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

"Precise observation." Saria nodded. "We are improving the third—"

Volume 14, Chapter 790: A Little Accident

Suddenly, the alarm blared through the air.

The red warning lights began to spin, and a mechanical female voice announced over the loudspeaker, "Emergency situation. B7 Sector quarantine protocol activated. All personnel evacuate immediately."

Saria instantly stood up, her right hand already on the weapon at her waist. "Muelsyse?"

Muelsyse's fingertips traced a holographic keyboard in the air. "Monitoring shows... Subject B7 breached containment." For the first time, her expression faltered. "Impossible... How could the multi-locking system...?"

"What experimental subject?" Jessica instinctively reached for her pistol.

Saria rushed towards the elevator. "Come on, but keep your distance. This isn't a drill."

The corridors of B7 Sector were filled with a pungent chemical odor. All the security doors were lowered, and only Saria had the authority to open them.

"Final warning," the female voice on the loudspeaker announced, "B7 Sector is contaminated. All personnel immediately—"

The sound suddenly distorted into a piercing noise.

Something was wriggling in the shadows at the end of the corridor.

Jessica's pistol was already cocked. She saw the dark shape slowly rise, taking on a blurry human form, but the number of limbs kept changing—three hands, then five, and then they merged into two tendril-like structures.

"Back off!" Saria snapped, raising a glowing energy shield. "This is a biosynthetic experimental subject, highly adaptable!"

The dark shadow suddenly lunged forward, moving with a speed beyond human comprehension. Saria's shield collided with it, sparks flying. The shadow was repelled, but immediately changed shape, crawling along the wall like liquid.

"Physical attacks have limited effectiveness." Su Rui had already set up her sniper rifle. "Weak points?"

"High temperature!" Muelsyse shouted, "Thermothermal weapons can—"

"You should have said so earlier!" Franka laughed and leaped up, her Thermite Sword drawing a blazing white arc.

The shadowy figure emitted a shriek unlike that of a living being, and the part struck by the flames instantly carbonized. But the remaining part immediately split into two smaller individuals that continued their attack.

"Damn it, it'll multiply!" Liskarm raised its shield to block the tentacles that were attacking Jessica.

Saria's weapon hummed as it charged. "Focus fire on the core! At its chest!"

Su Rui's scope had locked onto the constantly shifting black shadow. In one fleeting moment of its form, a faint red light did indeed flicker in the chest area.

Bang!

The specially designed armor-piercing round accurately hit the target. The shadowy figure convulsed violently, then froze like a machine that had lost power, eventually turning into a harmless pool of black slime.

The alarm gradually stopped, replaced by the roar of the ventilation system running at full speed.

"... Is it over?" Jessica asked, panting.

Saria sheathed her weapon. "For now." She turned to Muelsyse, "Conduct a full search of all experimental areas, immediately."

Muelsyse nodded, and the holographic screen unfolded in front of her. "It's already underway. Strangely... the locking system has no record of malfunctions."

"So someone deliberately let it out?" Franka whistled. "Wow, your mole here is even bolder than Blacksteel's!"

Liskarm glared at her, but Saria didn't seem to mind. "It's a possibility. We'll investigate."

The post-event briefing was held in a fully disinfected conference room.

"Thank you all again for your assistance." Saria pushed a data panel towards them. "As additional compensation, Rhine Lab is willing to provide the testing rights for the new protective equipment."

Jessica looked at the list curiously. "These... are all unreleased prototypes?"

"I believe your feedback from actual combat will be very valuable." Saria stood up. "Of course, regarding today's events..."

"It won't be recorded in the official report," Su Rui said calmly. "Blacksteel's rule."

Saria nodded slightly. "Rhine Lab will remember this."

As she left, Jessica glanced back at the SilverAsh building complex. In the sunlight, it remained as pristine as a city of the future, showing no signs of danger.

"What do you think they're researching?" she asked Su Rui in a low voice.

Su Rui slung the sniper rifle over her shoulder. "Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."

Franka pounced on them from behind and hugged them both. "Who cares! At least we get free new toys!"

Liskarm brought up the rear, his fingers still resting on the gun handle. "Stay alert. That Saria... is not simple."

As the convoy drove out of the gate, Jessica noticed in the rearview mirror that Muelsyse was standing on the rooftop watching them leave. Even from this distance, she could feel the inhuman curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

The wind of the wilderness blew in her face again, carrying the familiar scent of dust. But this time, Jessica felt that the wind carried some inexplicable chemical smell, like that of Rhine Lab.

Su Rui seemed to sense her unease and reached out to turn up the car's temperature. "Rest."

The convoy drove smoothly along the desolate highway, the setting sun painting the earth a dark red. Jessica leaned against the window, her fingertips lightly tapping the armrest of her seat, her brow slightly furrowed.

"Franka..." she suddenly spoke, "Do you think those experiments... were really legal?"

Franka, who was playing with the portable sonic jammer given to her by Rhine Lab, raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Hmm? Which one are you referring to? The black slime that can split? Or the nanobot that can reverse Oripathy?"

"All of it," Jessica whispered. "Those things... don't seem like typical biological research."

