As for the meal, it was just that she suddenly had no appetite..." As she spoke, Griseo lowered her little head to look at the bowl in her hands. After thinking for a moment, she continued, "But Griseo is a good child and won't waste food."
"...That's not necessary. If little Griseo really can't eat anymore, you can give it to me or Leos."
Hearing that, Lois could not help sighing inwardly once more at how obedient and sensible Griseo was. And she was so cute too—she was practically a little angel!
"No need. I can finish it."
After saying that, although Griseo still did not have much of an appetite, she did not want anyone else to worry.
She picked up her spoon again and began taking small bites in front of the two Yetis.
Watching this, Lois revealed a helpless smile. She rubbed Griseo's little head again and said, "All right, then. Don't force yourself."
"Mm."
Normally, if there was nothing to do at noon, it could be called the perfect time to rest.
But if there was something to do...
"Yawn~"
The cute little blue-haired girl walking outside could not help yawning for the second time that afternoon, and her violet eyes had misted over with tears.
Although Griseo could not interfere too much with this exclusive mission overall, she could still secretly remind Yelena.
It would not prevent the Yetis from directly confronting so many enemies, but at the very least, they could guard against the advance team approaching from another direction.
They would not even need to fight. As long as they stalled for a little while, Sakura could make it over.
As Griseo stepped out of the warehouse again, countless gazes turned toward her, just as expected...
But this time, the little girl was not affected by them. She gently blinked her misty eyes and ignored all those messy things.
Then Griseo took tiny steps and headed straight for her target this time: Yelena.
PS: I'm exhausted, and there's still so much left... I really can't write anymore, QAQ. As for whether there'll be more tonight, that depends on whether I still have any energy. If I can't write more tonight, I'll have to make up for it like crazy tomorrow.
The quality of this chapter isn't that great either. I'll fix any problems tomorrow.
My toothache is making it impossible to concentrate. So annoying. You all should rest early. Urge me on.
The Situation
In the end, with Griseo's small reminder, Yelena quickly got the gist of the situation and found several Yetis to begin laying out a plan.
Then, in order to protect the infected and guard against enemy scouting teams, FrostNova ordered the large number of infected in the mine to squeeze into the buildings instead of staying outside.
Once that order was given, the vast mining area quickly became empty... It looked rather desolate.
But there was nothing to be done about it. This batch of recently rescued infected were all injured to varying degrees and physically weak.
If they stayed outside, they would not only be easily exposed and harmed... they would also become something of a burden.
"..."
Looking at the empty mining area and the few Yetis who had become busy, Griseo's eyes flickered slightly.
But honestly, the little girl felt quite good right now. After all, the people who liked staring at her in unison had temporarily disappeared... and there were no murky colors either.
One of the officials' temporary camps—
"..."
A cherry-pink figure stood silently before the camp... Her eyes beneath the mask were filled with complicated emotions as she looked at the corpses scattered everywhere.
Then, as before, she reached out and took out more than a dozen forget-me-nots, letting them drift down with the snowflakes in the cold wind.
After doing all that, Sakura put away the complexity in her eyes and swiftly left. Time waited for no one; there was another side that needed her attention.
However, after the killing just now... she began wanting to obtain the Seven Thunders of Purification as soon as possible, because she feared that if she kept killing without restraint, it might affect her.
In a certain sense, the Divine Key, Seven Thunders of Purification, could protect Sakura in this regard and even reduce the number of times she needed to act.
Of course, what was special was not the Divine Key itself. What protected Sakura was the Discipline, the Discipline Aponia had specifically imposed to protect and restrain her.
Sakura could now confirm that this body possessed a Discipline. As for the basis for that conclusion, it was because she had absolutely no memories of "Sakura" killing people.
However, she did not know whether those memories of killing had been sealed within the Seven Thunders of Purification given by the system. Still, she felt that was quite likely.
Of course, even if they had not been sealed within it, it would not have much of an impact on Sakura. It merely meant she had lost some memories of killing.
As time passed, the team braving the cold wind and snow had somehow already arrived at the outskirts of the forest in great numbers.
After sending people to investigate and confirming that there was no ambush inside, Patriot turned to the people behind him and said, "Stay... vigilant. We are... about to... enter the forest."
"Yes!"
Upon hearing Patriot's words, the Shieldguards behind him answered in low voices.
Patriot's crimson eyes flashed, and he led the team into the forest without hesitation.
In fact, the Driver had already tried telling Patriot that entering the forest from this direction and moving quickly would not pose any
problems. At most, they would encounter information about an enemy advance force.
But Patriot had not accepted that information outright. It was not because of arrogance, but simply because he did not trust it.
He did not want to entrust the lives of so many comrades and infected to some unknown thing created by a child.
What was more, in order to receive his daughter and the large number of infected who had just been rescued, Patriot had brought along more than half of the Shieldguards for this operation.
These Shieldguards were old comrades who had accompanied him through countless campaigns.
Although none of them, Patriot included, feared dying in battle, it was precisely because of that... that he did not want to make such an oversight.
If he trusted someone else's intelligence too readily and caused a comrade to die in battle because of it—
Then, in Patriot's eyes, that would be both a disgrace and an insult to his comrades.
Naturally, Griseo learned of this through her Driver sister. But aside from feeling a little helpless, she did not care much.
From the very beginning, she had not even counted these people as part of the fighting force.
