Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"I came back with a mission."

At this point, she stretched out her hand towards the village, "Those fellow infected people, they shouldn't be asleep yet, right?"

“How could we possibly sleep?” Hearing this, a guerrilla fighter shrugged. “After all, that’s five thousand people. And as you know, big sister, a weapon that can kill five thousand people instantly is far too advanced for us, let alone the villagers.”

“Although I comforted them after I came back, I suppose…” Thomas hesitated.

"Many people will probably be unable to sleep tonight, constantly preparing to escape, after all, that's what we infected people are like."

“That’s perfect,” Frostnova smiled. “Let’s go find them. Let’s find a bigger house. I’ll give it to you and them, and we can tell them all about the outside world, about Ursus, about other countries, and about what I’ve seen and heard.”

"And our Orville, which carries enough supplies to feed over 100,000 people for the entire winter. You can also talk to them about the guerrillas and the camps established by the old stubborn ones."

"This is the task he assigned to me. After all, we can't just stand by and watch these people starve here, facing the constant risk of being arrested."

"If they want, we'll take them with us."

-

"..."

Two figures walked silently on the road marked with various traces.

They continued forward in silence, their hearts sinking heavier with each step closer to their destination.

"This way... is the direction of the village..."

After a long while, seeing yet another car broken down on the road, Victor could no longer hold back.

He said worriedly, "These people...these people are here to hunt down the captain of the Orville, aren't they? I heard that the Sixth Army has a full five thousand men..."

Hearing this, Anton sighed and comforted them, "Don't worry, my team members are all battle-hardened warriors. These nobles' lackeys will be discovered before they even get close to the village. I'm sure they will lead your villagers to escape into the deep mountains."

“But…but they have a full five thousand people,” Victor still seemed flustered. “So many people…”

“We have a lot of experience dealing with these lackeys; they can’t catch us.”

“But my villagers are just ordinary people!” Victor shouted angrily at Anton. “They are all old, weak, sick, and disabled. There are eleven children, and two of them are pregnant. They don’t have much food. How long can they hide in the mountains?”

Anton just watched him quietly, without saying a word.

Victor watched him, panting heavily, slowly calming himself down.

A minute later, he finally spoke and apologized to Anton, saying, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. None of this has anything to do with you. I was just... just too anxious."

“It’s alright,” Anton nodded upon hearing this. “Actually, I’ve seen this kind of thing many times. It’s already quite good that you were able to calm down so quickly.”

“As for your village, I think you don’t need to be too anxious,” Anton said as he continued walking toward the village. “According to those scholars, Frostnova is also with the captain of the Orville. They didn’t set off without a purpose.”

"You might not know Frostnova, but you might have heard of Yeti."

"The Yeti? You mean the legendary Yeti?"

“Yes, that’s them,” Anton nodded. “The Yeti’s princess, the grim reaper of winter, that’s what the surviving enemies called Frostnova. She’s also a captain, oh, the Patriot’s daughter.”

"With Frostnova here, along with a few members of the Yeti Squad, we can at least hold off those lackeys and buy the villagers time to evacuate."

"And there's also the enigmatic captain of the Orville. Remember the attitude of those scholars? They didn't even care that news of their captain's departure was spreading—no, they even spread it themselves."

“I don’t think the person who could raise so many supplies, obtain a trade permit from the emperor, and bring this large ship all the way here could be incompetent. He must have his own plan, but given his attitude towards the infected, that plan would definitely not involve sacrificing innocent people.”

"Is that so?" Victor nodded reluctantly, but the anxiety on his face did not diminish much.

Anton said a lot, but he also knew that he was just comforting Victor.

This was, after all, five thousand men, five thousand fully armed regular troops. Even though the Sixth Army was considered to be of medium to low strength among the Ursus armies, it was still not something that a small village of a hundred or so people and a few Yetis could contend with.

The same applies to Froststar.

"Why are they heading towards the village?" After a while, Victor, who was hurrying along, suddenly spoke up. "The village is so remote, no outsiders should know about it..."

“Victor, don’t overthink it,” Anton sighed. “Before Ceprini met those scholars, they didn’t even know we existed, and they set off at that time. Maybe… it was just a coincidence.”

