While Commander Kai was having his first battle on the Surface, a fantastical city in the distant land was incredibly peaceful, truly a paradise in this apocalyptic world.
The area of this paradise city was not small; its edges were surrounded by tall walls.
Inside, apart from a single research area with modern, tall buildings, the rest of the area was filled with beautiful natural scenery, because someone once said they really liked beautiful nature.
In the center of the city was a lush ancient tree, and beneath it were two adjacent graves.
Not far away, in a small, exquisite wooden house, a Nikke wearing a white bamboo hat and white clothes was working in her self-cultivated fields.
A flask hung from her waist, and occasionally, while working, she would gaze at the two graves in the distance and take a few sips of wine.
On the rooftop of the paradise’s tallest building, a woman with long pink hair leaned on the railing, gazing into the distance, taking in the field scenery and the graves beneath the tree.
This beautiful woman wore a white, ornate long dress, possessing a unique, elegant, and ethereal temperament.
She stared blankly at the paradise below, where many Nikkes chatted and laughed as they walked among the tree-lined paths.
“Yo!
Who are you missing now, little girl?
Haha—” A Nikke with long crimson hair threw an arm around Dorothy, grinning in front of her.
Dorothy pushed Red Hood away in disgust.
Every time Red Hood saw her spacing out here, she would come to harass her; she truly was a complete hooligan!
After a few playful antics, Red Hood also quieted down, coming to the railing beside Dorothy to accompany her silently.
From here, Liliweiss’s grave was clearly visible, and beside it was another grave.
“What a legendary Commander!” Red Hood suddenly said, noticing Dorothy’s brow furrow intensely, and continued, “Just hearing the stories from the Mass-Produced Nikkes sisters makes my blood boil!”
The members of the Goddess Squad never liked to speak of that Commander’s story in front of others, even to Red Hood.
“When humanity abandoned us, he came to your side alone, fighting with you until the very end.
He even casually removed the corruption.”
Dorothy didn’t want to talk about these things.
She looked into the distance and said, “Enough, Red Hood.
What do you want to say?
I’m not in the mood right now.”
It’s been almost 100 years.
She remembered the Commander once said he would be the protagonist 100 years later.
She truly hoped he was telling the truth.
Dorothy occasionally liked to be alone here and really didn’t want to be disturbed.
Only Red Hood, this fellow, lacked sensitivity; she truly regretted listening to the Commander and bringing her back!
So annoying!
Red Hood chuckled, “I really do want to meet that Commander.
With his assistance, it’s said our combat power will become even stronger!
I’m not strong enough yet!
I’m quite curious about what a Burst is!
It sounds really cool.”
Perhaps having no choice with Red Hood, Dorothy still started chatting with her.
“Unfortunately, only Rapunzel has mastered her own skills; she learned to heal injured Nikkes in battle and can even revive Nikkes who sacrificed themselves in battle—” Too bad she can’t revive humans.
Red Hood spoke of Rapunzel with unreserved praise: “Yes!
That perverted Rapunzel now acts quite proper in front of outsiders!”
“Pfft!” Dorothy choked, “How can you say that about her!
You were the one who started it all!”
“Hahaha!
I’m probably no match for her now!” Red Hood thought of something, her laughter unstoppable.
She had secretly visited Rapunzel’s room; Rapunzel was now a super amazing novelist, capable of creating spiritual food herself!
Red Hood was now her loyal reader!
After chatting for a while, Red Hood finally got to the point.
“Dorothy, I want to go near the Ark.
I have a feeling the Ark will make a big move soon!
And I’ll visit my cheap apprentice.”
The last time Red Hood saw Rapi was during the Godfall incident.
With Rapi’s help, Red Hood rescued a group of Nikke sisters.
At that time, Rapi had just returned to the Ark after bidding farewell to Red Hood, and the Ark blamed the failure of the second Surface reconquest entirely on the Nikkes, causing the Nikkes’ status in the Ark to plummet.
At that time, a group of oppressed Nikkes wanted to escape to the Surface via the elevator to live independently, even if it meant perishing with the Raptures.
However, the Ark’s high-ranking officials decided to detonate the elevator to prevent a Nikke rebellion, but they mishandled the operation, causing the elevator to go out of control.
Just as the elevator was about to reach the Surface, it stopped in the passage, about to fall into the Ark.
A fall from that height would certainly pose a huge danger to the Ark.
After communication with the Ark failed, the Nikkes in the elevator chose to self-destruct to avoid harming the Ark.
Rapi contacted Red Hood at that time.
Red Hood happened to still be near the Ark, rescuing Nikkes who were severely damaged in the war and abandoned by the Ark.
