NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

"Ok?"

Turning her head following the footsteps, Yuni's gaze was immediately drawn to the woman's ample bosom across from her.

No wonder the commander chatted with her for so long; it turns out this female singer has an even more stunning figure than Mihara.

"I am Yuni. Where is the Commander?" the girl holding the whip asked innocently.

"commander?"

Warren raised an eyebrow and replied casually, "You mean my agent? It's already six o'clock, he must be off work by now."

"get off work?"

Yuni blinked in confusion, and after gradually realizing that the unscrupulous commander might have run away behind her back, the little girl, who had been waiting for more than three hours, suddenly felt aggrieved and her eyes reddened.

"Does the Commander dislike Yuni?"

"Hold, hold..."

Seeing that Yuni looked like she was about to burst into tears, Wollum, who wasn't buying it at all, didn't panic at all. Instead, he waved his index finger with some annoyance.

"Playing the victim with me won't work. I'm the best hip-hop artist in the entire Ark. Being followed by paparazzi every time I go out is bad enough."

Not to mention my agent is being monitored by you 24/7. If he doesn't hate you, does he hate me, the one who pays his salary?

"Surveillance?"

After being reprimanded by Warren, Eunice keenly grasped the key information in his words and quickly shook her head in denial.

"I'm not here to spy on the commander. I was sent by Shuen to protect the commander."

"what?"

Seeing the little girl's innocent and guileless defense, Warren's initially somewhat hostile attitude slowly turned into a strange and troubled expression.

She really wasn't good at dealing with these immature children, so she had no choice but to tell the truth:

"Do you think a commander needs to be protected on the Ark? Although I don't know what the commander's status is like within your organization, I am very clear about the commander's status under Ark law."

Let alone murder or kidnapping, even stealing from a commander would be severely punished under criminal law, and the crime would be recorded in his personal file afterwards.

Besides, although your boss is the CEO of Missilis, don't forget that my boss is also the CEO of Tetra. If my agent really has enemies, it's my boss who protects him, not Missilis, right?

"……Um."

After a moment's thought, Yuni finally held back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

She's not stupid; it's just that everyone in Missilis usually treats her like a child and never talks about such realistic things.

After listening to Warren's analysis, Eunice quickly understood the unspoken rule: surveillance should not be called surveillance, but protection.

No wonder the commander could guess that Elysium would also send people to "protect" him when they met in the car, before he even had a chance to say anything.

"Thank you. Yuni doesn't understand these things. Nobody wants to talk to Yuni about them, not even Mihara. You are the first person to tell Yuni these things."

Thank you. "

"...Huh, it's nothing."

The little girl's straightforward gratitude made Warren feel somewhat embarrassed and shy. Fortunately, her skin was a vibrant wheat color, so even if she blushed a little, it was hard for anyone to notice.

"These are the ways of thinking that my agent just taught me in the dressing room."

"Commander? Why would he teach you these things?" Yuni asked, puzzled. "Aren't you a singer?"

To this question, Warren simply plopped down on the high stool next to Eunice and explained with great interest:

"Because I'm going to participate in an interview tomorrow, my agent told me that if I want to criticize someone without being led by the nose, I have to think about the intentions behind every word they say."

However, it's quite difficult. The commander only gave me some examples, and I'm not very proficient at using them yet.

"If it weren't for that 'Faceley' guy's' excellent speaking skills and her obvious attempt to target me, I wouldn't have bothered making an interview so complicated."

"Then...then can you teach Yuni?" Yuni stared at Wollum expectantly. "I want to become smarter too."

"It's nothing, I'm free tonight anyway... Ouch! Why did you pinch me?!"

Did you pinch me too hard?

"When someone is pinched, it always hurts."

"whee."

……

……

Taking advantage of the fact that it was still early in the fake night and before Yuni, who was responsible for protecting him, caught up, Phoenix successfully escaped. Using the mind map and Anick's route planning, he dodged dozens of surveillance cameras and arrived at a small bar called "No.5".

The tavern was unremarkable, and in fact, it didn't have much to offer, but in someone's eyes, No. 5 was quite unique.

The reason is simple: the tavern owner is a blind man who is unwilling to spend money to get a photosensitive prosthetic eye.

That's it.

"Old Luo Ba, it's been a long time."

Pushing open the iron door painted with antique wood lacquer, Phoenix walked skillfully to the bar and said cheerfully:

"Iced milk."

"Hey kid, you're a commander now, and you're still coming to a bar to drink milk."

Old Luo Ba, standing at the counter, had listless, cloudy eyes, but his palms seemed to have pupils. He casually reached into the cabinet and placed a carton of iced milk on the bar.

"Since a commander has come to visit our bar, this milk is on me, old Roba."

“Then I won’t stand on ceremony.” Phoenix readily agreed, picking up the carton of milk and downing it in one gulp.

He was indeed very thirsty. Although he had drunk water in Warren's studio, the thirst kept rising in his body.

Hey.

Phoenix chuckled twice as he put the cardboard box on the table. "Old Roba, have any girls been looking for Aaron lately?"

"Hey kid, what's this? Trying to steal someone else's girlfriend?"

"Hey! I don't have that kind of fetish, I'm just asking out of curiosity. I've noticed Aaron seems a bit absent-minded lately." The person lied without batting an eye.

"Will that brat who's obsessed with being a hero ever come to his senses?"

Old Luo Ba seemed to have heard the joke of the year, and couldn't help but burst into laughter a few times.

"Yes, there is. The girl was acting very mysteriously. When I looked for Aaron, he wasn't there. She left me a message and asked me to pass it on to Aaron."

"Oh? Is it something strange? Aaron has been saying some strange things these past few days. Tell me what it is, and I'll pass it on to him."

"Hey~ you're still as shrewd as ever, you guessed it right away. That girl did leave me a strange message, something about 'after the rain in the empty mountains,' but I couldn't understand what it meant at all."

"After a fresh rain in the empty mountains?"

Phoenix murmured, his fingernails unconsciously scratching the milk carton, and even his tourmaline eyes gradually deepened due to the angle of his head as he looked down.

“I really don’t understand what it means. I’ll ask Aaron another day.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Empty mountains after the rain.

This is one of the coded messages between Phoenix and Anise, implying that she has infiltrated a violent organization in the outer perimeter of the Ark.

Other examples include "The bright moonlight shines before my bed" representing safety, "The sun sets beyond the mountains" representing returning to Earth, and "I sleep soundly in spring, unaware of the dawn" representing entering the ark...

Under Phoenix's planning, these kinds of five-character quatrains each acquired a certain simple and fixed meaning.

It seems that Anise has adapted to life in the outer edge of the Ark, a place used by the Ark government to exile serious criminals and also to dump garbage.

I've heard that many gray industry chains have sprung up in recent years.

"Old Roba, speaking of which, aren't you going to get your eyes checked? I met two medical Nikkis on this mission. Just nod your head, and trust me, the price and the quality of the surgery are absolutely guaranteed."

After gathering all the information, Phoenix had nothing else to do, so he simply stayed at Bar No. 5, indulging in milk and cheap desserts, squandering his rare leisure time.

It was an awkward time of day, and due to the stubborn owner's insistence, Bar No. 5 refused to serve main courses to its patrons. Therefore, naturally, no customers would patronize the bar around 6 or 7 pm.

When he heard that Phoenix was going to introduce him to a doctor, old Roba grinned nonchalantly.

"I'm already this old, one foot in the grave, how can I compare to you young people? I know best whether my body can handle it or not. Besides, Windsor is about to go to college, I need to save some money for accident insurance."

"Whatever you want. If Windsor needs to see a doctor, remember to call me if I haven't died yet."

"I've told you so many times, stop spewing these unlucky words out loud every day. You really don't know how to be polite to yourself with that mouth of yours."

"Tsk, you're not much better than me either."

"..."

"..."

The two friends, one old and one young, fell silent for a few seconds, then chuckled softly in unison.

However, at that moment, another group of people rushed in from outside, making a lot of noise, which made it hard for Phoenix not to turn around and look.

What comes into view are colorful floral shirts, aviator sunglasses of different styles, various necklaces and chains with skull patterns, and seemingly uniform studded belts.