NIKKE, Swordmaster Ark Succubus Daily

"It's been parsed?"

"From beginning to end, thoroughly."

Li Zuoyi curled his lips and said, "Since you already know, why bother asking me?"

“There are some things I want to hear from the person in question.” Anderson gestured as if to sheathe his sword and said, “I can assure you that no one here can hear our conversation.”

After thinking for a moment, Li Zuo nodded: "However, if I feel that you have some ulterior motives..."

He held a paper knife in his right hand and slashed it across the vase on the cabinet, his movements like those of a swordsman.

"You will be just like this vase."

Anderson looked at the perfectly intact vase.

Just in case, he kept an eye on it for a little longer.

Nothing happened.

Li Zuoyi put away the paper knife, a smile playing on his lips, full of confidence: "The vase itself doesn't even know it's been cut open."

Anderson sighed, but he still said, "I understand."

"Mmm, wait a minute, let me touch it—"

Li Zuoyi dragged out his words, twisted his waist with difficulty, and reached out to touch the vase to prove something to Anderson.

"Please hurry up and tell me." Anderson felt a headache coming on.

"I'm telling the truth." Li Zuoyi obediently lay back on the bed and said, "Okay, the gist of it is..."

Some unimportant details were omitted, and the story was finished in no time.

It wasn't really a troublesome matter to begin with.

"I see." Anderson said to Li Zuoyi, stroking his chin.

"You were lucky to encounter a Transcendent-level Rachel who hadn't fully advanced to Master level. You discovered its weakness and commanded Niki to defeat it."

This description is completely different from what Li Zuoyi said.

"I will include this in my report."

"What's your purpose?"

Li Zuoyi didn't believe that this person didn't have his own agenda.

"Well, you'll see later. For now, just know that I'm not your enemy." Anderson glanced at his watch. "I have a meeting in five minutes, so I'm leaving now."

Anderson stood up, straightened his uniform, and before he could turn around, he heard the sound of porcelain falling to the ground.

He turned his head and saw that the vase had fallen to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

However, the vase did not fall to the ground; the upper half remained intact on the cabinet, while the lower half was still on the shelf.

“The cut is smooth and even…” Anderson walked to the locker, touched the cut, and looked on incredulously.

"This vase is a bit slow to react," Li Zuoyi said, sounding somewhat annoyed at its lack of ambition.

"Can I take this vase and paper knife with me?" Anderson's voice trembled slightly.

"Please."

Li Zuoyi was quite generous in this matter.

After all, these are just ordinary paper knives and vases; no matter how much he investigates, he won't be able to find anything wrong with them.

Seeing him so generously hand over the paper knife, Anderson suspected that it might not be able to detect anything and couldn't help but ask, "How did you do that?"

“Because I feel I can cut it open.” Li Zuoyi closed his eyes.

"So simple?"

“Simple?” Li Zuoyi smiled somewhat forlornly. “You have no idea how much time I spent on it.”

"……Understood."

As a result, Anderson still left the ward with a paper knife and a cracked vase.

The moment the ward door closed, the television facing Li Zuoyi's bed automatically turned on.

On the television, an audio track appeared against a black background.

As the audio track fluctuated, a calm and rational female voice came from the television:

Did the first mission achieve the results you wanted?

Li Zuoyi lay on the bed, letting out a comfortable sigh, and half-opened his eyes: "Anik, huh? Hmm, the intelligence is in hand."

Anik, the artificial intelligence that manages the Ark.

In a sense, Anik is the true master of the Ark.

Li Zuoyi's first mission was arranged by Anick.

Although the mission was simply to go to the ground to explore and find a suitable place to set up a return elevator.

However, during this mission, he discovered the Ark Documents, which had not been destroyed in the past, inside a building dating back a century.

A resume.

Ethel Bridges was formerly the commander of the logistics department of the human army.

According to the Ark's records, Ethel should have died a few months before the humans withdrew into the Ark.

That happened a hundred years ago.

but……

A human who looked remarkably like Ethel appeared on television.

“Ethel Bridges is now the Senior Director of the Ark Roads Management Department.”

“He didn’t even change his name…” Li Zuoyi laughed, then asked, “Back then, at the meeting about whether to abandon the Goddess Force, wasn’t he one of those who voted in favor?”

The original Niki unit—the Goddess unit—made a great contribution to the resistance against Rachel.

They continued to desperately cover humanity as it retreated into the ark.

However, they were not allowed to enter the ark and watched helplessly as the ark closed its doors.

Once symbols of hope for humanity, they were abandoned by some humans.

As their commander, Li Zuoyi felt obligated to avenge them.

However, he himself has encountered many problems, which have dragged on until now.

“According to meeting minutes 03F-63, yes,” Anik replied.

Li Zuoyi was genuinely happy, "It's great to be able to take care of them myself."

“I have an obligation to remind you, Commander Li Zuoyi.”

