Arknights' Lock of Heaven

So, should we push open the door and go in?

Ha, Alexei chuckled to himself as he thought of this.

Do I still have the ability to refuse?

From the moment he betrayed the Orville, there was no turning back.

In other matters, one might be able to play both sides, but the Orville disaster was a slap in the face to the Emperor.

After all, it was a pass he personally issued.

I had long since run out of options.

He pushed open the door.

In that instant, I had completely figured out how to do the work next.

Getting 40 million is easy; it's just a matter of exploiting the land.

So whose should be scraped?

Wealthy businessmen and politicians? Ordinary citizens?

The answer is, shave them all!

After all, how can a dog have a good reputation, especially one whose owner expects it to be a vicious dog?

-

Port of Cheplini

"It's so quiet," W said, looking down at the surroundings from the captain's cabin. "Tsk tsk tsk, there's not a sound at all."

The hustle and bustle of the city doesn't affect this place.

Everyone is on high alert.

From the Ursus soldiers to everyone aboard the Orville.

"Customs clearance has been confirmed, and the Orville can leave port," Mudrock said, looking at the people around him. "Everyone, be careful from now on."

Everyone around nodded in agreement, except for W, who walked up behind her with a grin and said, "I have to say, Mudrock, the way you look when you take off that armor and sit in the captain's seat is absolutely captivating."

"Tsk tsk tsk," she said, tucking a strand of Mudrock's long hair behind her ear. "You, who are so beautiful, why do you always have to hide yourself in that ugly armor? What a waste!"

"You know, back in the Reunion Movement, I always thought of you as a big, burly man!"

"Is this the time to talk about this?" Mudrock said, both amused and exasperated. "W, be serious!"

“It’s not that I want to be serious, it’s that you guys are too serious,” W shrugged when he heard this. “The Sixth Army would never attack us near Chepliny, neither in terms of intelligence nor logic.”

"You're already on edge before we've even left port. You'll probably be exhausted by the time we get there and need to fight, more than ten hours from now."

"You're a veteran mercenary, you must know this principle. You're probably nervous because it's your first time being in charge of something this big, right?"

"Relax, okay?" W teased, reaching out to tug at the corner of Mudrock's mouth. "It's not time for you to be nervous yet. Don't put pressure on yourself now."

“Okay, you’re right,” Mudrock took a deep breath upon hearing this, “I was just too nervous.”

“That’s right, that’s it,” W nodded in satisfaction, then gave Mudrock an elegant bow.

"Oh, my beautiful and supreme captain, please give your orders."

"You... never mind," Niyan said, both amused and exasperated by her expression.

"Oville, departing!"

379 A makeshift troupe forced into a situation

"They didn't keep up..."

W looked at the Cheprini, which was gradually turning into a small black dot behind the Orville, and shook his head regretfully.

"Isn't it a good thing they didn't catch up?" Hearing her words, Eyjafjalla whispered, "If they had caught up, wouldn't we be in danger?"

Actually, she had been watching W, the mercenary, and how should I put it, he seemed like he was hard to talk to.

Don't be fooled by her ever-smiling demeanor; anyone with a discerning eye can see that behind that smile lies a heart that keeps people at arm's length.

Moreover, she's always tossing all sorts of bombs around in her hand... she doesn't seem like someone you can easily deal with.

Eyjafjalla barely spoke to her.

But she had seen W jokingly comforting Niyan when they left the city earlier.

Perhaps, this person isn't as cold as they seem?

With this in mind, she struck up a conversation with W.

Upon hearing her words, W was taken aback for a moment, then smiled broadly and said, "Danger?"

"How come I don't see any danger?" She exaggeratedly put her hands over her eyes, looked around, and then said, "Look at all of you."

Pointing to the mudstone, she said, "At most, she was nervous and worried about messing things up, but she was far from being in a real life-or-death situation."

“You,” she said, putting her arm around Eyjafjalla’s shoulder and feeling the latter’s body stiffen instantly, “you non-combatants, facing tens of thousands of Ursus troops and two warships, didn’t even panic…”

"Not to mention those two taciturn girls. My mercenaries were terrified and had to rely on them to keep them in check. When they came over, I took a look at them and they were very calm."

