Arknights' Lock of Heaven

She could already imagine what she would face after Xia Yu did something big and attracted the attention of the entire continent, and after everyone discovered the fictitious news of the Everlasting Flower...

"Ha, the letters will probably flood my office," Kal'tsit thought expressionlessly.

Whether they knew each other or not, whether they tried to build relationships or get close to each other, it's easy to imagine that Rhode Island's sales network would expand by leaps and bounds at that time.

The price is my own hand... it might be ruined.

“That’s it, Mr. Speaker, Your Majesty. If you need anything, please go to the Snowfield and consult with Rhodes Island advisor Xia Yu,” Kal’tsit said wearily. “I have some letters to write in advance, so I’ll hang up now.”

He hung up the phone after saying that, then looked at his hands.

Well, if you think about it carefully, there's really no need to do all the communication yourself. Doctors can easily handle it for those unfamiliar people who have heard the news and want to test the waters, right?

As for some hidden networks of relationships... well, that's something you really have to do yourself. Sigh, why can't Mon3tr do the work for me?

She sighed and then took out her communicator.

I called Aya.

She didn't want to hear Xia Yu's voice; he would surely laugh at her for her current state.

So, well, let's find out what's going on by talking to Aya.

Then, depending on the specific circumstances, write letters in advance to those who need your replies.

Kal'tsit looked at the clock in front of her; it was almost midnight.

Looks like tonight will be another sleepless night. I'm so glad I won't suddenly die.

Ha ha.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Enough! Enough! We really don't need any more people over there!" Petal looked helplessly at the surging crowd in front of him and shouted through a megaphone, "The first phase of the eco-park is already at full capacity. We don't need any new workers!"

"But what should we do then?" someone below shouted after hearing this. "We can't just sit idly in the base doing nothing, can we?"

"There must be some work to be done, like clearing land, logging, building houses, or something else, right?"

People in this era were hardworking. Before the Orville arrived, the base was so lifeless because of food shortages. They might run out of food in a few days. Apart from the soldiers, everyone else could barely fill their stomachs each day. It was simply unrealistic to carry out any production activities.

But now the Orville has brought ample food supplies, and everyone's daily rations are more than enough to fill them up. Moreover, seeing those who signed up rushing to the construction site of the ecological park with great enthusiasm, and then showing off the needle marks on their arms when they returned.

Those are inhibitors! People earn work points for their work, and they can exchange those work points for an inhibitor once a week.

It's not just inhibitors; the items that can be redeemed with work points are incredibly diverse, ranging from food to all sorts of daily necessities. Yesterday, more than a dozen workers got together and used their work points to redeem a pineapple.

Even though each person could only get a small slice, the golden tropical fruit with its enticing aroma still caused a sensation among the infected.

According to the workers, who relayed information from experts on Rhode Island, after establishing the eco-park, they were able to grow not only food, but also tropical fruits that ordinary people could only hear about even before they were infected.

They will also build special ecological parks for planting, and export the produce to other cities in exchange for daily necessities.

The infected base looks crowded, but it's actually quite small. Most people share a room with a dozen or so others because of limited resources.

So the news spread quite quickly, and before long, most of the base knew about the benefits of work points.

Furthermore, the guerrillas also updated their policies, changing from a rationing system to a semi-rationing and semi-salary system. All registered staff will be issued work points, and a set of work points will be issued to reward them for their past efforts in maintaining the base's operation. Not only them, but also the frontline soldiers will be issued work points as military pay.

In this context, work points can be considered the primitive form of currency.

But then a problem arises: there are far more monks than porridge. There are only a few positions available, and even if the guerrilla forces urgently expand their recruitment in various departments, it's simply not enough to fill all 200,000 positions. The current situation is that even the street sweeping positions are all gone, as they've all been snapped up.

Seeing others use work points to enjoy material comforts while I could only eat the standard rations, even though I could eat my fill compared to before, it didn't taste good!

Human needs always increase in a step-like manner.

