Because I Am Surtr

That was way too ridiculous!

She covered her forehead and wailed silently.

—Women were troublesome.

—Both sides were equally troublesome.

So she rose to her feet and steadied herself against Laevateinn, which floated beside her for support. Her bloodline was unblocked in an instant. Then she moved toward where Frostnova was resting.

She would deal with the slightly less troublesome side first.

Frostnova was already awake.

When Miss Surtr pushed open the door and entered the inner room of the secret base, she saw the maiden of frost sitting on the edge of the bed with her back to her, hands braced against the headboard. Through the one-way glass wall, she gazed into the distance before dawn.

Ah... that was right. This secret base was not underground. Miss Surtr had found a hidden compartment in the ruins of a building, perhaps once a wealthy person's shelter. After confirming its stability and safety, she had established her secret base there—one of the reasons she was confident the Yeti Squadron would not find it until daylight. Blinded by their assumptions, those Yeti members, panicked by concern, would focus most of their attention underground and on the surface.

The maiden suddenly spoke, her frail voice carrying a trace of strength Miss Surtr recognized.

"Actually... the Reunion Movement's ideals have their merits. Until this operation, until a few months... until some time ago, the Reunion Movement was home to the Infected. We took people in, we saved them, we protected them... We rescued our Infected brethren bit by bit through gentleness and forbearance. The Reunion Movement... was once a safe harbor."

Hah... so it was time for the routine heart-to-heart with big sister—Miss Surtr thought helplessly. This was not the first time she had encountered such a situation in her life. And the secondhand wisdom she had picked up in Arknights in her previous life was already primed and ready—wasn't this just armchair theorizing? What netizen these days didn't know how to talk big? It wasn't like she had slept through middle school politics class.

"But now it's already set foot on a road of no return." The Sarkaz transmigrator gave a cold laugh. "Even without this operation in Chernobog, even if you canceled this plan right now, Reunion is already beyond saving—six towns, thirteen settlements, over a thousand innocent people. Before I arrived here, the Reunion Movement had committed that much slaughter within a single month. You think you're fighting for the Infected, yet you've become murderous criminals in ordinary people's eyes."

She gave a soft snort, contempt coloring her nasal tone. When she had first entered Ursus territory, she had happened upon a Reunion squad looting a village—flames, hanged villagers, crying children, burning houses, blood flowing like a stream, and the maniacal laughter of thugs. Just because several young people from that village served as military police in a Mobile City, they had suffered such a calamity... What was that supposed to be? Retaliation by a criminal gang?

She had buried that Reunion squad in molten fire, but what did that change? The dead could not come back to life. Of the village's 206 residents, only forty-two had survived. And faced with those pairs of reddened, despairing, dim eyes—eyes so utterly deadened by grief—even she could only leave behind some gold and depart in silence.

She had no way to turn back time... at least, not in this world.

"How many of you became thugs? How many of your hands have been stained with innocent blood?"

Frostnova's back suddenly stiffened, making her figure look even thinner.

"I..." Her voice was bitter. "...I wasn't able to stop them then..."

She shook her head.

"But even so... Reunion can atone. It can repent. We can spend the rest of our lives making amends..."

"Are you confident you can persuade Talulah?" Miss Surtr tilted her head slightly, her tone turning questioning. "Even though she's the apparent mastermind who personally drove all of this?"

"...Put her under house arrest." Frostnova's hand slowly curled into a fist. "Reunion cannot fall. But once I recover, Old Stubborn and I can join forces and subdue her. Then, in her name—"

"How will you get past her guards and her loyal subordinates? House arrest means you cannot expose the truth of the coup. So how will you seize her by the throat without anyone noticing?"

Frostnova did not answer. She merely turned around and looked silently at Surtr. Within her crystal-white eyes lay not only hope, but a faint plea as well.

"By borrowing my strength?" Miss Surtr laughed despite herself and shook her head, somewhat speechless. "Indeed, the 'Ember Demon' is a lunatic who drinks the blood of a hundred people a day. It also happens to have inexplicably crossed paths with the Reunion Movement and is preparing to make a move. If you borrow that external force, your plan might really succeed. But..."

"...Have you considered what you can do next, even if your plan succeeds? Even if the Reunion Movement truly returns to being that harbor for the Infected, as you wish?"

