Ancient Dragon in Arknights

Nesario shut down the radio in front of him and then placed it under his squad's control, signifying a successful takeover—the fifth squad they had defeated.

After tracking down four escaped prisoners yesterday, Class 10 began bulldozing.

Target acquisition, finding strongholds, frontal assault, capturing strongholds—by the second day of the exercise, they had defeated five squads. However, there were losses; one squad's strategy was a night raid—everyone was exhausted from the daytime fighting and would naturally be less vigilant at night.

Rita was aware of this tactic and therefore set up a reasonable shift schedule, but some unlucky ones were still silently "assassinated". In total, the (10) squad lost 15 men, which was a relatively small number of casualties.

In a real battlefield, after five battles against an opponent of similar strength, your forces would be completely depleted.

Of course, Nesario remains a key figure that cannot be dealt with; his threat alone could prompt an entire class to devise a countermeasure.

"Nesario—"

"?"

While taking stock of the battlefield, Nesario heard a soft call. He turned around—it was Lothiri? Weren't we supposed to avoid contact to prevent Rita from finding out?

The other party was calling him, and Nesario couldn't ignore it, so he tried his best to appear indifferent and businesslike.

"What's the matter?"

"Ah, most of their ciphertext has been decrypted. It seems like they didn't score any points in this case?"

Lori leaned closer and handed Nesario a stack of cipher papers to look at—the top of which read "See you later."

"The situation is unclear; it depends on the teacher's decision. On the battlefield, declassified intelligence is indeed of little value. But they haven't had a chance to realize its value yet, so I think it's possible to score points."

"Then I'll take them all back."

The two were on the verge of conflict. Nesario didn't know what Losilly wanted, but her careful choice to meet in private must have a reason.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the combat squad chose to return to camp. During this process, Nesario and Losil deliberately separated from the group.

"So, what's going on?"

Nesario wasn't worried about the team's safety. They were all students of the Royal Guard Academy, and through numerous battles, they had overcome their initial nervousness and lack of experience; they were now fully capable of handling things independently. As for his own safety and that of Lothiri?

It would take at least five teams to catch him, and even if five teams did come, he would still have a chance to escape.

"Regarding yesterday's cipher—this one, its style and difficulty far surpass the other ciphers. I originally thought it was the final question, but after deciphering it, I realized it wasn't part of the exercise."

"?"

Not from a drill? In other words—it's real coded text?!

"Spy? Or smuggling? It can't be something like subverting the regime."

Nesario couldn't believe that something so important would be hidden in street graffiti.

"It's probably smuggling. The deciphered message says: the delivery date is at the end of the month, and the goods are hidden very deep inside."

"..."

Today is the end of the month, but which month does this "end of the month" refer to? Nesario didn't know; it might be a very old clue, or it might be a completely new one.

"I need to contact an expert to take a look. Do you have the means to communicate with them?"

For the purpose of the exercise, the school temporarily confiscated everyone's communication terminals, and they could only rely on symbols, ciphers, and radios to obtain contact methods.

"The school also confiscated my equipment—but as an intelligence officer, communication skills are the most basic skill."

"Let me borrow it for a moment."

"Uh... wait a minute."

Upon hearing Nesario's request, Lothiri gave a slightly awkward smile, then turned away as if giving up.

Nesario looked at the scattered light green hair in front of him and wanted to stroke it, but considering that the current environment was not suitable, he gave up.

Snap—the sound of a button being undone.

"?"

Nesario looked at Lothiri with a puzzled expression. She had her back to Nesario and was unbuttoning her clothes. After a few movements, she straightened her clothes and turned around.

"Give."

"Oh..."

The small, specially made communicator fell into Nesario's hands. This communicator was wrapped in a special material, which is probably what prevented it from being detected... How come it still has a temperature on it?

Nesario sized up Losilie—her coat had pockets, but those would definitely be searched by the teachers; it was the only place where she wouldn't be manually searched and where she could put a small communicator...

Feeling quite uncomfortable under Nesario's slightly teasing gaze, Locel crossed her arms, snorted, and turned her head away.

'As expected, among the girls, the strongest are Vina and Losley, those two big cats.'

Of course, Nesario wouldn't dare say that. He'd better pretend he knew nothing. Girls are very sensitive; once you break the ice, it's hard to mend.

"Let me make it clear beforehand that this communicator is specially made by the military, which means—theoretically—there is a risk of it being detected."

"..."

As the communication was established, Nesario heard Vina's puzzled voice from the other end.

