NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

Amidst the calm tone of the CEO of Gokuraku Jodo, the deputy director of the interrogation bureau, with a bitter smile on his face, scurried over and, covered in sweat, unlocked the prisoner's door.

Bang, bang!

The magnetic ring, having lost its magnetism due to the interruption of the current, split into two halves on the spot, which then flipped over to the sides like flower buds opening, crashing onto the interrogation table, which still bore traces of blood.

"I have to say, this thing is really durable."

Phoenix's words may seem a bit strange at first glance. But if you think about them carefully, you can easily discern a different meaning in them.

Unfortunately, the lieutenant had no intention of giving the rest of the people present even the slightest time to think.

call--

In an instant! The sound of wind breaking exploded in Tado's ears! Before the intense sense of crisis could even rise in his heart, the scarred soldier instinctively raised his right arm to protect his temporal bone.

boom!

A muffled sound!

Tado staggered backward, the surging force from his arm proving his judgment correct. A mere lieutenant dared to retaliate? Did he really think he would be afraid...?

boom! !

But then came another muffled thud!

Before Tado could regain his balance, excruciating pain spread from his abdomen. The overwhelming force crushed his stomach and intestines, and although it failed to expel any food residue, the instantly ruptured stomach wall made him feel like he was vomiting blood.

"Coughing and vomiting—!"

Seeing the man's pathetic state as he was forced to bend over and vomit blood, Phoenix, who had endured for more than ten minutes, grinned maliciously and threw another punch without stopping.

boom! ! !

Click!

A faint cracking sound of bones breaking echoed in the interrogation room. But the man had clearly struck the other man's abdomen, so why was there a sound of bones shattering?

Tado, who had fainted and collapsed, provided the answer to this question.

—What was broken was his spine.

The CEO of Gokuraku Jodo, whose expression of being in debt was unchanging for years, finally showed a slight change at this moment. Even though she knew that Phoenix's right arm was a mechanical prosthesis, and even though she knew how advanced the technology of that right arm was, the bloody scene in front of her still deeply shocked her soul.

"Oh, right, man, who's Anick again?"

Just as the three people present were in shock, the person who had completely turned into a criminal did not intend to stop his actions. He took a step forward and slapped Bernanke, who had no time to react.

Snapped! ! !

The crisp, loud slaps echoed in the interrogation room.

Bernanke, who had just been trying to pry open the prisoner's mouth, had his jaw smashed by the prisoner's slap at this moment.

Didn't you hear me?

Phoenix grabbed the scarred soldier's dislocated jaw and said with a grin:

"I'm asking you who Anik is."

Click, click-clack-clack—

As the man gently questioned her, the terrifying sound of his jawbone being slowly crushed into pieces was like needles, constantly piercing Ingrid and the deputy director's eardrums.

It was as if they wanted to carve this hellish scene, along with a name, into their minds, forcing them to never forget what happened today.

Chapter Twenty-Two: I really wanted to shove a gun in its mouth and fire a shot.

Although Anik is just an artificial intelligence, no one doubts Anik's special status in the Ark.

It is the most favored advisor of the Ark's rulers; it is the most trusted judge of the Ark's people; it is also the bond that keeps the Ark's people together.

Therefore, when Anik specifies that he wants to meet with someone, even the powerful vice commanders of the Ark have no right to veto his request.

In other words, Phoenix's decision to cripple Tado and Bernanke for their violent and illegal acts will have to wait until Anick meets with them before a trial can proceed.

"He's very calm and ruthless. There's a reason why he was able to escape from an encirclement of hundreds of Lechers and kill one at close range on the way, Anderson."

As Ingrid stood guard outside the server room gate, she recalled the commander's bloodied smile from half an hour earlier, and her heart trembled slightly. She let out a rare sigh.

"But he's too smart. He's exceptionally capable, knows how to leverage opportunities, and has a keen eye for boundaries, just like a politician... so he's not suited for the Pure Land of Bliss, nor for the Ark."

No, it should be said that the current Ark cannot withstand the reckless actions of young people like him.

Anderson, you should understand that what the Ark needs most right now is heroes.

