Ark Simulator, don't I have no physical form?

"Suri! I'm here to save you!" She rushed into the hut, holding up a sparking metal device. "Look! The latest 'body stabilizer'!"

Xi's tail lashed out at Nian's wrist: "Get out."

"Hey, don't be so cold!" Nian nimbly dodged and plopped down next to Su Rui. "I've calculated it again and again, this time it's definitely going to succeed!"

Suri looked curiously at the crackling device: "This... won't explode, will it?"

"Of course not!" Nian assured confidently, "At most, it'll just produce a little smoke—oops!"

Suddenly, the device emitted a plume of black smoke, which covered her face. Taking advantage of the moment, Xi grabbed her by the back of her collar and dragged her out the door like she was throwing away trash.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Nian clung tightly to the doorframe. "Let me say one last thing!"

Xi impatiently let go of his hand.

Nian tidied her disheveled red hair, looking at Suri with unusual seriousness: "Listen, little one. No matter how many times you disappear, I will find you." She gave Suri a thumbs-up. "That's my promise, Nian!"

A flame traced a complex rune in the air, slowly drifting towards Su Rui before merging into the wheat ear ornament on his chest. The ornament immediately glowed with a warm red light, intertwining with its original golden radiance.

Xi watched this scene in silence for a long time before finally letting out a soft "humph".

On the morning of the fifth day, Suri's body had become as transparent as a layer of gauze.

He sat on the steps in front of the cottage, gazing at the wheat field in the painting that would never wither. Xi sat beside him, her tail wrapped tightly around his waist, as if that would anchor him to this world.

"Sister Xi," Su Rui called softly.

"Um."

Will you miss me after I disappear?

Xi did not answer, but the tail wrapped around his waist tightened even more.

Suri smiled, raised her fading hand, and gently placed it on the back of Suri's hand: "I will remember your scent."

"...The smell of ink?"

"Mmm. And the aroma of wheat, sweet wine, the warmth of the fire..." His voice trailed off, "All of it."

As the first rays of dawn pierced through his body, Xi suddenly turned around and hugged him tightly.

"Come back," she whispered in his ear, her voice trembling more than ever before. "You must come back."

Suri tried to nod, but found himself unable to move. His vision was filled with golden light; his last sensation was the touch of Xi's hair against his cheek, and that almost inaudible sound—

"I'm waiting for you."

As the light faded, only drifting dust and a solitary, ink-black figure remained in the painting.

Volume 10, Chapter 587: Ashes of the Mission

Ash suddenly opened his eyes, his forehead beaded with cold sweat.

(It's that dream again...)

In her dream, she stood in an unfamiliar wheat field, and in the distance, a black-haired boy with a smile so bright it was almost blindingly radiant, waved to her.

When I woke up, the boy's clear voice still lingered in my ears—

Good morning, Miss Ash!

She rubbed her temples, trying to dispel the eerie hallucination. But the next second, the voice rang out again, clearer than ever—

"It's not a hallucination, I'm really here!"

Ash's body tensed instantly, his fingers instinctively reaching for the pistol beside his pillow: "Who?!"

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous!"

The boy's voice carried a hint of amusement, "I'm in your... uh, consciousness? You can call me Suri."

"……What?"

Ten minutes later, Ash finally understood the situation—a boy named "Suri" had taken up residence in her mind. He was said to be some kind of energy life form that would randomly reside in someone else's consciousness after dissipating every once in a while.

"So you're a ghost?" Ash frowned, pouring double the amount of espresso into his coffee.

"I guess so?!"

A somewhat uncertain voice echoed in her mind:

"I'm just staying temporarily! So you don't need to worry about me doing anything bad. Besides, I can help you with reconnaissance; my scanning range is amazing!"

Ash took a sip of coffee; the bitter liquid calmed her down a little. "Prove it to me."

"Hmm, how do you prove it?"

"Since you say you're in my consciousness, you should be able to read my memories, right?" Ash's tone was tentative. "Tell me, what kind of gun did I use during my last solo mission?"

