I'm living off a woman in Arknights.

Page 92

He waved his claws haphazardly, signaling the two behind him to run away and call for help. Instead of retreating, he advanced, clenched his fists without saying a word, and with a powerful leap, jumped six meters away, throwing a heavy punch at Hoshiguma's head from top to bottom.

Hoshiguma did not use her shield in the face of Connar's attack.

She calmly raised her arm to block, without taking a step back, and successfully blocked the cyclone-induced blow from Conar.

She then scooped up Connor's balance by moving her arm to the side, and with a quick turn, kicked the reckless Perot back.

As Conar flew backward, he immediately spread his arms, his sharp fingers slicing across the walls on both sides of the corridor, scattering sparks.

He used the momentum to stop himself, panting heavily as he landed on the ground with a thud.

Hoshiguma saw the empty corridor through his undulating back.

The two people behind Conner earlier didn't make any brainless declarations like "I'll help"; they had already taken the opportunity to escape.

Connar turned his ears away and stood up to block Hoshiguma's view.

He rubbed his aching abdomen twice, then spread his five fingers into a claw shape, arched his back, and let out a low growl like a wild beast, drawing Hoshiguma's gaze back from behind him.

Immediately afterwards, Conar launched himself out like a cannonball, stabbing Hoshiguma's abdomen, which appeared to be the weakest point in her defenses.

Looking at Hoshiguma's still-white arm in the projection, Yun Yi concluded that Conar's attack was utterly futile and would inevitably fail to achieve any results.

Indeed, before Conar's claw strike could reach Hoshiguma's abdomen, it was blocked by Hoshiguma with one hand. Yun Yi was fortunate enough to witness the counterintuitive scene of a two-meter-tall strong man being stopped by a one-and-eight-meter-tall slender woman with one hand.

After intercepting Conar's attack, Hoshiguma deftly flipped and grabbed Conar's thick wrist, pulling him forward while simultaneously twisting his ankle, completely disrupting Conar's balance.

At the moment when Conar was most unbalanced and tried to save himself with Hoshiguma's help, Hoshiguma, with her experience, added a final push, released her grip in time, and went behind Conar to deliver a powerful blow.

Conar lost control and fell face-first into the ground. If he hadn't reacted in time and braced himself with his hands at the last moment, his nose would probably have been broken by Hoshiguma's force. But that was all the self-rescue he managed to do.

"Hiss—strange..." Conar murmured, lying on the ground unable to get up. He tried to exert force, but his body seemed to be working against him. Whenever he tried to lift himself up, he couldn't muster any strength. It was numb and painful, as if his bones had been broken.

Conar, who was experienced in injury treatment, was certain that he had not broken any bones or torn any tendons, and that even the outermost layer of skin and flesh was probably not red. But he was strangely unable to move.

Having never experienced anything so bizarre, Connar broke out in a cold sweat. He writhed and struggled on the ground like a salted fish, trying to break free from the seemingly ghostly restraints and get up, only to find that his body seemed to be getting stiffer and stiffer.

Hoshiguma scratched her face, feeling a little embarrassed that Connar was so weak, as if she had been bullying the weaker one.

Seeing Conal struggling, she reminded him, "Relax, the more you move, the less you can move. If you don't move, you'll be fine in a while."

Volume 2: Fireworks at Dragon Gate: Chapter 165 (Main Story) Conner: My head, my head is going to explode!

Upon hearing this, Conar tilted his beastly eyes upwards, trying to see the speaker's expression, but could only see the other person's legs and feet, which were covered by a black uniform and boots, with only half of their white ankles showing.

The interplay of the serene black and the dazzling, healthy white caused his rapidly beating heart to involuntarily recall his earlier, uneventful, and swift defeat.

Connar's feverish head cooled instantly. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, deciding that someone who could subdue him in one move had no reason to lie, so he relaxed his numb and aching muscles as instructed.

Connar collapsed to the ground, his paws still digging into the earth. His suddenly opened beastly eyes glanced vaguely at the boots of the person beside him, as if preparing to stomp to his feet if anything went wrong.

“Very good. Now that you’ve calmed down, listen to me.” Hoshiguma tapped the ground with her toe right under Conar’s nose to get his attention. “Listen carefully. I am here on behalf of the master of this place to determine your wish.”

Koner's pupils dilated in shock, and the strength in his claws, which had been furiously digging at the ground, vanished. "Ah? You...you're someone sent by that person?!"

*Sargon swears* Oh no, I actually hit the person they sent (even though I didn't even touch him). Could they mistakenly think they're hostile towards me?

