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

Volume Two: Crying Will Make You Feel Better

Talulah realized something too. Having received Koschei's education, she naturally knew how to read people. Though she could neither see Su Rui nor hear his voice, she could tell from his increasingly cold demeanor.

"Are you angry? I-I shouldn't have doubted you. You really are amazing, um..."

Talulah still cherished her new friend. He could chat with her and had helped her gain such a huge advantage in her struggle against Koschei. She really liked this new friend of hers.

Seeing Talulah's cautious expression, Su Rui stopped dwelling on the matter and simply displayed subtitles in her vision:

[When are you having dinner?]

"Dinner?" Talulah froze for a moment, then rang the bell to summon a maid and asked:

"When will dinner be ready?"

"Dinner can be prepared for you at any time. May I ask what the young lady would like to eat tonight?"

The Ursus maid, with fluffy bear ears atop her head, bowed respectfully as she answered Talulah's question.

"I..."

Talulah still did not understand why Su Rui had asked that, so she asked him directly in her mind:

Su Rui, did you have something in mind when you asked that?

"I can borrow your body to taste food... If possible, have the maid make a pizza. The Syracuse kind. Don't put fruit or anything like that on it."

Su Rui spoke casually, remembering the function Ren Dong had prepared for him. His thoughts drifted back to where they had begun. By now, Ren Dong had probably already set off for Lungmen with Texas, hadn't she?

Given her personality, after he left, she should have immediately gone to Lungmen with Texas.

Although Su Rui had given so many options, what Ren Dong would choose... he had actually known the answer long ago.

Still, according to the Upper System, as Su Rui wandered through different times, he might not appear at the right moment. Perhaps he had not yet met the Ren Dong of this time.

Shaking his head and refusing to think too much about it, Su Rui turned his attention back to Talulah before him.

"Let me use your body when you eat the pizza later."

Okay, no problem.

Talulah did not think much of it and agreed casually. Then she asked Su Rui, What were you thinking about just now? You seemed a little unhappy.

Anyone normal could hear the undisguised gloom in Su Rui's voice, so he was not surprised. Still, he did not want to tell Talulah the truth and merely brushed it off:

"I found out some things about Koschei's past. He has done many things. No, it should be called It. The long passage of time has blurred the Undying Black Snake's own gender. It is more like a kind of will, continuously extending its influence over the world by possessing others."

Possession? Is that like how you live in my mind?

Talulah asked curiously. Having recovered a little, she sat up from the bed.

"Of course not!" Su Rui denied it irritably. He and Koschei were not the same kind of thing, and he had no need to possess Talulah.

"I don't need to exist by taking over someone else's body!"

Mm-hmm, I saw it. The Upper System told me there's something called System Materialization Progress. But it started at negative sixty percent. Apparently it's debt owed by the previous host, and now I'm supposed to repay it.

As she spoke, Talulah complained to Su Rui with a trace of resentment.

"Tch~"

A rather strange sound rang out in Talulah's mind, and she asked in confusion:

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. So, I can materialize directly instead of possessing someone like Koschei. I'm different from It."

Su Rui paused, then emphasized, "And with me here, It can forget about possessing you. As long as It dares to try, I can directly destroy this part of Its consciousness."

In fact, the moment Su Rui arrived, he had casually cleared away some of Koschei's lingering influence in Talulah's mind. Koschei himself remained completely unaware of it.

He was merely an ordinary entity that still had to follow rules. Compared to an existence like Su Rui, Koschei was far inferior.

Although Su Rui truly lacked ways to interfere with reality at the moment, if Koschei dared enter territory that belonged to him, then Koschei was doomed to lose.

"By the way, I found some information you might be interested in."

As Su Rui spoke, he displayed information about Koschei, as well as news of Lungmen.

Since Talulah was a host he would be living with from now on, Su Rui decided to bring them closer together despite being somewhat dissatisfied with this host, who did not really understand trust or how to get along with others.

Even if they could not work together with perfect intimacy, at least they should not bicker and ruin his mood.