But everyone was still reasonable. They were able to get work points because they had indeed made contributions to the base. It was already a good thing that the guerrillas were willing to support people who just lay at home all day waiting for meals.

Therefore, the infected people did not make any excessive demands, but simply wanted to find all kinds of work to do.

"Quiet down, everyone!" Seeing this, Andrew had no choice but to take over the megaphone and shout, "We understand your demands, but jobs can't just appear out of thin air. Please give our guerrillas a few days. We need to discuss the base's plans with our allies on Rhodes Island."

"We will definitely meet everyone's needs!"

456 Restart the Snowfield Mine

"Captain, it's time to make a decision."

That evening, at a guerrilla meeting, Andrew excitedly addressed the Patriots and Shield leaders, saying, "We can't maintain military rule forever. The work-point system at the eco-park has already motivated everyone."

"Today alone, many infected people came to the logistics department to ask if there was any work for them to do. Everyone's enthusiasm is very high."

“The same goes for the medical department,” Aya said, standing up with a stack of reports. “As everyone knows, we are severely understaffed, from nurses to doctors!”

"The shortage of doctors is not a problem that can be solved right now, but the training time and cost for nurses are acceptable, so this morning I had someone put up a notice outside the medical department to recruit intern nurses..."

At this point, a wry smile appeared on her face. "It turns out I underestimated everyone's enthusiasm for their work. The medical department was almost overwhelmed today."

Since Rhodes Island arrived, Aya has taken over the base's medical department with her medical operators, because the guerrillas simply don't have any talent in this area... The only talent they managed to find... was a spy chief.

"It was my lack of experience; I didn't expect the infected people in Ursus to be so enthusiastic about their work."

“It’s not that I’m passionate about my work,” Lukashenko said with emotion, “but that I still have hope for survival.”

"Before you arrived, the entire base was deathly still, and no one knew when this rudimentary base would disappear into the snowfield."

"Perhaps it's famine, perhaps it's the hundreds of thousands of troops on the border... or perhaps it's a sudden blizzard."

"Everyone here lives day to day, and if it weren't for our military rule, this place would have become a living hell long ago."

"Now that we finally see hope of survival, everyone will naturally be eager to participate in rebuilding our homes. Nobody wants to go back to those nightmarish days, including me."

“So, Captain, it’s time to make a decision,” Andrew nodded to Patriot upon hearing this. “We’re going to reopen the mine.”

"It's not just about creating jobs, it's also about revitalizing the base's economy," Anton interjected. "Rhodes Island's willingness to lend a helping hand is commendable, but we can't rely on them forever, can we?"

"You've all heard Frostnova say these past few days how big of a business Rhodes Island is doing. They're expanding their sales network across the entire continent to provide affordable inhibitors for all their infected compatriots."

“Their resources are also limited. They can’t support us endlessly. The guerrillas must have their own industries to trade with Rhodes Island and turn the support into a positive cycle of trade, instead of it being a one-sided contribution from them.”

Hearing this, a guerrilla shield guard leader looked at Frostnova beside him, "Yelena... if we're talking about industry... what about the grains and tropical fruits you told us about that can be grown in the eco-park?

"Food is hard currency, while fruit is a luxury. Shouldn't that provide enough income?"

“No, Uncle Eli,” Froststar sighed and shook her head. “Those things… well, to be honest, we’d be lucky if the grain we produced in the early stages could feed half of the 200,000 people in our base. As for fruit… it’s impossible to grow it on a large scale when food is scarce.”

"Although the eco-park is good, its large area is ultimately a major drawback."

"As for expansion... the ecological park also needs energy to operate. If we want to expand, we must have enough Originium reserves. If we don't open mines, are we going to buy from the Ursus Empire? Or go back to our old ways and rob it?"

"But now this snowfield is nothing like it used to be, full of illegal mines. If you want to seize Originium mines, you have to attack those large towns or even mobile cities..."

“At this stage, the only thing that can revitalize the base’s economy is the Originium Mine, so this is the only thing we can do,” she sighed. “I know what everyone is worried about. We’ve cleared out countless mines, and everyone knows what kind of hell they are.”

