The Best Teammate / The Malleability Project (3K)

Is this how you soothe a child?

She finally revealed her true intentions, "casually" asking, "Speaking of which, what do you think of the Sarkaz?"

It seems she's reached a similar conclusion to Kal'tsit: if asked directly, Oute is unlikely to lie. Now, she's trying to naturally steer the conversation towards that topic.

While trying to regain control by petting the cat, Oute also responded via mental link, "The word itself is a mistake."

"The difference between Bloodfiend and Gargoyle is greater than the difference between Dragons and Feline, yet they are classified into the same race." Oute analyzed. "Rather than a real race, it's more like a national concept based on an 'imagined community'."

"But when it comes to the concept of a nation, the only nation the Sarkaz ever had was the ruins of Kazdel..."

"Frankly speaking, aside from specific ethnic groups, tribes that Sarkaz and belonging often have a brighter future."

Just like the Oni, Anasa, and Sankta.

W's eyes widened—although she had only known Oute for a short time, she already considered herself to know Oute well enough.

Repeatedly denying the identities of Mind Flayer and Sarkaz... I see, you never accepted this race or this definition from the very beginning.

But why are you siding with His Highness?

She couldn't help but ask, "Stop with the nonsense. If you were the Demon Lord of Sarkaz, what would you do?"

"The two most interesting paths for tags like this are the complete abandonment and complete flourishing of one's nature. Peaceful rise or the cleansing of the entire land."

Oute bluntly stated, "The 'Peaceful Rise' gameplay focuses too much on politics and internal factional balance, and can easily lead to civil war. The Sarkaz race, on the other hand, has too few resources. A direct confrontation with the entire Terra during the breakthrough phase is actually very interesting and attractive."

Even though I was the one asking, you actually told me?

I didn't even need to ask any further questions!?

But isn't this viewpoint... completely opposite to Theresa's!?

No, no, no... Even so, didn't he still rack his brains to offer advice and strategies for His Highness!?

Although only Oute was able to do that back then... maybe it's just that I don't know Rhodes Island well enough!?

The change in her mindset led the Sarkaz girl to even start making excuses for Oute —she even pushed herself to the limit and came up with a very eloquent phrase in her mind.

"So... how exactly do you want to play this game?"

The Sarkaz girl couldn't help but stroke the grenade.

Only when they are thousands of miles away do she dare to ask such questions.

Only in this way could she avoid killing Oute, who had amnesia but not complete amnesia.

"Of course, it's the first one!"

W breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon, she heard Oute's outrageous statement. "You have to understand that the denser the weeds, the easier they are to cut. If you can't deal with the opposition in the most ruthless and difficult way, hoping for a gentle and appeasement approach will only make things more difficult."

"Of course, more importantly: a tag that doesn't involve civil war is an incomplete tag, destined for a life of failure. Between a cool tag with a unique civil war mechanic and a boring tag that only allows you to fight chiefs, I would definitely choose the former."

So what exactly is a tag?

Doesn't this mean they haven't said anything at all!?

W kicked a stone away forcefully.

Chapter 170 Best Teammate

Oute's comments, which were sometimes interesting and sometimes boring, left W somewhat confused.

But the emotions emanating from the other end of my heart remained calm.

W racked her brains, trying her best to exonerate Oute.

Perhaps the stinky otter didn't take the issue seriously, but he still wasn't lying!

Wait a minute, since he didn't take that seriously, it means he knew absolutely nothing about it!?

That... it couldn't have been him... right?

The Sarkaz girl seemed to have found a way to convince herself.

No, the past is the past, the present is the present!

Although Oute may indeed be completely unaware that he opened the floodgates for the assassins, does that prove he did nothing in the first place?

Wake up!

From another perspective, W and Kal'tsit's repeated excuses for Oute are the result of Oute's persistent spouting of "truth" since his awakening.

After all, you're dealing with someone who'll answer any question you ask—if you ask him about "reflections on genocide," he'll reply, "Why not kill them all?"

Could the things he asked and answered in a flash, when he was completely unsuspecting, still be lies?

Of course it is.

PRTS and Specter's timely reminders have already made Oute speculate about what "he" had done back then. And Oute is someone who has always prepared countless contingency plans for all sorts of speculations.

To be honest... although Oute repeatedly used the mental link to convey his "sincerity," this tactic was from the beginning a way to bypass Kal'tsit's questioning by telling the wrong truth!

"I'll take it as you choosing Theresa." W looked towards the horizon. The timeframe requested by Oute had arrived, but the Reunion Movement still showed no signs of catching up.

This is a tricky question.

This name hadn't appeared in W's previous conversation with Oute. However, judging from how easily Oute mentioned "Bloodfiend" and "Gargoyle," he must have studied the modern history of the Sarkaz after awakening...

Admittedly, outside accounts of Sarkaz history are bound to be filled with arrogance and errors, but Theresa and Theresis are undeniable "heroes" in this period of history.