"Bring some men to Norbert's F19 area. It's blocked off. Remember to take the back roads."

Nesario then hung up the communicator and returned the delicate little gadget to Losilly.

"There shouldn't be any problems, right?"

"If anyone asks, I can at most help you cover it up."

Indeed, having a trustworthy helper is a good thing.

......

"Boss, what's going on?"

Inside the boxing gym, Indra, Vina, and Morgan were training hard, sweating profusely. In the end, street fighting still comes down to fists, and they needed to constantly hone their skills.

"Nesario asked me for help, and told me to get ready that night, there was work to be done."

"Huh? What trouble could he possibly be in that he needs our help?"

"Who knows? Every time he encounters something crucial, I have to go and see."

"Okay, you're the boss, I'll listen to you."

It's been a while since Vina last saw Nesario; the last time they met was when Alede came to challenge them—these past few days, Vina has had a feeling something's off.

That day, the scarred yet still proud woman in the film felt strangely familiar. Had they met before?

Vina couldn't remember much about her childhood; her memories were mostly of the Glasgow gang. This vagueness was also evident in Allardy's case.

Chapter Ninety-Eight Smugglers

"Welcome to the Victoria Royal Guard Academy's exercise - (applause)."

On the second night of the exercise, Nesario specifically asked Rita for leave and was granted a free night.

So, at a city pipe exit somewhere in Norbert, Nesario met the Glasgow gang trio. Vina, Indra, and Morgan came to their aid.

"So, what's the matter?"

Vina skipped the small talk; they were already quite familiar with each other, so there was no need for formalities. The key was to lay things out and resolve them quickly.

"It's unclear at the moment—this matter could be very serious, or it could just be a misunderstanding. So, to avoid any unpleasantness, please allow me to apologize in advance."

"...?"

"Huh?! Nesario, can't you be a little more careful? We spent an hour walking through the dark, sunless sewers to get through the blockade!"

"Indra, don't rush, let's hear what he has to say."

Vina was puzzled and decided to listen first; Indra was a little agitated, the three of them had been going through the pipes for an hour, this was no joke! Morgan quickly calmed Indra down, she knew that Nesario was no ordinary guy and would not use them for amusement.

"Here's the thing..."

Nesario carefully recounted all the relevant details surrounding the cipher, emphasizing that given the uncertainty of the goods' existence, there was indeed a risk of making a wasted trip.

"So, we're going to that so-called 'deepest depths'?"

"Yes."

"Let's go to the location where the clues were found first..."

"I'll lead the way."

The four-person team advanced in the dark, occasionally hearing the sounds of battle—the clash of weapons and urgent cries from the battlefield, probably because the defenses had been breached by a surprise attack.

"Nesario... is this all the training you've done? It doesn't even compare to ours."

Indra peeked from afar and saw no explosions or smoke. All he saw were groups of students fighting with weapons. Occasionally, a few guys would fall down, and there was hardly any blood to be seen.

She felt that if she got involved, she could take them all down.

"So it's just an exercise, not real combat. Don't be fooled by their average skills; if it really came down to a fight, you'd probably get ganged up on and beaten up."

"Huh? With just these rotten fish and shrimp?"

"Ha, the Royal Guard Academy teaches the art of killing. Ganging up, traps, ambushes—any means are used to achieve the objective. You may be able to beat them, but before that, you have to endure all kinds of ranged harassment, trap defenses, and even ganging up on them."

"Besides, this was just a drill, while a street fight is 'real combat.' The two sides are not even in the same league."

Nesario realized that the only Glasgow gang he could rely on was a bunch of amateurs—no military weapons, no proper logistics, and the only thing they had to offer was a respectable leader.

If someone really wants to kill Nesario, Glasgow can't help in any way.

'Perhaps I should equip them with more advanced weaponry?'

'No, that's too dangerous.'

Possessing weapons is a serious crime in any country, let alone in the capital; the only thing Nesario can probably do is equip the Glasgow gang with better melee weapons, which are unregulated.

"Here we are, this is it."

Nesario pointed to the graffiti sprayed on the pipe, the hidden meaning of which had already been deciphered by Losili.

"Hmm... let me see."

Morgan took out a special-colored light and some spray paint from her bag; with a little fiddling, the graffiti quickly dissolved and fell off under the spray.

"It's confirmed, it'll be a piece created within a week. If it's been more than a week, it won't have this effect."

Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise, and the Glasgow Gang's old stronghold in Norbert is covered in Glasgow Gang graffiti—many of which are Morgan's work.