In the Ark, Starting as Griseo

"When the two of us came to this area before, we saw a line of footprints that appeared out of nowhere. We followed them and found a snow pit, but we didn't find anyone in the end."

"At first, we both thought we'd seen a ghost. Now it looks like it was you, little one."

Although Alexei said this as a question, his tone was one of absolute certainty. He didn't believe anyone else in this forest could have done such a thing.

"Mhm, it was me. Once I sensed you two, I had Mr. Wolf carry me away."

Griseo, who had been listening intently, expecting to hear about something major, nodded her little head decisively after hearing the explanation and admitted it.

To her, since she had already been discovered, there was no need to hide such a small matter.

"So those footprints were yours, little one! Alexei and I really thought we saw a ghost," Ivan said, sitting bolt upright with a wry smile after hearing Griseo's confession.

"After all, I was following you secretly. I would get scolded if I was found out."

Griseo was very clear about the nature of her actions this time.

Although, thanks to her uncle the Tyrant, the process had become a little high-profile, overall, it was still relatively low-key.

"You..."

?

"Crunch, crunch—"

As the group chatted, a sudden noise from a distance brought their conversation to an abrupt halt. Everyone fell silent, observing the situation in the distance.

"..."

However, Griseo, who was the first to sense who was approaching, felt her mood plummet again. She nervously snuggled closer into Mr. Wolf's embrace.

The little loli was ready. A scolding? She'd dare to do it again next time!

As the sound grew closer, both parties came into view of each other, and then...

"Alexei, weren't you two in danger?" Lois asked in confusion upon seeing her teammates completely unharmed and relaxed.

Then, upon clearly seeing the adorable child being held in the giant wolf's arms beside them, she was completely stunned: "Wait! Little Griseo!?"

Lois's surprised cry immediately drew the attention of the two people beside her.

"Griseo? Wait, doesn't that thing holding the little cutie look familiar?"

?

"Now that you mention it, it does look a bit like the one that saved us..."

"What's going on? Why is Griseo here?"

Yelena didn't join the discussion between Lois and the other person. Instead, she walked over to Griseo, patted her little head, and then looked at Ivan and the others with a serious expression.

"!"

Feeling the touch and warmth on her head, though still as gentle as ever, Griseo shivered. Honestly, this was the first time she felt Yelena's hand was so cold...

After Yelena spoke, the two who had been secretly discussing Griseo and Mr. Wolf perked up their ears.

ps: As usual, the second update will be a bit late. I hope it's a little earlier today like yesterday. Please give some votes.

Chapter 34: Entering the Mine and Scars

After their eldest sister's inquiry, the two Yetis didn't hide anything and told her everything they knew.

After listening to Ivan and the other Yeti's account and understanding the current situation, Yelena turned her gaze back to Griseo.

"..."

As Griseo's eyes met Yelena's, a flicker of guilt flashed in her violet eyes.

If Yelena had severely lectured her after learning everything, Griseo wouldn't have felt anything.

But she didn't... The more silent and quiet FrostNova was, the more guilty the little loli felt.

"Sigh... So, can you tell me why you secretly followed us?"

Seeing Griseo's expression, Yelena sighed softly and looked directly into her eyes, asking gently.

Although Yelena had gained a direct impression of the little loli's strength from the two Yetis' descriptions, she wasn't particularly surprised overall.

Because she already knew that Griseo was not an ordinary child, possessing special abilities and an unknown origin.

Therefore, more than anything else, Yelena wanted to know why Griseo had followed them all the way here. After all, the distance was not short this time.

"Mhm, because I want to protect you all. I don't want Sister Yelena's health to worsen again." Hearing Yelena's voice, Griseo earnestly repeated what she had said before, but which had been dismissed as a joke.

"Is that so? I understand."

Gazing at the seriousness and determination in Griseo's eyes, Yelena didn't blame her. Instead, she gently curved her lips and softly patted the little loli's head again.

Griseo's answer didn't surprise Yelena either. In fact, the moment she saw the little loli, she had already known the reason...

At this moment, Yelena completely put away the "arrogance" of an adult towards a child and regarded the small, adorable Griseo before her as a fellow comrade-in-arms who could fight together.

"Hey, Sister Yelena, aren't you mad anymore?"

Gently rubbing Yelena's calloused hand, Griseo asked in surprise. She hadn't expected her to calm down so quickly.

"Mad at you, little one? Not really. If I were to get angry, it would be at myself. I didn't take good care of you."

After speaking, Yelena blinked her beautiful eyes. Then, she softened her voice again and said, "Besides, little Griseo was trying to help us, wasn't she?"

"Mhm, I'll keep working hard. As long as I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you."

Listening to Yelena's gentle words, Griseo's rapidly changing mood vanished. Her violet eyes filled with happiness once more.

"Okay, we'll protect you too, little Griseo."

Looking at Griseo's eyes, which were practically sparkling, Yelena couldn't help but reach out and gently pinch her soft little cheek.

Watching the interaction between their elder sister and the little loli, Ivan quietly leaned over to Alexei and whispered, "See? I told you Elder Sister wouldn't blame little Griseo. You said I was talking nonsense."

"Even if Elder Sister didn't say it, what you told Griseo before was definitely nonsense. There's no way around that." After rolling his eyes at the person next to him, Alexei retorted in a low voice.

"Nonsense? It's not!"

"Exactly!"

