Arknights' Lock of Heaven

Hearing this, Frostnova felt a little embarrassed.

Ah... It's no wonder Speaker Vitter overthinks things. If it were her before she came into contact with Rhodes Island, and someone pointed to these buildings and told her that they contained technology that could change Ursus and even the world... she wouldn't believe it either!

After all... it's really too rudimentary.

It's like telling someone that there's a treasure in some poor, backward mountain village that can make you richer than a country and can be quickly converted into cash; they'll just think you're a fool.

If they really had treasure, how could they be so poor that they were eating dirt?

Speaker Witt's concerns were certainly justified. He had considered countless scenarios before coming, but this was the one he had not thought of.

He even considered the possibility that the technology didn't exist at all and was just a pretext to buy time, but now it doesn't seem like that. After all, if it was just to buy time, why would they announce its completion so solemnly?

It's important to know that the infected base is never short of the nobles' assassins.

Whether this thing is real or fake can't be hidden from people.

Speaker Witt was truly baffled. The only possibility was that Rhodes Island wasn't lying; what they said was true.

But... looking at the shabby construction site in front of him, he really couldn't believe it.

Is this all it takes to solve Ursus's most pressing problem?

With just a few makeshift buildings? In this barren wasteland? Such high-tech stuff is hidden there?

"Facts will prove everything," Froststar had nothing to say, after all, even she herself felt that this was too rudimentary.

Xia Yu, however, didn't think it mattered. What's wrong with being a little rudimentary? It just means the technology is low-cost! For Ursus, a country with vast snowfields, is being rudimentary really a problem?

No, never. Simplicity and low cost are what they need most.

Believe me, the more they dislike you now, the more enthusiastic they will be later.

Without a doubt, Frostnova was persuaded.

But it's clear that many people are still dissatisfied.

"Are they treating us like fools?"

The same question was raised by several intelligence chiefs.

"That's it? That's it?!" David pointed at the few lonely little buildings on the construction site and angrily questioned Elena, "Weren't you watching from here the whole time? How come you didn't even have a single piece of information?"

"This...I..." Elena was at a loss for words. She originally thought that these few small buildings were just the initial phase of the project, and that there would definitely be other projects later. She only found out that Rhodes Island announced the completion of the first phase of the Eco Park after the completion of the project.

No, at that moment, not only she, but even the infected workers were stunned.

No one would believe that this thing could change the situation of the infected in the snowfield as Rhodes Island claimed.

Project 466 – Launched!

Yes, nobody thinks so.

These spies even felt that Rhodes Island was being too perfunctory... If you're going to stall for time, you should at least make the repairs look decent!

Did they try to scam funding? They went all out with the most extravagant and wasteful practices. If they can't deliver on the substance, at least they should at least make the exterior look presentable, right?

Just a few small buildings... Are you kidding us?

I'm sure it wasn't just them; if the intelligence were relayed back, the dukes would also feel insulted.

"What exactly are they after?" David was completely baffled.

“Perhaps they know something,” Petal was the calmest of the group. “The Duke’s actions may have been kept secret from the infected who were isolated from information, but they couldn’t have been kept secret from the Imperial Council. Every approval process for supplies has to go through those bureaucrats.”

"Even if they are intimidated by the military might and dare not defy the dukes' authority, it is still very simple to pass on a message."

The infighting in Ursus has never been between two clearly distinct groups. After so many years of development, the nobles and bureaucrats have become intertwined, and sometimes even those involved cannot distinguish between them.

"So, that's why it ended so hastily? Because you knew you couldn't stall for time anymore?" David frowned and said, "Something feels off to me."

"Even if they knew they couldn't delay the inevitable, it shouldn't have ended like this. They should at least give the infected people at the base an explanation, after all, their propaganda claimed that the so-called ecological park was the future of the infected."

"You have to give us some explanation, right?"

“I really can’t guess,” Petar said, shrugging.

“There’s no point in saying all that,” Elena turned to look at the ecological park in the distance. “It’s almost time to start operations.”

"Just look with your own eyes to see what's going on."

"..."

It wasn't just the speaker and spies who had doubts, but also the infected, and even the guerrillas under the Patriots' command were apprehensive looking at this rudimentary so-called eco-park.

Is this really possible?

With just these simple buildings? In such a small area, what kind of machines capable of changing the snowfield could be crammed inside?

Only the people of Rhodes Island still hold onto that belief.

They had witnessed the curtain wall that stretched across the sky.

"First experiment, ignition countdown begins!"

As the announcement was broadcast from the bridge of the Orville, all eyes, whether questioning, expectant, or puzzled, turned to the vast so-called first phase of the ecological park.

"ten!"

The land, spanning a radius of twenty kilometers, was desolate, with eight tiny buildings, barely noticeable from the Orville, standing on the border.

"Nine!"

Compared to the area spanning twenty kilometers, that simple two-story building seemed so insignificant.

"Eight!"

If they weren't marked on a map, you would have a hard time spotting them with the naked eye on a vast, snow-covered plain.

"seven!"

Speaker Witt looked at the certainty in Frostnova's eyes beside him and reached out to tighten his coat slightly.

"six!"

Froststar didn't seem to mind; she was intently watching the snowfield outside the porthole.

"five!"

As the broadcast began, Patriot, surrounded by his Shield Guards, stood like a stone monument on the base's wall, gazing into the distance at the future of the infected that his daughter had promised him.

"Four!"

Although the spy chiefs were cursing under their breath, they still mustered their attention and looked in that direction.

"three!"

Is it really useful? This is a common question among the infected in the base. Even the workers in charge of the construction know better than anyone what they have done. They have only laid some incomprehensible pipelines and built a few small buildings.

"two!"

Hundreds of kilometers away, the Ursus army sentries were playing cards idly, occasionally glancing north as if that was enough to justify their paychecks from the Duke. For them, today was no different from any other day.

"one!"

Under the eager gazes of the researchers behind her, Xia Yu reached out and pressed the button.

At the same time, the magic that had been buried all along was ignited.

Instantly, the energy readings in the command center skyrocketed, flowing through the pre-buried pipelines into the main base beneath the central control tower.

"The main base disk has been successfully activated!"

Then the magic power began to construct a magic circle along the route that had been set up in the main disk. After the main disk was activated, the magic power surged to the various disks in all directions like a torrent.

"Eight base plates have been successfully activated!"

After the magic activated all the bases, a silvery-white light gradually emerged on the barren land within a radius of twenty kilometers.

"Spiritual barrier under construction..."

The light intertwined with the snowflakes, flowing and rising, finally etching the mark of magic onto this barren land.

"Spiritual barrier construction complete!"

In just a few seconds, the white sky rose up again on the snowfield with unstoppable momentum. Unlike the fleeting appearance before, it will exist forever as long as the machine keeps running.

"This is..." As the sky gradually closed, Speaker Witt could no longer sit still. The surging energy surprised him greatly even from several kilometers away, and the guards around him were even more shocked. If the occasion hadn't been so inappropriate, they would have dragged the Speaker away and fled.

The energy, enough to unleash a cataclysmic disaster, terrified all the warlocks, from the Speaker's guards to the guerrillas and the infected.

It wasn't any known technique; those unknown energies seemed to be flying freely in mid-air as if no one was controlling them.

Without constraints, a natural disaster could instantly revert to its original form, at which point everyone from the Orville to the infected base would be able to escape.

Patriot gripped his halberd tightly, clearly not at peace, and the shield guards around him were even more tense.

This has nothing to do with cowardice; it is the instinct for refuge ingrained in the DNA of all Terrans, a fear of natural disasters accumulated since the dawn of civilization.

Instinct compels them not to remain in such a dangerous place.

If that energy gets out of control, no one will be able to escape.

But no one backed down.

Because that enormous amount of energy was so docile, without any guidance or restraint from any machines or pipelines, the energy that flew freely in the air did not escape the thin curtain wall in the slightest.