Herrscher of Reason's Arknights

Great, now we have targets to cause trouble.

······························

The hatred value is zero.

Another day of poverty without any hatred points. Wake up!

Still no hatred points today! .jpg

Although sodium chloride is a very patient person, after so many days, they still haven't found the real protagonist, which is indeed a bit demoralizing.

We need to speed things up, at least until we determine who the main player is before sunk costs become too high and lead to losses.

After all, the protagonist is a huge threat. The title of the chosen one of the plane is not to be trifled with. If we are not careful, it will be easy for us to fail.

The saying "better safe than sorry" applies here, and I also prefer a steady approach, which is how I managed to win 20 points and eventually reach 878 million points.

but····

Has this child awakened some strange fetish?

Why do they like to aim for people's noses?!

Looking at the face-like structure on the wooden carving on the stake, which seemed to have come from nowhere, and then at the cracks on the bridge of the face's nose, it was clear that Yelena hadn't slacked off in her practice these past few days, but...

Isn't this location a bit odd?

What is this, the intersection of different times and spaces?

After glancing at Yelena's chest, Sodium Chloride thought it was probably not that bad.

A person codenamed 42 and a Shenzhou tablet are on their way to kill and silence him. (Image)

"Take a break, we can deal with the rest later."

Sodium chloride has long since shed its Herrscher form; it remains the same cold-faced, but clumsy, older sister.

He placed a hand on the girl's hair and casually ruffled it a few times, turning Yelena's originally long hair into a bird's nest.

"Don't play with my hair!"

Ignoring Little Yelena's quiet protest, Sodium Chloride said.

"By the way, as the old saying goes, there's a balance between work and rest... How about we go to the city next week?"

"······well??!!"

P.S.: What a long three-day holiday! [Slumps over]

Section 21, Chapter Twenty-One: Don't Ask About the Past

Ursus, a central city, straddles the southeastern continent, bordering Kazimir and Kazdel.

Unlike the south and north, which emphasize industry and agriculture, the central region is more like a transition between the two, with the snowfields of the north and the spring of the south.

In the central mobile city-states, one is currently moored on the snowfield, serving as an important transit point for trade between the two sides.

As a transportation hub, this place naturally became a gathering place for merchants.

It was a gathering place for nobles, merchants, and all sorts of respectable people, and the air was thick with the scent of trade and money.

This is one of the few relatively prosperous places in the central region.

"I made a mistake; it really was a failure."

The silver-haired girl looked at the map of Ursus that came with the promotional material she bought from the street vendor. Chernobog didn't seem to be in the center, but rather in the eastern corner.

Doesn't that mean we still have a long way to go?

That was such a failure.

"Will this really keep us from being discovered...? Or should we just leave?"

A timid yet adorable voice came from behind. It belonged to a girl hiding behind the young woman, who also had silver hair but a completely different demeanor.

The smaller one, the one that looks a bit bigger, must be her older sister.

However, why doesn't that silver-haired girl have any racial features on her head?

Yes, sodium chloride is not a subhuman, so it only has hair on its head and no other extra subhuman features.

Of course, there are similar species in this world, so the passport says Iberian. Marine creatures don't seem to reveal much about their ethnicity.

My boss is really thoughtful.

As for Yelena...

The older women passing by loved children. They would greet Froststar with warm smiles, say hello to the little girl, or try to make her happy.

Just like any other kid on the street.

It's the holiday season now, and there are more children on the streets.

But no one knew that just a few days earlier, the girl had been on the frigid snowfield, learning to control her power so that she wouldn't unleash a deadly cold wave without restraint.

But now, the girl's attire is just like that of any ordinary child on the street.

She wore a white short winter outfit, her short, silver-white hair was simply loose, and a bear-patterned hair clip held her ear hair back, allowing her secondary ear to reappear from being covered by her silver hair.

The gray-black gradient winter coat was worn over a white shirt.

The girl wore black tights and black boots, and an orange-red scarf covered half of her face, making her look even smaller.

There were no excessive decorations or embellishments, only the purest side of the children.

However, the girl seemed a little timid and shy in a corner of the street, and kept hiding behind sodium chloride.

That's normal. Children, especially little girls, are often more introverted.

However, in those grey eyes that no one looked closely at, there was fear.

The slightly shrunken pupils reflected the Ursus military police conducting street checks.

It was a fear that came from the heart, or rather...

Guilty.

"The more afraid you are, the easier it is for you to give yourself away. Don't worry, these military and police officers don't have any detection equipment."