"Ha!" Franka grinned. "Of course it's not conventional. Why would we need Blacksteel to escort something conventional?"

Su Rui in the front row didn't turn around, but Jessica saw a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth in the rearview mirror.

"What can be displayed is, of course, permitted," Su Rui said calmly, as if discussing the weather, "Or at least tacitly approved by certain rules."

Liskarm, wiping her weapon in the back seat, looked up at the question, "You mean... there's something that hasn't been shown yet?"

Su Rui didn't answer immediately. Outside the car window, a vulture circled atop a distant high-voltage power tower, its sharp eyes fixed on their direction.

"It's better not to know." That was all she said in the end.

A brief silence fell over the car. Franka suddenly chuckled, "Hey, why are you all so serious? Anyway, we got the money and got some new gear for free!" She waved the jammer in her hand, "How much would this sell for on the black market?"

"Franka!" Liskarm frowned. "This is company property."

"Okay, okay~" Franka chuckled as she packed up the equipment. "But seriously..." Her expression turned unusually serious for a second, "Those researchers, the way they looked at the test subjects... did you notice?"

Su Rui suddenly said, "This isn't the first time we've met."

Liskarm tapped the gun barrel lightly with his fingertips. "The head of the defense department personally led us on a tour... Is it really just a coincidence?"

"Maybe she wanted us to see that?" Franka tilted her head. "Like... some kind of warning?"

Jessica suddenly felt a chill. She remembered Muelsyse's figure standing on the rooftop when she left, her silver hair fluttering in the wind, a faint smile on her lips.

"I do not understand..."

"No need to understand." Su Rui shifted gears, slightly increasing the speed. "We're only responsible for escorting, not judging."

Liskarm glanced at Su Rui, hesitating to speak. In the end, she simply sighed and continued examining the weapons.

Franka stretched and put her feet up on the front seat. "Ah~ I really want to go back to base quickly, take a bath, and then--"

"Franka, put your foot down," Su Rui and Liskarm said at the same time.

"Tch, you two are really..." Franka pouted, but still obediently sat down.

The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and the car headlights drew two straight beams of light in the darkness. Jessica gazed at the rapidly receding wasteland outside the window, but her thoughts were still lingering on the pristine white laboratories of Rhine Lab.

--In what kind of container do those unshown projects grow?

--And on what nights will Saria and Muelsyse open those locked doors?

Volume 14, Chapter 791: Closing the Door with a Backhand

The city's neon lights cast dappled patterns of light on the wooden floor through the floor-to-ceiling windows. As Jessica closed the villa's front door, the metal lock clicked softly, as if some hidden switch had been triggered.

Just as Su Rui's tactical backpack slipped onto the entryway carpet, Jessica tugged at her tie, bending her over. Her tiptoeing was a little clumsy, her nose bumping into his chin, the windproof jacket with its wild, rugged feel rustling.

"Wait..." Su Rui's protest was muffled between their locked lips. Jessica tasted the bitterness of coffee lingering on his lips, mixed with the metallic scent of gun lubricant, which reminded her of three hours earlier in the passenger seat when this man had said, "We'll talk about it when we get home."

The motion-sensor lights in the second-floor bedroom gradually illuminated with their footsteps. Jessica tripped on the step, Su Rui caught her by the waist. The sniper's long, slender fingers were perfectly positioned on the buckle of her tactical belt, a discovery that made her ears burn. As she was pressed against the dressing room mirror door, she saw herself in the mirror through Su Rui's shoulder—her blonde hair was disheveled and stuck to her sweaty neck, and her Blacksteel uniform jacket was nowhere to be found.

Su Rui's teeth were having trouble unbuttoning the third button of her shirt. Jessica heard him grunt impatiently, followed by the soft ripping of fabric. She chuckled as the cool air brushed against her collarbone, her fingertips running through the dark hair at the back of his head. "Tearing it is faster?"

"... Talkative." Su Rui's breath swept over her newly exposed skin, casting a white mist on the mirror. He suddenly exerted force on the leg that was pressing against her knee, and Jessica instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck in a feeling of weightlessness. In the instant she was lifted up horizontally, she caught a glimpse of the overlapping shadows on the entryway floor.

The smart curtains in the master bedroom were closing automatically, the hum of the machinery barely masking the soft rustling of the fabric. Jessica sank into the down comforter and caught a whiff of sunshine, which was quickly replaced by the pungent, gritty scent emanating from Su Rui. The way he unfastened his watch above her resembled disassembling a weapon; the sound of the metal strap hitting the bedside table made her flinch.

"Cold?" Su Rui's palm pressed against her waist, the calluses from years of holding guns scraping against her skin sending a shiver down Jessica's spine. She shook her head and reached for the zipper below his collarbone, but was interrupted by a sudden terminal notification sound.

Both of them froze. Su Rui's terminal, nestled in the coat lying on the floor, vibrated persistently, the light from its screen casting a narrow blue beam across the floor through the half-open wardrobe door.

"... It might be Liskarm." Su Rui's Adam's apple bobbed.

Jessica tightened her grip on the back of his neck. "You said you'd shut it down after the mission."

