I'm in Terra

Plop————

The unconscious sentry fell to the ground and gradually turned into an immobile ice sculpture.

Breakthrough, success.

Seeing the sentries completely eliminated, Froststar waved his hand again, and several nimble yetis, armed with daggers and grappling hooks, scaled the wall. Opening the door directly was more efficient than forcing it down.

And it wasn't just in front of them, the snow monsters on all sides began to move. They kept attacking the sentries on all sides, trying to interfere with the defenders' judgment.

The shrill alarm finally sounded, indicating that a sentry had finally discovered the intruder. But it was too late to sound the alarm now. The gate of the infected mine had already been opened to the guerrillas.

"What's going on?" Parkinson Law was awakened by the alarm. Although he had never served in the military, he instinctively sensed that something was amiss, so he quickly threw on a coat and left the bedroom. As he opened the door, he was met by several panicked soldiers.

"Report to the commander, someone attacked the mine!"

Parkinson Law frowned, his ominous premonition growing stronger. "Who is it? Have they organized soldiers to eliminate the invaders?"

"The soldiers have been mobilized," one of the soldiers replied in a panic, "but the enemy seems to be... guerrillas."

"Guerrillas? The legendary infected guerrillas?"

After hearing the soldier's report, Parkinson Law finally woke up. He knew exactly how many soldiers he had, and he also knew his own strength. "Pass the order down, shrink the front! Everyone, gather at the warehouse. Send a few soldiers to lock the entrance, and then wake up all the miners."

"Are we going to let the miners fight together?" The soldier was somewhat confused by his boss' instructions. The situation was already chaotic enough, why did they let the miners come out to cause more trouble?

"No, let the miners help us buy time!" Parkinson Law shook his head, his eyes filled with ruthlessness and decisiveness. "We can't hold the mine, so let's just abandon it. Have everyone retreat. Don't worry about the ore or property, just take food and medicine. Once everyone is gathered, we'll evacuate through the secret passage we prepared in advance."

"Secret passage? So we have a secret passage? I see!" Upon hearing their leader's order to retreat, the soldiers sprang into action. They split into two groups, one offering a token resistance to the invasion while the other quickly seized food, water, medicine, and other supplies from the warehouses and convenience stores, completely ignoring property and minerals.

Looking at the busy figures of the soldiers, Parkinson Luo couldn't help but recall the scene when the secret passage was built.

"Starting today, the delivery of supplies will be changed from once a week to once every three days. Any questions?"

"No." Parkinson Law shook his head. "According to your plan, the mine's production capacity will increase in the future. Once every three days is indeed more reasonable."

"No, shortening the handover time isn't just about increasing efficiency. It's also about reducing the inventory of materials within the mine and speeding up the overall material circulation." The young man lit a cigarette and looked into the distance. "Trust me, the new rules will come in handy. By the way, if you have the leisure time, you can build a secret passage in the mine, a secret passage for a quick escape."

"...I understand, if you think it is necessary." Parkinson Law nodded and agreed to the boy's request.

"By the way, if the mine is ever attacked, don't hesitate, take the food and evacuate directly through the secret passage. Whether it's minerals or miners, the last thing this land lacks is people who want to survive. As long as you're still alive, it won't be a problem for the mine to be rebuilt anytime."

Survival in a Foreign Country: Chapter 12: Victory is defeat, defeat is victory

"Did you calculate all this?"

Parkinson Law led the way through the secret passage, followed closely by soldiers carrying various supplies. Because the amount of supplies wasn't large, Parkinson Law wasn't worried about the guerrillas catching up. After all, from the guerrillas' perspective, the supplies they took were probably less than a third of what you'd find at a typical mine, or even less. Seizing the remaining two-thirds without a fight was clearly a good deal.

Unfortunately, common sense can be a hindrance. The guerrillas would never have imagined that they would not take away any valuables, but instead chose to take away the least valuable food and medicine.

