Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

However, she only had a slight suspicion, and soon Hedley's shadow returned to normal, making the previous discovery seem like a misjudgment.

Noah didn't have time to think too much and threw himself into the mission. Of course, others were searching, while Noah was using various methods to hinder others' search.

The rebels were very slippery and familiar with the terrain. Even without Noah's cover, they would most likely be able to escape. Noah did not reveal anything, but returned to Hedley with nothing. In order not to reveal that she had returned too early, she also wrapped her body with a shadow spell and quietly approached Hedley.

And this time——I really found something wrong.

Although the distance was still far, Hedley was talking to a wall... This was the image Noah obtained after using the Eye of God.

The observation of the God's Eye was rarely noticed by anyone. Even Hedley could not know that a pair of eyes were observing him. The scene of him communicating with the wall was exposed to Noah's attention.

——Shadow spell?

Combining the unusual movements of Hedley's shadow that she had seen before, Noah made a judgment. As a skilled user of shadow magic, she knew that shadow magic was actually a very versatile type of spell, very effective in lurking, assassination, and even reconnaissance. Hiding in the shadows itself was one of the ways to apply shadow magic.

If there was someone hiding in Hedley's shadow, who was it? Why would Hedley communicate with this person in private?

Noya didn't know, but she felt she needed to know all this, so she quietly approached where Hedley was. Now, the voice finally became clear.

"It seems you've found a group of loyal new subordinates, 'Boss.'" The voice hidden in the shadows was slightly distorted, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman, but the slightly sarcastic tone in it was very clear.

"They believe there will be a good harvest here, which makes them full of fighting spirit." Hedley is a cultured man after all, and even his speech is elegant, which is a far cry from his appearance.

"They trust you too. I can see clearly that this trust has far exceeded the level that one mercenary should have for another." When the voice in the shadow spoke to Hedley, Hedley's shadow would also shake irregularly. As Noah had guessed, this person had been hiding in Hedley's shadow - the only question was his identity.

"This proves that Manfred's plan is working." Hedley continued, "The Sarkaz are truly being torn apart. In the past, I would have been happy to see this happen, but now... the more united the Sarkaz are, the more likely they are to be shattered in this farce."

"Can Manfred really turn mercenaries into soldiers? I don't think you're that naive." The voice from the shadows understood the difference between mercenaries and soldiers. Fighting for money and fighting for faith were two completely different things. "No one can erase the essence of a mercenary. You should understand that."

The two were silent for a while. Noah didn't know what this silence meant, but from the words just now, Noah guessed that the voice in the shadow was once a mercenary.

After all, if he wasn't a mercenary, he naturally wouldn't be able to say what he said before.

"Mercenaries are always less trustworthy. Take for example the little Sarkaz who just joined the team—a little Sarkaz who can read. What kind of person do you think she is?"

After a brief silence, the voice in the shadows actually mentioned Noah.

"Perhaps she's a spy from some faction, or perhaps she's just a child who's learned to read and write. She doesn't look like a mercenary, but rather an exceptionally mature child." Hedley commented. "But this matter has nothing to do with me. Her actions won't affect us."

"If you don't pay attention to the movements of your shadow while walking, you might end up losing everything." The voice in the shadow sneered and warned.

"...Is this what you wanted to tell me?" Hedley did not mind the other party's provocation and just asked.

"No, more than that," the voice began. "What I'm trying to say is that after all this time, she's on her way."

……who is she?

Noah wanted to continue listening, but the other party seemed to have finished the brief information exchange...

Honestly, if it weren't for Noya's God's Eye bug, her already excellent hearing, and the shadow spell that hid her form, her opponent's vigilance wouldn't have allowed her to overhear these conversations. This location was originally outside the search range, and just to be safe, Hedley even went inside the building to communicate. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to avoid detection, it was still easy for the God's Eye to find someone.

After Noah made progress, Amiya finally determined the location where her informant was being held.

As Clovisia marked the location on the map, she looked up at the people in the conference room. "I've marked the most likely location on the map. Do you have any opinions?"

"Eight more locations... Should we check them one by one?" Amiya looked at the locations on the map. "Even with the operators from Rhodes Island, it's still a bit difficult to check so many locations in such a short time."

"Unfortunately, all eight locations meet the requirements for temporary prisons." Clovisia shook her head. She had done her best, but while all eight locations met the requirements for temporary prisons, they were also guarded by Sarkaz. While this was likely a deliberate attempt to confuse the enemy, it couldn't be ignored. "First, there are no residential areas near them, meaning it's difficult for information to flow in or out. Second, they're all located near major roads leading to the central district, making it easy for Sarkaz soldiers to travel between the inner and outer districts. And third... they're not connected to our area."

After the young commander explained the reasons one by one, everyone nodded in agreement.

They were too lacking in information. Amiya missed Noah very much now, but Noah had his own things to do, and she couldn't contact him right now. The doctor, the only one who could contact Noah, didn't think now was the time to use this card. If everything depended on Noah, then even if Noah could now operate two bodies, it would be impossible for him to take care of everything.

What's more, no one thinks that the commander of the Sarkaz is a moron. What they can think of, the commander of the Sarkaz can probably think of as well.

The doctor observed the terrain and locations. Just as Clovisia had said, these eight locations all met the criteria for a temporary prison. But she quickly thought of something and pointed at one of the targets. "This location? Is it a sugar refinery?"