No, that would be truly disastrous; we must remedy the situation immediately!

Connar's dog ears immediately drooped and pressed tightly against the sides of his head. He lay down on the ground, placed his hands together in front of his head, and bowed awkwardly but sincerely, unable to exert any strength. "I'm sorry! I was wrong! I shouldn't have attacked you without listening to anything! Please don't misunderstand! I attacked you subconsciously because people used to frequently attack the places where I was. I and everyone else have absolute reverence for that person!..."

Conner, his mind blank, said whatever came to mind, a stark contrast to his usual taciturn nature, and expressed himself with all his might.

He desperately wanted to convey through his words to the enigmatic woman beside him that they harbored absolutely no resentment towards that person.

Even without Conner repeatedly emphasizing this point, Hoshiguma already knew it.

Hoshiguma also understood why Conar attacked her without explanation.

Besides the high probability that atavism in various ethnic groups will result in a more attractive appearance or a stronger ability than that of their own kind, it can also sometimes make atavistic individuals more susceptible to the influence of intuition and animalistic instincts.

This impact is actually not significant; it can be easily suppressed and exploited with proper normal control.

But it was clear that this regressed Pero, for unknown reasons, had never controlled his bestial nature. As a result, when faced with Hoshiguma, who could easily kill him, his mind was filled with bestiality, and he tried to fight for a way to survive like a trapped beast.

What surprised Hoshiguma was that, under the strong control of his animalistic instincts, Conar not only prioritized protecting his companions but also did not choose to run away. Instead, he faced her head-on and attacked directly.

This is actually not in line with animal instincts. Wild animals always prioritize survival, and Hoshiguma expected that Conar would flee the source of danger as soon as possible.

That's why she was so interested that she didn't restrain her aura and behavior, wanting to see if Conar would have any more surprises in store.

As it turns out, Hoshiguma was overthinking it. Apart from his somewhat irrational instincts, Connar was actually just an ordinary, slightly malnourished, atavistic Pero.

She sighed regretfully in her heart, walked up to Conner, and stopped his endless rambling, "No need to say more, I understand. Now, you just need to tell me your wish."

Connar glanced at her furtively, unsure whether she truly believed him or was merely toying with him like her previous slave owners. He could only stiffen and obediently stop his rambling, complying with her request. He stammered, "I...my wish..."

The moment the words left his mouth, a look of confusion flashed in Conner's eyes. He hadn't actually thought about his wishes yet.

He had always felt that his experience in the apartment was his lifelong desire, and that he didn't actually have any other wishes.

But the person in front of me wants him to say his wish. What... what should he say?

When Connar stammered and his blank head was turning frantically, Hoshiguma didn't urge him. Instead, she stood on the ground in front of his head and looked up to observe the doors on both sides of the corridor that had signs for "Room 1495" and "Room 1496".

The door to Room 1496, made of natural wood, was half-open, revealing furniture in shades of dark and light brown, and wooden floors with regular grain patterns.

The door to room 1495, in the same color, was fully open, revealing a dazzling interior with colors ranging from red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—a bright and almost garish décor.

Each room is different... Hoshiguma stroked the Hannya, thoughtfully taking two steps toward room 1495, allowing himself to see part of its interior hidden by the wall—it seemed to be a bathroom and toilet.

Conar noticed Hoshiguma's movement, and his chaotic mind was immediately jolted, thinking that the other party was already getting impatient.

But he really couldn't think of any wishes. The main thing was that he couldn't lie. His intuition told him that if he lied, he would be exposed instantly, making the situation even worse.

Connar gripped his head, which was spinning wildly, his temples throbbing, and the hair on his forehead was gradually becoming damp and sticky with beads of sweat.

Completely disregarding the fact that he was afraid the other party might be impatient and hastily accuse him of a fabricated crime, Connar racked his brains and came up with a wish that wasn't really a wish.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Conar breathed a sigh of relief and shouted out loud, "My wish is to be with Minerva forever!"

That's right, it doesn't matter if he has no desires, he can just follow the smart Minerva.

Conar had repeatedly confirmed with his intuition that Minerva harbored no hostility or ill intentions towards him, and that following her was absolutely the best option for him.

"Is that so?" Hoshiguma's eyes flashed with a smile when she heard Conar's energetic reply.

She stepped back, knelt down on one knee in front of Connar, and looked down to meet his gaze. "That wish is too vague. Please be clear. Do you want to be with Minerva all the time, or to work with her professionally, or something else?"

"Uh, let me think..." Conar's originally determined gaze immediately became clear and transparent. He thought in a daze, "So there are so many kinds of things when two people are together?"

