Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"Cough cough."

Just then, a cough came from the ruins nearby.

It's obvious that someone is asserting their presence.

Upon hearing this, the infected gathered anxiously behind Sona.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Sona leaped to her feet in the blink of an eye, gripping her longsword tightly. She looked in the direction of the voice and said warily, "Hiding like this, are you hiding something?"

"To be honest, it's a bit embarrassing to be seen like this," Xia Yu said somewhat awkwardly as she emerged from the rocks where she was hiding, spreading her hands open to indicate that she hadn't brought any weapons.

Well, even though I don't really need it myself, I still have to put on a show.

Since it's the first time meeting, it's best to lower the other person's guard as much as possible under these circumstances.

"It seems I've caused you quite a bit of trouble..."

"What do you mean by that?" Sona asked, squinting at the person in front of her.

"What I mean is, I killed those members of the Unarmored Alliance," Xia Yu said with a smile, "but it seems I forgot to clean up the mess."

"Therefore, I apologize for the trouble this has caused you."

"What, it's you..." Upon hearing this, the infected behind Sona were dumbfounded.

After all, the person in front of him didn't seem like someone who could kill more than twenty assassins.

“Oh, we understand,” Sona frowned slightly upon hearing this, then said calmly, “We accept your apology. Is there anything else?”

"If there's nothing else, I'm taking them with me and leaving."

“Yes, of course,” Xia Yu slowly walked towards them. “To be honest, I have a lot of knowledge about the infected in the Great Knight Territory…”

"Stop! Don't come any closer!" Seeing his actions, Sona immediately raised her sword as a warning.

"Alright, alright," Xia Yu stopped helplessly, raised her hand and said, "Look, I didn't even bring any weapons, is it really necessary to be so wary?"

"Does it matter whether someone has weapons or not, if they can kill more than twenty Unarmored Assassins without making a sound?"

“Alright,” Xia Yu said, not moving any closer, but sitting down on the ground instead. “Actually, I’m quite interested in the living conditions of the infected in the Great Knight Territory.”

"That night, I happened to be looking for infected people, and I just happened to run into those men in black, oh, that is, the Unarmored Alliance you mentioned who wanted to eliminate the infected."

“So I just killed them all,” Xia Yu said with a smile, revealing the most terrifying thing, “and then I figured that since such a big thing had happened, it wouldn’t be good to find the infected to find out what happened.”

"After all, everyone knows the living conditions of those infected."

"So I took the opportunity to go to the Unarmored Alliance, well, I guess you could say they're high-level members, and talked to their Platinum members."

"After a thorough exchange of opinions, she decided to turn a blind eye to everything I had done."

"You mean, those Unarmored Alliance members are after us Infected?"

Hearing this, Sona frowned and asked.

“Of course,” Xia Yu nodded readily. “Let me introduce myself first. My name is Xia Yu, I’m from Yan Country, and I’m a special envoy from Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals.”

"This trip to the Great Knight Territory is to investigate the market for our company's pharmaceuticals in Kazimierz, and it's a secret operation; we're here as tourists."

"So those Unarmored Alliance members couldn't possibly be targeting me, right?"

Pharmaceutical company...

Hearing this, Sona frowned.

She, or rather the infected in the Great Knights, had no good feelings toward the so-called pharmaceutical companies.

The so-called cure for Oripathy, touted as a miracle cure, is ridiculously expensive and doesn't even have much of an effect...

Countless people went bankrupt buying their drugs, only to die from Oripathy in the end.

The companies' response was that the medication you were taking was not enough to cure Oryzania, and suggested that you buy a few more courses of treatment to try.

Ha ha.

Moreover, the information revealed by this person who called himself Xia Yu also gave her a headache.

The Unarmored Alliance has begun operations targeting the infected.

She wasn't worried that Xia Yu was lying to her here.

After all, with the capabilities of the Unarmored Alliance, obtaining information about the infected would be extremely easy.

If the Unarmored Alliance is indeed targeting the infected, news from other camps will likely follow soon.

“You said you wanted to investigate the market in Kazimir,” Sona said, looking at Xia Yu. “What exactly do you mean by investigating?”

