“Is there something you need?”
Li Xiuman kept a safe distance from the group of adventurers walking toward him.
He spoke with the mustached man who had greeted him in a polite, gentlemanly manner.
“Sir, my name is Farah Manturus.”
“I wanted to ask if you have any potions. A wound-healing one would be fine.”
“I can pay you a satisfactory amount of gold coins to purchase it.”
Li Xiuman raised an eyebrow.
“No.”
At this depth, no adventurer was someone to be trifled with.
So Li Xiuman did not want to cause any extra trouble.
Even though his bone powder had quite a good healing effect, it was best to leave when he had the chance.
“I see. Sorry to trouble you, sir.”
Farah sighed with regret.
And so, Li Xiuman brushed past the adventurer party.
Scanning them out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that every single adventurer was an unfamiliar face he had never seen before in White Bear City.
Adventurers from outside White Bear City?
Among the adventurer party was a long, horizontal object covered with a thick cloth.
Catching a glimpse of it as the cloth fluttered during transport, he clearly saw an arm.
It was very slender, and also small.
By the looks of it, it seemed to belong to a little girl.
The arm was covered in horrific bloody holes, looking as if something had burrowed inside and left them behind.
A familiar aura emanated from the bloody holes.
It seemed to be the aura of the Power of Death—no, it was even colder and more sinister.
Just what was this adventurer party doing?
Li Xiuman found it difficult to suppress his curiosity.
He decided to test the waters first.
But how?
Appearing in person right now would be too unsafe, and also far too deliberate.
Therefore, he needed a perfect substitute—ideally, one that would never be associated with him in any way.
A Golem?
No, a regular Golem was too stiff. Moreover, Li Xiuman hadn't developed a voice system for them yet. Once they started talking, any recorded audio wouldn't last long, and it would 100% blow their cover.
How about Number Zero?
With Red Dragon Alloy and pink-melt stone installed, Number Zero's mana-conducting properties had increased significantly.
It could easily support remote control and transmit visual feeds.
Since it wasn't his actual body, there would definitely be some lag in combat.
But if a fight broke out, he could leave the physical action to Number Zero while issuing commands from afar. Be it escaping or killing, it wouldn't be a problem.
However, achieving ultra-long-distance remote control was somewhat unrealistic; he had to remain within a range of one thousand meters.
This range limitation was a major drawback.
How could he solve this?
Li Xiuman thought of a way—teleportation!
By opening a one-way signal teleportation pathway inside Number Zero, he could transmit his commands through a portal and control Number Zero remotely.
Since it was theoretically possible, then...
“Crack!”
The ground collapsed beneath his feet again.
Fortunately, this skeleton was quick-eyed and nimble-han... Whack!
A falling rock slammed hard into his head, causing Li Xiuman's entire body to fall toward the collapsing hole.
“Curse you, Cursed Gold Coin!”
Struggling to avoid falling down the edge of the pit, Li Xiuman threw the Cursed Gold Coin into his storage space.
While the [Cursed Gold Coin] had yet to react in his storage space, he needed to hurry up and finish modifying Number Zero.
He pulled out Number Zero and installed an audio recording module.
Since Li Xiuman produced sound through bone vibration, he easily adjusted the size and vibration frequency of his bone fragments to simulate a female voice.
Tuning it to what sounded like a cold, aloof, elegant older-sister voice, he began recording.
After all, Number Zero definitely couldn't talk too much, or its cover would be blown sooner or later.
The recorded lines were very few.
Only...
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Teri Zero Xiuman.”
Just those three.
Representing confirmation, negation, and a name respectively.
Consequently, the persona could only be that of a tight-lipped, icy beauty.
Next, he set up the remote control transmission module and the information portal.
Once everything was complete, Li Xiuman tried operating Number Zero's body.
It moved!
Number Zero (Li Xiuman) reached out to touch its own face, then looked down at its hands.
If that's the case...
Li Xiuman reached for his own throat, using mana to shape the pink-melt stone inside his throat.
He then repeatedly made sounds to adjust the vocal cords.
“I can... speak now.”
He uttered a cold voice from Number Zero's mouth.
“But Number Zero still can't use vocal cords on its own, huh.”
Li Xiuman touched the throat. This method of vibrating mana to produce sound was too crude, allowing speech only when he was directly controlling it.
A Golem couldn't manage to do it on its own.
“Though, this is actually better. It adds more credibility.”
Li Xiuman took out a mirror.
He looked at himself from left to right.
As expected of a face he had sculpted with his own hands—it was truly beautiful.
“I really am drop-dead gorgeous.”
To think he would use the icy, beautiful girl's voice designed for Number Zero to utter such trashy words.
As expected of a skeleton, easily achieving what normal people could never do.
“Now, it's time for my performance.”
Li Xiuman closed his eyes, running through the essential traits of a cold, beautiful girl in his mind, trying hard to remember and fully absorb them.
Then, his consciousness returned to his skeleton body. He pulled out the Crystal Orchid...
Actually, let's go with the Rib Sword instead.
He grew the Rib Sword into the shape of a greatsword and handed it to Number Zero.
Number Zero took the Rib Sword, strapped it onto its back, and then equipped the Shield of the King.
Its tall, slender figure was clad in leather armor and iron plating, with a cascade of silver hair falling over its shoulders.
...
“Is that a figure ahead?”
“An adventurer?”
Farah was already quite a distance away from Li Xiuman.
He hadn't expected to encounter another solo adventurer. Did the adventurers of White Bear City enjoy going solo that much?
“Hey, the person ahead, wait a moment!”
Farah hurriedly called out to the figure in front.
When the figure turned around, they realized it was actually a female adventurer.
With her silver hair, crimson eyes, and delicate facial features, she exuded an almost eerie beauty.
“Is there something?”
Number Zero turned back coldly, looking at Farah.
“Miss, I was wondering if you might have any magic potions on you.”
“Just something to heal wounds. I can offer a price that won't disappoint you.”
Once Farah finished speaking, Number Zero's icy gaze swept past him toward the rest of the party.
“Who is injured?”
Number Zero asked, maintaining an extremely aloof, distant attitude.
“That... is none of your concern.”
Farah replied, looking at Number Zero with a hint of wariness.
“...Fifty gold coins.”
“Sprinkle it on the wound.”
Number Zero tossed over a vial containing white powder.
It was none other than the bone powder from Li Xiuman's own body.
Hiss...
Farah felt like he had been fleeced, but pressed by the circumstances, he didn't dare to rob her outright.
Just as Li Xiuman was wary of encountering others in the deep floors, they were just as wary of lone figures like Li Xiuman and Number Zero.
“Thank you, miss.”
Fifty gold coins secured.
Tucking the coins away, Number Zero wasted no words and turned to leave.
“Wait, miss.”
“Wait until we've tested the medicine and confirmed there are no issues before you go.”
Hearing this, Number Zero spun around, biting her rosy lower lip slightly, an impatient look crossing her beautiful face.
“Hurry up.”
With such vivid facial expressions, there was absolutely no sign of a Golem right now.
Even Farah and the other adventurers in the party felt their hearts skip a beat for a brief instant.
Under Li Xiuman's control, the persona of Number Zero as a cool, beautiful girl was brought completely to life.
The real Number Zero, although not understanding much, was trying its hardest to learn from the speech and actions Li Xiuman performed using its body.
It didn't understand much right now, so it could only study his movements with all its might.
Rate on N.U.
