Asura in Arknights

"...That's about all I know. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask the garrison in Ursus. They've been dealing with the aliens for so long, they definitely know more than I do."

I never heard of such a creature before; I can't believe it exists in the world.

Magellan was tempted by the adventurer's spirit, but she quickly remembered the near-death experience she had just had and dismissed the unrealistic idea.

She thought for a moment, then asked, "But according to you, it's impossible for alien species to appear in this place, right?"

“That’s exactly what I’m wondering about,” Li Ang shrugged and replied. “Either the Ursus’s defenses have failed, or the aliens have crossed the border by some other means, but either way, it’s pretty bad.”

"That's why I left as soon as possible. No matter how serious the problem is, it's the Ursus people's business. I don't want to get involved in that kind of trouble."

Magellan could understand this idea.

“Next… this is a bit tricky…” Li Ang gently tapped his helmet.

After answering their questions, Li Ang now faces an awkward situation.

Just like yesterday, the research station has now been destroyed, and they have to find a new place to shelter from the blizzard. Are they really going to have to run up the mountain and dig a cave now?

Suddenly, Li Ang remembered something and pointed at Magellan, asking, "By the way, what should we do with this guy?"

After the blizzard passes, they will proceed to Sami as planned, but what about Magellan? If I remember correctly, she's Colombian, right? Are we going to send her back to Colombia?

“Miss Magellan, you can join us for now,” Adele replied. “Miss Magellan helped us before, now it’s our turn to help her.”

Li Ang had only mentioned it casually yesterday, but he never expected that he would actually have the opportunity to repay Magellan so soon.

"As for repaying someone... that's fair, I have no objection."

"But let me ask you this first, Miss Magellan, what did you bring with you when you came out?"

"Well, I only brought those four drones, and some usable parts from the drones... Oh no..."

At this point, Magellan's expression changed, "I forgot to bring food..."

Given the critical situation, how could Magellan have thought of such a thing? But once they were temporarily safe, food and energy became problems they had to face.

"They won't just abandon me, will they?" Magellan felt a little uneasy and secretly glanced at Li Ang, but Li Ang was still wearing his helmet, so Magellan couldn't see the expression on his face.

“Alright…” Li Ang sighed and said, “I was just asking casually. We couldn’t ask for more in that situation. It’s okay that we didn’t bring any food. We still have some in the car, which should be enough for now.”

The task has become even more difficult now. The number of mouths to feed has increased from two to three, and we don't know if the supplies on the truck will be enough.

Although Li Ang didn't know how much Magellan ate, he figured it wouldn't be enough, because Li Ang had never considered the issue of a third person. Even if he brought extra food for emergencies, it wouldn't be enough for one more person.

"Alright, let's find a sheltered place first, we'll figure out the food problem later."

Hearing what Li Ang said, Magellan gradually relaxed, and it seemed that the two of them were not planning to abandon her for the time being.

Just as Magellan breathed a sigh of relief, Li Ang also took out the map and began to determine his current location according to the markings on the map.

Magellan only glanced in that direction, but he couldn't take his eyes off it.

She knew all too well how important a detailed map was to an explorer. The map in Li Ang's hands perfectly struck a chord with Magellan. Even the map she obtained through Rhine Lab, after several years of completion, was not even half the size of this map.

Suppressing his inner turmoil, Magellan asked, "Um... excuse me, could you tell me where your destination is? That would help me plan the rest of the trip."

"Huh? Didn't I already tell you yesterday? Our destination is Sami."

Li Ang answered without looking up, and at the same time, he determined his current location based on the surrounding terrain.

"Found it...if it's in this area..."

Nearby, Li Ang found a military fortress marked as "abandoned".

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Strange Things

"You guys are actually going to Sami?" Magellan couldn't help but raise his voice.

If yesterday's actions were due to suspicion and both sides held back, then there should be no need to lie now, which means that these two people are indeed preparing to go to Sami.

“Miss Magellan, we told you the truth yesterday, we didn’t lie to you at all,” Adele said from the front. “We really did come from Kazimierz, and we really will be going to Sami next.”

“Uh… I just didn’t expect that anyone would actually go to Sami this season.” Magellan scratched his head and said somewhat awkwardly.

