About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"——!?"

Suddenly, a low sound that made his blood rush back was heard in his ears. Bai Jin instinctively wanted to escape, but his arms were clamped first and he was pressed to the ground.

"Ahem!"

"It's a shame that you ended up following the same path as the previous Platinum."

The man in the gas mask said so, and then injected a tube of reagent into Platinum's neck.

"The previous one..."

Platinum tried desperately to stay awake, but his vision was still uncontrollably swallowed by the darkness.

------

"You look anxious. Is there something urgent?"

"...Nothing important. May I ask why you came here on your own initiative, Mr. Code from the Mieszko Group?"

At Rhodes Island's temporary branch in Casimir, Kal'tsit was about to contact the Rhodes Island ship after receiving a call from Orson, but an uninvited guest walked into the office.

"Czarne may have spoken to you, but I think it's necessary to come in person. This is about the infected, and I think you should be very interested, right, Ms. Kelsey?"

The man in a suit smiled and slowly walked up to Kal'tsit.

78. Let’s Fight Quietly

In a coma, Platinum recalled his past and the day when he truly became "Platinum".

"Why are you doing this? Didn't you tell me that 'a goal is just a goal'?"

In an abandoned warehouse near the port of Casimir, Platinum held the bowstring tightly in his arm, aiming the arrow at the middle-aged man in front of him who was once the "Platinum Throne", and kept questioning the other party.

"It seems like you remember it quite carefully...but how should I put it, times have changed."

The middle-aged man sighed with a wry smile, while protecting the girl behind him who looked terrified and confused.

"That mission target wasn't worth the decision you made. No one will be saddened by her death. It's not too late to complete the mission again. You still have a chance to return to the No Helmet Alliance."

Bai Jin looked at the girl, who fearfully avoided his sight, hiding herself behind the former Bai Jin.

"I'll be sad."

The man responded to Bai Jin's question calmly.

"……I see."

There was nothing more to say at this point. There was only one thing left for me to do.

Bai Jin raised the compound bow and released the bowstring.

The arrow aimed at the abandoned container above the two of them. The arrow, with the power of Originium, pierced through the chain, and the huge container instantly smashed down on the two of them.

"Be careful--!"

The man roared and pushed the girl away. At the same time, Platinum took out the second arrow at an incomprehensible speed and aimed at the target - the girl.

Killing the target on behalf of Platinum and allowing him to spend the rest of his life in Casimir's prison was the only thing he could do now.

“Puff!”

The sound of flesh being pierced was particularly obvious in the abandoned warehouse, but it was the man's abdomen that was pierced.

"'Platinum'...!? W-What are you doing!?"

Bai Jin and the girl both widened their eyes, unable to accept the scene before them.

The former Platinum used his body to block the arrow shot at the girl and just fell to the ground.

"Keep running along here. There will be a ship escaping from here."

The man lying on the ground pointed the girl in a direction, but she just shook her head.

"Let's go, don't let me give it to you for nothing."

"..."

After hearing this, the target wiped his eyes and stood up and ran out desperately.

Bai Jin pulled the bowstring and aimed at the girl, but this time he did not release his fingers.

She tossed the compound bow aside and walked over to the former Platinum.

"why?"

"I finally understand now that my previous life wasn't a 'way', but simply a cowardly 'escape'. But now I'm no longer running away and can look directly at my 'goal'. That's all."

"...I don't understand. Isn't it good to live without living for anyone?"

"Haha... You don't understand, not because you don't have feelings. Quite the contrary, you just don't know your own emotions yet. When you feel your inner self, you might be more naive and resolute than others."

The man said this, and then handed the blood-stained platinum badge in his pocket to the white-haired Kuranta girl in front of him who was still unaware of his feelings.

------

Bang!

The 'Platinum' badge fell out of Platinum's broken pocket, and the crisp sound brought her back to consciousness.

"More childish than the others... You're right."

Finding himself in a torture chamber with his limbs fixed to the wall, Platinum gave a self-deprecating smile.

Wow——!

The icy cold water flowed down Bai Jin's head and poured over her whole body. The stinging pain and coldness instantly made her still somewhat confused consciousness completely clear.

"Where's the intelligence?"

Still wearing a black gas mask and completely wrapped, the 'Sapphire Throne', like the god of death, whispered the same question to himself.

"What information?"

"Since you didn't destroy the information, you must have hidden it. Now tell us where it is. As a member of the No Helmet Alliance, I will cleanly pierce your head with a crossbow."

"Yeah, I hid the information in your microwave—"

"brake--"

“Wu——!!!?”

The sound of a crossbow being fired, the sound of flesh being pierced, and then the sound of a body being burned.

Bai Jin's left leg was pierced by a crossbow arrow without warning. The blood in the wound boiled due to the high temperature, and the room was filled with the horrible smell of burnt food in an instant.

