The Story of How I Was Picked Up and Adopted by Talula Chapter 2

Orson only just noticed that his hands were bound to a pillar on the ground, rendering him immobile. He wasn't alone either; behind the dim lantern, a figure he recognized as very familiar was sitting there.

Talula...

The villainous BOSS from the game Arknights, a terrifying existence capable of melting an entire street with ease.

"Um, I— cough!?"

Orson had barely uttered Talula's name when an excruciating headache surged through him, followed by nausea.

"Cough, cough... What's going on? Where am I?"

After the sudden, explosive headache subsided, Orson managed to ask Talula, who was dressed impeccably in what looked like a military uniform.

"If you're pretending to have amnesia, you should do a better job of it."

Talula replied coldly, implying that Orson should drop the act.

Pretending to have amnesia? What's that about...?

As he was lost in confusion and unable to grasp the situation, Orson suddenly remembered.

A suffocating space, devoid of any stench of decay. A numb body, everything plunged into darkness, a girl dying in his arms, a chaotic swirl of emotions, and darkness... darkness?

Orson frowned. As he cursed his own weakness and faced death, he felt as if a part of his body had been torn away.

Was that something tangible... or just another hallucination?

"It seems you're genuinely disoriented. Allow me to fill in some details—When I found you, you were sitting in the center of the village, surrounded by ruins and corpses, cut apart by something. Do you recall what happened in that village now?"

"Cut... Cut by what? I don't know anything about that... I was locked in the barn for about five or six days, or maybe seven or eight... Damn it, I don't know the exact time. Anyway, I was about to die, and those Infected were even trying to eat each other to survive. I... No, I don't know if that was a hallucination... but I don't know what happened to the village itself... Ugh!"

The explosive pain struck again. Orson, completely out of his depth, had no idea what had happened in that village.

Orson wanted to explain further, but before he could finish, a cold wind suddenly blew in through the opened tent flap. A woman in a white coat with long white hair and a pair of striking, large rabbit ears entered the tent.

(An illustration is available here. You can view it after updating the version.)

Orson also had a strong impression of this girl—the captain of the Abyssal Hunters, known as FrostNova, an Infected rabbit, the conscience of Reunion, who later died in Lungmen. One of Orson's wives.

"I saw the situation in that village, Talula. Even the legendary ghosts of the frozen plains couldn't achieve this. It's best to eliminate this unstable existence."

"Wait, wait a minute...!?"

Even though he saw his second wife, the first thing she said was that she wanted to kill him.

"A reasonable suggestion."

Talula didn't refute FrostNova's proposal. Orson, the center of the conversation, trapped on the pillar, could only watch in confusion and helplessness.

These women, who were his "wives" in the game he knew so well, were now standing before him in the flesh, yet they were discussing how to eliminate him, the "strange survivor."

This was nothing like the transmigration he had imagined!

"I want to ask you a question. I hope you can answer truthfully."

Talula remained silent for a few seconds before asking Orson, who immediately nodded, indicating he would cooperate with anything she said, wishing he could just spill all his kinks.

"When we found you, the village granaries were piled high with the corpses of Infected. Unlike the other dismembered villagers, those Infected had bite marks but weren't cut up; their bodies were relatively intact. And when I found you, you were holding a girl who was the only one without any wounds. What was your relationship with her?"

Talula looked at Orson, her black pupils possessing a pressure that no girl her age should have.

"That girl—I have no relationship with that child. The only connection is that I witnessed her death firsthand. She breathed her last in my arms. I can't accept this fact, nor can I accept that I could only watch it happen. That's not how anyone should die!"

Orson blurted out what was on his mind.

"But that is the end that we Infected should receive in the eyes of others. You are Infected, you should understand, right?"

"Wh— Infected? Me?"

Orson was stunned. The word Talula used hit him like a thunderclap.

Before transmigrating, Orson had always thought that "Infected" was just a minor illness that gave the girls more patterns on their bodies, fitting his preferences, and nothing major.

But during his time at the farm, he had seen the fate of the Infected—loss of senses, coughing blood, their bodies covered in stone, and in the end, even their corpses couldn't be preserved. They wouldn't get a tombstone, no one to mourn them, only to have their bodies shattered after the contamination dissipated in search of Originium.

"It seems you've only recently become Infected? Then learn to understand. Understand the suffering that those people you used to observe carried."

Talula noticed Orson's wavering and quickly realized that the young man before her might have been a "normal person" not long ago.

Faced with Talula's cold 'sarcasm,' Orson didn't get angry or complain. After a brief period of chaos, he could only accept the fact.

"I... I think Infected should be specially cared for and managed. But I never thought they should be discriminated against or persecuted."

Orson said softly, looking down. His words made Talula shift her gaze back to him.

"Because of Oripathy infection, this matter has nothing to do with character, faith, or race. It's just a matter of origin and luck. I've never thought it was right to use origin or luck as a reason for discrimination or differential treatment!"

"..."

Talula was silent for a moment, then posed her next question.

"What do you think you can offer the guerrilla force?"

"Talula, are you planning to—"

FrostNova looked at Talula with some surprise.

"Let's hear his answer first."

I never thought I'd meet my "wives" like this. Orson's mind was a complete mess. He realized that Talula's words might be his chance, a chance to stay alive.

"I—I can provide—uh..."

In his twenty-plus years of life, Orson had never hated himself for being so useless.

"Me, right—I can perform Guo Degang's crosstalk!"

Ah, it's over. I'm dead.

Ten seconds left on the countdown. Cut the red wire or the blue wire. Orson, whose brain was already fried, chose to "cut his nails."

But faced with this utterly absurd answer, Talula merely frowned slightly and asked one last question:

"Have I met you before? Why do you call me 'wife'?"