"Attack the enemy and then rescue them, cut off the enemy's vital points, is this what you call a remedial measure? This is clearly a vicious plan to kill people without blinking an eye." Looking at the embarrassed soldiers behind him, Parkinson Luo silently made a decision.

Without the patrol's stubborn resistance, the guerrillas easily captured the mine. After confirming that the patrol soldiers had escaped through the secret passage, Froststar led the snow monsters to search the mine for supplies. The guerrillas had little time; their only safe window was tonight. Once daybreak came, they would likely face a siege by the soldiers.

Knowing this, the snow monsters all sped up their pace. They wanted to turn the place upside down before dawn, and then command the big guys to move away the supplies they needed.

"No, something's wrong here! Too little!!!"

Ore, tools, clothing, a few weapons. Froststar took a quick inventory of the supplies in each room she passed. The patrol was moving in a hurry, and she saw quite a few scattered items haphazardly placed around the rooms. At first, Froststar was unconcerned, but as she and the yetis advanced deeper, more and more traces emerged, and her mood plummeted, like she was falling into an icy cave.

Whether it was minerals, valuables, or even weapons, they were all neatly stored in their respective warehouses, except for a few empty rooms. Combining the traces left on the ground and the layout of the mine, she had guessed what these empty rooms had originally contained.

"We've been tricked!" Frost Star gritted her teeth, and bits of ice involuntarily floated around her feet. "This room has vegetables, the next room has staple foods, and the next room has some snacks. Those black bugs didn't take anything away, but they took away all the food!"

Before Frost Star could recover, another piece of bad news came. The scattered snow monsters who were searching found the infirmary in the mine, but there was no medicine left there either.

Upon hearing this, Froststar stumbled and nearly fell, but the Yeti beside her, despite her frostbite, managed to steady her. After leaning against the wall and taking several deep breaths, Froststar gave her new instructions: "I'll tell the old stubborn man what's going on. You guys go search those locked rooms. No matter what, even if we have to dig deep, we're going to find enough food to feed our brothers. Got it?"

"Yes!"

Looking at the scattered snow monsters, Frost Star had a premonition that they seemed to have entered a huge cage, and the mine under their feet was an insignificant mousetrap in the cage.

Mousetraps are obvious and easy to fool, but what kind of mouse could survive a room full of them?

Pondering this unanswered question, Frost Star arrived at the square of the mine. To her surprise, there were still people holding out in the square. And it wasn't just the black bugs; Frost Star also saw quite a few ragged miners among them.

"What's going on? Why don't you kill them?" Frost Star asked curiously as she approached the Patriot, while her hands were clenched quietly, ready to cast Originium skills at any time.

"Little Yelena," a shield soldier standing on the periphery answered Froststar's question. "We're probably in trouble this time. The miners here are unwilling to join us or cooperate. Many have even joined the Black Bugs in an attempt to resist. A few of our nimble brothers are trying to persuade them, but it doesn't seem to be working very well."

"How is that possible?" Frost Star's pupils shrank, and she was a little bit incredulous at the Shield Soldier's words: "How could there be infected people in this world who support the Black Bug? Are they brainwashed? Or are their families threatened?"

"There's nothing, that's why it's so troublesome." The shield soldier sighed and then stepped aside to make room: "How about you go in and take a look? It seems the captain doesn't have any other options."

Frost Star didn't hesitate, squeezing through the space vacated by the shield soldiers. It wasn't until she was inside the encirclement that she could see what was happening. Surrounded by soldiers, several patrols led a dozen infected miners in a desperate attempt to resist. Behind them sat the miners, their eyes fixed on them. This wasn't the main point; the main point was the target of those miners' indifference—the guerrillas.

Looking at the patriot standing silently in the center, Frost Star asked with some concern, "Old stubborn man, what's going on? Why are the miners here in this state after being rescued?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as the words left his mouth, a miner sitting on the ground nearby snorted disdainfully: "Rescue? We don't need your rescue! We have a good life here and even have money to send back home. We don't need you guys to rescue us."

As soon as the words came out, the miners sitting around nodded in unison, and at the same time, they looked at the guerrillas with increasingly unfriendly eyes, as if they were the villains who enslaved the mines.

Frost Star twitched her ears and was about to ask what happened when the Patriot beside her reached out to stop her.

"We made a mistake. This mine is different from other places. They seem to be doing well. The people managing this place still have some humanity."

Just a few words brought a sudden realization to Shuangxing. Because of some unpleasant memories, she had always preconceived the idea that the infected mines were hell. She had never imagined that there were mines that treated the infected kindly, even if doing so would increase their profits.

But since the patriots said so, it proves that they attacked the wrong person this time.

The Patriot nodded, as if responding to Froststar's thoughts. "Take away the supplies we lack. Leave some of the property behind, as if buying it. As for them, they can stay here."

"We're out of supplies." Frost Star gave a bitter laugh, her words filled with bitterness. "That's exactly what I came here to say. The patrols that escaped have already taken the food and medicine away. All that's left for us is inedible ore."

"We're in big trouble."

Survival in a Foreign Country: Chapter 13: Survival? Compromise?

It's a sunny morning today, and the warm sunrise is enough to bring a smile to any early riser's face. After nearly two weeks of sporadic snowfall, we finally have a rare sunny day.

The same was true for Victoria and Dorothy. The fireplace in the house crackled, but he sat at the door with his legs crossed, fully enjoying the morning breeze.

"Have another cup of hot coffee before you go out."

Dorothy, dressed in cool clothes, walked slowly from behind and handed over the coffee she had carefully brewed. She had completely adapted to life here, and whether it was work or daily life, she was striving to move forward in the way Victoria expected.

Victoria sniffed the aroma of coffee and casually threw the letter he had just read into the fireplace. "Before we drink coffee, I want to test you."

Hearing Victoria's words, Dorothy's originally smiling mouth suddenly frowned, and the coffee that was originally placed in front of Victoria was brought back to the tea table by her as if playing a prank.

"Here you go again, my dear young master. It's morning tea time now. When will you change your habit of constantly testing me? Every time you ask me a question, I feel like all my hair is going to fall out."

Victoria smiled, stood up, and took Dorothy into his arms to comfort her: "Don't make a fuss, I promise this question will be simple."

Dorothy rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but bury her head in Victoria's arms and take a deep breath. "I don't believe you. You'd ask me such a simple question? Forget it, go ahead and ask. It's rare to see you so excited so early in the morning."

"Okay, then I'll ask." Victoria smiled slightly, leaned his head close to Dorothy's ear and whispered, "Tell me, which is more important, a person's faith or their stomach?"

Dorothy didn't hesitate and gave the answer instantly: "What kind of question is that? Of course it's about people's beliefs."

Victoria was not surprised and continued to ask, "What if I continue to cling to my faith and starve to death? In this case, what's more important, faith or hunger?"

Dorothy thought for a moment, then hesitantly stated her choice: "Hmm—if it were me, I'd probably still choose faith, right? I think it would be too tragic to live a life without anything worth pursuing, fighting every day just to fill your stomach."

"Then here's the third question." Victor patted Dorothy's head, the smile in his eyes growing even wider. "If you've gathered a group of like-minded subordinates, and now you're faced with a desperate situation, would you lead them to seek faith and die in a dark corner, or would you break faith and prioritize survival?"

"Well..." Dorothy was stunned. She had never led anyone, so she couldn't imagine what that desperate situation was like. After a moment of contemplation, she shook her head helplessly. "I don't know. I can't think of the answer to that question."

Victoria smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you can't think of it. After all, there's no answer to this question. Let's have some coffee. We still have to go to the City Hall after that."

After saying that, Victoria let go of Dorothy and sat on the sofa, sipping his coffee leisurely. The letter that he had thrown into the bonfire earlier had already been completely burned.

"Patriot, what will you choose in this desperate situation? Perish? Or compromise?"

The guerrillas retreated. After searching the mines to ensure they hadn't missed any food, the Patriot led the guerrillas in a silent evacuation. The loss of more than a dozen men, in exchange for less than two days' worth of food, was unacceptable to Frost Star. The Patriot even ordered the guerrillas' few remaining possessions to be left as compensation, completely disregarding the guerrillas' escape route.

"Old stubborn man, what are you doing? Do you know that we will be doomed if this continues?" Looking at the soldiers leaving the mine dejectedly, Frost Star felt that he should do something and what the Snow Monster Squad should do.

Frost Star responded with the Patriot's dry and hoarse voice: "I know what I'm doing, Yelena, my...daughter. We have no way out."

Frost Star sensed something was wrong, but she still argued, "What do you mean? The soldiers only have three days' worth of rations left! We still have a chance! There are other mines nearby, and we can still move south! Didn't you say? As long as we have faith, the entire snowfield is our home. How could we... how could we have no way out?"

"The snow has stopped." The Patriot looked up at the sky. No one could see his expression under his armor. "Winter is coming. The prey in the wild is not enough to sustain life, and the village will not trade with us at this time."

"There are still mines!" Frost Star swallowed cold saliva. "It's impossible that all mines are as humane as today. As long as we find the next mine and enough food to survive the winter, what can a mere cold wind do to us?"

"There won't be any mines we can attack." The Patriot sat in the snow, silently drawing a map. "If I remember correctly, there's only one city nearby. Norvinsk, and the nearby mines, are all under its jurisdiction."

Hearing the Patriot's answer, Froststar finally realized something: "You mean... the Lord of Norvinsk is practicing benevolent rule, giving the infected undeserved good treatment? And since he's in charge of all the nearby mines, there are no mines nearby that oppress the infected?"

The Patriot nodded: "It's likely that's the case."

Froststar asked in confusion, "But isn't this a good thing? We've been wandering the snowfields for so long, and this is the first time we've encountered a territory that treats the infected kindly. In a sense, this lord and we should be like-minded partners, right? If every territory in Ursus was governed like him, the infected guerrillas would have no reason to exist long ago."

"It's not that simple." The Patriot shook his head. After that incident, he could no longer trust the so-called nobles.

"Being kind to the infected isn't necessarily out of kindness; it could also be for personal gain. This is a remote area, and implementing unnatural benevolent policies here can only mean one thing: his ambitions are greater than this region. Treating him as a like-minded companion will only lead to his death without a burial place."

Froststar gritted her teeth. She knew the Patriots would never compromise with those insects. No, not just the Patriots, but Froststar herself didn't want to associate with those nobles.

But sadly, it seems they no longer have a choice.

"If it doesn't work... old stubborn man, I'll go by myself! I'll leave all the food behind and just take the snow monsters with me to try it."

Survival in a Foreign Country: Chapter 14: Warm Sunshine, Cold Snow

"Mr. Victor, please forgive me. I have failed you." Parkinson Law knelt on one knee, not even looking up, before Victor. The once refined vice-captain was now in a state of extreme distress, his body covered in wet marks from walking through the snow.

After half a day of frantic flight, he finally arrived back in Norvinsk around noon. Although he knew the guerrillas had a high probability of not catching him, Parkinson Law still ordered a full-speed retreat. He didn't dare gamble on the possibility of such a low-probability event, let alone imagine what would happen if the guerrillas caught up with him. He could only flee across the snowy plains, dragging his remaining troops and provisions.

Fortunately, luck was on his side this time.

Victor looked at Parkinson Law, who knelt before him, and casually put down the report in his hand. "Deputy Captain Parkinson Law, your poor supervision of your mines has resulted in countless casualties and property losses. I hereby fine you half a year's salary and require you to pay the compensation allowances for the soldiers killed or wounded in battle. For your soldiers' poor performance in battle, I will also deduct one month's allowance. Do you have any objections?"

Parkinson Law let out a long sigh, the weight of his heart finally falling. "I have absolutely no objection. Thank you for your tolerance, Colonel."

Ursus' military orders were strict; retreating prematurely after a battle went against him would have been punishable by death if handed down to another general. There was no way they would have been so careless as to impose salary and compensation. With proper management, he could have made up for this amount in a month.

However, this punishment also indirectly proves that what happened in the mine seemed to be what the colonel expected. He seemed to have guessed that his territory would be attacked by guerrillas, so he arranged...

No, I can't think about it anymore. Parkinson Law took the opportunity to stand up and glanced at Victoria in front of him. The colonel was calmly handling official business, as if his defeat and escape were a trivial matter.

Parkinson Law swallowed hard, mustered up the courage to ask, "By the way, Mr. Victoria, I'd like to return to the mine early tomorrow morning to rebuild. Do you have any further instructions?"

"No instructions, just reopen the mine as soon as possible." Victor didn't even look up as he casually pushed a document in front of Parkinson Law. "I've already contacted a new batch of supplies for you, and the construction team as well. The rest is up to you."

"Yes." Now that things have come to this, what else can Parkinson Law say except nodding in agreement?

After Parkinson Law left the mayor's office, Dorothy suddenly appeared beside Victoria. "What an interesting guy! He was so confident when I saw him two days ago, but today he looks so lost. Are those guerrillas really that scary?"

Victoria calmly put down his pen. Ever since he helped Dorothy develop her body, she'd taken to this elusive way of moving. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, as a sorcerer, Dorothy needed to regularly practice her Originium memory.

"Don't you understand clearly? Parkinson Law has never been afraid of the guerrillas. He's afraid that I'll go back on my word and use the opportunity to get rid of him, the old man."

Dorothy curled her lips. "So you're worried about that? I thought he was so smart. If you wanted to kill him, wouldn't you have done it long ago? Keeping him around until now doesn't that prove your intentions?"

Victor smiled and shook his head. "Smart people always overthink things; it's human nature. As long as they don't dwell on things they shouldn't, I don't mind them speculating about my thoughts. Now that the smart people's affairs are dealt with, it's almost time for the fools to come on stage."

"Idiot?" Dorothy pondered for a moment before she realized who Victoria was referring to. "You mean the guerrillas? Will they really take the initiative to seek cooperation with us?"

"That depends on how stupid they are." Victoria looked out the window. The good weather these past few days was just a harbinger. Soon, the cold winter wind would sweep across the snowy plains. If the guerrillas couldn't make a decision now, the wind and snow would drown the legend of Ursus.

"Personally, I still really hope they can cooperate. Chaotic martial arts, chaotic martial arts, how can they dance if they're not chaotic enough? And if they're not chaotic enough, how can I defeat the strong with the weak?"

"Master, you've started saying some strange things again, but if that's what you want, I'll help you keep an eye on him." Dorothy pretended to walk behind Victoria casually and pecked his cheek lightly like a chicken pecking at rice. When Victoria reached out to hug the girl, the beauty behind him had already disappeared.

--------

"Another failure."

As Parkinson Law's team fled in panic, the snow monsters who had left also had grim expressions. They had no food with them, only some valuables they were trying to trade in various villages.

But it was clearly a futile effort. To ensure the rapid development of Norvinsk, Victoria had long since taken control of all resources, including food. Apart from enough food for the small villages near Norvinsk to survive the winter, all other supplies had been sent to Norvinsk in exchange for precious cotton wool and various production tools.

The Yeti Squad wants to break out of the surrounding villages, and there is no other way except to kill and rob.

"So, unless we go to Norvinsk to trade, we won't be able to get any more food, right?" Yelena said goodbye politely to a hunter and quickly left the village with the loaf of bread she had finally earned. The loaf was quite heavy, but the yetis were all strong men, so if they divided it evenly, it would be useless except for filling their stomachs.

This amount of food is not enough, far from enough.

If we want to help the entire team survive the winter, there is probably no other way except to go to Norvinsk.

Looking at the skinny, hungry faces of her team, Yelena made up her mind: "Let's go, keep moving forward. Our next destination is Norvinsk."