Arknights, but the Family Has Fallen Again, Again, Again

"Eh!?"

Similar cries rang out from several places at once.

"What's so surprising about that? Soldiers follow commanders who can lead them to victory, and an amnesiac doesn't exactly look like someone who can win."

Little Donkey's ears twitched as she reluctantly said, "Y-You're right."

Oute turned to Medic, who was so absorbed in listening that he had forgotten to continue treating the wounded. "Medic, keep bandaging."

After checking on every wounded person, Oute could not help feeling somewhat sentimental. In truth, the medical operators led by Medic were the ones treating their wounds; Oute and Amiya were merely extra hands here. Yet the operators would surely remember the "kindness" of him and Amiya.

Then, keeping his persona in mind and trying to sound friendly, Oute quietly asked Amiya, "Although I've already picked up quite a lot of information along the way..."

"What exactly are Rhodes Island and I?"

Amiya sounded somewhat excited. "There's a disease spreading across this land called Oripathy, and Rhodes Island is a medical company that exists to treat the Infected! Doctor Otter, you're one of the world's foremost Originium scholars!"

Well... she was not lying.

Never mind what it actually was. Weren't those statements technically correct?

At last, the reserve operation team arrived after shaking off the Sarkaz mercenaries patrolling Chernobog's outer ring.

"Instructor Dobermann!"

The Perro woman's bean-shaped brows had twisted into a straight line as she asked, "Why are you so late?"

It turned out that because Garson, the mercenaries' current leader, was still alive, the fiends around Chernobog were still dutifully patrolling. The reserve operation team, which should have been here to receive the people from the city, had just followed Oute's orders and run several circles around the Sarkaz.

In the distance, Scout—whose codename was equally slapdash—also appeared over the horizon with his reconnaissance squad.

Oute looked away from the silhouette of the Sarkaz youth waving in the distance.

"Doctor Otter? Is there something on my face?" Ace asked, baffled.

A dry voice squeezed from Oute's throat, tugging at his wound again. "No, nothing."

Following a tremendous roar, Oute saw a low-flying aircraft approaching through the sky, which had already brightened.

He turned back to look at the blackened city, where the flames had begun to die down.

Memories of the Russians flowed back into his mind.

In Slavic traditional culture, Chernobog represented one half of the world's duality: the "Black God." Though it was not pure evil and was one of the world's foundations, the Black God's foremost manifestation in Slavic mythology was, precisely, hell itself.

Just like the scorched earth before him.

Perhaps the imagery had been chosen from the very beginning of the game's design.

Chapter 7: Humanity Returned to His Loyal Rhodes Island

The moment Rhodes Island saw the news that morning and decided to take the opportunity to wake me up, everything had become inevitable.

To put it more bluntly, Rhodes Island only had the chance to return here and make contact with the sarcophagus again because the Reunion Movement had breached Chernobog...

Oute gazed at Chernobog and began to think.

The Kuranta knightess came to stand beside Oute. The currents kicked up by the transport aircraft sent her golden hair flying wildly.

"Still looking at Chernobog?" Nearl explained, "That city was built atop an enormous mobile structure. The whole city can move."

Oute turned toward her and fell silent for a moment. "...To avoid Catastrophes?"

Even though he had already known that, still...

Oute looked back at the sprawling city.

Terra's geology must be incredibly sturdy!

Maybe it really could be used to make The Wandering Earth!

The knightess had no idea what Oute was thinking and continued, "Most cities in the world can move."

As long as every small city-state without a mobile city was expelled one by one, that statement was indeed true.

"The locations where Catastrophes will strike can be predicted. By moving cities in advance, Catastrophes can be prevented."

Oute nodded.

Dobermann lowered her head. "There must be something more behind Chernobog's fall..."

It had to involve a conspiracy among the mobile city's upper class.

There was not much else to say. They had simply sold it out.

Most nobles had learned long ago that Chernobog would be attacked and fled in advance, while its Catastrophe warning department had deliberately concealed the coming Catastrophe.

Oute looked at her expression and guessed that she had probably been reminded of her homeland, Bolívar.

