Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"Calm down," seeing him like this, Anton had to pull him up from the ground with all his might: "Maybe it's not that bad, something's not right here."

Victor remained in a daze.

Seeing that he remained unchanged, Anton had no choice but to explain, "If a natural disaster really occurred, how could there be no Originium here?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of doubt flashed across Victor's numb face.

Seeing the change in him, Anton breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he hadn't completely become withdrawn.

“You are a knowledgeable person, you should know that it is impossible for natural disasters not to produce Originium, but haven’t you noticed that this place is too clean?”

"Forget about Originium, even the temperature is the same as elsewhere!"

"How long before they arrived? A day? How could a natural disaster end so quickly?"

“And look here,” he said, forcibly pulling Victor to the center of the camp and pointing to a corpse. “Look at him, look at the rank on his collar. He was a colonel. Even in the Ursus army, someone like that would be considered a high-ranking officer.”

"If the news of the natural disaster is true, then someone like him couldn't possibly be unaware of the inside story. How could he have died here?"

“But…but besides natural disasters, what else can do that?” Victor’s eyes lit up slightly.

“That’s right! Yes!” Victor hesitated for a moment, then said eagerly, “Do you remember… the Yeti you told me about? And Frostnova.”

"The Yeti's Princess, the Grim Reaper of Winter..."

Seeing the glimmer of expectation in Victor's eyes, Anton sighed inwardly, then patted him hard on the shoulder and said in agreement, "Yes! Frostnova's Originium Arts are ice and snow!"

“I’ve heard of them,” Victor’s eyes gradually brightened, “Yeti, they’re mysterious, powerful, and wherever they go, they leave behind only frozen corpses…”

"So, this was made by the Yeti's princess?"

“Hmm, maybe,” Anton turned his head away upon hearing this. Yelena… she probably couldn’t do that, could she?

Even with the support of the Yeti Squad, freezing nearly a thousand people to death instantly was far beyond her capabilities.

Not to mention that only half of the people he brought this time were members of the Yeti Squad, and since they weren't all there, it was even more impossible.

But seeing Victor's hopeful expression, Anton couldn't bring himself to discourage him.

“The village…” After receiving his confirmation, Victor turned and walked towards the village. “If it was done by that Yeti princess, then everyone… will be alright, they will be alright.”

Watching his stumbling figure, Anton opened his mouth, then sighed and chased after him.

Let's not... bring it up.

The two of them hurried toward the village, one after the other.

Along the way, Anton's heart grew heavier and heavier.

Corpses, corpses frozen to death everywhere.

Most of them faced one direction, as if they were on their way, and then died silently.

Victor felt as if his legs no longer belonged to him. After such a long journey and such a shock, he was now only being sustained by sheer willpower.

How could he not see Anton's hesitation? It's just... sigh.

But as more and more corpses appeared in the valley, his newly ignited hope began to falter.

"Anton," after falling again and being helped up by Anton, his panic was beyond measure, "The Yeti's princess should... be an extremely powerful person, right?"

"The daughter of the famous Patriot must be an extremely powerful sorceress, right?"

"She...she can definitely do what we're seeing...right?"

Faced with Victor's plea, Anton opened his mouth, remained silent for two seconds, and then nodded.

"Yes, Frostnova is a very capable child."

“I’ve been fighting alongside Captain Patriot for a long time. Frostnova is the child we rescued from the mine together.”

“I watched her grow up, from a tiny little thing to the princess of the Yetis, leading those young people back then to become the renowned Yeti team.”

"She is powerful; her talent is unparalleled."

“She can do it,” Anton said, bowing his head, “just like her father.”

"That's good, that's good," Victor said numbly as he struggled to his feet, then dragged his weary body on his way again. "That must be a truly remarkable person..."

"Matich, did he treat this young lady well?" he muttered as he walked. "The guerrillas are our saviors, we infected can't afford to mistreat Miss Frostnova."

"There's still some pack animal meat in the warehouse. Although the curing method isn't very good, it will definitely be used to entertain our distinguished guests."

“Matic, he’s the stingiest guy. Don’t be stingy with that piece of meat. He’s a very important guest.”

Anton silently supported him, listening to his rambling words, as they walked past countless corpses.

"I originally planned to take out that meat and eat it little by little this year. The children in the village are at the age when they are growing up, and they have never eaten it many times in their lives."

"And Tina and Monica, they've been pregnant for a while now, they need to take good care of themselves too."

"Matich, sigh, he's such a stingy man. It's just a piece of meat, but he treats it like a treasure. The village is poor, but not to that extent. If I go back to the city and swallow my pride, I'm sure I can still get something."

"By the way, this winter is going to be tough. When spring comes, the village will have to clear dozens more acres of land in the valleys further up the mountain..."

"The children's education cannot be neglected. At the very least... at the very least, they should be able to read. I don't know how much my teaching skills have deteriorated over the years."

"There isn't much wine in the village. What if that stingy Mattich tries to hide it? Miss Frostnova is so powerful; she's a hero to us Infected. The village should treat her well."

"Ah, speaking of teachers, where should I go to find textbooks for the children? Sigh, if all else fails, I'll swallow my pride and quietly go back home, even if I can only find a few secondhand ones."

Anton helped Victor up, and as he listened to Victor's incoherent words, his heart sank more and more.

What happened to the people I brought with me?

And Frostnova, how is she?

But he was still a soldier who had fought alongside the Patriots for so many years, and he didn't become as...dejected as Victor. In the end, what happened here was too bizarre, and it needed to be investigated thoroughly.

Victor, Victor, sigh.

Even Anton didn't have high hopes for that small village.

Five thousand Ursus regulars died here; the sight of corpses strewn across the valley is still vivid in my mind, but Victor…

He wasn't a soldier, so you couldn't expect him to have a strong will. Anton knew that the small village was all he had.

Faced with his incessant chatter, Anton could only offer this words of comfort.

There is hope.

“Yes, there is hope,” Victor’s voice seemed to be a dream. “The Orville, didn’t they say that ship had lots and lots of supplies? Didn’t they say the Patriots were sheltering all the infected?”

"Can everyone in the village go?"

“Of course,” Anton said, lowering his head.

"Then we won't go hungry, right?"

"Correct."

"We won't be hunted down, right?"

"Correct."

"They won't be thrown into a mine and work themselves to death, right?"

"Correct."

"Children, you don't have to go hungry every day like us anymore, and you can go to school, right?"

"Correct."

"I can become a teacher again, right?"

"Yep."

“That’s wonderful,” Victor said, looking at the hill in front of him. He knew that the village was just beyond this point.

"If it's true, that would be wonderful, wonderful."

Then, he lifted his leg and walked forward.

"Let's go, I can't wait to tell them the good news."

Hearing this, Anton lowered his head and helped Victor step by step forward.

The village is just ahead.

He was prepared to keep Victor under control at any time, at least to prevent him from committing suicide.

Because Victor is a good person.

The two of them walked forward in silence, forward, and forward still.

Until we reached the top of the hill.

Anton noticed that Victor's body was trembling slightly.

But he didn't dare look up into Victor's eyes.

To some extent, we ourselves bear some responsibility; if it weren't for the Orville, perhaps these people wouldn't have suffered this misfortune.

He knew it wasn't the Orville's fault; it was all Ursus's fault for driving the infected to this state.

But at least he himself felt guilty about it.

After a long silence, Victor asked in a hoarse, trembling voice, "Anton, am I dreaming?"