NIKKE, Swordmaster Ark Succubus Daily

Anis ran towards the dormitory building.

"Are you really going to the surface?" Labi asked, bowing his head. "You can just push all the blame onto us."

If necessary, sacrificing oneself for the commander is also Niki's duty.

"That depends on some important person who claims to be doing this for my own good..."

Li Zuoyi also wanted to test the capabilities of that Deputy Commander Anderson. If he couldn't handle this matter, then future cooperation seemed out of the question.

"Big man?"

"It's nothing, we should know the results this afternoon." Li Zuoyi said to Lapi, "Excuse me, could you please clean up Shuen's... um..."

"I see."

Lapi went to find cleaning tools.

“Marianne, you don’t seem to care where we’re going,” Li Zuoyi asked.

Marian was focused on rubbing the commander's stomach. Hearing the commander's words, she looked up and smiled, saying, "Wherever the commander goes, I will go."

"That's it."

Li Zuoyi understood immediately. He closed his eyes and exclaimed, "Ahhh~~ Marian's massage is so comfortable~~"

Chapter Twelve: He still loves me after all~

Outpost base, commander's office building.

Li Zuoyi leaned against the railing on the rooftop, looking at his phone. His thumb hovered over Anik's profile picture for a long time before finally giving up.

Let's not cause her any trouble.

The two were never really inseparable.

Anik helped 'revive' him, and he helped Anik deal with the high-ranking officials she couldn't adjudicate.

It's just a cooperative relationship.

Besides, she is an extremely rational Ark AI.

They only think about the survival of the Ark.

As she herself said, the mother who raised him was just a puppet with a standard behavioral pattern.

Li Zuo sighed and lowered his hands, intending to go and see how Marian and the others were preparing their things.

Although he said they would be fine staying in the ark, they still chose to follow him.

Really… Li Zuo scratched his head.

That way, they can't just abandon each other and run away.

Li Zuo stuffed his phone into his pants pocket and was about to go downstairs when it rang.

I took out my phone and saw it was Anik.

Hmm... After staring at him for a while, he hung up.

The next second, it rang again.

hang up.

Ring again.

Hang it up again.

This time it didn't ring; Li Zuoyi's phone answered itself.

"Are you planning to go to the surface?" Anik's voice remained calm.

"There's no other way. We've already taken down the CEO of Missilis, so we have to go to the ground," Li Zuoyi said with a shrug.

“There are many Lechers on the ground, and you might even encounter heretics,” Anick said. “Your body is also completely unable to unleash your full potential.”

"If we're careful..."

“Food is hard to find,” Anik added.

“Anis secretly bought a lot of compressed permethrin and carbonated water, enough to last for a while.” Li Zuoyi pondered, “When we were on the ground, I also saw some land where grass had grown, so it shouldn’t be uncultivable.”

"..."

Li Zuoyi said, "Any other questions? I can answer them all."

“You haven’t fulfilled our contract yet,” Anick brought up the matter again.

Li Zuoyi grunted twice, which was clearly also within his consideration:

"Don't worry about that, I'll make time to go back to the Ark. Of course, you can just turn a blind eye at that time. I'll leave as soon as I'm done dealing with this, and I won't drag it out any longer."

"..."

After a considerable amount of time, Anik remained silent.

Li Zuoyi didn't urge her; she was probably considering the feasibility of his method.

"After you go to the surface, will you still fight to reclaim it?" Anik asked.

“Yes, of course, this is the ideal of me and my former comrades,” Li Zuoyi replied.

“I understand,” Anik replied casually.

'beep--'

The phone hangs up.

"Thank you for these nineteen years, Anik."

As soon as Li Zuo went downstairs, he saw the abundance of supplies that Lapi and the others had prepared: "There's a lot, and it seems quite heavy."

“It’s very light.” Anies slung a backpack several times her size over her shoulder. “Mine only weighs two tons.”

“Commander, I brought a lot of incompressible water, about three tons.” Lapi pointed to his backpack.

"Is it heavy?" Li Zuoyi asked.

"ordinary."

Niki is really amazing...

Li Zuo asked Marian, who hadn't spoken, "Marianne, how are you?"

Marian stared blankly at the ground, as if she hadn't heard anything.

Li Zuoyi leaned close to Marian's ear and called out, "Marianne, Marian!"

"Commander!" Marian exclaimed as if waking from a dream. "What's wrong?"

