The Promised Delta Force—How Did It Turn into Arknights? Chapter 3

As if he had undergone countless drills, the entire sequence flowed as smoothly as though it had been carved into his instincts.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three golden grenades landed precisely within the smoke. A few breaths later, explosions, golden skull icons, and screams appeared at the same time.

Han Fei lowered his left hand and softly hummed, "We're all trying our hardest to live~"

He hadn't expected there to be bonus loot here. He had originally planned to stuff a backpack with fashionable junk and retreat.

Once the smoke cleared, only a miserably screaming Infected patrol officer and several motionless corpses remained on the ground.

"Huh?"

Han Fei blinked and said, "Why are you still alive?"

The patrol officer did not answer. The pain had long robbed him of the ability to speak.

Han Fei had no choice but to raise his right hand. Fire flashed from the muzzle of the Bizon in his hand, sending the unlucky fellow on his final journey.

"Loot time, loot time."

Han Fei jogged over into the middle of the corpses and began scavenging the spoils.

Just as he was feeling around, he suddenly sensed several strange gazes.

Turning around, he saw the two Infected youths and Alina staring at him with odd expressions.

Han Fei paused and said, "What are you all looking at me for? Never seen someone loot bodies before?"

Alina could not help asking, "So that uniform you're wearing came from doing this?"

Han Fei nodded and grinned. "Very smart. Your reward is a little pinch."

Alina's expression became even stranger. She simply found the guy before her utterly bizarre. He clearly was not from the Tundra, nor did he even seem like an Ursus native. Why had he come all the way to this frozen Tundra, just to kill a few Infected patrol officers and strip them of their clothes?

Han Fei said nothing and simply kept looting.

Though this place was not Zero Dam, judging by the drop rates, it had Standard Dam's loot rates.

These Infected patrol officers had nothing particularly valuable on them. Blue-rarity items were exceedingly rare; most of it was white and green.

After putting in a great deal of effort, Han Fei merely replaced the white fashionable junk in his pack with green items, while gaining another Bizon.

Clearly, what these Infected had been holding were not guns at all. Yet once they reached Han Fei, they automatically turned into firearms like Bizons and Uzis. Han Fei did not quite understand the principle behind it, but that did not stop him from looting.

After searching for quite a while, Han Fei rose and walked toward the three of them, sighing. "Too bad my bag's too small. If only I had a Heaven-Swallowing Pack, I'd pick up every last thing!"

The two Infected youths and Alina exchanged glances. None of them understood what this Heaven-Swallowing Pack Han Fei spoke of was.

Alina was the first to speak. "Um, it'll be dark soon. Do you have somewhere to stay? If you don't mind, you can come rest at our place for the night and set off again tomorrow."

Before this, if she had issued such an invitation, the two Infected youths would certainly have interrupted to persuade Alina not to invite Han Fei. She might not even have made the offer in the first place.

However, after seeing Han Fei deal with the Infected patrol officers firsthand, the two youths no longer held any hostility toward him.

Clearly, Han Fei's unintentional actions had served as a declaration of allegiance to Alina.

"Well..."

After a brief hesitation, Han Fei said, "I'd feel bad imposing. One question, though—do you provide meals?"

There were still more than seven kilometers to the extraction point. It looked close, but in reality, it was not close at all.

He would most likely reach it tomorrow, so there was no need to travel through the night.

—Even if I'm a Zero soldier now, there's no need to actually live like a special forces soldier. Hiking seven kilometers through the night? Is this Tundra field training or something?

Alina smiled. "Of course. You're a guest. How could we let you go hungry? Please follow me."

Looking at the girl leading the way beside him, Han Fei raised an eyebrow and could not help asking, "So why are the three of you wandering around here? This place doesn't seem very safe."

One of the Infected youths could not help saying, "We can protect Sister Alina."

The other chimed in, "Yeah! Don't underestimate us!"

Alina explained gently, "We came out to exchange supplies with other villages. Resources are scarce on the Tundra, so we often need to trade things with other villages so everyone can avoid going hungry."

"Oh."

Han Fei nodded slightly, then added, "Then it's fine to add one more pair of chopsticks, right? Forget it. I'll trade something with you later too. I can't just eat your food for free."

"That won't be necessary."

Alina gave Han Fei a mildly reproachful look and said, "Resources on the Tundra may be scarce, but not so scarce that we can't host a guest."

As she spoke, Alina turned back toward the road ahead, a trace of worry on her face. "Though there have indeed been some troublesome matters lately. I hope you won't mind, guest.

"By the way, I still don't know your name. I'm Alina. It's nice to mee—"

Her words abruptly stopped. When Alina turned around, she found no one behind her. Han Fei, who should have been following her, had vanished.

"Huh?"

Alina was dumbfounded. Just as she was about to look for Han Fei, an odd sound came from a nearby tree, and snow began cascading down in torrents.

She looked up and saw that, at some point, Han Fei had climbed the tree. It looked like he intended to raid the bird's nest in front of him.

Volume One: Talulah

Alina and the two Infected youths stood beneath the tree, craning their heads to watch Han Fei battle wits with the bird's nest among the branches, muttering something under his breath all the while.

Only after quite some time did Han Fei jump down from the tree, muttering incomprehensible words. "Bird nests in Standard Dam really aren't worth eating. At minimum, it has to be a bird nest from Confidential Dam to have any kick."

As a Five-Star General, Han Fei had plenty to say about bird nests in Confidential Dam. Family, who understands? Confidential Dam had produced three Hearts, and every single one came from bird nests. Two Hearts had come from the bird nest by the house beneath the respawn point at the top of the dam alone!

But at Standard Dam's drop rates, bird nests were truly underwhelming. After all that effort, he got one bottle of purified water, one tabloid, and a playing card numbered seven.

Naturally, Alina could not understand what Han Fei meant. Yet gentle by nature, she did not reveal any strange expression because of his bizarre remarks. Her expression remained normal as she said,

"I still don't know your name. I'm Alina. It's nice to meet you."

Han Fei grinned. "Just call me Han Fei."

"Alright~"

Alina answered, then smiled brightly. "You seem like a very interesting person."

"Why say that all of a sudden?"

Han Fei was somewhat confused. Then he remembered what he had just done and laughed. "Because I went to raid a bird nest?"

"That's part of the reason," Alina admitted honestly. "You don't look like a scavenger."

Han Fei said as he walked, "Not really. I am indeed a scavenger right now."

"But I think that even scavengers shouldn't be in such a hurry to raid a bird nest," Alina said.

Bird nests were not uncommon to people living in the wilderness. Unless they had truly reached the end of their rope, even villagers were not particularly interested in what was inside.

—At most, there are a few bird eggs.

"You can't put it that way." Han Fei said solemnly. "Bird nests can have treasures inside."

"What treasures could a bird nest possibly have?" one of the Infected youths could not help saying. "Isn't it just a few bird eggs?"

"Exactly. How much could those be worth?" the other echoed.

Han Fei shook his head. "It's not just bird eggs. I have no interest in bird eggs."

The youth who had spoken first could not help asking, "Then did you find any treasure?"

Though Alina did not speak, her curious gaze was enough to reveal what she was thinking.

"I didn't find any treasure, but I did find some other stuff."

As he spoke, Han Fei reached in and pulled out a tabloid in his left hand and a bottle of purified water in his right. "Just found these. Want them?"

The youth took one look and immediately curled his lip. "Who are you trying to fool? Those things are so new. How could they have come from a bird nest?"

He was not wrong. The items in Han Fei's hands were absolutely pristine. Both the tabloid and the bottle of mineral water looked as new as if they had just been bought. How could they possibly have been picked up in the wilderness?

Besides, while finding a newspaper in a bird nest was somewhat absurd, it was not impossible to accept if one thought about it. But a completely pristine bottle of mineral water? That was a little too absurd.

What, did birds know how to unscrew bottle caps now?

Han Fei shrugged, put the items back into his backpack, and said, "That's the truth."

He did not insist that they believe him. Though they were both Arknights, some of the settings in this eight-treasure porridge really were absurd.

What kind of bird stuffed so much random high-value loot into its nest? Forget the big stuff—even a graphics card was pretty heavy for a bird. He had no idea how it had carried one in with its beak.

Alina said, "Alright, let's stop talking about this. It's getting late. We should head back first."

The two Infected youths clearly listened closely to Alina. Once she spoke, they immediately fell silent.

Han Fei was happy to see that. Following behind the three of them, he cleaned out every bird nest they encountered along the way.

They walked and raided nests all the way. Before the sky completely darkened, several wisps of cooking smoke appeared at the edge of their vision.

"We're almost there."

As Alina said this, she quickened her pace.

Before long, a small village settlement came into Han Fei's view.

The village was not large. One glance was enough to take in the entire settlement. It huddled amid snow-covered hills like an old building block casually discarded by a giant. Low wooden houses stood everywhere, their eaves piled high with snow. As dusk deepened, thin trails of cooking smoke rose from their chimneys.

The group entered the settlement, and the distinct scorched fragrance of burning pine resin mixed with the scent of stewing grains flooded Han Fei's nostrils.

"Sister Alina..."

Several Infected children spotted the returning Alina and immediately rushed over in delight.

But the joy on their faces turned to terror the next second.

There was no other reason—they had seen Han Fei in the patrol officer's uniform.

Alina noticed this as well. She bent down and said softly, "Don't be afraid. This big brother isn't a bad person."

The children clearly trusted Alina. At her words, the fear in their eyes faded somewhat. One after another, they hid beside her, peeking out to study Han Fei cautiously.

With a creak and the groan of rusted hinges, a wooden door was pushed open from within. A silver-haired girl stepped outside and called out,

"Alina, you're back. Did everything go smoothly?"

Following the voice, Han Fei looked over and saw an "old acquaintance" standing in the doorway, looking in their direction.

Alina straightened and said with a light smile, "Everything has been taken care of, Talulah."

"That's good."

As she spoke, Talulah noticed Han Fei's gaze. She glanced sideways at him, and surprise flashed through her eyes when she saw what he was wearing.

However, Talulah did not make a fuss like the others. She simply said, "Come inside first."

Talulah trusted Alina. Since this person in a patrol officer's uniform had been brought back by Alina, she was willing to trust Alina's judgment.

Alina lowered her head and said a few more things to the children before turning to Han Fei. "Please come with me."

Han Fei followed Alina into the house, where warmth immediately washed over him.

The furnishings inside were extremely simple. There was no decoration to speak of in the small wooden house, and the furniture looked fairly old. In the rough stone fireplace in the corner, burning pine branches cast the hearth walls in a warm yellow glow, crackling from time to time.

Han Fei only gave the room a glance before losing interest in its furnishings. There was nothing novel about an old wooden house like this. He had visited his hometown when he was young; although it had not been a wooden house, many aspects had been similar.

Talulah sat beside the wooden table in the center of the house. By the wavering light of an oil lamp, she studied Han Fei and asked, "This is?"

Alina sat to Talulah's left and explained, "He's Han Fei, a scavenger I encountered on the way back."

Talulah nodded lightly and asked Han Fei, "Why are you wearing an Infected patrol officer's uniform? You don't appear to be one of them."

Volume One: Regret

"I picked it up."

Han Fei offered the explanation casually, his gaze fixed on Talulah's face with open appreciation.

He had to admit, Talulah was quite beautiful. Perhaps because of her bloodline, her complexion did not carry the rough flush common among other Tundra inhabitants. Instead, it possessed the warm texture of ivory. He could even see the pale blue veins beneath her skin trembling lightly with each breath—making her tightly pressed thin lips appear all the redder, like pomegranate seeds suddenly blooming across the snow.

At this time, she had not yet been assimilated by the Black Snake. Beneath her heroic brows, her eyes were full of resolve rather than merciless cruelty.

There was naturally a reason Han Fei considered Sister Talulah an "old acquaintance."

This girl had a lot of screen time in the early stages of Arknights, but afterward, she had practically vanished without a trace and had not appeared in a long time.

"On our way back, we encountered the patrol squad," Alina explained on Han Fei's behalf. "Han Fei acted and killed all of them."

Alina's explanation dispelled much of Talulah's suspicion. She looked Han Fei over from head to toe and said, "Since Alina is willing to trust you, I'll trust you for now as well. Please do not betray that trust."