If it came down to it, Su Rui could just mute himself in Talulah's head, then search the internet for Ren Dong's current situation and ignore his present host.

The information Su Rui displayed was naturally the most crucial: the entire chain of events behind Talulah being taken away from Lungmen, her father's death, Koschei's conspiracy, and Lungmen's Governor Wei Yenwu's inner conflict and helplessness.

Su Rui had no stake in the matter, so he showed her all the truth. The girl who saw everything began to cry without realizing it. She stared at the information in her vision, not even noticing when tears fell onto the back of her hand.

Though she was a willful host, seeing Talulah look so pitiful made Su Rui soften slightly. Losing her parents and even being raised by the enemy... for a girl who had not yet grown up and whose mentality had not fully matured, that was indeed a terrifying thing, wasn't it?

Since we have plenty of time together, I'll take responsibility for teaching you for now.

Although Talulah was only a year or two away from adulthood, Su Rui could not help thinking of his own daughter, Suzuran.

After he left, Suzuran would definitely be sad too. Fortunately, Ren Dong was there with his daughter... Su Rui had only left temporarily. He was not actually dead.

Thinking of that, Su Rui's heart softened, and he gently comforted Talulah:

"Alright. The past cannot be changed, but you can seize the present and then gain more."

Mm. Talulah's voice carried a sob as she tried not to keep crying so embarrassingly in front of Su Rui, but she simply could not hold it back.

"If you're sad, then cry. You don't have to hold it in. You'll feel better after crying."

Th-thank you~

Su Rui's comfort did have some effect. Even as the girl cried, she did not forget to thank him.

Talulah wept through blurry tears. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at the System Materialization Progress, which had jumped to negative fifty-five percent.

A Drak boy like her stood there, though he was obscured by a dark shadow, making his full appearance impossible to see.

Volume Two: A Stat Monster Under the Eaves

Even after being taken away from Lungmen by Koschei for several years, Talulah could not help missing her family.

The girl was merely strong enough not to show it before outsiders. Yet before Su Rui, who lived deep within her heart, she subconsciously did not regard him as an outsider.

After Talulah cried herself tired, she finally had the energy to ask Su Rui haltingly, hiccuping from time to time because she had cried for too long:

"How are my mother and younger sister doing now?"

"Let me see. Wait a moment... Your younger sister is doing well. She's attending school and growing up normally. It seems that because you were taken away, that little crybaby who used to love crying has become strong now."

As Su Rui spoke, Talulah actually laughed a little. Looking at the photos he showed her, comparing how her younger sister Chen Huijie used to hide timidly behind her as a child with how she now wore a cold expression and sharp gaze, Talulah felt slightly reassured.

"Then... what about my mother?"

"..." Su Rui hesitated, then simply showed Talulah her mother's current situation.

"She's often in a bad mood now, and her body is gradually weakening because of those emotional fluctuations."

He did not want to make it too obvious, but when that time came, Talulah would only be more heartbroken, wouldn't she?

Somewhat helpless, Su Rui tactfully told her the truth: Talulah and Chen Huijie's mother was growing weaker.

"Mom!" Seeing that her mother, who had always worn a gentle smile in Su Rui's photos, now looked haggard, Talulah abruptly stood up in agitation and began searching all around the room for something.

In the end, she stopped fruitlessly and turned her attention to Su Rui:

"Su Rui? Do you have any way for me to meet my mother? If I could, Mom would be happier too, right?"

"...I'll give it a try. There might be a way."

Although Lungmen itself was fairly close to the border between Yan and Ursus, Koschei's ducal territory was not.

Su Rui's current scanning range could only cover the area within an entire large Mobile City. It had not reached the scale of all Terra.

To contact Lungmen, he would probably have to rely on the high-powered signal transmitters of large Mobile Cities.

There was a chance of being discovered. If they simply shut off the transmitter's power, Su Rui truly had no solution, because he could control everything only in the electronic world and lacked means to interfere with reality. Even so, under Talulah's watchful gaze, Su Rui began trying.

So that he would not look like he was slacking off, he casually displayed the process of breaching different electronic nodes in a way Talulah could understand.

