NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

"rest assured?"

The woman narrowed her eyes, put one hand on her hip, and said in a low, menacing voice:

"What's there to worry about? It's none of my business if he dies out there! All I want to know right now is where he is."

……

……

Welcome to the Outer Edge Zone.

The uneven ground, the exposed pipes—Phoenix, now back underground, enthusiastically introduced the dilapidated city to Red Lotus, Rose, Dorothy, and the two prisoners.

"The last recruitment point for the Ark."

As the man spoke, there was neither Mihara nor Yuni quietly by his side, nor Anise chattering and sighing, nor Marianne offering any timely topics of conversation.

Yes, there are, but they are just a few old women of unknown age pretending to be young.

There was no way around it. Ever since he stole enough nanometal from Nihilista and Liberellio and successfully assembled a closed exoskeleton armor to go toe-to-toe with the jellyfish, he felt that his combat power was not keeping up with the version of his wives, and their self-esteem was severely damaged.

Furthermore, Helen's injuries needed immediate repair, and the Commander was protected by the Crimson Sisters. Therefore, the women, relegated to the background, quickly gathered together, and after a good discussion, they decided...

—The whole group returns to Eden to find Cecil to improve the prosthetic body.

So, at this moment, only Phoenix, the Crimson Sisters, Dorothy, and two heretical captives stepped out of an abandoned outer perimeter elevator.

"conscription?"

Upon hearing the lieutenant's comment, which could be described as "outrageous," Dorothy raised her eyebrows slightly and said noncommittally, "Niki's surgery isn't just about having volunteers; the number of operating beds and surgical personnel is also an important factor."

"Yes, so I'm recruiting mech operators, not Niki."

"???"

Phoenix's words not only made Atao turn around, but also made Honglian, Qianghua, Huolong and Shuimu turn their heads.

Mech...operator?

"Huh? Are you stupid? You actually believe in mecha stuff from movies?"

Even as a prisoner, with only enough nanomaterials in her body to cover her naked body while maintaining her human form, Nihilista remained true to her vile nature, seizing every opportunity to sneer:

"Do you know why humans eventually invented humanoid weapons? Because it has been proven in ground warfare that trading heavy armor for Lecher's losses is an idiotic act."

"So if we switch to Niki, they'll win?"

Phoenix, strolling along the desolate streets, remained calm in the face of the fire dragon's provocation. He had little interest in discussing the energy shield plan with a prisoner, so he merely offered a polite retort:

“Nikki needs to be adapted to women, heavy armor requires an operating team, small drones are easily interfered with by Ivira particles, and cruise missiles can be countered by railguns.”

To put it simply, carbon-based life forms have no chance of winning against silicon-based life forms in terms of battle losses and logistical operations.

After all, those mechanical spiders don't need wages, rest, or to stage protests, strikes, rebellions, or revolutions. As long as there's a sufficient energy supply, they can continuously produce new mechanical bodies.

At this point, the lieutenant paused briefly, turned to look at Dorothy and the swordswoman sisters, and continued casually:

"A protracted war is unwinnable, and given that the Ark's production capacity is only a few tens of millions of people, we will most likely only have one chance."

"A chance to swap homes with Queen Lecher overhead."

Chapter 287 Preparing to Return

"Swap base" is a gaming term that originated in real-time strategy (RTS) games.

When the players realized that the advantage and disadvantage of both sides were gradually widening to an uncontrollable point, and prepared to mobilize troops for an attack, they happened to discover that the enemy army was advancing towards their side from another route...

At this point, many players will choose to launch a strong attack to disrupt the opponent's operations and logistics system, rather than hastily retreating to defend their own base.

This is what "changing houses" means, literally.

Many people unfamiliar with this type of game are likely to think that "both sides exchange camps" is not strategically meaningful, because the difference in troop strength is the difference in troop strength and will not change because the main base is destroyed.

However, there is a variable here: both sides' bases can still produce troops for defense.

In other words, the base-trading tactic is not a decisive offensive strategy, but a desperate tactic combining blitzkrieg and defensive warfare. Whoever destroys the opponent's logistics and armories first will win the final victory.

Of course, the base-trading tactic Phoenix mentioned is a hundred times more complex to execute than in an RTS game. With Nihilista and Liberellio present, the person who didn't want to reveal the specifics could only stroke their chin and say to Atao and the others:

"It's hard to explain in a short time. You should come back with me first, and we'll talk about it later."

……

……

"Darling~!"

When Viper answered the call from the unknown number and confirmed that Phoenix was indeed Phoenix, the loser's team member immediately dropped everything and rushed to the scene at lightning speed. Upon seeing her beloved, she wanted to pounce on him...

　bass--!

