Operation Start! / Let the Battle Begin!

But realistically, although there were quite a lot of Infected, there weren't enough to fill every street. To meet this rigid quota, some soldiers and military police simply started padding the numbers.

Take the current situation, for example. You call these people Infected? Not a chance, the soldier thought. Anyone could see that these children came from an ordinary family. Yet the veteran merely glared at the recruit without saying anything.

After all, this wasn't an isolated case. The gathering point had already rounded up quite a few people, and situations like this had begun to appear. Everyone tacitly accepted it. They all had to meet the quota, while the people above didn't care whether the city actually had that many Infected. They gave you a number, and you had to meet it. Fail, and you could go home and farm.

"Big sister..."

Amid the crowd, Yelena, who had been driven over, stared blankly at the chaotic throng around her.

She hadn't resisted when the military police came to take her away. It wasn't that she couldn't have resisted. Rather, as her big sister had instructed, whenever she encountered trouble, she wasn't to use Originium Arts unless her life was in danger. For one thing, that would expose the disguise she had released. For another, this wasn't some remote wilderness. Ursus personnel filled the entire city, and things would become troublesome if she started a fight.

Chlorine Sodium hated trouble, which was why she had given the girl that warning.

The military police indeed hadn't used force. They had simply brought her here.

There were many Infected here. Most had dull eyes, scattered minds, and ragged clothes, looking like the city's vagrants and the usual residents of its slums.

Of course, a small portion appeared to be neatly dressed citizens. Every one of them wore at least a trace of confusion and fear on their faces.

What on earth was going on?!

Among them, one family seemed to be arguing with the military police.

They seemed to be saying that they weren't Infected.

"You can't just arrest people at random! We aren't Infected! Are you out of your minds, putting us in with the Infected?!"

The man was arguing until his face flushed red. Yet the crowd was indeed dividing itself. The Infected all looked coldly at those neatly dressed Ursus citizens, while the citizens gradually banded together and distanced themselves from the ragged Infected around them.

The Infected wore schadenfreude and mockery in their eyes, while the citizens' eyes held disgust and arrogance.

Both sides looked down on the other. Normally, of course, the status of the Infected was like that of rats crossing the street, despised by everyone. But now that everyone had been gathered together, and the military police were addressing everyone with shouts and threats, the Infected actually felt somewhat better.

This bizarre sense of fairness really was the product of a sick and twisted society.

Elsewhere, an officer standing on a platform was flipping through the report in his hands.

The quota was more or less complete, which was good. A little padding here and there didn't matter. The numbers specified in the order had been somewhat excessive to begin with.

So a bit of padding wouldn't hurt.

The specially dressed officer closed the list and looked coldly at the people the military police had gathered in the square.

He was an officer from Ursus's special forces, not from the regular army groups or mechanized groups. He was a mage.

As a branch that was small in number yet strategically significant, mages naturally occupied the top of the military hierarchy. Unlike the army, which was cobbled together from illiterate soldiers, mages needed talent, money, and knowledge to arm themselves. It wasn't enough to possess the talent to use Originium Arts; they also had to learn how to use them, and how to concentrate them in battle to achieve firepower projection. All of that required knowledge. At the very least, they had to be able to read the manuals.

Naturally, such personnel received the best equipment. They were also the treasured trump cards of the various Army Groups.

Of course, they were the main combat force in this special operation as well.

Operation Snow Removal

The Snow Demon's existence had begun to threaten the influence of Military Supremacy in Ursus. Someone had to step in and deal with the problem.

And so they had come. The military had even deployed its trump-card mages as a special response force.

Naturally, this matter was a secret among secrets. The military police had merely told the soldiers to mobilize; the reason was classified. Even the soldiers cooperating with the operation were carrying out their orders with bewildered expressions.

The secrecy level of this matter was the highest possible. It was likely that even the Imperial Council knew nothing about the planning or execution. They would probably only receive the results in the end.

"Acting without informing the council... Isn't that a little inappropriate?"

Beside the officer, an adjutant wearing a special black uniform resembling a raincoat instead of a standard Military Uniform asked worriedly.

"In the East, there's an idiom that suits the current situation very well."

The richly dressed officer explained calmly, seemingly without a trace of worry. In fact, he was brimming with confidence.

"What is it?"

"Speed is of the essence in war. As they say, an opportunity for victory disappears in an instant. How could we have time to report up the chain step by step? All we need to do is relieve the Emperor's burden and seize victory in advance. That will be enough...

"As for the reason, that's for the Empire's politicians to deal with. Do you understand?"

It did sound rather reasonable.

But... what if they didn't win?

The adjutant had wanted to say that, but his superior's face was practically covered in confidence. He looked as though he wanted to order his troops to set out and fight the Snow Demon right that instant, so the adjutant kept his worries to himself.

Speed might indeed be of the essence, and historians and politicians in later generations could always find excuses. It was a decent idea.

But the prerequisite was victory.

If Operation Snow Removal succeeded, then everything would be fine. But what if it failed??

Wouldn't that make their crimes even worse?!

Besides, as the adjutant, he didn't actually know the details of the plan. He only knew that such a plan existed. Thus, he couldn't understand why the first step was to gather the Infected.

His superior had noticed his adjutant's doubts, however, and offered a brief explanation.

"Their role is extremely important...

"After all, they're the best disposable materials for concentrated spellcasting..."

P.S.: It's so cold. The heating pipes in my residential complex have broken down too, and my home is about to turn into an ice cellar, ahhhhhhh!

I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, sob sob.

By the way, yj uploaded a video today. It looks like Shining's story is coming???

No, I just equipped Shining to write about her, and now you're spoiling it for me! How am I supposed to make things up now? Collapses

Section 30: Chapter Thirty—The Operation Begins!

I have to get back later today.

The sun was about to set. In the woods, Chlorine Sodium leaned against a tree, her golden pupils radiating an ominous light through the dark forest. Atop the tree, a flying bird covered in purple patterns stood on a branch, its eyes glinting with specks of gold as it watched the marching troops in the distance.

Through the vision of the bird controlled by the Honkai Energy Puppet, the Ursus transport convoy marching across the snowy plain was impossible to miss.

Which unit was this? She had no idea. She wasn't like Koschei, that old schemer who knew the Empire's entire military structure like the back of his hand. Chlorine Sodium wasn't specialized in intelligence. At most, she could gather information with her own eyes. She was a power-type villain, after all, and had little ability to develop subordinates or become the savior of villains.

Of course, in exchange, Chlorine Sodium's power was dozens of times greater than that of those strategist-type villains. If a villain with personal charisma and an appearance suggesting they could fight had a combat power of one hundred, then, because every gain came with a loss under this world's rule that everything required a price, Chlorine Sodium—a pure power-type villain who had invested every talent point into authority and strength—had a combat power of one thousand, or even ten thousand.

The difference between surpassing mortals and demigods was enormous. The strongest mortal was still a mortal, while the weakest god was still a god.

The gap between them was the difference between zero and one, an absolute divide that could never be crossed.

Because of her frequent harassment, Ursus's Garrison Legion and the non-main-force units had all lowered their profile. Even when marching, they spread their scouts as far out as possible to guard against her attacks in advance.

In Chlorine Sodium's eyes, that was meaningless. Once they entered her range, every precaution was useless. Unless they were durable enough to take the punishment, nothing would remain under a concentrated bombardment.

But this time was strange. She had practically reached visual range of the marching formation,

yet this was the first time she had seen a logistics convoy that only hurried forward without conducting any reconnaissance of its surroundings.

Did they not take her seriously? Or was this truly an emergency so urgent that they couldn't spare the time?

The convoy did appear to be moving in great haste. Of course, there was another possibility.

The plot of some twin-egg robot anime had gone exactly this way: a convoy was dispatched on a massive scale, along with military operations, to draw out a terrifying giant robot organization that claimed to be fighting for the extinction of war. They spread the news everywhere, as if afraid the other side wouldn't notice. Then, when the enemy attacked the convoy, the allied forces lying in ambush nearby launched a surprise attack and tried to destroy them one by one.

If friendly reinforcements hadn't suddenly appeared to save the day, the anime probably wouldn't have reached a second season. The first season would have ended right there.

But Chlorine Sodium wasn't someone who hoped to end war, nor did she have any interest in doing good deeds. She was a genuine villain.

