NIKKE, Swordmaster Ark Succubus Daily

“I’ve hated you since I was a child,” Shuen said with a look of disgust. “Don’t try to get close to me.”

If the reason for not inviting Li Zuoyi before was that he didn't want to have a strange relationship with him, then his reason for not inviting Lemon was simply that he disliked him.

"Do you know how much effort I put in to get you into this position?" Lemon was used to Shuen's sour face, so he didn't feel anything.

"Does that mean the person who took care of my scrap metal is actually yours, and that the scrap metal deliberately sabotaged my research experiments?" Shuen said, pointing his finger at him.

"Didn't I already apologize? Why are you still so angry?" Lemont spread his hands and said to the maid Niki behind him, "Right, Elena?"

Elena, dressed as a maid, stood behind Lemon and answered somewhat mechanically, "That's right, Mr. Lemon. Elena has already sincerely apologized to Miss Shuen."

"Is this how my sister raised you?" Lemon asked, turning to Shuen.

"Get out!" Shuen slammed his fist on the table and roared, "You're not allowed to mention my mother!"

"Okay, okay." Lemon raised his hand, intending to leave, but before leaving he said to Shuen, "I want to see how long you can stay in that position."

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Reuniting Your Family (3k)

It was already late at night when we returned to the outpost.

Li Zuoyi contacted Mudan, explained the investigation Anderson had instructed him to conduct, and sent her the list of attackers Anderson had sent.

Fortunately, the attackers' citizen chips were not damaged and could still be read, so their identities could be quickly determined.

However, these people have abandoned their status as citizens of the Ark, and their former relatives are avoiding them like the plague, so the Ark police may not be able to find anything.

Their underworld queen squad operates in the outer areas, which may actually uncover more information.

The next day, which was the first morning of the investigation.

While Li Zuoyi was having breakfast, he received a message from Rosanna.

"Sir, my men have located a family member of one of the attackers, and they seem to have some leads. Could you come over now?"

Go now!

Unexpectedly, a clue was found after only one night. Were they searching all night?

I need to thank them properly later.

The other Nikkis at the outpost all had their own things to do, and some needed to carry out his assigned missions, so the only Nikkis he could take with him were...

“Lavi, come with me to the outer edge area,” Li Zuoyi said.

Since the last time he was ambushed in the outer region, he felt it would be safer to bring Niki along, and Labi's personality was just right.

"Yes."

The two drove to the outer edge of the area, used temporary access cards to pass through the high wall, and got out of the car at the place Rosanna had indicated.

Li Zuoyi looked around; this should be the slum area in the outer district.

The dilapidated shacks stretched as far as the eye could see, and the roadsides were piled high with garbage and waste. The air was thick with a stench that made it hard to breathe.

The children who looked at him out of curiosity were covered in filth; their eyes held no joy, only numbness and helplessness.

Fearing trouble, the adults quickly pulled their children away, their faces filled with exhaustion, frustration, and fear.

This place lacks water and electricity, has no medical care, no education, and no hope.

This is a dark corner of the Ark, a place forgotten and neglected.

"Sir, you've arrived." Rosanna stepped forward to greet him, her men in suits lined up behind her and bowed to him.

"You must be tired after a long night," Li Zuoyi said.

“After all, this is the first time the master has given an order, so it naturally needs to be done as soon as possible,” Rosanna said. “Peony and Cherry Blossom are also investigating people connected to the other attackers.”

“Take me to the person you found,” Li Zuoyi said.

Rosanna nodded and led the man into the slums.

On the uneven, muddy road, Li Zuoyi listened to her briefly describe the attacker's information.

The attacker's name was Matthew King. He was an ordinary office worker on the Ark, with a wife and daughter, and could be said to have a happy life.

But when he became addicted to online gambling, his life before that was like a mirror that had been smashed to pieces, never to be recovered.

Within three months, he lost all of his nearly one million credits. The debt collectors threatened to arrest his wife and daughter, so he took them and fled to the outer edge of the city to hide.

Rosanna found his wife and daughter.

