Chapter 229

However, if the circuit is connected before it is completed, even the most uninformed person knows that connecting the power during circuit construction is tantamount to murder for the construction workers.

But is this the time to wait? Weedy looked with a mixture of disgust and fear at the Pollution spreading along the transparent enamel wall.

"Eighty percent... how much longer do we have to wait?!"

[...103... hours...]

She couldn't hear clearly, but if she did, she'd probably be even angrier. Weedy blinked, let go of her hand, and rubbed her temples... She had no idea that working in the Human Resources Department would involve such stimulating content.

As Weedy crouched down and clutched her head, it seemed to lead to some misunderstanding. The engineer who had acted first came to Weedy's side and touched Weedy head with his not-so-clean hands... Over the past six months, everyone knew that Weedy was a bit of a germaphobe, but this time, the white-haired Aegir girl did not show any obvious rejection.

"Enough, everyone from Rhodes Island, please leave... This is now a matter for the locals of Chernobog."

"... Really? I don't think so."

The spell continued, connecting the walls, compressed into an enamel structure, to the top of the corridor. Everyone watched as Black Snow surged like glaciers through the gaps outside the electrical box. Saria's words, like glaciers, struck everyone's hearts:

"Given your protective gear and spell levels, it's clear you can't wait until construction is complete. Considering the mission itself, I suggest that the Rhodes Island and Rhine Lab members stay behind, while the rest return to check on the construction progress."

Upon hearing Saria's words, Amiya immediately stepped forward to speak, but was pressed back down by Weedy, who had already stood up.

"Well, then it must be me... Amiya, you encountered a circuit damaged by Pollution, do you know how to fix it?"

The Little Bunny was rendered speechless by just one sentence. Huang glanced at Typhon and Mika, who seemed perfectly relaxed... then at Jessica, who, though silent, had given him a slight smile. Huang raised an eyebrow, picked up Amiya, who still seemed about to say something:

"Let's do it this way. We're in a hurry, so let's not dawdle... Also, there are other passages inside the Sarcophagus that lead to the walking mechanism and the industrial area. Although they are definitely closed, we can find our way if we look around."

"Some of us will probably stay behind. When that happens, don't give up hope and be pessimistic. Look for paths around you and spread the word!"

After saying that, Huang gave Saria a thumbs up:

"Then I'll leave this place to you!"

Tilting her head slightly, whether due to her personality or a lack of understanding of Huang's subtext, Saria's performance in front of the Ursus soldiers remained impeccable.

"I'm not sure how long we can hold out, but we'll hold out until the command team confirms that all surface electrical circuits are connected before cutting off the power... Let's go, I need to start building a two-person magical shelter."

In the 101st chapter of the game, Saria and Weedy leave the team.

On the ninety-second floor, the construction workers responsible for the site were lying on the ground. Liskarm and Franka exchanged a glance and stopped.

"We'll take care of this part, you can continue."

"Don't worry about the wounded. It looks like a few are still alive. We'll try our best to bring them with us after we finish our mission."

Nodding silently, the Ursus people continued forward.

Liskarm, Franka, and Limba House are all at fault.

On the eighty-fifth floor, the group reunited with the terrified construction crew. They relaxed slightly and embraced, but a moment later, Amiya perked up her long rabbit ears. Then, the girl went to the atrium and peered down. The deep, black glacier began to swim upwards down the stairs once more.

"The Pollution storm is spreading rapidly upwards again..."

"... that Vouivre..."

The engineers didn't say anything more, and Amiya shook her head vigorously. The bunny's ears twitched from side to side, and its eyes were blurry with tears.

"Is this section complete? Keep going up, get running!"

The 80th floor, the 75th floor, the 70th floor...

More and more people joined the group, but everyone's condition deteriorated. At Jessica's suggestion, Rhodes Island members moved to the very back of the line...

"Even just standing here, with our better protection, we can block some of the Pollution ahead. Let's keep moving forward... Get to the surface quickly so the Fire Department can fill it in, otherwise the continued outflow of Pollution will spread throughout the city!"

Although Rhodes Island had used all available methods, including hormones and verbal encouragement, to try to keep as many people as possible alive as possible, some people still fell behind starting from the fiftieth floor.

"Ah!"

Jessica, at the very back of the line, reached out and grabbed the worker... Clearly, due to Oripathy, coupled with the fact that women are generally weaker than normal people, the miner could no longer move forward.

"Jessica?"

Seeing the cat stop walking, Amiya, who was still confused about the situation, vaguely understood Jessica's thoughts and showed a bewildered expression.

"I'll keep going with her, Amiya, keep moving forward!"

Seeing Jessica give her a thumbs-up, just like Huang had done to Saria before, Amiya recalled the stories Nana, supposedly told her by her manager, during their Exploration Vehicle life over the past six months.

That was the gesture a self-destructive machine made when comforting its comrades. The more Amiya thought about her teammates comforting her like that, the more heartbroken she became. And accompanying this gesture was a line... 'I WILL BE BACK'?

Before Amiya, immersed in the heavy emotions around her, could grasp the deeper meaning, Huang picked up the rabbit and followed the group.

"Have faith in everyone, Amiya."

Although Huang said that, as more and more people fell behind, Ptilopsis, Folinic, and even Huang herself abandoned Amiya and stayed behind under the pretext of covering up the fallen people. In the end, only Mika and Typhon, who seemed the most unreliable, were left by Amiya's side.

Having traversed a hundred floors of storm-like underground architecture, Amiya, now at the back of the group and being helped back to see the blue sky, first saw Boris, his face dark, leading a group of armed men to protect her.

"Rhodes Island... take it!"

PS: Waaaaaaah, cat dove

6th Patriot's Gun: 254 For the Motherland Ursus

With Boris's command, chaos ensued.

Although the workers, almost all of them wounded, remained silent, the crowd's gazes towards Boris were quite hostile. The soldiers accompanying Rhodes Island were even faster than Mika in stepping forward to stand between Boris's agents and Amiya's two companions.

"What are you doing?"

"... I also want to ask you what you're doing. Are you protecting these suspects?!" Ba

Boris glanced back at Amiya with a hostile look, while in the distance, several helicopters could be seen circling the Core City, their sides bearing the insignia of the Third Army.

"As expected, His Excellency the Inner Guards didn't follow, and then came the explosion. The failure of the energy restoration operation was also within your expectations... A medical company that could shake off the special agents, with such a bizarre timing in entering the city, and the city being destroyed almost immediately after entering... What a coincidence!"

Boris's outburst caused a commotion in the crowd, but then the local foreman who had accompanied them back from the deepest part of the village stepped forward. His apprentices and the workers who had joined them along the way, armed with shovels and pickaxes, joined the soldiers who had stood up to block the remaining Rhodes Island members: [The text abruptly ends here, likely due to an incomplete sentence or a formatting error.]

"But they did help us fix the circuits according to the blueprints, while you, the mayor who tried to hide the Pollution threat from the beginning, just watched from the safe surface the whole time... What? Now you're jumping out and yelling because you're scared by the explosion triggered by that 'dangerous relic' that was mentioned on the surface?"

"Or are you just trying to pin the blame for the apparent repair failure on Rhodes Island?!"

The white-haired but still unnamed electrician, his anger rising, raised two fingers and pointed menacingly at the nobleman still standing high on the platform:

"Listen up!! The repairs haven't failed yet. More than four teams of engineers and Rhodes Island comrades are still waiting downstairs for command to reconnect the city lines! And even if it fails, the emergency repairs must continue!"

"Pollution can be controlled, damage can be repaired... but you, who only hinders our project progress and even tries to arrest our comrades out of thin air, get out of the Sarcophagus construction site!"

The elderly engineer's roar even drowned out the command personnel who were using microphones to coordinate supplies and personnel. The workers and soldiers who had been resting in the open space got up again, picked up their simple tools, and silently surrounded him.

The shovels people carried were full of chips, and even the miners, mostly the Infected, stood up and waved their pickaxes in the air... They were sent down brand new along with the shovels, and now they were rusty and held in the hands of the crowd.

As the focal point of the confrontation, Amiya, knowing that things might differ from what the other side knew, knowing that the Doctor's situation might be precarious, and knowing that the other side's accusations were not unfounded, pursed her lips and took a step forward.

Seeing this, the surrounding crowd made way for her. Amiya felt a slight pang of pain at the trusting looks in everyone's eyes, but the Little Bunny clenched her fists firmly. Then, the girl's gaze shifted away from Boris, and the CEO of Rhodes Island looked at the connection status indicator panel of the new circuit in the Sarcophagus.

That was a temporary diagram of Chernobog's new circuit engineering, cobbled together using a small computer, based on manual verification, and simulated by computer.

A 100-layer Sarcophagus, 125 construction sites, over 400 brand-new modules, more than 800 people working inside, 5,000 electrical engineers providing guidance on precautions on the ground, and subsequently, a total of over 12,000 people from government, Fire Department, medical, and other departments were mobilized...

The lives of the entire population of Chernobog's Core City (130,000) and the total number of Ursus citizens in all the Mobile City depended on Rhodes Island's operation.

Amiya's breathing was a little heavy. Compared to Boris's accusations, her attention was completely drawn to the 98% completeness mark.

[Overall project line connection progress: 98%. Construction site not yet closed: Floor 102 – Sarcophagus Main Control Center.]

As Amiya's eyes gradually filled with tears, the government operator glanced at Boris, who was giving a cold snort, then at the countdown timer for the city's defense capacitors that Boris had requested to be added to the indicator, and called again for Saria and Weedy, who should have been the first to request to stay...

But there was no response on the other end of the communication line; all Amiya could hear was Boris's triumphant voice:

"Without a doubt, I suspect Rhodes Island deliberately sabotaged Chernobog's power supply facilities, then took over the repair work themselves. This way, they could easily destroy Chernobog's defenses and clear the way for the rebels to enter and exit the city... What a ruthless scheme! Arrest them! Whether it's your fault or not, the investigation team can investigate that later. The rebels are about to attack, so the third party must disarm them properly!"

Seeing the Chernobog Agents stepping forward again, Typhon, who had been following Amiya, silently shrugged off his large bow and reached out to block a small squad on the side. Meanwhile, two guards who accelerated forward directly confronted Mika was still spotless despite coming from the bottom.

Perhaps the pink-haired girl's dazzling Halo and her white, silk-like monk's dress led them to some misunderstanding. Unlike the others who were wary of Typhon Sarkaz's identity, the two sword-wielding guards reached out to grab Mika, only to be kicked away by the frowning pink-haired girl.

"... I think if we really wanted to work for the rebels, Boris, you should be dead by now."

With a slight bend, the smiling pink-haired girl appeared directly in front of Boris in the blink of an eye. Lycoris grabbed his exquisitely crafted bow tie and lifted him up with unstoppable force...

Perhaps because of the other person's height, Mika felt slightly uncomfortable raising her arms, so the pink-haired girl immediately turned around, grabbed Boris by the throat, and made him hover in mid-air at the edge of the podium.

Ignoring the other's terrified, frantic attempts to escape, Mika didn't even flinch. Completely disregarding the local agents around her who were frantically disarming their crossbows, the girl looked at Amiya:

"Mika thinks it's not too late to kill him now."

"... Let him go, we're not here to kill anyone..."

Seeing Amiya's response, Mika shrugged and let go of Boris, throwing him off the stage.

The nobleman's screams even elicited chuckles from the surrounding crowd, who once again disregarded Boris's agents. Mika made a face at Boris, whose face was flushed red with anger, before returning to Amiya's side.

"So, what's the situation now?"

Faced with the pink-haired girl's question, Amiya's little brain quickly worked, and she swiftly organized a response that might seem a bit incomprehensible to ordinary people, but would be perfectly easy for Mika to understand:

"That's a countdown to the local city defenses failing due to the power outage, and that's a schematic diagram of our newly prepared power transmission system... It shows that only Weedy's section hasn't been reported, and because of the communication disruption, the surface engineers dare not turn on the switch, and without turning on the switch, Chernobog will have no power."

Without power, let alone Landship, the city's defense personnel probably wouldn't be able to handle even the rebels' circling helicopters.

Mika tapped her palm to indicate that she understood the situation:

"I see, I understand now. Then let's turn on the switch? Why isn't it moving?"

Seeing the pink-haired man, who could kick an armed man with a single kick, questioning him like this, the government staff member in charge of command and dispatch hesitated for a moment, then gestured to Mayor Boris, who was being escorted away, before speaking:

"The relays we control on the surface are the final power connection switches for the Core City..."

"Uh-huh?"

"To close the gates without knowing the full situation... If successful, of course, it's fine. But the Sarcophagus just experienced a suspected explosion, and the spreading Pollution could cause secondary damage to the entire project... The mayor has said before that we cannot take on such a risky operation..."

"So, it's okay to be attacked by the rebels?"

"... In that case, surrendering directly might even get you preferential treatment? It's just that the Infected here might have a tough time later..."

Seeing the man's voice lower as he spoke, Mika exclaimed "Huh?" wanting to retort but not knowing where to begin, so she could only turn to look at Amiya.

After several attempts, Rabbit had given up on using the wireless calling method... Under the watchful eyes of all the Ursus people at the command post, Amiya paced back and forth, then remembered that the PRTS team panel had monitoring of their own team members' vital signs.

Amiya quickly took out her Terminal, turned it on, and connected it to the radio positioning system. Full of anticipation, she opened the team panel...

Everyone else stared at the screen, and silence fell again. As three-quarters of the Rhodes Island Special Operations Team's status indicators went black, displaying "no signal," those who had returned from underground couldn't bear it and removed their helmets, bowing their heads in silent mourning.

At this moment Typhon broke out in a cold sweat. Amiya hadn't noticed that this action might expose the fact that Saria and Ptilopsis had been part of their group from the beginning... But it was a minor matter; it could be said that they were added later during their cooperation, so it wasn't a big problem.

Of course, Amiya, remembering what Huang said, also couldn't believe that her strongest field team had been lost so easily. After all, Amiya knew clearly what was inside that bright red light cannon. At this Nana, Rhodes Island's CEO was just looking at the panel and thinking.

With only a dozen minutes left before the city's defenses' power countdown ended, the girl stood up:

"The power will be switched on the instant the countdown ends... Is that alright?"

"Um...you don't have command authority over us. Little Amiya ...Ms...is in charge. The mayor, who has the authority to close the gate, is already..."

Looking at the government employee who seemed unwilling to take responsibility, Amiya glanced at the blacked-out panel again and said:

"Medic and her team are Rhodes Island's most elite trauma first aid team. She once single-handedly rescued children being used for illegal experiments in Columbia, and her squad once guided victims of a Landship Catastrophes."

"As for us, Medic and her teammates will complete the Contingency Contract mission no matter what, and we will definitely succeed."

With this calm instruction, Amiya turned to look at the people who were all watching her, their faces covered in dirt and wounds, yet their eyes seemed to shine with light:

"Continue to allocate resources. Once the countdown ends, begin burying the Sarcophagus!"

Hearing Amiya's explanation, the government operator, who was reluctant to take responsibility, wanted to argue, but his colleagues had already begun announcing the new execution plan to the dispatchers. This scene made the operator frown slightly, and when he looked at the others, all the government staff on the control panel were engrossed in their work.

'So, even if I go along with it, it can't be said that I'm being irresponsible, right?'

Thinking this, even the operator who didn't want to take responsibility pulled his stool back down to sit... But this sense of relief didn't last long. As Boris returned to the Sarcophagus with more heavily armed personnel, the atmosphere in the room became tense again.

"What are you doing to my city?! Repairs have failed! Everyone, go on high alert and prepare for the rebel charge... And you, Rhodes Island! You still have fighting power, right? That Sarkaz with the bow... and this Sankta... I can temporarily ignore your suspicions, but you're conscripted! Get to your positions immediately!"

"There's no need for that, keep pressing the gate... the city defense system will activate."

"Start my ass! If the entire power line crashes, Chernobog will truly have absolutely no bargaining power left!"

Standing before Amiya again, but facing Mika's frown, Boris took two steps back, then straightened his back and stepped forward again:

"Even without the Sarcophagus, I can still use imported Originium the Highview Refinery to negotiate with them on the cost of three million people... But if Chernobog's infrastructure fails due to a short circuit, they'll only demand confirmation of the Sarcophagus's complete destruction! They'll plunder the entire city through a full-scale occupation! Then they'll send everyone to the mines! You're the Infected too, and you, the CEO of Rhodes Island, will be among the first to be crammed in. Do you even understand?"

Seeing Boris's anxious, almost frantic gestures, Amiya bit her lip slightly. His thoughts, even before his words, were spoken, had already reached Amiya through her gaze:

"You... you're just worried about losing your status and wealth, aren't you... You've never cared about the rights of the Infected or the majority of people. Stop pretending now... You're spouting nonsense about maintaining bargaining power, which ordinary people don't understand. It's just a way to make it easier for you to surrender to the rebels!"

"You--!?"