Chapter 92

The sudden interruption left the little one speechless, but she immediately added in a serious tone: n

"Infected Guerrilla Force... Apart from the Reunion Movement with former Ursus Military elite Shieldguards members, the other the Guerrillas are just thugs; they don't raise children..."

"... Aren't we just raising them?"

As she spoke, Nana patted the boy soldier's head... Although Su Sulo had already told Nana that some Vulpo just looked like they never grew up even after they became adults... this dusty Little Fox in front of her was clearly a genuine child...

Sending such young children to the battlefield, and then selling them to a neighboring country afterward... Nana noted it down; Agent Number Seventy-Seven would investigate the whole story.

Just as the Little Fox was blushing as she was patted on the head, the wound on her thigh was treated, and the nun, who had previously received an injection to prevent Originium Disease, finally awoke from her coma...

"... here it is..."

P. S.: Although I'm still vomiting, the fever has subsided... so I mustered my strength and made up for it temporarily...

PS2: You might recognize the boy soldier, but the nun... she's definitely a cameo character dragged from next door... but BA's popularity isn't small either, and speaking of Mary... well, that's definitely...

PSS: Finally, woof meow meow

(Wait, this doesn't look like a cat.)

4th Crimson Warm Winter: 095 I will attack in Saint Form

"Sister Mary!"

"... frost..."

"It's me! It's Frostleaf!"

Hearing this code name rather than a name, Nana didn't disturb the scene of the sisters embracing and crying after escaping death. Despite being an assassin, she walked out of her own camp with the effect of being the center of attention... Accompanied by the sobs of Frostleaf and Mary, Nana bent down and pulled out a device that looked like a communication Terminal from the external fuel tank of vehicle Number Two.

"... My lord... what is this?"

"The villagers installed it while things were in chaos. Do you think it was done by the village chief's side?"

He shook his head decisively. Although Ah Fu was still not used to the almost complete separation and even mutual hostility between the people and leaders of Ursus, he was still able to draw a conclusion from their previous conversations.

As the head of a sizable village, the village chief bears a series of important responsibilities, including representing the village in communication with the Ursus government, paying taxes, and exchanging information on Catastrophes... It is impossible for him to support any group outside of the Ursus government.

But poverty and Oripathy forced him to find his own way out... He allowed various the Guerrillas to develop their networks in the village, whether forced or voluntary... Nana commented that this was a self-destructive act.

Whether it's the Infected Enforcement Squad or the Guerrillas whose modus operandi resembles that of bandits and thugs, they are both violent organizations. They can afford to be unrestrained for a time due to financial and manpower support...

However, when these organizations' activities overlap and conflicts arise, the losing side, in order to stabilize its internal situation, will inevitably attribute its defeat to the village's lack of support... To put it more directly, viewing that operation as a betrayal by the village can directly transform all subsequent pressure on the team into hostility towards the village.

Whether the group that crashed into Nana and was smashed to pieces today will cause trouble for the village depends entirely on whether the Infected Enforcement Squad has finished arresting people today.

Regardless of the village chief's reasons for making his village's factional pie chart as fragmented and complex as a Columbia Corporation exhibition, how long can their current situation of playing both sides and not offending anyone... Nana feels it all depends on the Infected Enforcement Squad's KPIs and work enthusiasm.

Nana clearly saw the chaos and helplessness of the so-called 'The Guerrillas' when facing the Infected Enforcement Squad.

While the initial collapse of morale due to Nana's attack likely contributed to the defeat, it's illogical that the Emperor's Blades would be so prevalent among the Infected Guerrilla Force if they were all of this caliber.

"Kate ..."

[Kate went to the Little Cat's place, I'm here with you now.]

As she spoke, to the butler's eerie, almost ghostly gaze, a white figure appeared and embraced Nana from behind.

[Everything's normal on the Little Cat's side for now... Jessica seems to be having a tough time, but she's definitely fulfilling her duties as 'captain'... As for your investigation target, the village's attitude towards the Infected is, in Rhodes Island's view, very official and formulaic... They explicitly reject the Infected and prohibit Rhodes Island personnel from entering. Therefore, everyone had to conduct public awareness campaigns outside the village via broadcast. As for the Oripathy medication, it was secretly given to villagers with Oripathy during subsequent free medical checkups... because we happened to distribute a whole box, I remember that very clearly.]

