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

Although Su Rui had not planned on doing that in the first place, he still cared deeply about the teams under his command...

At the very least, he would not really send troops up to trade lives for victory like in a game.

If there was room for maneuvering, Su Rui would naturally choose to maneuver. It was just that brute-force victories were pretty fun too.

FrostNova nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Actually, the Reunion Movement has recruited quite a few officers recently. I think you should meet them."

"Such as?"

FrostNova stood up and nodded to Patriot, who had been regarded as one. "I'll take Su Rui to meet them."

Patriot nodded, watching FrostNova's departing figure.

Right, FrostNova was now the leader of the Reunion Movement. After all, Talulah was still a duchess and had not contracted Oripathy, making her unsuitable to lead them.

Afterward, FrostNova took Su Rui to meet several Reunion Movement officers one by one.

Most of them had no objections to Su Rui's demands. After all, Su Rui had occasionally appeared while FrostNova was speaking.

Two people caught Su Rui's attention the most.

One was a Rebbah girl named Lyudmila, who called herself Kingbreaker. Her Originium Arts specialized in covert operations. She had no objections to Su Rui's command and was rather aloof, but Su Rui liked her quite a bit.

Although her role overlapped with Snake Scales and the Inner Guard, it would be best to leave the Reunion Movement's operations to them.

The other was harder to evaluate. Su Rui did not know how to put it.

The Sarkaz girl named W had a complicated look in her eyes after hearing Su Rui's voice coming from FrostNova's pocket. Even the inscrutable, mischievous grin on her face had changed.

"What kind of expression is that?"

Su Rui asked directly, puzzled, but W merely shook her head. "Su Rui?"

"...How do you know me?"

Su Rui remembered that he had never met W before. No, it should be that he knew W, while W did not know him.

Yet W only shook her head.

"Fine, I'll follow your command. Oh, right, I remember you really like giving people nicknames?"

"Don't make it sound like you know me so well."

Su Rui was somewhat displeased by W acting as though she knew him well. "Then I'll call you Wei Jianguo."

Under FrostNova's puzzled gaze, W revealed a smile as if she had expected it.

"Oh, right, I have a name now. I'm Wis'adel. You can call me that."

"Do you know the Doctor and Kal'tsit? Do they know me?"

Wis'adel froze for a moment, then gave an amused smile. "Them? You'll naturally find out once you meet them yourself."

"Talking in riddles, huh? I'll figure it out myself."

Seeing that Wis'adel was not speaking plainly either, Su Rui rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction. After confirming that Wis'adel, the final officer, would obey his orders, he directly said goodbye to FrostNova.

"I'll be going first."

"Mm." FrostNova nodded, then looked at Wis'adel. "You know Su Rui?"

"Of course. Not only do I know him, I've eaten him too."

Wis'adel revealed a strange smile, leaving FrostNova baffled. At the same time, she was certain Wis'adel was lying. After all, Su Rui had no physical form at all; both Talulah and Su Rui himself had said so.

"Don't act recklessly during operations."

After giving Wis'adel one final warning, FrostNova turned and left the Sarkaz mercenaries' camp.

Wis'adel was left alone, licking her lips as she murmured, "So the current Su Rui hasn't possessed Her Highness yet?"

Wis'adel had heard Her Highness Theresa say that, for Su Rui, the future might happen before the past. Originally, Wis'adel had not understood it, but now she could roughly comprehend it.

Still, even though she understood now, Wis'adel felt rather regretful.

"Tch, why did Su Rui possess Her Highness instead of me? I have to sneak a bite, and Her Highness keeps such a close eye on things. I wonder if I can sneak a bite of Su Rui now? And that hooded person—if she isn't eating him herself, why stop me? Kal'tsit clearly sneaked a bite too."

PS: This is not connected to the previous work. It is an independent storyline. For Terra, the Sarkaz civil war happened first, but Su Rui does not follow the normal flow of time. For him, the Reunion Movement's affairs happened before the civil war.

This is only a brief mention of that side for now. More variables will not be added as the plot advances; it would be too chaotic, and the author's pig brain would overload easily.