"In order to prevent you from bleeding to death, the crossbow bolt itself is very hot."

Qing Jin placed a new crossbow bolt into the launcher and aimed at Bai Jin's other leg.

"Has your only advantage also disappeared? Your 'weapon' has acquired a will of its own—what on earth is wrong with you, Lord Platinum?"

“Haa…haa…I want to know that too…”

The severe pain that seemed to make her brain boil continued to hit Bai Jin's consciousness, but she still did not make any move to back down.

"Lin Guang, that infected person named Orson, the Reunion Movement, the hidden infected people—all of them will die because of your stubbornness."

Qingjin spoke slowly.

This sentence was obviously a threat from the other party, but Platinum's brain was already at its limit at this time, and he had no energy left to think about it.

"Orson—he had nothing to do with any of this..."

"Then it seems he's the mastermind behind the recent events in Casimir. Interesting, I didn't expect you to actually choose to protect that infected dwarf, just like the previous Platinum."

The expression behind the lapis lazuli gas mask is most likely one of disdainful ridicule.

Just as Qing Jin was about to pierce Bai Jin's other leg, the door of the torture room was pushed open, and a man dressed exactly like the man in front of him walked into the room.

...Both Qingjins are here?

"What an embarrassing look, Platinum Lord."

Qingjin Dawei, who entered the room later, grabbed Baijin's hair and lifted it up, looked at it for a few seconds, and then let go.

"Why are you here, Number Two?"

"The Cord family's leader said that the entire infected arena has been destroyed. It doesn't matter who gets the information, just get rid of her."

The Lapis Lazuli Knight Slayer, known as "Number Two," shrugged.

"Well, torture is more fun—but slow execution is not bad either."

Qingjin No. 1 put down the crossbow, picked up the surgical saw on the table beside him, and slowly walked towards Baijin.

"It seems that Platinum's position will be vacant for a while?"

"..."

Bai Jin closed his eyes, waiting for the hell before death.

——I once said to that girl, "No one will be sad about your death." Now that I think about it, this sentence seems to be more appropriate for me.

The only thing to be thankful for was that Orson didn't find him, otherwise, facing two Qingjins, even that young man would be...

【Click】

Just as I felt the pain of a layer of skin being cut on my left arm, accompanied by the sound of a power switch, the torture room suddenly became pitch black.

A moment later, a shrill alarm sounded throughout the building.

“——” “——”

The two Qingjin paused at the same time, then left the torture room together.

"...?"

Bai Jin opened her eyes again. She didn't know what had happened, but it seemed that her death had been delayed for a while.

But what can be done about it? Everything is already destined to end——

Boom!

After a loud bang, the iron door of the torture room was cut into several pieces. Although the room was extremely dark, Bai Jin still recognized the young man who appeared in front of the torture room door.

"Why...why? Why were you able to find this place?"

Bai Jin asked Orson dully, his tone full of disbelief.

"Shirogane your legs...that bastard!"

Orson immediately walked to Platinum, untied the restraints and treated the injuries on Platinum's legs and arms.

"Why? Didn't you, Shirogane, tell me the address? [A place that's been a significant departure for you lately], [where you often slack off], [someone's keeping it safe]—although I initially thought that was a bit too arrogant, I didn't expect to actually get your USB drive and phone from the owner of the [crepe stand]."

Orson recounted the process of how he found the clues left by Platinum. The crepe stand was actually the place where Orson and Platinum officially met in Casimir. It was also a place that Platinum often visited. Later, Platinum also tricked Orson into running errands there several times.

"Things got much easier after I got the phone. I found the hidden headquarters of the No-Horned Alliance, and then through frequency resonance, I discovered that there's a separate, strange room here. Your frequency is inside."

"..."

Bai Jin's eyes widened, not knowing what to say.

She once thought that maybe Orson could really find the data she left behind.

But that was just a "luxury", not to mention, she never thought that Orson would rush into the headquarters of the No Hero Alliance just to save herself.

"You're such a... idiot."

"Uh huh!? Why?!"

Bai Jin whispered. Thanks to the darkness, Orson could not see the extreme joy on her face, which was flushed red.

"Anyway, the leg injury has been roughly treated. Now it's time to leave here. Be careful and lean on me."

Orson was about to take Platinum away from the torture room, but at this moment, the lights in the room suddenly came on again.

"Sure enough, the alarm was false. How foolhardy! Infected Knight, I don't know how you got here, but this is good. You can die together."

Two "Qingjin" stood in front of the door of the torture room and blocked the exit.

"...Villains with brains are quite annoying, but okay, let's settle the score together."

Orson put the platinum aside and pulled out the Scarlet Queen from his waist.