Cole's words made Nana tilt her head, then the assassin looked at the butler beside her who had regained his composure:

"... Ah Fu, the total amount of medicine we collected is..."

"A total of forty-six tubes, and three have already been used... including the one you used."

The butler's words made Nana nod. Rhodes Island's medicine package contained two hundred vials per box. The good news was that... there were still at least a hundred more vials of Oripathy blocking medicine left in that village... The bad news was that they were raided by the Infected Enforcement Squad today.

The evidence is right there in their own house. Whether it will cause chaos depends entirely on how strong the village chief's and the Military Police's connections are.

Honestly, if all the villages in Ursus were like this, Nana would never be able to come up with anything useful from her analysis...

Both the rule and the punishment were completely humanized, and there was also corruption among government officials, administrative orders issued by the Old Nobility for their own interests, and the military's alignment in the noble Council... The complex and intertwined clues of Ursus have become a complicated network. This level of consultation and analysis has exceeded the analytical ability of Nana acting alone.

The thought of having to uncover the cause of the Inner Guards's unusual actions amidst such a complex web of interactions and multiple parties... sent chills down the girl's spine, and she couldn't help but miss her manager...

If they were in a large Mobile City with Intercity Network, Nana could try to contact Columbia for intelligence support... but this operation is on the fringes, so Nana has to figure it out herself.

Is there anything strange about the Little Cat's side?

[... If I had to say... the Little Cat seemed to have spotted something following them from a distance during their flights these past two days... it wasn't large, but it moved very cautiously... even the Thought Chain Ring couldn't detect anything. The Little Cat just felt that they were very disciplined and definitely military.]

"... A surveillance team from the Ursus Nobility...?"

[Perhaps, after all, judging from the timeline, those people appeared after leaving the village from Rhodes Island... and the only thing that brushed past the Exploration Vehicle before was the Ursus supply ship... Of course, considering the information from Nana's side, there's another unsettling possibility.]

"... The Sarkaz Royal Court..."

Seeing the 'owner' muttering to himself while staring at the strange device in his hand, Eileen couldn't help but shudder...

From the very beginning, she felt the temperature around her drop a bit. Although she wore a small hooded cloak over her maid outfit to hide the horns on her head, it was still rather thin compared to the Ursus cold-weather fabric that everyone else wore. The maid outfit was designed for the warm environment of Babel.

But would simply being cold really affect the Sarkaz?

Eileen suddenly felt that perhaps it was the strange, almost demented behavior of the person her teacher was following that made her so uneasy.

Just as Eileen was about to step forward, unable to contain herself any longer, her mentor, who is now also her 'housekeeper,' pulled her back:

"The adult is speaking with her companion; please do not be impolite."

"... ah?"

"That was... a Dead Soul... Eileen, have you forgotten all the magic and knowledge I taught you in just ten years?"

"... No, I'm just... wait, Dead Soul? Could it be from the committee...?"

"No, the Dead Soul beside you are very young... and they don't seem to be natural Sarkaz..."

"... Dead Soul but not Sarkaz? I don't understand... No... that's not the point... What exactly is her 'master'? Dead Soul is..."

"The Demon King's close attendant, the Court's advisor, and the rumored embodiment of the Sarkaz Crown itself..."

After muttering in Sarkaz for a while, the butler sighed and came to a conclusion:

"She might also be a candidate for the throne... As for whether she is Sarkaz or Sankta, and why she has never appeared in our sights... that's beyond my comprehension..."

"... You, I can hear you..."

Seeing the Halo Fallen Angel, whose wings were shrouded in a thick crimson mist and whose expression was fixed on them, the butler and maid quickly regained their composure, with Eileen even becoming more respectful than before.

"My lord, I will obey your orders!"

"Qi'er Shanling Qishan... what are your orders? Is the camp setup complete?"

Seeing the maid nodding nervously, Nana and Cole exchanged a puzzled glance.

The Sarkaz could sense, and even see, that Korne was mentally prepared for this... After all, he was using Tikhonz magic, and the butler and Irene had just mentioned that Korne was now a type of 'Sarkaz,' so Nena wasn't surprised.

However, the Dead Soul also have other symbolic meanings... This is something that Nana, the Columbia city cat, has absolutely no idea about.

Nana wasn't particularly interested in this, as it was simply related to her Chimera constitution... but the problem was that she had absolutely no recollection of the person who had transformed her into this form.

As for the Sarkaz Demon King's throne... she had even less interest in it...

Think about the miserable state of these people a few days ago; that was the fate of the previous Demon King's followers... As for that Demon King herself... Nana doesn't know her well.

"... Suspected members of the Court Army are tracking Rhodes Island. They may be attracted by the Witchcraft I resonated with on the Little Cat and Jessica... or they may suspect that Rhodes Island VII, with its unclear past relationship with the White Emperor, has taken in remnants of the former..."

"Teekaz Witchcraft are currently scattered all over the world. You can just say it's the supporter of the White Emperor's Bloodfiend... Anyway, with me here as the target, it's still possible to explain it if you want."

"Cole, after the next shift change, let the Little Cat spot them. Allow them to display their war sorcerer abilities, and warn them not to approach. If they explicitly say they're here to search for remnants, use the excuse of Kazdel's plans to let their officer representatives board the vehicle for a search, and show them the surveillance footage... Anyway, there aren't White Emperor remnants in that vehicle right now..."

"During that time, I will raise the 'Resonance' level. Once the other side starts to show hostility, show no mercy. I will allow Rosemary and Jessica to activate 'Angel' mode... and then annihilate them all..."

Unlike Ursus, which at least has to consider international public opinion, the Sarkaz of the Court... it's perfectly normal for them to disappear in a foreign land... and wouldn't doing so anger the committee... if they are angry, wouldn't that be even better? Nana knows that there are Inner Guards lurking along the flight path she set.

There's a possibility that Ursus could be directly blamed for this... Although Nana doesn't know the details, Rhodes Island is a pro- White Emperor faction, and right now, even without considering Columbia, Nana's allegiance is with the White Emperor's immigrants...

Even if the White Emperor were to fail and disappear now, there's no reason for him to switch sides and support the committee.

However, after assigning this clearly hostile mission, Nana fell silent again regarding her mission objective... The equipment in her hand was a high-tech product equipped with Orundum electronic components, but its crude design and limited functionality clearly indicated that it originated from Ursus military industry.

A special Originium radiation, imperceptible unless held in hand, was being generated regularly every three seconds. However, lacking a specific receiving device, Nana was unable to follow this Originium signal to locate the target plotting against her.

Clearly, even tracing back to the source, the only place to go is that village... While the village chief used various the Guerrillas as cover, those guys also used the village as a transit point... And this place happens to be within the Military Police's territory. If you didn't know they actually had a real fight during the day, you might even think it was a channel deliberately left by the Ursus Nana to communicate with the Guerrillas...

However, who can say for sure whether the team that was eliminated during the day was connected to the Ursus authorities?

After all, Nana had already concluded that Ursus was forcing the Infected to join the Guerrillas... They were urging the Infected to resist, otherwise why would they set up a special Military Police instead of a regular army group... In Nana's opinion, this attempt to sever ties was far too obvious.

So the question arises: who owns the transmitter Nana currently possesses— the Infected Guerrilla Force or the Ursus government?

First, let's rule out the unlucky guys who got wiped out by the Military Police during the day... After all, their ambush... looked like they were rushing to a market, afraid their convoy would run too fast and they wouldn't be able to catch up... That doesn't seem like something a marked team would do.

As for the Ursus officials... First of all, the Emperor's people wouldn't touch them, after all, he issued the contract and permit, and Rhodes Island's navigation settings were also communicated to the New Nobility Faction... Rhodes Island's arrival this time is clearly intended to cause trouble for the Old Nobility. Even if the spheres of influence of those merchants and factory-based new nobles are along this route, they should have been instructed not to get involved.

So... who would randomly add a marker to what appears to be a Sarkaz Delphirin refugee convoy led by Sakorta, but is actually a Sarkaz infected convoy?

After much deliberation... Nana, of course, decided to exclude Ursus's extensive and interconnected network of corruption... and to think from the perspective of a pure beneficiary...

Marking a convoy of refugees suggests either a large the Guerrillas driven by greed... or... a mastermind with a strange need for the Infected, forcing them to rebel... perhaps intending to capture these people and gather them at the mines for an uprising...

Could it be related to the Inner Guards?

Thinking of this, Cat shook her head. So far, her conclusions were mostly based on speculation combined with intelligence on the current situation in Ursus ... Even an agent couldn't write a report filled with 'I think' and 'I believe' that would satisfy the higher-ups.

So the next step is simple... verify your guess. (Discard)

First, is there any deliberate attempt by Ursus to alienate the Infected, separating them from ordinary citizens and forcing them into a class-based existence...? Given that this was primarily driven by the Old Nobility's the Infected decrees, Nana's primary suspects are naturally the Old Nobility Faction. Three

This operation would normally force the Infected population to relocate... but the Inner Guards Department deliberately halted the outflow of the Infected from the northwestern Snowfield... What was their purpose in doing this?

After all, mobilizing the Inner Guards is no small matter. If this is the Emperor's attempt to prevent the outflow of national power, then merely stopping the Snowfield would be too petty... Based on the intelligence analysis provided by the ICA, Nana is more inclined to believe that this is a private action by the Inner Guards... At present, it is impossible to determine what connection their actions have with the Old Nobility Faction that deliberately isolate the Infected.

But Nana felt she could find the answer in the mines where these people were housed, and in the Guerrillas that had been forced to form.

... So, Nana's top priority right now is...

Court Army in pursuit, and their rendezvous with the Exploration Vehicle.

Thinking of Little Feline, whom she hadn't seen for two days, who was as ethereal as a cloud... Nana played with the silvery-white hair behind her that ordinary people couldn't see or touch, and her gaze gradually turned to the new team member who best fit the element of 'The Guerrillas'.

"... Cole, go to Little Cat's place tomorrow, and don't let Kate come back for now... she might need your help more..."

[Hmm, okay... but your thinking seems a bit muddled, and you don't seem to have a very good understanding of the situation in Ursus... Is it really okay to just go straight to the mine and the Guerrillas who might be the mastermind behind it all?]

As Cole questioned, Nana's Halo... the red and black mist flashed like lightning through a bright crack, as if it were Catastrophe Cloud:

"No problem... If necessary, I will join the Exploration Vehicle and launch an attack in 'Saint' form."

PS:... I only found out after going to the hospital that my fever, dizziness, and half-body pain weren't symptoms of hepatitis B... it was a rove beetle bite, which almost turned into sepsis... My real hepatitis B symptoms were just vomiting after eating... I'm speechless...

I was wondering why everyone said the symptoms of hepatitis B would be much milder, but mine were milder... I almost died laughing!

PS2: Waaaa, cat... mouse?

4th Crimson Warm Winter: 096 A Signal

The fact that the Rosemary operator has a special connection with the Medic operator is no longer a secret within the team.

Although after someone left, everyone discussed the matter and Yato, who was the only one qualified to be the captain, Yato that this news was a 'secret' and could not be leaked, through their observations over the past few days, everyone was already well aware of Nana's reaction to the news... especially Rosemary's reaction when she received the news.

After all, Little Cat that's usually lazy and listless except when flying and eating, suddenly having its eyes wide open, ears perked up, and even its tail wagging slightly nervously from side to side, most likely means Nana has sent another message...

What everyone doesn't know is that the reason the Little Cat is behaving so strangely is actually because its mother, the head of the household, has suddenly appeared beside it.

Even in death, her own mother possessed a powerful charm that attracted Nana... This was the kind of 'charm' that even though Little Cat envied it, her sister teased her for having to wait another ten years to accumulate.

Leaving aside the fact that the Little Cat was taking her sister's joke seriously while rubbing her flat back, Little Cat neatly and solemnly recounted to the others Nana's investigation and orders, which involved her hanging dozens of kilometers behind the car.

"So, Medic has now gathered up the remnants of His Majesty... the White King, and disguised them as Laterano personnel, leading a convoy to investigate the Infected's unusual behavior via the Guerrillas tactics... And if the investigation of the mine turns into a frontal attack..."

"That was done by the Infected Guerrilla Force!"

Franka's cheerful reply left Yato speechless for a moment. Was this something a Rhodes Island employee should say?

Huh? Franka is essentially a member of the Blacksteel faction?