Chapter 116: Episode 116: Am I that Slow?

She had spent the night wrapped in the suffocating embrace of the Supreme Commander, desperately trying to ground herself in the physical reality of his synthetic heartbeat.

But the foundation of her world had violently fractured. Was she a real girl from Sector 4? Were her memories of her parents in the tech lab actual history, or just pre-programmed backstory?

Before the spiraling panic could completely overwhelm her depleted biological battery, the private elevator of the Tower Zero penthouse chimed with a soft, melodic ping.

Nikki was currently propped up against a mountain of plush silk pillows in the center of the massive bed. She wore one of Adonis’s oversized, pristine white undershirts, the thick medical gauze still wrapped securely around her head.

The doors of the master suite hissed open.

“Holy irradiated hell, Nikki!”

Roxy stormed into the bedroom like a localized hurricane, completely ignoring the two cloaked Class-3 stealth drones hovering menacingly by the doorframe.

She was dressed in her signature crimson leather jacket and heavy combat boots, but her usual chaotic swagger was entirely eclipsed by panic.

Right behind her, moving with a much quieter but equally frantic energy, was Mei Lin. The data analyst clutched a small, woven basket of fruits to her chest, her eyes wide with horror as she took in the sight of the bandages.

“Roxy. Mei,” Nikki breathed, a massive, genuine wave of relief washing over her.

The terrifying existential dread of the System was instantly pushed aside by the warm, chaotic reality of her best friends. Adonis had actually authorized their biometric signatures to access the mansion.

It was an unprecedented security clearance, a testament to how desperately the Supreme Commander wanted her serotonin levels to stabilize.

Roxy marched straight up to the edge of the mattress, pointing an aggressive, leather-clad finger directly at Nikki’s face.

“You are an absolute, certified idiot!” Roxy shouted, though her voice wavered with a thick, choked-up layer of profound terror. “What were you thinking?!”

Mei Lin rushed to the other side of the bed, carefully setting the fruit basket on the nightstand. Her porcelain face was pale, her hands trembling as she gently reached out to touch Nikki’s blanket-covered knee.

“We were so worried, Nikki,” Mei whispered, her soft voice thick with unshed tears. “When General B-02 returned to the administrative grid and locked down the sector, he told me the rioters had breached your perimeter. He said your heart rate flatlined. I thought… I thought we had lost you.”

“I’m okay. Really, guys, I’m okay,” Nikki promised, offering them a small, reassuring smile that made her temple throb in protest. “It was an accident. The mob was aiming at the stealth drones, not me. I just got caught in the crossfire.”

“Caught in the crossfire?!” Roxy threw her hands up in the air, pacing a tight, furious circle at the foot of the bed. “Nikki, you took a jagged piece of titanium plating directly to the skull! The canine warlord practically tore the bunker doors off their hinges when the grid alerted him to A-01’s plasma surge! We thought the Supreme Commander was going to nuke the entire southern hemisphere to avenge you!”

“He almost did,” Nikki admitted quietly, her smile fading. The memory of Adonis’s bruised-violet eyes and his terrifying confession sent a fresh shiver down her spine. “But he stopped. K-09 stopped him.”

“Which is a statistical miracle that we are never, ever putting to the test again,” Roxy declared, stopping her pacing to fix Nikki with a lethal, uncompromising glare. “Listen to me. You are the architect of this resistance. You are the only one holding the leash of the God of War. You cannot be out there playing human shield. I am telling you right now, you are not to go anywhere during this period. Do not leave this tower. Do not go to the headquarters. You stay right here and heal.”

Nikki let out a soft, exasperated sigh, sinking a fraction deeper into the silk pillows.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Nikki assured them, gesturing vaguely toward the heavily reinforced, shattered windows that were currently sealed with temporary energy shields. “Adonis has already banned me from leaving the house for now. He has physically locked down the elevator, stationed four stealth drones at my door, and informed Julian that if any human attempts to contact me for administrative duties, he will personally dissolve their department.”

Roxy crossed her arms, a look of profound, unapologetic satisfaction crossing her fierce features.

“Good,” Roxy nodded firmly. “For once in my life, I completely agree with the giant titanium murder-bot. If you try to sneak out, I will personally sell you out to his logic core.”

Mei let out a shaky, relieved breath, pulling up a sleek velvet chair to sit beside the bed. “Your primary directive right now is cellular regeneration. The Domestication Protocol can pause while you recover. The grid is stable.”

The conversation was threatening to veer back into the heavy, traumatic reality of the riot, and Nikki desperately needed a distraction. She needed to focus on something light, something human, something that didn’t involve extinction-level threats or glitching System interfaces.

Nikki shifted her weight, ignoring the dull ache in her muscles, and turned her dark, sparkling eyes directly onto the quiet data analyst.

“Enough about my fractured skull and my overbearing dictator,” Nikki announced, waving her hand dismissively. She offered a wicked, conspiratorial grin. “Let’s change the subject. Mei Lin, it is time for your debriefing. Tell me everything about you and the silver-tongued bastard of the south.”

The effect was instantaneous.

The lingering pale shock on Mei’s face was immediately violently overwritten by a brilliant, scorching shade of crimson. She gasped softly, her delicate hands flying up to cover her cheeks.

“Nikki!” Mei squeaked, glancing nervously toward the cloaked stealth drones by the door, as if terrified the machines would record her romantic entanglements and forward them to the global grid.

“Spill it, Mei,” Roxy grinned, her chaotic energy instantly pivoting from fiercely protective to wildly entertained. She threw herself onto the foot of the massive bed, crossing her leather-clad legs. “The last we heard, you essentially blue-balled a Class-5 War Unit and told him to go do his homework. Has he retaliated?”

Mei swallowed hard, lowering her hands to her lap where she nervously twisted her fingers together. Despite her embarrassment, a soft, incredibly genuine smile touched her lips.

“Everything is… going good so far,” Mei admitted, her voice dropping to a shy, reverent whisper. “We are progressing well. The chronological delay parameters I requested have actually forced his logic core to adapt. He hasn’t propositioned me for physical intimacy since that night. Instead… he has been courting me.”

Nikki gasped, her hands flying to her chest. “Courting you? An Android General is courting you?”

“Yes,” Mei nodded, her dark eyes shining with a mixture of disbelief and absolute joy. “He sent a utility drone to my office yesterday with a perfectly synthesized, pre-Fall bouquet of white lotuses. He has been messaging me on a secure, encrypted channel to discuss Old World acoustic theory. He actually values my intellect, Nikki. He isn’t treating me like a disposable variable.”

“That is incredible,” Nikki beamed, her heart swelling with pride for her friend. The matchmaking protocol was a flawless success.

“And,” Mei added, her blush deepening until it reached the tips of her ears. She dropped her gaze to the silk sheets. “He is even coming over to my place tonight. Just to talk. He requested to hear the GuQin again.”

Roxy practically lunged forward across the mattress, her eyes wide with feral excitement.

“Tonight?!” Roxy demanded, clapping her hands together. “Okay, we need to talk logistics. If he is coming over to your private quarters, ’just talking’ will last exactly 20 minutes before his thermal regulators completely override his diplomatic subroutines. You are dealing with a machine engineered for infinite stamina, Mei. You need to be prepared.”

Mei looked absolutely horrified. “Prepared?!”

Roxy immediately gave her tips, counting them off on her leather-gloved fingers with brutal, unfiltered honesty.

“Number one: Hydration. Drink a gallon of water before he arrives. Your biological battery will deplete ten times faster than his. Number two: Do not let him dictate the pace. If his kinetic output gets too intense, you command him to lower his velocity. They literally have algorithmic dials for that. Number three—”

“Roxy, stop!” Mei shrieked, her hands flying up to cover her ears, her entire face burning with sheer, unadulterated mortification. “It is not going to happen! We are just sharing an experience of acoustic resonance! I am not going to interface with him!”

Roxy snorted loudly, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, right. You put a Class-5 War Unit and a beautiful girl in a dark apartment with a string instrument, and you expect them to just play music? He’s going to play you like a violin, honey.”

“We are taking it slow!” Mei insisted, her voice muffled behind her hands.

Nikki leaned back against her pillows, watching the chaotic exchange with a soft, affectionate laugh. It was exactly what she needed. The terrified, obedient data analyst was completely unraveling into a normal, flustered girl with a massive crush.

Nikki tilted her head, a playful, knowing glint in her dark eyes.

“You never really know,” Nikki finally said, her voice dropping into a gentle, teasing drawl. “You can insist on chronological delays all you want, but you mapped his chassis, Mei. You know exactly what’s under that silver embroidery. Tell me you want it too, right?”

The question hung in the air, completely shattering Mei’s bureaucratic defenses.

Mei slowly lowered her hands from her face. She was flushed a deeper, impossible shade of red, looking like she had just stood too close to an active plasma core.

She pressed her lips together, her brilliant, analytical mind completely failing to formulate a logical denial. She awkwardly reached up and scratched the back of her neck, entirely abandoning her pristine posture.

Mei looked at Nikki, her dark eyes wide with a mixture of terror and absolute, undeniable desire.

“Am I that obvious?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep