Ark Simulator, Am I Not Without a Physical Form?

After passing through the long tunnel, dawn was just ahead; the bright light at the cave entrance could already be seen.

Su Rui couldn't help but exclaim, "Tell me, when we go out later, do you want to do a pose of opening your arms to embrace the sunshine?"

'Why?' Although Saria was already used to Su Rui's occasional strange remarks and didn't care so much anymore, she was now curious as to why Su Rui would say such things.

"It's a movie. It would be perfect if there was a downpour when they broke free from their prison, as if it would wash away all the constraints and sins they had committed while in jail."

As Su Rui spoke, she directly showed Saria the image in her mind. "Look, like this, opening your arms to welcome the downpour in prison, doesn't that feel amazing?"

'Indeed, it would be great if you could show me the original footage later.'

Su Rui had no objection after hearing Saria's statement and planned to send the film to Saria.

The transmission of the movie doesn't take long; it can be done in less than a second.

Saria saw the movie start playing almost immediately, but just as she was about to ask something, she heard Su Rui's smug voice:

"How was it? Wasn't I awesome...?"

Su Rui's voice stopped abruptly, as if a wire had been cut off. Saria instinctively asked in her mind, "Su Rui?"

But there was no response, Saria began to worry. If it weren't for the scanning route still visible in her field of vision... wait a minute, how come only the route is left? The Scanning Vision faded away like ink gradually dissipating, leaving only the map route that Su Rui had marked earlier still floating in Saria's field of vision.

A wave of panic washed over Saria; almost instantly, she screamed, "Su Rui!"

"Su..."

Before Saria could finish speaking, she saw the subtitle from the Upper System: [Su Rui is alright, you will see her again later.]

"..." Saria paused for a moment, then looked at the girls around her. "It's alright, don't worry."

Both Silence and Ifrit were somewhat worried, but just as Ifrit was about to speak, Silence covered her mouth.

Ifrit looked up and saw Silence smiling at her, gesturing for her to be quiet. The smile was devoid of joy, filled with worry.

Ifrit stopped talking, nodded, and looked at Saria with concern along with Silence.

Saria pursed her lips and continued leading the group outside.

At this moment, the warm sunlight shining on her skin did not bring Saria any warmth; instead, it made her feel somewhat lonely and cold.

Saria pursed her lips, silently asking herself, 'What are you? The Upper System that Su Rui often talks about? Where is Su Rui now?'

The Upper System had almost no contact with Saria, which led to her having little affection for the Upper System and only basic wariness towards it.

When faced with Saria's question, the Upper System simply responded:

[Su Rui is alright, you'll see him later.]

'You still haven't told me what happened to Su Rui?'

You'll see him later; he's alright.

This is as good as saying nothing at all. Is the Upper System deliberately playing cryptic games?

The avoidance of the Upper System turned Saria's impatience into annoyance, and she couldn't help but curse in her mind, mimicking the words Su Rui had used.

'Old Deng, what happened to Su Rui? Did you take him somewhere?'

The more Saria spoke, the stronger her aura became. In fact, even without saying a word, her presence alone was enough to make her companions around her take a few steps back in fear.

Kafka couldn't help but lean closer to Silence and whisper, "Are you alright? Your friend looks even scarier than when she knocked Jeston down with two punches!"

Silence simply patted Kafka's wrist gently as a comforting gesture, then went to Saria and asked softly:

"Saria? What happened?"

"... I can't get in touch with Su Rui. Anyway, let's leave here first, and I'll figure out what's going on here."

Saria glanced at Silence and the others, nodded to them, and then continued along the route.

At this moment, she could see that the Ptilopsis and Mayer's car, which were approaching from the route, were still marked in Saria's line of sight.

Even though Su Rui isn't here, she's still helping her.

But the more this happened, the angrier Saria became. If she could access the system, she would have loved to smash the Upper System in front of her to the ground and confront it.

For once again, Saria experienced the feeling of being exasperated.

However, the Upper System still said nothing, only continuing to display:

[Su Rui is alright, you will meet again. Soon, for Su Rui, it will only be a moment.]

Volume 4, Chapter 213: Reconnection After Disconnection

Saria is very worried about Su Rui, so what is Su Rui doing right now?

