Asura in Arknights

Seeing that Li Ang's figure was almost disappearing into the darkness ahead, Magellan hurriedly adjusted the drone to provide some limited light for the surrounding area.

After she hurriedly caught up with him, Magellan realized that Leon seemed completely unaffected by the dark environment, which made her uneasy.

In such darkness... how did he even see where he was standing? And with that helmet on, could he really see anything in front of him? Magellan had a feeling that the helmet was completely sealed.

Li Ang led the way, skillfully navigating several intersections as if he knew the terrain by heart. But... it should be their first time here.

Could he have just been wandering around aimlessly up ahead?

As they rounded another corner, Magellan finally couldn't help but ask, "Where are you taking us?"

“It should be the control room,” Li Ang replied without turning his head, “It’s not far ahead.”

"We...have arrived."

Li Ang suddenly stopped, and the two people following behind him were unable to brake in time and almost bumped into him.

“Magellan… I want to confirm one thing: the time this fortress was marked as abandoned on the map was thirty-one years ago, right, when the Uka War had just begun?” Leon suddenly asked.

“Huh? That’s how it’s marked on the map.” Magellan paused for a moment before replying.

"Then... how do you explain this situation?"

As he spoke, Li Ang stepped aside, clearing the view that had been blocked by him.

"These are..."

Magellan's pupils constricted sharply as the light from the drone illuminated the scene ahead.

"Looks like we've hit the jackpot this time... These things don't seem like they would have happened thirty years ago."

Chapter Thirty: Heaps of Corpses

What appeared before them was a large, tangled mass of corpses.

Li Ang roughly counted, and there were nearly twenty people lying in this place. The limbs and bodies of these corpses were intertwined, and it was impossible to distinguish the boundaries between them. They looked as if they had just died not long ago, and there was no sign of decay on their bodies. The stench that Li Ang and the others had smelled earlier did not come from these corpses.

The door to the control room... was blocked by this pile of corpses.

“Thirty years ago, Ursus probably didn’t have equipment like this, right?” Leon kicked the 'handgun' that had rolled to his feet and said.

"Fourteen years ago, this weapon was produced fourteen years ago," Adele suddenly stated a very precise timeframe.

Adele was indeed startled when she saw the corpses, but when she calmed down and saw the weapon at Leon's feet, she suddenly remembered something that was very memorable to her.

"In 1080, Ursus suddenly announced that they had developed a new weapon based on the 'gun' used by the Sarkaz, although it was heavier and had a shorter range than the Lateran gun."

"But this weapon has much stronger penetrating power than the Lateran guns."

More than a decade has passed, but Adele still vividly remembers that time.

Having suddenly acquired such powerful new weapons, given the Ursus people's nature, they were bound to start a new round of war against neighboring countries. At that time, the entire Letania was filled with a sense of panic, and people were preparing for the possible war that was about to break out.

However, it ultimately proved to be nothing more than a flashy but impractical weapon.

Perhaps due to insufficient funding during the research and development process, this counterfeit product has a fatal flaw. It's passable as a weapon for the police, but it's not quite up to par for the military.

However, Ursus's move also successfully frightened the surrounding countries, buying them a few years of peaceful development. At that time, the new emperor had just ascended the throne, and everyone thought he would, like the previous emperors, use a war to quell the domestic turmoil. No one could have guessed that this new emperor was actually a pacifist that Ursus had only seen once in a thousand years.

The discovery of this thing means that it was not completely abandoned thirty years ago, as marked on the map.

"So, at least fourteen years ago, someone was still secretly using this place..."

A sixteen-year time difference... and probably more. Add to that these gruesome corpses, and the answer is obvious: these Ursus people are definitely conducting some dangerous research here.

Later, something happened that forced them to abandon the place.

"Seriously..." Li Ang sighed, "Can't people just have a moment's peace and quiet..."

Is this the fate of the protagonists in novels? No matter where they go, they're always plagued by trouble. If he could, Li Ang would also like to live a life of leisure and idleness...

Unfortunately, Li Ang knew very well that ever since he learned that he was an 'Apostle' of the Originium Will, the word "peace" had become almost impossible for him.

