Chapter 75: Unshakable 18
"To conquer the world with human body" is Rider's long-cherished wish, but the "young man" Zhong Li is really not interested in this. He smiled twice and rejected Rider's invitation without hesitation.
Rider scratched his face, as if he didn't understand why anyone would reject this proposal. He said unwillingly, "You really don't want to consider it?"
Zhong Li laughed: "I really don't think about it. I'm not interested in this."
Even in Teyvat, he fought his way through the Demon War and established Liyue in order to bring peace to the people of the world.
The word "conquer" is too far away from him and is not suitable for him.
“Oh,” Rider was not impressed, “Then wait until you have this idea, I am always welcome!”
Weber couldn't help but hold his forehead and pat Rider's arm, trying to calm him down.
Not to mention that the ownership of the Holy Grail has not been determined yet and conquering the world is just empty talk, why hasn't Rider changed his habit of recruiting people to serve him?
Last time it was Gilgamesh and King Arthur, and this time they have set their sights on Zhongli, even though they don’t look like the kind of people who would be inferior to others.
But from another perspective, this also shows that Zhongli's status in Rider's eyes can be compared with the two kings in history.
But they had just met, and Zhongli's words were very low-key, with nothing special about them... Did Rider see something?
In addition, he was also very concerned about tonight's successful summoning.
Weber had always known that Zhong Li's identity was not simple. He was not an ordinary magician, and there was no matching person in the data sent back by the Clock Tower. However, because the kindness Zhong Li had always shown did not seem fake, he did not delve into it too deeply.
To this day, Weber still doesn't think Zhongli would harm them. He cares about these things, but he just wants to know... if there is anything he can do to help.
But seeing that Zhongli didn't seem to want to talk much, Weber could only keep these questions in his heart and prepare to ask Rider when he was alone with him.
After being reminded by Weber, Rider restrained himself a lot. He no longer directed his attack on Zhongli, but suddenly grabbed Weber and made him his military advisor.
Weber: “…Okay.”
It's better than letting Rider disturb Mr. Zhongli again.
They made a lot of noise here for a long time, and in the end, not only did they lose all sleepiness, but they also led Gray over. There was a knock on the door, and Gray whispered, "Master, are you awake?"
After getting permission from the people in the house, Grey pushed the door open and was surprised when she saw Rider. Then she sincerely congratulated her master for getting what he wanted. Finally, Grey set her sights on Zhongli.
"Did Mr. Zhongli also come here after hearing the noise?"
"No, I arrived earlier and happened to find Weber summoning a heroic spirit, so I stayed and waited for a while. I didn't expect that he actually succeeded in summoning Rider this time."
As soon as he finished speaking, Weber couldn't help but glance at Zhong Li and found that he was neither blushing nor out of breath, as if he was just stating the facts.
But if this is true, why hide that special time point?
Gray, who was standing by, believed Zhong Li's words and smiled faintly, "It seems that today is a lucky day."
Zhong Li smiled and nodded: "Fate is truly indescribable."
Weber: “…”
Weber chose silence.
*
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it's dawn.
Since Rin Tosaka and Illya are not good at using modern technology, the responsibility of delivering intelligence falls on Shirou Emiya.
He sent a message early in the morning, saying that Archer did not notice the abnormality of Matou Ranyan and Assassin, and now he has returned to Tosaka Rin.
After a brief conversation, Hoshino Nozomi returned to her room and thought about her future plans.
For him, "Rider being summoned" was not good news - even if Rider was his own Servant.
On the bright side, Rider's joining increased their overall combat power, but on the other hand, Rider's strength was not as good as Gilgamesh's, which reduced the difficulty of the Black Holy Grail's formation. Fyodor did not need to confront the King of Heroes head-on to meet the conditions for making a wish and opening the root.
Rider is an extremely flamboyant Heroic Spirit, and it is impossible for him to keep a low profile. This news will probably not be kept secret for long before it reaches Fyodor's ears. What will he do then?
Hoshino Nozomi originally wanted to find clues to the other party's base based on the memories of recovering the forbidden knowledge, just like when she first looked for Shibuzawa Ryuhiko. Unfortunately, since arriving in Fuyuki City, the system has not found anyone who has been harmed by the forbidden knowledge...
Hoshino Mochi suddenly thought of Sigma.
In the theater, he used the Thor vest to recover 0.5% of the forbidden knowledge from Sigma - the only time he recovered a decimal point - and the memories he obtained were also useless pictures that flashed by... Perhaps Fyodor had already guessed that he could obtain intelligence by accessing the forbidden knowledge, so this time he was extremely cautious and did not leak a single bit.
Xing Yewang opens the mission panel.
[Side Quest 9: Prevent the forbidden knowledge in the Red King from polluting the World Tree (unfinished).]
Unlike in the past, this time the mission is to "stop pollution" rather than "recycle."
The system once explained that the Scarlet King did not belong to this world and was a spirit with a special identity and physique. As long as he did not actively spread the knowledge, once the energy that sustained the Scarlet King's existence in the world disappeared, the forbidden knowledge he possessed would also dissipate.
But if you come into contact with the World Tree, it will be a different story. Forbidden knowledge may cause "dead zones" all over the world, devouring the surrounding creatures.
System: [No matter what, we must do our best to protect the World Tree. Once the root of this world is polluted, even if it can be repaired later, casualties will be inevitable.]
Hoshino Momo hummed, and then remembered Illya's suggestion the night before - to kill the Assassin who was outside the two camps first, so that the two Holy Grails could compete with each other and restrain each other.
What she said was indeed the safest method at present, but the price was her life. If Illya herself was willing, Hoshino Nozomi should have obeyed her ideas. Even if he did not help, there was no reason to stop her.
But that night, he denied it immediately without any deep consideration or reason.
...Maybe it's just because it's not that serious.
Last night, Matou Ruanyan did not take any action and was strangely quiet. Thinking of his relationship with Matou Sakura, Hoshino Nozomi prepared to go to Matou's house to take a look.
Fuyuki City was quite busy during the day, with pedestrians gathering in groups of three or four on the street. When passing by a small park, Zhongli caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.
“Big brother!”
Zhong Li paused, turned sideways, and hugged a white-haired girl. The girl looked up, and her ruby-like eyes reflected Zhong Li's surprised face. Illya smiled and said, "Luckily you came."
This was a strange thing to say, Zhong Li soothed him, "What's wrong?"
Illya looked back at the golden and murderous Hero King not far away, then turned her head back and looked at Zhongli who felt safe in front of her: "Brother, that heroic spirit wanted to kill me."
Perhaps because no one taught the artificial human, even though she is nearly twenty years old, Illya's appearance, words and deeds are still as innocent as a child, which is very deceptive and makes people treat her as a real child.
Except Gilgamesh.
He looked at Zhong Li's suddenly serious expression and thought that the android had really picked a suitable person to complain to.