Arknights' Lock of Heaven

Do you know how long I've been working without a vacation?

"It's been almost five years!"

“I’ve been in charge of this ship since the Civil War, and I still am now.”

"I haven't had a single day off!"

"The capable should do more," Xia Yu said with a grin. "When the sky falls, the tall ones hold it up. After all, you're the tallest person on Rhodes Island in this regard."

"You...you're saying this..." Kroos pointed at Xia Yu's nose, her voice filled with anguish, "Don't you have a conscience?"

"Then why did you come to me? Doesn't your conscience hurt?" Xia Yu glanced at her and said, "What's the use of coming to me? Didn't you say yourself that Rhodes Island can't do without you?"

"What can I do?"

"Hurry up, give me something fun," Kroos chuckled upon hearing this, revealing her true colors.

"I know you have a lot of good stuff, get me some more."

"For example, that familiar would be good..."

"No, no, no, what are you going to do with my familiar?" Xia Yu asked, confused. "Do you even know how to use it? Can you even control it?"

"This... is from a completely different system, what use would you have for it?"

"Aren't those few cars enough for you to mess around with? My thing is so low-end, you actually want it?"

This is where the difference in their perspectives lies.

In Xia Yu's eyes, the cars that Kroos manufactured and modified were absolutely high-tech, equipped with rudimentary artificial intelligences with different personalities. In his previous life on Earth, they were things that many people would fight tooth and nail for.

The fact that Kroos could concoct such a thing speaks volumes about her skill level.

As for Xia Yu's familiar... to be honest, it's quite low-level.

It's nothing compared to a small car.

It's not some high-end thing like an artificial human; it's just a simple familiar.

One has its own basic intelligence, while the other relies on a program written with magic to operate.

Make a decision.

Logically speaking, Kroos shouldn't even look down on this thing.

But in Kroos's territory, things are completely different.

In her eyes, that familiar was as mysterious as a magical weapon.

How could she not be curious?

Ultimately, it's caused by errors in information.

278. Candidates to go to Siesta

After a series of wrangling, Xia Yu finally left a few familiars for Kroos.

Despite his repeated emphasis that this thing's technology was not as advanced as those small cars, Kroos remained enthusiastic.

So Xia Yu had no choice, since he needed someone's help.

The story begins with Surtr.

"Don't go!"

In the dormitory lobby, Surtr, who was always serious, simply lay down on the sofa, her face full of resistance.

"Are you kidding me? I chased him all the way from Ursus to the Great Knight Territory and then here... I haven't even had a proper rest, and you're telling me I still have to run another thousand kilometers?"

Surtr looked as if he had been burned to ashes.

Although the sunshine, beaches, and ocean sounded appealing and she was somewhat tempted, the journey of thousands of kilometers was also daunting.

"I'd rather die than go!"

"No, if we're going on vacation...wouldn't it be better to go to a dedicated tourist city?"

Xia Yu could understand Surtr's feelings. After all, Terra had no high-speed rail or shipping; it was a long and arduous journey.

“If you’re worried about the long journey…” he stroked his chin thoughtfully, “perhaps I have a solution.”

So, Xia Yu went to find Kroos.

Bad Guy, a small, manned aircraft.

He came up with this idea.

Honestly, this thing could never have been made by Rhodes Island itself.

A small manned aircraft with a range of thousands of kilometers... Xia Yu had never even heard of such a thing in this world.

For some reason, the Terrans seem to have collectively ignored the sky.

The airspace below 6,000 meters is the domain of drones, where Terra's thriving drone industry holds a dominant position.

But above that, there's just blank space.

The official explanation is that the airspace above is filled with Originium particles, and the strong interference makes too many precision instruments unable to operate.

This resulted in a void in Terra's shipping industry.

On Earth, the average flight altitude of a passenger plane is between 6800 and 8000 meters.

Commercial aircraft cruise in the stratosphere, where there are fewer particulate matter and clouds, resulting in high visibility. Domestic flights are at an altitude of 6800-8000 meters, while international flights go up to 9000-11000 meters.

In comparison, it seems that Terra's decision not to develop high-altitude aircraft is a helpless move, since its technology tree is already focused on Originium, and it is certainly helpless against the interference of high-altitude Originium particles, at least from the perspective of its current technological level.

But Xia Yu always felt that things weren't that simple.

As a Terran manned spacecraft, the Bad Guy naturally flies in the airspace at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

Otherwise, Sargon wouldn't have been shot down by rocket launchers (laughs).

No, girl, you're so good at shooting cannons, you can even bring down flying machines in the sky, so why did you become a sorcerer?

Wouldn't it be great to be a sniper?

Ahem, I've digressed. Anyway, the Bad Guy is Rhodes Island's prized possession, and if you want to apply for one... you know what I mean.

Every flight is torture for the engineering staff, since ground crew at least have specialized training and courses to teach them how to repair and maintain aircraft, but Rhodes Island doesn't have that.

No, there really isn't one. After all, the origins of the Bad Guy are untold, so everyone can only figure out how to repair it by trial and error.

Pain and happiness.

Finally, after sacrificing two familiars (birds recovered from Kazimierz), Xia Yu successfully obtained permission to use the Bad Guy.

Both parties are very satisfied with the deal.

Kroos was quite curious about the structure of familiars, while Xia Yu was not lacking in this knowledge at all.

Win-win.

But since we've already secured the Bad Guy, why not have the pilots make a couple more trips to transport the operators who are going on vacation in batches?

After all, it's quite far from Siesta, and traveling by car would be rather arduous.

Although there are quite a few people applying for the vacation, probably over a hundred, it shouldn't be a problem to transport more than twenty people at a time in batches.

It's just that flying back and forth multiple times is a bit tiring for the pilots.

Thank you to everyone in the engineering department for your hard work.

To be honest, this vacation is quite large; almost half of Rhode Island's population has taken a vacation.

However, most people have their own destinations, and not everyone is interested in beaches and music.

After all, Rhodes Island doesn't need to worry too much at this point. Building a factory is not something that can be done overnight. With Xia Yu's formidable reputation in Kazimierz, those giants would never dare to offend Rhodes Island.

Meanwhile, Toran, the unsuspecting president of the Bounty Hunters Guild, was still worried about not finding an opportunity to curry favor with Rhodes Island.

Three years... Since the Tower of Babel was disbanded, Rhodes Island has been traveling on the continent for three years.

In fact, many employees still need a vacation.

Some of them are elderly people from the Tower of Babel era. They have worked diligently for three years and deserve a proper break.

Some of them were operators recruited within the last three years. Kal'tsit figured that since they were going to have a vacation anyway, they might as well give it a big one. With a wave of her hand, half of Rhodes Island would be emptied out.

According to the schedule, Rhode Island will not be relocated for at least three months.

We'll have to see how things go going from here.

Actually, there weren't many things to do next.

Many elite operators have their own missions even when they are on vacation.

Travel to various locations to contact trustworthy companies and government officials, and seek partners; Rhode Island's drug sales network should be expanded as much as possible.

However, these missions have plenty of time, and after completing them, the operators can take a good rest for one or two months as they see fit.

If you'd like, you can go to a dock and get some fries.

Most of those who go to Siesta are on vacation.

Of course, you can go home to see your family if you want.