Anick interjected:

"Ethel Bridges needs to be secretly executed for being the ringleader of three massive embezzlement cases, the principal person in charge of four serious dereliction of duty cases, and six murders..."

Li Zuoyi waved his hand:

“I know he escaped your judgment, but your artificial intelligence judged that he would pose a threat to the Ark, so someone needs to eliminate him.”

"Thank you very much for your understanding, Commander Li Zuoyi." Anik's voice was as mechanical and indifferent as a computer.

“How cold~” Li Zuo put a hand under his head. “Our relationship doesn’t need to be like this, Anik’s mother.”

Chapter Seven Marian

“I was only your guardian until you turned eighteen, not your biological mother,” Anik said calmly. “We are no longer related now.”

"There's a saying: 'The kindness of raising is greater than the kindness of giving birth.'" Li Zuoyi hugged himself affectionately, wriggling on the bed. "I still remember the warmth of being in Anik's mother's arms when my memories were locked away, ah ha~~~"

"In my opinion, this behavior is disgusting. Please stop, Commander Li Zuoyi."

Even at this moment, Anik remained very calm.

"Where has my gentle mother, Anik, gone?" Li Zuoyi shrugged.

"That was just a role I played to help you grow up normally to eighteen," Anik stated the facts. "It was based on the conventional definition of a good mother, drawing inspiration from movies, magazines..."

"How indifferent."

Li Zuoyi looked out the window, his eyelids drooping, his earlier boisterousness gone.

"I was a good mother before I turned eighteen, but after I turned eighteen I became Anik. Sometimes I think it would be better if I could just never remember her."

“I was just faithfully carrying out your plan,” Anik said.

"I know."

Li Zuoyi wanted to say something more, but Anik left with the words, "In two minutes, Niki, the person you once led, will be entering this ward," and the TV screen automatically turned off.

Niki, the one I once led?

Lapi? Or Anis? Or... never mind.

Li Zuoyi tidied himself up a bit and waited for the person to arrive.

A knocking sound came from the door.

"Please come in~" Li Zuoyi made sure his voice sounded cheerful.

A beautiful figure pushed open the door and entered, brightening the entire room considerably.

Those deep blue eyes swept over Li Zuoyi, and his slightly furrowed brows relaxed into a wide smile.

She seemed to remember her identity, straightened her blue and white military uniform, tucked her long brown hair behind her ear, and saluted.

“Marianne, from the Silver Spear Unit, has come to visit Commander Li Zuoyi.”

"There's no need to be so rigid, just relax." Li Zuoyi gestured for her to sit down. "How are you feeling now?"

Marian was one of the Nikis he brought to the ground, and she 'sacrificed' herself to buy him time.

“It’s completely healed.” Marian sat gracefully with her legs crossed in the chair, touching her neck.

"At that time, I thought the commander was just saying it casually, but I didn't expect the commander to actually bring us back. Thank you!"

Looking at her cheerful smile, Li Zuoyi couldn't help but smile as well. He pounded his heart and said, "A man should keep his promises."

"Ah~~" Marian leaned forward and grasped Li Zuoyi's hand, her eyes full of tenderness: "Commander, you're so handsome!"

"Hmph, of course." Li Zuoyi accepted Marian's praise quite naturally.

"Speaking of which," Li Zuoyi looked towards the ward door, "MLS-01344, TLA-02912, and MLS-04213, didn't they come?"

These three mass-produced Niki models, which only have numerical designations, were also once Li Zuoyi's teammates.

“They have other things to do, so I’m visiting the Commander today along with them,” Marian said.

"Really? I'll say hello later." Li Zuo nodded, noticing a paper bag next to Marian's feet: "Um, is that a gift for me?"

“Yes!” Marian took out the beautifully packaged book from the bag. “It’s the book you mentioned you’d always wanted, ‘The Fall of the Masochistic Female Teacher 3’.”

Li Zuoyi's eyes sharpened. "This packaging... could it be a deluxe edition?"

During a previous mission together, they had discussed their hobbies, and he mentioned that he liked reading, so he suggested this book title.

Unexpectedly, I received several speechless looks.

“Yes!” Marian also became serious: “I thought it was a lewd joke by the commander, but I didn’t expect that there would actually be such a book.”

"Did you see it?" Li Zuoyi narrowed his eyes, his expression inexplicably serious.

“Yes!” Marian’s eyes widened, and she nodded repeatedly. “The title is very vulgar, but the content is surprisingly serious. When I read it, I skipped all the sex scenes and was really curious to know what happened next.”

“You understand perfectly, Marianne!” Li Zuoyi clenched his fist excitedly. “I told you back then that this book was definitely not as simple as it seemed!”

“Just as the Commander said!” Marian clenched her fist, mimicking the Commander’s gesture. “From now on, I will believe whatever the Commander says!”

"Very good, Marian!"

"Wow—this commander is hopeless."