This refers to Skadi and Surtur. The Sarkaz mercenaries understood their predicament and knew that their only hope of survival was to follow the Orville to the bitter end and wait for the so-called Patriots' support.

But smart people are always a minority, and no one can guarantee that there won't be one or two clueless fools among them, not to mention the fact that there might be Theresis's people hiding there.

How can we place our hopes on the fact that they are all reasonable people?

Therefore, they need someone to watch over them, and Skadi and Surtr, who have demonstrated their strength in front of those people, are the best choices.

She's much more suitable than W, the nominal leader of the mercenaries.

After all, even if they couldn't understand what was being said, those people could still instantly see reality when faced with the blades that Skadi and Surtr had brandished.

"So, what makes you so calm in the face of the invincible Ursus army?" W suddenly moved closer to Eyjafjalla. "I'm really curious!"

"Ah, you..." Eyjafjalla was startled by her sudden approach and shrank back abruptly.

"Haha, you're so cute," her timid appearance only provoked W's crazy teasing.

"So, great scientist, could you satisfy my little curiosity?"

“No way,” Eyjafjalla said sternly, recovering from her initial fluster. “It’s your fault for not coming to the meeting that day!”

"Also, I don't deserve the title of a great scientist. And your curiosity will be satisfied in less than a day, so please wait patiently."

Even gentle lambs have tempers.

Even so slight, so adorable.

"Hey, but I'm really curious," she said, turning to look at the spirit who seemed serious but was actually trying not to laugh.

"Then, Miss Earth Spirit, would you be willing to answer my question?"

“Well,” the earth spirit said, glancing around.

Of course, there couldn't be just a few people here. How could a land-based warship of this size be operated with a single button press by the captain?

It wasn't just W's mercenaries who were uneasy; the ordinary Rhodes Island operators on the ship, as well as some infected hired from Kazimierz, felt the same way.

Logically speaking, given the current situation, even if secrets cannot be openly disclosed, it would still be appropriate to try to reassure people.

Of course, it's not that people are unwilling to go public, but rather... this method of breaking the deadlock is just too... unbelievable.

If you were to be so frank, our captain would be lying in ambush 80 kilometers ahead, just waiting for those warships carrying troops to arrive so we could unleash a natural disaster and wipe them all out...

Guess what? If you tell everyone this, do they believe that the captain is more likely to have such abilities, or do they think that you've gone crazy because of the pressure from the 15,000 troops and two warships behind you?

No one would believe you if you told them something like that!

So, the trick of fooling those mercenaries worked again.

Patriot and his 'invincible' army are lying in ambush ahead, just waiting for us to lead those people into the encirclement!

To be honest, no one would have believed you a year earlier, after all, back then, it was questionable whether Patriot's men could even take on a regular army head-on.

Even the tens of thousands of men behind him were only a part of the rebuilt Sixth Army Group.

Their main force is still locked in a stalemate with the Patriots.

Five shield guards can slaughter a squad of knights, four inner guards can sweep through a settlement, three Wendigos can conquer a small town, two army groups can destroy a duchy, and a king can wreak havoc on a land.

Ursus was so powerful back then.

But then, in all sorts of reports, the Patriots seemed to be the god of war descending to earth, repelling attacks today and breaching fortresses tomorrow.

This has made many Ursus people lose confidence.

Newspapers at the rear reported the setbacks, and the generals at the front took the opportunity to eliminate their rivals.

Everyone was relaxed because those in the know felt that the infected people wouldn't cause any major trouble.

Sometimes they were even afraid that the patriots would starve to death in the snowfield before the plan was completed. Fortunately, they deliberately allowed the patriots to breach a fortress to obtain food and supplies.

Everyone was waiting for the infected on the snowfield to gather to a certain extent, then they would swarm down and cause chaos, and then begin to wipe out these hungry 'bandits,' reaping countless military merits.

To this day, neither the Ursus Emperor nor the council has explicitly stated that these infected individuals are in rebellion.

And who most wants him to persevere?