Not long after, the other members of the Yeti Squad arrived one after another. After confirming the situation at the mine, Yelena led everyone straight into the mine to deal with the mess left by the Tyrant.

Upon entering the mine and roughly assessing the situation, they confirmed that most of the enemies had been cleared out. The Yeti Squad then began searching for any remaining stragglers and secured key locations like the mine's warehouse.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Tyrant seems to have cleared out most of the enemies..." Griseo first glanced at the busy Yetis around them, then turned to Alyona beside her and said apologetically.

Earlier, Griseo had ordered the Tyrant to act first to show the Yetis her capabilities and prevent them from stopping her.

As a result, she couldn't find Alyona's enemy for her to take revenge on personally.

"I see. He's already dead. So it doesn't matter..." Looking at the little loli earnestly apologizing beside her, Alyona's lips curved upwards for the first time in years, and she smiled at Griseo.

"Mmm, you're bleeding. Right, your wound... it needs to be treated."

Although Griseo thought Alyona's smile was beautiful, she frowned slightly when she noticed that the smile had caused the wound on her face to bleed again.

Looking at the fresh red, Griseo remembered that the girl seemed to have an injury... It was too dark in the forest before, and after changing into warmer clothes, Alyona hadn't complained about pain at all and her spirits were good.

This caused the little loli to overlook this point...

"Sorry..."

A flash of annoyance and self-blame crossed Griseo's eyes. After apologizing again, she gently took the girl's hand and walked towards Lois not far away.

"Sister Lois, Alyona is injured... Do you have any medicine?" Griseo gently tugged on Lois's sleeve and asked.

Lois, who was busy inventorying items in the warehouse with some Yetis, paused slightly when she felt the pull on her sleeve. Then, she smiled and said, "What a coincidence. Although we don't have much medicine with us, the mine has a good stock."

"You guys continue the inventory. I'll be back in a moment."

"You got it!"

"Go on, go on."

After saying goodbye to the other Yetis, Lois picked up the medicine box she had just found and said to the two little ones, "Alright, you two come with me. I'll treat this little one's wound."

"Okay."

Griseo nodded gently and then, holding Alyona's hand, followed Lois's footsteps.

When they reached a secluded corner and began to truly treat Alyona's wounds, Lois's initial joy from finding so many supplies vanished instantly.

Because Alyona was wearing Griseo's clothes and seemed to be in good spirits, Lois had thought the little girl hadn't been seriously harmed.

She had even inwardly marveled at her luck for escaping successfully and meeting the little angel, Griseo.

But after treating the wound on her face and removing Alyona's two layers of clothing, Lois's eyes twitched with anger, and her fists clenched.

For a moment, she truly felt that it was too easy for these scumbags to be killed by Griseo's Tyrant.

And it wasn't just Lois. Griseo, standing beside her, whose usually expressionless face was now twitching, felt her mood plummet like a roller coaster.

Now, she shared the exact same thought as Lois. She felt those people had gotten off too easily...

Under the light, Alyona's physical condition was fully revealed to both of them.

She was emaciated due to severe malnutrition, and her body was covered in various scars, especially her back, which bore numerous whip marks, both new and old.

Some had healed, leaving ugly scars. Others had scabbed over but were broken open again. Some were festering, with yellowish pus sticking to her old inner clothing...

ps: Please urge me more. Not many people urged me in the last chapter, and this one was written a bit slowly. Chapter 35: Griseo's Rage

"..."

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt that much..."

Noticing the anger in Griseo's eyes, Alyona curled her lips again, offering soft words of comfort to cheer her up.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault for not noticing sooner that your injuries weren't this severe..." Alyona's smile and words did nothing to lift Griseo's spirits. Instead, the little girl apologized again, blaming herself.

"I told you it's fine, Gr... Griseo, you saved me, didn't you?" Alyona said, shaking her head dismissively.

To her, this was the most trivial of matters. It was just some wounds; there was no problem with treating them a little later. She was used to it.

"That's different... No one likes pain. I wish Mother Aponia were here." Seeing Alyona's demeanor and attitude, Griseo felt both angry and heartbroken.

She even wondered if she could become Aponia herself right now, so she could take care of these Infected.

...Taking care of them in every sense of the word.

However, thinking of this, Griseo remembered something.

She quietly opened a panel that no one else could see, then flipped to Mobius's section. As she expected...

Mobius had been unlocked at some point.

This discovery slightly improved Griseo's currently terrible mood.

From then on, besides staying by Alyona's side, her remaining attention was focused on studying the panel.

Soon, Griseo noticed many details. For example, after unlocking a new identity, she discovered information about transformations.

Taking Mobius as an example, Griseo could now not only transform directly into her but also split her consciousness to create a Mobius "clone" that was in sync with her will.

The little girl found this setting incredibly convenient and practical... because in this situation, she would essentially be two people, able to do two things at once under different identities.

Griseo had been worried before that even if she could transform into Mobius, she wouldn't have the time or a professional laboratory for her research.

But now that she knew about the cloning ability, she began to consider where it would be most suitable to place Mobius, at the very least somewhere with a free laboratory.

Besides this small detail, Griseo discovered something else that greatly surprised her.

On the bottom left of Mobius's panel, she found two small icons: one depicted a mature, snake-like older sister, and the other a cute, loli-like snake. The meaning was self-evident.

Regardless of cuteness, a child's appearance wouldn't be as easily convincing out in the world.