I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

Li Lin sat there with dead fish eyes, and after a moment he tried to call out to the King Killer again, but Junjun clearly didn't want to pay attention to him.

Moreover, if she were there, she would definitely jump out after Andrei left.

Li Lin downed the black tea in his cup in one gulp, then collapsed onto the bed with a thud, staring up at the ceiling: "Why haven't Little Dragon Girl and Princess Yao Yao attacked yet...?"

13. Not seeing Xiaolongnu's appearance makes me feel like there's a "w" crawling all over me.

"Ah!"

Talulah sneezed.

A north wind howled past, and a group of unidentified creatures covered in white were moving forward on the ice field. From a distance, they looked like a swarm of giant isopods foraging for food.

At the very front of this horde of insects was Talulah, dressed in the same gray-white outfit as if she were wearing mourning clothes. Alina, as the political commissar of the Reunion Movement, did not come out with them, but stayed in their current base to be in charge of ideological education.

It is currently the cold season, and the Ursus army is not yet ready for a large-scale purge. Therefore, the Reunion Movement still has room and time to develop.

Thanks to the secret manual that Li Lin "traded" to her, Xiaolongnv successfully recruited the Reunion Movement team, which was only passively resisting. She also made early contact with the Snowfield Guerrilla Team in the wasteland and joined forces. From then on, the Reunion Movement had a real regular army as its mainstay.

It is precisely for this reason that the Reunion Movement has a true "general".

—Patriot Bozokasti.

The only remaining pure-blooded Wendigo among the Sarkaz, he once served the former emperor of the Ursus Empire.

After the death of the late emperor, he lost his beloved son due to the long-standing discriminatory policies against the infected by the Ursus Empire. He then left Ursus to fight for the infected, and together with his subordinates, he became a guerrilla force in the northwestern tundra, specifically to punish the Ursus military and police who harmed the infected.

If we calculate based on the normal game time, Patriot had already been fighting a guerrilla war in the Northwest Tundra for more than a decade with his adopted daughter, Frostnova Yelena, when he met Talulah.

In fact, it was impossible for them to know nothing about Talulah. They had practically watched Talulah and Alina build an army from scratch on a desolate ice field, and in the blink of an eye, they had changed the color of the tundra sky.

Bochkast initially viewed the Reunion Movement as a guerrilla force, but after repeated contact, he realized that it was not.

They have their own action plan, their own methods of combat, and their own political needs—needs based on the needs of the infected as a whole. As their leader, Talulah is already a mature leader.

More importantly, she is not just a person.

If Talulah, standing on the stage, is a fighter, then Alina, who serves as the political commissar behind her, is the wisdom center of the entire Reunion Movement. They complement each other perfectly.

Those seemingly seductive theories became easy to understand when Alina spoke them, and everyone loved listening to her speeches, including the Patriots themselves.

Bozokasti was not captivated by one of them, but by both of them, especially since his adopted daughter Frostnova also liked Alina.

Patriots' addition has become a prominent symbol of the Reunion Movement. In just a few months, the banner of the Reunion Movement has been raised in the northern border of the Ursus Empire, demonstrating its immense momentum.

However, this covert expansion has reached its limit in the short term, and now they must choose a path.

Talulah brushed away the wind and snow in front of her. At this moment, she would always ask herself, if it were that man, what would she choose to do?

The snowflakes swirling in the sky vanished without a trace. She passed through the somewhat rudimentary defenses of the base and pushed open the wooden door in front of her.

The fire crackled and popped, bringing a wave of warmth.

"Little Tower, you've arrived?"

Alina looked up from in front of the map, holding a cup, with a smile on her face.

Even indoors, Patriots wore heavy armor and a metal helmet because the skull of a pure-blooded Wendigo was exposed, making him look like a demon.

He was standing in front of that map, like an iron tower.

Froststar sat at the other end of the table, discreetly slipping a piece of candy into her mouth.

There were several other Reunion Movement cadres inside the room. Talulah calmly brushed the snow water off her shoulders.

She still couldn't quite hold back when Alina called her that in front of outsiders.

After settling down at the long table, she tapped it to signal the start of the meeting: "I've returned from a mobile town near Chernobog and received some new information."

“A considerable number of Sarkaz mercenaries have appeared there, and their leader is someone who once served in the Sarkaz royal court.”

"This may not be credible."

Someone raised an objection.

After all, the Sarkaz have long been stigmatized on the continent of Terra, and basically any kind of accusation can be leveled against them.

Even Patriot Bojokas himself could hardly deny this deeply ingrained concept in people's minds.

"Whether they are trustworthy or not is not important; what matters is that they can help us."

Talulah stood up and walked to the edge of the map, tapping the wooden board on which the map was hanging with her right fist: "In my opinion, being a Sarkaz mercenary is actually an advantage—they don't ask where I come from or where I'm going, as long as I can afford the price."

"We don't know Chernobog's specific whereabouts right now, right?"

Everyone nodded unconsciously.

"Then this group of Sarkaz mercenaries is someone we must win over. Their leader is about to enter into a mutually beneficial agreement with a manager at the Chernobog mine."

"But what price can we offer to buy them?"

This is Frostnova's question.

Her inquiries, like her Originium Arts, were always cold yet realistic.

“Chernobog,” Talulah replied after a half-second pause, “they will temporarily obey my command and attack Chernobog together, in exchange for a place in Chernobog in the future.”

At that moment, the towering figure began to move.

The Patriot's voice rang out like the scraping of steel: "Young leader, young fighter... Talulah."

“Please speak,” Talulah said, showing great respect for the Patriot.

Not only her, but everyone held their breath when the patriots spoke out.

"This is a promise, and a banner. The Sarkaz will surge forth like an avalanche, but can you control it all?"

Wendigo's voice boomed and echoed in the relatively enclosed space, like a surging tide.

Talulah knew the meaning of patriotism.

Her promise was unprecedented—since the collapse of the Sarkaz court and the enthronement of Regent Theresis in Victoria, a large number of Sarkaz people still wandered the land, homeless.

They are the outcasts of this land.

They are numerous, and due to their demonic bloodline and special Originium Arts, they are naturally susceptible to Oripathy.

Once someone promises to accept Sarkaz, then his actions will become a banner raised on Terra, no matter what.

Whether it's a normal political entity or a Sarkaz monarch far away in Victoria, they all harbor a subtle hostility towards them.

But aren't the infected the enemies of this land?

“But they are the natural reserve force of the Reunion Movement, and they have their own culture and can understand our will.” Talulah turned her palm and pressed her thumb against her heart. “Since I raised the banner, I have often asked myself whether the Reunion Movement needs a mob or well-trained warriors.”

Even the patriots stopped to listen to her speak.

“I think we have both.”

Talulah patted the hilt of her sword: "Can you expect a bunch of students who know nothing about war to raise their swords? Can you expect demons who only know how to kill to control a mobile city-state? Friends, we don't have to go to such extremes. Why can't we have both?"

"Losing reason will blind us to the path ahead, and losing anger will prevent us from moving forward."

"Why did I appoint Alina as political commissar? Perhaps you will scoff at this and treat our theories as a joke. That's alright, just treat it as a story."

Talulah smiled and waved her hand, a gesture that eased the atmosphere in the room.

She continued, "Yes, even if you treat it as a story, it can become a weapon to arm your mind. Thought is also a way of fighting."

Talulah thought of the man who taught her swordsmanship and governance, the duke known as the Undying Black Serpent; she also thought of another man who, in just one night, had shattered the shadows of the past, the traveler named Abraham Leigh.

"Ursus tells us to be loyal to the emperor, Yan tells the people to obey the will of heaven, Victoria tells people to live like gentlemen, and Letania wavers between the ancient and the modern. I do not intend to follow any of these paths, because we are going to make history."

"Friends, why don't you broaden your horizons? Why are you so convinced that you are just meek sheep? You could become a tax official; you could become a general; you could become a doctor... Am I inherently more noble than you? Then why am I still standing here?"

Talulah said, enunciating each word clearly, "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?"

She paused for a moment: "So, the Sarkaz are our natural allies. We are Reunion, we are wandering flames. Racial differences are insignificant in the face of flames. We are gathered together because of our identity as Infected. Are we supposed to discriminate against each other?"

“I’ve finished stating my opinion on contacting the Sarkaz mercenaries.” Talulah took a sip of water. “Does anyone have any objections?”

Everyone present watched in silence as Drak stood before the map and began to speak eloquently.

They were speechless.

Talulah looked around: "Alright, let's talk about what's next..."

Late at night, Patriot Bojocasti and Talulah remained in the conference room.

"You want to attack Chernobog?"

Talulah pressed her hand to her temple: "You know we can't take on the whole of Chernobog."

14 LOL, I missed the 2 PM update again today.

It's not just that they can't eat the whole of Chernobyl.

Even with the help of Sarkaz mercenaries, a surprise attack through the mines would only allow Talulah to capture a quarter of Chernobog at most.

As for the remaining land parcels and control centers, the integration movement simply cannot control them.

In fact, in the original storyline of Arknights, the Reunion Movement was simply placed into Chernobog as a pawn in a deal, and Talulah at that time had been completely corrupted by the will of the Black Serpent, becoming another vessel for Koschei.

Not to mention that Koschei completely disregarded the purity of the Reunion Movement, recruiting infected individuals on a large scale, making the Reunion Movement unprecedentedly large, but also making it outwardly strong but inwardly weak.