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

[Just say my name is Su Rui. I only helped you out a little. Don't mention my exact situation.]

Talulah looked at the subtitles Su Rui displayed in her vision and nodded, then turned to her mother.

"I have a friend named Su Rui. He's very skilled in this area."

"Mhm, that's good. Little Talulah has made another good friend. Make sure you get along with him, okay~?"

"I know, Mom."

Talulah helplessly humored her mother's reminders. After chatting with the noblewoman for a while longer, she hung up the call.

"Looks like your mother's worries have been resolved. She'll probably live well from now on."

Su Rui spoke casually before drawing a conclusion.

"You can keep in touch like this in the future, but don't do it too often. Neither you nor your mother should let yourselves be discovered... Some of Black Snake's informants are still in Lungmen."

"I understand."

Talulah nodded, then sat on her bed and lightly stroked the soft bedding.

After talking to her mother for so long, she hadn't noticed that the sky outside had already gone completely dark.

"Alright, it's getting late. Go to sleep, close the curtains, now!"

Su Rui's tone turned stern. Though Talulah was already nearly an adult, seeing how dependent she was on her mother made Su Rui instinctively think of his own daughter, little Suzuran.

As a result, he couldn't help feeling the way an elder would when looking after a child.

Startled by Su Rui's suddenly harsh tone, Talulah flicked her long tail and said softly,

"I know, but wait a moment. There's one more thing."

As she spoke, the girl jumped off the bed, went to the window and drew the curtains, then walked to the door, knocked on it, and gave instructions to the maid outside.

"What are you doing?"

Seeing that Talulah not only wasn't going to bed, but had instead sat down at the table in Yongan Lane where she usually had afternoon tea or read, Su Rui was puzzled and displeased. Was she planning to stay up late? Rebellious children like this deserved a spanking.

Come to think of it, although Su Rui had always been the disadvantaged one in his relationship with Ren Dong, he was actually the one who took charge when it came to disciplining their child.

Whenever little Suzuran made a mistake or acted willfully, Ren Dong would always just say a few halfhearted words and leave it at that. Suzuran would keep making the same mistakes.

Su Rui couldn't stand it, so he would usually toss aside his game, scoop Suzuran up, put her across his lap, and firmly smack her little bottom until his daughter promised not to do it again.

Ren Dong sometimes had her own complaints about Su Rui's actions, thinking Suzuran was still too young to be taught that way. Then Su Rui would sternly discipline her right along with Suzuran.

Thinking of that, Su Rui couldn't help but laugh, leaving Talulah confused. "What is it? Did you just laugh?"

"Yeah. I thought of something happy."

Su Rui answered casually, then asked Talulah in return, "So what do you want to do?"

A sly glint flashed through Talulah's eyes, and the corners of her lips curled up. Yet instead of directly answering Su Rui's question, she softly said,

"Not telling you."

Su Rui raised an eyebrow and scolded her irritably.

"I don't care what you want to do. You need rest right now, so finish quickly and get back to bed early..."

Su Rui was about to continue lecturing Talulah when he saw the steaming pizza the maid had brought over and placed in front of her.

Talulah smiled. In her heart, with the maid watching, she said to Su Rui, I ate your pizza while you were busy earlier. I've prepared another one for you now. How about it?

"That's thoughtful of you, but eating before bed isn't good. Be more careful in the future... Let me borrow your body for a bit. I want to eat."

Talulah's actions made Su Rui feel too embarrassed to scold her further. Even his tone softened.

Talulah smiled and nodded. Then she suddenly felt herself lose control of her body, as though she were watching someone else's body from the outside. Yet she saw "Talulah" reach toward the steaming pizza before her.

"Su Rui? What a strange feeling. But why aren't you using utensils?"

"I'm not a noble either. Besides, why would you use utensils for pizza? Don't people just pick it up and eat it?"

Su Rui answered Talulah in his mind, then lightly tested the pizza with a finger. Though it was steaming, the heat was nothing to Talulah's body, merely a little warm.

What a useful body. Muttering to himself, Su Rui directly picked up a sliced piece of pizza and began eating it with obvious enjoyment.

