Arknights' Lock of Heaven

Once something starts, it's hard to control.

Today, your newspaper reported that our army suffered a crushing defeat. It was only a small gathering of a few hundred people that was lost, but you made it sound like thousands of people were routed. We are all nobles, how can I swallow this insult?

How could the nobles of an empire like Ursus, which rose to power through military achievements, possibly be harmonious without any conflicts? They already had a lot of accumulated conflicts, and now this is just adding fuel to the fire.

Tomorrow I'll retaliate in the newspapers under my control, saying that your entire army group couldn't even take down a fortress controlled by a mere thousand people after three days of fighting.

And so they went back and forth, exchanging insults, and the situation escalated.

Several grand dukes had considered taking control, but how could they possibly control things at a time like this?

In the end, we had no choice but to give up. Let them curse all they want; it's just cursing anyway, and it even supports our strategy.

They just left it at that. Well, not entirely. They did set a bottom line: don't go too far, and don't involve any real battle lines.

"It's a pity that your home is now empty, and there are people guarding that new house, so it's impossible for them to see you. Otherwise, he would definitely come looking for you."

Eyjafjalla shook her head regretfully and continued, "As for the village you mentioned, the guerrillas have already established a camp there."

"Originally, there were 20,000 troops surrounding us. Two days ago, our... captain led his men and left Chepulini in a high-profile manner, drawing away 5,000 troops for us."

"Is that so?" Hearing this, Igor nodded with emotion. "I've also heard a lot of rumors. Some say that the captain was cowardly and ran away by himself. It seems I misunderstood."

"If that's the case, why don't the higher-ups clarify this rumor?"

“No, it’s already been clarified,” Di Ling said thoughtfully upon hearing this. “You probably don’t know because no one told you. Those five thousand men were defeated by the captain and the guerrilla reinforcements together.”

“That’s why we’re in such a hurry to leave,” she shrugged. “After all, we can’t keep this a secret for long. If the army outside finds out about the guerrillas, it will be difficult for us to leave the city.”

“I see,” Igor breathed a sigh of relief. “Looks like I was too pessimistic. Now that the guerrillas have come to meet us, there’s no problem. If they can defeat five thousand men without revealing any information, then they should be able to handle the rest.”

"After all, they were guerrillas in the snowy plains."

Upon hearing this, the Earth Spirit and Eyjafjalla exchanged a glance.

Tsk tsk tsk, look at Igor's appearance. He's supposed to be a smart man, but he still got completely fooled by the Ursus media.

-

The ship is about to leave the city.

Alexei had very mixed feelings.

Yes, that ship, the Orville, it's leaving town!

The mayor sent someone to tell him the news.

Victor, a pawn he had invested in for many years, was sold to the mayor after that day.

Along with the news of the captain who abandoned the Orville.

They must have been captured by the Sixth Army by now, ha, a captain who abandoned his ship.

Those scholars said that he was just going to go 100 kilometers away to personally verify whether the natural disaster was real or not.

But Alexei thought it was just an excuse, and he ran away! He abandoned his ship and crew and fled!

why?

Because Alexei himself also wanted to escape.

He's going to surrender.

Hands raised in surrender to Lermontov, to the city, to power.

what.

Over the years, Alexei has never compromised with the mayor, not even once.

There was no such thing as being targeted, being mocked, being framed, or having one's credit stolen.

When targeted, he would stand up again and again; when mocked, he would fight back head-on, never showing any weakness; when framed, he would argue his case; when credit was taken away, he would never compromise!

But now he has compromised.

Being targeted, mocked, and framed is nothing compared to being ignored, at least for him.

After being targeted, mocked, and framed, those people discovered that he always managed to get back up.

Then, they stopped paying attention to him, started ignoring him, and no matter what he did, there would be hidden hands hindering him.

But publicly, no one mentions his name.

He had wielded power before and knew how intoxicating it could feel.

And now, he has lost them.

He was over forty years old, the prime of a man's life was coming to an end, and what was he doing now? Drinking coffee, feeding pigeons, occasionally helping the poor, or valuable infected like Victor.

Is this something a deputy mayor should do?

He came to this city at the age of thirty-five, ambitious and believing he could make a name for himself.

Then, the city ruthlessly showed him reality that he couldn't.

He fought against it.

But all the resistance ultimately led to this result.

Ignored.

As the deputy mayor, he didn't even have a desk of his own in the city hall.

Nowadays, even the younger city hall officials are unaware of the existence of their deputy mayor.

I never knew that the man who feeds pigeons at the outdoor café outside the city hall all day long was actually the city's deputy mayor.

A useless deputy mayor.

This bitter taste, the pent-up resentment brewing for over a decade, continues to wash over his heart with time.

When he recalls the past, he can only laugh.

How ridiculous it is to think of struggle, a belief I once held so firmly.

Do you think they'll fight you?

Ultimately, he made this choice.

Leave the past behind, prostrate yourself before this city, and surrender.

Ah, surrender.

His surrender was rewarded.

Along with the news that the Orville was about to leave the city, another matter arrived.

He, Alexei, was a man forgotten by the city for over a decade.

I'm finally going to have my own desk at the city hall again.

It was earned through everything I had persevered for in the past.

378 Be a dog

The citizens of Ciprini saw the morning sun for the first time in a long time.

Under normal circumstances, you can hardly see the sun at this time of year. If you do see it, it's mostly around noon and in the afternoon. The sky is gray and hazy in the morning and evening.

This is the snowfield.

But this morning, citizens looked up and were pleasantly surprised to find the sun shining on the earth again.

Such comfortable sunshine is a rare treat in winter.

Normally, everyone would be happily going out to enjoy the rare winter sunshine, but today, almost no one is in the mood.

“Our family also has three thousand…” Outside on the street, a middle-aged woman with a worried look complained, “Three thousand yuan… Why do we have to pay this money?”

"Sigh, there's no other way, we'll just have to scrape together what we can," a man said, taking a drag on his cigarette, his face grim. "No one can escape it, going out of the city to suppress bandits... Ha, what bandits are there around Ceprini?"

"They dare not go to the front lines. It's all in the newspapers. That guy led a bunch of infected people and beat these soldiers like his own children!" Someone whispered. "Hundreds of thousands of troops were beaten so badly they didn't dare to advance an inch."

"These people... don't dare to go to the front lines and fight the infected, so they come here to collect 'hardship fees'?"

"What 'hardship fee'? Isn't this just blatant extortion?" someone said indignantly. "Fifty million...isn't this outright robbery? There aren't any bandits worth fifty million around Ciprini!"

"Keep your voice down! Don't cause trouble!" Someone tugged at his sleeve upon hearing this. "Haven't you figured out what those thugs are like these past few days? Be careful they find out..."

"Hmph," the speaker turned his head away indignantly, but dared not say anything more.

"Don't be afraid. Didn't the mayor restrain them? A few days ago they were all over the streets, but now they're all gathered at the docks."

"Whose idea was this anyway? To pay a fine to avoid disaster... what wealth do we ordinary people have?"

"What's wrong? You're all pretty resentful, aren't you?" The well-dressed Raymond said with a group of burly underlings, "Does the mayor have it easy? It's a total of fifty million, and the mayor's family only contributed ten million. It's said that they initially wanted to add seventy million, but the mayor managed to reduce it to fifty million."

"It's not just you. In the entire city of Ceprini, from wealthy merchants to politicians, who hasn't been assigned a quota? Didn't everyone grit their teeth and pay? Can you even read? Did you see what the notice said?"

"This is the duty of every citizen of Ciprini!"

He arrogantly blew a smoke ring at the crowd, "Kid, don't be ungrateful. It's good enough that you can pay those soldiers off. If you let them stay any longer... heh, then it won't be enough to pay them off."

Hearing this, many in the crowd were indignant, but ultimately they succumbed to reality.

Behind the crowd, a slender figure turned away, looking preoccupied.