Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"Profitability, handling, and methods are not important; results are what matter."

Kronin said through gritted teeth, "This dilapidated countryside, do you think I've poured my heart and soul into it, and what have I gotten in return?"

"The profits we finally made from obsidian are going to all go to subsidies for patients who can't be cured at all?"

"Instead of that, it's better to just let the volcano erupt! All I need to do is protect Siesta's resources and property, and I can still make a comeback!"

"The patients you call incurable are all those who became like this because of Siesta," Herman said calmly, without getting angry. "They dedicated their lives to the development of Siesta, so it's only natural that Siesta would make sacrifices for them."

At this point, Herman shook his head. "I've done many things. But I won't gamble with Siesta."

"What do you consider the lives of miners and researchers, the lives of the entire city, to be?"

"Kronin, you're fired."

"Fired? Ha, ha, ha ha ha..."

Upon hearing this, Kronin laughed so hard he bent over and pounded the wall beside him.

"I've dedicated most of my life to this city... and you think you can erase everything I've done with just a casual dismissal?"

"Kronin, you've been by my side for so long, and you really haven't learned a single thing..."

Hearing this, Herman shook his head.

“A mayor, or rather a ruler, cannot put profit above all else.”

"Those who regard profit and money as everything are called businessmen, and they are the ones who are ruled."

"You can't govern a city without businessmen, but you can't rely on businessmen alone. Sometimes, the gains and losses are not important."

"You've learned how to be a businessman, but you'll never learn how to be a ruler. In your eyes, immediate interests are always important, and you can't see the future development."

"Yes, it's because my expectations of you were too high that you developed these unrealistic ideas, seeing yourself as the master of Siesta, but unable to break free from the mindset of a businessman."

Is the obsidian business really that important?

"Compared to the volcano that's right next door, is that little bit of profit really enough to make up for it?"

"You can't see these things; all you see are the constantly declining numbers on the reports, all you see is money!"

"For you, as long as you have money and power, Siesta is completely unimportant!"

"As for me, Siesta is everything to me, so after seeing you for who you are, I know that someone like you cannot be my successor."

"Yes, yes, yes! You're absolutely right!"

Upon hearing this, Kronin calculated the time and a sinister smile crept across his face.

"That's so true, that's exactly who I am."

"Hahaha, you muddle-headed old man, that's hard to explain! Thanks to your incessant chatter, all my men have arrived!"

As he finished speaking, groups of people appeared indistinctly on both sides of the alley.

"Now that things have come to this, Hermann, you have no prestige left!"

Kronen spread his hands, "These are all the people I've developed over the past few years. They've finally learned what the rewards of hard work and a good life truly mean!"

“They’re not those useless guys from the city hall. If it weren’t so obvious that I was putting them in the guard, and I didn’t want to cause any trouble, you wouldn’t have been able to push me to this point so easily!”

"Originally, I was thinking about how to use public opinion to bring you down, but I never expected you to appear in front of me all by yourself!"

Looking at the well-equipped guards, Kronin's lips curled into a wide grin.

"Today is the peak of the music festival, and I will leave here with all the benefits I deserve over the years."

"You're still in the dark, aren't you?"

He looked at Ceylon, then at Hermann.

"Your precious daughter hasn't had a chance to tell you yet, has she?"

"I'm going to tell you now, out of sheer compassion, that the data you're seeing from the volcano monitoring station is wrong, and it will soon become completely active."

302 Skadi's battles are extremely brutal.

Kronin looked at Hermann and laughed wildly, "Old man, you didn't expect that, did you!"

"Soon, the Originium will spread with the eruption, and at least half the city will be destroyed!"

"The Siesta you painstakingly built up over most of your life has been destroyed in an instant..."

Kronin grinned maliciously, "I really want to see your expression when you see the sky turned red by flames, it will give me a lot of pleasure!!!"

"And I will lose nothing. I will come back to mine after the disaster is over."

Kronin spread his arms wide, looking at his throngs of men, as if embracing the whole world.

"Oh, by the way, I'll also accept the new urban area you've been longing for, that brand-new mobile city."

"Don't worry, I will make this city great for you. It's just a pity that you probably won't live to see that day!"

“Siesta is truly a treasure to me! I love it dearly, Hermann!”

“You…” Herman narrowed his eyes slightly upon hearing this.

How dare you say such a thing!

"Since I am the messenger of natural disasters in this city, then of course I can."

Kronen responded with a cold laugh: "And all of you will be defeated by me here, and then you will watch helplessly as Siesta is reduced to ruins!"

"Of course, in the end, I died in the glorious eruption of the Siesta volcano. No one but me could take these secrets away from here."

"These people are your support?" Herman silently rolled up his sleeves upon hearing this, exchanging a glance with the man in black behind him.

The fastest reinforcements from Siesta will take more than half an hour to arrive, after all, everyone has to be careful not only of Kronin, but also of his minions all over the city.

Most of the forces have been sent out to eliminate the traitors, while the rest are still maintaining order.

After all, the music festival is still going on, which requires a lot of manpower.

As for why Mayor Herman would risk his life if there were no other available personnel...

On the one hand, he had to keep Kronin here, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable if he escaped, so Hermann had no choice but to use himself as bait.

On the other hand... the manpower they can mobilize is not limited to Siesta's security forces.

"What, you still want to resist?"

Seeing their battle-ready stance, Kronen scoffed.

"Mayor, are you out of your mind?"

He pointed at the thugs blocking both ends of the alleyway and burst into exaggerated laughter, "You actually want to resist? You actually dare to resist!"

"Resisting me despite my overwhelming numerical superiority?"

Just as Hermann was about to say something, a familiar voice rang out from behind him.

"I'm telling you, you really don't respect Rhodes Island at all!"

The doctor peeked out from behind Hrag, sizing up the menacing thugs.

"Is this all you're relying on? It doesn't look like much."

"Do you think they're the same kind of good-for-nothings as those in the office before?"

Hearing this, Kronin sneered, "Do you know how much money I've invested in them over the years?"

"Those people you beat to a pulp before were just trash I deliberately left behind to lull others into a false sense of security."

“And they,” Cronin said, pointing to the large, dark mass of thugs, his face beaming, “are my trump card!”

"The equipment I bought from Colombia, the training for retired soldiers in Victoria—I've invested my own money in every single one of them!"

At this point, he waved his hand, and the thugs, a dark mass of them, all stepped forward.

"..."

Seeing his proud expression, the doctor shook his head with pity.

Poor child...

"Mr. Mayor," the doctor said, "Now that things have come to this, I'm not going to drag this out any longer."

She looked at Herman.

"You don't mind if I cause a little damage to your beloved city, do you?"

The doctor held up his index finger and thumb together, saying, "Just a little bit."

“Of course,” Herman readily agreed, though he was quite curious about the methods of this organization that called itself Rhodes Island.

“Well then,” the doctor smiled mysteriously and tapped the wall beside him.

"Are you ready, mudstone?"

"Ha," Kronin chuckled dismissively. "A bunch of silly tricks. We've surrounded you on both sides. You think you can just sprout wings and fly away?"

boom!

Before he could finish speaking, one side of the alley wall collapsed with a loud crash.

"What... what is this?" Kronin turned around in shock, only to see a huge white figure bursting out of the wall.