A Place to Call Home

"You should leave."

Ning Yu once again brushed aside the bangs that clung to her forehead, revealing her delicate and elegant eyebrows. As Blood Kite was put away, her eyes returned to the amber color that Ning Xuan was familiar with.

She looked at Ning Xuan in front of her, unsure of what had driven her to go to such lengths for her. According to her, they were merely artificially created lives, not blood-related sisters. At least, Ning Yu, who had lost her memory, felt no such bond, and Ning Xuan's words felt heavy.

"After I finish asking him, I'll kill him too."

Ning Yu pointed at the man on the ground, who was still unconscious.

"No one will know you were here. You can return to your original place."

"Staying by my side, I don't have time to look after your safety."

Ning Yu continued to reject her, turning and dragging the unconscious man as she walked deeper into the wetland park.

"Sister, don't you understand? I've never had a place to call my own."

Ning Xuan showed no intention of giving up and quickly caught up with Ning Yu.

"The only place I can exist is by Sister's side."

The two walked along the trail in the wetland park, neither too fast nor too slow.

The scattered zombies on the trail were repelled by an invisible force before they could reach the two, flying into the muddy ponds beside them. The zombies, unable to swim, gulped down muddy water, bubbles gurgling to the surface.

Ning Yu remained silent, not wanting to engage with her. She couldn't understand why she instinctively rejected Ning Xuan's request.

"Sister, you can treat me like a tool."

Ning Xuan's voice came from behind, causing Ning Yu to stop in her tracks.

"A tool?"

She turned to look at Ning Xuan, feeling the familiarity of the words.

"Yes, use me when needed, discard me when not. Let me take the rear when there's danger, let me wade through trouble when there's a mess. I won't disturb Sister, I won't cause Sister any trouble."

With each word Ning Xuan spoke, Ning Yu felt a tightening in her heart. Something must have happened between them.

"If Sister finds me annoying, I can go to a place where Sister can't see me, but Sister is in danger now, and I can't just leave."

Seeing Ning Yu remain silent, Ning Xuan continued to add.

"Answer me one question, and I'll agree to let you stay."

Ning Yu finally decided, realizing she might not be able to drive her away anyway.

"Alright."

Ning Xuan agreed without hesitation, as if she could accept any condition.

"What's your degree of cybernetic conversion?"

More zombies were repelled by the invisible force ahead. Ning Yu silently watched, knowing it was Ning Xuan's doing with her invisible force field.

She felt a similarity between Ning Xuan and Lacy, but she had seen Ning Xuan frown in pain before, knowing she hadn't fully undergone cybernetic conversion.

"Um... Except for my head, almost everything else is cybernetic."

Ning Xuan hesitated for a moment but then couldn't help but reveal the truth.

"Why not fully convert? Why keep the pain system?"

Ning Yu was curious about her choice.

"To achieve 100% cybernetic conversion, only one person has succeeded so far."

Ning Xuan gently shook her head behind Ning Yu.

"Lacy?"

Ning Yu blurted out.

"Seems Sister knows quite a bit."

Ning Xuan was momentarily stunned upon hearing the familiar name from Ning Yu.

"If I were to digitize my consciousness, I don't know what the outcome would be. Previous experiments haven't been promising."

"If my consciousness is damaged, losing something essential, would I still be me?"

"Most importantly, what if I forget Sister?"

Ning Xuan smiled, showing no apparent emotion.

"As for the pain system, I wanted to return to Sister without her noticing my cybernetic conversion. But it seems that's no longer possible."

Now that Ning Yu knew her true condition.

Ning Yu didn't respond directly to her words but instead asked another question:

"Why can you break the human 51% cybernetic conversion limit?"

Ning Xuan regained his somewhat vacant gaze, paused, and replied:

"First, strictly speaking, Sister and I aren't human but artificial life forms, so we're not bound by the limit. Second, with the Utopia drug, ordinary humans can also break the 51% limit."

Ning Yu nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this information:

"Is the Utopia drug the prototype of the T-virus?"

"While everyone thinks so, there's no concrete evidence."

Ning Xuan responded, indicating she didn't have the key evidence either.

Before they knew it, the two had arrived at the center of the wetland park, a small commercial street.

Normally, this was where tourists could buy snacks, drinks, and souvenirs after a stroll. But now, the ground was littered with trash, and dense zombies wandered the streets.

Ning Yu used【Detection (Advanced)】and detected two Gluttons and one Greed.

"Let me see your skills."

Ning Yu suddenly pulled out a alloy steel blade from space, the weapon she originally used for training with Shen Yiyue.

She needed to see if Ning Xuan would drag her down, though she already had a silent plan in mind.

However, these points couldn't be wasted, so she had to use the weapons provided by her system.

She placed the alloy steel blade in Ning Xuan's hand and said:

"Use this weapon."

Ning Xuan looked at the blade handed to her by Ning Yu, as if being acknowledged, and showed a joyful smile.

"No problem."

She walked in front of Ning Yu, right hand holding the steel blade given by Ning Yu, left hand snapping her fingers with a crisp sound.

The wetland park, which had just stopped raining, was eerily quiet. Hearing this obviously artificial sound, all the zombies suddenly became active.

They turned to look at Ning Xuan, who was approaching from the end of the trail, glaring at her viciously.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Two wild Gluttons jumped out from somewhere, landing on the sign of an ice cream shop by the roadside.

Another stumbling Greed used its scythe-like arm to slash through the glass door of a souvenir shop and emerged.

All the zombies focused on the two intruders, Ning Yu and Ning Xuan.

Ning Yu stood behind Ning Xuan, her right hand extending, Blood Kite once again materialized in the air. Since it had been put away for a short time, the Embrace of Fire effect was still active.

Her slightly red eyes quietly watched Ning Xuan's back, waiting for her performance.