Nikke, something’s seriously wrong with this evacuation point! Chapter 90 90: Since When Can’t a Gatling Gun Be Considered

By the ti Barnes ca back to his senses, two Nikkes had already escorted him to the entrance of his safehouse.

"Lieutenant, it's getting late. Please get so proper rest."

After politely saying goodbye, the Nikke imdiately turned around and left without hesitation. In fact, her pace even quickened, as if she were afraid of getting back too late.

The freezing night air outside quickly cleared Barnes' head. Listening to the distant sounds gradually fade away, he hurried into the shelter and slamd the heavy door shut, locking it tight. Only then did he feel even a shred of safety.

What the hell…

He had expected that, lacking supplies, the Nikkes might go hunting for wild food.

What he hadn't expected was that they'd be enjoying themselves so much doing it.

Just now, right in front of him, there had been a giant pot of stew made from mushrooms, wild vegetables, and fish, alongside several freshly grilled fish roasting over the stove.

For soone who survived every day on flavorless energy bars, the al had been satisfying almost to a shocking degree.

There weren't even proper seasonings, but after so long without decent food, the natural aroma of the ingredients alone already felt luxurious.

Wait a second.

Why the hell was he, the commanding officer, stuck eating tasteless ration bars while they got to enjoy food like this?!

…Of course, he didn't dare actually say that out loud.

He had never been especially brave to begin with, and this ti there was no higher authority backing him up. On top of that, that damned Lieutenant Ron had sohow completely won over the Nikkes.

During dinner, most of the girls crowded around him, listening to him tell pointless little stories–

…Alright, fine. Barnes admitted they were actually pretty entertaining.

anwhile, he, the official commander of the lee squad, sat abandoned in the corner like so irrelevant outsider. Not a single Nikke wanted to talk to him.

That atmosphere made him unbearably uncomfortable.

So he ran.

Was this… isolation?

These girls who were going to die anyway actually dared to isolate him?

Grinding his teeth, Barnes recalled the warm and lively atmosphere from earlier, and the bitterness inside him only grew stronger.

"I'm the commander. I am!"

After climbing into bed, he discovered that the mattress he once found so comfortable now felt unbearably cold.

...

After Barnes left, the Nikkes finally relaxed.

Most of them had been nervous while he was there, because Barnes hadn't noticed sothing extrely important:

All ten Nikkes were present.

Not only had none of them shown signs of Mind Switch, but the damaged parts of their bodies had already been repaired – hidden carefully beneath their clothing.

If those repairs had been exposed, even Barnes would have noticed imdiately that the replacent parts weren't nikke-grade goddesium components at all…

They were patched-together Rapture parts.

Raptures might be humanity's enemies, but the materials used to create them still ca from Earth. chanically speaking, many systems shared similar principles. As long as a Nikke had even basic technical knowledge, it was possible to make the parts function together.

Of course, they had spent an entire day experinting through trial and error. So limbs had practically been forced into place.

But sohow…

They worked.

Maybe not elegantly.

But they could stand again.

At present, four Nikkes in the squad already had parts of their bodies completely replaced with Rapture components.

The pressure of battle itself hadn't changed.

But compared to the hopeless darkness they faced before, they now possessed sothing new:

Hope.

Their ntality had completely changed.

In the past, they killed Raptures rely to complete missions.

Now?

Raptures had beco walking supply crates for better replacent parts.

As the saying goes:

"No guns? No cannons? Then the enemy will provide them for us."

In fact, the squad hadn't even remained strictly lee-focused anymore.

This all started when Rose once watched a Rapture firing a Gatling gun and casually remarked:

"Scar, do you think we could cut that Gatling off and use it ourselves?"

And thus, the lee squad–

–or more specifically, the heavily modified Nikkes led by Rose–

began evolving in a very strange direction.

After all, lee combat has limits.

A wise old man once said:

"Swordsmanship need not be restricted by inconvenience."

As long as it can kill the enemy, anything can beco a sword.

So why can't a Gatling gun count as a sword?

If I say it's a sword, then it's a sword!

There was actually a practical reason behind all this.

So Nikkes, after replacing arms and legs, suddenly found that all the combat techniques they had spent years mastering no longer suited their altered bodies. But battle wouldn't wait for them to relearn everything from scratch.

So they began using the firearms stolen from Raptures together with their sword techniques.

And surprisingly–

it worked extrely well.

Gun in the left hand.

Sword in the right.

Their combat efficiency quickly climbed back to the level they'd had before their injuries.

Even Charon found this unexpected. He had been struggling to think of ways to ease them through a temporary transition period using firearms, but sohow the Nikkes had already ntally adapted on their own.

Only Scarlet stubbornly refused to use guns no matter what.

According to her:

"Swordsmanship is my path of survival. It is also the path I must walk to reach Liliweiss's level."

As for Rose?

She was the most adaptable person there.

As long as it protected the lee squad.

As long as it kept her little sister alive.

She was willing to use absolutely any ans necessary.

"Just like the na of my sword – Fleetly Fading – nothing in this world remains unchanged forever. Everything is constantly evolving. Just like the lee squad now. Lieutenant, this transformation began because of you, so if Scar scolds soone, you'll have to take responsibility too!"

"No thanks. You were the one who decided to start using guns. I never said anything. If she wants to yell at soone, she can yell at you."

"Lieutenant, how cruel!"

Honestly, if Scarlet were truly angry, she would have exploded long ago.

But she understood perfectly well that Rose was only using firearms out of necessity. There was no way Scarlet would criticize soone fighting desperately to protect everyone just for the sake of "swordsman purity."

She simply wasn't that kind of person.

Stretching out her hand toward the warmth of the stove, Rose quietly watched the bubbling fish soup inside the pot, her gaze flickering softly.

Of course, this wasn't even their hidden stockpile. They had simply happened to crave wild food tonight and gotten lucky.

If Barnes had discovered the canned supplies instead, they would have needed to find a way to permanently shut his mouth.

In truth, they had already discussed whether or not to bring Lieutenant Barnes over to their side.

After all, if they could silence the governnt's ssenger, their future would beco much easier.

But they couldn't.

Because Barnes was never truly part of the lee squad.

He was rely the governnt's mouthpiece.

Not one of them.

And besides…

They also needed soone ignorant of the truth to continue feeding information back to the Central Governnt.

They wanted to see how the governnt would react.

Would they finally recognize the squad's value and officially legitimize them?

Or…

Rose's gaze drifted toward Scarlet's back.

Scar…

The mont when you'll be forced to make a choice may arrive far sooner than either of us expects.