Ark Simulator, Am I Not Without a Physical Form?

"I know."

Saria smiled and nodded, while Su Rui recorded the scene in the beer hall at dusk, which meant that she and Saria were defeating each other, and made it into a holographic image.

One copy was placed in Su Rui's own System Space, and the other was left for Saria.

"At least this will give me something to remember the past, right?"

"I already said we can meet again, don't say such discouraging things."

Su Rui gave Saria a light elbow nudge, annoyed. "So how much time do we have left? Let me see if there's anything else we can do?"

Saria didn't speak, but lowered her head and sealed Su Rui's lips with hers.

It seemed there wasn't much time left. Su Rui didn't resist Saria's sudden action; she simply wrapped her arms around Saria's waist and adjusted her position slightly uncomfortably.

Before he could find the most suitable position for kissing, he felt his body turn into a cloud of light and dust.

Su Rui didn't speak, but smiled at Saria, who had a somewhat sorrowful look in her eyes. "We'll meet again, won't we?"

Then, Su Rui returned to the System Space and watched as Saria poured herself another beer in the pub, chugging it down, seemingly trying to drown her sorrows. It was certainly not Saria's way of relaxing.

However, what puzzled Su Rui this time was that the Upper System did not take him directly to the new host, but left him in the System Space, face to face with him.

"So, what are you trying to do?" Su Rui crossed her arms and looked at the Upper System with annoyance. "What are you up to now?"

[Just dropping by to see you, and incidentally, asking you a few questions.]

"You actually have something else to ask me?"

Su Rui looked at the interactive interface of the Upper System with some confusion and asked, "Is there a problem? Ask away?"

[If someone wanted you to end a runaway project from Previous Civilization, would you do it? I mean, your host.]

"That depends on the situation and what the plan is intended to be used for. I will make my own judgment."

[What if it were a project that completely spiraled out of control and could even engulf the entire Terra? Would you try to stop it, or let the project continue?]

"Don't take me for a fool, so Terra really does have this kind of plan now, right?"

[No.]

"Absolutely, you're lying to me. But even so, it depends on the situation." Su Rui began to think, while the Upper System seemed somewhat puzzled.

"You see, if I can control this project in this timeline, then I'll choose to continue the plan. If I can't control it, then I'll find a way to stop the plan. After all, the most important thing is to be controllable."

So, what is your purpose in controlling this plan?

"I'm your son, and you're saying you don't know?"

You rarely confide in me.

"You need to ask yourself if you're the kind of mother who can make your child relax and confide in you. Don't make it sound like it's all my fault."

Su Rui rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Since you didn't know before, you don't need to know now. I'm not going to tell you."

[Okay, it seems we can't let you interact with this individual for now. I'll find you another one.]

"Wait a minute, who were you originally planning to throw me on?"

The Upper System didn't speak, but simply displayed a spinning wheel with different women on it, and then started spinning the wheel in front of Su Rui, clearly to select Su Rui's next host.

"Tsk, I didn't expect you to make such a hasty decision about choosing a host for me."

Su Rui leaned back in her chair, watching the spinning wheel. "This thing spins so fast? When are you planning to stop it? Are you really going to wait for it to stop on its own?"

Su Rui had given up hope of hearing the Upper System tell her about the originally planned host, since there would be other opportunities later. But this turntable in front of her, tsk tsk, if you add a pair of propellers to this turntable and attach it to something, a helicopter would be complete.

The Upper System still didn't answer Su Rui's question, as if it was in a bad mood. Although Su Rui couldn't sense her emotions from the text, she could tell from the surrounding atmosphere that she was probably unhappy.

The spinning wheel gradually stopped after Su Rui finished speaking, pointing towards a black figure.

Volume 5, Chapter 244: Backroom Dealing! You're Backroom Dealing!

Su Rui looked at the black figure on the turntable with some curiosity. It seemed to be an Elafia? Or Caprinae? In any case, Su Rui couldn't quite tell the difference between the two. Both had horns on their heads, and their shapes were sometimes quite similar. It was difficult to tell without directly observing the real person using Scanning Vision.

However, when the pointer of the roulette wheel pointed to Caprinae, who was dressed in black with long, dark golden hair, Su Rui suddenly saw the wheel, which had stopped spinning, start spinning again, and the figure on it seemed to have changed.

