Arknights: Mobile City

Staring at the white-haired bloodfiend, Obsidian felt a cold sweat prickle his skin—though it wasn't something he technically possessed.

He recognized the bloodfiend immediately.

Don Quixote.

First-generation bloodline. Elder of the La Mancha Bloodfiends. The strongest of his kind—possessing combat power that ranked near the very top of the entire City…

What the hell is he doing here?!

Obsidian exhaled slowly. Now he understood why Food Chain had avoided this area.

Damn right it did—if I'd known Don Quixote was here, I'd have run too.

In the Limbus Bus timeline, Don Quixote eventually became intrigued by the Fixers, and after being persuaded, developed a dream—to achieve peaceful coexistence between bloodfiends and humans. From that perspective, he could very well become an ally…

But Obsidian had no way of knowing which version of Don Quixote was lying before him.

If it was pre-dream, the brutal, ideal-less Don Quixote… then that was a death sentence. Obsidian didn't have the courage to take that risk.

Without hesitating, he moved closer—keeping a safe distance—and scanned Don Quixote's condition.

After a moment of analysis, Obsidian came to a conclusion.

The bloodfiend was in a dormant state. Most likely due to extreme food scarcity. He would only awaken once the City's population had grown enough to provide sufficient emotional sustenance.

So he shouldn't wake up anytime soon.

With that assessment, Obsidian finally let out a breath of relief.

If Don Quixote had woken up and turned out to be from the Shattered Dream period—or hadn't developed his ideals at all—Obsidian would be as good as dead.

The City as it was couldn't withstand an apex-tier threat like him. Even a third-generation bloodfiend would be hard to handle right now, let alone the Don Quixote.

Still, judging by the signs, Obsidian guessed this version hadn't yet developed his dream.

The City felt… new. For some reason, Obsidian couldn't shake that impression. It was as if the timeline existed shortly after civilization had been destroyed in a Midnight scenario and was only just beginning to recover.

If so, then Don Quixote hadn't yet found his dream. Highly likely.

With that thought, Obsidian quickly left the basement. He summoned several Doubts to quietly seal off the building and mark it for caution, then continued exploring.

It was both a stroke of luck and misfortune that no other bloodfiends turned up.

The good news: Don Quixote hadn't begun developing a brood of subordinates. If it came down to a confrontation, it'd only be him.

The bad news: this strongly confirmed Obsidian's suspicion—Don Quixote had not yet dreamed of coexistence.

"If he wakes up and finds I've been using his territory for urban development," Obsidian muttered, "he's probably going to start slaughtering."

He sat down heavily, eyes fixed in the direction of the basement, worry clear in his expression.

If only I remembered those old knight novels from my last life… It'd be a lot easier if he could just find the right moment to tell Don Quixote a story.

Bloodfiends in the City didn't drink blood for sustenance—they fed on emotion. Right now, there weren't enough people. The emotional energy simply wasn't enough to sustain Don Quixote, which explained the dormancy.

But to survive future crises, Obsidian had to grow the City's population. And once that happened, Don Quixote's awakening would be inevitable.

"I've got to come up with something fast… I can't leave this Don Quixote situation hanging."

Obsidian shook his head and murmured to himself.

The best solution would be what happened in the original timeline: guide Don Quixote toward forming a dream, turning him into an idealist. That would also stabilize the emotional flow of the City…

Don Quixote wasn't someone completely beyond negotiation. He could be recruited.

That thought flickered across Obsidian's mind as he got back to his feet.

The bloodfiend had gone too long without emotional nourishment—he must be extremely weakened. There might be a window to wake him safely, get him to calm down… and listen to a story.

If he could recruit him, Don Quixote would be a huge asset. Not only would he be a powerhouse, but he could generate Lunacy, and even raise subordinates. That was no small amount of combat strength.

"I need to accelerate development. And if possible… recruit Don Quixote. Which means I need enough power to negotiate before he wakes up."

Obsidian narrowed his eyes, muttering aloud as he turned and left the alley.

Not a big problem. This place should still be usable as housing. I'll just have to be careful managing population density.

...

After leaving the alley, Obsidian immediately returned to the trio of wooden cabins at the center of the City. First order of business—find Laurentina.

He handed her the entire Basic Laboratory Kit. Even Laurentina looked mildly surprised by how complete the set was.

After giving her the equipment, Obsidian gave his first official request.

He asked Laurentina to help collect materials—and if possible, assist in setting up some basic production facilities with Aegir tech. He was getting sick of the City's current state: no materials, no industry.

With an Aegir present, now was the perfect time to borrow some infrastructure.

Laurentina gave him a sideways glance and frowned slightly.

"Production equipment… is doable. But I'll need to report back to Aegir first. My radio's busted—you'll have to wait until I fix it."

She held up two fingers.

"Also, two conditions. First—production requires manpower. I assume you understand that?"

"That part's covered."

Obsidian smiled.

With the Doubts as labor, as long as he had enough materials, assembly-line workers were no issue. Especially since population expansion was already part of his long-term plan.

"Second… based on what you've given me so far, I might not be able to help you too much. Or rather—how soon can I meet this so-called Ringfinger master sculptor?"

Laurentina licked her lips, eyes fixed on him.

Obsidian's smile returned.

He understood her perfectly. She was just afraid he wouldn't follow through on his promises. But he'd prepared for this.

"He probably won't be back just yet. However… I do have some other art I could share."

As he spoke, he slowly pulled out a (00) Idenity Extraction Voucher and handed it to her, still smiling.

"For example—a version of you from another world. I imagine… you might be curious?"