He had thought that after losing his physical form, he wouldn't be able to taste delicious food for some time. He hadn't expected Ren Dong to specifically prepare such a functional plugin for him... It was thoughtful enough to make him a little sad.

Su Rui couldn't help thinking of Ren Dong again. He shook his head uneasily. He couldn't keep drowning in sorrow. Ren Dong probably wouldn't want him to be like this either.

Besides, he should thank Talulah for being willing to lend him her body so he could eat.

Thinking that, Su Rui ate pizza casually in front of the maid, completely ignoring the utensils under her astonished gaze.

"Now Koschei will definitely lecture me about etiquette again."

Talulah sighed helplessly in Su Rui's mind.

"What are you afraid of? When he brings it up, just hit him. Wouldn't fighting him make the matter go away?"

Su Rui didn't care at all and offered Talulah advice in his mind.

"Speaking of which, I remember Syracuse has another way to eat it. You roll an entire pizza up and eat the whole thing in one go."

"If I did that, I'd probably be buried in tedious etiquette classes for several days."

"You can skip class. Why do you have to attend? Just ignore classes that aren't related to combat or knowledge. You've already mastered noble etiquette, haven't you? I'm the one who doesn't care, not you."

"But is that really okay? If I skip class, won't it affect the teacher?"

Talulah conscientiously began worrying whether skipping class would affect her teacher's job.

But Su Rui had no such psychological burden, and he even had his own theory.

"Don't worry about it at all. Finding you another etiquette teacher over something this trivial is already giving that teacher extra work. And with the way a vain idiot noble like Koschei does things, even if you skip class, he'll still pay the teacher the same wages."

Su Rui paused. "So, if you skip class, you win. The teacher comes to teach, does no work, and still gets paid, so they win. Koschei gets played by you, so you win. That's three wins."

"...Oh~"

Talulah looked stunned, staring blankly at the chart Su Rui displayed in her vision. She clearly hadn't expected things could be handled this way.

"Then tomorrow... when we face Koschei, we'll beat him up hard?!"

Talulah couldn't help getting excited at the thought, but Su Rui's tone changed as he urged her again.

"No matter what you want to do tomorrow, it's already too late. Get back to bed now."

"Oh~"

Talulah drew out the sound, walked to the window, slowly removed her clothes, changed into her pajamas, and slipped beneath the covers.

"Did you bathe? You exercised plenty today, so you must've sweated."

"I'll wash tomorrow. It's too late now."

Talulah was already under the covers and didn't want to listen to Su Rui's lecture. Looking half-asleep, she immediately drifted off.

"..." She fell asleep pretty quickly.

The next morning, after washing up, Talulah began her lessons for the day. As usual, Koschei personally taught various subjects in the morning.

Unexpectedly, he didn't mention Talulah's etiquette at all. Su Rui didn't know whether Koschei didn't care or whether the maid hadn't told him.

So, on the surface, Koschei lectured eloquently at the front. In reality, Talulah only pretended to listen while talking with Su Rui in her mind.

"Talulah, do you have any plans for the future? Or rather, any goals?"

Su Rui felt it was necessary to help Talulah plan ahead and give her some advice. Ren Dong's situation hadn't required much planning, after all. Her life was already set—she only needed to kill, kill, kill.

But Talulah had been taught by Black Snake for so long that Su Rui was a little worried the child had been led astray.

And despite being nearly an adult, Su Rui always felt Talulah was a little lacking in common sense. On another note, Su Rui wasn't stupid. He only seemed that way around Ren Dong because he trusted her. He was very smart.

Talulah's answer was crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation. Of course I'm going to kill Koschei! Revenge!

"And then?"

And then? Talulah froze for a moment and began thinking. Then she said uncertainly,

*Then I'll escape from Koschei's ducal territory. With your help, Scanning Vision, and your reminders, I'll definitely be able to get away safely. Then I'll go help those oppressed Infected and help everyone build a better future!

Oh, right. Koschei wants me to inherit the title. As long as I get Oripathy beforehand, he'll never succeed!