A pure,

An idealistic hero.

……

……

"You mean you suggested that Central Command carry out my prosthetic body implantation?"

Inside the Ark's highest-security terminal room, Phoenix tilted his head and glanced at the AI ​​projection in front of him with a strange expression.

Wearing a white jumpsuit with black stripes, which looks the same whether you wear it or not, and an exaggeratedly large white military cap with a black gauze curtain hanging down from the top of the cap.

If we take this hat out of the box, its shape is very similar to the crown and tassels of ancient emperors in our own history.

　Combined with Anick's secret act of sending tribute to Lecher to sue for peace, Phoenix's already strange expression became even more complicated.

picture,

so similar.

Putting aside the specific dynasty it resembles, didn't you say some treasonous things in your mind just a few hours ago because of the prosthetic limb implant?

Seeing that Phoenix was not going to express her opinion, Anik, who had no idea what the other was thinking, continued in her electronic synthesized voice: "Yes, I also participated in this operation and implanted a miniature bomb with a timing function and a brain audiovisual receiving chip in your cervical spine."

When you enter an area without signal, the bomb's timer will start immediately. If you do not return to the Ark and re-establish signal connection within 720 hours, the bomb will detonate.

"...?"

Upon hearing that there was a bomb in his neck, Phoenix paused for a moment, then suddenly blinked, licked his lips, and chuckled awkwardly:

"...Heh, wait a minute, let me sort this out."

"You mean, you used the identity of artificial intelligence to threaten a human's life by implanting a bomb? Anik, are you sure you didn't violate any regulations?"

Faced with questions from humans, Anik gave an authoritative answer without hesitation.

"I can explain the act of planting the bomb."

Snow White, a member of the Goddess Force, has no record of communicating with humans since betraying the Ark, and no longer obeys human commands.

Commander Niki, a lieutenant in the military district, has no authority to access information about Snow White, nor does she have the authority to command Snow White.

Based on the above information, two conclusions can be drawn.

First, Phoenix is ​​suspected of stealing top-secret central government files.

Second, Phoenix is ​​suspected of collaborating with the Ark Traitors in private.

During the two consecutive missions, Commander Phoenix demonstrated exceptional information judgment a total of 155 times, and encountered Letcher directly zero times.

It is suspected that it can use non-Ark satellite radar and is suspected that it can ignore the information interference of Ivira particles.

Based on the above information, two conclusions can be drawn.

First, Phoenix acquired the right to use a certain observation satellite through some means and failed to report it, which is suspected of privatizing public resources.

Phoenix possesses highly efficient anti-interference technology to resist Ivira particles, but I theoretically lack the knowledge to create such technology. Therefore, this constitutes a suspected privatization of publicly available human technology.

Secondly, it cannot be ruled out that Phoenix is ​​cooperating with Lecher's side in an attempt to use the extremely high casualty ratio to improve his social status, thereby integrating into the leadership of the Ark and working together with Lecher from the inside.

This inference can also reasonably explain why Commander Phoenix was able to make 155 anomaly detections in a short period of time.

In conclusion, considering the lack of sufficient evidence to initiate a case, it has been decided to implement a special surveillance program for Commander Nikki and Second Lieutenant Phoenix of the Military District.

This plan both guaranteed Commander Lieutenant Phoenix's freedom and ensured that the Ark's safety level would not decrease.

Do you still have any objections to my decision?

"..."

After listening to Anik's almost official announcement-like explanation, and faced with "irrefutable evidence," the suspect's fake smirk gradually disappeared, and his seemingly harmless tourmaline eyes turned cold.

At that moment, the thought of shoving a gun into the other person's mouth and shooting him popped uncontrollably into Phoenix's mind again.

What it said made so much sense that I couldn't find a way to refute it for a while, and I even had a faint urge to thank it for sparing my life.

Thinking about it this way, the petty man's temper flared even more.

It seems one shot isn't enough; at least three shots are needed to lower my blood pressure.

"Let's get straight to the point. You didn't call me here just to say all this nonsense."

"Ok."

Clearly, Anik prefers direct communication to endless explanations.