“But what I want to say is that I am the one who feels this most deeply. You should still remember what the mine was like before I was rescued by my old...father.”

“I understand everyone’s aversion to mining, but we can’t keep looking at the problem with this mentality forever.”

"I believe that under the supervision of the Shield Guard, our mines will never suffer the same tragedies as before. Rhodes Island has also promised to provide miners with high concentrations of inhibitors so that their Oripathy will not worsen due to contact with Originium."

Persuading the guerrillas was undoubtedly a tough job, after all, they had spent most of their lives fighting guerrilla warfare against the sweatshops of Ursus, so it was only natural that they would be averse to the mines.

But persuading them is definitely possible, for a simple reason: the infected need those minerals to obtain the necessary resources for survival.

“…I can agree to open the mine,” Eli paused for two seconds after hearing this.

He knew that this was inevitable; it wasn't like the days when they were fighting guerrilla warfare with just a few hundred men. Now they had 200,000 compatriots to feed.

However... whenever he closes his eyes, the human tragedies he has experienced keep replaying in his mind. He simply cannot put those memories behind him with a clear conscience and attribute everything to the necessary price of development.

These so-called costs... are for individual living, breathing people!

The Ursus Empire's strength in the international community is inseparable from the mines built on the snowfields with the blood and flesh of the infected.

“But I have one condition,” he said, looking at Patriot. “Captain, let me take charge of the mine.”

He couldn't sit idly by and watch all this happen, even though he knew the guerrilla mines might not exploit the infected like the Ursus Empire did. Every time he woke up in the middle of the night, the tragedies he had witnessed in the first half of his life would still resurface in his mind.

So he decided to keep everything under his watchful eye.

“No,” Patriot replied simply and directly, offering his reason in response to Patriot’s disapproving gaze: “You don’t understand mining.”

"..." Upon hearing this, Eli was speechless; he truly didn't understand this.

“But you could be a security supervisor,” Patriot continued. “I happen to have a bunch of old guys with me… they’ve been with me for so many years, they’re almost too old to fight anymore.”

“If you’re willing, take them to the mines to do security. There are quite a few people like you in the guerrillas. They’re either shocked by the cruelty of the Ursus mines or they were simply rescued from the mines by us.”

"They will also strongly oppose it, after all, to them... the mine is equivalent to hell, especially those we rescued."

“You’ve brought a group of retired veterans to look after it, so everyone can rest assured,” Andrew joked. “Everyone knows that you, Eli, are never one to tolerate a grain of sand. As long as you’re keeping an eye on it, everyone believes that there won’t be any major problems with the mine.”

“Okay! I’ll do it!” Eli said decisively upon hearing this. “Don’t worry, I won’t let everyone down.”

“Phew, that’s good,” Frostnova said with a happy smile. “Regarding the mines… we know of countless mineral deposits, so we don’t need to worry about the initial exploration. The high-concentration inhibitors from Rhodes Island will also be distributed regularly.”

“In that case, a large portion of the workforce will have a place to go,” Andrew nodded upon hearing this. As the base’s chief steward, he was very clear about these figures. “We can distribute the rest among ourselves.”

“The eco-park is located on the west side of the base, but there is still a lot of land in other directions that was left vacant after we cut down the trees.”

“The north side should be reserved for the second ecological park in the future. I suggest that land be planned in the east first. Although the current temperature does not support planting crops, we can first do some preliminary reclamation and planning on those vacant lands, which will make it easier to sow seeds next spring.”

“We can’t put all our hopes for solving our food needs on the eco-park,” he said, nodding apologetically to Aya. “This isn’t about distrusting Rhodes Island’s allies, but for the sake of the 200,000 people at the base, we must be prepared for both possibilities.”

“This is indeed necessary,” Ya Ye nodded upon hearing this, and said, “We naturally won’t overthink it. According to the advisor, this is a quality that a qualified political group must possess.”