However, in the next instant, the sharp scraping sound of a blade being drawn rang out, and the cold back of the longsword pressed straight against the snake's delicate, white neck, forcibly stopping her in her tracks.

"Young lady, please have some self-respect."

The woman with the drawn sword calmly issued her warning, glancing sideways at the fox-like girl in front of her, showing no concern whatsoever about her overreaction.

She knew very well that although the philandering man was very popular with women, he was not the kind of lowlife who couldn't resist women.

Just as the other person was about to step forward to hug her, Dorothy and her two sisters may not have noticed, but she and her sister immediately noticed Phoenix's subconscious attempt to back away.

What does this mean?

This shows that the girl named Viper is treated the same way as her; if the distance between them suddenly gets too close, the stinky man will definitely instinctively try to avoid them.

This also suggests that the level of intimacy between the two parties is insufficient to support sudden displays of affection.

Since that's the case, adhering to the principle of "the one less is the one less," Honglian, who has already seen through her own feelings, decisively transforms into a goalkeeper and is determined to cut off all unnecessary romantic entanglements for Phoenix.

And what about the viper on the other side? As a top student among scheming girls and a master of green tea, she suppressed her incredibly complex emotions and thoughts in the blink of an eye, pouted her cherry lips, and immediately put on a pitiful and aggrieved look.

"Darling, look at her—!"

As the girl spoke, she stomped her heels in annoyance and waved her fingers up and down, pointing at the white-haired old woman.

"She bullied me!"

Phoenix: "..."

……

Human hearts are made of flesh and blood.

Trying to treat both sides fairly when neither is willing to cooperate, and preventing any resentment from growing between them, is a skill that requires a deep understanding of human nature.

Despite receiving extensive training from Mrs. Phoenix, the lieutenant still found the situation incredibly difficult when faced with two women whose eyes were practically spitting fire.

"cough!"

The man first coughed as usual, drawing everyone's attention to himself, then reached out and took Honglian's forearm, saying:

"Um... everyone calm down, this is underground, there's no danger for now."

After forcing himself to say it, Phoenix's brain was working at high speed, and he stammered, "Red Lotus, she's the Viper I was talking about, my assistant... um, and also my secretary."

"Viper, this is Crimson Lotus, a member of the Goddess Squad. We just returned from the surface, so everyone's still a bit tense..."

Using the introduction of their identities as a starting point, the lieutenant slowly wrested the conversation back from the women's subtly swirling gazes. Then, under the pretext of discussing follow-up plans, he urged Viper to quickly take them back to Phoenix's territory.

A set of thought-guided operations that, while not exactly smooth sailing, were very clear in their logic, truly delighted the onlookers, Qianghua and Atao.

Both of them had legitimate management positions; the former was the captain of the melee unit, and the latter was the acting captain of the Goddess Unit. As is customary, now that Phoenix had successfully taken control of the situation, all that was needed next was to separate Viper and Crimson Lotus, and then have a private one-on-one discussion.

As for how to conduct a one-on-one consultation...

"Snake, come here for a second, I have something to tell you."

Returning to Phoenix's territory and the hotel that had been converted into an office building, Phoenix's subsequent actions were exactly as the two had expected. After pretending to inquire about the progress made in recent days, the man used the pretext of discussing confidential matters to immediately call Viper into his new office.

"How many mass-produced Niki units have we gathered now?"

After confirming with his mind map that no one was eavesdropping at the door, the lieutenant made no mention of what happened on the way and went straight to the point with his newly appointed secretary-general.

And what about venomous snakes?

She was just about to act cute when she heard her crush's question, so she had to suppress her little expectations and answer crisply:

"Seventy-three new ones have been added. Adding to our original fifty-two, darling, we now have a total of one hundred and twelve-five mass-produced Nikis who have been removed from the list."

"Seventy-three people in two months?"

According to previous reports, Phoenix knew perfectly well that Viper had not ceased its infiltration of the outer perimeter and even the Ark during those two months. Even so, the advance of 73 men over two months could hardly be considered efficient.

On the one hand, it is because Phoenix can no longer expand outwards without restraint, which would attract unnecessary attention prematurely.

On the other hand, the number of mass-produced Niki units smuggled to the outer region was actually less than they had anticipated, and it is highly likely that three underworld queens—Sakura, Rosanna, and Peony—were involved.

As Nikkis, as the oppressed, it is perfectly reasonable for them to secretly hide mass-produced Nikkis to protect them from gang persecution.

Just as Wollum volunteered to investigate the "Nicki trafficking operation records" when he heard that Wollum was going to do so, it was a kind of universal empathy of protecting one's own kind.

"Try to find out from Sakura and the others in the next couple of days whether they can lend some mass-produced Niki to Phoenix."

After speaking, the lieutenant frowned and pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice: