Ark Chess Player

"I will listen carefully."

Lin Lu put away his joking expression, his face solemn, and looked directly into Shuangxing's eyes.

Frostnova shook her head helplessly. She took a deep breath and said softly, "My father died a long time ago. When I was very young, I saw him shield my mother with his body, using his bare hands to block the crossbow bolts. My mother held me in her arms and used her back to block the second wave of bolts. As for the father I am referring to now, his name was Bodrakastie. He was a lieutenant in Ursus and the leader of the guerrillas."

Lin Lu was silent for a while, then murmured, "No wonder you said that some memories are impossible to forget even if you want to."

"Yes... Actually, at that time I couldn't understand what it felt like to lose my parents. Why I remembered it so well, what the reason for this memory, was all told to me by my grandmother later. When I was little, I couldn't fall asleep. Whenever I wanted to sleep, I would feel like I was back in that scene, the same tragedy playing out over and over again. When I was almost driven crazy by this dream, I pressed my grandmother for answers. She could no longer evade the question and finally told me what it meant. From then on, I was never afraid of this dream again."

“I was once loved. My parents loved me deeply and did everything for me… I was loved.”

A faint smile appeared on Frostnova's face. Her memories of her parents ended there; everything else was blank. She had no memories of them whatsoever, and even if she wanted to avenge them, she couldn't.

She has become indifferent to many things, or rather, she can only let go.

Did your grandmother raise you all by herself?

Lin Lu asked curiously, "I have no memories of the past, which means I don't know if I have any relatives left. I don't know where I came from, I don't know where my hometown is. I yearn for the feeling of family, so I spare no effort to take care of Amiya and Ibitas. This affection also extends to Sonia, Rada, Anna, Rosalyn, Natalia, Zoya, and Misha."

“Half and half, the other half is the blood of Ursus infected,” Frostnova said calmly.

"……what?"

Lin Lu then realized why Froststar had said it was a terrible story.

Froststar narrowed her eyes slightly, her thoughts drifting to the distant, frigid north, where snow and ice fell year-round.

Frostnova's real name is Yelena. She was born in a mine in the northwestern tundra of Ursus. The mine was remote, small, and not part of any city, with no settlements nearby. All year round, nothing could be seen there but snow.

This mine was tantamount to an execution ground, built solely to glorify death and enslavement. Such mines were countless across the snowfields; in a sense, they were a symbol of Ursus.

A unique symbol for those infected.

Ursus is a vast and resource-rich land. Its expansive territory has endured countless natural disasters, each bringing both calamity and new energy sources. The war-torn Ursus Empire needs labor to mine these minerals, requiring cheap and readily available workers, and those suffering from Oripathy are undoubtedly the best candidates.

Of course, when necessary, kind and innocent ordinary people are also an option.

Yelena's biological parents were victims of this choice.

Her parents had opposed the Ursus Emperor's wartime strategies, rejecting this barbaric practice of treating human life as disposable resources for the sake of energy extraction. As a result, they were maliciously arrested by sergeants responsible for searching for Oripathy infected individuals, and their names were filled in the last two blank lines of the arrest list. Without trial, they lost their names and were forced to move from their warm town to the cold north to serve a centuries-long labor service.

Yelena's grandmother was also sentenced to mining service for the so-called "crime of harboring a criminal" and was moved to this mine.

In fact, it wasn't just Yelena's parents who suffered this treatment. Almost all the miners in the mine, except those who already had Oripathy, had the same experience.

The Emperor of Ursus, high above all others, could turn a living person into a living dead with a single word.

Because of the lack of dust protection equipment, all the miners in the mine inevitably contracted Oripathy. Even if some managed to escape the mine, no one would believe the atrocities they suffered there. Because they were infected—the most vicious, the most terrifying, the most insane, and the most extreme Oripathy sufferers.

Ursus's long-term propaganda and brainwashing have led most people to follow the news.

Those infected with Oripathy are evil; the disease corrodes their brains, turning them into deranged madmen. They will break down your doors, steal your food, and harm your family. Ultimately, they will turn you into one of them, infected with Oripathy.

This is the prevailing view among most people in Ursus, and it has been passed down from generation to generation.

Even if a lie is told hundreds or thousands of times and never comes true, it will still make people without their own opinions believe it.

If that's all there is to it, it's not the worst case.

Worst of all, the mine's overseers, the Ursus garrison, believed that the natural death rate of the infected was still too slow.