"Nothing much, just checking on the living conditions of the infected, the progress of the treatment of Oripathy in Kazimierz, and things like that."

Xia Yu readily replied, "Let's see if our company's medicines are competitive here."

“As long as your company’s drugs have even a little bit of effect, then of course they’re competitive,” Sona said with a mocking smile. “After all, if those domestic pharmaceutical companies’ drugs have even a little bit of use, they’re not completely useless…”

“That makes things easier,” Xia Yu smiled upon hearing this. “Actually, I’ve also sensed that Kazimierz… doesn’t seem to care much about the infected…”

"Pay attention?" Hearing this, Sona looked at him in confusion. "Infected people can be paid attention to?"

"At least in Letania, while the treatment of the infected is not as good as that of ordinary people, they can still have their own neighborhood, their own house, and can find jobs suitable for the infected..."

“There are even schools specifically for infected people. Although those schools mostly teach specialized knowledge, at least they provide a way to make a living.”

"Really?" Hearing this, the infected behind Sona looked on expectantly. "Is the treatment of infected people in Letania... really that good?"

Sona had heard about these things before, but what could she do about it?

They are Qazimirs, and they have a long-standing feud with Letania.

Regardless of what these people think, will Letania accept them?

That's probably impossible.

"Actually, it's not that great," Xia Yu scratched her head, "Those were all official policies, so you know, policies like those have a long way to go before they can be implemented..."

"But even if it's not good, it's still much better than your situation."

"And then there's Colombia, where they're developing the wilderness on a massive scale. If you have the money, you could even buy an entire estate for yourself."

"However, the requirements are a bit high."

“Saying all that is pointless,” Sona shook her head upon hearing this, “it won’t change our current situation.”

She knew she couldn't take so many people to those places.

“I’m just saying,” Xia Yu shrugged. “To be honest, the condition of the infected in your Kazimierz is the second worst I’ve ever seen.”

"The worst are the Ursus infected. Once infected, they are stripped of their citizenship and then herded into the mines like livestock, toiling day and night until they are worked to death."

"Until the body explodes after death, forming new Originium, which is then collected by the next infected person... Heh."

“Compared to them, Kazimierz was already lucky to have simply ignored you before.”

191. Meeting Gift

“That does sound true, but…”

Sona gave a mocking smile.

"But we don't need this kind of so-called luck, right?"

Xia Yu nodded and said knowingly, "The reason why Kazimierz is not as cruel as Ursus, nor as mild as Letania and Columbia, is simply because it is not needed."

“Kazimir doesn’t need to rely on countless sweatshops on the snowfields to maintain the economy of the entire empire like Ursus does, because you have the knightly tournament to support the country.”

"There's no need to be as lenient with infected people as Letania and Colombia, because it's unnecessary. Infected people are a liability for the Kasimir government and businesses, because you have the equestrian sports."

"With the existence of the Knights' Tournament, Kazimierz doesn't need to exploit its people like Ursus, nor does it need to appease the infected who are useful to them with benefits like Letania and Columbia."

"Because of the Knights' Tournament, the infected are being ignored."

"Capitalists aren't interested in extracting much profit from infected individuals. They'd rather use that time to promote a few knights and make money while lying down. Isn't that more enjoyable?"

"The Kazimir government... Ha! When have these knights ever given their people a second glance?"

Even as they suffered repeated defeats in their struggle against the Business Federation, they never considered uniting all forces that could be united.

“Let the infected fend for themselves in the abandoned city.”

“Heh,” Xia Yu chuckled softly, “The Kingdom of Knights…”

He could laugh, but none of the people opposite him could.

“Is that so…ah.”

Sona was filled with mixed feelings.

So this is ah……

She helped the infected survive, and led them to unite and form the Red Pine Knights...

She did a lot... but compared to the plight of the infected in the Great Knight's Territory, she did not do enough.

At least, if the Unarmed Alliance were to actually massacre the infected, no media outlet would report it.

They were like a group of ghosts that did not exist in the Great Knights Territory; no one cared about their lives or deaths.

Sona had also wondered why the once glorious Kazimierz had become like this.