He was suddenly pulled into the System Space by the Upper System, and then cut off from all contact with the outside world.

Su Rui was a little confused and looked at the Upper System's interface with a puzzled expression. "Why did you suddenly pull me in here?... Mom? Tell me about it."

The Upper System seemed reluctant to speak, so Su Rui subconsciously used a more affectionate term to coax her.

[Don't worry, I'm just chatting with you. You'll see Saria again soon.]

So what exactly happened?

After seeing the message from the Upper System, Su Rui relaxed, leaned back in his chair, and pondered the Upper System's intentions.

[It's just changing the time frame to make the narrative more coherent.]

As the Upper System spoke, it lifted the blockade on Su Rui. In just an instant, Su Rui once again felt the mental link between herself and Saria.

A familiar feeling washed over him, and Su Rui couldn't help but relax. But before he could figure out what was going on, and seeing that the Upper System was about to leave, Su Rui subconsciously asked, "Wait a minute, Mom! What did you do? Tell me what happened!"

There was no response from the Upper System, but Saria heard Su Rui's voice and asked in her mind with delight:

' Su Rui?! You're back! But who were you talking to just now? Your mother?'

"It's the Upper System, she's actually my mom."

As Su Rui said this, she began to use her Scanning Vision to observe the surrounding situation, organize the current information, and then communicated with Saria: "Suddenly disconnecting me without saying anything, Mom is really something, I wasn't wrong to call her 'Old Deng'."

Saria couldn't help but feel ashamed. After learning about the relationship between Su Rui and the Upper System, she regretted calling the Upper System "Old Deng" back then.

Doesn't this mean she offended her future husband's mother? How can things possibly turn out well?

... Never mind, I'll figure out a way to fix it later.

Saria continued, then asked Su Rui, "What happened to you during that time?"

"No, actually Mom only locked me in the System Space for a few seconds, and then I came out again. She was so quick that I didn't even realize what was going on... But it seems like we've been separated for quite a while."

Su Rui had already figured out the current situation. Saria had returned to Trimounts again, this time for Rhine Lab and her friend Kristen.

"I see." Saria nodded, a relieved smile spreading across her face. For the past few days, she had thought Su Rui had been taken away to carry out some dangerous or painful mission.

Didn't I realize that for Su Rui, such a long time was only a few seconds?

After learning about the situation, Saria wasn't bothered by her own experience, but Su Rui was a little worried:

"So, you've been worried about me disappearing for a long time, right? Sorry, Old Deng just loves to pull these surprise attacks, catching people off guard."

'It's okay, it's not your fault.'

Saria reassured Su Rui inwardly, then quickly changed the subject to grab Su Rui's attention: 'By the way, we're currently in Columbia, working with Muelsyse from Rhine Lab. Things seem to be getting chaotic here lately.'

"Let me see, hmm, it's definitely gotten messy. There are so many clues, it's like an endless ball of yarn, as complicated as instant noodles being knitted into a sweater."

Looking at the intelligence report before him, Su Rui couldn't help but sigh, "Columbia is about to descend into chaos. Even the Vice President has been alerted. The Vice President is quite a big shot, isn't he?"

Saria nodded: 'What should we do now?'

"Of course we'll continue with your current plan. With me around, infiltration will be much easier, right?"

"Of course, then I'll leave it to you." Saria nodded. "Our objective is to infiltrate Rhine Lab to see my old friend."

As Saria spoke, she glanced at Su Rui's System Materialization Progress. Hmm, it had reached seventy percent, seemingly only because the two of them had exchanged a few words. Did Su Rui feel guilty for leaving her standing there for so long? How adorable.

Saria's lips curled into a smile... simply because she had never seen Su Rui want to shred all her enemies.

"Okay, I understand."

Su Rui had no idea that Saria had thought so much. Getting what he needed to do at least eased the guilt he felt for making Saria suffer for so long.

Infiltrating Rhine Lab is an extremely difficult task for most people, especially since Rhine Lab's campus and surrounding areas have been equipped with new combat robots that either possess extremely strong close-combat capabilities or are armed with rocket launchers, capable of engaging multiple targets at once.

