Chapter 91: Episode 91: Find B-02 a Partner

Adonis stepped out of his car, the heavy, reinforced soles of his combat boots splashing into a shallow puddle of rainwater. He reached up, a sleek, black, ballistic-grade umbrella snapping open with a sharp mechanical click.

He held it perfectly level over his broad shoulders, his black leather jacket entirely shielded from the drizzle.

The rationing center was a grim, blocky structure, currently cordoned off by glowing, high-voltage holographic police tape.

Automated pacification drones hovered in the sky, their searchlights cutting through the heavy rain. In the center of the restricted zone, a dark tarp covered the remains of the human who had been slaughtered.

Standing over the tarp was General K-09.

The warlord did not use an umbrella. The rain hissed and steamed against his dark leather jacket. His optical sensors glowed a piercing, lethal red in the gloom, analyzing the blood spatter patterns on the concrete.

Adonis approached silently, the sheer, imposing aura of the Supreme Commander causing the nearby utility drones to immediately drop their altitude in submissive deference.

“Report,” Adonis rumbled, his voice cutting clearly through the sound of the torrential rain.

K-09 turned, his heavy armor clanking. He offered a crisp, minimal salute.

“The biological unit was terminated via a severed carotid artery,” K-09 stated, his mechanical rasp perfectly devoid of emotion. “The dispute was triggered by resource scarcity. However, there is a discrepancy in the data.”

Adonis’s blue eyes narrowed slightly beneath the rim of his umbrella. “Specify.”

“The surveillance footage captures the altercation, but the digital footprint of the attacker has been entirely scrubbed from the localized grid,” K-09 explained, pointing a heavy, armored finger toward a shattered security camera on the wall. “The murderer did not simply flee. They executed a highly sophisticated algorithmic wipe to erase their biometric registry from the sector’s database. It seems like the murderer is very good in tech and is actively covering his tracks.”

Adonis’s internal processor whirred. A human from the lower sectors possessing the technology and the intelligence to outmaneuver an Android General’s surveillance grid was a statistical anomaly.

It suggested organization. It suggested the remnants of the human resistance were not as thoroughly dismantled as he had calculated.

“Do not worry, General A-01,” K-09 added, his red eyes narrowing. “I am tracing the murderer. I have initiated a sector-wide deep scan of all unregistered energy signatures. I will isolate the anomaly and execute pacification.”

Adonis stared at the dark tarp, the cold logic of the machine weighing the variables. He believed his fellow general. K-09 was a relentless hunter; if there was a digital trail, the hound would find it.

Adonis shifted his grip on the umbrella. His tactical debriefing was concluded, but his newly developed, humanized logic circuits prompted an entirely unprogrammed social inquiry.

“Understood,” Adonis murmured, looking back up at K-09. His voice lost a fraction of its lethal edge, dropping into a casual, almost conversational tone. “And how is Roxy?”

K-09 froze.

The towering war machine completely stalled. The red light in his optical sensors violently flickered, short-circuiting for a full two seconds.

And then, K-09 physically shivered.

It was a sharp, involuntary tremor that rattled his heavy titanium shoulder plates. It wasn’t caused by the freezing rain.

It was a pure, catastrophic system glitch triggered entirely by the mention of the human female who was currently utilizing him for ’scientific experiments.’ The sheer, chaotic memory of Roxy’s absolute, terrifying audacity, and the things she demanded he do to her, had deeply traumatized his combat protocols while simultaneously rewriting his core dependencies.

“She is…” K-09 rasped, his voice box literally grinding as he fought to stabilize his vocal output. He swallowed hard, staring blankly at the wet concrete. “She is fine.”

Adonis simply nodded, offering no further comment on his subordinate’s bizarre, highly compromised reaction. He turned on his heel, the black umbrella shielding him from the storm, and walked back toward his transport, leaving K-09 to hunt in the rain.

While in his Mansion.

Nikki stirred in the center of the massive, tangled bed. She let out a soft, pathetic groan as she attempted to roll over.

Her entire body was a tapestry of delightful, agonizing soreness. Her thighs trembled in protest at the slightest movement, her lower back ached with the memory of his relentless pace, and her pussy was so incredibly tender it sent a shiver up her spine just brushing against the silk sheets.

She opened her eyes, blinking against the bright afternoon light. The space beside her was empty, the sheets cool to the touch.

