Arknights' Lock of Heaven

So the engineers' answer is that there's no need to worry. If the unknown sorcerer exists, he's not on the ship right now, but it's highly likely that such a person doesn't exist. After all, using such a person as a spy in the Sixth Army would be a complete waste. It's more likely that the breakdown was caused by the vehicle's material design or natural causes.

As for the specific reason, we don't know.

Looking at these reports, Boris gradually felt relieved and also made arrangements to not allow anyone to enter the warship after rendezvous with Nikolai's troops.

Once the operation here is over, we will conduct a thorough investigation among the soldiers, bit by bit.

Overall, his response was acceptable.

After all, he wasn't some good-for-nothing. When the Sixth Army was being rebuilt, the Grand Duke specially transferred him back from the Third Army. It's just a pity that the Grand Duke of Belgaard, who was in charge of the Third Army, didn't release too many of his old subordinates. Otherwise, the discipline of the Sixth Army wouldn't be in such a mess now.

In the previous Chernobog incident, the Third Army suffered a terrible fate. They were inexplicably vaporized by a natural disaster without even seeing the enemy. The Duke of Belga suffered heavy losses, and recently he has been mentioning Boris to the Duke, hinting at the possibility of letting him return.

Then Boris was sent here by the Grand Duke to whom he now serves, partly to tell Grand Duke Belgaard that this was impossible, and partly to appease Boris, since such an easy mission to gain merit is not common.

Overall, Boris did have some ability, but unfortunately the Sixth Army was so incompetent that he was only somewhat capable, not particularly capable.

Being able to control these thugs is already quite an achievement; to go any further... is wishful thinking.

Does Ursus have any generals capable of doing this?

Yes, for example, Helag.

Oh, so where is he now?

Oh, he was caught in the power struggle between the old and new nobles and was forced to flee Saint John's Castle. He's now living a retirement life on Rhodes Island.

It's just that this old man's feelings for Ursus are too complicated, and he hasn't gotten over them yet; otherwise, he would definitely be on the ship this time.

So, General Boris, who was only somewhat capable, still felt uneasy as he saw more and more vehicles breaking down along the way, despite taking all the measures he could.

There's just something about it that feels off.

“The number of these broken-down vehicles doesn’t match the number Nikola reported,” he said, frowning. “I have a feeling… something’s not right.”

Something's not right? No, no, no, it's totally right!

Upon hearing this, the officers behind him secretly cursed him in their hearts.

What kind of person is Nikolai... After all these years, don't we understand?

If it weren't for his good father-in-law, with his abilities, how could he have become a colonel?

Nonsence!

With that level of skill, he'd barely be a lieutenant under us! A colonel?

If it weren't for his doting father-in-law, could he have become a colonel? Doesn't everyone know that when the Eastern Kingdom was defeated, he abandoned his troops and fled at the first sign of trouble?

If it weren't for a truly capable subordinate who managed to stabilize morale and bring most of the troops out when the commander abandoned them and fled, his army would have been completely annihilated.

And what happened? He took advantage of his position and power to first steal someone else's military achievements, and then he ostracized that person in various ways... to the point that the person could hardly stay in the original Third Army Group anymore.

If he hadn't been transferred here with General Boris to form a new force, who knows how much more he would have tormented them.

That man had finally escaped his misery, but who would have thought that the Third Army would later suffer a terrible fate at Chernobog...

I guess his ashes are gone by now.

Of course, it's not that none of you here would do this, but we have to be more discreet when we're stealing credit from our subordinates. Who does what he does, making it seem like the whole army group knows...

If it weren't for General Boris protecting him, haha.

Even tasks that were almost a given were given to him.

To be honest, none of you here are as good as that good-for-nothing Nikolai!

In the end, because the other person had connections, all the benefits fell on his head.

Originally, everyone was indignant about this, but today, all that's left is schadenfreude.

Nikolai, Nikolai, you're such a useless piece of trash! You've messed up such a simple task... You've been leading five thousand men across the snowfield for four or five days, and you still haven't caught two of them?

Now even communication has been cut off... and nobody knows where they are.

The general was still wondering why the number of vehicles that had broken down did not match the number he had reported... How could that be true? It was obvious that he was afraid of messing up such a simple mission, so he lied about the situation to make everyone think that things were not so serious.

It now seems that in the last few days of the pursuit, Nikolai was almost entirely on foot with his soldiers... My God!

Well... let's pop the champagne, let's see if he'll die after messing this up.

In the past, when he caused trouble, General Boris would cover it up, but now he has messed up the task assigned to him by the Duke.

Everyone present except Boris was secretly gloating.

They didn't care what happened to Nikolai; it would be best if he died. As for themselves? Ha, how could anything happen to them? That was the confidence that the Ursus's new warship, the Ural, gave them.

But Boris cares!

Nikolai was indeed hopeless, but he was still the son-in-law of his old friend, who was quite powerful. It was Nikolai's help that allowed him to be transferred from the Third Army to the Sixth Army.

In the Third Army Group, one might be ranked second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, but here, in the Sixth Army Group, one is basically in charge.

To be honest, I wouldn't have personally taken on this mission if I hadn't been so desperate for other capable people. Most of the Sixth Army was still in the snowfields confronting the Patriots.

He knew the true strength and weaknesses of the infected led by Patriot, so he dared to personally lead the mission, leaving his deputy to command the remaining troops.

On the other hand, if he didn't have someone to keep things in check, the officers below would definitely make a mess of things.

You can't say they're incompetent; they are capable, though not outstanding. But if you disregard their personal character, they are still competent officers. The problem is that if no one keeps them in check, their arrogance and domineering nature comes out, and they refuse to submit to anyone.

Who knows what kind of chaos might ensue? Boris wouldn't be surprised if they ended up in a shootout on the spot.

Naturally, he was also fully aware of the ulterior motives of the people below.

But there's no need to worry about it; after all, Nikolai is truly hopeless.

We've already provided the care we were supposed to, even overpaid. If you still don't live up to expectations, you can't blame me.

So although I'm worried that something might happen to Nikolai, I don't think he'll die.

He has a feeling in his heart that he doesn't know how to describe.

Looking at the vast expanse of white snow ahead, it seemed like a gaping abyss waiting for me to walk right into its trap.

This is a simple war instinct.

It wasn't obvious at first in the city, and he was full of confidence, but after setting off... this feeling started to appear.

The missing Nikolai forces could be due to a large-scale vehicle breakdown caused by human intervention. Meanwhile, the Orville, despite news of the natural disaster and the pursuit of its two warships, still chose to leave port… And then there's the Orville's captain, who inexplicably ran off under the pretext of verification, according to intelligence reports…

Boris felt that something was off about all of this.

Regarding the disappearance of Nikolai's troops, there are generally two possibilities: one is that logistical issues caused equipment damage and made it impossible to contact them; the other is that an insider first sabotaged the vehicles and then destroyed the communication system.

But now they're fifty kilometers away from Ceprini! And still, there's no sign of Nikolai and his five thousand men…

As for the Orville, the biggest concern was that the ship would refuse to leave Ciprini with a pass issued by the Emperor, which would be difficult to resolve in public.

Don't assume that the emperor and parliament are really that weak.

Why were the dukes able to stir up such a commotion? Because the events in Chernobog gave them an excuse to intervene with their army, portraying the infected as rebels. In fact, Chernobog did give them an excuse to drag the battlefield into their area of ​​expertise.

The emperor, whose army was weak, could only watch helplessly, since the events in Chernobog were indeed caused by infected people, and that was what everyone thought.

He could not come up with a reason to stop the dukes and could only watch as things escalated.

Did the emperor and parliament really not make any effort at all?

No, they also tried to separate the guerrillas and infected people on the snowfield, so as not to force the entire class to rebel.

But the dukes have a plan. You mean the ones on the snowfield? Fine, I'll send all the infected people I can find there!

Thus, the situation deteriorated to this point, and the emperor, having no other recourse, could only sulk like a child and refuse to sign any documents concerning the infected.

This tactic was somewhat effective, but not much, and it continued to erode his already dwindling prestige.

So even though the emperor and parliament are helpless right now, Boris can't afford to give anyone ammunition to criticize him.

They're in a bad mood right now, aren't you just offering yourself up to help them vent their anger?

Therefore, no one wants to take action against Ceprini unless absolutely necessary.

As for the deal with the mayor, well, extortion is extortion, and the mission is the mission; they don't conflict.

The Orville sailed out of the city as if nothing had happened, heading straight east... He felt something was off.

And then there's the captain of the Orville. Although everyone says he was afraid of dying and ran away with his men, Boris also felt something was very wrong.

Putting everything else aside, if he were truly afraid of death, why would he have sailed this ship all the way here?

Were we tricked? Did we only realize it was a sinkhole when we got there?

How could that be! News of the infected in Ursus and the Snowfield has spread like wildfire. As the captain of a cargo ship, shouldn't you investigate your destination?

But if he wasn't afraid of death, then his actions, coupled with the lack of news from Nikolai's troops...

The more Boris thought about it, the emptier he felt.

But... just like these officers were thinking, what could possibly go wrong?

He was facing a cargo ship with fewer than two thousand crew members, while he had an army of fifteen thousand men and two warships, one of which was among the world's top-tier.

Could something go wrong?

Boris was somewhat dazed, but reason told him that nothing would happen.

But his intuition kept warning him that something was wrong.