After a brief silence, Suri answered softly, "...An M4A1, fitted with a suppressor and holographic sights, with 17 rounds left in the magazine."

Ash's fingers tightened slightly. Absolutely correct.

"But I didn't look at it on purpose!"

Suri yawned: "I'm not interested in other people's memories, but your tactical memory is particularly... conspicuous."

Ash took a deep breath and put down his coffee cup. "Listen, kid. I don't care who you are, but if you dare interfere with my judgment—"

"No, no, that won't happen!"

Suri's voice suddenly perked up: "Your fighting skills are amazing! I love your decisive and efficient style!"

Ash was stunned. This straightforward affection left her momentarily at a loss for words.

Some time later, in the Ural Mountains, outside the abandoned laboratory

A blizzard raged, reducing visibility to less than five meters. On Ash's tactical goggles, thermal imaging data fluctuated constantly, but severe signal interference made the image intermittent.

"Damn it, the electromagnetic interference is too strong," she cursed under her breath, adjusting the communication channel. "IQ, can you pinpoint Levi's location?"

A hissing sound came through the headphones, and IQ's reply was intermittent: "No... building structure... signal jamming..."

Just then, Ash's eyepiece flickered, and then the image suddenly became clear—a three-dimensional diagram of the entire laboratory was projected directly into her field of vision, with the location of each guard and every trap clearly marked.

"Don't worry, I've fixed the signal for you!"

Suri's voice echoed in her mind, filled with undisguised smugness:

"Levy is in the control room, surrounded by four guards. The password for the automated defense system is 'Kappa-7-9-3'!"

Ash raised an eyebrow slightly: "How did you do that?"

Well~

Suri teased, "I can 'communicate' with almost any electronic device, no matter how small!"

Ash didn't ask any more questions and quickly relayed the information to his teammates: "Blitzshield, prepare to blow up the ventilation shaft. Tank, set up the machine gun, and be aware that the mechanical ward's radiator is on its back."

Inside the ventilation duct, Ash suddenly stopped moving—the infrared alarm network ahead was so dense that it was almost impossible to pass through.

"I'll open it." Suri's voice echoed in Ash's mind.

The next second, all infrared transmitters went out simultaneously, the electronic lock on the security door beeped softly, and the indicator light turned from red to green.

"Damn it..." Flash Shield muttered under his breath, "This place is even more dilapidated than the intelligence said."

Only Ash knew that this was not good luck at all.

At the entrance to the main control room, two mechanical guards suddenly froze, and the lights in their electronic eyes went out.

"Their firewalls are too weak, but no matter how strong they are, it doesn't matter to me."

Suri said smugly, "I temporarily cut off the control signal."

Without hesitation, Ash smashed open the control room door with the butt of his rifle. Levi was frantically inserting storage devices into the data terminal when he saw the Rainbow Squad burst in, and his face turned deathly pale.

"Impossible! My defense system—"

"Parasyed," Ash said coldly, his gun muzzle motionless. "Mission complete, target captured."

But things didn't go as Ash had predicted. Accompanied by blinding white light and shaking, a moment of disorientation washed over him.

After the blinding white light dissipated, Ash suddenly opened his eyes.

The scorching yellow sand poured into her combat boots, and the heat wave hit her face, almost burning her skin. The tactical goggles automatically activated their temperature adjustment due to the high temperature, but the latitude and longitude coordinates displayed on the screen showed that this was not the Ural Mountains at all.

"Report the situation to everyone!" She immediately pressed the communicator, but all she heard in the earpiece was a piercing static.

“Don’t try it~” Suri’s voice rang in her mind, with barely concealed schadenfreude: “Your communication devices can’t reach the other world.”

Ash squinted, scanning his surroundings—the Chariot was cursing as it pulled its machine gun from the sand, Frost was brushing the sand off its uniform, and Flash Shield's flash shield was half-buried in the dunes, reflecting the blinding sunlight.