Of course, it was not because Griseo looked down on others. It was simply unnecessary. Since Sakura alone could handle it, there was naturally no need for anyone else to interfere.
Besides, the little girl had already decided on a candidate for "guardian," and that was Sakura.
As for why she did not choose the snake, the reason was simple: trouble.
In this situation, no matter how one looked at it, Sakura, who was currently carrying out the exclusive mission, was the most suitable choice for guardian.
After all, if she brought out the snake, it could not attack the enemy... and words alone had no deterrent power. Bargaining chips were still very important during "negotiations" and "exchanges."
"Mm..."
Thinking that, Griseo gently raised her head and stared blankly at the sky, letting large snowflakes fall onto her forehead.
Only when the snow began falling harder did the little girl withdraw her gaze. With a thin layer of frost on her little head, she turned and left.
She was not afraid of the cold, and she thought the cool snow was rather fun. But with such heavy snow and a freezing wind... continuing to stay outside would make her look a little silly.
So rather than wasting time here, Griseo thought she might as well go back to sleep with Alyona or continue telling stories.
After all, she was just a child who did not handle matters and could not interfere, right? Complicated matters should be left to the adults.
Back at the warehouse entrance, Griseo pulled down her red hood and lightly shook her tiny body, shaking off all the snow that had fallen on her before pushing open the door and stepping inside.
Only after entering did she notice the "abnormality" in the warehouse.
At some point, several braziers had been set up in the fairly spacious warehouse, and quite a number of elderly people, children, women, and other vulnerable people had been crowded inside.
And when Griseo opened the door and came in, everyone's eyes once again focused on her in unison.
Though surprised for a moment, the little girl's expression did not change after she came to her senses. She merely silently searched for Alyona and the Yetis.
"Over here..."
PS: Today's workload is really heavy, terrifyingly so... I absolutely can't leave it for tomorrow. I said I wouldn't stay up all night tonight, right? Honestly, if I hadn't run into all sorts of nonsense these past few days, the final two days wouldn't need to be this exaggerated.
Also, I'll end the bounty a little later. Then I'll post an announcement specifically counting exactly how much I owe, and I'll start paying it back afterward.
And the reason my tooth hurts is because I went to the dentist and got braces... Last night, the elastic bands pulled so tightly that it hurt a lot.
Urge me on.
The Yeti Squad's Hunt
"Over here..."
Hearing the familiar voice, Griseo turned toward a corner and finally saw Alyona and two other Yetis.
"..."
Then, without any hesitation, Griseo took her small steps and walked over.
"Little Griseo, where did you run off to just now? It's snowing so heavily outside." Once the little girl reached them, Lois spoke with a hint of helplessness.
Griseo did not hide anything about where she had been. She directly explained in a soft voice, "I went to find Sister Yelena just now..."
"Oh, so that's what happened."
As she spoke, Lois nodded first. Then, after glancing at the other infected in the warehouse, she leaned close to the little girl's ear and asked, "So, you sensed some danger and informed Big Sis?"
Clearly, Lois and Leos, the two Yetis staying in the warehouse, had also received a notification from Big Sis.
"Mm... But it isn't a big problem."
Hearing that, Griseo gently nodded her little head and admitted it.
"That's good. All right, don't talk so much. Even though you aren't afraid of the cold, you should still come warm yourself by the fire."
With that, Lois stood with a grin and pulled the little girl over to sit beside Alyona.
"Mm."
Griseo did not resist at all. She obediently sat beside her companion and quietly enjoyed the warmth brought by the fire before her.
However, Lois, who had stood up, was not in a hurry to sit back down. Instead, she began walking around the warehouse on patrol. She and Leos needed to make sure nothing in the warehouse went missing.
If there had been anywhere else to place people, Yelena would never have arranged for these infected to stay in a warehouse.
Even now,
only weak elderly people, children, women, and other vulnerable infected had been placed in the warehouse. There were no strong, healthy infected among them.
After all, there were quite a lot of supplies here, and even many weapons.
If someone tried to seize them, it could lead to conflict and trouble—especially now, when the Yeti Squad was short-handed...
"..."
Looking at Lois's back, Griseo was briefly stunned before understanding flashed through her violet eyes.
The little girl had considered this possibility before... and precisely because she had considered it, she had almost always chosen to stay in the warehouse with the other three, guarding against such a possibility.
That was also one reason why Griseo had been surprised when she saw so many people inside just now.
But she quickly realized it was probably because there was not enough space elsewhere... so Yelena had been forced to arrange things this way.
After all, a single glance showed that they were all elderly people, children, women, and other vulnerable people. The reason was already very obvious.
"Yawn~"
Yet before Griseo could continue thinking, her third yawn that afternoon interrupted her, making her beautiful eyes mist over with sparkling tears again.
"Sleepy? Then come sleep in my arms for a while..."
When she saw Griseo yawn, Alyona, sitting beside her, gently blinked her light green eyes and revealed a smile.
Then she opened her arms, warm from the fire, to the person beside her.
Hearing that, Griseo did not immediately lean over. She merely tilted her little head slightly and softly asked, "Then what about Alyona?"
"It's all right. While you were out just now, I already took a nap. I'm feeling energetic now." As she spoke, Alyona lightly patted her slender legs, which had barely any flesh on them. Her meaning was obvious.
"All right..."
Although she agreed, Griseo did not directly curl up in Alyona's arms as Alyona had hoped.
Before you continue