Just as Su Rui was carefully concealing the signal nodes and adjusting signal relays and transmission as covertly as possible, there was a knock on Talulah's door.

Su Rui, still focused on his tuning, did not pay it any mind. Talulah, on the other hand, looked nervously toward the door and asked warily:

"Who is it?"

A gentle female voice sounded from outside. "Miss Talulah, your dinner is ready. Would you like to dine now?"

Talulah hesitated. Su Rui was still focused on his work, but he casually replied to her:

"Alright, go eat first. You can have the pizza while you're at it. I'm a bit busy right now. By the time I finish, the pizza might be cold."

"Mm."

Warmth welled up in Talulah's heart. She nodded silently, rose to open the door, and followed the maid to the dining room.

With that old Black Snake Koschei absent, Talulah's mood improved somewhat. Looking at the food on the table and anticipating good news from Su Rui, the girl began eating slowly.

Still, she did not forget a few minor matters. She casually gave the maid beside her an instruction, and the maid nodded before temporarily leaving Talulah's side.

Su Rui, focused on manipulating electronic information, did not notice those details. By the time he came back to himself, Talulah had returned to her room and was pacing around the spacious bedroom.

"Alright, my preparations are complete... Why are you wandering around like a little hamster with nothing to do?"

"You're done?!"

Talulah's eyes lit up. Ignoring Su Rui's remark, she hurriedly asked, "Then can I talk to my mother now?"

"Of course. As long as she uses electronic devices in her daily life, there won't be a problem."

Su Rui immediately began searching and really did find Talulah's mother's phone signal. He then placed a call.

And Su Rui directly displayed the camera feed from the other person's phone for Talulah to see.

At first, there was only darkness. Then the phone was taken from a pocket, and Talulah saw her mother's face.

Her mother looked at the phone in confusion, seemingly assuming it was some kind of advertisement. After all, Su Rui's call had no caller ID at all.

But Su Rui connected the call directly and streamed Talulah's current expression to the mother holding the phone.

"Mom!"

"Talulah?! You... my child, where are you? I'll have your uncle rescue you right away!"

Upon seeing her child, the grieving mother first covered her mouth in excitement, then wanted to find her elder brother—Wei Yenwu—to rescue her daughter.

But Su Rui felt that was inappropriate. It would be far too easy to expose them, and taking a duke's adopted daughter away from within Ursus? That was far too naive.

Just as Su Rui was about to remind Talulah to stop her mother, Talulah spoke first instead:

"Mom, don't go. Can we just have a good talk first?"

Talulah's mother paused, then stopped in her tracks. She sat down again in her chair, murmuring to herself:

"Talk, talk... Mm, it's been so long since I've spoken with you, Little Tal."

"Mm, Mom, I'm contacting you through a special method right now. You don't need to worry about me. I'm safe, but I'm afraid I won't be able to go back anytime soon."

Talulah apparently understood her own situation too. She did not indulge in any naive dream of being rescued.

After all, Ursus's Inner Guards were not easy to handle. For the current Talulah, they were absurdly powerful stat monsters that even Su Rui's complete control and precise micromanagement could not deal with. This was no longer something skill could make up for.

Even if your dodge stat was maxed out, every enemy attack locked onto your head without any gaps between combos, and there was wide-area damage you could not escape from, how the hell were you supposed to fight that?

Thus, under Su Rui's watchful gaze, Talulah finally reunited with her mother after several years and talked with her for a long time.

Volume Two: Such a Noble Lady

The reunion of separated family members clearly helped ease their stress. For Talulah and her mother, both of their mental states improved considerably.

Talulah's mother especially looked much better. She no longer resembled a melancholy, sickly beauty and instead wore a gentle smile.

Smiling at her daughter, who was still enthusiastically talking about her life and occasionally complaining, the noblewoman asked Talulah:

"Talulah, did someone help you contact me?"

"I..." Talulah froze, hesitating over whether to say anything. She was a little worried that Su Rui would be unhappy if she told her mother.