How will the amnesiac otter react to this name?

After "virtue," the Sarkaz girl reconciled with her past self, but this did not mean that she had reconciled with the "accident" between Oute and Theresa.

On the contrary, Oute, who helped W get out of her past... actually made W sink even deeper into this quagmire. In the past, the Sarkaz girl only chased after every hornless assassin tightly wrapped around her in grief and anger, but now, she has to struggle on both sides of the scales of her heart.

"You've worked hard." With W's help, Oute also saw the horizon where there were no pursuers.

"It seems that in order to better integrate into the Reunion Movement, the Ursus military's organizational capacity has been almost completely undermined."

Oute paused for a moment, then casually brought up the question from before, "Theresa... I've looked up that name."

"The result is quite interesting—her information was intentionally censored, while the uncensored parts contained a great deal of overly detailed information."

W's heart skipped a beat. She could almost picture in her mind the two "ear feathers" that were slanted into Oute's ears, and how they looked when they were pretending to shake.

And that damned Mind Flayer, still with that nauseating rationality and detachment, stated. "All of this suggests that she seems to have an unusual connection with this ship."

"So, you know about Theresa's stance in the Sarkaz civil war?" W asked, unusually calmly.

Look... I'm an otter... the truth...

But his heart was in turmoil.

"I don't know." Oute spoke frankly, "Generally speaking, the demands of a civil war are often quite clear, such as: which faction will receive more benefits from newly acquired land, which faction leaders will seize supreme power, and which faction's demands will be implemented..."

"But regarding the Sarkaz civil war of the past few years, firstly, I personally have no idea what the demands of either side are; secondly, the core group of scholars has not yet produced any high-quality articles; and thirdly, the Sarkaz don't seem to have any written evaluations of it."

He actually said, "As an outsider, I lack access to information about the Sarkaz civil war."

W breathed a sigh of relief, his sweaty palms wiping away some of the paint from the grenade's surface. On that uneven surface, the simple line drawing seemed to be both crying and laughing.

That's good.

Let's postpone it for a few more days...

"Huh? Why was my 'Otter Knows Everything' show canceled?" she said with a twisted laugh, as always.

One of the advantages of being a madman is that no one cares about W's anxious and uncertain state of mind beneath that manic smile.

"I only know what I know, and I have never claimed that 'everything is going according to plan'."

On the other side, Kal'tsit was also trying to extricate herself from the allure of pleasure.

After removing Oute's hand, she squinted at the blueprint and said, "Your methods for calculating and influencing Catastrophe, though somewhat crude due to the lack of a theoretical model, are, in terms of results, almost like those of a 'prophet'."

Oute asked in surprise, "Although both terms have the semantic meaning of predicting the future, here, for someone who manipulates the power of nature, the term 'The Prophet,' which has a stronger connotation of 'divine authority,' should be more appropriate."

Kal'tsit's silence was deafening.

Is there absolutely no reaction to the codename "Prophet"?

"Speaking of the Prophet, the progress of exploring the ruins is enough to locate the second enemy leader unit."

Faced with a matter concerning the spirit and soul of Oute, Kal'tsit immediately became focused.

However, Oute's words pulled her back to her previous thoughts from another angle.

"He was also the Prophet."

The cat's heart skipped a beat.

"Despite the help of Fate Reconstruction, the heart remains a delicate system that cannot be easily repaired. If you don't want to return to the operating table, facing the operating lights, scalpels, and general anesthesia, you'd better reduce your workload."

Kal'tsit abruptly changed the subject.

It seems that she is more concerned with what is happening in Hamlet, and in this small replica realm, than with Black Snake, Talulah, Chernobog, Lungmen, Ursus, and Yan.

Thus, the chain reaction caused by Wendigo's "lying to the truth" came to a temporary end. And the two girls would not come to Oute again for quite some time.

They will most likely begin secretly investigating again.

In this way, the records of the Babel leader and the Kazdel Civil War that Oute openly searched in the PRTS system (Chapter Sixteen) may also come in handy.

Chapter 171 The Plasticity Project (3K)

"These people are like stray dogs..." Earthspirit sat down next to Dobermann with a tray of food.

Given that the danger level inside Lungmen has been greatly reduced, Oute only reserved second- and third-line combat personnel, including various reserve groups, and "plenipotentiary representatives" such as the Earthspirit at Lungmen.

In this way, even though she and Dobermann weren't particularly close, they still ended up eating at the same table.

"You can completely remove the word 'like'." Dobermann glanced at the teenagers in the distance before replying, "Wei Yenwu, with military power in hand, instantly changed his policy towards the Commercial Union."

Phoebe and Lava started making a ruckus as usual...

"The military and the Lungmen Guard Department are completely different concepts—even the Swire Family gave up resistance last night, these small fry must be feeling extremely uneasy."