Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“The commanders below must be getting really anxious,” Frostnova smiled slightly upon hearing this. “If five thousand men can’t catch the two of us, we’ll lose all face even if we go back.”

"Judging from the direction the firelight is moving, there is absolutely no unified command. They just rushed in all at once... I was worried that if they had been calmer, this hastily set trap might not have been able to kill five thousand people."

“It turns out you were overthinking it,” Xia Yu joked. “Looking at them, we seem to be more ‘valuable’ than we thought.”

Thomas, standing behind the two, was on the verge of tears. The enemy's lights were already over a hundred meters away and would be right in front of them soon. Why weren't these two in a hurry at all?

That's five thousand people!

He just stared longingly at his older sister and the seemingly impressive consultant. "Hurry up, you two!"

Sensing Thomas's eagerness behind her, Xia Yu laughed heartily.

"What's the rush? Getting so stressed isn't good."

As he spoke, he channeled magic power into the ground beneath his feet.

[The Holy Grail Circuit - Charging Begins]

[Atmospheric Transformation Device - Environmental Regulation Array - Activation]

"Come on, let me cool them down!"

-

"Hurry! Follow the trail! They can't have gone far!"

Old Pete's voice came from behind. Ivan struggled to pull his legs out of the snow. "We... huff, huff, how long have we been walking?"

"Who knows, phew, half an hour? An hour?"

A teammate replied with difficulty, "These guys... they can run so fast... Whew, I feel like I'm going to die from exhaustion."

"Who isn't? If I lie down now, I'll probably... whew, never get up again."

“Ivan,” Pence, bundled up tightly, said breathlessly, “why…we didn’t take the car to chase after them this morning…that way, at least we wouldn’t be so tired now…”

"This is the... how many times you've asked this question today..." Ivan replied, panting. "I remember, it's because most of our vehicles broke down this morning for some reason. Hmph, if you ask again, I'll shove your ears up your ass!"

“Ha, God knows if my ears are still intact,” Pence said with difficulty, lifting his foot. “Ivan, phew, don’t you feel it getting colder and colder? The snow has stopped and the wind isn’t blowing.”

"Snowy plains, phew, hasn't this place always been like this?" Ivan replied, panting.

"Ivan, phew, did you see that? I think there's a light in the distance..."

Ivan trudged on with his head down. "You must be blinded by the snow. Besides the moonlight, huff, and the lanterns we're carrying, where else can we get any light?"

“No, there really is! Look up,” Pence’s weak voice rang out, “and, and there seems to be someone on that cliff ahead… there looks like someone on that cliff!”

Upon hearing this, Ivan mustered all his strength to lift his head and look at the cliff in front of him.

Ah, yes, that's right! There's someone there!

It's them! It's definitely them!

"Go!" Ivan struggled to draw his knife. "Grab them... Whew, grab them, then we can... we can rest!"

"Hot soup, tents...rest, everything is waiting for us."

He struggled to his feet, then fell heavily to the ground.

"Just a little bit more, right in front of us..." He struggled to get up.

Then he realized that the teammates who used to follow him were nowhere to be seen.

Ivan used his last bit of strength to turn around.

He then realized that his teammates had already collapsed and fallen behind him.

"They're all dead..."

The person closest to him, Pence, mumbled in his sleep, "This...this is a natural disaster, isn't it..."

"See... I told you... it couldn't be..."

puff.

His body fell onto the snow.

Seeing this, Ivan numbly turned around and looked at the low cliff dozens of meters away from him.

"A natural...disaster?"

Then, his heart stopped beating.

365

"Has it started yet?"

Thomas looked anxiously at Xia Yu's retreating figure.

"Started?" Hearing this, Xia Yu was stunned for a moment, then turned around and said, "It's over."

"What? It's over?" Upon hearing this, Thomas quickly took two steps forward and looked down into the valley below the cliff.

Those lights are still there... No! That's not right!

The lights... those lights hadn't moved for a while!

As he watched, the lights in the valley seemed to go out suddenly, like candles blown by the wind, disappearing in just a few breaths.

Thomas stood frozen in place, staring at the valley before him.

Just now, there were still five thousand people below, fully armed and coming in a menacing manner, their lights illuminating the entire valley.

Now, everything seems like a dream, the blinding light vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only the cool moonlight of the two moons shining equally on every inch of land.

“Their Originium lamps are quite well-made,” Xia Yu said, craning her neck and looking around the valley with great interest next to Thomas. “They can last so long at this temperature, and they’re still burning even after everyone has died. They’re really a conscientious product.”

"Industrial products are just stronger than people."

Hearing this, Thomas felt a chill run down his spine. Just moments before, five thousand people had died in the valley beneath his feet.

The man next to me killed five thousand people and is now looking around the scene with great interest. It's just... *slap*!

Thomas slapped himself.

Thomas, how could you think like that? They came from afar with so many supplies to support us. How can you hold a grudge against them because of something like this?

No, absolutely not! Especially since these people are enemies! Do you know what happens to infected people if they fall into their hands? How could you think like that!

"What's wrong?" Seeing him inexplicably slap himself, Froststar approached him with concern. "Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

"No...it's nothing," Thomas said awkwardly, lowering his head to make amends. "I just...I just can't believe it."

He looked out into the silent valley; they were all really dead.

Froststar stared at him for two seconds before saying, "Now that it's over, go back and tell everyone to relax and get some rest."

"Then, eldest sister, you..."

“We still have some data to collect,” Frostnova interrupted him. “You can’t really help with this kind of work, so go back first.”

"Well then, ma'am, Mr. Consultant, shall I be going now?"

"Let's go, let's go," Xia Yu waved her hand without turning her head, "The next task is delicate, it's just a pity that my assistants aren't here... Oh well, it's a good thing they're not here."

Hearing this, Thomas took a deep breath, moved his slightly numb hands and feet, and then walked towards the village.

"..."

"Hey Froststar, do you think I scared him?" After watching him walk away, Xia Yu stroked her chin and said, "I already told you about the effects of this stuff."

“I’m sorry,” Frostnova sighed upon hearing this, “Thomas… he might just be having some… difficulty accepting it right now, he’s not really afraid of you.”

“I don’t know how to describe it,” she said hesitantly. “Oh, if only I could be as eloquent as Dr. Kal’tsit, she could definitely explain a whole host of reasons.”

"As for me, to be honest, I don't really understand those theories. Thomas, he just... you know, he fought his whole life in the snowfields. He was rescued from the mines by guerrillas, just like me. Our daily life consisted of fighting against the people on the snowfields and fighting against the weather..."

"He's used to fighting on the snowfields, getting wounded, and watching his comrades die. That's how he's always been, so he's a little bewildered that you've taken down five thousand men so quickly."

At this point, Frostnova sighed helplessly, "I'm not good with words, you can..."

“I understand, I understand, it’s perfectly normal,” Xia Yu nodded upon hearing this. “His worldview was just slightly tested, and he felt lost, so he instinctively transferred his fear of technology onto me personally.”

"And it was only for a moment, and it didn't really register in my mind. To be honest, I was quite stunned when he suddenly slapped himself."

"It shows that he is a person who can distinguish right from wrong. It's not a big deal. You don't need to worry. I'm not a petty person. Putting aside everything else, if what I did in the Grand Knight Territory were exposed, many people on Rhodes Island would not be able to accept it."

At this point, Xia Yu shrugged. "I didn't intend for everyone to accept it, so you don't need to worry."

"It's good that you can talk it out," Frostnova breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Actually... I also feel a little... not so much fear, but rather a bit lost."

Her expression was complicated. "Five thousand people, just died so easily. I'm not trying to stand up for them or anything. The lackeys of nobles are not worth dying for, but... they just died so easily."

“I was born to fight, and I have been fighting almost every day of my life. I never thought that fighting could be such a simple thing.”

She looked down at her hands and gave a self-deprecating laugh. "With Oripathy, I can easily take the lives of a small squad, but five thousand..."

"And all you did was have a few dozen stone slabs buried around the valley beforehand, and then... those people died silently before they even got close to us."

“You know what I used to kill them,” Xia Yu said, looking at Shuang Xing.

"Is it that technology they're going to use to transform the snowfields?" Frostnova asked uncertainly. "What's it called again?"

"The simulated Gaia - Spiritual Particle Environment Modification System, I won't read out the subtitles below."