“Think it over carefully. Once a wish is made, we do not accept cancellations or modifications,” Hoshiguma observed the helplessness and panic on Konar’s face from above. “I suggest you do not rely solely on your intuition.”

Yun Yi glanced at Conar's stunned expression through the projection and felt that, judging from Conar's current behavior, he would be better off relying on his more accurate intuition than thinking.

Volume Two: Fireworks at Longmen: Chapter 166 Yun Yi: ? What's so strange about this?

Conner himself thought so too; he wasn't good at thinking, and the more he thought about it, the more confused he became, so it was better to cut the Gordian knot quickly.

Therefore, Conar did not completely follow Hoshiguma's advice. He thought back on Hoshiguma's words and made a choice based on a combination of analysis and intuition: "I want to continue working with Minerva. She does the thinking, and I do the work."

This way, it won't affect Minerva's own time, and it will also prevent him from making mistakes at work—he can just abandon his brain and follow orders.

Hoshiguma didn't comment on his wish further, but simply said in a calm tone, "Miss Minerva has chosen to work for us from now on. If your wish remains unchanged, then you will also work for us from now on. Is that acceptable?"

“Sure, of course!” Conar nodded in agreement without hesitation. Being able to stay and work here was a great thing for him in itself—it would be even better if he could avoid seeing that person and his people as much as possible; both of them were terrifying.

As Conar was inwardly grumbling, he heard the woman's voice in front of him cheerfully reply, "Okay, I've noted your wish. I'll give you a unified answer later."

He then realized that the fatal feeling that had been weighing on his heart had suddenly eased. Conner subconsciously looked up and saw that the corridor in front of him was empty.

He scratched his head, muttering to himself in a daze, "...They're gone already?"

She had indeed left. Hoshiguma, who had been teleported back to her side by Yunyi, glanced at Conar's dumbfounded look in the projection and said, "You'd better reconsider making him a manager and arrange a more suitable position for him."

Although this Pero is responsible, stronger than the others, and much bolder (the others froze when they saw Hoshiguma, but Conar dared to attack), his intelligence is clearly not enough to lead a team; he can only do some specific management roles that only require execution.

"Don't worry, doesn't he want to be with Minerva?" Yun Yi smiled at Hoshiguma, resting his chin on his hand. "I'll arrange for him to be Minerva's personal adjutant."

“Okay.” Hoshiguma nodded in agreement, then changed the subject, raising an eyebrow and leaning on the back of the chair Yun Yi was sitting on. Her golden eyes, lowered as she looked at Yun Yi, held on with a half-smile. “I didn’t expect you to have a chair—so I can float around and sit here by myself?”

"...I just thought you were adapting well." Yun Yi chuckled awkwardly, shifted his position next to the armrest, and then swept his finger across it.

The seat beneath her was immediately widened and lengthened, and the material was changed. When it was shaped, the seat surface looked spacious and soft.

Yunyi patted the soft chair next to him, looked up and warmly invited Hoshiguma, "OK, come on, sit down with me!"

"Thank you." Hoshiguma raised her eyebrows, surprised by Yun Yi's actions and thoughtfulness in joking with her. She didn't refuse and, together with Hannya, used one hand to support herself on the armrest and climbed onto the seat.

As she sat down, Hoshiguma felt the sudden, familiar gravity on her body. A knowing smile appeared on her face as she adjusted her posture and turned to look at Yun Yi with curiosity. "As expected, there is gravity here too. Miss Yun Yi, could it be that all the creations in this space have their own gravity?"

"It's enabled by default, but you can also disable it," Yun Yi replied quickly.

Her eyes never left Hoshiguma, and she listened attentively to what Hoshiguma said. But when she answered Hoshiguma, a strange feeling suddenly rose in her heart.

Yun Yi placed his fingertips on his chest, feeling utterly bewildered. His gaze involuntarily lingered on Hoshiguma. "Hmm? Something feels off."

"On me?" Hoshiguma looked at herself following Yun Yi's gaze, but didn't find anything wrong.

She turned to look at Yun Yi and made a reasonable guess, "Perhaps it's because you're used to seeing me slightly distorted in the projection."

So I actually find her a bit strange in real life.

Yunyi understood Hoshiguma's implication, and she nodded hesitantly, "Then I'll look at you more often and get used to it sooner."

Although something still feels off, there's probably no other reason—it should be.

