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

...Fine. At least Su Rui was with her now. Though Ren Dong was somewhat unhappy, she could only accept it.

She glanced at the options provided by the Upper System and directly chose materialization.

Su Rui's cheers in her mind gradually became an actual voice. Even Su Rui was stunned:

"That was amazing! I'm going back to clip all of that and replay it every day! Huh?"

Su Rui was still cheering when he suddenly realized something seemed wrong. He stared blankly at Ren Dong in front of him.

"Ren Dong? Something feels off about my perspective, and why do I feel a little cold?"

Looking at the white-haired, red-eyed Nine-Tailed Fox youth staring blankly at her, Ren Dong hurriedly took off her kimono outer robe and draped it over Su Rui. Then she vigilantly watched the surroundings. She still remembered that there were quite a few Fox Shrine Maidens and their ninjas nearby.

"What's going on with me?"

Su Rui was pulled into Ren Dong's arms, but having turned into a beautiful Nine-Tailed Fox youth, he still had not figured out the situation. With his mind completely blank, he looked at Ren Dong, then at the Fox Shrine Maidens and ninjas appearing before him.

At that moment, his brain was a little overwhelmed. "Ren Dong, don't be nervous. The Fox Shrine Maidens are allies. They don't mean any harm."

"I know."

Ren Dong held the Nine-Tailed Fox youth in her arms and softly replied, though she remained highly wary of the Fox Shrine Maidens and the ninjas.

Only after they respectfully dropped to one knee and called out things like, "Divine Child," did Ren Dong relax slightly.

Su Rui, meanwhile, had also begun to understand the situation. He raised his head and stared into Ren Dong's eyes.

"...What is it?"

Ren Dong really wanted to discuss Su Rui's remaining time with the Upper System, but Su Rui's ruby-like eyes kept staring at her, making her feel unaccustomed to it.

"Did you know about this from the very beginning?"

Su Rui frowned and carefully studied Ren Dong's expression. To see more clearly, even while Ren Dong held him around the waist, he instinctively leaned back, allowing himself to observe her better.

The conclusion was that Ren Dong had indeed been hiding something. The way her gaze darted around made it utterly obvious.

"You really were hiding something. Tell me, did you know about this from the beginning?"

"...Of course I knew."

Ren Dong hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She tightened the arm around Su Rui's waist and looked toward the Fox Shrine Maiden.

"We should go back."

"I'll arrange it immediately. A car has already been prepared for you and the Divine Child."

The Fox Shrine Maiden bowed respectfully, her gaze burning as she looked at Su Rui in Ren Dong's embrace.

Soon, the two of them were seated in the car. Su Rui twitched his fluffy ears and began fiddling with the nine tails behind him.

Unexpectedly, Su Rui did not get angry at Ren Dong over this matter. Or rather, perhaps this was simply Su Rui's personality?

He only voiced a little dissatisfaction before turning his attention to the fluffy ears atop his head and the nine tails behind him.

"My tails are fluffy."

Su Rui hugged one of his soft, fluffy tails and tried curling up. Then he wrapped his entire body in all nine tails, becoming like a fluffy ball of yarn.

As Ren Dong watched Su Rui amuse himself, pleasure flickered through her eyes, along with some helplessness. Su Rui's attention was so easily diverted—she did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Her children in the future won't be idiots, right?

[Of course not. Su Rui has a very high IQ. He's very smart; he just lacks a sense of urgency.]

The Upper System hurriedly came out to explain, practically like a mother defending her own child.

...The Upper System ignored that thought of Ren Dong's. However, taking advantage of this opportunity, Ren Dong began discussing Su Rui with it.

So, you said before that Su Rui might leave me, and that the timing was uncertain. What exactly does that mean?

[Strictly speaking, Su Rui has not left you. He has merely gone to another time and place. It's too complicated for you. You only need to know that you have plenty of time to spend with Su Rui.]

The Upper System's attitude was somewhat impatient. Was it because of her earlier thoughts?

Ren Dong continued asking, Then who will Su Rui's next host be?

[You have no reason to know such things.]

Then what do I need to do to find out?

Ren Dong still tried to press further, but the Upper System had already stopped responding to her.

...In any case, Su Rui had already materialized. Looking at the Nine-Tailed Fox youth now within her grasp, Ren Dong gritted her teeth. The urgency she felt over possibly losing Su Rui still drove her to speak.

"Su Rui, how much do you know about the Upper System? About this matter..."

"Was this the Upper System's doing?"

Though he had just been absorbed in his nine tails, rubbing his cheek against them while hugging them, the moment Ren Dong spoke, Su Rui's attention was instantly drawn back. His ruby-like eyes stared straight at her.

"Gulp."

Under Su Rui's gaze, Ren Dong instinctively took a deep breath and swallowed. She restrained her impulse, then nodded.

Then she watched Su Rui open a communication interface with the Upper System and directly demand, "Hey, old man, what's going on? You never told me about this!"

[...]

The Upper System did not answer.

Su Rui tried asking again. Taking the opportunity, Ren Dong hugged the prize she had worked so hard for into her arms and rubbed Su Rui's fluffy ears.

"You can ask about the exact date you'll leave."

"You mean that? I remember it."

Su Rui nodded, then activated Scanning Vision and directly displayed it within Ren Dong's field of view.

Although Su Rui had materialized, their mental communication and Su Rui's abilities could still be used normally.

The message given by the Upper System stated that Su Rui would end this mission on a certain day of a certain month in a certain year.

"...I can't see the date. And you knew you were going to leave? You never told me."

With some dissatisfaction at having been deceived and kept in the dark, Ren Dong pinched Su Rui's cheek.

"What does that have to do with me? I didn't expect to materialize either. And wasn't I just helping you out? Even good partners have to part ways eventually!"