Taking the girl's hand, Sodium Chloride ignored the Ussus military and police around him.

Although it was meant to comfort the girl, the real reason was to prevent her from giving herself away and causing trouble for herself.

There are Ursus military police everywhere here. She does have a way to instantly dismember these military police into pieces, but that would make it impossible to continue hiding her identity.

Fortunately, Yelena's attire already helped her avoid the risk of being infected. After all, being infected is just a label; the treatment of nobles and commoners is completely different, even though they are both infected patients.

No one saw any infected nobles in the mine, not because there weren't any among the nobles, but because no one dared to interfere.

Reality is both absurd and cruel.

However, the only standard for detecting Oripathy in the eyes of ordinary people is the presence of crystals on the skin.

After all, the infection rate of Oripathy is irreversible, as are the symptoms. In any case, it's only a matter of time before the infection rate goes from low to high. The only options are to either not use abilities to suppress the disease or to use overload abilities to accelerate the disease. To date, there is no truly curable case.

Oripathy can also present with very obvious symptoms.

The mineral crystals on the body are completely integrated with the skin and flesh; it's not that no one has tried to remove those external crystals.

But this is just as painful as having your skin and flesh torn off. This thing doesn't just grow on the skin; it has completely burrowed into the flesh and bone.

However, this is no problem for Sodium Chloride. Who is she? She spent a lot of points to obtain the enhanced body of the Herrscher of the Void. She can still find a way to suppress the spread of Oripathy within her.

Of course, according to her.

The Oripathy didn't improve at all; all she changed was preventing the crystals from piercing her body.

Of course, this is on the premise that Originium Arts are not used, otherwise once these crystals are stimulated, they will turn back to their original state.

But that's fine.

Even so, this was something Little Yelena had never imagined.

To be able to appear on the streets of Ursus like this was something she never dared to dream of.

The lowly infected deserve only to remain on the wasteland, to be slowly swallowed up by nature.

They had nowhere to go; the only place they were familiar with was that snowfield.

But now, it all feels like a dream.

"Don't worry about those military police. You're a respectable person on the streets of Ursus now."

Sodium chloride led the girl away from the street.

As expected, the burly military policeman only glanced at the passing Yelena and paid her no attention.

He didn't notice! He really didn't notice!!

Military and police officers typically select people who look suspicious or guilty, or those dressed in tattered clothes. The former are obviously suspicious, while the latter may be infected.

Those infected are generally poor and destitute, which makes them easy to identify.

As for where the clothes came from, the origin of the documents in Yelena's pocket, and where the money came from, the older sister simply put her finger to her lips.

There are some things it's better not to know.

So mysterious.

"Don't worry about that. Why don't you think about what you want to eat later? You might not be staying here tonight."

The silver-haired girl tugged at her while looking at the map in her right hand and muttered to herself.

"Where are we going?"

"Chernobog isn't far from here, so we need to leave soon..."

Before the blizzard.

I overheard a warning about severe weather on the radio. This land is truly malicious; not only is it incredibly barren, but it also seems to suffer natural disasters all the time.

This is not the natural disaster that the people of Ursus are talking about, but rather an impending blizzard.

If you want to leave early, you have to leave before the blizzard arrives.

As the girl was thinking this, her left hand, which was holding Yelena's, suddenly...

?

Yelena stopped for some reason. The silver-haired girl turned around and saw that the girl seemed to be staring blankly at an advertisement on a storefront.

What are you looking at... a hamburger?

·······

"This is... a hamburger?"

A hamburger for 3.75 rubles is still a bit expensive in an era when a tram ride costs only 3 rubles.

But it's still very crowded here because it's the only business from Colombia here, and it's been the only one for the past twenty years.

The shop was crowded, and there were many eyes watching. Having been alone for many years, even with her sister by her side, she was still used to wandering the snowfields. Suddenly coming to such a crowded place, Yelena's already sensitive nerves almost made her run away in panic.

After all, almost half of his childhood was spent in the hardships of the mines, and when he finally got out, he could only wander in deserted villages on the snowy plains.

Having spent too long in remote, uninhabited areas, Yelena was no longer able to adapt to the city environment.

Too many people!

Finally, the girl found a spot in a corner and recovered.

"Why did I suddenly crave this?"

The older sister simply rested her chin on one hand, looking somewhat bored at the scenery outside the window, and asked...

However, the girl did not reply and remained silent.

Looking at the object in my hand, a legendary item I had heard of before, it didn't feel real when I held it.

It was just two slices of bread with a few slices of meat between them.

Little Yelena took a bite with some skepticism.