This isn't a matter of choosing again; it's the result of intervention from Upper System!

"Seriously?! Old Deng, you're going to cheat on random results that have no real meaning? What's the point? I thought Caprinae was pretty good, wasn't he?"

Su Rui questioned him with some doubt, after all, Su Rui was also a little unhappy that something she thought was settled had been suddenly changed.

Everything is going according to plan.

"You fucking cheat! Why didn't you just give me a spinning wheel? Why not just send me there directly like before?"

[This is a new lesson I'm teaching you, child. Spinning wheels, or similar things like gambling or lotteries, can actually be controlled; it just makes participants think they have a chance and a choice.]

"But you didn't have to do it this way, did you?" Su Rui, leaning back in her chair, somewhat disgruntled. "Since you spun the wheel, you should give me a reward, right? So how are you going to compensate me? I saw you cheat, what about hush money?"

[Haven't decided yet, how about a hug?]

"... Are there any new features I can use?"

A simple hug wasn't enough to shut Su Rui up.

[Then let me look around. It might take a while to find something suitable for you.]

"... OK."

Su Rui nodded, then felt a moment of dizziness before realizing that she was inside a new host's body.

"... snort."

A familiar feeling welled up in her heart. Su Rui placed the holographic images of Saria and herself within easy reach of her field of vision and began to use her Scanning Vision to observe the current host's location and identity.

She was a Kuranta girl, and a girl who loved crafts. Su Rui found wrenches, pliers, screws, metal plates, and welding torches under her bed.

The Upper System should be responsible for introducing my situation, right? Su Rui didn't want to speak, since it seemed that after the first simulation, the Upper System would help introduce the situation, saving Su Rui the trouble of introducing himself.

But as Su Rui observed, he saw the girl named Maria looking around in panic, her horse ears snapping down as a result.

Who is it? Who's there?

What's the Upper System doing? Su Rui reached out and tapped on the Upper System's interface, then saw a string of subtitles:

I'm so sorry I'm not a good mother who can get my child to open up and communicate with me...

Has she really become withdrawn? Su Rui realized this too. Seeing that the Upper System seemed somewhat depressed, she hesitated for a moment, then put Maria aside and began to comfort the Upper System:

"Alright, everyone is different. The situation is actually quite good now. No matter what, you are still my mother."

[Can you open up and have a good talk with me? Let's get along well!]

The Upper System was clearly excited, but Su Rui looked somewhat embarrassed, averting her gaze from the interface.

"I was just trying to comfort you, don't repay kindness with enmity. I just think you're a nice person, but not to that extent."

[...] The Upper System visibly became more depressed, and the user interface also seemed to have become dimmer.

Su Rui's conversation with the Upper System was not actually kept secret from Maria.

The blonde girl looked around her bedroom but found nothing. Finally, somewhat nervously, she pulled out her toolbox from under the bed, gripped a large wrench tightly, and asked:

"Who's there? A ghost?"

Seeing that her communication with the Upper System had come to an end, Su Rui finally turned her attention to Maria:

"I'm not a ghost, but I live inside your head now and can help you. Hello Maria, I'm Su Rui, and I can do many things."

"Hello Su Rui, may I ask, how did you get into my head?" Maria swallowed, asking nervously.

"... I don't know the principle behind it either, since it's not something I can control. However, do you see the System Materialization Progress in your field of vision? Once the materialization progress reaches 100%, you can choose to materialize me."

"Yes, I saw it." Maria's eyes darted around, and she nodded.

"So what's my current progress in materialization?" Su Rui asked curiously.

But Maria glanced at it and shook her head. "No, Su Rui needs to tell you what you can do first."

"I can do a lot more. Scanning Vision, just look. By the way, all electronic devices, as long as they have power, are under my control."

Su Rui took it as a subconscious wariness from the young girl and didn't pay much attention. She began to demonstrate her abilities, and trust would be built up little by little.

"By the way, you like craftsmen, right? And you don't want your family to know? The Scanning Vision can help you stand guard and prevent you from being discovered, and it can also help you make blueprints. Oh, and it can directly switch to TV program signals so you can watch anytime, anywhere."

Su Rui glanced at Maria's usual routines and then introduced herself in a way that appealed to Maria's interests.