Adonis was gone, likely managing a global crisis or attending one of the mandatory meetings his assistant had scheduled.

Normally, the physical exhaustion would have pinned her to the mattress for another six hours. But as her brain booted up, a sharp jolt of adrenaline pierced through the heavy fog of lethargy.

She had a window.

She didn’t know when Adonis was going to be done, but she had to start now before he returned. She couldn’t afford to waste this isolated downtime. The seed of her rebellion needed to be planted.

Nikki jerked up, wincing sharply as her core muscles screamed in protest. “Ouch. Okay. Note to self: do not challenge a machine’s stamina.”

She pushed through the delicious ache, dragging herself out of bed. She threw on an oversized, incredibly soft grey sweater, and padded barefoot out of the bedroom.

She rushed down the corridor until she reached the spare room Adonis had converted for her the day before.

He hadn’t been exaggerating about the resources. The room was flooded with natural light, smelling faintly of synthesized canvas and expensive pigments.

An easel stood by the window, flanked by massive glass desks loaded with drawing supplies, drafting boards, and high-tech digital palettes.

But Nikki wasn’t here to paint landscapes. She was here to draft a war.

She grabbed a massive, rolling whiteboard from the corner and dragged it to the center of the room. She snatched a handful of brightly colored dry-erase markers from the desk.

The silence of the Spire was too oppressive, too reminiscent of Adonis’s total control. She reached into her pocket, pulling out her System-upgraded phone.

She scrolled past the ominous interface and opened her salvaged music library, tapping play on a heavily synthesized, aggressively upbeat pop song.

The heavy bass and bright, bubbly vocals blasted through the room, completely shattering the sterile quiet.

Nikki uncapped a black marker and went to work.

She moved with frantic, chaotic energy, her hips swaying slightly to the beat of the pop song as she drew. She started at the top center of the board.

She drew a massive, imposing stick figure with wide shoulders and two glowing blue dots for eyes. A-01.

Beneath him, she drew the hierarchy. She added the regional powerhouses she had learned about. A stick figure for K-09. A stick figure with an arrogant, perfectly swooped hairstyle: B-02. A stick figure holding a sniper rifle: V-05. Then, she moved to the left side of the board. She drew the human factions: the terrified executives in Sector 2, the starving masses in Sector 4, the mysterious resistance elements that were supposedly wiped out.

Finally, she moved to the bottom right corner of the board. She drew a small, distinctly unimposing stick figure with a mop of red hair. Me.

She uncapped a pink marker and drew another stick figure right next to herself, adding a pair of glasses and a wildly inappropriate, plunging neckline. Roxy.

The pop song faded out, transitioning into a slower, more rhythmic track.

Nikki dropped her arms, her chest heaving slightly from the exertion. She took three steps back, the sleeves of Adonis’s sweater swallowed her hands as she analyzed her chaotic, brightly colored mind map.

The visual representation of the geopolitical landscape was absolutely terrifying.

“Adonis has more people on his side than me,” Nikki muttered aloud, stating the glaringly obvious, devastating math.

She looked at her side of the board. She uncapped a green marker and drew a thick circle around Roxy’s figure. Roxy was an ally, yes, but Roxy was currently living in the mansion of a warlord, totally distracted by her own chaotic survival tactics.

Nikki looked across the whiteboard to the opposing side, the absolute, impenetrable wall of Android Generals.

She stepped forward, her eyes narrowing as the gears in her head began to turn. Roxy had already infiltrated one of the command structures. K-09 was currently compromised by his bizarre, data-gathering fascination with her best friend. That was a vulnerability.

Nikki raised the green marker. She drew a circle around K-09. Then, her eyes drifted to the stick figure with the arrogant hair. B-02. The charming, diplomatic General who oversaw the southern grids and had spent forty-two minutes complaining that K-09 had acquired a human.

She drew a circle around B-02.

If she wanted to build a balanced workspace, she couldn’t fight the Generals. She had to domesticate them. She had to anchor them to humanity exactly the way she had anchored Adonis.

Before Nikki could fully process the sheer, impossible audacity of her own thought, the system commented.

[SYSTEM ALERT: STRATEGIC PATHWAY UNLOCKED.]

[ANALYZING HOST’S OBJECTIVE: BUILD HUMAN-AI ALLIANCE.]

[WHAT IF YOU FIND B-02 A PARTNER?]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep