Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Don’t worry, my friend,” Cannot said with a smile as he turned around. “As long as you keep a low profile and don’t cause trouble, there won’t be any problems. This is a messenger station. Even in Colombia, very few companies would deliberately offend a messenger.”

"And that Mrs. John's camp, well, they can't do anything."

Kannot said meaningfully, “Relax, friend. See those armored vehicles over there? See those anti-tank ballistae? Trust me, it’s perfectly safe here.”

“Alright,” the Doctor said, glancing around and assessing the abilities of Amiya and Blaze. After confirming the Mystic Code in his pocket, he followed Kannot again.

"..."

"Next!" The company employee sitting at the table called out the number casually.

Upon hearing his voice, an infected person who had been waiting in line for a long time timidly stepped forward, "You... hello, please give me this month's medication."

“Mr. Dave, oh, I saw your application. You did an excellent job this month. Here is your medication ration for this month.”

The staff members' faces were filled with a businesslike atmosphere.

"Thank you... thank you..." Dave, the infected man, bowed and scraped as he took the medicine from his hand. Then, after hesitating for two seconds, he gritted his teeth and pleaded, "Um, could I... get an advance on next month's medication? My wife's condition has worsened recently, and I need..."

“Mr. Dave, according to company regulations, we are unable to advance you medication supplies. We hope you can understand.”

The staff member's expression remained unchanged. "But as you know, we always have extra medicines available for sale. You can buy more Oripathy Suppressant directly at the next location."

"But...but..." Upon hearing this, Dave was filled with despair.

If people had the money to buy those expensive so-called inhibitors, who would choose to live such a miserable life as pioneering?

Even with the arduous work of pioneering every day, just the food rations for two people, their respective taxes, and some 'necessary expenses' would already drain most pioneers of their resources.

The profits from those pioneering efforts all ended up in the pockets of major corporations, conglomerates, and political groups under various legal guises.

This is why pioneers so admired those who stood out from the crowd, because they knew how difficult it was and how much luck it took to stand out.

“Mr. Dave, this is company policy, and we hope you understand,” the staff member said expressionlessly. “Next.”

Dave watched, utterly lost, as one person after another walked past him.

He didn't know how to explain it to his wife.

In the shadow of a distant tent, several figures witnessed the entire event.

"What...what is this place?"

Amiya stared in astonishment at the scene. These people... were distributing free medicine to the infected?

Why have I never heard of this before?

"Shh, keep your voices down. This is John's mother's Frontier Settlement office. Don't be too obvious."

Cannot waved his hand repeatedly, signaling the others to keep their voices down.

But Amiya's curiosity had been piqued, and she lowered her voice to ask, "Are they distributing medicine to the infected?"

"In Colombia, many things work in a way that is unique to Terra."

Cannot explained in a low voice, “For example, these pioneers—pioneers, the lifeline of Colombia’s westward expansion, the writers of Colombia’s wilderness stories, the protagonists of the Colombian dream.”

"They signed a contract with John's Mom Company, and they cleared land on the wasteland to build residential areas for Columbia and businesses."

"They signed a contract with John's Mom Company, and they cleared land on the wasteland to build residential areas for Columbia and businesses."

“It sounds like…” Amiya hesitated upon hearing this.

Because it sounded so good, so good that it didn't seem like something a company should do.

Suppressants... Amiya knew all too well the cost of those things, and even with Rhodes Island's idealism, she wouldn't dare to give them away for free.

If you dare to do this today, you'll go bankrupt tomorrow.

Saying anything is useless; ideals can't put food on the table. We still need to be down-to-earth.

But now, a Colombian company is doing just that.

It inevitably feels somewhat absurd.

"Here, take this," Kannot chuckled and handed Amiya a small package.

"The solid and liquid are packaged separately, each making up half. Is this the medicine they're distributing?" Amiya recognized it at a glance; it was the so-called inhibitor that John's mother was distributing not far away.

"But...this is simply..."

She found it hard to believe, but upon reflection, it seemed perfectly reasonable.

"This is the medicine they give to the infected people, saying it's an Oripathy inhibitor. You are experts, you shouldn't need me to explain."

"Cannot said calmly."

“This is not an Oripathy inhibitor,” Amiya whispered.

"Of course not, you know better than me, this half is painkiller and the other half is nutrient solution."

"Why?" Even though she already knew the answer in her heart, Amiya was still puzzled.

The doctor watched silently, while Huang also had a serious expression.

“For no reason, don’t you understand? They don’t need to sell real inhibitors,” Kannot sighed and explained, “These pioneers, these infected from all over the place, they’ve never seen a real Oripathy inhibitor either.”

"Although this stuff can't suppress Oripathy itself, it can improve the symptoms. The stuff that John's mom gave us works and works quickly, so that's enough for them."

“Inhibitors were a new concept in the country, so they naturally wouldn’t have known about it.”

“...Since they can make painkillers, they don’t need real inhibitors,” the doctor sneered. “No wonder they scorn our inhibitors and instead try to steal the painkillers that are just a bonus.”

"But if they can build it themselves, why do they need Rhodes Island's technology?" Huang asked, puzzled. "Do these people have a perfectionist spirit when they make a fake?"

"Hahaha... This story is even more interesting to tell."

Hearing this, Cannot chuckled, "You know, before John's mom became big, she was just a chain of donut shops. How could they possibly have mastered the technology to produce drugs?"

"All of their pharmaceutical production lines were purchased from other companies, such as Beach Umbrella, Tashan Technology, and RheinLife..."

“Now they’re selling painkillers as inhibitors and making so much money. Do you think other pharmaceutical companies can accept this?”

"Seeing him make money, even from the scrap I sell," the doctor said meaningfully, "is more painful than me losing money..."

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Upon hearing this, Kannot gave the doctor a thumbs up. "That's it. They got a beating from other companies, but they learned their lesson. This time, they chose to cut ties with their partner directly, which is very typical Columbia style."

"With your batch of samples, I believe this inexpensive drug will soon be replaced by a newer version."

"With better efficacy and stronger analgesic effect, more people will believe that this is the 'Orestone disease suppressant'."

"How can this be! The samples from Rhodes Island are not Oripathy inhibitors at all. Those samples haven't undergone safety testing and may have a lot of side effects. We haven't..." Amiya became agitated upon hearing this.

"Let me tell you what will happen next."

Kannot looked at her calmly and said, "The people at John's Mom Company will use your technology to make more and lower-cost 'suppressants'."

"Of course, these poor pioneers were the test subjects."

"Will they die? To be honest, they would die even without Aunt John."

"The frontiers of Colombia were opened up by pioneers with their blood and lives, and their life expectancy was not long to begin with."

"But the remaining people, those who did not die in the pioneering work, would be more willing to work for them in exchange for some of these so-called suppressants."

"This medicine can temporarily relieve their pain, and they might actually live a few more years."

"Then, newspapers in major Colombian cities will publish their great achievements on their front pages. I've even thought of the headlines for the front pages."

"John's mother strides into the medical industry, bringing new hope to those infected!"

At this point, Cannot snapped his fingers.

"Perfect."

"Little girl, this is the cruel reality."

343

Hearing this, Amiya bit her lip and remained silent.

Then he looked at the doctor.

"As for the truth, it is of no importance in the face of the actual effect of pain relief."

Cannot continued, "What good would it do to tell these poor people right now, 'The suppressants you're taking don't actually cure Oripathy; they're just expensive painkillers and placebos at best'?"

"Then you go on to tell the truth, that even the best Oripathy suppressants can't bring them back to a completely normal life, that they will have to live with the disease for the rest of their lives until they die."

"Rhodes Island is indeed the best in this land when it comes to the Oripathy problem. That's the truth. But can they even listen to the truth?"

"This is Colombia, my friend."

Cannot shrugged. "Nothing will change. Everything is just as reasonable. People come to Colombia with hope, create value in hope, and die in hope."

Hearing this, Amiya said sadly, "But we can't just watch them use Rhodes Island..."

"You see, this is very realistic."

Cannot interrupted her, "You can't save them, nobody can, at least not now."

"For these infected people who were hoping, hope never existed in the first place, and you know that better than they do."

"You should contact your own people as soon as possible and try to get back."

Cannot sighed. "Although it seems you do have the ability to deal with them, so what?"