Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"I only provided them with a battlefield. As for why an army appeared on the desolate snowfield that should have been deserted, I have no idea."

"The friend you mentioned..." W hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"Guess?" Xia Yu turned around and continued walking.

W could only keep up with his pace.

"Wait, you haven't answered my question yet. Why are you asking about my education?"

"Mainly out of curiosity?" Xia Yu replied seriously.

"Curious? Is a mercenary's education something for someone like you to be curious about?"

“A mercenary’s education is certainly not worth it, but a mercenary who wants to learn from me is,” Xia Yu said with a wicked grin. “To be honest, Kal’tsit told me to be wary of you getting your hands on that technology.”

"But she never expected you to seek that technology in this way."

“Now that we’ve laid it all out, I won’t hide anything anymore,” W said, quickly walking up to him and looking him in the eye.

"I need it!"

"I wish I could tear that person to pieces. For years, my dreams every night have been about how to prepare him."

“I have studied all kinds of tortures, both those you have heard of and those you have never heard of, all for the sake of that day to come.”

"Since Kal'tsit has already told you, you should know why I did this."

"I'll do anything you ask if you give me that thing!"

Seeing the burning flames in W's eyes, Xia Yu curled the corners of her lips into a smile.

"Are you really willing to do anything?"

"I'd rather die than let him die before me!"

"Not bad eye," Xia Yu nodded upon hearing this, then pressed the doorbell beside her.

"it's me."

“Ah, Mr. Advisor,” a few seconds later, Eyjafjalla opened the laboratory door, staff in hand.

"We have been analyzing the data you sent back."

"Oh, hold on for now, give the mercenary lady next to me a test first."

397 Instruction manuals? This whole room is full of them.

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Eyjafjalla and W, who had followed her in, exchanged bewildered glances, and even the Earth Spirit analyzing the data looked up.

"Exam paper? What exam paper?" W asked blankly.

At a time like this, you shouldn't give me a goal, whether it's to kill someone or accomplish something. Even if you want me to do it, I'll grit my teeth and bear it.

So you had someone make me a set of test papers?

"Advisor, this?" Eyjafjalla was also confused.

She had met quite a few mercenaries named W, but none of them had anything to do with the word "scroll".

Seeing this, Xia Yu suppressed a laugh and said, "Oh, it doesn't need to be too difficult, just test her basic math and physics skills."

"No, what does this have to do with the exam paper?"

W couldn't take it anymore after hearing this.

She squinted and said, "If you want to reject me, you can just say so! There's no need to humiliate me like this."

"You're the one who said you wanted to learn this technology," Xia Yu said innocently, shrugging. "This is just a normal test, is there anything wrong with it?"

"Study?" Upon hearing this, W's anger momentarily froze. "Who told you I was going to study this?"

She pointed to her face and said, "Look at me. Do I, a mercenary who has spent half my life fighting and killing, look like someone who could become a scholar?"

“Niyan said it.” Xia Yu was so happy she couldn’t suppress her smile.

"That's what she told you?" W finally broke down. "I had no idea she had such high expectations of me! She actually expected me to learn these things?"

"I just want the finished product of this weapon. Do I have to learn how to build a refrigerator before I can get one? I just need this thing and an instruction manual!"

“Yes, I understand your request,” Xia Yu nodded seriously, then waved her hand, and two completed base plates flew over from the corner of the laboratory.

Then he shoved one into W's hand.

"Here you go, the 'weapon' you wanted."

At this point, W was completely beyond repair.

"Weapons..." she looked blankly at the two base plates in her hands, "...just these?"

"Otherwise what?" Xia Yu shrugged.

"What about the instruction manual?"

“Look,” Xia Yu said, pointing to the entire laboratory, “all the materials here can be used as instruction manuals.”

"In theory, as long as you learn these, you can definitely use the base plate."

"No! You're kidding me again!" W looked around at the amount of information she had never seen before, and suddenly realized something.

By the time they learn all these things... Theresis will probably be dead by then...

"What do you think this is?" Xia Yu looked at her, tilting her head, and said, "Some kind of fully-fledged weapon? Reliable, convenient, usable with just a flick of a finger, capable of killing a whole bunch of people?"

"If such a thing really existed, how did the Tower of Babel fall apart in the first place?"

"I won't hide it from you, the full name of this thing is [Simulated Gaia - Spiritual Particle Environment Modification System]. It was never intended to be a weapon for killing. Its existence is incompatible with Terra's modern science."

"Why do you think Eyjafjalla, the Earth Spirits, and all these scientific talents are on this ship? Do the guerrillas and infected rescue teams really need so many scholars?"

"Like the artifacts unearthed from ruins, the principles behind this thing are completely unknown to modern Terran science, so we need to analyze it and learn from it."

"Where do you think the instruction manual you requested came from? Wasn't it written up bit by bit by these scholars?"

At this point, Xia Yu shrugged, “Perhaps you’re used to the perceptions that other convenient products that have stood the test of the market and time have given you, but these perceptions are not applicable to many things.”

"Modern products are made from technology, so writing an instruction manual is very simple."

Hearing this, Di Ling also came over and explained: "These kinds of 'relics' are things that existed first, were discovered by people, and only after being analyzed by countless scientists did the technology come into being."

"The instruction manual you requested is the final step, while we have only just completed the discovery process and arrived at the solution."

"Therefore, we really cannot provide an instruction manual."

"..."

W understood.

She was a smart person to begin with.

"Then...why can you use this?" She looked at Xia Yu with her last glimmer of hope. "Don't you know how to use it?"

“Because this is my technology,” Xia Yu sighed and said, “I provided these things to Rhodes Island, so of course I can use them.”

"But since you can use it, why can't you write an instruction manual?"

"Well, how should I tell you?" Xia Yu looked out the window and sighed.

Why do you think birds can fly?

"Birds can fly because of their own physiological conditions and the characteristics of their arboreal life. Modern research believes that birds' flight is the result of a long period of evolution, and birds' wings are also the result of the gradual evolution of their forelimbs..." Because Xia Yu was talking about you, Eyjafjalla subconsciously answered when she heard this.

"Wait, wait, wait, what does this have to do with me?" W interrupted her impatiently.

"Didn't you say you were willing to do anything? Answer me, why do you think birds can fly?"

"Because it was born with wings, huh? You're not going to ask me why fish can swim next, are you?"

“No, one question is enough,” Xia Yu shook her head. “Birds can fly because they are born with wings, and you can also consider that I was born with the ability to use these things.”

"Just like the halo above Sarkaz's head and the wings of light behind him, the Sarkaz's innate longevity and talent for Originium Arts are all innate."

Actually, this analogy isn't quite appropriate, but in this world, it's somewhat plausible that he said it.

“You can’t receive the empathy of the Sakotas, and the horns of the Erafia are not all the same,” Xia Yu looked at the people around her, “Some have horns, some have tails, can you understand that?”

"You're holding a gun, you're used to using them. As you all know, not everyone in this world can use a gun; it takes talent."

"But in my understanding, this thing is called a gun. Even a child who is only a few years old can easily kill an adult as long as he can pull the trigger. It doesn't require any talent."

“I was born out of place in this world. All my knowledge is only useful to myself,” Xia Yu shrugged, “no one else can learn it.”

"..."

Hearing this, W paused for a moment, then immediately cut to the chase, discarding the embellishments from Xia Yu's long string of words, and went straight to the point: "If no one can learn it, then what are they doing here?"

Undeterred, she pointed towards Eyjafjalla and the Earth Spirits.

"Their job, to put it in a way you can understand, is writing instruction manuals."

Xia Yu sighed and said, "I am still alive, still standing in front of you, and my techniques can still be used, which means that some things are interconnected. It's just that a certain key element is different, which has led everyone down two different paths."

“You lack this crucial element and cannot use it directly like I do.”

"To you, my techniques are more like natural phenomena in the world, only they have been organized. What they need to do is observe these phenomena, and then use technology to analyze, understand, and use them."