The chattering corpse party

"Wow, Doppelganger Two... you're actually a hidden schemer, a mastermind, and a madman?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, holding her own head, looked at Old Zheng and asked with some curiosity.

Old Zheng quickly interjected, "The boss was exaggerating... It's just that I'm a 'Psychologist,' so my organization has many 'patients.'"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot shook her head. "Wow, a Psychologist too—but that's not surprising. You analyzed Supervisor Tennyson before, and I thought you explained it quite well."

Old Zheng humbly added, "These are just personal guesses and opinions; they don't constitute any professional analysis."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot looked at Lin Yu: "I'm really growing to like you more and more, Arthur, as your substitute..."

Lin Yu calmly replied, "I've already said, 'people' are not for sale to me."

"I know, but I didn't intend to buy him this time... However, precisely because he's a 'person,' he also has the right to choose, right?" Nightless Sky Fire Apricot blinked. "I won't 'buy' him, but I can 'hire' him, right? That's called attracting talent... In company competition, this is a perfectly legitimate tactic!"

Then, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot looked at Old Zheng again. "Hey, Doppelganger Two, do you want to work for me?"

Upon hearing Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's words, Old Zheng immediately adopted a solemn expression. "There can only be one sun in the sky, and the boss will always be the only boss in my heart... I'm sorry, Lord Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, in our world, 'loyalty' is a very precious quality. Since I have already chosen to follow my boss, I cannot change the one I follow."

Old Zheng spoke seriously, while Lin Yu added quietly.

"It seems you didn't 'choose' to follow me, Old Zheng."

Old Zheng said, "At first glance, that's true, but now I'm definitely following you willingly, boss... Anyway, don't worry too much about the details!"

Looking at Old Zheng, who was pledging his loyalty, Nightless Sky Fire Apricot blinked. "Aren't you going to listen to the conditions I offered to poach him? I'm the Second Young Lady of the Nightless Sky Family, the future Chosen of Wisdom! Although I admit that Arthur is a capable and interesting guy, and can travel between different worlds... but, in terms of 'financial resources,' he's still not as good as me, right?"

Old Zheng said solemnly, "No matter the conditions, I would never betray my boss."

Lin Yu said in a low voice, "Is it because you're too arrogant or what...? Although I didn't deliberately give Old Zheng any reward, the 'benefits' I brought him are something you really can't replace."

"As I just said, this guy actually has no body anymore, only a brain—he can move around in a way that looks like a 'normal person' only because I used some kind of 'Authority' to restore a simulated body for him."

"Besides... money means nothing to Old Zheng."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said, "Wow, providing a body? To be honest... I could actually do that, right? Although I can't do it directly right now, I think using the Alchemy of the Life Spectrum and the technology of Supreme Evolution, it shouldn't be too difficult to create a body that matches his brain... Whether it's finding a corpse with high compatibility for modification or creating one from scratch, I think it wouldn't be difficult if I just studied it carefully."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spoke, a hint of earnest confidence emanated from her voice.

"Even though my understanding of 'Supreme Evolution' is currently insufficient... isn't our purpose in coming here to investigate the technology this company possessed back then? I don't think we'll fail!"

"Moreover... even if we hadn't found the technology, the Truth Company already has quite a lot," said Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, pointing to Stiller. "President Paris can use this technology and the equipment acquired by the Divine Power Group to create a clone... cloning a brainless version of Mr. Doppelganger Two shouldn't be difficult for me either—I can extract his Life Force characteristics from his brain to determine what his body should look like."

"Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said, then paused for a moment, and then continued."

"Besides... Arthur, your method of recreating a body can only faithfully reproduce his original appearance, right? If it were me, I could customize it, making it healthier, stronger, more handsome, and even adding functions," said Nightless Sky Fire Apricot. "Doppelganger Two, whether you want a stomach with ten times the capacity, fingers that shoot lasers, eyeballs that can be launched like explosive missiles, or hair that can be used as steel nails, I can make it all!"

After listening to Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's words, Old Zheng remained silent for a moment before slowly saying, "Thank you for your kind offer... but I really have no intention of changing jobs."

"By the way... actually, those needs you mentioned aren't particularly appealing to me."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot sighed, "Really? These are all features I've always dreamed of... If I weren't Noble couldn't complete these modifications that would look too exaggerated from the outside, I would have added them to myself long ago!"

"But these are just examples; you can actually customize other needs yourself."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spoke, her tone suddenly became serious, and her expression hardened. "While I was indeed joking, if you agree, I will really do it..."

