Ark Simulator, Don't I Have No Physical Body?

Ark Simulator, Don't I Have No Physical Body?

Author: Partner of Justice%

Synopsis:

Who would've thought that when he woke up one day, he'd arrive in the world of Arknights—and become a simulator system that went around choosing hosts.

"Wait, why am I not the one choosing the host? What the hell is this higher-level system?"

Su Rui was rather confused about his current situation, but having become a simulator system, he could take over for his hosts at critical moments.

Hiss~ This is kind of like Gundam. And I can even find different units. Let's do it!

His first host was a killer fox girl codenamed Ren Dong, named Ingrid. Perfect—come become my unit!

Because he had no physical body, Su Rui's behavior when communicating with Ren Dong or taking over for her as a simulator system was rather... uninhibited?

In short, "I don't have a physical body anyway. What can you do to me?"

Facing Su Rui's provocation, Ren Dong merely smiled mysteriously, an unreadable glint flashing through her eyes.

Until one day, in a shrine in the Eastern Kingdom, Su Rui stared blankly at his reflection—a young nine-tailed fox boy—then turned in panic toward Ingrid, who was approaching with a sinister grin.

"Don't come any closer! Didn't the higher-level system say I didn't have a physical body?"

"Darling, let's have children together!" Ren Dong said with a smile as she hugged Su Rui.

Volume One: Ren Dong: Ingrid

Early one morning, within the Venice Family of Wolseini, a blonde Wolper woman sitting in the Lineage meeting room and listening to the family head's speech frowned uncomfortably.

She was enduring inexplicable "noise" in her head. For some reason, a young man's voice had appeared in her mind, leaving Ingrid somewhat impatient.

However, as she was still in the middle of the Lineage meeting, it wouldn't be appropriate for her to simply stand up and leave. She could only prop up her cheek with one hand and endure the interference of the noise.

Meanwhile, the system in Ingrid's mind, Su Rui, had yet to accept the reality that he was dead.

"Wait, wasn't I playing games at home? How did I suddenly end up here? And what the hell is this higher-level system?"

The so-called higher-level system didn't respond to Su Rui's questions at all. It was like a simple quest prompt bar, merely displaying tasks to Su Rui before giving no further reaction.

[As a simulator system, you will appear at different points in time across Terra, then help your hosts resolve the problems they face.]

I don't necessarily have to help her, right? I don't think I agreed to anything. I don't do forced deals.

Su Rui looked impatiently at the higher-level system's task prompt, but it neither agreed nor objected, as though it truly were nothing more than a program interface.

"Hey, are you Ingrid? You can hear me, right?"

Seeing the voice called Su Rui in her mind begin communicating with her, Ingrid helplessly twitched the fluffy ears atop her head. She truly didn't want to pay any attention to this simulator system that had suddenly appeared in her mind.

Because he was simply too noisy.

But Su Rui didn't care about that. He hadn't been happy about being dragged here against his will either, so he simply began talking with Ingrid.

"I know you can hear me. You only need to think in your head to talk to me. Answer my questions already, or I'll keep making a racket in your mind."

I know. So what do you want to say?

Ingrid was annoyed by Su Rui's terrible attitude. She glanced at the record in her field of vision that only she could see—System Materialization Progress: 0%—and thought that if Su Rui ever materialized, she would definitely make him properly experience the terror of a Venice Family assassin.

"Don't sound so unwilling. I didn't voluntarily become your system either. In short, we're in the same boat now. If you run into trouble later, I'll provide help."

What can you do?

Although she had no favorable impression of the voice that had just been making a racket in her head, Ingrid still asked Su Rui about his abilities with a faint trace of hope.

Su Rui froze. "Wait a second. Let me see what I've got."

Then Su Rui began carefully examining his control panel, relaying the information to Ingrid item by item.

"I can help you detect enemies, gather intelligence, and provide treatment."

My Lineage can do all that too. So was this a useless system?

Ingrid found it somewhat amusing and waited to see what reaction this arrogant system would have. In this somewhat dull Lineage meeting, having someone to chat with wasn't bad either.

Your name is Su Rui? I'll just call you that, then.

"Don't interrupt. Give me a second."

Su Rui was sulking over Ingrid's previous words, intending to show her just how much more comprehensive his abilities were than her so-called Lineage.

"I'll be done soon."

As he spoke, Su Rui looked through the manual in the system space, then activated the scanning system according to the instructions.

"See? This is the detection system. It's much stronger than any intelligence your Lineage can provide, isn't it?"

As Su Rui spoke, a three-dimensional interface composed of lines appeared in Ingrid's vision. Or rather, everything in her field of view had been converted into a simplified 3D model.

With this view, Ingrid could clearly see every route, every dangerous individual, and details requiring attention, such as surveillance cameras or weapons that could be picked up at hand.

Ingrid saw that Little Venice, sitting not far from her, carried a weapon forbidden from the meeting room. She also saw someone secretly lowering his head to play with his phone.

I didn't expect you to be able to do this.

A simple scanning function could achieve such a level of detail. As an assassin, Ingrid immediately understood how terrifying Su Rui's abilities were, and she couldn't help taking him more seriously.

However, as she communicated with Su Rui, her expression naturally became somewhat unusual. All those changes were noticed by Mr. Venice, seated at the head of the table.

"Ingrid, what do you think about this matter?"

"Hm?"

Ingrid, who had been distracted chatting with Su Rui, froze. Her fluffy ears instinctively perked up in tension as she looked somewhat flustered toward Mr. Venice at the head of the table.

Chatting with Su Rui had made her completely miss what Mr. Venice had said. And Syracuse Lineage meetings generally didn't distribute documents like corporate meetings did.

