NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

After listening to the commander's explanation, the resentment in the witch's eyes gradually receded. After the initial shock, the woman, unable to believe it, gritted her teeth and retorted.

"Impossible! How could a commander who came from the Ark possibly have such ambitions?!"

"That shouldn't be ambition."

Recalling the behavior of a certain mentally ill patient, Cecil, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly corrected Harlan's misunderstanding. Then, the scientist added a sentence with a strange expression.

"This might just be a necessary condition he needs to meet for some purpose..."

"It's like preparing a whole dinner just for a bowl of rice."

Chapter 264 Snatching People

Time flew by, and it was already past midnight.

After his fierce battle with Yuni, Lieutenant Phoenix, after Mihara's repeated, exasperated inspections, finally mustered his courage and walked out of the maintenance room alone, looking at the women who had been waiting in the corridor.

"Yuni is still comforting Mihara, let's not disturb them for now."

The man spoke without batting an eye, calmly closing the repair shop door as he changed the subject:

"Where are John and Cecil?"

Lhabi: "..."

Anise: "..."

Marian: "..."

Upon hearing the commander's question, Lapi, who should have reported immediately, did not answer right away. Instead, he looked away, his ears turning slightly red as he suppressed the jumbled thoughts in his mind.

As for Anise and Marian...

The two, who had temporarily teamed up, scrutinized their commander's attire with suspicion.

If it weren't for the fact that it was a public place, they would have liked to go up and smell the lecherous man's scent to see if there was any lingering smell from strenuous exercise.

“Mr. John and Ms. Cecil are in room 07, and Noah is also in there, Lieutenant.”

On the other side, seeing that no one was willing to answer the lieutenant's question, Helen, who was in the far corner of the group, quickly stepped forward and loyally warmed up the atmosphere for Phoenix.

"The three seniors, Honglian, Baixue, and Dorothy, said they had some things to discuss, so they went to the conference room first."

"Discuss matters?"

After listening to Helen's report, Phoenix habitually stroked his stubble with his fingertips, unsure for the moment what the three of them would discuss when they got together.

Aside from their most important people, these old folks have completely forgotten what even the commander of the Goddess Force looks like. With such a limited memory bank, what can they possibly discuss?

……

……

"You called me and Bai Xue out alone under the pretext of 'having something to talk about'... Ha, that's quite rare, you woman who only thinks about fighting."

Inside the meeting room, upon hearing Dorothy's familiar, slightly sarcastic words, the habitually drunkard surprisingly refrained from retorting. Instead, he went straight to the core topic of the meeting and said seriously:

"Dorothy, let's get this straight: you are not allowed to coerce Phoenix into following your lead."

"..."

As soon as Honglian finished speaking, the teasing look on Atao's face vanished.

"What do you mean?"

"What else could it mean?"

Seeing that his former comrade-in-arms was still pretending to be confused, the swordsman frowned and, quite annoyed, broke the ice, saying, "Phoenix has his own things to do. He can't always be by your side as a mediator between you and Pina."

Dorothy: "..."

The drunkard, who had once considered kidnapping someone, probably never imagined that her words, based on her own experience, would not only fail to serve as a warning but would inadvertently awaken her old friend.

Yup!

How could I have forgotten something so important?!

Red Lotus's warning undoubtedly made Dorothy realize how distant her relationship with Lieutenant Phoenix was.

What this seemingly confused drunkard said was surprisingly insightful: why should a perfectly healthy person follow him around 24/7 and act as his messenger?

How to do? ? ?

The thought of life without Phoenix; the thought of Pina living alone again; the thought of herself living a lonely life on this land again—this terrifying future forced Atao's eyes to slowly change.

Honglian, who was staring at her, kept changing her expression as Dorothy looked at her.

finally,

Both sides saw a resolute glint in each other's eyes—negotiations had broken down, and they were preparing to snatch the person away!

……

……

"After that, what we need to do is to recruit people."

In dormitory W-05, Phoenix pointed to the network diagram on the 3D projection and explained it to some of the squadron members, including Isabel:

"Walchrysant's blood is a powerful antidote. Once a heretic is injected with Walchrysant's blood, her self-personality will be reawakened, and her bodily functions will remain in the heretic state."

You've all witnessed the power of that fire dragon; in a one-on-one battle, even the fairytale-style Niki's chances of winning are extremely slim.

After listening to Phoenix's ideas, Marian, who was standing next to Lapi, immediately pointed out the difficulties in this strategic plan.

“But if we do that, the heretics who have regained their freedom will no longer be under NIMPH’s control. Commander, we cannot guarantee that the heretics who have regained their freedom will not continue to attack us.”

"Um……"

Faced with Marian's constructive question, the lieutenant nodded thoughtfully, then pondered for a moment in front of everyone.

Perhaps due to preconceived notions from the original game storyline, Phoenix hadn't really considered the crucial question of whether "heretics themselves are good."

so close……

If it weren't for his wife's timely reminder, he would have almost followed in Huaer Qiulei's footsteps.

Someone muttered maliciously to themselves, and the image of divine punishment of Marian flashed through their mind.

Indeed, in the original storyline, after Marianne regained consciousness as a heretic, she didn't attack the protagonist simply because they knew each other. This doesn't mean that veteran heretics like Nihilista will always become friends after regaining their self-awareness.

He wasn't an Ark Succubus; he wouldn't dare gamble his life on whether the other party had good intentions.

"Therefore, the fire dragon is not our target."

Recalling Nihilista's treacherous nature, the lieutenant decisively removed her name from Anick's list of people to be kidnapped, and incidentally moved another completely unfamiliar name to first place, causing Jellyfish Liberelio to drop from first to second.

—Normantechesh, Rose, Sister of the Red Lotus.

This sister, who could ignore NIMPH restrictions and kill commanders during Niki's time, is definitely one of our own.

Chapter 265 Crimson Lotus's Nightmare, Humanity's Despair

"Little sister, am I good to you?"

"Ah."

"Little sister, whenever you want to spar with your older sister, I'm always there for you, right?"

"Correct."

"Little sister, I always give in to you, so could you give in to me this time too?"

"it is good."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then Lieutenant Phoenix will be yours, sister. You're taking him with you!"

"Oh."

"...Hmm? Sis! Wait a minute..."

"Rose! You come back here—!!!"

With a belated roar, Honglian, who was sitting by a pillar in the hall, suddenly opened her eyes and woke up from her "nightmare".

"call--"

Returning to reality, the swordsman, realizing that everything was a dream, let out a deep breath, a hint of embarrassment and annoyance still lingering in his eyes.

...It was just a dream?

How long has it been since she last dreamed? Even when she does dream, the images are nothing more than desolate patches of blood, or rows of cold corpses.

But now?

She dreamt of a scene where she was fighting over a man, and it was even about fighting over a man with her own sister...

Do not!