Arknights, Suika's Messenger Journey

If the officers ordered them to risk pushing deeper now, these men might well be so terrified that they would choose to make a desperate stand and mutiny.

After all, going in meant death, and refusing meant death too.

Mutinying first to survive this ordeal, then surrendering or defecting to another country, seemed to offer far better odds of survival than entering that terrifying landslide zone.

The officers knew they could not force their subordinates to march into a Catastrophe and die, so they chose a plan that gave no one an excuse to criticize them.

Though they had failed to lead the army in encircling and suppressing the Reunion Movement, the Reunion Movement would not be able to cross that terrifying area and escape the encirclement in the wake of the Catastrophe.

Besides, they had spread out their troops and completely sealed off this area at the first opportunity, ensuring that no one could escape through their side.

At the Reunion Movement camp, Yagokoro Eirin stood at the entrance, gazing at the collapsing mountains in the distance. She sighed helplessly, shook her head, and walked back inside.

"As expected of a brainless oni. She actually used Three-Step Ruin to smash apart an entire mountain. Using the least efficient method possible to stop the enemy is simply absurd.

"Did she not consider how much trouble that single blow would cause the Reunion Movement?

"Still, it fits an oni's style perfectly—an excessive sense of self, with no regard whatsoever for whether anyone else lives or dies."

As she complained, she looked at the several children in the room who had been thrown into a panic by the sudden tremors.

"The medicine-making is at its most critical stage. Ignore what is happening outside and focus on the medicine in your hands. If the sky falls, you will die. Without medicine, you will still die.

"Since either way leads to death, you might as well face reality and finish your own work first."

Though her words showed no mercy, she was actually quite satisfied with these apprentices.

These Reunion Movement children were all fairly quick-witted. They could generally achieve eighty percent of her medicine's effectiveness.

One had to remember that the Reunion Movement had no measuring tools at all, so the entire process of making medicine relied purely on their hands and intuition.

Ten minutes later, the final batch of medicine was completed. After packing up their things, everyone stepped outside.

At that point, Alina and Suika had long been waiting outside.

"How are things elsewhere?" Yagokoro Eirin asked after coming out.

"Talulah made preparations in advance, so the main force has already completely withdrawn from here. Other than us, there should not be anyone left," Alina replied after sweeping her gaze across the empty village.

The Reunion Movement in Dire Straits

"Are you sure?"

Yagokoro Eirin looked toward the village.

"I think so? There was no movement in the village even after such a huge tremor, and our people shouted inside for so long. There cannot still be anyone here, right?"

Alina sounded uncertain after hearing Yagokoro Eirin's question.

"As long as there isn't. Then let's withdraw!" After packing up, the apprentices each carried a pack of medicine on their backs while Yagokoro Eirin stored away the equipment. The group turned and headed out.

After they left, two figures flashed through the village.

"Where are we going?" Suika asked Alina as the sounds of battle rose around them once more.

"At present, Ursus troops are stationed everywhere except the north. They want to drive us north, so we will go north. We came from that direction before, and there are several safe points in the north where we can rest temporarily." Alina flew into the air on her broom and pointed out the direction for them.

"That broom?

"I remember seeing one with Nitori Kawashiro. She tried to sell the thing to yokai, but everyone could fly, so who would buy it..."

Yagokoro Eirin narrowed her eyes at Alina's broom, recalling how that kappa had tried to peddle the thing to others at a Hakurei Shrine banquet.

Naturally, she had failed.

Unexpectedly, they had encountered that broom again here.

Suika also wanted to complain. When she had first seen that the thing was made by Kappa Heavy Industries, she had not understood why they manufactured it.

After all, she could barely remember any yokai in Gensokyo who could not fly. Unless they sold it in the Human Village, the thing would have no market at all.

But would ordinary people dare buy such a thing?

Suika had her doubts.

Though it was useless in Gensokyo, it was incredibly useful on Terra.

After all, across all of Terra, there was barely any proper air force besides drones. Soldiers wearing jetpacks could not be called an air force; their mobility was far too poor, making them little more than oversized targets in the air.

Under Alina's guidance, the group quickly caught up with the main force.

It was not until nightfall, using the cover of darkness, that the Reunion Movement finally shook off the pursuing Ursus troops.

"Have you seen Eno and Sasha?" While everyone rested around the campfire, FrostNova hurried over to them with panic written across her face.

"Eno and Sasha? Weren't they with you?" Alina abruptly stood up upon hearing FrostNova's words.

"No. When the Ursus troops attacked, I told Sasha to take Eno and leave with the main force. Then the Yeti Squad and I stayed behind to hold off those soldiers.

"I thought he would leave with the main force, but I asked everyone, and no one saw them.

"Weren't you the last group to withdraw? Did you see the two of them? Could they have gotten separated from the group?"

FrostNova paced back and forth, visibly agitated.

"No way. We really were the last group to leave. We relied on Alina's guidance from the air on the way here. Alina, did you see those two at the time?"

Though Suika was not fond of Eno, she was not the type to leave someone to die. If she encountered them on the road, she would still lend them a hand.

Alina shook her head. "No. I can confirm that I did not see Eno or Sasha at any point after leaving that place until just now."

Alina was so certain because, after sending Suika to the main force in one go, she had specifically flown back to support Patriot and FrostNova at the rear. With her advantage in altitude, she had carefully observed the surroundings the entire time.

If either of them had been there, she could not possibly have missed them.

"Then where did they go?" FrostNova clenched her fists.

Suika recalled the question Yagokoro Eirin had asked when they left, and her gaze drifted toward her.

Yagokoro Eirin, meanwhile, had her head lowered as she wrote something.

Before long, Talulah came over as well.

"Other than Eno and Sasha, how many people did we lose this time?" Alina asked softly.

Talulah looked terrible.

She had not expected the enemy to act so decisively. If Suika had not warned her and allowed her to prepare beforehand, the Reunion Movement would probably have been wiped out by the Ursus army already.

"We lost nearly a third of our fighters. Half our food remains.

"Our production supplies are almost entirely gone. Even warm clothing and blankets are in desperately short supply now."

Even Talulah found the situation deeply troublesome.

Patriot came over with a map and pointed to a landmark not far away.

"Here. Military factory. Likely supplies."

"It is forty kilometers from our current position, and less than ten kilometers from our nearest retreat route.

"We can take a gamble!"

Talulah understood Patriot's meaning. The Reunion Movement was nearly out of food and supplies. If they could not replenish their stocks, then even if the Ursus army stopped pursuing them, winter would still claim everyone's lives.

They had to find somewhere to resupply.

Talulah had strictly forbidden the Reunion Movement from looting or pillaging villages along their route, leaving them with very limited sources of supplies during winter.

Only one path remained before them: raid this military factory.

"Count me in!" After Talulah made up her mind and Alina said she wanted to join the operation too, Suika raised her hand.

"Suika, you are not Infected. You do not need to take part in something this dangerous." Talulah wanted to refuse Suika's involvement.

It was not because she feared Suika would ruin their plan. Rather, Suika had already helped the Reunion Movement so much as an ordinary person that Talulah truly could not find an excuse to ask her to keep doing such dangerous things for them.

"Don't worry. I have a way to get you close without being discovered."

Suika looked at the map. The military factory lay in a small basin, with a river in front of it. There was practically nowhere to hide around the area. If the Reunion Movement attempted to storm it head-on, they would likely suffer considerable casualties.

"Really?" Talulah had intended to refuse, but the moment Suika said that, she changed her mind.

After seeing the terrain on the map, Talulah had been considering how they could successfully take the military factory.

There were surely Ursus troops stationed there. With nothing but plains surrounding it, even if they successfully stormed the place, they would likely waste a great deal of time.

With the pursuers behind them liable to catch up at any time, they could not remain there for long.

Therefore, the most important matter was how to seize the military factory before Ursus could react.

Drunken Raid on the Military Factory

At six in the afternoon, Suika and FrostNova led the Yeti Squad to a location not far from the military factory.

Patriot remained with the main force, while Talulah led the second echelon behind Suika's group.

The advantage was that if Suika and FrostNova's surprise attack succeeded, Talulah could immediately bring people over and move the supplies as quickly as possible.

If they failed, Talulah could serve as a backup and ensure Suika and FrostNova's group withdrew safely.

"We have reached the limit of how far we can advance. Any farther, and we will enter the range of both sorcery and visual detection." After stopping, Yang Ge, a Yeti Squad member who had arrived ahead of them, looked toward the distant military factory.

FrostNova looked at Suika.

"How do we get over there?"

"Leave it to me!

"Wait here for now. I'll scout things out and see if I can blind their eyes." As Suika spoke, her figure gradually became transparent, and a mist rose around her.

The fog passed through the sorcery alarm and spread into the military factory's perimeter, slowly enveloping the entire facility.

Since it was winter, darkness had already fallen early. Combined with the wind and snow, the soldiers standing watch did not notice anything amiss.

Suika had originally intended to knock out the people at the guard posts directly, but before she acted, she noticed a surveillance camera above one soldier's head.

If she took out that sentry now, the people watching the cameras would definitely notice.

She immediately stopped, withdrew the mist from the checkpoint, and continued spreading it into the military factory.

The man at the checkpoint yawned, unaware that he had narrowly escaped disaster.

After entering the military factory, Suika searched for its surveillance room.

Not long after entering, she found her target.

The surveillance room was not far from the gate. From the images sent by the cameras inside, Suika could tell there was more than one camera nearby.

Several were even positioned around the camp. Fortunately, FrostNova's group had been cautious enough; otherwise, the Reunion Movement's actions would have been plainly visible to the enemy long ago.

There were seven people in the room. Two were watching the surveillance feeds, while the rest sat near a stove, clearly serving as camp guards.

"Orders came down from above. That Reunion Movement force may pass through here. They are seriously short on resources and may very well come looking for trouble. Everyone must stay alert. As long as we make it through tonight, troops will arrive tomorrow to reinforce us. Then we'll be safe."

Outside, Suika heard a captain-like man inside say this.

"The Reunion Movement is nothing but a bunch of Infected rabble. Is there really any need for higher-ups to make such a fuss?" someone said dismissively.

"The Reunion Movement's Infected are nothing worth noting, of course. But Lord Patriot has joined them. Are you sure we can get the better of him if we run into him without being fully armed?

"I'm telling you, once reinforcements arrive tomorrow morning, do whatever you want. I won't even stop you from going into town for drinks. But tonight, you must hold this place to the death.

"If anything goes wrong, none of our heads will stay on our shoulders."

The captain was clear-headed and understood the Reunion Movement's internal situation. He warned his subordinates not to let down their guard.

"Sniff, sniff. Where did that smell of alcohol come from?

"You bastards, didn't I say no drinking today?!"

Just as he finished lecturing his subordinates and prepared to rest easy, the fragrance of alcohol drifted into his nose.

As he angrily prepared to seize whoever had secretly been drinking, he suddenly discovered that bottles of alcohol had somehow filled the entire room.

"This banquet is called the Baijiu Banquet. I'm treating, so drink as much as you like. Tonight, no one goes home sober..."

The voice of a little girl sounded beside his ear, and then he lost consciousness.

Ten minutes later, Suika looked disdainfully at the roomful of people sprawled everywhere and could not help sighing. Ursus people really were something else.

She had used two different abilities to fill the room with strong baijiu while continuously extending Drink Invitations.

Yet these people had kept drinking for over ten minutes before the last one finally collapsed drunk.

She took out the Ibuki Gourd and poured another bowl of its strong liquor down each person's throat. After confirming that none of them would wake anytime soon, she reached out and shut off the alarms in the surveillance room.