NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

The mangled body tumbled in the air, resembling a tattered rag, instantly evoking a sense of pity in the heart.

Yet the arc it shot out was so elegant that it truly delighted Dorothy, who had just arrived at the scene.

masterpiece,

A perfectly absurd work of art that even she could not have imagined.

Phoenix has a hidden talent for dark humor and absurdist writing; it's a huge loss for the Ark government that he didn't become a politician.

Ode——!

The jet stream from the propulsion engine roared.

Perhaps fearing that Liberellio would take the opportunity to escape, the lieutenant immediately went all out the moment he knocked the man away, leaving a scarlet halo as he chased after him.

……

……

When Marian led her team hastily to the battlefield from Sky Ring City, the jellyfish that Phoenix had captured halfway there had already been reduced to the fate of a fire dragon.

The remaining nanomaterials were only enough for her to build her basic humanoid form. Its performance was so poor that it seemed she could only bully Huaerqiulei, a pushover.

“Liberellio, I will take you back to the Ark; Nihilistha, you will take you back to Eden.”

The lieutenant pointed to the fire dragon in Marian's team and said matter-of-factly, "I've almost finished investigating the intelligence in the far north. I need to go back to the Ark."

To everyone's surprise, Dorothy shook her head and rejected the man's suggestion without even thinking.

“No, the one who is in charge of acting as my adjutant is named Lapi, right? I have something to ask her, so I'd like to go with you.”

"?"

Faced with Atao's somewhat unreasonable request, Phoenix not only did not reject her suggestion, but also suddenly came up with a different idea for returning to the Ark.

—Conceal his whereabouts from the Ark, then take Dorothy into the outer edge of the region and introduce her to Viper.

The thought of these two cunning pink-haired women forming his brain trust, and then bringing Sakura, Rosanna, and Kancy over, along with Maricana from the school, made this ambitious man's heart burn with excitement. He didn't even consider whether these six ruthless, resourceful, and cunning women would get along well in the future.

"Let's leave here first. Please have Your Majesty lead us to a safer place to talk."

Phoenix, not forgetting his identity as a hatter, answered calmly while a mental storm raged in his mind.

Just now, he realized something—the strategic approach of secretly sneaking back to the outer edge of the Ark without the Ark's knowledge was indeed more advantageous than going back openly, and even if Dorothy was unwilling, he should do it himself.

Based on this, the most important thing to do right now is to win over Huaerqiulei.

……

……

"There are bad guys on the Ark."

Inside a hidden safe house, the lieutenant, his voice low and his expression contorted with distress, suddenly uttered a shocking statement to Hua Erqiulei without any warning.

Its power is so great that it can cause a student's brain to shut down on the spot.

"There are Chaos figures in the government who are secretly supplying experimental Nikki to the Lecher faction." Ignoring Walchure's stunned expression, the lieutenant continued with his startling statement.

Admittedly, there is no evidence to support this statement. Most players in the previous life also believed that it was an unequal treaty signed between Anick and Xiao Cao, and that there were not so many convoluted schemes and tricks involved.

But! The truth is actually not important, because it doesn't stop Phoenix from spouting nonsense. Anyway, he knows that he believes whatever his student says, and he mainly portrays himself as simple and gentle.

"They sent Niki to Letcher as a test subject? Why...why would they do that?"

As expected, after hearing such explosive news, Walchure did not have any doubts. The girl, who put Nikki's life first, directly asked her instructor for the reason.

Phoenix patiently answered all the questions by mixing ten truths with one lie, before finally saying:

“I plan to continue investigating this matter on the ground, but you can’t come with me. You take your troops back and report the situation in Sky Ring City to headquarters. Then say that my troops suffered heavy losses in the battle against the heretics, and that I was forcibly sent to Eden for treatment by the pilgrims.”

Perhaps worried that the students were too honest, the instructor had to teach them how to lie word by word. He even made up a logically consistent accident in front of Dorothy and Walter, which made Dorothy look at him sideways and alarm bells ring in her heart.

Men's words are deceitful. She needs to be more careful in the future, or she might get sold out without even knowing it.

"...Is that all? Do you understand?"

"understood."