The name Bolívar directly referred to Bolívar, the Liberator of South America, but this Terran nation did not have a single prototype. It was roughly a composite of every American country south of a certain America—most of which could claim a place among the "small states of Tongliao."

Bolívar's history of suffering could be adapted directly from Mexico, Brazilian independence, and the American-Mexican War. Its present military and political state was not merely shattered beyond repair; it was also especially adept at both corruption and selling out, making it remarkably lifelike.

"Doctor Otter! Time to board!"

Scout came over and interrupted the three's conversation.

Oute nodded.

The transport aircraft left burning Chernobog far behind.

A few wounded were still receiving emergency treatment, but most of the operators had already relaxed.

Sitting in their seats, they chatted softly and excitedly about their performances in the battle just now. The atmosphere was warm and cheerful.

Enormous Originium crystal clusters were scattered across the barren wilderness. It was impossible to tell whether they were the result of this Catastrophe or an accumulation over a long period.

Ace came to Oute's side, pointed at the Originium, and said, "This may be presumptuous... but Doctor Otter, those Originium crystals keep growing until they eventually rupture."

"They release something scholars like you call Originium particles."

"They seem to gather into clouds in the air and trigger new Catastrophes."

Oute looked around.

Like the Infected?

No, actually, they were more like Tiberium...

Scout also came over to Oute's side.

Pointing somewhere beyond the round window, he said, "It looks like they're heading for Lungmen."

Across the vast land, refugees moved southeastward like ants.

The direction that swarm of ants was heading was Lungmen, Yan's gateway city in the "Western Regions."

"Ace! Scout! Make room!"

Amiya squeezed between the two rough men, Ace and Scout, and threw herself onto Oute.

It seemed that the tension she had been suppressing the entire way had finally eased.

Seeing this, the two men could not help smiling. They slung their arms around each other's shoulders and left in tacit understanding.

"You're right! Ace, you shouldn't have crowded over from the start! You have to give Amiya and the Doctor some space alone!"

"Scout, weren't you the one who forced your way over here to talk?"

Watching the two leave, Amiya thought for a moment and said, "Doctor Kal'tsit is dealing with other matters right now. We probably won't see her today."

"Kal'tsit?"

"Doctor Kal'tsit is..."

Elsewhere, in Rhodes Island's medical department.

"Warfarin! Do something!" Folinic, Kal'tsit's disciple and "adopted daughter," hid behind the door and whispered up at the ceiling.

"How can you say that to me?!" the Bloodfiend shouted. "If I forcibly restrain her, the damaged equipment will definitely be charged to me!"

"Is this really the time to say that!? Specter's about to break through the medical department!"

"Break through? Where is she breaking through? I don't see it! She just got off her bed!"

"Warfarin! Since you put it that way, get down from the ceiling!"

"No!"

The white-haired, red-eyed nun swung her unopened circular saw and murmured, "...The boundless Lord of All Things approaches me from the darkness."

This was no ordinary ward, but a structure combining an operating room and laboratory.

Folinic had been processing data in the laboratory when Specter, as though sensing something... broke free from her bed during treatment again, for the first time in a long while.

Warfarin, who had been in the same room as Specter, had used a Bloodfiend's reaction speed to rapidly cling to the ceiling.

"She's started chanting!" Folinic's cat ears twitched. "Call Doctor Kal'tsit!"

"The Doctor isn't here!"

"Then call some operators!"

"Why don't you go?" Warfarin retorted.

"I have to pass by her if I go out!"

"Don't I?"

"You're on the ceiling!"

"You're still in the lab! Hurry and use the communications system to call for reinfor—"

The buzzing swiftly grew louder and more chaotic.

"Lord of All Things! Command me to advance!"

Specter's blood-red eyes widened. Even a door made from Terra's advanced materials could not withstand an Abyssal Hunter's fists and kicks.

While the transport aircraft was landing on the deck.

The Sarkaz mercenary Meteorite chatted leisurely with the Vulpo beside her. "I heard this operation went far more smoothly than anyone expected!"