However, just as Ingrid was preparing to humbly admit her mistake, Su Rui's voice sounded beside her ear.

"He's talking about Midal, the head of the Lineage that's always been opposing the Venice Family. My suggestion is to get rid of him directly. You can handle it."

As Su Rui spoke, a task prompt marked by him also appeared in Ingrid's vision.

Immediately feeling much more at ease, Ingrid directly stated "her own" opinion according to the information Su Rui had given her.

"I believe Midal merely wants to extort us to increase his own prestige. With his Lineage's strength, he can't possibly compare with us. He probably also believes we won't directly go to war with him over such trivial matters."

[Pause here for a moment. Wait for Old Venice to ask you a question, then just say that you can deal with that guy.]

Ingrid paused as Su Rui instructed, but she was still dissatisfied with his wording.

Mr. Venice. That's what you should call him.

"What does it have to do with me? They can't hear my voice anyway, and I don't want to remember all their troublesome names. Oh, right. From now on, I'll call you Ren Dong."

I have a name. Call me Ingrid.

Su Rui ignored Ren Dong's protest and urged her instead. "All right, Ren Dong. Old Venice is about to ask you a question. Get ready."

Ren Dong immediately came back to her senses and looked into Old... Mr. Venice's eyes.

"So, Ingrid, do you have a good solution?"

Volume One: Can We Just Kill Them All?

[They're nothing but a bunch of trash fish and rotten shrimp. With the slightest effort, I can leave none of them alive!]

Ren Dong glanced at the subtitles Su Rui had displayed in her vision. Rather than saying what Su Rui wanted, she used her usual phrasing.

"I don't believe resolving this matter will be difficult. Just leave it to me. I'll teach them a profound lesson."

"Very good. Then I'll leave this matter to you, Ingrid."

Mr. Venice nodded and smiled at the young woman he had raised like a daughter.

But at that moment, a discordant voice sounded. "Anyone can talk big. If something goes wrong, can you bear the responsibility?"

That voice immediately froze the smiles on both Mr. Venice's and Ren Dong's faces.

Su Rui directly marked the speaker in red within Ren Dong's vision.

"This guy is such an eyesore. Should we take him out?"

He's Mr. Venice's son. His name is...

"All right, we'll just call him Little Venice."

Su Rui cut off Ren Dong's introduction and directly listed more than a dozen assassination methods in her vision.

"I have hundreds of ways to kill him without anyone noticing. No one will ever suspect you. You might even gain sympathy because of it. Want to do it?"

No. He's Mr. Venice's son, after all. We just don't get along very well. It hasn't come to that.

Ren Dong rejected Su Rui's proposal in her heart. Even though Su Rui continued muttering, "He doesn't look like he intends to let you go," she paid him no attention and instead couldn't help chuckling inwardly.

"What are you laughing at?" Su Rui was immediately drawn to Ren Dong's inexplicable laughter and began questioning her unhappily. Are you making fun of me? What did I say wrong?

The way you want to kill someone just because they slightly offended you is like a child.

Unconsciously, a trace of teasing entered Ren Dong's tone. Though they had only spent a short time together, she felt that she had already figured out Su Rui's personality.

A little childish. Maybe because he was a simulator system and couldn't come into contact with many people?

Su Rui didn't know that Ren Dong had already found an excuse for his behavior in her heart, but he cared deeply about her evaluation.

"I'm not a child. This is called being decisive, okay? And I have the ability to avoid suspicion, which means I'm a terrifyingly powerful person!"

That only proves you're a child holding a terrifying weapon.

Ren Dong chuckled softly and didn't continue paying attention to Su Rui's rebuttal. Instead, she looked at Little Venice.

"Why don't you just let me try? And do you have a better solution?"

"You..." Little Venice, challenged by Ren Dong, immediately fell silent because he truly had no good solution.

Su Rui couldn't help complaining in Ren Dong's mind. "So he's just a useless guy who can only argue. What's he so proud of?"

You're right.

Ren Dong nodded, then looked toward Mr. Venice. "Then I'll go make preparations."

"Be careful. Even if the mission fails, make sure you keep yourself safe."

Mr. Venice nodded at Ren Dong and watched her leave the meeting room.

"That Old Venice is pretty decent. At the very least, he treats you quite well."

Yes. Mr. Venice takes good care of me.

A smile couldn't help appearing at the corner of Ren Dong's lips. Judging by this reaction, now that she had Su Rui, life probably wouldn't be boring from here on out.

Gather some intelligence for me. I'm preparing to pay Midal's Lineage a visit—the quiet kind.

As Ren Dong spoke, she returned to her room. After organizing her weapons and outfit, she didn't set off immediately. Instead, she sat on the sofa and began reading a book.

Su Rui had already displayed the map before her.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to assassinate him? Why are you reading here instead?"

Acting at night is more concealed and safer.

But Su Rui objected to Ren Dong's idea. "No. If we act at night, I'll have to turn on infrared vision. I refuse."

Is infrared vision difficult for you? Or will it affect you somehow?

Though she had only known him briefly, Ren Dong heard the troubled emotion hidden in Su Rui's willful tone. She frowned worriedly and set down the book in her hands.

Acting during the day is fine too. With your intelligence and map, I can easily sneak in unnoticed.

"No. It's because infrared vision can still show everything clearly at night, but I don't like how it looks. It isn't pretty to me. I don't want to look at it."

As Su Rui spoke, he activated infrared vision. Besides the previous 3D image, every person was marked in bright red.

Ren Dong froze. Isn't this very clear? And I don't see what's unpleasant about these images.

Su Rui fell silent in Ren Dong's mind for a moment before slowly speaking.

"Because I don't like the night. Even though you can see, I always feel like I can't see clearly."