“I know…” Victor lowered his head upon hearing this, “but…”

He then fell silent.

Anton sighed as he read this, knowing it wasn't Victor's fault.

After all, it was his village, the culmination of his life's work. No one could remain calm in such a situation.

It's normal to be flustered. Even Anton himself, though he didn't show it on the surface, was worried about his teammates who stayed behind and Frostnova.

Both of them regretted not asking the scholars more questions when they were in Ceprini about their plans.

However, even if you asked, you probably wouldn't get an answer. After all, it's a matter of life and death for the Orville, so how could it be revealed casually?

Did those scholars really believe in themselves and Victor? Not necessarily.

As he walked, Anton realized that something was increasingly wrong with his surroundings.

"How come so many cars have broken down?" He looked around at the vehicles that had been carelessly abandoned. "At first there were only one or two, but now there are more and more."

“Even if all 5,000 people came by car, we saw more than half of the vehicles break down along the way. This failure rate is not normal at all.”

"You mean they have no rides?" Victor looked up abruptly. "Could it be..."

“It’s hard to say,” Anton pondered for a moment, then looked up into the distance. “Let’s hurry on our way.”

……

It wasn't until sunset that the two of them finally trekked to the edge of the valley near the village.

"That's... an Ursus army camp?" They were hiding behind a few trees. "Is it that rudimentary?"

Anton couldn't help but scratch his head; the situation before him was too bizarre.

Calling it a camp is an understatement; it was just a dozen or so vehicles clustered together, with some supplies scattered around. The entire camp was blocked at the entrance to the valley.

There wasn't even a single person in sight; it was as if all this stuff had just been abandoned here.

He was still grumbling to himself, but Victor couldn't take it anymore.

"I'll go up and check the situation first," he said, and dashed off in a flash.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Anton missed him for a moment, and seeing his anxious back, Anton gritted his teeth and chased after him.

As they approached the camp, Anton hid behind a snowdrift not far away, watching Victor sneak up to the cars and then stand there dumbfounded.

"Victor? Victor? What's going on?" he asked in a low voice, but Victor seemed not to hear him.

After waiting for two seconds, Anton couldn't hold back any longer. If there had been someone else, Victor would have been arrested long ago, so he boldly stepped forward as well.

"Hey, Victor," he crouched down beside Victor and patted him on the shoulder, "What's wrong?"

He was met with Victor's dreamlike ramblings.

"Dead...all dead!"

367 Journey of Silence

They're all dead... What does that mean?

At first, Anton didn't understand, but when he reached the outer edge of the camp, he looked in the direction Victor was looking.

Dead body.

There were corpses everywhere; a rough estimate suggested there were no fewer than seven or eight hundred.

They were in various states of being, rushing about, some still in the postures they had before they died, contacting others, cooking, setting up camp...

There are all kinds.

Anton finally understood why the camp was so rudimentary.

So it wasn't even finished building... Everyone died halfway through!

The death was so bizarre that it didn't seem like he had been attacked at all; there was no sign of a fight.

“It’s like… being frozen to death alive,” Victor’s voice trembled, “but… how could that be…”

Yes, how is that possible?

Having struggled to survive on the snowy plains, the two men knew what it was like to freeze to death.

But no matter what, nothing is as orderly as what we are seeing now. People freezing to death is a slow process, and it will never be as orderly as it is now.

When they sense the temperature dropping, they will struggle and try to survive. Although the camp is simple, it is not lacking in supplies. They have enough heating, shelter from the wind and rain, and everything they need to survive on the snowfield.

But they still died, just like... just like the temperature suddenly dropped so fast that their faces didn't even have time to react.

The same thought arose in the minds of Victor and Anton at the same time.

Natural disaster!

Yes, only natural disasters can do all of this.

Coincidentally, although it was pointed out as a conspiracy, Cheprini did announce that a cold wave would be coming from that direction... This was also why Victor initially planned to enter the city.

“A natural disaster…only a natural disaster could do this,” Victor thought, his body going limp as he collapsed onto a snowdrift. “Even these people are dead…then my village…Matich, Nina, Puldor, everyone…”

His mind was a complete blank.

These were the people who had taken him in when he fled Ceprini in a sorry state. They respected him, and together they had painstakingly built up this village...

Now...it's all gone...