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

Ren Dong smiled. Even now, she hadn't forgotten her agreement with Texas. The two of them still had to form an alliance and fight off the women who appeared around Su Rui.

Though thinking about that in such a sorrowful atmosphere felt a little inappropriate.

In the end, Ren Dong cupped Su Rui's cheeks and sealed his lips. When they parted, she looked at the silvery thread between their lips with a smile in her eyes, her fingers gently stroking his face.

"I prepared a gift for you too. I exchanged it for System Materialization Progress. It includes something you've wanted for a long time, but I didn't have enough points, so there are only two things..."

Su Rui: I'm Not Happy

So Ren Dong's gift was those advanced function plugins provided by the Upper System?

Su Rui's eyes lit up. He couldn't help wanting to ask about them, but the moment he parted his lips to speak, he heard the Upper System's prompt in his ear.

[Time's up. You should go to the next place.]

"You damned old bastard..."

Su Rui's question turned into a curse. Then, in Ren Dong and Texas's arms, he dissolved into particles of light, leaving behind only the clothes draped over him.

Texas and Ren Dong stood there, each holding the clothes Su Rui had left behind. After pausing for a while, they looked at each other.

Ren Dong spoke first. "Shall we go? To Lungmen, to Penguin Logistics."

"Mm."

Texas nodded, then turned and headed for her room.

Su Rui had left, which meant they had no reason to remain here.

Meanwhile, in the frigid land of Ursus, within the castle of a renowned duke's territory, a gray-haired girl with two horns on her head and a long, scaled tail behind her was receiving instruction from her adoptive father.

The girl's name was Talulah. Her race was Drak—the noble dragons.

Su Rui once again became a data entity and appeared in Talulah's mind, watching her receive instruction from that man named Koschei, who looked gloomy and obviously up to no good.

"So, Talulah, those people are deliberately manipulated. They are ignorant, and precisely because of that, they need people like you and me to lead them."

As Talulah listened boredly to the old bastard's baseless nonsense, Su Rui, already irritated from being separated from Ren Dong, immediately complained in her mind as well.

"Don't listen to his bullshit. There are plenty of wise people among the masses. Most people are just easily led in most situations because they haven't found a chance to resist."

Talulah jumped. Ignoring Koschei, who was still talking away in front of her, she straightened from her lazy posture and warily looked around.

"What is it, my daughter? What are you looking for?" Koschei noticed Talulah's unusual behavior.

"I... heard a voice."

Talulah looked around in confusion, then shook her head. "But it seems like an auditory hallucination."

"It's not an auditory hallucination. I'm living in your head right now. In short, I'm your system, and I can provide a lot of help."

Su Rui spoke somewhat absentmindedly. He was checking the gift Ren Dong had left him and wasn't in the mood to devote much attention to his current host.

Among the records left by the Upper System was a message Ren Dong had left after purchasing those function plugins for him.

"High-Speed Camouflage Function. It can let your host move at high speed without any flaws, and it can even make vehicles invisible too. Still, use it carefully. Don't abuse it."

"And the Taste Function. You little glutton, after losing your physical form, you must really miss the taste of food, right? I found this in the Upper System's list. You can borrow your host's body to taste things, or even temporarily borrow her body to eat."

...Su Rui said nothing. He merely stared at the message displayed by the Upper System for a long time, unable to tell what hidden meaning those two simple sentences contained.

But while Su Rui silently faced Ren Dong's message, the Upper System wasn't idle either.

An introduction to Su Rui appeared in Talulah's field of vision. It said he could help her with many things, retrieve information, and provide assistance in battle.

Likewise, the Upper System added System Materialization Progress to the corner of Talulah's vision, displaying it as negative sixty percent.

Why is it negative?

Talulah couldn't understand. She instinctively asked, Shouldn't it start at zero percent?

[Plugin updates caused the balance to become negative. Simply put, debt left behind by the previous user.]