Rhodes Island Infiltration

While they were communicating with everyone in the Reunion Movement, the vehicle carrying Talulah, Su Rui, and Alina had already arrived in Chernobog.

The lord of Chernobog, the city's marquis, had long known of their arrival and was now waiting for them at the entrance to the Mobile City.

As soon as Talulah's car entered the city, the fat count immediately approached the rear seat with a beaming smile and greeted Talulah.

"Honored lady, I never expected you to come in person. I have prepared a banquet for you. Might I ask whether you would have the time to honor us with your presence...?"

"When?"

"This evening. I will hold a welcoming banquet for you at my residence and await your arrival."

Talulah glanced at the marquis before her, nodded, and said nothing more. In truth, she did not want to waste time interacting with him, but Su Rui had said they should gather some intelligence.

Moreover, Su Rui seemed to be planning to purge these nobles somewhat later on... Though from the perspective of bargaining chips, Talulah believed that the more nobles survived, the better.

But to prevent Su Rui from indiscriminately killing every noble, she still decided to make some contact with them.

Su Rui could also tell what Talulah was thinking. "You don't actually need to meet them in person. Didn't I already promise you? I'll definitely distinguish them before the purge."

As he spoke, Su Rui displayed the names and identities of several nobles, along with everything they had done, before Talulah's eyes.

Since Talulah did not need to walk on her own right now, she could use more of her attention to examine the information in front of her.

"Actually, once this Mobile City entered my scanning range, I had already learned what these nobles had done."

As he spoke, Su Rui displayed the information of several individual nobles separately.

"It's not as though there are no good people among the nobles, but there are far too few of them. Most are the sort of people... who are hard to evaluate."

Can we spare their lives for now? At least use them as bargaining chips during negotiations.

Talulah spoke in her heart, and Su Rui did not object. "Of course. We agreed on that. But those few whose crimes are the most severe must die."

Afterward, Su Rui displayed the names and photographs of several people. The most conspicuous among them was the fat marquis standing outside the car.

Talulah gave the marquis, still standing outside the vehicle, a look that was difficult to interpret. He was still smiling at the car as it gradually drove away when, for some reason, he suddenly shuddered.

But Talulah only looked at him once. Based on the things Su Rui had shown her that this marquis had done, Talulah had no objections to Su Rui's decision either.

"Talulah, do I need to attend the banquet tonight too?"

Alina asked from beside her, somewhat confused. The girl was unfamiliar with such occasions and was even a little worried.

If Talulah really wanted her to attend the banquet, how was she supposed to interact with all those people there?

"Don't be nervous. Just wait for us at the hotel when the time comes."

Su Rui's voice sounded through Alina's earpiece, making her let out a sigh of relief.

"Talulah and I will be back soon too, right?"

Talulah nodded after hearing Su Rui's question, then teased him.

"Mm. How about we take you to sample some of the banquet's snacks, then come back?"

"Of course. There isn't really any point in talking to those people anyway."

Su Rui did not care about Talulah's teasing at all. Or rather, he probably did not understand that she was teasing him.

Because Su Rui truly thought they were only going there to eat some snacks. As for socializing with those nobles... they were people who would soon become prisoners, and some would even become corpses. What was there to talk about?

Talulah could roughly guess what Su Rui was thinking. As the corners of her lips rose, she could not help but think.

"Oh, right. I heard you say that something else seems to be happening in Chernobog recently?"

"Yes, Rhodes Island, for example. I told you about them before, right? On the surface, they're a medical organization."

As Su Rui spoke, he once again displayed information about Rhodes Island in Talulah's field of vision, then said with some confusion.

"However, things are a little different from what I expected. It seems as if Rhodes Island's original backers never died. Many minor details differ from my deductions."

Su Rui sounded somewhat strange. "Maybe because... forget it."

He could not exactly say that it differed from the plot he had seen, could he? Su Rui did not bring it up and instead changed the subject directly.

"In any case, Rhodes Island will probably carry out a covert operation when the Reunion Movement attacks Chernobog. When that happens, I'll have the Reunion Movement's teams avoid Rhodes Island's people. Also... can you accompany me?"

"Of course there's no problem."