This was also one of the important reasons that led him down this path, because he always felt that what happened to the Nauman family was likely related to the 'immortals'.

The immortals are the enemies of him, the agent.

"So? Did you figure anything out?" Li Ang asked.

While Leon and Adele were speculating about when the fortress would be used, Magellan had already cautiously approached the pile of corpses and carefully observed their condition.

Since Leon is blind and Adele is unlikely to possess such unorthodox skills as autopsies, this task can only be performed by Magellan, an adventurer.

Magellan lived up to expectations, and in order to deal with the various unexpected events encountered during her expedition, she did indeed master a lot of miscellaneous skills.

After observing for a while, Magellan said somewhat uncertainly, "These people... seem to have frozen to death?"

"Freeze to death?" Li Ang frowned and asked, "Are you sure?"

This is the interior of a military fortress, with thick mountains acting as a barrier. Even if all the heating equipment inside the fortress stops working, it won't be as cold as outside.

The temperature here is probably around -25 degrees Celsius right now, and it will only get higher after the blizzard stops. Most people can withstand this level of cold by wearing just one or two layers of clothing, let alone the Ursus soldiers who live in this environment year-round.

It is almost impossible for so many Ursus soldiers to freeze to death here at the same time.

"Don't rush, let me take another look," Magellan replied.

She circled the pile of corpses several times, even daring to touch the bodies on top. After careful observation, she said with absolute certainty, "There's no mistake. Although I don't know why, these people definitely froze to death here."

"...Where's the evidence?"

"Of course there is evidence."

Magellan controlled the drone, focusing the light on one of the corpses, and said, "I didn't find any visible external injuries on these bodies, and look at these people, their clothes seem a bit too thin, which is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when people are in a low-temperature environment for a long time and take off their clothes."

"Their exposed skin was also purplish-red, which is the most obvious characteristic of frostbite. These two points alone can determine their cause of death."

"The reason they died here, in such a strange posture," Magellan said after choosing his words carefully, "is probably because when they realized something was wrong and tried to leave, they found that the control room door couldn't be opened no matter what they did."

With that, Magellan carefully stepped over the corpses and pushed the door open in front of the control room.

The door didn't move at all.

"Unable to leave this fortress, these people must have been trying to huddle together for warmth, which is why their deaths were so strange."

As he spoke, Magellan's voice grew weaker.

If her earlier speculation was correct, what force could have frozen these Ursus soldiers to death here?

Magellan couldn't help but shiver, as if the surrounding cold air had penetrated her protective suit and seeped directly into her bone marrow.

How exactly did these people die?

The three stared silently at the pile of corpses before them, not one of them uttering a sound; the surroundings were deathly still.

After a long silence, Li Ang finally spoke, breaking the stillness.

"Adele, was there a problem with what she just said?"

Chapter Thirty-One: Ice

“I don’t really understand the specifics, but these people look… just like Miss Magellan described,” Adele replied.

Does this mean they don't trust her judgment?

After hearing Li Ang's question, Magellan's feelings were somewhat complicated.

Magellan also knew that they were only temporarily together for various complicated reasons, and that gaining each other's trust would not be easy.

But... she has no reason to lie about something like this, does she? What benefit would it bring her to conceal the cause of these people's deaths?

Li Ang noticed Magellan's emotions in time, and to prevent the misunderstanding from deepening, he explained, "Don't misunderstand, it's not that I don't believe your judgment."

“But… I can’t actually see anything. I observe the surroundings in a special way. What I see in this way is very different from the world as seen by ordinary people. So I can’t see the features on those corpses. I have to let Adele check the situation for me.”

This is simply because they don't trust her judgment...

Magellan thought to herself, but after changing the way she put it, she did feel much better.

After listening to Li Ang's explanation, Magellan's doubts were also resolved. No wonder the other party could move so fast in the dark, and no wonder he knew the terrain so well even though it was his first time here.

At that moment, Magellan suddenly heard the angry roar that Li Ang had given him not long ago.

Magellan initially thought it was just Li Ang saying something in anger, but he didn't expect that Li Ang was actually telling the truth. In a sense, Li Ang was indeed 'blind', which made Magellan somewhat embarrassed.

