Ark Chess Player

Lin Lu remained silent.

Even if he has no intention of pursuing his memories, his past actions will still come back to haunt him.

More and more people who used to know him appeared, but he had no recollection of them at all, and all that welled up in his heart was loneliness.

"PhD?"

Ace seemed to sense Lin Lu's emotional change.

The little rabbit beside him unconsciously read Lin Lu's mood and quickly said, "Ace, um, the situation has changed a bit."

"What's wrong with the doctor?"

"The doctor... unexpectedly lost his memory."

Ace paused, then turned to look at Lin Lu, his composure turning into deep seriousness, his brows furrowed.

"……I see."

"I'm sorry, Ace... things have deviated quite a bit from the plan."

"No, you don't need to apologize to me. This is not your fault, nor is it the doctor's fault."

Ace slowly relaxed his tense brows, extended his hand to the Doctor, and nodded slowly.

"Welcome back, Doctor. You may not remember anything right now, but I believe you are still you."

Hello, Ace.

Lin Lu reached out and shook hands with the other person. After the brief handshake, he noticed that the other person's expression became slightly more relieved.

"Sure enough, it's still that PhD student. His hands are as slender as a girl's, just like my daughter's hands."

"???"

Ace laughed heartily, leaving Lin Lu standing there dumbfounded, his expression unclear.

“Ace… … ”

Amiya showed a slightly sad expression.

"Don't be like this, it's okay, so many years have passed." Ace shook his head, indicating that he was fine. To prevent Amiya from falling into sadness, he even mustered his spirits and asked, "Amiya, has the Doctor's command ability been affected by the amnesia?"

"...Same as before."

Amiya said earnestly, "The Doctor is still very reliable. On our way to the rendezvous point, the Doctor's command allowed us to easily win despite being outnumbered. Most of the operators were unharmed."

“He is truly trustworthy. Doctor, I will follow your orders, just like before… It’s alright, what is lost can be recovered. I trust your decisions, both five years ago with the Army Without Borders and now.”

"...Can something lost be regained?"

Lin Lu murmured, putting his hands back into his pockets and tightly gripping the Ark Driver and the Class Card Box.

"In short, if you hand over command to me, don't expect to take it back so easily. Can you grant me this request?"

Ace straightened his back, holding the massive tower shield firmly in place, and calmly said, "BOSS, please give the order!"

...BOSS?

Lin Lu tilted his head, feeling a sense of nostalgia for that title.

Honestly, there are so many things I miss... Who am I anyway?

"First, head to the rendezvous point. Second, take down the relentless Integration Movement."

Lin Lu's tone was so calm that it took everyone a few seconds to react before they immediately prepared for battle.

Amiya heightened her senses and pointed in the direction Ace had come from. As if sensing something, her tone suddenly turned cold: "The other party actually, actually dared to—!"

Before she could finish speaking, everyone saw the hunting dogs hurtling towards them. Unlike ordinary hunting dogs, these dogs had jagged, sharp mineral stones scattered all over their fur, and their mutated teeth were as sharp and rugged as those of a tiger. They were equipped with monitoring devices on their backs, wore electric shock collars around their necks, and their yellow pupils had shrunk and lost their sentience.

"That's the guy who slaughtered three of our squads! Let those beasts kill him! Let them taste what it's like to be torn apart!"

The Reunion soldiers followed closely behind the hounds, weapons in hand, their hoarse growls emanating from beneath their masks.

Ace scratched his head, thinking to himself, "Have I only fought three squads?"

"Doctor, please give command—Doctor?!"

Amiya had just opened her mouth when she saw the Doctor walk up to her.

...It was a fury that defied description, like the arrival of a demon.

Lin Lu didn't know why he was angry; he just felt an inexplicable fire burning on the back of his hand, in his chest, and in his heart.

He didn't know why he was angry. Maybe he used to be a dog lover and was angry because he saw dogs being bullied or turned into biological weapons.

Or perhaps...

"Doctor, watch out!"

"Amiya, don't worry, leave it to the Doctor."

Ace stopped the hurried Amiya, a faint hint of reminiscence on his lips.

“Once upon a time, the BOSS… the Doctor, he always had a wolf by his side,” Ace said softly. “You probably don’t know, since we hadn’t met you yet. It was a wolf made entirely of Originium, covered in scars, having endured countless fierce battles. Every battle that didn’t kill it made it stronger. The Doctor once said that the first family member he met in this world was the Originium wolf he named ‘Soujiro.’”