Talulah's heart began pounding fiercely. Why had Su Rui's tone suddenly softened? He sounded as though he was worried she might refuse. Did he want to ask her on a date?

How could I refuse? A smile involuntarily appeared on Talulah's lips. She did not even notice Alina's puzzled gaze beside her as she asked Su Rui directly.

"Is there something you want to do?"

"If possible—I mean, you can refuse—I want to see the Sarcophagus with my own eyes. I have this feeling that it's very important to me. The Upper System also said that the person inside the Sarcophagus is related to me by blood. I want to see it for myself and make sure."

So it wasn't a date after all? Talulah felt disappointed. So the hesitation in Su Rui's tone was because he was worried she might encounter danger?

But Talulah's mood soon brightened again, because she had noticed that Su Rui cared about what she thought and was worried about how she would react. In other words, Talulah had a place in his heart.

With that thought, Talulah glanced at the System Materialization Progress only she could see. Mm, seven percent.

Su Rui had said that he knew such a thing existed, but he had never asked Talulah about it, as though he did not care, or perhaps as though he felt there was no point in asking?

Talulah had no answer. If Su Rui did not want to speak, she had no way to find flaws in his words, and naturally had no way to obtain the information.

When Talulah's car stopped at the hotel's main entrance and the two girls, Talulah and Alina, stepped out and entered the hotel, Su Rui's voice rang out again.

"Rhodes Island's people noticed you, Duchess Talulah."

Gundam, Activate!

"Will that cause any problems?" Upon hearing that Rhodes Island's people had noticed her, Talulah instinctively asked, wondering whether they might be able to communicate with Rhodes Island in advance.

Because of Su Rui, Talulah had some goodwill toward Rhodes Island, but she also knew that Rhodes Island probably did not know her circumstances yet.

"Don't worry about it. They probably only noticed your identity and paid a little attention to you. I've already marked them. I'm just giving you a heads-up."

After speaking, Su Rui marked the Rhodes Island operator who had noticed Talulah: a Sarkaz named Scout, along with the companions he was leading.

"Mm." Talulah did not care about this minor interruption. She merely nodded and entered the hotel with Alina.

Meanwhile, Rhodes Island was actually stationed near Chernobog, and its communications personnel were in contact with the operators who had infiltrated the city.

Beside Kal'tsit, Closure asked in confusion.

"Come to think of it, why are we putting on this act for no reason? Isn't the Doctor uninjured?"

"...This was arranged by the Doctor."

Kal'tsit gave Closure an expressionless glance and shoved the screen in her hand toward the somewhat unreliable Bloodfiend.

"I'll be acting with Amiya and the others. Rhodes Island will be in your hands for the time being."

"Huh? Me? Can I really do it?"

Faced with Closure's lack of confidence, Kal'tsit merely glanced at her. Rhodes Island currently had plenty of covert protection, so there was no need to worry that Closure temporarily managing it would cause problems.

Su Rui had no interest in the nobles' banquet. Aside from some of the food being genuinely delicious, he had no particular thoughts about the event.

What he was truly looking forward to was the moment when the Reunion Movement launched its attack on Chernobog.

With intelligence provided by Su Rui and the Undying Black Snake, Duchess Talulah, supporting them from the shadows, the Reunion Movement had not been developing for long, but taking this city would still be easy.

After the banquet, Talulah returned to the hotel. Sitting on the soft bed, she noticed that Su Rui did not seem to be speaking and realized something.

"Are we about to begin?"

"Yes. Those nobles have just attended a banquet, so this is when their guard will be down. It's the most convenient time to act."

There was some pride in Su Rui's tone. As the Undying Black Snake, Talulah's arrival here practically meant that no accidents could happen, and it also meant those nobles would subconsciously lower their guard.

Even if being vigilant would not help them much, having the enemy lower their guard was still beneficial for the operation ahead.

With that in mind, Su Rui connected to Patriot's tactical mask outside Chernobog.

"Are you ready? In a moment, I'll directly cut off communications between the security forces at the city's edge and the rear. I'll also take control of the elevators and entrances, opening up the routes. You'll enter Chernobog City from every direction along the roads. Oh, and seize the important positions. Try not to cause too much damage."