They do need labor, but they don't need elderly labor. After all, the supply of Oripathy patients is inexhaustible; once they're exhausted, they can simply recruit young men from towns and villages, and if they're lucky, they might even catch some pretty girls. Before these girls contract Oripathy in the mines, the overseers can take turns using them, and once they're completely bored, they can be thrown back into the mines. Once they're infected with Oripathy, no one will stand up for them.

It's as if Oripathy is not just a disease, but a sin, and those who suffer from it are sinners.

One day, these garrison troops decided to decide the fate of patients with Oripathy by drawing lots.

Ten people are drawn once a month. Those who draw a black lot die, and those who draw a white lot live.

The reason for not eliminating them all at once wasn't out of mercy on the part of the Ursus garrison, but because they knew that executing too many infected at once would provoke them to fight to the death. Since there was no way out, they had fought to the death before.

Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone a Ursus.

Only through this gentle, insidious method can these infected individuals be slowly enslaved into mindless tools.

Those who draw a blank ticket naively believe they will draw a blank ticket again next time and continue to live. As long as they hold this pathetic thought, they are destined to never clench their fists and risk their lives to break free from this prison called the mine.

From then on, the overseers of Ursus took this as a form of pleasure in their lives. They not only enjoyed the feeling of killing, but also the taste of being high above others.

At this moment, they seemed to be the emperors of Ursus, capable of killing someone with a single thought.

This power to completely control the life and death of others can turn a person into a demon.

The mines were transformed into slaughterhouses, where the infected were not even considered livestock. While livestock could at least be fed and fattened, the infected received only the bare minimum of food each day, yet had to expend unequal hours of labor.

When Yelena was five years old, her parents drew a black ball.

When Yelena was ten years old, she drew a black card, but her grandmother swapped it for her and took her place on the execution platform.

When Yelena was eleven years old, she drew a black card again, but it didn't matter anymore.

The miners' attention was no longer on the lottery; they were tired of killing. Yes, tired of killing.

All adult patients in the mine have died, and new infected have not been added, causing mining efficiency to plummet. The overseers' actions have led to a shortage of manpower in the mine and have enraged the Ursus leadership.

However, the Ursus leadership was not angry because of the miners' atrocities, but because of the failure to provide a large amount of Originium minerals as scheduled.

Therefore, the Ursus garrison decided to go all the way and prepared bamboo tubes filled with black tags, distributing them to the last batch of infected people in the mine... the oldest of whom were not even sixteen years old.

They wanted to abandon the entire mine, blow it up, and use it as a graveyard for the infected, a way to cover up their crimes. They hoped to return to warm towns and start their lives anew. They could still enjoy the privileges and status of Ursus soldiers. No more spending their days in the cold mine with a bunch of inhuman infected, they could enjoy fine food and hot soup whenever they wanted.

It's as if this world is just so unreasonable, that innocent civilians should be sent to the mines, while butchers with blood on their hands can step over corpses and walk to higher places.

On the day of her execution, Yelena was forced by the overseers to kneel amidst the pile of corpses. She tried to resist, but one of the overseers struck her in the back with a shovel and slammed her heavily into the pile. She lay on the bodies, weeping bitterly; she remembered the names of the dead. She had broken countless stones in this mine, she had lived there with other children, and when she was sick, it was the infected miners who cared for her.

Now she can only crawl on the cold corpses of these miners she once considered family, about to suffer the same tragic fate.

At that moment, Yelena let out a roar of defiance, her burning emotions melting in her chest and surging wildly with her rapidly beating heart. She heard the voice of Originium, and she responded to it. Black ice crystals appeared before her eyes, and she grasped the power.

A cold wave swept across the sky, turning it black, and emotions that had been suppressed for five years since Grandmother's passing finally erupted.

The magic converged, compressed, and exploded, instantly freezing the four executioners into ice sculptures. Yelena's frail body was also permeated with Originium. At that moment, she desperately wished she could hold on a little longer, even if it meant freezing one more overseer. She was unwilling to end it all like this.

Unexpectedly, the Ursus garrison, which had suffered losses due to an infected child, suddenly rallied. Their ruthless military discipline allowed them to adapt to any unexpected situation. They quickly suppressed Yelena's outburst and knocked the children who had drawn the black lottery to the ground.

Cries echoed across the mine, the final wails of children who had never seen the light. They knew nothing of what lay beyond the mines; they had eaten nothing but broken rice porridge and Ursus leba, which could almost crush ore. They had never been to school and knew not how to write. Their lives should not have ended like this, but demons in military uniforms were about to unleash their slaughter.

Just then...

A guerrilla force arrived at this remote, small mine that did not belong to any city and had no surrounding settlements.

"Those are the Bozokastine guerrillas."

Froststar looked at Lin Lu, who was listening intently, and murmured, "All the Ursus soldiers guarding the infected on the Northwest Tundra have a dream, and this team is their worst nightmare. The guerrillas are specifically there to punish the Ursus people who harm the infected. I've heard the miners talk about them; the miners' dying wish was for the guerrillas to reach this mine."

Lin Lu took a deep breath, silently imprinting the life of this snow-white Carter's girl into his memory.

This time, he won't forget.

Chapter 378 Spicy Candy (Fourth Update)

As Lin Lu listened to Froststar's words, he felt a strong urge. He so wished he could travel back in time and change the girl's life before anything terrible happened.

Unfortunately, this was just a thought.

All Lin Lu could do was listen to Shuangxing's past and watch over her future.

"Bozokastine's guerrillas..."

Lin Lu muttered to himself that he remembered them.

Froststar continued, “The guerrillas wiped out every executioner in the mine. None of these overseers were innocent; their hands were stained with the blood of innocent infected people. The dead were enough to fill the mine. If the guerrillas hadn’t come, then I… and my brothers and sisters would have been buried in the mine. These executioners who committed these crimes would be able to enjoy new lives, while we would be buried by the wind and snow, forever remaining on the frozen soil of the Northwest Ice Plains.”

Froststar nestled against Lin Lu's chest, and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "I was lucky to be rescued by the guerrillas. But my less fortunate companions were left behind on the pale, colorless ice plains. I only realized now that these Ursus garrison troops were initially just following orders to capture infected people. The reason they became demons wasn't because they were inherently evil, but because the overwhelming rhetoric, the embellished stories, and the deliberately created hostility allowed cruelty and indifference to take root in their bodies."

"It is this Ursus that inspires soldiers to fight bloody battles on the battlefield, defend their homes and country, and win glory."

"It was Ursus who allowed soldiers to enslave the infected in the rear and degenerate into demons through indulgence."

"Our enemy is Ursus."

"We...can't win at all."

Frostnova's body trembled; a sense of powerlessness seeped into her very bones, for her enemy was not a solitary figure. Her enemy was Ursus, a nation, one of the strongest nations on Terra.

Her enemy is the will of Ursus; what power does she have to change all of this?

Lin Lu could clearly feel the girl's trembling body. This stubborn girl had always carried a regret. She could not change her motherland, she could not change the situation of the infected. She could only watch helplessly as the hot blood of her infected compatriots mixed with the filthy blood of the demons, freezing into deep red ice, becoming a part of the earth.

"..."

Lin Lu gently held Shuangxing in his arms.

At this moment, Lin Lu had no evil thoughts that he shouldn't have.

He only hoped that he could give her more warmth and comfort.

The two nestled together, unaware of how much time had passed, until Froststar raised her flushed face.

"Well……"

Froststar pleaded softly, "Rule, do me a favor."

Lin Lu said solemnly, "I'm willing to do anything. If you'd like, I'll go and smash the Ursus Emperor's head right now."

"No need, I just wanted you to help me carry something." Froststar was startled by Lin Lu's words, because when Lin Lu said he would smash the Ursus Emperor's head, his domineering aura made it seem like he wasn't joking.

"Even if we really smash the emperor's head, it's fine." Lin Lu blinked.

"Yes, yes, yes... I have a few candies in the left pocket of my coat, could you give me one? My whole body is numb from my fingertips to my neck, I can only move my head and neck. This is probably a side effect of overusing magic, and it's more severe today. This has only happened once before. I've been unconscious, paralyzed, and unable to move freely even after regaining consciousness. I know my own condition best."

At this point, Froststar's bright eyes darted around mischievously, and she smiled in the same unchanging tone, "If you'd like to try some, you can take one for yourself."

Lin Lu's attention was focused on what Froststar was saying. Froststar's physical condition was worse than he had imagined. If she continued to use Originium Arts like this, she would definitely break down... Lin Lu thought to himself as he reached into Froststar's pocket.

Distracted, he reached for nothing before realizing he had touched Frostnova's right pocket.

Even the clever Mr. Lin could not escape the laws of nature, repeatedly plugging the USB port in backwards and confusing the left and right pockets.

"and then?"

Lin Lu picked up two candies; the white candy wrappers showed signs of being handmade.

"Ah~"

Frost Star slowly opened her small mouth, revealing her beautiful white teeth and pink tongue to Lin Lu.