Herrscher of Reason's Arknights

Yelena was always very concerned about the weapon in Sodium Chloride's hand.

In many people's minds, aren't doctors medical professionals? Why would they be so familiar with weapons?

He opened the folding barrel, took two No. 12 buckshot rounds from his pocket, loaded them, and then snapped the magazine shut.

They are quite skilled at using it, and it comes from beeeeer.

Search, lock on, raise your gun.

Without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

The sharp, crackling sound startled a large flock of birds...

Sodium chloride is more like a soldier than a doctor.

In the distance, a small patch of what looked like a snow scene collapsed. If it hadn't suddenly disappeared from sight, Yelena wouldn't have thought it was a living thing; she would have just thought it was a pile of snow surrounded by tree branches.

"Dinner is ready."

The girl said this.

·······················

"Was the purple meteor photographed here?"

The emperor's bodyguards, dressed entirely in black, appeared silently in the winter forest, holding a somewhat blurry photograph in their black-gloved hands.

The photos are of the night sky, taken by a group of enthusiastic stargazers.

In Terra, many people are passionate about observing the night sky. Even though it's becoming increasingly difficult to observe the stars, with the limited enhancements from Originium Arts, some people can still observe the stars and draw certain conclusions.

Of course, what the Emperor's inner guard wanted was not the starry sky in the photo, but the location where the photo was taken.

Because they found the information they needed in this photograph.

In an inconspicuous corner of the photo, a purple meteor-like object streaked across the night sky, but due to the camera's limitations, it only captured a fleeting moment of the meteor's movement, resulting in a very blurry image.

However, the purple color matched the color of the beam of light seen by the garrison dozens of kilometers away from the mine.

A purple beam of light.

Now, the Emperor's inner guards are standing at the spot provided by the photographer, where traces of the fire that once burned the place still remain, as well as the anchor holes left in the snow by the tent.

This is definitely the right place.

The suspicious purple meteor passed by here and headed south.

Although I don't quite believe such claims and results, this is the only clue, or rather, the only clue that could be a clue.

Since no one knows what exactly created such a huge crater, the search area is much larger.

You can't think about it in the conventional way. Who knows if that thing can fly, right?

Where can we find shelter in the south?

The guard's cold interrogation, filtered through the helmet, became eerily unsettling, like a demon opening its mouth to speak.

"Um... to the south, the closest place is only three dilapidated villages, because further south is Kutsk City, and there are no eyewitness reports from there... so..."

The speaker was a man wearing a black dog-skin hat. The air filter, which was originally closed, was now open, since wearing it all the time was suffocating.

The Infected Patrol Team usually only wears the air filter when they get close to an infected person to prevent themselves from getting infected. Originally, it was just a mutual aid organization composed of thugs and vagrants who united to drive away the infected in order to avoid being infected themselves.

As it grew and expanded, it eventually became the semi-official organization it is today. Compared to officials and government employees, these people without formal positions were exempt from receiving salaries, saving the government and local lords money, and also improving the treatment of their internal staff.

As for how they make money, nobody cares. They're given very vague law enforcement authority, and the rest is up to them to figure out. In short, they have to complete the tasks assigned to them, but they don't get a penny paid. The price they pay is the tacit approval of the local lord.

They neither acknowledge nor oppose it, since it's the poor who are being oppressed anyway, and who cares about their lives?

These people, now dressed in uniform and looking respectable, have become the vanguard in plundering for personal gain and searching for infected individuals.

Because they lacked an internal staff, these people usually still had to pay taxes after looting, which exacerbated the suffering of the lower classes but also maintained their rule over the vast territory of Ursus.

After all, the territory is too vast and the population too small. The army needs to stay on the border, the police and secret agents need to maintain the security of the major cities, and the private armies under the lords are of varying quality and quantity. To manage the vast territory and these remote villages, a batch of fresh troops that don't cost money is naturally needed.

Therefore, the disciplinary teams came into being.

The henchman-like captain of the disciplinary squad hurriedly unfolded a map and pointed out the locations of the three dilapidated villages mentioned above.

Villages and towns cannot move with mobile cities. These villages are highly mobile, but their specific locations are still defined, since they can't go very far anyway.

Because it's so small and there are so few people, it's basically never marked on maps, and only the infected patrol teams familiar with the area know the number and location of the surrounding villages.

After all, who can forget a place where they can make money?

"However, one of the southernmost villages has been abandoned, while the other two still have some old folks living there."

With a fawning smile on his face, the squad leader humbly recounted the situation of one of the villages.

“When my men went to check last month, they found that no one was there anymore. It was probably because of the snow and reduced production that they had moved away with their families.”

"An abandoned village?"

"Exactly."

no one?

This clue is quite important.

The emperor's guards paid no heed to the sycophancy of their lackeys; after all, who at this level would care about these lowly commoners and beasts?

However, this intelligence is very important. After all, no one is suitable for hiding. If that meteor were to land in a populated village, it would naturally be seen. Since there are very few eyewitness records available now, it must have gone to a place where no one pays attention.

Of course, this is only based on the premise that "it is a living being and needs to rest." If the meteor is not a living being or anything else and does not need to stop and rest or find a place to rest, then it is a different story and needs to be considered in the long run.

"Where to go first?"

"Yes."

P.S.: I got ripped off for ten yuan today! An old lady asked me for incense money. Seriously, are all missionaries now asking for money?! When I was in school, Christian missionaries always gave me things, but now Buddhists don't give me anything and even ask for money. This cutthroat competition is terrifying. [shrug]

Section 9, Chapter Nine: [The Flame]

Living deep in the mountains, where even a needle won't prick you.

Unfortunately, there's nothing here, not even any seasonings.

Although Sodium Chloride is a villain who has traveled through multiple time periods and seen many storms, she is essentially a person who loves life and enjoys peaceful daily life, and she still has some knowledge of cooking.

I know a little bit about it.

However, as the saying goes, even a skilled cook cannot make a meal without rice. No matter how proficient you are at cooking, you can't create something out of thin air. Without seasonings, it's impossible to make anything.

Luckily, I still had a dagger in my hand.

In a corner unseen by anyone, the gathered firewood was piled up and then ignited by the flames on the blade of a crimson greatsword that emerged from the void.

NB's attacks are really useful.

Since there was no way to cook inside, the only solution was to do what we did last time: skewer the simply prepared meat with a knife and roast it over the fire.

There were no seasonings or sauces; you could only eat the most original flavors.

Sodium chloride is definitely not something I'm used to eating. I have to eat small pieces of meat for a long time.

Yelena ate very slowly, like a small animal that had just been rescued, taking a bite, glancing at its master's expression, and then taking the next bite.

They look so pitiful.

The two were still not familiar with each other, or rather, there was still a gap between them, which was normal. Sodium chloride also had enough patience, so she was not in a hurry.

"We might have to leave tomorrow. We'll go hungry if we don't have enough to eat."

Two animals, one big and one small, sat by the campfire outside the door. The dilapidated village houses provided shelter from the wind, while the flames offered warmth.

go away.

As if in a stress response, Yelena's knife trembled and stuck into the snow.

Hearing the noise, Sodium Chloride looked up and saw Yelena staring wide-eyed in disbelief.

why?

Her lips trembled slightly as she murmured the question in her heart.

However, Yelena could not imagine how the girl would respond.

She couldn't imagine it, because she seemed to know absolutely nothing about the woman in front of her.

I simply know that she is not good at expressing herself.

Is it a misunderstanding?

However, just as her once again frozen all hope in her heart, the warmth of her palm on her head pulled the girl back to reality from her own world.

"I brought you along; if I hadn't wanted to abandon you, I wouldn't have picked you up in the first place."

"Ugh?"

The warmth of her palm stopped the almost out-of-control chill, which was the girl's curse.

At least from the perspective of sodium chloride, this is a vicious curse.

But in Yelena's eyes, it was a miracle of redemption.

The cold is both salvation and curse. The girl who embodies the cold winter has the ability to protect herself, but this is like a hedgehog with its quills raised, indiscriminately hurting everything that comes near her.

Whether it was those malicious people or the small animals living in the forest that we had seen these past few days, they all fled in fear, and even if they approached rashly, the cold current would kill all life.

A girl who can no longer be embraced naturally has no right to be loved again.

Perhaps, in the face of this awful world, it's not such a bad thing after all.

Ultimately, even if hardship can help people grow, Yelena is just a child, and forcing her to grow too fast is an unhealthy way to develop.

The cold snow became a wall around Yelena's lonely heart, separating everyone from the girl. All she ever touched was cold; even hot drinks would burn her because she couldn't feel their proper temperature.

Since acquiring Originium Arts, the word "warmth" has almost disappeared. Even in front of a campfire, the girl can hardly feel warmth because the flames are easily extinguished by the cold air.

Just as the girl was lost in thought and feeling dejected.

As soon as he finished speaking, Sodium Chloride suddenly reached out and pulled the frail, unhealthy-looking girl into his arms, placing one hand on her head and his chin against her forehead.

"If you want to cry, just cry."

The cold air currents melted the fabric with their warmth, and the girl's vision was shrouded in a hazy mist.

However, any intense psychological activity can lead to Originium Arts going out of control.

If one were to remain forever alone, wandering the snowfields, Originium Arts might be suppressed and kept under control for a long time, because one's heart would have long since lost all emotion.

However, the moment an unstable external factor interferes, everything is no longer the same as before.

In just a moment, the curse expanded instantly due to the outburst of emotion!

That was an extreme cold, as if it could only be unleashed at the moment of awakening!

"No! No, you will...!!!"

The girl embraced the girl's cold body, a body that knew nothing of warmth, completely oblivious to the freezing cold that erupted around them, creating a frigid zone powerful enough to annihilate everything.

No! No!

However, it was too late. The uncontrollable cold wave would kill everything; this was the cursed aspect.

Even though Yelena didn't want to, and absolutely didn't want to, hurt the person in front of her, this ability was beyond her control.

It seemed like it was all too late.

Why...do such a foolish thing?

Even in a realm where tears could be frozen instantly, Yelena shed tears.

However, with a snap of the fingers, a surge of warmth suddenly illuminated this land in the dead of winter.

The girl was stunned.

Those were leaping...flames?

Just as the girl was stunned, she saw the flames illuminating the sodium chloride fingertips below. The girl's hand had somehow been lowered from her head, and a flame that could not be extinguished had been lit on her fingertips.

Though small, it was incredibly hot.