As they were talking, Li Zuoyi had already arrived at the door of a tin shed. Two Hedonia members were guarding the door, but the so-called door was nothing more than a wooden plank standing upright.

"They're inside."

The two subordinates stepped aside, and Li Zuoyi pushed open the creaking wooden door and stepped inside, with Lapi and Rosanna following behind him.

The phrase "bare walls" seems to be a perfect description of Matthew's home in the outer district; apart from a table, a bed, and a dilapidated cabinet, there was nothing else.

Matthew's wife was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her daughter. When she saw Li Zuoyi come in, she immediately knelt on the ground, her hair disheveled, her face ashen, and she said through tears, "We have no money, we really, really have no money. Please, please spare my daughter."

After the gang broke into her house, they only asked a few simple questions and then remained silent.

When she saw Rosanna standing behind the man in front of her, she realized that the gang was waiting for him.

"What's your name?" Li Zuo asked, looking down at the woman whose dress was filthy.

“Ms. Meimi, I have a few questions for you, and I hope you will answer them honestly,” Li Zuoyi said.

“Okay, okay,” Memi nodded repeatedly.

"Do you know what your husband did?" Li Zuoyi asked.

"He...he went gambling again?" Memy's cloudy eyes widened, her pale lips cracked, and then she broke down, muttering to herself, "Matthew, you promised me...why...Daisy still needs treatment..."

Li Zuo looked up at the little girl sitting on the bed with her hair tied with a blue ribbon.

"You're Daisy?"

The little girl nodded, and Memi looked at the man in front of her very nervously.

“It’s a very pretty ribbon,” Li Zuoyi said with a smile.

"Thank you, thank you." Daisy touched the blue ribbon in her hair and nodded carefully. "This is a birthday present from my father."

"Hey—what kind of person is Daisy's father?" Li Zuoyi asked slowly.

“Very good!” Daisy began to talk at length about her father.

After a while, Li Zuoyi had gained some understanding of Matthew; at least he was a family-oriented man.

“Lavi, cover her ears,” Li Zuoyi said, pointing at Daisy.

She still has a mother; she's not an orphan. It's better not to let her know some cruel things for now.

“Don’t be afraid, it’ll only be a moment.” After speaking to the somewhat uneasy Daisy, Labi stepped forward and covered her ears.

“Your husband carried out a terrorist attack on the Royal Road of the Ark, resulting in several deaths, including his own,” Li Zuoyi said to Memi. “The investigation revealed that most of his body had been modified with cybernetic implants. Do you have any leads on this matter?”

Her husband died, and her child fell ill. There was no money to treat the illness. Just when she had a glimmer of hope, her world turned into darkness.

"Matthew... is dead?" Memi's eyes were unfocused as she fell backward, but Rosanna caught her quickly.

Li Zuoyi said, "Although he is dead, I have no sympathy for him because of his terrorist attack, several people on the Ark also died."

"A terrorist attack on the Ark?" Memi shook her head repeatedly, staring at Li Zuoyi with disbelief. "Impossible, he... he doesn't even dare to kill a rat... Is there some mistake?"

“The Ark citizen chip shows that it is indeed him.” Li Zuoyi shattered her illusions.

"...I don't know, I really don't know," Memi said, her eyes bloodshot.

“A while ago he said he had found a way to erase all his previous debts and needed to leave for a few days, and then… and then he never came back… You must have made a mistake! Matthew isn’t that kind of person! His online gambling was just a way to earn money for Daisy’s medical expenses! He would never become a terrorist! He must have been coerced!”

Halfway through her speech, Memi showed signs of a mental breakdown.

A way to clear the debt has been found... This attack was indeed related to underground banks; who else could do this besides them?

“Ms. Memi, think about it again. Before this, did he see any suspicious people? Or any other clues?” Li Zuoyi said. “These clues might prove that your husband was coerced.”

Mei closed her eyes, desperately trying to recall the days before her husband left. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she opened her eyes, saying:

“There was indeed a woman who came to see my husband, saying she had something to discuss. At that time, my husband's expression was very strange. I absolutely, absolutely not, it was a woman he was having an affair with who came to see him. I believe him on that point. My husband went out with her for about ten minutes, but I don't know what they talked about…”

"Do you know her name?" Li Zuoyi felt a glimmer of hope.

