Arknights' Lock of Heaven

You're worried about this... W is sure that when Kal'tsit was short of people on Rhodes Island, the first person she thought of was Kazdel. Those who followed His Highness back then were only defeated, but they weren't all dead!

“Have you ever been to the lower levels of Rhodes Island?” W began to get excited at the thought, his signature smile returning to his face. “Those lower-level cabins, or the area near the power plant?”

"No, why would I go to those places?" Mud Rock asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Let’s take a look when we get back. It’s not a secret,” W said, keeping everyone in suspense. “After you see it, you won’t worry about these things anymore.”

“I’ve always felt there’s something strange about you,” Mudrock said in a low voice. “And you, after all I’ve told you, are you willing to tell me why you didn’t come into the meeting room that day?”

“Oh, this,” W’s smile froze on his face.

How am I supposed to explain this to myself...?

373 Admonition

W awkwardly turned her head away.

How is she supposed to explain that?

To tell the truth? Wouldn't that be a little embarrassing?

"So, is there something you can't say?" Mudstone sighed when he saw her like this. "If you really can't say it, then forget it..."

“No, it’s really not a big deal,” W blurted out without thinking, seeing her slightly disappointed look.

Then I immediately regretted it.

Why am I like this?

Could it be that when Niyan was having a heart-to-heart talk with me just now, he expressed thoughts that were somewhat similar to His Highness's?

W didn't know, but since she had already said it, what else could she do?

Make up a story on the spot? It's not that easy.

Sigh, let's be honest.

"Actually, I was really late that day because I was dealing with two troublemakers among the mercenaries."

She sighed and said, "By the time I got to the conference room door, you had already started your meeting."

"Originally... I didn't think too much about it, I was planning to go in, but..."

She glanced at Mudrock, then turned her head and whispered, "That Eyjafjalla, yes, that little girl, I heard her say a few words very loudly before I even opened the door."

"I don't remember the specifics, I only heard something about it being classified."

Upon hearing this, Niyan recalled the meeting that day.

"I believe everyone is aware of our current situation," Xia Yu said to the crowd. "Under normal circumstances, it would be almost impossible for us to shake off two high-speed warships and tens of thousands of regular troops."

"So I've decided to use natural disaster weapons. Let's hear what everyone thinks."

“The Cataclysmic Weapon, you mean that?” Frostnova spoke first. “If it’s that thing, it can definitely help us get out of this predicament, but… is it really reliable?”

“Reliability isn’t an issue,” the Earth Spirit spoke first. “If you’re really worried, then scale it down. We don’t need to kill them all. As long as we create signs of a natural disaster, I don’t think anyone will dare to take such a big risk to chase after them. However…”

She hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not speak.

“Hmm,” Mud Rock remembered that Xia Yu nodded in agreement, then looked at Eyjafjalla, who had been hesitant to speak, “Eyjafjalla, is there anything you want to say?”

“This…isn’t this a bit inappropriate?” Upon hearing him call her name, Eyjafjalla immediately stood up and said with slight excitement, “I’m not saying that weaponizing this technology to deal with the crisis we face is wrong. I know that’s the only thing we can do.”

"But...but I don't think we can just take it for granted and treat it as a weapon. War...war is terrible. Perhaps some of you here will think my idea is naive. I know that sometimes armed struggle is necessary, including what the advisor said, that there is no way to survive without force. I agree with all of that."

“I don’t like war, I don’t like violence, but right now, we have the lives of hundreds of thousands of infected people on our shoulders, so we have to attack this army in front of us… My reason tells me that there is no other way, so I can convince myself to accept it.”

"I admit this is reality, and reality is never pleasant, but that doesn't mean we can so casually name a technology that should benefit humanity a weapon of natural disaster!"

She said firmly and loudly, "Don't forget, we're going to use this technology to transform the entire snowfield, turning these barren lands into warm homes for the infected. How are we going to refer to this technology then? Should we still call it that 'disaster weapon'?"

"First, not everyone can accept this: that the technology they rely on for survival can be manipulated at any time to slaughter everyone living on it."

"Secondly, the Ursus army is our enemy, but this city is not. That technology cannot avoid anyone within its range. What if it affects this city?"

At this point, she looked at Xia Yu and said, "Thirdly, I don't think this is acceptable. The birth of a technology involves many factors. Perhaps for operators like you who specialize in combat, it's understandable to think about weaponizing it as soon as possible, because that's your job. But for a researcher like me, it's not acceptable!"

“Every technology has its own research and development purpose, and the focus is different in order to achieve the purpose. It is understandable that the research on weapons should prioritize power or battlefield adaptability. However, if it is a technology used to improve the environment and people’s lives, it should lean towards safety and universality. I am not targeting this technology, but the trend of developing everything in the direction of weaponization.”

"As you all know, I come from Leitania... No one understands the consequences of this better than us Leitanians. Scientific research must have a bottom line, and some things must be clearly distinguished!"

"A hundred years ago, as the greatest sorcerer in Letania, the Witch King was the undisputed leader, revered by the entire nation. During the first ten years of his reign, he worked diligently and, with his rich Originium Arts and superb artistic talent, led Letania into a new era."

"At that time, the people of Letania lived in peace and prosperity, and those infected did not have to be afraid. The whole country was thriving."

"But ten years later, the Witch King suddenly changed his ways and began to implement a reign of terror over the people. The Originium Arts, which should have been accompanied by art and song, became an endless blade for the Witch King to slaughter the people, and all sorts of cruel events occurred one after another."

"He led Letania to victory in the Four Emperors War, but he also became a tyrant who oppressed the country. Letania was once a rare safe haven for infected people like us on Terra, but in the later years of the Witch King's reign, the situation of the infected was only slightly better than that of Ursus now."

“The forbidden research that the Witch-King and his followers conducted… just knowing the titles makes my heart tremble,” Eyjafjalla said through gritted teeth. “My teacher went through that time, and according to him, it was the darkest moment of his life.”

"Because of the previous leniency towards those infected, many of them became university teachers, and my teachers had no prejudice against them and became friends with them."

"But during that period, not only those infected at the grassroots level, but even teachers with a certain social status might vanish overnight."

Eyjafjalla lowered her head as she spoke, “This is how my teacher recalled that time: one Saturday morning, he arranged to have breakfast with an infected teacher, but the teacher didn’t show up by the afternoon. He felt something was wrong and went out to look for him, but everyone he knew kept quiet about it, and the school’s response was that he was missing.”

"No one went to search for it, no one dared to talk about it. It was as if it were a curse from the abyss, and everyone avoided it like the plague."

“After that, the infected teachers in the school either disappeared or fled, and by the time I went to school, I couldn’t see a single one of them.”

“Even though the Twin Queens overthrew the Witch King, my teacher still said that the inclusive and open Letania of the past would never return.”

"Everyone, you may think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, or that I'm being too sensitive, but as a Leitanian, this is how I was taught: one wrong step leads to another. It may start as a slight change in the wind, but if no one can stop it, it will become a trend, and eventually, little by little, we will slide into the abyss."

"War is the most direct thing and the easiest place to achieve results. If one person focuses their research and profits on the battlefield, a bunch of people will follow suit and imitate them. That's how ideas change little by little."

“We cannot let this happen; Letania has already learned enough lessons.”

Upon hearing this, the people in the conference room exchanged bewildered glances.

Well, they didn't quite understand Eyjafjalla's feelings, nor did they think there was anything wrong with them, but from what Eyjafjalla said, it sounded like it was really serious.

“I agree with Eyjafjalla,” Earth Spirit sighed and said, “Actually, I wanted to say this before, but I felt that it was more important to get through the current difficulties, so I planned to bring it up later. Now that Eyjafjalla has brought it up, I must also express my opinion.”

Hearing this, Xia Yu looked around and found that everyone was looking at her.

The Froststar Mudrock people were completely clueless; they weren't Letanians either. They just thought it sounded serious, so they waited for his decision.

Eyjafjalla and the Earth Spirits, on the other hand, made their stance clear.

But in reality, Xia Yu's situation was no different from Shuangxing's.

After all, how should I put it, he didn't think it was a big problem. To put it another way, it was just opening up new avenues for his products. He had Laiyang steel pipes before, DJI drones after, and he was buying them frequently from the Middle East.

But when he looked down and saw his own long green hair, he realized the difference.

In my past life, I realized that individual strength has its limits. Even if you had all the technology to build an atomic bomb, it would have been a pipe dream to build one on your own.

Don't believe me? Look online, you can find structural diagrams and principles of atomic bombs for free, except for the specific data. But how many countries on Earth possess nuclear weapons?

As for the confidential data, once the ideas and principles are understood, it can be gradually measured out through repeated experiments.

But the questions are: where do the nuclear materials come from? And where can we look for industrial equipment?

Buy it? Who the hell would dare sell it to you?!

Without sufficient raw materials and sufficient industrial capacity, you can't even extract the most basic uranium-235, so how can you talk about building an atomic bomb?

But my situation is different now.

In this world, an individual's power can exceed that of a group to a limited extent, and with extraordinary individual power, you can easily gather a group of people and form a collective.

In the great powers of the past, even if you were the highest authority in that country, you couldn't arbitrarily launch a war against another country. But here, if you are a ruler like the Witch King, you can do it.

The Witch King, ah, the dictatorial, powerful Witch King—thinking this, Xia Yu understood that Eyjafjalla wasn't saying these words to anyone else, but to herself.

Although a scientist like her wouldn't know about the Grand Knights' territory, she had been in contact with him for a long time and should have a vague idea of ​​his strength.

Xia Yu looked into Eyjafjalla's eyes, her gaze filled with trepidation, unease, and worry...

I had overlooked these things before, but Eyjafjalla, being a Letanian, felt the pain firsthand for the disasters caused by the Witch King.

You can't apply all your past life's experiences to this world where the underlying operating logic is completely different.

“I understand,” he smiled at the latter. “Indeed, I didn’t think it through. What you said makes a lot of sense.”

He affectionately ruffled Eyjafjalla's hair. "If I forget again in the future, remember to remind me."

"Then, regarding your opinion, this really shouldn't be used as a weapon. It has the limitation of needing to deploy on the battlefield in advance, so the cost-effectiveness of weaponization is not high. I have many alternatives here, so just pretend I didn't say anything about natural disaster weapons."

"And regarding your second question, we will not affect this city."

"Based on the intelligence provided by Lion Scorpion, these people will not attack us near Cheprini unless the situation becomes serious enough, so we can probably sail the Orville a little further away."

“As for me, I need to go ahead and set up the battlefield, so Mudrock,” Xia Yu turned to look at her, “the Orville will be in your hands during this period.”

"If the plan goes wrong, use the thing I gave you immediately and save the Orville at all costs."

"Then I assigned tasks to everyone..."

"Hey! Hey!" On the deck, W shook Mudrock a few times to pull her back from her reverie. "Are you even listening to me?!"

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Mudrock blushed upon hearing this, “because you mentioned Miss Eyjafjalla, which reminded me of what she said that night, and I’ve been thinking about it for a long time…”

“Wait, wait, wait,” W said helplessly, “I didn’t hear the whole thing, I have no idea what she said, and besides, weren’t you the one asking me?”