Miss Surtr's voice gradually turned cold.

"Or do you truly believe a single leader's will alone could make the entire organization fall so far? Do you really think this was merely an accident, that everyone else in the Reunion Movement bears no fault at all?"

Her icy declaration was more bone-piercing than the coldest wind Frostnova could summon.

"The Reunion Movement is doomed to fail. With or without Talulah, it is destined to fall into this state in the future. Because of you. Because the Infected, as a group... have a huge, innate flaw that is difficult to make up for."

"You cannot become the strong side. You cannot become the 'majority.'"

In Short, Frostnova Was Settled... For Now

Within the secret chamber, the woman from another world spoke at length.

"Do you know what an ideology is?"

"An ideology is the guiding program for the actions of a power, a group, or a class. It is a complete philosophy and methodology for guidance. It can give a group cohesion, solidarity, and appeal. Calling it the spine or brain of a living organism would not be an exaggeration. So, Miss Yelena, what is your ideology?"

"...We want to protect our Infected brethren and fight against this unjust land. We... I hope the Infected can be treated fairly. That they can live under the sun without discrimination." Frostnova stared at her as she answered.

"Well said. You fight for the Infected. So how do you intend to achieve that goal?"

"We fight."

"Fight whom?"

"All tyrants and oppressors. All tyranny and discrimination."

Her gaze sharpened, her expression earnest and focused. Between her brows was an irrepressible determination.

Yet the woman from another world merely gave a calm, cold laugh.

"Then you are doomed to lose, because you intend to make enemies of the entire world." She flicked her nails, her words filled with contempt and indifference. "You will not only make enemies of the rulers, but also of their ministers. You will make enemies of soldiers and police, of cities and industry. And in the end, you will even make enemies of every uninfected ordinary person across Terra. Even if that isn't the case now, it will be someday. Because it is your destiny."

Frostnova's eyes widened, cold flames of anger rising in her beautiful eyes.

"You... You'd better have a proper reason for saying that." —Otherwise, don't blame me for turning on you... don't blame me for ignoring you.

"It's very simple." The woman from another world shrugged easily. "Let me ask you: what is modern human society built upon?"

"Originium, and the industrial system it represents?"

"Then why does modern industry dominate this land?" She asked herself, then answered: "Cataclysms. People cannot control Cataclysms, nor can they withstand them. So they can only flee from them. For this reason, modern industry was born alongside the Mobile City system. And the inhabitants of Terra could finally enjoy peaceful lives within Mobile Cities, instead of being like they were hundreds or thousands of years ago—when Cataclysm clouds swept in, they could only abandon their homes and flee in panic. Most people could not even escape, and could only be ground into dust within the deadly vortices of wind."

"Terra's modern age could not exist without Originium. And although Originium, as a renewable mineral, could theoretically be regarded as an infinite resource, it still had to be mined by people—you should know why, Yelena."

—Because sophisticated machinery simply could not function under intense Originium radiation. And because the resources required for protective suits capable of completely blocking radioactive dust were enough to make mining unprofitable.

Frostnova's gaze shifted slightly aside.

"But that was still unfair... No one was born to suffer. No one deserved to live through such pain and torment," she murmured.

"So you understood very well. Modern industry could not do without miners who extracted Originium. And those afflicted with Catastrophe Disease mainly came from this sort of people. If the Infected wanted to seize power, wanted to break away from the social order already accepted by the vast majority—by the majority of the uninfected—then naturally, you had to bear the pressure of the entire world."

"...That's why we must fight against this unjust land."

It was neither a figure of speech nor an exaggeration, but a literal description. The Infected's resistance truly was making enemies of the entire land.

"Which is why you were bound to lose." The visitor from another world nodded, looking like a teacher pleased with a promising student. "Because you were too weak, too few, and completely isolated."

"Now, back to the beginning. Once you stripped away all the embellishments and outer layers, so-called 'ideologies' were essentially nothing more than uniting one group of people to overthrow another in order to gain greater benefits—every ideology was the same. At least, I had yet to find one that was different, one that did not require 'struggle.' And the Infected's greatest problem was that your innate circumstances were simply too poor. You had no way to 'unite' more people, and naturally, no way to achieve final victory."