“I, I don’t know…” Seeing the man frown slightly, Meimi immediately said, “But if I could see her again, I would definitely recognize her.”

Li Zuoyi pondered for a moment.

Although there were some clues, there weren't many, and it couldn't be guaranteed that the woman she mentioned was definitely connected to the underground bank.

In the end, he decided to take a look and asked Rosanna to send someone to keep an eye on him.

……

After the strange uncles left, Daisy saw her mother sitting on the edge of the bed, covering her face and crying incessantly, and she felt extremely distressed.

After a while, she remembered that a beautiful white flower had recently bloomed on the nearby garbage hill. If she could pick it for her mother, it would surely make her happy.

So she slipped out of the house while her uncle, who was standing at the door, wasn't looking, and ran to the nearby garbage dump to pick a white flower.

On her way back, she saw a girl who remembered that the girl had once looked for her father.

“Long time no see, Daisy.” Clau crouched down, holding a delicate red box in her hand.

“Sister…” Daisy looked at her sister’s smiling face and felt a little scared for some reason. She wanted to go home as soon as possible.

Krau opened the box, revealing pure white cream inside: "This is a cake your father bought for you and your mother."

Daisy swallowed hard. She hadn't eaten anything this delicious since arriving here, but she still looked up at her sister and asked:

"Where's Daddy? Isn't he coming back yet? Mommy is crying so hard right now. If he comes back, Mommy will definitely stop crying."

Clau paused for a moment, then patted her head and said with a smile, "Your dad said he'll be back after you and Mom finish this cake. So, you have to eat this cake with Mom, okay?"

"I...I understand." Faced with the temptation of the cake, and knowing it was an older sister, Daisy placed the white flowers on top of the box, took the somewhat heavy cake box, and said, "Thank you, sister."

"Don't mention it, hurry home."

Clau watched Daisy run home with the cake, heard the surprised questions from the Hedonia gang members at the door, and heard Memi crying after opening the door.

"It's an order, I can't do anything about it." She reached into her pocket, found the detonator, and pressed the button.

'Boom——————'

With a violent explosion, thick black smoke billowed up, and the slum area was thrown into chaos in an instant.

Having completed her mission, Krau turned and walked into the panicked crowd fleeing from the tin shed after the explosion. At that moment, a charred blue ribbon fell to the ground in front of her.

"However, congratulations on your family reunion."

Chapter Seventy: Is Missilis doomed?

In a nearly deserted, high-walled, narrow alley, Krau looked at Niki, who was dressed in a maid outfit, and said, "You see, the mission is complete."

Elena, with a strange smile on her doll-like face, said, "I saw it. It was a really great explosion. I'll report it to Mr. Lemon."

"..." This Niki is even more problematic than her... Klau tapped the bomb collar around his neck and said, "Can't you take this off? I've done so many dirty things for you guys."

At first, the other party said they didn't trust her, so they put a bomb collar on her to prevent her from betraying them, but they would consider removing it if enough time passed and she did enough.

"No." Elena refused without any hesitation.

"Aren't you going to talk to Mr. Lemon? You're just a Niki like me, right? Is it really okay to make decisions on your own?"

“It’s alright, I can make the decision,” Elena said.

"I want to talk to him."

"No, Mr. Lemont is very busy."

"...May I ask a question?"

Elena thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Why would he carry out a terrorist attack on the Ark? He's an executive at Missilis, one of the three major corporations, right? What benefit would he get from doing this?" Krau asked.

Elena thought for a moment and replied, "You should know that many high-ranking people have strange fetishes, such as enjoying watching people being tortured to death or being torn to pieces in an instant, so that they can feel that they are still alive. And the more realistic, the better, the more immersive, the better."

So much money and materials were spent to transform those gamblers, just to see a bloody scene... For the first time, Krau felt that he wasn't so extreme.

“As expected of you, Clau, to think of a way to trick a little girl with a cake,” Elena said. “Mr. Lemon was quite satisfied with the video of the explosion. He has another task for you later.”