The conversation between the master and apprentice, which lasted three or four hours, ended with Huaerqiulei nodding in confirmation.

Immediately afterward, amidst A-Tao's unbearable expression, Phoenix sent his good student away under the pretext of needing sleep, then turned around and uttered another astonishing statement.

"Do you want to rule over humanity on the Ark, Dorothy?"

"!"

The lieutenant spoke very softly, so softly that Atao could barely make out the content of his words.

But the lieutenant's tone was so heavy that it made A-Tao's soul pound, and she almost broke down.

"What do you mean?"

The woman, having regained her composure, narrowed her eyes, gazing intently at the pair of dim eyes not far away, constantly reinforcing her inner defenses.

"Actually, it's not that interesting."

As the man spoke, he strolled over casually, leaned against the edge of the table, and sighed:

"Ms. Dorothy."

"Ok?"

"There are bad guys on the Ark."

"..."

Volume Four: Wildfire Never Dies

Chapter 286 The All-Tactical Transformer

"...Then Lieutenant Phoenix was rescued by Eden while seriously injured, and all the surviving personnel of the Ground Intelligence Special Squadron followed the lieutenant to Eden."

As for Signa and Delta, they had already lost their mobility, so I had to entrust Eden with the task of repairing them.

In the Ark Central Command, Huaerqiulei scanned the important figures before her. Thinking that some of them had betrayed the Ark and others had privately oppressed Niki, she became increasingly nervous about lying.

"That's the general situation. I will describe the specific details in the operation report."

The girl, who returned to the Ark as a hero, spoke frankly, her demeanor no longer as reserved and resilient as before, but instead revealing a damned toughness and arrogance.

Look at her composed demeanor and calm gaze; Huaer Qiulei's appearance vaguely reminded the group of high-ranking officials of the terrifying phantom of a certain killer star.

"Thank you for your hard work. Go to the medical department for your routine check-up first. We will let you know about any further arrangements."

Sensing the strange atmosphere in the command center, Ingrid reacted immediately and quickly gave orders to Waltham before Anderson and the others could, while glancing sideways at Niki beside her.

"Nien, come back to the company with me for testing."

"Eh?"

Having probably not expected the process to be like this, Nien subconsciously glanced at Huaerqiulei after hearing his boss's order, and only nodded in agreement when he saw that she had no objection.

"I know, boss!"

After saying that, the lively fellow scurried over to Ingrid and followed his boss out of the command center, striking a pose of unwavering loyalty to the company.

"How's the situation in Phoenix?"

After leaving the Central Command, they drove all the way to the armory in Elysium, where Ingrid finally asked the question that had been weighing on her mind for so long.

"Is he truly seriously injured, or does he simply not want to come back?"

Faced with his boss's direct question, Nien, who was completely unprepared, blankly uttered an "Ah."

She had considered that her boss would question her about Commander Walter Cholere, and she had also considered that her boss would try to force her to give herself away through the conversation.

But Nien never expected that the Queen of Elysium would start asking questions about men the moment she stepped into her home.

They even correctly guessed the possibility that the lieutenant didn't intend to return openly.

This……

Is this the bond forged in the rehabilitation center, the tacit understanding developed through lovemaking?

Nien was shocked when asked the question and didn't know how to answer. Meanwhile, seeing her subordinates remain silent, how could the seasoned businesswoman who had been in the business world for many years not know the trickery involved?

That damned man actually dared to fake an injury?

It's one thing to fake an injury, but why didn't you tell Nien to notify me?

The thought that the lecherous man who even preyed on Niki might be enjoying himself somewhere while she herself was terrified by news of him caused Ingrid's long-cultivated aura of authority to explode with anger, making Nien subconsciously avoid eye contact with her.

"Where is he?! Is he really in the Garden of Eden?!"

"..."

Nien nodded without daring to reply, but then she thought about it and realized that doing so would be betraying her master and grandmaster, so she quickly shook her head to make amends.

Until the very end, after confirming that his boss only harbored resentment and not murderous intent, the clown changed his mind again and nodded in agreement:

"Um... Boss, I don't know where the lieutenant is either... I only know that the lieutenant is not injured, so don't worry..."