Why should I have to repay debt left behind by the previous user?

Talulah muttered unhappily in her heart, completely ignoring Koschei, who was still prattling on before her, and focused on communicating with the Upper System.

[...The current host can do the same thing.]

In other words, once my materialization progress is full, I can make the next host owe some materialization progress when I leave too, right?

Talulah thought about it, then shook her head. Although the functions purchasable with System Materialization Progress were indeed interesting, she felt her family probably wouldn't need them.

Besides, according to the Upper System's introduction, systems only helped individuals who benefited the world. So everyone was a good person. Why make things difficult for each other?

With that in mind, Talulah asked, Then, my system, how do I use you?

[Su Rui isn't in a very good mood right now, but just get to know him gradually. He can do many things.]

Then the Upper System went offline directly and stopped responding to Talulah's questions, like an irresponsible salesperson who left immediately after finishing the basic introduction.

After calling for the Upper System several times without success, Talulah began calling Su Rui in her mind. Su Rui, can you hear me?

"I can. When you talk to the Upper System in your head, I can hear you too."

Su Rui looked at the message Ren Dong had left him and casually answered Talulah's question, adding with some dissatisfaction,

"Fine, I'll definitely help you. So if you have any requests, say them now. But aren't you in class right now? I'm a little busy too."

Oh, I understand. Then I'll be relying on you from now on, my partner.

"...You're pretty polite. Of course I'll help you."

Su Rui hadn't expected Talulah to be so formal and serious. Wouldn't she be suspicious, even a little? What if the Upper System was lying to her?

Whatever. During their future cooperation, whether she doubted him or not, she'd realize that Su Rui was here to help her.

Without thinking much more about it, Su Rui turned Ren Dong's message into a screenshot and hung it in his System Space as decoration, somewhere he could see just by looking up.

"..." When he turned around and saw the supplies Ren Dong had left in the System Space, Su Rui instinctively remembered their adventures together, their life after the Eastern Kingdom, and little Suzuran.

"...That Upper System is fucking awful."

Su Rui couldn't help muttering a curse.

What's wrong? You seem a little unhappy?

Talulah asked worriedly in her heart.

Two more chapters in an hour.

You're Amazing

"Nothing. I just finished a vacation, so I'm in a bit of a bad mood."

Su Rui wasn't at the point where he'd casually tell a stranger why he was sad. Although Talulah was his host, they had only just met.

Besides, Ren Dong was still all he could think about. He was even trying to figure out a way to return.

Talulah nodded as though she understood, then looked at Koschei, who had already noticed that she was distracted.

"My daughter, you seem a little absentminded. Are you thinking about something interesting?"

Old Black Snake smiled at Talulah, who sat behind the desk before him. But because of Talulah's prejudice and his own temperament, that expression looked especially sinister and punchable.

Su Rui glanced once more at the message Ren Dong had left behind. In the end, he shifted his attention to the work in front of him, casually scanned Koschei, and activated Scanning Vision for Talulah.

"How about we beat him up hard? He seems to be... let me see... We should kill him."

Su Rui, who still hadn't fully grasped the situation, immediately changed his mind after confirming Koschei's identity and actions through the network and his scanning ability.

But Talulah shook her head in her mind. I'm not Koschei's opponent right now.

"I can help you. At least we can try. It's not like you haven't tried before. At worst, he'll beat you up again, right?"

Su Rui said casually as he displayed Scanning Vision's information before Talulah's eyes.

"Alright, I'll give you prompts. Just follow my instructions and make the movements I tell you to."

Can we really win?

"Trust my commands, and we can win."

Su Rui sounded certain, and Talulah thought it made sense. She already disliked the man before her who appeared to be her adoptive father but was actually her enemy.

So when Koschei approached her again, Talulah suddenly flipped the table and swung her fist at his face.

"Oh? I see. It seems our spirited little dragon wants to challenge me once again. But your strength still lacks training."