"...I have never heard the professor mention anything about Sojiro."

Amiya lowered her head blankly, looking a little disappointed.

"For the PhD student, it's probably a knot in his heart that he can never untie in his entire life."

Ace was suddenly glad that she was wearing sunglasses, which prevented others from seeing her eyes.

"Amiya, just trust the Doctor. He's the kind of man who can even tame Fenrir."

"...If things don't go well, I will still prioritize ensuring the doctor's safety."

Amiya would not budge on this point.

Ace smiled faintly and said nothing more.

Sometimes, no amount of words can compare to an action.

Lin Lu slowly stopped, his back to Rhodes Island, and took off his hood.

"Hmm?" Ace murmured to himself, watching the Doctor's retreating figure, "White hair...?"

Lin Lu stood quietly in place, watching the hunting dogs surge forward, without making any move.

When the hounds rushed in front of him, something astonishing happened.

All the hunting dogs stopped, obediently lay down on the ground, tongues lolling out, panting heavily, and tails wagging excitedly.

"Huh?!"

The operators were completely baffled, not to mention the Reunion soldiers.

Lin Lu crouched down, rubbed the hunting dog's head, and ran his fingertips across the sharp mineral protrusions on its body. His hands danced gracefully, gently caressing, twisting, and flicking. His superb petting technique made the dog involuntarily tilt its head back and purr happily.

The hound's shattered eyes gradually regained their original color, and it ran around Lin Lu with great joy.

The other hunting dogs also gathered around, asking for hugs, pats, and to be lifted up high.

Perhaps because the scene was too surreal, the Rhodes Island operators and Reunion soldiers were all stunned and stood there in place.

"Waaah..."

The little Filin medical operative hugged her head, and she suddenly understood why it felt so good when the Doctor patted her head.

Even the usually stern instructor, Dobermann, instinctively took a step back. She instinctively sensed danger and something was wrong, which was terrible from a rational perspective.

After Lin Lu had his fill of petting a pack of hunting dogs, he smoothed their backs, removed the surveillance equipment, threw it on the ground, stood up, and stomped on it to pieces.

"Go."

Lin Lu pointed at the Reunion Movement soldiers and gave the order to the hounds:

"Tear them apart."

Chapter Fourteen Liberation

The hounds slowly turned around, and the cheerful and carefree husky faces instantly turned ferocious and menacing.

The memories of being whipped, electrocuted, and forced to kill each other to select superior breeds are all bound to every part of my body along with the pain.

They will never forget the smell of burnt food, the smell of blood, and the smell of these people.

The hounds charged forward, howling angrily.

"What!?"

The soldiers from the Reunion Movement took out the remote control for the electric shock collar and pressed the red button tightly.

However, the electric shock collar, which had always worked in the past, failed this time. The hounds did not stop their actions, nor did they obey orders.

How could Lin Lu not have thought of this? The trigger device on the electric collar around the hound's neck had long been shielded by the strong interference from the source stones amplified on the hound's body.

"Taste what it's like to be torn apart, you scum."

Lin Lu said coldly, putting his hood back on and turning to face the Rhodes Island operators.

"Guard operators, sniper operators, move out! Target: Reunion soldiers. Remember, do not harm the hounds. Caster operators and medics, stand by."

"Yes, Doctor!"

The soldiers of the Reunion Movement never imagined that the hounds they had personally trained would turn on them.

Dealing with the hounds alone was already incredibly difficult for them, let alone the fact that the enemy wasn't just hounds. The sniper operators precisely hit every unarmored spot on the enemy with each arrow, while the guard operators were ruthless and precise, striking and retreating immediately to avoid being caught in the crossfire with the hounds, while simultaneously letting the hounds take the lead in dealing damage.

Instructor Dobermann was the most ruthless; one might mistake these Reunion soldiers for her former subordinates.

Lin Lu watched indifferently as Amiya came to his side and took his hand.

Lin Lu was slightly taken aback. He seemed to hear melodious piano music in his ears, and a gentle breeze blew by, bringing with it a slightly bitter floral fragrance.

"Doctor, we are here, we are by your side."

Amiya spoke softly, her voice calming him and soothing his restless soul.

Lin Lu didn't say much; he simply unconsciously gripped Amiya's hand slightly tighter.

This one-sided crushing victory did not last long. When the enemy was completely wiped out, before Lin Lu could even speak, Amiya released his hand and gently pushed his back.

"Go, Doctor, and do what only you can do."