She found the struggle in Su Rui's eyes amusing, until he suddenly leaned down and bit her earlobe, mumbling "Never mind," his hot, wet breath making her toes curl. The terminal finally ran out of power after its seventh vibration, and the bedroom plunged back into darkness. Just then, Jessica heard the soft click of her metal clasp being bitten open.

At 3:17 a. m., Jessica counted the scratches on Su Rui's back under the warm yellow light of the bathroom wall lamp. In the steamy air, the red marks resembled some kind of mysterious talisman, changing shape as he bent down to get a towel. She reached out to touch the closest scratch, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the shower. The sudden burst of hot water from the showerhead startled her, causing her to gasp softly.

"... So vengeful." Jessica wiped away the foam in her eyes and found Su Rui focused intently on applying shower gel to her gun, as if he were grooming it. The pressure he used to rub the foam into her hair was just right, and the sensation of his fingertips brushing against her scalp made her drowsy, until he suddenly leaned in and sniffed the back of her neck. "There's still the smell of gunpowder."

Jessica turned and buried her wet head in his shoulder. "It's clearly your own body..." Her words trailed off as Su Rui's hand slid down her spine, the water on the bathroom mat making an intimate sound as he stepped on it.

Amid the hum of the dryer, Jessica nestled in Su Rui's arms, drifting off to sleep. His heartbeat pounded through her chest, its rhythm like the counting of spent cartridges after a war. Half-asleep, she felt someone brushing her bangs. Opening her eyes, she met Su Rui's pupils, which were inches away, the moonlight condensing into tiny silver spots in his dark eyes.

"What are you looking at..." she mumbled indistinctly, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Su Rui didn't answer, but simply pulled the blanket up a little higher, the force of her pull reminding her of the final inspection procedure before firearms were stored away. The sound of an early morning tram passing by came from outside the window. Jessica vaguely heard him say, very softly, "Sleep," the sound fading until sunlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a golden line on the floor. Jessica woke up first, her eyelashes fluttering, her consciousness slowly returning.

She shifted slightly and realized that Su Rui's arms were wrapped around her, his breath falling evenly on the back of her neck, warm and steady. Memories of last night flooded back like a tide, her ears burned, and she quietly shrank further into the blankets.

Su Rui seemed to sense her movement, tightening her arms around her, resting her chin on the top of her head, her voice still low and hoarse from just waking up. "... Don't move."

Jessica ignored him, instead deliberately nudging him back and lightly bumping his ribs with her elbow. Su Rui hissed and finally opened his eyes, his dark pupils still shrouded in drowsiness.

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

Jessica reached for the terminal on the bedside table, but her fingertips had barely touched the screen when she froze, startled by the time displayed. "...1:17 PM."

Su Rui was silent for two seconds, then gave a soft "Mmm," but didn't loosen her grip on his arm. Jessica couldn't help but laugh, "What, planning to sleep until tonight?"

"It's not impossible," he replied lazily, his fingers gently caressing her waist, the calluses on his fingertips tickling her skin.

Jessica turned to face him and poked his cheek. "Are you hungry?"

Su Rui caught her finger, lowered her head and bit her fingertip, her eyes carrying a hint of warning. "... Don't provoke me."

Jessica raised an eyebrow, deliberately leaning closer until their noses almost touched his chin. "What did I do to you?"

Su Rui stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly rolled over and pinned her down, lowering his head to silence her with a kiss. Jessica chuckled softly, running her fingers through his dark hair as he deepened the kiss.

Until her stomach rumbled at the most inopportune moment.

Su Rui paused, then chuckled softly, his forehead resting on her shoulder, his chest heaving slightly. Jessica kicked him, annoyed and embarrassed. "What are you laughing at! You used up so much energy last night, isn't it normal to be hungry?"

Su Rui sat up, looked down at her for a moment, then reached out and pinched her cheek. "... I'll go get something to eat."

He rolled out of bed, casually grabbed a shirt from the floor and put it on. His back was long and straight, the lines of his shoulder blades particularly clear in the sunlight. Jessica lay on the bed, lazily watching him, and suddenly spoke, "Su Rui."

"Hmm?" He turned around.

"Your back..." she pointed, "Has scratches."

Su Rui paused for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. "Who did it?"

Jessica gave him an innocent smile, "I don't know, maybe it's a stray cat."

Su Rui chuckled and turned to walk out the door, "... The stray cat isn't getting any meat today."

Jessica grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, but he caught it without turning around and tossed it back onto the bed.

Sunlight streamed into the room, and the air still held the scent of last night. Jessica stretched, slowly got up, and stepped barefoot onto the soft carpet, thinking—

Today will probably be another lazy day.

In the gradually brightening city light.

Volume 14, Chapter 792: What would you like to drink?

The kitchen was filled with the aroma of fried eggs and toast. Jessica sat lazily at the table, nibbling on a slice of toast covered in jam. Su Rui stood in front of the stove, the bacon sizzling in the pan, oil occasionally splattering, which he easily dodged with a flick of his wrist.

"Coffee?" he asked without turning his head.

"Add milk, no sugar." Jessica swung her leg and lightly kicked his calf with her toe. "Hurry up, I'm starving."