Koschei wasn't surprised at all. Instead, he dodged Talulah's punch with a flash and counterattacked with his own fist.

"Fall back, then roll thirty-five degrees to the front left. Use your tail to sweep his legs."

Su Rui immediately gave her instructions, but Talulah hesitated. Will that really work?

Talulah's distraction caused Koschei's fist to strike her. She immediately cried out in pain.

"Idiot, watch his fist. Forget it—clench both hands. He's going to attack from both sides. Block him with this stance."

Noticing Talulah had been struck due to her hesitation, Su Rui directly showed her the defensive movement in her vision.

This time, Talulah didn't say anything. Half-believing, she followed Su Rui's prompt and perfectly blocked Koschei's fists, then took the opportunity to punch him hard in the face.

Koschei staggered back several steps. Surprise flashed through his eyes, but there was even more delight.

"Oh!? My daughter, you've improved greatly. It seems you've been training hard in private."

Su Rui had no interest in listening to that old bastard's nonsense and immediately reminded Talulah,

"Don't listen to his crap. Keep charging. Don't hit his face this time—raise your leg and kick him."

"Mm."

Having initially established trust in Su Rui, Talulah answered softly. Then she charged at Koschei, used a feint under Su Rui's guidance to fool his defense, and kicked him in the face.

But the position Su Rui had originally marked was actually Koschei's crotch.

"You really like acting on your own... Forget it. Take one step back, then counterattack."

Su Rui didn't care that Talulah hadn't listened to him. She wasn't Ren Dong, after all. It didn't matter if she didn't trust him.

After casually prompting Talulah's defense, he displayed the attack route again. This time, Su Rui didn't directly issue instructions, instead showing several attack options in her vision.

It was obvious Talulah liked hitting Koschei in the face. Several times in a row, she chose to attack his face.

"...You should change your target occasionally. At this rate, even a pig will know how to defend against your attacks."

Su Rui watched helplessly as Koschei, having figured out Talulah's patterns, blocked several of her attacks. He casually scanned Talulah's stamina.

This Drak was still young and lacked growth and training. It was impossible to rely on Talulah to kill Koschei right now. And even if Su Rui used extreme micromanagement to make Talulah kill Koschei—

It wouldn't be easy for the not-yet-grown Talulah to escape either.

Not to mention that Talulah still wasn't willing to accept his advice... At least Ren Dong had trusted Su Rui immediately back then.

Thinking of that, Su Rui's assessment of Talulah dropped another notch, while Ren Dong rose another notch in his mind.

He said nothing more, merely watched Talulah fight Koschei and used images in Scanning Vision to prompt her actions.

Talulah, who liked making inappropriate decisions on her own, ultimately lost to Koschei. First, her stamina wasn't sufficient, and she couldn't match Koschei's. Second, Talulah wasn't as durable as Koschei right now.

Finally, she liked acting on her own, throwing away the victory Su Rui had originally planned for her.

So Ren Dong's cooperation and trust weren't standard—they were actually a very high standard?

Hosts really varied that much... Although Su Rui knew Talulah currently lacked training and tempering, her willful behavior still made him somewhat dissatisfied.

So even after Talulah ran out of strength and lay on the ground, gasping heavily, he didn't speak again.

Koschei, on the other hand, looked at Talulah lying on the floor with satisfaction, clapped his hands, and praised her.

"You did very well, my daughter. Given time, you will certainly surpass me. Rest well. Today's lesson ends here."

With that, Koschei turned and left, leaving Talulah alone to continue gasping for breath.

However, after Koschei left, the maids in the castle thoughtfully picked Talulah up and carried her back to her room.

And Talulah excitedly shared her results with Su Rui.

"Su Rui, you're amazing! I've never managed to gain such a big advantage against Koschei before. If we train for a while longer, we'll definitely win!"

If you hadn't acted recklessly, victory would already have been yours. Su Rui casually put a period in Talulah's vision as his response.