“Suri,” Ash’s voice was terrifyingly calm, “explain.”

"Welcome to Terra!" Suri's cheerful voice rang in everyone's headphones. "This is the Sargon Desert! That machine must have activated interdimensional teleportation!"

"Teleportation?" Shuanghua frowned. "Science fiction?"

"In your world, this might be science fiction,"

Suri chuckled: "But in Terra, Originium Arts and ancient technology can accomplish many things."

The tank wiped the sweat from its brow: "Young man, can you let us go back?"

After a brief silence, Su Rui spoke seriously, a rare occurrence: "Not for now... that machine isn't here either."

Just then, Ash's tactical goggles suddenly emitted a warning signal for Suri, and the ground began to rise unnaturally.

"Be careful, there's something under the sand, and it's huge," Su Rui's voice rang out, marking it for Ash.

Ash immediately made a tactical hand signal: "Scatter! There's an ambush!"

Volume 10, Chapter 588: The Foothold and Oripathy

The team members quickly dispersed, and the instant they left their spot, a giant Originium bug the size of a car burst out of the sand! Its purplish-black carapace was covered with sharp Originium crystals, and the glowing organ below its head pulsed with a dangerous red light.

"Fire!" Ash gave the order decisively.

The tank's machine guns spat fire, and bullets struck the Originium Bug's carapace, sending sparks flying.

"Shoot at the glowing organ under its head!"

Suri gave Ash a hint in her mind, helping her pinpoint the monster's weakness.

Ash's rifle fired with pinpoint accuracy, all three bullets hitting the glowing organ. The Originium Bug let out a piercing screech, its body convulsing violently before finally collapsing to the ground with a thud, the corrosive liquid it spewed scorching the surrounding sand into hissing black smoke.

"Good job!"

Suri cheered, "But we'd better get out of here quickly, the smell of the Originium Bug corpses will attract even more—"

Ash had already efficiently changed magazines: "Attention everyone, advance in that direction." She pointed to the sandstone terrain faintly visible in the distance, "Find cover and high ground."

The tank shouldered its machine gun and grinned, "This has certainly been quite a rollercoaster ride."

Shuanghua inspected the remaining traps: "I hope the humans in this world are a little friendlier."

Flash Shield adjusted the angle of its shield: "As long as we don't have any more of these giant bugs."

Ash took one last look at the corpse of the Originium Bug and marked the distribution of its Originium crystals in his tactical goggles.

Afterwards, Ash led his team through the desert for several hours and finally arrived at the "town" that Suri had mentioned. In reality, it was nothing more than a slum made up of dilapidated tin shacks and mud houses. The crooked buildings stretched along the dry riverbed, and the air was filled with dust and the pungent smell of inferior Originium fuel.

Of course, this was only one side of the story that Ash and her friends saw; the other side of the town wasn't nearly as bad.

Suri's voice echoed in Ash's mind and within the device, her tone light and cheerful, as if she were introducing a resort:

"Welcome. It may not look great, but it's better than sleeping in the desert, right?"

'Well, at least we have a place to stay, at least we can rest here for a while.' Ash nodded.

The tank, carrying a machine gun, frowned and surveyed its surroundings: "This godforsaken place doesn't even have a decent cover."

"By the way, you don't need to worry about Oripathy," Suri explained. "Originium dust only infects Terrans. You are pure humans and are completely immune to Oripathy."

Flash Shield narrowed his eyes: "Are you sure?"

“Of course!” Suri didn’t explain too clearly: “In short, you don’t need to worry too much about the Originium issue.”

Ash didn't respond, only silently adjusting the information in her eyepiece. Suri seemed to sense her hesitation and added:

"However... it's best not to come into direct contact with Originium. Those things can explode occasionally."

Guided by Su Rui, the team arrived at a three-story abandoned warehouse. The exterior walls of the building were covered in rust, but the structure was still relatively stable, and the view from the second floor covered most of the slum.