But none of this mattered to Su Rui. These electromechanical robots were simply toys that Su Rui could manipulate at will.

They easily took control of the robot that Saria and her companions had encountered.

Su Rui didn't forget to greet the Doctor: "Hey, Mom, long time no see!"

"... Long time no see. How have you been?" The Doctor glanced at Saria's waist, where she kept her phone, then tapped his mask. "You can talk to me using your earpiece."

"I know, I know, but this is more direct, and besides, no one can really monitor us now, right?"

As Su Rui said this, she also sounded a little excited, "By the way, should we gather all these robots together and attack Rhine Lab directly? That would be quite a sight, wouldn't it?"

Su Rui's proposal was very appealing, but it only worked for him, because neither the Doctor nor Saria thought it was a good idea.

The reason is simple. Saria shook her head. "The impact of this is too great. Rhine Lab being counterattacked by its own mechanical creations will cause many problems. It will not only affect Rhine Lab and Columbia, but also the general public."

"Alright... how about we keep it a little secret? It's perfectly normal for Rhine Lab's creations to return to Rhine Lab, right? And it's also normal for them to accidentally cause some unnoticed damage on the way back, isn't it?"

Su Rui didn't give up; after a slight disappointment, she offered a new suggestion.

The Doctor and Saria exchanged a glance and nodded. "Alright, provided we don't make things too chaotic."

"Okay~"

Volume 4, Chapter 214: Unwrapping the Gift

As Su Rui, Saria, and the Doctor reached an agreement, all the Rhine Lab mechanical constructs in Trimounts instantly changed their behavior and turned to move towards Rhine Lab.

Saria observed the mechanical creations before her with some confusion. "Why does it feel like their behavior patterns have changed?"

"Of course, they are now completely under my control."

"No, I mean, the way the robot walks, the way it walks is different now."

Saria carefully observed the Rhine Lab robots, whose swaggering and arrogant manner had become somewhat questionable.

"... I think this is pretty cool, it's a pity there aren't any bigger robots here."

Su Rui sounded a little embarrassed.

The Doctor and Saria weren't surprised by Su Rui's reaction; Su Rui was always like that.

However, "There's another matter. Regarding the Vice President, it seems the military is about to go to war with the Maylander Foundation. Tsk tsk, as expected of Columbia —the Vice President, the military, and a corporate organization. This is truly complex and fascinating."

Su Rui clicked her tongue in amazement, then showed the image to Saria, and oh, to the Doctor's mask.

"Should I send some people over there? Let Rhine Lab's robots go and stir up this mess?"

"..." refers to turning one's gaze to the Doctor, Doctor then, after a moment's thought, asked:

"The military used Rhine Lab's robots, right?"

"Yeah, to avoid being exposed, I didn't put these robots under my control. How about giving them a surprise?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Try to make the Maylander Foundation win in a more conventional way, so that the military won't be paying attention to us for the time being."

"Alright, I understand. Even if the military came, I had ways to cripple their fighting capacity."

As Su Rui spoke, she began to secretly operate the robots, affecting the military's combat effectiveness.

Soon, Su Rui finished her task and reminded the Doctor and Saria:

"Alright, I've got it all sorted out. Maylander is definitely going to win, and it'll be quite dramatic. Shall we head straight to our next destination?"

As she spoke, Su Rui directly displayed the detailed scan images of Rhine Lab:

"Look, this is the internal structure of Rhine Lab. Simply put, there's a huge cavity underneath, and this is a crucial part of Kristen's plan. It's quite remarkable that Kristen has created such a commotion without anyone else realizing it."

As Su Rui spoke, she showed the route leading to the underground structure:

"This is the fastest route. Although we might encounter one or two occasional patrolling guys, with the robots I control and the current chaos inside and outside Rhine Lab, no one will care. Oh, by the way, a guest will be arriving later, Saria, remember to be gentle."

"I understand." Although Saria didn't understand why Su Rui said that, since Su Rui had already said so, she naturally wouldn't refuse.

Then, as they continued forward, they encountered a robot that was walking straight towards them, its movement pattern unchanged from Su Rui's.

Saria immediately became alert, and then heard Su Rui's reminder: "Be careful, when you remove the robot's outer shell, don't damage the gift inside."