After receiving the message, she infiltrated through a previously destroyed large cargo elevator and successfully rescued them from the dangerous elevator, then detonated the elevator to prevent the paradise from being exposed.
To this day, the Ark believes the Nikkes in the elevator self-destructed.
Of course, without Red Hood, that would indeed have been the case.
Red Hood’s greatness needs no further words.
Red Hood also completely lost trust in the Ark from then on.
“Then go!
I can’t stop you anyway!”
“Hey!
You’re the leader now, aren’t you!”
As they were chatting, someone passed through the optical camouflage protection and entered the paradise.
The optical camouflage was no ordinary feat; it was developed by Cecil, a top researcher Dorothy personally tricked out of the Ark.
It could shield against Rapture’s perception, preventing the paradise from being attacked by Raptures.
The Nikkes of the paradise were in an uproar!
It was Snow White and Rapunzel, the Pilgrims, the hardest to see in the paradise, who had returned!
They had been constantly fighting Raptures outside and rescuing Nikkes on the Surface.
Every return brought back more Nikke sisters.
Nearly a third of the Nikkes in the paradise had been saved by them.
“Wow!
Little Snow White is back!
And Rapunzel!
Dorothy, let’s go, let’s welcome them together!” Red Hood grabbed Dorothy, ready to head down.
“Little Snow White is more reliable than her sister Liliweiss now!
Liliweiss would surely be relieved to see her as she is today.”
No, Liliweiss would probably feel heartache.
As Dorothy was being pulled downstairs by Red Hood, she encountered a familiar figure.
“Pinne?
Are you looking for me?” Dorothy saw the person approaching her, not knowing what Pinne wanted from her. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“Uh, Dorothy, I’m Grave.” Grave (Abby) said helplessly.
There was nothing she could do; she and Pinne were the same model of Mass-Produced Nikkes.
“—” Dorothy was awkwardly at a loss for words, glaring fiercely at Red Hood, who wanted to laugh but dared not!
Grave was found by Dorothy near the Ark, abandoned.
At that time, she had already been violently disassembled by the Ark and was severely damaged.
Although she was repaired almost as good as new in the paradise, Grave had lost much of her memory.
But she was unexpectedly very good at research; even Cecil greatly admired Grave.
Grave didn’t want to waste Dorothy’s time.
She knew the news of Snow White’s return, and the Goddess Squad members were eager to see their teammates.
She said, “I seem to have remembered something that feels very important to me.
So, I want to temporarily leave the paradise to search for my memories.”
Dorothy hesitated, “It’s a bit dangerous for you to go out alone.”
Although the Commander’s wish was not to sacrifice a single Nikke, some sisters were still sacrificed in the process of fighting for the paradise.
They all left smiling, left proudly!
The paradise cherished every comrade.
Still laughing, Red Hood finally stopped, “That’s perfect, I’m going to play around near the Ark, so we can go together!
Gra-vi-ti, you must also be going there to search for your memories, right.”
Dorothy: Red Hood, you’ve got guts!
Grave wasn’t angry at all; the paradise truly was a paradise for Nikkes.
She smiled and agreed, “Okay, I’ll go prepare my things.
Thank you all!
Our Goddess of Victory.”
Red Hood threw her head back and laughed, “Of course, of course!
Hahaha.”
Dorothy could only agree, “Alright, Gra-vi-ti, you still need to be careful; this red-haired tomboy is very careless.”
“Okay.”
Paradise, cafeteria.
Today, it served only her king!
“Snow White, slow down!
I’m not fighting you for it!” Rapunzel, who had long since eaten her fill, couldn’t help but gulp as she watched Snow White, glad that she hadn’t been eaten by Snow White while fighting outside!
Scarlet, meanwhile, quietly swapped Snow White’s drink with a cup of wine, hoping Snow White wouldn’t ruin her farmland when she came home this time!
Snow White swallowed the bread in her mouth; she had been starving in the wilderness.
She said to Red Hood, “Red Hood, you go first!
I’ll maintain my body and follow soon!
This time the damage is a bit severe; I encountered a few Tyrants!
But I caught a Grave Digger and took it down!!!”
Everyone fell silent.
Rapunzel broke the silence, “Sigh!
I’ll rest for a while longer this time; moving with Little Snow White has exhausted me!
But through continuous battles, I’ve gained so much creative inspiration!
Ah~~”
Thus, under the gaze of almost all the Nikkes in the paradise, the Goddess Squad’s gathering quickly concluded.
Those with drive will continue to fight, and those without drive will guard the paradise.