Arknights' Lock of Heaven

As the literal meaning suggests, even their lives were in the hands of their masters.

Legend has it that this is a legacy from the Tikkaz Empire, a closely guarded secret among the nobles, and a mysterious and bloody witchcraft ritual that allows nobles to entrust various matters to their servants without worrying about their betrayal.

Because those who have been implanted with the spell are like dough in the hands of nobles, who can mold and shape them at will.

Of course, such a precious technique is a closely guarded secret among nobles. Only the great nobles can afford to use it, and even among the lesser nobles, very few people know of its existence.

Unfortunately, the dukes of Ursus were the great nobles, and the spies themselves were the unlucky ones.

That's why the dukes were so confident in letting these spies participate in their plans without fear of leaks; they were true daredevils.

These assassins are different from those in the previous life. They haven't undergone as much brainwashing, and their free will is well preserved. After all, it's very difficult for a brainwashed fanatic to disguise himself as an ordinary person and become a spy.

The dukes didn't need brainwashing; bound by witchcraft, these assassins could never betray them, and they couldn't even utter a word if they wanted to leak information.

That's why they are so at ease.

Of course, there are certain strict conditions for performing such a mysterious technique. Otherwise, who could have resisted the once-powerful Tikaz back then? The dukes have really gone all out by throwing these precious assassins into the infected this time.

Unlike the lower-ranking spies, these leaders received a promise when they met with the dukes.

If anyone can find the secret to the Patriot's miraculous recovery, the dukes will grant him true freedom.

To be honest, putting aside low-level spies, who among those who have reached their level would willingly be someone else's puppet?

Who doesn't have their own thoughts deep down?

But so what? Of course, the people holding the chains knew they had something in mind, but under the influence of witchcraft, they were happy to see it happen.

After all, as long as the witchcraft is not broken, their lives will always be in the hands of their master, so what trouble can they cause?

As for those who say "give me liberty or give me death," well, they were eliminated in the first step long ago; they can't even get to that position.

Even knowing that this promise was just a bone to be dangled in front of them by the dukes, they still had to do their best to fight for it.

“…You’re not that kind, Petal,” David said fiercely, gripping Petal’s hand tightly. “I know what kind of person you are. If you had that kind of information, why would someone like you share it with me?”

“No, you’re wrong. You don’t know me at all, David,” Petal smiled slightly upon hearing this.

He leaned close to David's ear and said, "Not just you, I'll also pass the message on to Pete Elena, Twen Derrick, Carlisle Elena..."

"Yes, I will share the clues I find with everyone."

Upon hearing this, a look of shock and confusion flashed in David's eyes. He released his left hand, which was tightly gripping Petar's right hand, and then grabbed the latter's collar. "Are you crazy, Petar?"

"You dare to hook up with that scheming tigress, Elena? Derrick, ha, your information is outdated. He died in the army's shelling yesterday."

"Don't you even know your own limitations to dare to do the same work as me, Carlisle... That she-wolf seems to have smelled something; she's been searching for something among the ordinary infected lately..."

"If you share the information with them, then you won't have to worry about being sold out..."

“I’m not afraid,” Petal’s smile remained unchanged. “David, I’m not afraid at all.”

"Why? What did you find out?" David asked, puzzled.

"Why did the dukes issue this task separately? Why did they specifically mention freedom in front of us?"

Petar retorted, "Haven't you thought about these things?"

“It’s because of a miracle,” he said before David could answer. “You’ve seen the data on how severe Patriot’s Oripathy was before, but look at him now, ha, he’s even more ferocious than before he betrayed Ursus.”

"This is not something a terminally ill infected person would exhibit. He is now incredibly strong and healthy... as if he has been reborn!"

"The possibility of curing Oripathy, the possibility of being reborn—aren't those big shots dreaming of it all?"

"Don't be fooled by their current rejection of Infected people. If they had the technology to cure Oripathy, they'd be declaring themselves saviors of the Infected, arguing that they're just sick and shouldn't be discriminated against..."

"They are now rejecting infected people simply because infected people cannot bring them any benefit and can just serve as a target."

"But if Oripathy can be cured, enormous profits will emerge, and those people will immediately turn into human rights fighters, do you believe it?"

"Now, they see a possibility in patriots, which is why they are dangling the carrot of freedom in front of us, driving us to risk our lives."

Petar gave a sickly smile. "But we're happy with it, aren't we?"

He stared into David's eyes. "Don't you yearn for freedom?"

Who would willingly be someone else's dog for life? Especially a spy chief like them who has tasted power?

David remained silent in the face of Petar's question.

But sometimes, silence is also a response.

“You’re tempted, aren’t you?” Petal said confidently, looking at his silence. “Yes, who among us wouldn’t be tempted?”

"Listen, I have a plan."

“I can’t do it alone, you know that. Whether it’s taking that thing or that person from the guerrillas, or negotiating with the dukes for freedom, I can’t do it.”

"We are outnumbered and outmatched; this is when we need you."

"You can't be that naive, can you? You think the dukes will definitely keep their promise after finding the item? I think people who are that naive shouldn't be in our positions."

“Once we have it in our hands, we can use it to negotiate with the dukes and exchange it for true freedom.”

"You want me to betray the Duke?" David asked in a dry voice.

He originally only wanted to seek justice for his subordinates who had been betrayed, but he never expected to hear such news.

“Heh, betrayal,” Petal said with a cryptic smile. “What are you talking about? Do we serve the dukes out of loyalty?”

"Stop deceiving yourselves, it's because of the blood pact imprinted in our hearts!"

“Loyalty? Loyalty is bullshit,” Petar scoffed. “We have never been loyal, and the dukes know that we have never been loyal.”

“A die-hard may be an excellent suicide soldier, but he will never reach our level.”

David knew that Petar was not lying.

As he said, there might be die-hard loyalists of the dukes among their spies, but certainly not people like them.

Because the truly brainwashed, fanatical, and die-hard dukes are the ones who are reluctant to release them; they keep them by their side as guards.

Only those who, while not entirely loyal, are not fanatical either, and can be disguised as ordinary people, will be released as spies.

Because they are mentally sound, they can disguise themselves as ordinary people; because of the blood pact, they cannot betray the law.

What a perfect spy!

After all, if you let those fanatical suicide bombers with broken brains go out as spies, wouldn't you want the operation to fail?

"So, what are you thinking?" David paused for a few seconds, then released Petar's collar and asked.

“Me? I just wanted to let you know first,” the latter said, elegantly straightening his clothes, “and also to explain why I betrayed your men.”

“Then, we’ll see,” he said nonchalantly. “We’ll see what kind of technology it is, some kind of blessing, or maybe just a person.”

"Let's see if we can get him under our control first."

"So you don't even know what that is?" David was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then laughed in anger. "No, seeing how confidently you told me and even contacted other people, I thought that thing was already yours."

"So you're telling me you didn't figure it out either?"

“No, do you think it’s so easy to find out?” Petal retorted bluntly, “I’ve worked so hard to find out even the slightest clue, and you haven’t even seen a shadow of it.”

"So what information did you find out?"

“Oh, my dear David, do you think I’m such a fool?” Petal looked at him as if he were a fool. “How could I possibly tell you that it’s not even close to being done yet?”

“You…” Hearing this, David took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell the dukes?”

“No, David, are you really out of your mind?” Petal gave him a questioning look and said, “Has our cooperation over this period of time made you think we’re part of the same organization?”

"Still snitching?"

He reached out and tapped David's chest, saying slowly, "You haven't forgotten, have you? Your master is Grand Duke Vanya, I belong to Grand Duke Belga, and everyone else belongs to someone else."

"Do you think he would believe a mere assassin under the Grand Duke of Vanya if you went to tell the esteemed Belgaard that I had betrayed him?"

"Are you going to tell your master? Do you think Grand Duke Vanya would tell Grand Duke Belga about this? Are they that close?"

"Wake up. Your master will tell you to strengthen your connection with me so that you can stab Duke Belgaard in the back sometime."

“David, my dear David,” Petal said, looking at him with pity, “have you gone senile from spending too much time in the army?”

Hearing this, David blushed and couldn't refute it.

Because he did say something stupid.

"Then how am I supposed to explain this to my superiors?" He changed the subject, saying, "Are you going to report your ambiguous statement? Are you going to give up the chance to completely destroy this base because of a tiny possibility?"

"Don't worry, I definitely won't let you suffer any losses," Petal said with a smile. "I'll give you some information for free: the infected have colluded with the Yan Kingdom."

"When did this happen?" David frowned upon hearing this; he had never heard of such news.

“I just found out myself,” Petal replied slowly. “Otherwise, where would all this rice for tonight’s dinner come from?”

"I just inspected the warehouse, and it's completely full of rice from Yan Country, and it's not just any ordinary rice."

"Besides Yan Kingdom, who else could offer such support? Besides, they are the closest country to here."

"So even if your plan succeeds, it won't completely cut off the infected people's food supply. They can hold out until the ship arrives."

"The Yan people helped them out, just to annoy Ursus."

“Isn’t that perfectly reasonable?” Petal shrugged. “This information should be enough for you to explain yourself, right?”

“You better not be lying to me,” David gasped, then turned and walked away.