The system dared not utter a sound.
After Ai Cao asked a few more questions, the system finally managed to speak: "I told you, don't scold me."
"Why would I scold you?" Ai Cao grinned, her eyes practically disappearing behind her teeth. "We've already signed a contract, we're bound together—the system wouldn't be hiding anything from me, would it?"
The system knew she was faking her vulnerability.
It was fooled by her tricks back then, but there was nothing it could do; it just fell for it.
“…I know what that product is,” the system said. “It appeared in the original timeline as well.”
"In the original timeline, it was bought by the male protagonist and delivered to the female protagonist as part of the 'Eve Project'," the system continued. "It's a machine created by the research director. It can influence souls... but the story begins in the original timeline."
"Initially, Xia Moli's arrival in this world was also related to it. However, what brought the female protagonist to this world was a machine of the same type, let's just call it its prototype."
"The research director, along with Unit-01, was invited to join the 'Eve Project,'" the system said. "With their help, the men of this world are ready to summon women from another world."
"The woman summoned, namely the female protagonist Xia Moli—although she now possesses the powerful mental strength of 5S, her soul is still incomplete. In this world, an incomplete soul cannot give birth to a complete soul."
"Xia Moli is unable to have children."
"In this situation, the male protagonist is very anxious. If Xia Moli doesn't have a child, the 'Eve Project' can't continue—so they asked the research director to continue the research."
"What the female lead just saw was the result of the continued research—a machine that can influence the soul."
Ai Cao listened with a smile and praised, "System, you know quite a lot."
The system chuckled a few times.
"Then why didn't you tell me beforehand?" Ai Cao changed the subject. "You didn't tell me about the male supporting character, nor the storyline. You didn't tell me anything, were you expecting me to be a detective while I was busy killing everyone?"
The system choked for a moment, then said, "It's not that you can't do it..."
It lowered its voice gradually amidst the smile of the mugwort. Finally, it only said dryly, "It's my fault," and then fell silent.
"How can I buy it?" Ai Cao asked. "Or is it that I don't need to buy it?"
The system responded quickly this time: "You'd better buy it."
“Why wouldn’t I buy it?” Ai Cao answered readily, having gotten the answer she wanted.
She smiled.
The system says it's "best" to buy, which means that this auction allows—or rather, is forced to allow—some methods that are not buying and selling.
She was talking as she walked.
After getting the information out of the system, she stood with Xia Moli and Nana across the street from the auction venue. They watched the auction entrance, where two men were standing, from a distance.
Xia Moli closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and said, "There are only those two people around the venue now, we can go in."
Ai Cao thought for a moment, then turned to Nana and asked, "Nana, how many weapons did you bring with you on this trip?"
A hint of confusion flashed in Nana's dark eyes.
But Nana answered truthfully, "Not many." She paused, then added, "Would you like a more detailed list of weapons?"
“No need.” Ai Cao smiled and turned to Xia Moli, saying, “Moli, if we need to fight later…”
Xia Moli touched her still slightly aching chest: "...I'm fine."
Ai Cao smiled and leaned weakly on her shoulder: "Oh dear, don't rush into anything. There might be someone in the venue that Nana and I can't handle. If that person does appear... we'll need your help."
Xia Moli nodded seriously.
"What do you need?" Nana asked. "I need to make a plan in advance."
“I need the machine that Jasmine saw in the man’s memory,” Artemisia replied. “If we don’t have enough money in our account to buy it, I’m going to just steal it.”
—And the money in their card, that bank card that only held half of the pirate crew's assets, certainly couldn't compete with the Empire's financial power.
As long as that seemingly innocent but actually cunning research director isn't around, she could easily wipe out the entire venue by herself with a gun; but if he is, she'll ask Xia Moli for help to cut off a portion of his mental energy, and then she'll reap a share of his luck...
Finally, they will be able to take the machine away.
“But…” Xia Moli frowned and offered a different opinion, “I’m not worth you doing this.”
“That might just be a coincidence,” Xia Moli said. She lowered her hand from her chest and continued, “I’m not in pain anymore.”
Ai Cao crossed her arms, about to continue arguing with her about the matter, when she heard a soft "beep" sound.
It was the sound coming from Nana. Although it was a faint sound, both Ai Cao and Xia Moli had very keen senses.
Nana raised her hand under their gazes. Her dark eyes darted around quickly, and she said, "It was a number dialed by a robot."
"What did she say?" Xia Moli asked.
“She said she needed a machine located at our target site,” Nana said. “She guessed that we didn’t have enough assets to pay for the machine, so she suggested that we team up with her.”
"The terms of the agreement are... she will help us block the network inside and outside this auction house after that machine is put on the stage, and we will need to escort that machine away from here." Nana calmly repeated the other party's request, "She said that she can use that machine to give the women of this world a new life."
Xia Moli sighed.
“We have to do it now,” Xia Moli said.
She looked up and asked Nana earnestly, "Have you calculated a feasible plan?"
Nana nodded.
As Ai Cao and the others discussed their plans, she heard the system shout in her mind, "You foresaw this?"
Ai Cao looked up: "Of course I can't calculate that." She grinned and smiled happily, "But if I'm beaten to death, Xia Moli will always come to save me."
“…What a madman,” the system muttered.
Ai Cao smiled, stopped talking to the system, and asked Xia Moli, "Do you want to hear my plans?"
Xia Moli looked at her seriously for a moment before saying, "I want to hear it, but not now. After we've dealt with what's in front of us, I'll sit down in a safe place and listen to you explain everything."
“But now, I believe you,” Xia Moli said. She smiled—a smile that looked especially sweet on the burly, muscular man’s face: “We are comrades-in-arms, Ai Cao. What reason do I have not to believe my comrade-in-arms?”
The mugwort responded with a smile.
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