Sure enough, Maria's eyes lit up when Su Rui spoke, "Great! Can we start now?"

"Okay, what do you want to do? Craftsmanship?"

"Yes, I want to repair and maintain my sister's armor, and modify it to fit my figure."

Maria's eyes sparkled. "Su Rui, help me, don't let my uncle find out."

"Your uncle? Oh, it's Młynar. I know, he'll keep watch for you. Speaking of which, the new season for Knight Tournament is about to start, and that's what you're going to participate in, right?"

"How did you know?!" Maria exclaimed in surprise, as Su Rui had guessed her thoughts.

"This is just basic logical reasoning. Also, you can speak to me directly in your mind without being noticed or heard by others. Otherwise, you'll look like a lunatic to them."

"I understand." Maria covered her mouth and nodded somewhat shyly.

Volume 5, Chapter 245: Come, sell your soul (The previous chapter has been restored; just refresh a few times).

(The previous chapter has been restored to normal content; refreshing the page a few times should resolve the issue.)

It was still daytime outside. Su Rui used her Scanning Vision to locate Młynar's position and then displayed it to Maria:

"Your uncle is still being exploited at the company, and it looks like he'll even have to work overtime today, so you don't need to worry too much. Just bring your sister's armor over now."

"Thank you!" Maria ran excitedly outside the room, then turned back to look inside as if she had just remembered something.

"By the way, can you eat something? I'll get you some snacks?" The girl seemed to want to express her gratitude to Su Rui in this way.

"... Have you forgotten that I said I live in your head? Also, there's no rush now. If I want to eat, I'll have to borrow your body."

"I see." Maria nodded, quickly retrieved Margaret's armor from the warehouse, placed it in her room, sat on the bed, and carefully wiped the armor pieces on her fair thighs with a towel.

"Su Rui, remember to remind me when my uncle is coming back. I need to be careful not to let him find out I'm hiding armor at home. There's not enough space under the bed."

"Hmm, I can tell. With so many parts and your little creations under the bed, there's really no room for a whole suit of armor."

Su Rui's words made Maria a little shy, but the girl simply nodded and whispered, "Please."

"Actually, no need. This armor can be stored in my System Space. My System Space has a large capacity; it can hold anything."

As Su Rui spoke, she put the armor away. Maria saw the armor disappear from her hand, turned her head in confusion, and then suddenly realized the armor had reappeared in her hand. She heard Su Rui say in her mind:

"Like this, I can help you put these armors away or take them out anytime."

"Great! Does this mean I can change clothes anytime?" Maria's eyes sparkled as she subconsciously thought of topics that girls care about.

"It's not impossible, but wouldn't it be easy to be discovered that way?"

"Of course I wouldn't ask you to do that in front of other people."

Maria nodded, picked up the towel in her hand, and continued to wipe the armor, occasionally tapping it with a small hammer to check for any problems.

"My Scanning Vision can directly help you check where the problem lies with these armors. Look, these are the scan results."

Seeing Maria's efforts, Su Rui immediately offered a more convenient solution.

But the girl just smiled and said, "Thank you, but I also need to make sure my skills are up to par. Always relying on your help, Su Rui, isn't good for my development."

"Whatever you say, you have a point." Su Rui wasn't particularly concerned about the matter; judging from Maria's words, she definitely needed his help anyway.

"Hmm, but with Su Rui's help, I can find problems more easily, and I can fill in any gaps... How about this? From now on, I'll check first, mark the problems, and then Su Rui will show me the scan results. That way, I can find out if my judgment is wrong, and where it is wrong."

"What a clever little pony!"

Su Rui smiled and joked, then, amidst Maria's somewhat shy reaction, she brought up another matter:

"By the way, participating in the Knight Tournament requires financial support, right?"

"Hmm~" Su Rui's words immediately made Maria feel a little awkward. The girl's fingers pinched the hem of her clothes, fiddling with it nervously.

Su Rui noticed this too. "Alright, don't be nervous. I'm saying this because I have a solution. Let me analyze it with you first. After all, training, equipment repair, and all sorts of on-field and off-field factors all require financial support to solve."

Maria nodded, then asked curiously, "So, does Su Rui have any good ideas?"

"Of course, have you heard of the term 'middleman'?"