Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Yes, this is the first time I’ve left this city,” Lina said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “I want to come back… but I don’t know when that will be.”

“Don’t worry, there will always be a chance. After all, Lina, you’re not infected,” Priestley comforted her.

Yes, Lina is not infected, but her uncle and aunt are. As mentioned before, they originally planned to leave their small bakery to Lina and flee with their son. However, as news of their infection spread, the small shop was 'sealed off' by the police.

Lina suddenly found herself with nowhere to go, and she was so young and beautiful... If she didn't stay with her uncle and aunt, the child's fate wouldn't be good.

“What difference does it make whether someone is infected or not?” Lina lowered her head and said, “Even if I’m not infected, our little bakery was shut down, wasn’t it?”

“Last night, a doctor told me that Ursus does not reject the infected. Ursus just uses the infected as a target for its own problems. Even if there are no infected, there are still the poor and serfs. They can always find someone to oppress.”

At this point, Lina looked up at Priestley. "The doctor said this is oppression, this is exploitation, and that we must rise up and fight back, regardless of whether we are infected or not. Uncle Priestley, I don't understand these things. Do you think the doctor is right?"

“…I don’t know,” Priestley honestly shook his head upon hearing this.

"You don't even know Uncle Priestley?" Lina said in surprise.

“Of course, I’m not an omnipotent god, how could I know all the right and wrong in the world?” Priestley said with emotion. “Lina, you are still young, while I have seen far too many similar statements.”

"The nobles claim that the merchants have destroyed the virtues that have been passed down for thousands of years on this land. They say that the new nobles' parliamentary system is a disgrace to Ursus, and that the nobles are the foundation of the empire's survival."

"Merchants and the newly rich who made their fortunes through commerce scoffed at this, believing that the old aristocracy should be completely swept into the trash can of Ursus."

"The emperor should have acted as a mediator, but his bias was too obvious. The Imperial Parliament should have been a battleground for the struggle between the old and new nobles, with the emperor as the referee. However, his previous support allowed the new nobles to almost dominate the parliament... Alas, it's not his fault. The old nobles were too aggressive. They acted recklessly, relying on their military power."

"But the root of all this comes from our wise and mighty late emperor."

"And the common people at the bottom of society think what they're saying is all bullshit, with ever-increasing prices, stagnant wages, and a turbulent environment..."

“In Ursus, each faction has its own political views. Those with similar views band together to form factions. Several factions then fight each other, and their views are outwardly aligned but inwardly divided, yet they are closely united for temporary interests.”

"These things together make up the dilapidated Ursus we see today."

At this point, Priestley shook his head. "What can I possibly say about such a large empire becoming like this?"

“But I think what the doctor said makes a lot of sense,” Lina said, leaning on the deck railing and looking at Prostov. “So I signed up to become a nurse.”

"Huh? They're actually recruiting from among us?" Priestley said in surprise.

“Yes,” Lina nodded vigorously. “The doctor said that Patriot has over 100,000 infected people on his side, and they can’t handle it all, so they need to recruit caregivers from among us to help out.”

“And people like me who have completed secondary general education will be trained to become doctors!” Lina said excitedly. “A doctor, Uncle Priestley, I never dared to dream that I could become a doctor.”

“That’s wonderful,” Priestley said, pleased for her. “Originally ill Uncle will be in your care once you’ve finished your studies, Lina.”

"Yes, I will definitely try my best," Lina said, clenching her fist at her chest. "I will try my best to cure everyone's Oripathy!"

"Alright, alright, keep trying," Priestley smiled when he heard this, and reached out to pat the girl's head. He didn't correct Lina's Oripathy, which was incurable, but was just encouraging her.

It's good that you have this ambition.

"And also, everyone is registering their special skills, from carpentry to baking, to having served in the army, hunted, or worked in the mines."

"They said that no matter what you do, you'll always find a place to use your skills in the snowy plains... Ah, I'm here to tell you, Uncle, to register."

At this point, Lina remembered why she had come to see Priestley. She blushed and turned her head away shyly, saying, "Uncle Priestley, you are one of the last people who didn't register. It was too chaotic before, and you came back too late, so we missed you."

"The doctor told me to come find you to register."

“Oh, then let’s go,” Priestley said with an embarrassed smile. “So there was this part? I’ve caused you all trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” Lina waved her hand. “Uncle, you took them to avenge everyone, and now everyone knows that you led them to hang those scoundrels from the picket line in the central square.”

“No…” Priestley wanted to tell her that he was just showing her the way, but seeing the girl’s admiring eyes, he smiled reservedly.

It wasn't said outright.

“Then let’s go now…wait, right?” Just as Lina turned to leave, a crack suddenly appeared in the dark clouds in the sky.

The sunlight pierced through the layers of clouds and shone on the Orville.

"Wow, this feels so good!" Lina's eyes lit up as she stretched her body out. "We haven't seen the sun in a long time, have we?"

How could there be sunlight in a sewer where one could barely hide?

“Yes,” Priestley said with a smile, feeling the warm sunlight on her body. “It really has been a long time since I’ve felt the sun.”

Just as the two were reflecting on this, the Orville suddenly started moving.

This is... it's time to set sail.

“Alright, let’s go, don’t keep them waiting too long…” he said, turning around, only to find Lina back by the deck railing, staring blankly at the harbor.

"What's wrong, Lina?" he asked, puzzled.

“Emma…she works at this port, doesn’t she?” Lina murmured. “I wonder if she’s watching us from down here now.”

When will we be able to meet again?

“I’m sure she’s not down there,” Priestley reassured him. “After all, we made such a commotion last night, everyone even put up barricades, how could they possibly be thinking about going to work today?”

“Even if Emma wanted to come and say goodbye, her parents wouldn’t let her leave the house.”

“Oh, I see,” Lina looked up and smiled. “That’s good. Let’s go, Uncle Priestley, I’ll take you to register… oh.”

As soon as the two turned around, they saw many infected people rushing onto the upper deck.

"It's the sun!"

"It really is the sun!"

"I haven't seen the sun in a long time."

They echoed the sentiments of the two who had spoken before them.

On the bridge, Xia Yu listened to the infected people's joy and withdrew her hand with satisfaction.

The departure process has begun. Even after last night's chaos, the city government has kept the Orville's scheduled departure time firmly in mind, and judging from the open port, they seem quite eager to get going.

It seems they were terrified.

In front of Xia Yu, on the navigation map, the Orville was only 400 kilometers away from its final destination.

-

"The sun is out!"

Emma was fast asleep on the sofa when she was suddenly woken up by the shout. She instinctively tried to stand up, but the stick she was holding hit her on the head.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." she gasped as she looked around.

Many people had just woken up, while many more stayed up all night with weapons in hand.

"What exactly is the situation?"

"Is it really the rebels who have entered the city?"

Did they commit robbery like they did in Chernobog?

Everyone turned their attention to the person standing in front of the landline phone.

That was Emma's uncle, her father's best friend.

“The good news is that there are basically no infected people outside,” Uncle put down the phone and stood up to announce to everyone, “From Central Avenue to Districts 1 to 31, I asked many comrades, and they all said that the infected people who appeared on the streets gradually disappeared starting from the middle of the night.”

“If there’s good news, then there must be bad news, right?” Emma asked hurriedly, “What about the infected? Were they wiped out?”

“No, who can wipe them out?” Her uncle gave her a strange look.

"Um, patrol officers, dark-skinned... police detachments, or city defense forces?"

"My information is that the patrol officers didn't dare to clash with them at all," the uncle sighed. "The city defense troops... haven't come out of their barracks at all."

"And the picket line... were all hanged in the central square, where the streetlights were littered with corpses."

"This..." Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Then they didn't kill any infected people?" Emma asked impatiently.

Upon hearing this, her uncle's eyes hardened. He stared at her for two seconds, making Emma's skin crawl, before saying, "I haven't heard anything like that. This is related to the bad news I have to tell you."

“Last night, many Sarkaz appeared on the streets, along with the infected, and the picket line members were also hanged by them.”

"This is the bad news, everyone listen carefully. Although the infected people have all disappeared, we are afraid that our days ahead will not be so easy."

At this point, he gave Emma a meaningful look.

Oh no, we've definitely been found out.

Emma shrank back.

But Lina, you must be safe and sound.

432 The Dilemma of Patriot Base

"Captain, our food reserves are almost empty."

“If we don’t get any more supplies, the base will run out of food within three days,” the Shield Guard in charge of logistics reported to Patriot. “Then, well…”

"Could we reduce our food rations and cut back on our clothing for a while?" Patriot asked, turning his head. "If we can hold out for just one more week, our allies will arrive."

“This is already the minimum ration,” the shield guard who served as the quartermaster said with a bitter face. “Everyone will only get enough food to barely fill their stomachs. If it’s any less… people will freeze to death in the snowy winter if they don’t have enough to eat.”

“We don’t even have enough heating machines. There are huge piles of Originium ore in the warehouse, but we can’t find any machines to use them.”

“And what about those trade routes, Andrew?” Patriot asked again, “what about those scattered merchants who risked everything for profit?”