Nikke, something’s seriously wrong with this evacuation point! Chapter 148 148: Nikkes Are Amazing, Aren’t They?

Abe finally returned to her dormitory.

It was already close to two in the morning.

Even now, she still couldn't quite forget that hug from earlier.

To be honest… it had actually felt rather comfortable.

No, no, no – what the hell am I thinking?

That bastard flirts with literally everyone. It's not like this is the first ti I've seen it. The only difference is that this ti the target happened to be .

I need to stay alert.

Yeah. Alert.

After becoming a Nikke, I'm no longer soone who belongs to the sa world as that guy.

It's not like when he dies soday, I'm supposed to go collect his corpse, right?

For so reason, the re thought of the "death" of Charon – an ordinary human – made her breathing beco a little uneven.

Forget it. Why am I even thinking so much about this?

She imdiately opened her tablet terminal and habitually began checking her internal mail.

Then she noticed a new email in her inbox.

It was from the "Rapture Research Lab."

This departnt had been established at the request of the Ark authorities. Its purpose was to provide simulation-room data. The combat data used for the Second Generation Fairy Tales' testing all ca from there.

The place was basically full of unfamiliar faces and directly subordinate to the Central Governnt. Abe had no authority over them.

Still, the people there had never interfered with the institute, so she didn't particularly care.

The only strange thing was that this lab frequently requested portions of non-classified data related to the Fairy Tale models from Abe.

"Nope. You've already asked for too much."

Abe directly rejected the request.

And just like that, the email chain ended there.

…

anwhile, in another independent laboratory within the institute, an ordinary-looking female researcher stood before a Master-class Rapture, her expression filled with intoxicated fascination.

Other than her, there was no one else in the room.

Hearing the email notification sound, she casually opened it and glanced over the response.

"My, my… so she rejected it after all."

"As expected of Professor Abe. Sharp as ever…"

"But it doesn't really matter."

"Fairy Tale models are, in the end, rely outdated creations."

"The existence I truly want to see… is already close to descending."

"So exciting. So very exciting."

"What kind of scene will unfold when the Second Generation Fairy Tales fight that child?"

"It'll definitely… be a wonderfully dreamlike spectacle."

…

"Congratulations to you."

Charon had just gotten into the car and hadn't even started the engine yet when the girl inside the Shittim Chest – mounted where the car console should be – suddenly said that to him.

"Congratula… congratulations for what?"

"For reconnecting with an old fla while simultaneously gaining several new potential future lovers. Isn't that worth congratulating?"

Charon looked like he wanted to say sothing but stopped himself.

Staring at the dead-fish-eyed girl on the screen, he slowly let go of the steering wheel.

"Jealous?" he teased.

"W-Who's jealous?! Keep talking nonsense and I'll blow this car up right now!"

The mont the words left his mouth, Rose's face instantly turned bright red. She imdiately entered full spinosaurus mode and began hissing at him.

"Wait, wait! I was joking!"

Charon imdiately surrendered.

Even though the car wasn't electric but an old gasoline vehicle – aning Rose theoretically shouldn't be able to do much to it – he absolutely wasn't going to gamble on probabilities against her.

"What I an is… what are you going to do later with them and Liliweiss?"

"Do about what?"

"Can't everyone just get along peacefully? It's not like they're going to start fighting each other, right? They're not Raptures!"

Charon looked utterly confused.

"You don't seriously think they're my lovers, do you? aside, don't go projecting weird assumptions onto too, okay? Otherwise when I die from embarrassnt, you're coming down with !"

"…"

That genuinely left Rose speechless.

She stared directly into Charon's eyes, as though trying to determine whether he was serious.

And eventually, she confird that he truly was.

"My god…"

"…Well, forget it. Maybe that's not so bad."

Rose muttered softly before switching the screen display.

A large map appeared.

"This is a map that still exists on the current network. I've already marked the target area. Just drive roughly in this direction…"

"Oh right. Did you bring enough spare fuel tanks?"

"Relax. Enough to drive nonstop for a month."

Charon pulled out a completely full fuel barrel from his system inventory, then stuffed it back inside before giving a thumbs-up.

"My inventory is practically overflowing with barrels like this."

The system inventory really was ridiculously convenient.

Obtaining this car and fuel hadn't been difficult at all.

Even abandoned gas stations would drop resources as long as he scavenged enough materials. He'd gathered all this gasoline after visiting only four gas stations, and so stations even still contained large reserves of fuel – they simply hadn't been maintained anymore.

That actually surprised Charon a bit.

Shouldn't energy-related resources have been among the first things transferred into the Ark?

Well, whatever. Not my problem.

As long as it made things convenient, that was enough.

Driving onward, Charon exited the city almost completely unimpeded.

anwhile, the roads leading into the city were already hopelessly jamd.

After that ca a road trip lasting half a month.

He had deliberately chosen a route with very few people, yet he still frequently encountered people blocking the road and begging for supplies.

Whenever possible, Charon helped them.

They simply wanted to survive.

And since Charon could practically conjure food and water out of thin air, there was no real reason for him to refuse.

Thus, through constant stops and starts, he spent even more ti on the road.

However, the farther they traveled, the more Raptures they encountered…

…and more human corpses as well.

These deaths couldn't even really be described as Rapture attacks.

More often than not, those people had simply happened to stand in the Raptures' path and were casually killed along the way.

And every single Rapture they encountered…

…was killed by Rose.

Rose no longer used conventional thods to kill Raptures.

For her, the Shittim Chest was an absolute enhancent – practically her exclusive weapon.

With the Shittim Chest, she could launch remote attacks directly on the code level within a certain range.

And when dealing with Raptures, Rose only ever used one thod:

Short-circuiting and burning out their "brains."

In terms of electronic warfare, Rose was effectively another Liliweiss.

Every Rapture that established a connection with her instantly beca a "dead" chanical construct.

Fairy Tale Model No.1 – Sleeping Beauty.

At her core, she was still a Nikke built to the sa specifications as Liliweiss.

It was simply that her overwhelming power now manifested entirely in the realm of hacking.

Back when she hacked Siren, she had actually been holding back considerably.

If she had genuinely intended to kill her, the mont she remotely connected to Siren's core, Siren would already have been dead.

And this was sothing Charon only truly realized after personally witnessing Rose's attack thods.

"You don't need to look at like that."

"You're human. There's not much I can do to you."

"But that Siren is different. The fact that her Words of Power can even affect humans is sothing I still don't understand at all."

"…Nikkes are amazing, aren't they?"

"Indeed."

Whatever.

Rose is mine too, so what exactly am I afraid of?