"Of course, Arthur... I'll make it up to you too."

"While this isn't exactly 'human trafficking,' whether it's a company poaching someone or a team transferring, it's only fair that the new company paying the 'breach of contract penalty' to the former employer is responsible for compensating them, right?"

Even though Nightless Sky Fire Apricot claimed she wasn't joking, Lin Yu couldn't sense how serious she was.

Lin Yu replied somewhat perfunctorily, "Oh, so what kind of compensation do you plan to give me?"

"His value now surpasses that of any Raccoon, but giving you the entire Raccoon Spy Squad is out of the question... So, within this City That Never Sleeps, any Noble, even Royal Nobles, as long as I can defeat them, especially the Nightless Sky Family Siblings, I can kidnap whichever one you fancy, okay? You should have a way to take them away... as servants."

"Wouldn't it be a thrill to turn a former Royal Nobles into your servant!"

"Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said excitedly."

Qin Siyu, who had been hiding further away and remained silent as the "Fairy Queen" observing from behind the scenes, finally couldn't help but sigh when she heard Nightless Sky Fire Apricot.

"Wow..."

Qin Siyu didn't say anything, but Lin Yu Qin Siyu already hear the myriad thoughts, complex emotions, and vibrant feelings in her exclamatory tone.

Lin Yu sighed, "What do I need Noble for... While there are indeed many powerful figures among the Royal Nobles of the entire City That Never Sleeps, I don't think many of them are actually more useful than Old Zheng —if I had to say, the most useful Royal Nobles I know is actually you."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot blinked. "I didn't say I was excluded, did I?"

Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot: "Then what's the point of you handing yourself over to me as 'reward' and taking Old Zheng away?"

Stiller began, "I know that—I recently read in a book that in your world, boss, it's called 'The My Vassal’s Vassal Is Not My Vassal!'"

"Oh yeah... Anyway, I have no objections. Won't you consider it, Arthur?"

"Nightless Sky Fire Apricot asked with a grin."

Lin Yu shook his head. "I guess I'll pass... Wouldn't it be a pure reward for you to bring you out of this world and make you my servant?"

"I feel bad asking you to do things."

"Besides... you said we should respect Old Zheng's own wishes, and I don't think he really wants to do it."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot glanced at Old Zheng over there and shrugged. "Oh yeah... Doppelganger Two seems to be even more loyal than I thought."

"On another note, Doppelganger Two, you seem to have deep feelings for Arthur!"

Old Zheng immediately denied it. "No, to call it feelings... well, although I do get along very well with the boss, it's not really about 'feelings.' My willingness to follow him is more based on some objective and practical reasons... um..."

As he spoke, Old Zheng looked at Lin Yu: "Boss, I'm not saying I have no feelings for you, it's just that...

He was somewhat speechless, seemingly unsure how to express himself.

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot immediately pressed, "Oh? What are the objective reasons...?"

As she asked this, she also looked at Lin Yu — Nightless Sky Fire Apricot intuitively felt that this was probably the first time Lin Yu had heard Old Zheng say these things, and that he would be quite interested in the answer to this mystery.

Old Zheng's expression became even more troubled.

"Well, well... how should I put it?"

He carefully considered his words, unsure whether he was trying to hide something or simply hadn't figured out how to express himself.

But...

Just as Old Zheng was organizing his thoughts...

"Buzz--!"

A certain noise arose in the warehouse.

The sudden sound interrupted the conversation, which wasn't exactly casual chatter but was definitely not about anything important or serious either, and everyone immediately turned their attention to the source of the sound.

That is...

An alchemical facility that was suddenly activated.

It was a Rings metal platform, roughly the height of a person—and now, without anyone starting it, the Rings was already slowly rotating.

In the center of the Rings, a jet-black color appeared, instantly filling the entire hollow center of the Rings.

"This one... it's the one whose functions I don't know and whose origin I have absolutely no idea about."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spoke with a serious expression.

"As expected, there's something fishy about this!"

Old Zheng and Lin Yu glanced at it and immediately explained its function and origin.

"Spatial structure changes... This is a portal."

Lin Yu said in a low voice.

Old Zheng immediately chimed in, "It's good that you don't recognize it... because although its outer shell is Alchemical Equipment, it's just a shell—the energy fluctuations of this thing are from the 'Mindscape' series of devices from the Previous Civilization Mist Island Realm!"