Perhaps she had held some kind of ideal at first. But after experiencing so much, staining both hands with blood and growing accustomed to death and betrayal, Chlorine Sodium had long since lost all interest in such things.

Killing was killing. No matter the reason, the moment the blade pierced the body, right and wrong ceased to matter. All that remained was to eliminate the enemy and eradicate them by any means necessary.

A trap?

Then she would completely destroy the troops lying in ambush as well and raise her KPI a little.

Human life held no particular value in Chlorine Sodium's eyes.

After all, that was simply how people were. When one's power grew strong enough to create an ever-widening gap between oneself and those nearby, one's empathy as a social creature would gradually disappear as well.

Then—

Time to go.

Purple winds began gathering beneath her feet. As the snow on the ground was swept up and whirled into the air, the girl's figure had already vanished from the woods.

····················

"Will the Snow Demon really take the bait?"

"Of course. A convoy appearing so brazenly right under her nose—how could she possibly have no reason to attack it?"

In the distance, several strange black figures stood on a snow-covered hill in the snowy night. They were the people responsible for carrying out and overseeing the military's plan.

The Emperor's Royal Guard needed no external equipment. With only their strange visual Originium Arts, they could clearly see every movement occurring several kilometers away.

The convoy was moving toward its target. Everything had remained calm until now. As bait, if no fish took the hook, then the first step of the entire operation would have failed, which would announce the operation's failure as a whole.

But the Emperor's Royal Guard and the military behind them were still quite confident.

After all, with such a conspicuous march, the Snow Demon had no reason not to bite.

Once she took the bait, everything would be easy.

The contents of Operation Snow Removal also fit the traditional Ursus way of thinking quite well: bigger, stronger, and more numerous.

It sounded a little like the greenskins, but that was indeed how things were. There was nothing that firepower saturation couldn't solve. If once wasn't enough, then they would do it twice.

This time, they had even brought a Siege Cannon. As long as the Snow Demon dared to appear, a single saturation attack would be enough to injure her. After that, all they had to do was maintain continuous firepower and wear her down to death.

Mages had energy requirements. Large-scale use of Originium Arts would certainly consume a great deal of Originium products, unless they wanted their precious imperial mages to become disposable assets.

That was why so many Infected had been forcibly conscripted. They had even dragged out the Infected miners from the mines under the Seventh, Sixth, and Third Army Groups, using them all as Living Originium Batteries.

That was enough to ensure several hours of uninterrupted firepower projection.

Not only could they eliminate the menace known as the Snow Demon, they could also consume the Infected in the process. It was practically a model of achieving two goals at once while recycling waste.

As for whether it was humane, did the Infected count as people?

What, you were asking what would happen to the ordinary people who had been used to pad the numbers?

The Empire's policies didn't need to conform to common sense or custom.

This excerpt came from a speech draft prepared in advance by an Ursus news spokesperson.

Time passed second by second. The soldiers lying in ambush in the heavy snow were all on standby, while information relays at every level operated at full capacity to ensure that the enormous Ursus military could coordinate perfectly once the operation began.

Everyone held their breath and waited, waiting for the Snow Demon's next appearance.

Every second seemed incredibly long. Snowflakes slowly settled on their clothes, gradually melting into droplets that dampened the fabric.

Suddenly, in the vision of the Emperor's Royal Guard, whose Primal Vision was exceptionally powerful, a faint purple glow blossomed in the far distance.

"It's the Snow Demon! The Snow Demon is here!!"

P.S.: I got a chapter recommendation—"I Was Imprisoned by My Family Right After Crossing Over."

And, ahhhh, I'm on the recommendation list!!! Probably tomorrow or Monday. Orange Mom's Youth Dream.

I'm so happy, I'm so happy!!!!

Section 31: Chapter Thirty-One—The Battle Begins!

Quite lively.

The convoy had no guards at all and continued hurrying along.

Boring.

There were two kinds of battles people hated. The first was fighting an opponent with extremely powerful immortality, forcing you to kill them over and over until their spirit collapsed or their ability to revive reached its limit. It was incredibly boring.

The second was spawn camping.

The opponent was ridiculously weak and ridiculously numerous. Although creating art everywhere could indeed bring temporary joy, the drawback was the emptiness afterward.

After all, there was fundamentally no technical skill involved.