to have exploded, with bricks and stones flying everywhere.

The patrons of the bar on the first floor and the pedestrians on the street all ran away as if their lives depended on it, none of them wanting to get involved.

Soon, there was no one around.

A figure flew out from the dust billowing from the second floor, smashing through a roadside shed before landing on the ground.

Li Zuo looked over and saw that it was a cyborg who had been semi-mechanized. There were several deep pits on its metal chest, and its limbs were twisted into strange shapes by powerful forces.

"I've already solved it."

Li Zuoyi turned his head to look at the second floor, where Mudan appeared on the broken ruins, with a motionless half-modified human under her feet.

She pointed to the inner room on the second floor: "Come up, my friend is here."

This power is not something an ordinary human woman can possess... Li Zuoyi entered the bar, went up to the second floor, and saw a complete mess.

Besides the cyborgs that were thrown out and the guy who was trampled under the peony's feet, there were also two cyborgs who were embedded in the wine cabinet and bar, their fate unknown.

Peony, who was standing nearby, pulled another woman towards Li Zuoyi, saying, "Hannah, come here quickly!"

Hannah? Li Zuo looked over and saw that exquisite, standard beautiful face... it really was Hannah.

She was the person in charge who had been reprimanded by him in the road department. Thanks to Mihara's help, she was diagnosed with epilepsy after fainting from pain and foaming at the mouth.

No, no, how did Hannah end up here when she should be in the hospital?

Wait, how did she get those 300 million? How could she possibly withdraw the money?

Hmm? Could it be that she and Ethel have some kind of secret relationship?

Uh, those cyborgs were her companions?

Huh? She and Peony are friends?

……

Li Zuoyi was overwhelmed with questions, and his brain seemed to freeze.

"Hand over the money now! You must have been kidnapped because of money, right?!" Peony said to Hannah, who was gritting her teeth and had a dark face.

Hannah shook off Peony's hand and shouted at her, "I didn't ask you to save me! Peony, just continue to be a clueless idiot like before!"

“Hannah…” Peony opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

Upon hearing this, Li Zuoyi's blood pressure spiked. He said, "Do you know that the fake card you gave her led to her being identified as a terrorist and even being targeted by the central government's army..."

"Huh?! I don't know what you're talking about!" Hannah rubbed her wrist, which was gripping Peony, with disgust.

"Hannah, what happened to you?" Peony took two steps closer to her.

Li Zuoyi looked at Mudan, made a slapping gesture, and said, "I can help with that."

"No, I still want to solve it myself," Peony said with a pained expression.

"I am like this because it is all Peony's fault."

Hannah tilted her head back slightly, looking extremely disgusted, as if she didn't want to have much contact with Peony.

"Are you the kidnappers who abducted Hannah?"

Li Zuoyi looked up at the second-floor staircase and saw a fully armed woman walking up, holding a gun in her hand. Behind her, a number of heavily armed men ran up and surrounded him and Mudan.