Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"let's go."

-

Siesta Hotel, Xia Yu's room.

Xia Yu looked at Skadi and sighed.

"I know you're in a hurry, but..."

Looking at her attire, Xia Yu hesitated for a moment, but finally told the truth.

"At least put on some proper clothes..."

Skadi has just come out of the shower.

After all, she had been covered in blood, so she needed to clean herself up. At the same time, Xia Yu also needed to sort out her thoughts.

So, no matter how unwilling she was to get the information as soon as possible, she still needed their help and eventually obediently went to take a bath.

But it was obvious that she was in a hurry. She quickly finished washing up, grabbed a piece of clothing, put it on, and came to find Xia Yu.

She was currently wearing only a white shirt, her fair skin peeking out from under it. Luckily, she was only 1.66 meters tall, while the shirt belonged to Xia Yu, who was nearly 1.8 meters tall, making it appear quite oversized.

Otherwise... it would be difficult to continue writing.

Skadi remained silent in the face of Xia Yu's complaints, and simply picked up her wet, long hair and handed it to Xia Yu.

"Help me dry my hair."

She said it as a matter of course.

"Sigh," Xia Yu said, walking back to the sofa from the French windows. She sat down resignedly, took her long hair, and casually began to blow-dry it.

Speaking of which, Leonardo da Vinci truly deserves to be called an omnipotent person... He not only had large-scale techniques for improving the environment, but he could also easily master such life techniques.

Skadi just watched Xia Yu blow-dry her hair quietly, without saying a word.

"Actually, I don't know much either," Xia Yu began to tell her story, under her gaze.

"Do you know anything about behemoths?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Skadi couldn't help but think of the gods of the Sea Kings.

Ishar-mla.

“A behemoth…” her eyes were deep. “Indeed, that’s quite fitting.”

“I know nothing,” she said honestly. “Perhaps the governors know something, but I am just a soldier.”

Soldiers don't need to know that much.

Skadi's eyes held a hint of sadness.

“Okay, so you don’t know anything at all,” Xia Yu shrugged. “So where do we begin…”

"Hmm, have you ever come into contact with any so-called gods on land?"

Skadi shook her head upon hearing this.

"The gods worshipped by the Terrans are actually giant beasts," Xia Yu began to recall the distant plot.

"In that era when civilization was still in its infancy, mankind feared them, revered them, and worshipped them."

"And they are sentient beings, but their small numbers mean that the behemoths cannot form a civilization. Therefore, a symbiotic relationship began."

“Humans worship them, and they protect humans. Of course, these are all just my guesses,” Xia Yu shrugged. “After all, I didn’t personally experience that era.”

Skadi looked at Xia Yu silently, without saying a word.

“Believe it or not, I’m not lying,” Xia Yu shrugged and continued, “I don’t know when it started, but with the development of civilization, giant beasts gradually faded out of human life… It seems… never mind, it’s all just speculation.”

"In short, in this era, there are almost no active behemoths on the continent of Terra."

"I only know three."

“One is Yeragand, the guardian of the Snow Kingdom of Sherag. How should I put it…” Xia Yu revealed a subtle expression, “He’s a good god, isn’t he?”

“The second one is from Ursus, who calls himself Black Serpent,” Xia Yu said, shrugging. “He holds a high position, is cunning and scheming, and has a twisted personality, but he is somewhat weak.”

Yes, it really is weak.

"The third one comes from the ancient Great Yan, and is named Sui."

"However, this one also suffered a bit. Similar to the sea god you killed, he was killed by the former emperor of Yan Kingdom."

"The entire behemoth split into more than ten pieces. You've seen one of the fragments before, right here on Rhodes Island, yes, the one from that idle street urchin Nian!"

Upon hearing this, Skadi showed a slightly surprised expression...

Years... I never expected that person would actually...

Skadi's impression of her was that she always liked to come to Xia Yu and do random things, but she didn't pay much attention to her otherwise.

“These are all giant beasts from the mainland,” Xia Yu paused, “You need to understand one thing: in this world, the mainland and the ocean are not the same.”

"I've told you everything I know, as for the ocean..."

Xia Yu hesitated for a moment before continuing, "All I know is that there, in the deep sea, there are multiple sea gods sleeping, and the four people you met today who are like fleeting sunsets are also giant beasts from the ocean."

"But the four of them were very young, so young that when they awoke from the rock, they could not find any rational fellow beings besides themselves."

"Their kin are now mostly asleep in the Temple of the Sea God, having completely... become the gods of the Sea God."

Xia Yu sighed, "So they were terrified. Their original bodies found a place to hide, and then used some unknown methods to create their current bodies and came to the land."

“Want to find an answer?” Xia Yu looked into Skadi’s eyes as she said this, “So, I say, you are in the same boat.”

Hearing this, Skadi took a deep breath and opened her mouth as if to ask something.

"Don't ask me about Hai Si," Xia Yu said with uncanny foresight. "I don't know much more about Hai Si than you do."

“And that’s all I know,” Xia Yu said, looking at Skadi. “I’ve told you everything.”

"There's more I can't do, but perhaps you could ask Kal'tsit."

Hearing this, Skadi sighed.

Kal'tsit... It would be a miracle if I could even get the answer.

God knows how many secrets that woman was hiding. Seriously, when she told me she knew everything, Skadi really wanted to punch her in the face.

But... tsk.

"Really..." Skadi finally spoke after a long silence, "Sigh..."

“Beasts, gods… I…” She looked at her hands.

"You should just rest at the hotel," Xia Yu said with a sigh.

"I'm going to find them; I have some questions I want to ask them,"

Upon hearing this, Skadi instinctively stood up to follow, but Xia Yu forcefully pressed her shoulder down.

“You can’t go to see them,” Xia Yu said seriously. “It only took one song to make you lose control and subconsciously return to the time of Agor.”

“If we were to meet face-to-face, I don’t know what would happen.”

Faced with such persuasion, Skadi finally sat down.

I stared blankly at the dim, golden sunset outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

She also needs time to sort out her thoughts.

-

After a full day of energetic performances, the four members of Sunset Fleet (?) returned to the band's hotel together.

But it was clear that none of them were very enthusiastic.

“That kid today…” guitarist Frost gently stroked his guitar, “was different, very different…”

“She’s an Agor, but I smell something on her that an Agor shouldn’t have…”

"Even...some of them are related to us..."

Before she could finish speaking, Alty stopped her.

"Don't say anything yet," she said, glancing towards their room. "We have guests."

Upon hearing this, the group stopped simultaneously.

They all looked towards the room.

The guests made no attempt to conceal themselves; the door, which should have been tightly closed, was now quietly open, as if the person inside was inviting them in.

But clearly, the four people outside the door are the owners, or at least the temporary owners.

The group exchanged glances: Alty, Aya, Dan, and Frost.

They entered the room one after the other.

In the quiet room, a figure in emerald green stood with her back to them, admiring the golden Siesta Sea under the setting sun through the floor-to-ceiling window.

“This uninvited guest,” asked Alty, the bassist of Sunset Fades, squinting.

“I apologize for coming uninvited,” the man said, turning around as his azure pupils swept over everyone.