Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"Also, please stop calling me a fairy," Xia Yu said helplessly. "I have my own name, Xia Yu."

“Yes, Xia Yu,” Kroos nodded seriously, “I’ve got it.”

……

After successfully luring Krypton 200 back to Rhodes Island, Xia Yu felt utterly exhausted.

Taking care of young children is a real headache, especially when they are still a blank slate.

He listlessly lifted the tent flap and saw the doctor leaning against a tree, staring straight at him.

"Oh, so the kidnapper finally decided to come out?" the Doctor said sarcastically. "What, is Mudrock, one Sarkaz beauty, not enough to satisfy your appetite? You've come here to kidnap underage girls again?"

"I'm doing this all for Rhodes Island's sake," Xia Yu rolled her eyes at her and started spouting nonsense, "What an excellent warlock! He can travel all over most of Terra by himself. Aren't you tempted?"

Upon hearing this, the doctor fell silent.

Damn it! He saw right through me!

How could I not be tempted! Otherwise, I wouldn't have rushed over here right after the meeting.

When they arrived, they discovered that the cabbage they had ordered had already been taken...

Hi, I’m so angry!

Including Mudrock from before, how could the Doctor not be tempted? What a great operator! Right now, with Rhodes Island at a loss, if he could recruit her, what a fantastic team he would have...

In the end, someone else beat them to it.

Of course, it's perfectly normal for her to want to cultivate her own team. What company executive doesn't build up a few trusted confidants after taking office?

Even Kal'tsit wouldn't say anything in this situation.

But it's so frustrating, Xia Yu got everything.

The doctor was furious, but what could he do?

Since I can't beat them in a fight, I can only vent my frustration here.

Of course, she didn't come away empty-handed. She had won over Eyjafjalla, her little fangirl, in the past two days. With Eyjafjalla's knowledge, she could definitely be of great help when she entered Rhodes Island.

However, this assistance is limited to scientific research and some clerical work; Eyjafjalla is of little help in field operations.

After all, if she were to actually include Eyjafjalla in the field team, Kal'tsit would be the first to come and tear her apart.

Are you kidding me? You're not protecting such highly skilled scientific researchers, and you're sending them to the battlefield?

A violent thing!

Even when Eyjafjalla is sent out on field missions, she is destined to be the one who issues the missions and then a team of field operators fights desperately to protect the target.

They were treated completely differently from the crude and uncouth brutes.

This is the power of knowledge!

After glaring fiercely at Xia Yu, the professor was the first to end the contest.

They started talking about serious matters.

“Tell me the truth,” her gaze swept over Xia Yu, “what exactly did you do to the Mainz family?”

"I thought I'd get a tough time at this meeting, but they treated me like royalty..."

"So respectful, tsk tsk tsk," the doctor shook his head and sighed, "I suspect you held them down with one hand and dug up their ancestral graves in front of them with the other, then beat up their whole family one by one. Two nobles with names you can name, and they're so groveling in front of me..."

“It’s not like they’d go so far as to dig up their ancestral graves,” Xia Yu said, walking up to her and handing her a few books. “It’s just that they were given a lesson they’ll never forget.”

Upon hearing this, the professor, though having some suspicions, still took the book Xia Yu handed him and began to read it.

You won't believe it until you see it; once you do, you'll be shocked. From the materials to the content, everything reveals that this book is at least several hundred years old.

Let's take a look at its contents.

Oh wow.

Letanian ancient witchcraft.

It must be something that's at least three hundred years old.

These books are antiques no matter where they are placed, and the knowledge they contain...

If this book were placed in Longmen and given a good gimmick, such as the story of the Witch King's treasure being lost to the common people after the Twin Queens' deaths, it could fetch an astronomical price at an auction.

"Taken them all at once?"

The doctor asked cautiously.

“We’ll wipe them all out,” Xia replied succinctly.

Well, not digging up someone's ancestral grave is worse than digging it up.

For the tower nobles of Letania, the library that preserves their heritage is far more secure than their ancestral tombs, since this knowledge is their foundation for survival.

The doctor now understood why those two nobles had been so polite to them.

"Pack your things," she said after a moment of silence. "We're leaving tomorrow—no, that's too rushed. There are still some things to hand over. We'll leave the day after tomorrow."

"Go straight back to Rhodes Island!"

At that moment, she didn't know what to say about Kal'tsit's foresight.

Should she be praised? After all, she had known all along that Xia Yu would never be well-behaved.

But the job of cleaning up the mess was also thrown at her by Kal'tsit.

Exhausted, the doctor no longer cared about teasing Xia Yu about abducting a little girl; all she wanted was to leave as soon as possible.

It wasn't that they were afraid of retaliation from the Mainz family. After all, the fact that a family whose very lifeblood had been taken away didn't dare utter a sound in the face of the culprit was enough to prove how much they feared them.

After their means of livelihood were taken away, the last thing they wanted the outside world to know was their family.

Although the family had a backup plan to prevent the lineage from being cut off all at once, who could have imagined that the library inside the tower, which should have been the most heavily guarded, would be robbed!

Normally, to touch this library, you would have to defeat and crush the Mainz family.

After all, the library is located in their own backyard.

The Mainz family had considered concentrating all their efforts to reclaim the books.

But after weighing the options, they decided to give up without hesitation.

If we pretend nothing happened, we can continue to maintain the status quo.

If the family loses most of its power in the process of reclaiming its heritage, its weakness will be visible to the naked eye.

When the wall falls, everyone pushes it down. At that time, not only will the twin queens, who have always been at odds with the family, be eager to get a share, but even the Loren family, with whom they have just formed a marriage alliance, will be rushing to get a piece of the pie.

Therefore, the Loren family only knew that the Dresden Originium had been stolen, but they were unaware that something had also happened to the library.

If the former becomes known, the Mainz family will lose face, but it won't be crippled.

Moreover, the Loren family wouldn't take advantage of the Mainz family's rescue of Wolumonde; they were equally worried about that unknown powerful figure.

The Loren family would love to stay completely out of this mess.

The Mainz family is now more afraid of the truth being exposed than Xia Yu is.

Therefore, they would absolutely not dare to touch the people of Rhodes Island.

The reason the Doctor was in such a hurry to leave Wolumonde was because he was afraid that Xia Yu would quietly create a big scandal for him.

I might as well just go back to town; whatever happens then will be Kal'tsit's problem to deal with.

“Let’s just go back…” Xia Yu clicked her tongue. “Fine, I have nothing else to do here anyway.”

The objectives of this trip have been largely achieved, and there was also an unexpected bonus in Kroos.

What a harvest.

Upon hearing this, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried that Xia Yu might have had a good time outside, but not quite, and wanted to stay a little longer.

But the Mainz family's large group was about to enter the mountains, and after learning that Xia Yu had done such a big thing, the Doctor decided to avoid them and go ahead first.

It's best not to provoke these poor kids. Although they're unlikely to do anything, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Walking is the best strategy.

131 The Journey Home

"Boss, is this company... reliable?"

On the truck, anxious Sarkaz veterans gathered in front of the mudstone, asking all at once, "Can we really find a place to work as security guards and just make a living like this?"

Will they really keep their promise?

"Are there really any companies willing to support us Sarkaz mercenaries?"

"Are you still willing to provide us with treatment for Oripathy?"

It's no wonder they hesitated; Rhodes Island's offer was simply too good to pass up.

So superior it seemed unreal.

To be honest, if it weren't for their trust in Dr. Anto, they would have turned around and left the moment they heard about Rhodes Island's daunting promises of a better deal.

The reason is simple: they've encountered countless such promises in their mercenary careers, and none of the employers have ever actually delivered on them.