"—"

Orson's face turned bright red. He wished Talula would just put him out of his misery right then and there.

02. The Princess in the Dream

"I survived..."

In an inconspicuous camp in a world of ice and snow, Orson sat on a wooden stake, his eyes vacant. He stared blankly at the blue sky and white clouds.

Orson's hands were bound together by a chain and handcuffs, and a thick, circular iron ring was around his neck. It was said that this ring could easily melt his head off.

Although Orson looked like a garlic man who hadn't broken free from his chains, or a condemned prisoner about to be paraded to the Meridian Gate for execution, at least Orson had survived.

"I can't remember how I answered that last question at all..."

Due to triggering a "too embarrassing self-preservation mechanism," Orson had forgotten how he managed to answer the question "What's it like to be called 'wife' by someone you just met?" while being stared at by FrostNova and Talula.

Judging by the outcome, Talula hadn't turned him into a matchstick and set him ablaze, nor had she chopped off his head with a sword. It seemed he had… narrowly escaped?

Orson never imagined he would meet the girls from the game in such a way.

Normally, the standard trope after transmigration is that the girls are in danger and he makes a heroic entrance. But in this case, the girls made a heroic entrance and then discussed whether to kill him.

Then again, at what point in Arknights was he right now?

After experiencing the shattering of his peaceful daily life, being thrown into the tomb of despair, barely surviving, being saved by Talula, and being given a chance to live—after these suffocating experiences, Orson finally had a moment to rest on the wooden stake and sort out his current situation.

Although they hadn't spent much time together, during his recent meeting with Talula and FrostNova, Orson couldn't shake off a sense of incongruity.

It felt like these two cadres of Reunion were different from his memories.

Orson lowered his head and pondered, trying to set aside his incredibly embarrassing answers and find the source of this incongruity.

Was it their appearance? Talula did seem much gentler than he remembered, while FrostNova hadn't changed much.

Was it their personalities? Talula hadn't spoken in riddles or acted profound during the conversation, and FrostNova remained consistently cold.

Was it their attire? Talula's military uniform, while cool at first glance, seemed out of place among the surrounding Infected. FrostNova's clothes, apart from being faded, were exactly as he remembered... wait, faded!

Orson thought of something. He stood up from the stake and scanned the settlement, confirming his guess.

Neither Talula, FrostNova, nor the Infected around them bore the black and red Reunion insignia, like a DNA marker.

"I quit playing after the seventh chapter. They said the eighth chapter was coming, but before I could play it, I ended up digging potatoes in this broken place. So, is this the future story? No, FrostNova, she..."

Orson muttered to himself, organizing the situation.

FrostNova was alive, so the current timeline must be before Chapter 6, and not any point between 1 and 7.

"Perhaps Reunion didn't fall apart, but rather... hasn't been established yet?"

Another point was Talula. In Chapter 7, she was almost like a madwoman. Not only did she scheme against all her teammates, but she even tried to pursue Lungmen in Chernobog with her actions, likely responsible for at least five figures in human lives.

Even though his consciousness was unclear back then, he actually called this war-crazed lunatic, who abandoned her own teammates, "wife." Could it be that in his subconscious, he was actually a looks-obsessed person?

Orson pondered for two seconds.

"Well, all men are looks-obsessed!"

Then he let out a relieved laugh.

Although he had sorted out his current situation, the intelligence was still overwhelmingly insufficient. Talula hadn't explicitly told him what to do, so he might as well wander around the vicinity.

Orson got up and strolled around the camp. After a few steps, he encountered several Infected warriors who were chopping wood, their bodies wrapped in clothes and cloth strips.

"Whether they are Infected or ordinary people, the things they need to do to survive are pretty much the same."

Orson once again realized that whether one was Infected or an ordinary person, at their core, they all needed fire, warmth, and shelter to survive. There was no difference.

"Hmm? You are, oh, you're the survivor Talula found in the village, right? Why are you shackled?"

Orson's arrival caught the attention of the Infected warriors. They looked curiously at the inconspicuous young man dragging handcuffs, who was said to be a survivor.

"I... uh, my current situation is a bit delicate? I'm not sure if this is a precautionary measure, or if I'm just cuffed because I sexually harassed your boss."

"?"

Orson's explanation left the Infected with question marks popping up above their heads.

"Are you really a purebred idiot?"

FrostNova's voice suddenly came from behind him. Orson turned his head and saw that the white rabbit had appeared there at some point without him hearing her footsteps at all.

Regardless of the persecution, it was actually said that FrostNova's weight was excessively light, and it seemed this was true.

"FrostNova, the Abyssal Hunters were just looking for you. They said the last fight with the Provost Marshal's Elite could be optimized."

"Understood. Thank you for letting me know."

FrostNova walked over to the campfire, picked up a few pieces of firewood, and glanced at Orson again.

"In short, behave yourself. We don't have the extra manpower or energy to discern your stance or true nature. Talula might not want to eliminate you as the sole survivor, but I wouldn't mind."

"..."

After delivering her threat, FrostNova turned to leave. At that moment, Orson spoke.

"Miss FrostNova—"

"?"

FrostNova stopped and looked at Orson with a frown.

"Um... it was nice meeting you."

"..."

FrostNova remained silent, offering no reply, and walked directly towards another tent not far away.

—Please take good care of yourself and live well.

Orson didn't say the rest of his words aloud.

Although, from his current position, FrostNova was probably someone he needed to "handle with care," Orson was still... happy to see a living snow rabbit in person.

After helping to chop some firewood, Orson continued to wander. As he arrived at the most secluded corner of the settlement, Orson suddenly sensed a certain [Melody].