"Never mind, the mission is more important." Yun Yi shook his head, pulling himself out of the strange feeling he couldn't quite pinpoint and turning his attention to the important matter at hand. "The temporary workers' wishes have all been clearly agreed to, I'll just let them know in a bit. The grouping and teaming of the employees and the temporary workers seems to have been arranged very clearly. I don't know much about this, do you think Minerva's arrangements are acceptable?"

Upon hearing this, Hoshiguma temporarily disregarded Yun Yi's strange reaction and, with Minerva and her detailed explanation in mind, carefully replied to Yun Yi, "Handling the assembly line work is no problem, but some details still need to be improved based on the actual situation."

"Overall, we can continue with Ms. Minerva's arrangement and let the employees get started directly." After saying that, Hoshiguma smiled easily and commented, "Ms. Minerva truly lives up to her reputation as an elite of an international company; she has a knack for organizing people."

“Indeed, they are much better than me.” Yun Yi nodded, propping his head up, then looked up at the projection. “The arrangements for the employees are also fine, so now we just need to address the temporary workers’ wishes.”

“This is easy, hmm?” Hoshiguma said as she and Yunyi looked at the projection. After seeing the situation inside, they smiled and said, “Haha, the opportunity has come.”

In the projection, after a short period of relaxation, Conar was finally able to get up, but his body was still slightly numb and he couldn't stand steadily. He had to stretch out his claws to support himself against the wall next to him.

Meanwhile, Minerva and Anso were walking through the corridors toward Connar, without any other people with them.

In one minute, the three of them will meet, and there will be no one else around.

Yun Yi's fingertips twitched slightly, and he raised an eyebrow knowingly, "It must have been the two people who ran away earlier and the group of people in the elevator area who notified them."

Minerva and Anso, of course, knew the situation and would not mistake it for a real attack, so after settling the others, they came alone.

"They're pretty fast. It's only been a few minutes, and they've already heard the news and arrived." Yun Yi touched his raised eyebrows and looked at the two people on the projection with admiration.

Hoshiguma turned to look at Yun Yi. "Miss Minerva mentioned her emergency response plan during her report: Since there were no terminals or communicators, she arranged for three resident notification specialists who knew the location of the temporary workers to be stationed on every three floors."

As she spoke, Yun Yi turned his head to look up, only to meet Hoshiguma's golden eyes, which seemed to say, "You weren't listening to Minerva's report carefully, were you?"

Yun Yi couldn't help but look away guiltily, then stared back at the projection as if there was some important information inside. "Ahem, I see. Anyway, since we have this opportunity to not waste any time, let's complete the mission in one go."

"Okay." Hoshiguma, knowing her limits, did not pursue Yun Yi.

With a hint of a smile in her golden eyes, she looked at the projection following Yun Yi's words, "However, doing everything at once might be a bit chaotic, it's best to do it one thing at a time."

As he spoke, Hoshiguma's gaze fell on Minerva, who had the biggest problem among the three. "For example, you could bring 002 in first and see if it can solve Miss Minerva's lifespan problem."

Volume 2: Fireworks at Dragon Gate: Chapter 167 Hoshiguma: Inner Guard?

“Hmm…” Yun Yi did not immediately respond to Hoshiguma. She looked at the free-moving Minerva and pondered, “We don’t seem to have asked Minerva how her problematic prosthetic body caused her lifespan to be greatly reduced.”

"Perhaps it's just a physical problem that can be solved with medicine?" she said, looking at Hoshiguma.

Hoshiguma looked down at her, his smile deepening. "Miss Yunyi, if Minerva were facing a physical problem, having known and witnessed the effects of the drug, how could she have so firmly believed she was going to die when she confided in us?"

Yun Yi scratched his face, his mind filled with images of Minerva's mostly calm, and very rarely excited, expressions. His thoughts suddenly drifted—did Minerva really think she was going to die? If so, wasn't she being a little too calm?

Yun Yi's gaze drifted to the projection. Minerva in the image still did not show any sense of urgency about her impending death, and was calmly exchanging information with the other two.

This calmness affected Yun Yi, making her feel little urgency. Instead, she had the mind to look away and slowly analyze the situation in her mind.

That's true.

Ignoring Minerva's emotions and looking only at the logic and actions, when Minerva made her confession and wish, she was indeed implying her own death in her words and actions...

Just as Yunyi's thoughts were drifting off to the horizon, Hoshiguma reached out and patted her shoulder to bring her back to attention. "Alright, don't overthink it. Actually, no matter where the root of Miss Minerva's lifespan problem lies, calling in 002 won't be a waste, will it?"

Yunyi snapped out of his daze when he noticed the slightly warm touch on his shoulder.