Seeing that both Labi and Anis were looking at her with concern, Marian felt a little embarrassed: "What's wrong with me?"

“Marianne, you’re like a computer that’s crashed.” Anis approached Marianne and said, “Don’t you want to go to the surface?”

"I'm sorry, Marian," Li Zuoyi apologized.

"No, no, I'm fine with anything, whether it's the ground or the Ark, as long as I'm with the Commander." Marian waved her hands frantically.

“Are you alright, Marian?” Labi said. “You seem to be spacing out a lot lately.”

“Did Lapi already notice…” Under the commander’s gaze, Marian blinked: “It’s nothing, really nothing. I just often get so caught up in thinking about the commander that I lose myself in it.”

Both Labi and Anis thought this reason was so Marian-like... that it was so reasonable that it was impossible to refute.

"I see, you were thinking about me. That's wonderful."

Li Zuo put his hands on his hips and laughed heartily, looking very smug.

Anis was speechless: "This commander is hopeless to be so smug just because Niki likes him."

Lhabi remained silent.

Marian smiled and nodded: "That's right."

"Did you think I would say that?"

In an instant, Marian found her right wrist gripped tightly by the commander, whose face was terribly grim.

"commander……"

'Beep beep beep'

Li Zuoyi's phone rang; the caller ID showed it was Anderson.

He temporarily released Marian and answered the phone: "How did it go?"

"Congratulations, you won't be exiled to the ground or sent to a reformatory for rehabilitation."

Anderson's voice betrayed his exhaustion, suggesting he had been in a rather long meeting.

“But,” Anderson changed the subject, “you need to help Missillis capture Lecher.”

"What are the additional conditions?"

The task was the same as the one given by Shu En, but Li Zuoyi knew that with Shu En's terrible personality, it was impossible for him to let him off so easily.

"Shuen wants you to go to the affiliated hospital of Missilis for a check-up."

"I'm not mentally ill!" Li Zuoyi emphasized that there was nothing wrong with his mind.

“Let me put it this way, Shum is the CEO of Missillis, so she also has access to some confidential documents,” Anderson said.

Li Zuoyi understood that Shu En's purpose in coming here today was not just to give him a task.

Observing him was also one of Shuen's purposes.

I underestimated her.

"I understand," Li Zuoyi sighed.

“You’ll leave tomorrow, and when you come back, go to her hospital,” Anderson said. “In short, be prepared.”

It means that if you don't want your abilities to be studied by others, you should find a way to hide them.

"Can we go to the hospital tomorrow?" Li Zuoyi glanced at Marian beside him.

"I thought you had prepared supplies for the journey to the surface in advance," Anderson chuckled.

"How could that be? I have complete faith in your abilities!"

Li Zuoyi can lie without blushing at all.

“Then you shouldn’t thank me, you should thank Anick, ah, the Ark’s artificial intelligence.” Anderson said, “The original decision of the meeting was to send you to the rehabilitation center, but Anick’s final analysis made Shun give up on sending you to the rehabilitation center.”

"what happened?"

“Based on previous rulings, Anik has also sentenced you to a rehabilitation center.”

Anderson continued, "But in that case, according to the Ark's regulations, for any judgment made by the Commander—a hero of humanity—Anik must disclose the entire background and context of the matter."

Furthermore, Shum himself is not in a good light in this matter. If the allegations are made public, it could damage public opinion of Missillis, directly leading to a drop in Missillis's stock price.

Anderson added at the end: "Although the people are not grateful to Niki, they still have respect for the commander."

After the call ended, Li Zuoyi announced to Marian and the others that they did not need to flee to the surface.

The three of them were naturally overjoyed.

late at night.

Li Zuoyi lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling: "I thought you wouldn't care about me anymore."

The phone on the bedside table lit up, and Anik's voice came through: "It's also my responsibility to predict the consequences of the event. I'm just telling them the truth."

"As expected, Anik's mom loves me~~" Li Zuoyi started twisting and turning on the bed again.

"Please don't do this, Commander Li Zuoyi. This behavior is disgusting." Anick continued, "You have a scheduled event tomorrow, please get some rest."

"Okay, okay, I'm going to sleep! Goodnight, Anick's mom."

"Good night."

Chapter Thirteen: Using Magic to Fight Magic

"Then, Commander Li Zuoyi, please come with us. Everything is ready."