Su Rui shook his head unhappily, throwing off Ren Dong's fingers. Then he glanced at the Upper System's message.

"Tch, the old man blocked me. Now I can't see the date either."

"Fine."

Ren Dong nodded and temporarily stopped dwelling on when Su Rui would leave. Since the Upper System said she did not need to worry about it, she would believe it for now.

Now, Ren Dong realized something.

Su Rui still simply regarded her as a partner.

Unlike Ren Dong, who had always known Su Rui could materialize and had treated him as her future partner, Su Rui knew nothing. He only saw everything as an interesting game.

...She had to make Su Rui clearly understand what she wanted.

A meaningful look flashed through Ren Dong's eyes. She gently kneaded Su Rui's cheeks and asked:

"Has anything interesting happened recently?"

"I materialized. Isn't that interesting enough? Seriously, you knew from the very beginning but didn't tell me. Compared to me not telling you the date, isn't that the more important issue?"

Su Rui deliberately twitched his ears and rubbed Ren Dong's cheek with them in displeasure. He swished his nine tails in Ren Dong's arms irritably, only for Ren Dong to hug him tightly again.

"I did do something wrong, but Su Rui did too. How about we let this matter go?"

"...That works. Oh, right, I've materialized now."

Su Rui's eyes lit up, and he waved a hand from Ren Dong's embrace.

"I want to go back and eat. I want all kinds of things, like pizza, tempura, Syracuse meatball noodles, steamed lamb, steamed bear paw..."

Su Rui went on listing dishes for more than ten minutes, only stopping once the car had pulled into the shrine.

Ren Dong helplessly reached out to interrupt him. "All right, I can have anything you want prepared, but you probably can't eat that much all at once, can you?"

"That's true."

Su Rui nodded, then said:

"In that case, let's start with something simple, like pizza and Syracuse meatball noodles?"

The Fox Shrine Maiden, who had sat in the front passenger seat and witnessed the entire exchange between Ren Dong and Su Rui, gave Su Rui an apologetic smile after getting out of the car.

"I apologize, Divine Child. There isn't much Syracuse cuisine in the Eastern Kingdom, so it may take some time. If you do not mind waiting, we can prepare it immediately... However, Eastern Kingdom food is also delicious."

"It really would take time to prepare... Then let's try Eastern Kingdom tonkotsu ramen first, along with tempura and the like."

Su Rui nodded, slipped out of Ren Dong's embrace, and walked over to the Fox Shrine Maiden. Under her puzzled gaze, he reached out and patted her head. White light bloomed, making the Fox Shrine Maiden feel warm and comfortable.

"All right, consider this your reward. I'll want to eat all kinds of delicious food later, understand?"

"Thank you for your blessing!"

Rather than being angered by Su Rui's arrogant hands-on-hips manner, the Fox Shrine Maiden bowed to him with a delighted expression. She even skipped away to prepare something delicious for Su Rui.

"I didn't know you had an ability like that."

Ren Dong unhappily pulled Su Rui back into her arms.

"You never told me?" And he had even let someone else experience it first. What a naughty boy.

"What was there to say? I needed her to work obediently. Besides, the old man only told me about this ability when I materialized, and it'll only be available during my time materialized."

Su Rui rolled his eyes and pulled Ren Dong by the wrist as they headed back.

"All right, hurry up. I still need to go back and play games. Watch me dominate everyone in the game!"

"Didn't you want to taste delicious food?"

The thought of Texas still being in the room made Ren Dong reluctant to let Su Rui return just yet.

"It's fine. I can eat while playing games. I don't even need to use my hands to control them."

...She had forgotten that Su Rui still possessed those abilities after materializing.

Looking at the beautiful youth before her, Ren Dong had always subconsciously felt that he had lost those system abilities after materializing. Yet every action Su Rui took told her that was merely an illusion.

Soon, Su Rui dragged the unwilling Ren Dong back to her room. Texas was still there, playing games as she waited for them to return.

Noticing the door open, Texas instinctively looked over. When she saw Su Rui holding Ren Dong's wrist, she froze.

"Yo, Texas, we're back."

Now that materializing meant he could play games and eat, Su Rui had tossed all the unpleasantness to the back of his mind and happily greeted Texas.

"You're... Su Rui?"

Though she had never seen this white-haired, red-eyed Nine-Tailed Fox youth before, Texas still recognized him from his instinctive closeness to Ren Dong and his familiar voice.

"Yeah. I don't know why, but I have a physical body now. Hey, Ren Dong, what are you doing?"

Su Rui wanted to walk past Texas and start playing games, but Ren Dong suddenly scooped him up.

At an angle Su Rui could not see, Ren Dong gave Texas a meaningful look.

It was nothing much. Ren Dong simply instinctively wanted to declare her claim over Su Rui. Though it was somewhat unfriendly, she could not help herself.

Texas froze for a moment when she noticed Ren Dong's gaze. Then understanding flashed through her eyes, and she nodded at Ren Dong.

"What kind of silent exchange are you two having? Let me see."

Though Su Rui could not see Ren Dong behind him, his Scanning Vision had a replay function. He could repeatedly review and analyze it without missing even the smallest detail.

To keep Su Rui from focusing on it any further, Ren Dong hurriedly carried him over to the computer, placed him in the chair, and said:

"It's nothing. I just wanted you to start playing games quickly. Don't overthink it."

"You two are definitely acting strange, aren't you?"

Though he said that, Su Rui's attention still shifted to the game. He could sense that neither Ren Dong nor Texas meant him any harm, and it even seemed like their goodwill toward him went a little beyond that.

But the detection system should not have any problems, so Su Rui did not think too much about it and began focusing on the game.