To be honest, she couldn't understand why anyone would choose to go to Sami during this season of raging blizzards. Wasn't that just making things more difficult for themselves?

"We also have some special reasons..." Adele replied vaguely, without revealing the real reason.

“In that case, if possible, please allow me to accompany you to Sami.” Magellan pondered for a moment before making his decision.

Once Magellan can safely reach any of the mobile cities in Sami, he will have a way to contact Rhine Life headquarters in Colombia, where they will send someone to pick him up.

Although this would take some time, it was absolutely safe; Magellan's fragile heart couldn't withstand any more trouble for the time being.

"You two... is this alright?" Magellan asked cautiously. "I am also an experienced explorer, and I can definitely be of help on the road."

"I don't have any objections, Li Ang, what about you?"

So she was an explorer... No wonder Magellan lived in such a godforsaken place. She must have been one of those common explorers who made agreements with certain powers and went to explore unknown areas at their request.

“Okay,” Li Ang nodded, then warned, “but I need to remind you of something first: don’t make any unnecessary movements along the way. If there’s anything you want to do, you must tell me in advance. Do you understand?”

So-called explorers are all just curious guys. To put it simply, these kinds of people are the ones who wipe out the whole group in horror movies. Li Ang doesn't want Magellan's momentary lapse of judgment to ruin everything.

"Understood, understood." Magellan nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice, but whether she actually listened was still unknown.

"Alright, I just found an abandoned military fortress in Ursus on the map. We'll go there next to see if we can find anything useful and also get out of this blizzard."

To be honest, even if a military fortress has been abandoned, Li Ang doesn't want to enter it easily.

But apart from this fortress, they had nowhere else to choose from.

After two days of rough use, the car's engine has developed a minor problem. Li Ang can hear a clicking or rattling noise coming from inside. Although it can still run normally for now, he doesn't know when it might suddenly stall. He needs to find a place to have the entire power system thoroughly inspected.

Moreover, if they were lucky, they might even find some supplies that hadn't been evacuated in time within the fortress, which was the real reason Li Ang decided to go and take a look.

At that moment, Magellan asked in a low voice, "That map...can I take a look at it?"

"……Can."

Li Ang thought for a moment, then placed the map in Magellan's hands.

With the help of the dim light inside the car, Magellan quickly scanned the map and determined her approximate location. At the same time, she also found the military fortress that Leon had mentioned.

After watching for a while, Magellan frowned quite noticeably.

"Is this the fortress you're talking about?" Magellan asked, pointing to the mark on the map.

"That's it... What, do you have a different opinion?"

Upon hearing this, Magellan shook his head. "It's nothing. I just think this fortress is a bit strange."

"Strange? Why do you say that?" Li Ang's interest was piqued slightly.

"Because... firstly, there's the location where this fortress was built. Although I don't know much about military matters, this isn't a major transportation route, and it's quite a distance from the Sami border. Why would Ursus build a fortress in such a place?"

"Maybe it's to hoard supplies?" Adele joined their discussion.

“That does make sense, but there’s something else that’s rather strange.” Magellan handed the map back to Leon and said, “This map was probably captured by Casimir during the Uka War twenty years ago, right?”

"Based on this timeline, the fortress should have been abandoned at the very beginning of the war, which is somewhat illogical."

Furthermore, there's one more thing Magellan didn't mention: she's been here for quite some time, yet she's never heard of an abandoned fortress nearby. When Rhine Labs and the Ursus government were making their deal, the other party should have already informed Rhine Labs about the situation in this area.

All signs pointed to the fact that the fortress was not as simple as it seemed, and the adventurer's intuition told Magellan that they absolutely could not underestimate the journey ahead.

After sharing his concerns with Li Ang, Magellan quietly waited for him to make a choice.

Because she has now realized that, of the two, the one who truly makes the decision is this mysterious man who has never taken off his helmet.

"I understand your concerns. In short... we will be careful."

After careful consideration, Li Ang did not change his previous plan.

……

About two hours later, they finally found the entrance to the abandoned fortress at the foot of a cliff.

Twenty years is enough time to change many things. The entrance here had long been buried by ice and snow, and the blizzard severely affected their visibility, wasting a lot of time before they finally found this place.

"Let me open the door."

Naturally, they couldn't possibly have the key to this place, so Li Ang decided to just blast the door open.

Anyway, the fortress was already abandoned, and Li Ang couldn't sense any living beings inside. No matter how much trouble he caused, no one would bother him.

"Etc., etc!"

Seeing that Li Ang had already taken out his short sword, Magellan quickly jumped out of the carriage and grabbed him, "I should be able to open this door! Let me try!"

P.S. Uh, I'm having a bit of writer's block, and I'm feeling really uncomfortable.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Grand Prize

To breach a military fortress by force...

The main gate is undoubtedly the most fortified part of a fortress. Perhaps given some time, this man could indeed accomplish such a feat, but the impact on the entire fortress structure during the breach should also be considered.

Since Magellan had a better method, there was no need to take this risk.

"This fortress was probably built on the orders of the previous Ursus Emperor. Many of the anti-theft measures from that time are now outdated."

"Moreover, in order to minimize the influence of the modern emperor, the current emperor hardly adopts anything left over from the previous dynasty."

As a result, many things that were originally top secret became less important after the emperor changed.

Magellan explained as he groped around near the gate.

Even if a military fortress is abandoned, the road to it will not be completely blocked, because the fortress may be reactivated one day. The service life of a qualified military fortress is quite long.

“Found it.” Magellan found several very well hidden protrusions in different locations on the gate.

What she is looking for now is the secret entrance to this base.

This isn't really a secret; the documents released back then contained many more explosive secrets.

However, even if ordinary people knew, they wouldn't have the opportunity to find a fortress to test if it was real. Only in such desolate and remote places could such completely forgotten abandoned fortresses exist.

Thinking about it this way, Magellan became even more excited. What secrets might be hidden in this fortress?

Magellan pressed down the protrusions in a certain order, and after a moment of silence, with a slight tremor, a hole appeared in the door, just big enough for one person to pass through.

“This is the emergency entrance,” Magellan said. “If you go in from here, you can open this fortress from the inside.”

"I didn't expect you to know so much," Li Ang said with some surprise.

Magellan had previously said she would give it a try, and Li Ang had only told her to give it a shot without much hope. Unexpectedly, Magellan actually opened the door.

This made Li Ang glance at her a few times. It seemed that the adventurer did indeed know some random knowledge, and bringing Magellan along might bring some unexpected surprises.

So Li Ang said to them, "I'll go and find a way to open this door. Please wait here for me for a while."

Having been reminded by Magellan, Li Ang also took the fortress seriously, so he decided to go in first to explore the situation inside, so that he could react in time if anything unexpected happened.

"Wait! I'll go in with you!"

Having just experienced that, Magellan was extremely worried about letting Li Ang go in alone.

Seeing that Magellan was determined, Li Ang said helplessly, "Fine... Adele, you come too. Let's park the car here for now."

There wasn't a soul in sight for miles around, so leaving the car there wouldn't be any problems. However, Leon felt it was inappropriate to leave Adele alone outside. But if Magellan were replaced, Leon thought it would be fine.

Unfortunately, Magellan insisted on going in with him.

So the three of them made some preparations and then entered the dark cave together.

As soon as he stepped into the passage, a putrid stench wafted out. Even though Li Ang's helmet had some filtering capabilities, it couldn't completely block out the smell, and he instinctively held his breath.

"What is this smell? It smells awful!"

Magellan, who was following behind, also hurriedly put on his breathing mask. Thanks to the foresight of the two people in front of her, Adele, who was walking at the back, luckily escaped the ordeal and was spared the stench.

"It's possible that something inside that wasn't removed in time broke," Li Ang said.

He had been hoping to find something to eat here, such as military rations like compressed biscuits or dried food, which could be preserved for twenty or thirty years in this environment.

However, after smelling the stench, Li Ang couldn't be sure whether the remaining items had been contaminated.

"...Let's go,"

After the smell dissipated a little, Li Ang took a deep breath and said, "To open this door, we should first find the nearby control room."

After saying that, Li Ang walked straight into the deeper part of the dark passage.

He had already found a location nearby that resembled a control room, but in that area, Li Ang also discovered something else that caught his attention... Once he got closer, Li Ang would confirm what it was.

"Hey, wait for me!"