However, Li Ang paid no attention to the messy thoughts in Magellan's mind. His attention had already shifted from the corpses to the control room behind them.

“Alright, let’s try to open this door and get the car in first,” Li Ang said. “I’m worried that if we leave it outside any longer, the blizzard will damage the engine.”

If that's the case, they'll have to walk to Sami... that would be a real disaster.

Avoiding the corpses on the ground, Li Ang also tried to push the control room door.

There seemed to be something attached to the back of the door, completely jamming it shut. Li Ang used a lot of strength, but he couldn't push the door open.

Faced with this situation, even if Magellan knew many tricks, it would be useless. Only by confronting it head-on could he open the door in front of him. This is exactly what caused the Ursus soldiers to fall.

"Please move aside, I'll open this door."

After Adele and Magellan retreated some distance, Li Ang took out his short sword, imbued it with the Evil Light Slash, and held it in place to enhance the power of his next strike.

Several hazy rainbow-colored lights flashed in the darkness, and along with the substance attached to the door, the control room door silently shattered into several pieces and fell to the ground.

Dissipating the light from the short sword, Li Ang said, "Alright, we can go in now."

Following Li Ang into the control room, Adele casually glanced at the fragments of the door on the ground, but when she saw the substance attached to the back of the door, she couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"ice?!"

Indeed, there was a layer of ice about two inches thick covering the back of the door, and it was because of this layer of ice that they were unable to open the control room door smoothly.

There was no trace of anyone in the entire control room. All the equipment was covered with a thin layer of frost, and even after thirty years, the power supply of these devices was still normal.

Li Ang simply turned off the main switch, and the light bulbs above their heads flickered twice before emitting a dim light.

The entire military fortress was like a monster that had been sleeping for countless years, finally awakened by Li Ang from its long hibernation. As various instruments and equipment in the base were activated one by one, the world that Li Ang perceived suddenly became rich and colorful.

This military fortress looks as if it was just built; there are no problems whatsoever.

"So, these people were blocked outside the control room by a door and ended up freezing to death outside?" Li Ang found it somewhat unbelievable.

If the fortress's energy system had been compromised, the deaths of these people would be understandable, but in this situation...

The layer of ice Adele had just discovered behind the door added a layer of mystery to the deaths of those Ursus soldiers...bullshit.

“Someone killed them,” Li Ang said with absolute certainty.

If he still can't draw a conclusion with so many clues, then all those episodes of Detective Conan he watched would have been for nothing.

"So many years have passed, the murderer should be gone by now, right?"

Upon hearing Li Ang's words, Adele immediately looked around nervously, as if the unknown murderer might jump out from a corner at any moment and deliver a fatal blow to the three of them.

“Who knows? Maybe the murderer has been hiding in this place for the past thirty years,” Li Ang said calmly. “If the murderer is still in this fortress, then he already knows we’re here.”

The news of restarting the fortress could not be kept secret from those inside.

Of course, if the murderer wasn't mentally unstable, he wouldn't have hidden in such a godforsaken place for over a decade.

Hearing Li Ang say that the murderer might still be here, Adele shrank back in fear, but she quickly realized that Li Ang was just trying to scare her.

Adele stood on tiptoe and tapped Leon's helmet angrily. "Don't scare me like that! I really thought the killer was still here!"

"How could anyone stay here for more than ten years!"

"Indeed, the killer may have already left, but... all these inferences are based on the premise that the killer is 'human'."

What if the murderer wasn't human?

It was as if a cold wind had blown into the control room. Both Adele and Magellan were at a loss for words. They had just dealt with the aliens not long ago, and nothing could be more convincing than this.

So, it really was a monster that killed these people? And that monster is still staying in this fortress and hasn't left?

Both of them had this question in their minds.

Seeing their reactions, Li Ang knew it was time to stop while he was ahead; taking a joke too far was never a good thing.

"Alright, I was just kidding. Monsters aren't that easy to encounter."

“I have just searched almost the entire fortress, and there are no living creatures within my perception range.”

Of course, these are merely 'living' creatures.

Chapter Thirty-Two Supplies

Once the fortress is powered back up, opening the main gate is a very simple matter.

Li Ang simply pressed a few buttons and opened the gate, powerful enough to withstand an army's attack.