I can also go into Ursus and organize the Infected to rise up against oppression!*

"..."

Seeing Talulah's confident expression, Su Rui was unusually at a loss for words.

Talulah grew uneasy at his silence. What's wrong? Is there a problem with my plan?

"Ahem. First, I acknowledge your kindness and empathy. You're a very good person."

Su Rui began by building up her defenses and soothing Talulah's emotions before offering his own plan.

"Then, I have a plan that might be more efficient and better able to help the Infected and the oppressed. Are you interested?"

Speaking in a teaching or scolding tone would only trigger Talulah's rebellious streak. This was too important to handle carelessly.

Sure enough, Su Rui's words caught Talulah's attention, and she immediately urged him on. Mhm, hurry and tell me. Su Rui, your plan will definitely be useful. Even if it isn't, I can still use it as a reference.

"Alright. I think you can inherit Koschei's ducal title. That doesn't conflict with killing him. Listen while I explain."

As he spoke, Su Rui also soothed Talulah's potentially agitated emotions.

"Koschei himself is an immortal Black Snake. His method of inheriting bodies through possession is practically an open secret among those nobles. After killing him, we can pretend you've been possessed, then use the identities of the Black Snake and the duke to issue policies secretly favorable to the Infected and covertly help them."

But Black Snake's arts... Talulah was still worried.

"I'm living in your head right now. Black Snake's abilities are a joke to me. If he comes after us, I'll just destroy him."

Su Rui spoke casually, then laid out a chart for Talulah.

"This way, you won't have to become Infected or hurt yourself, and you'll be able to help far more Infected more efficiently. At the same time, you can secretly fund the Infected resistance. With Black Snake's identity, you'll have plenty of assistance. You just need to make them misinterpret your plans. That's easy for me."

So that's how it is. Talulah's eyes sparkled as she looked at the chart and plan Su Rui had displayed in her vision, nodding repeatedly. Su Rui, your plan is amazing! I think it's very feasible!

"Of course."

Su Rui listed some policies. "Since we have nothing to do right now, let's plan out some policies first. These are the policies I intend to issue at the beginning."

They essentially involved giving the Infected a few benefits, outwardly pretending to use small favors to lure them into working hard and exploit them, while actually improving their living conditions.

But Talulah was clearly dissatisfied with the plan. She looked at the terms Su Rui had proposed in surprise. Aren't these conditions too meager? Can they really support a person?

"I know what you're thinking, and I know you want to help them. But for anything to work, it has to be grounded in reality, Talulah."

Su Rui patiently explained, "The Infected currently have nothing, no guarantees at all. If you want to give them too much at once, the other nobles won't agree. We can only proceed gradually like this."

I understand...

Talulah was still clever and reasonable. In that regard, she wasn't bad at all.

While Koschei taught, Su Rui and Talulah chatted for a long time—about plans, about the future. In any case, both of them enjoyed themselves, and so did Koschei.

Talulah rarely nodded from time to time, showed expressions of agreement, and even smiled. This was unlike the Talulah who often argued against him.

Those reactions led Koschei to mistakenly believe Talulah had begun agreeing with his theories.

The immortal Black Snake couldn't help showing a pleased smile.

In reality, though, Talulah hadn't paid attention to him at all.

As Su Rui and Talulah continued chatting, their conversation gradually shifted from serious matters to absurd ones.

"Su Rui, do you have any other plans? Tell me about them."

Talulah rested her chin on one hand. On the surface, she watched Koschei and the podium, but her attention was entirely on what Su Rui displayed in her vision.

"Of course. I do have another plan. Actually, it's my favorite one."

As he said this, Su Rui's tone couldn't help turning excited, immediately drawing Talulah's attention.

Because she noticed that this was the first time Su Rui had shown such enthusiasm during their time together.

Then Su Rui displayed several images, along with practical methods for using Originium Arts in battle.

"Draks are a powerful race. That power isn't just their Originium Arts and physical strength, but also their control over a group. I mean, with your arts, you can summon an entire army of undead that can fight for you at any time. You alone are an army."