"That's not quite right. It's just an abbreviation, or a pseudonym. The real name of this place should be [Twisterol Manufacturing Plant], but because the packaging of Torsisterol looks like children's candy, it's nicknamed the Sugar Factory. It's like the difference between mothballs and candy balls," Klovicia explained. "Any questions?"

"I think we've found the answer." The doctor's mouth curled up. "We might know the owner of this sugar refinery. Mr. Thomas, who was killed in the artillery attack outside the city. He said he had been working for the Sarkaz and was worried about being killed by them. Before he died, he told us that he saw the Sarkaz using his factory to do something... and these things are exactly why the Sarkaz are hunting him."

"I see! So this is the sugar factory Mr. Thomas was talking about," Amiya realized. "And Deep Pond also wants information about Mr. Thomas. So that's why."

"So there's this connection." Clovisia nodded in admiration. "Notify Fester that our target is the Sugar Factory."

After confirming the target, Clovisia breathed a sigh of relief. She was under a lot of pressure before. She had to maintain the transfer mission and find the informant's location within a limited time.

If the Sarkaz really imprisoned an informant in the sugar factory, they only needed to fail to complete this operation so that they could move quickly to avoid the attack of the city defense artillery.

They are still in danger now.

She still understood this very clearly.

Chapter 41: Heidi

The torsional alcohol factory located at the edge of the plot just stands there. Abandoned factories are not uncommon in Londinium. Most of the factories that are still in operation are under the supervision of the Sarkaz, producing a steady stream of military supplies for the Sarkaz army. Those factories that are temporarily useless will all be closed down. Even if there are disobedient ones, the Sarkaz army will directly requisition them.

Of course, when it comes to requisition, when it will be returned to you and whether you will still have the life to wait for it to be returned to you is another matter.

At this time, the Twisted Alcohol Factory also became the focus of Hedley's team. Noah was completely unaware of the seriousness of the problem, so he was directly sent to guard the Twisted Alcohol Factory with a team.

God bless her, she didn't even get any information. She was given a mission and Noah even thought she had been caught eavesdropping.

But she still maintained the bewildered air of a Sarkaz mercenary. After leading her team to this small [Sugar Factory], her first reaction was—it didn't seem as shabby as she'd imagined. After the Sarkaz troops handed over their duties to her, the garrison was replaced by hers. The Sarkaz had no objections at all, and the handover was handled naturally.

It was clear that the Military Committee was gradually professionalizing the Sarkaz mercenaries. They were even beginning to become militarized, and their ability to execute orders was also improving.

This is not good news. It is not difficult to deal with a truly united team and a group of scattered mercenaries. To put it in another way, Noah's ability has two different effects in front of a real army and in front of scattered mercenaries.

"Look at it brightly, at least I'm being reused..." Noah muttered to herself with some complaints, but her complaints happened to be heard by the Sarkaz in red clothes next to her. She seemed to be born to like taking care of others, so she approached the captain who looked a little strange and whispered.

"Captain...are you okay?"

"I... I'm fine." Noah said perfunctorily. It seemed that the girl codenamed Mingjiao was out of the situation from beginning to end. Even though it was their first meeting, after being appointed as the team leader by Hedley, she seemed to follow his orders as if it was a matter of course.

He was so submissive from the beginning to the end that it was outrageous... Is a child like this really suitable for coming to this kind of battlefield?

Noah lamented this result more than once, but she was still the first to respond to Mingjiao's concern.

"The order is just to hold this place, we just need to obey orders." Noah, feeling quite helpless, kept his purpose in mind. After all, he still had to find a chance to see who the real commander was.

But Hedley obviously has different plans...

"Is it difficult to guard this place?"

"That depends on the strategic position, the deployment of troops, and the strength of the troops—ah, I know you sound a little drowsy." Noah shook his head helplessly, looked at the girl in front of him, and reached out to touch her head. "I think you can learn to read first."

"...Ah...I can't help this..." Ming Jiao gave in much faster than Nuoya imagined. "I want to learn to read, but the words don't know me."

"……Why."

Noah was desperate about the illiteracy rate of the Sarkaz. Even if she wanted to convert a few of them, this group of people seemed to have a strong aversion to words.

Perhaps, they will only be interested when they specifically need to recognize the characters?

This seemed to be a temporary prison. Noah concluded after observing that there seemed to be a prisoner being held there. In other words, Hedley had thrown himself into the prison?

...To be honest, Noah was starting to feel uneasy. Wasn't this hinting at something else?

The strength of smart people is that they think a lot, but their weakness is also... they think too much.

Noah's confusion was truly lost on the others, especially the Sarkaz, who had already begun singing around the fire. One of them, with a guitar, was playing a classic Sarkaz song for his companions. It seemed like they all knew how to sing, their voices melodious and rising with the fire.

Noya watched from the side, but did not join in. She just needed to stay in this corner. The bustle did not belong to her, she belonged to the quiet night and the cool breeze.

There were quite a number of Londinium refugees held in the temporary prison, some of whom were sugar factory workers who were caught on the spot while secretly working, and some were simply civilians.

It was a makeshift prison, but in reality, it was little different from a concentration camp. Noya had at least issued orders not to mistreat the prisoners, and the squad itself was relatively unaffected by violence against the poor, which helped to ease the situation somewhat. When Noya arrived in front of the group, she caught a glimpse of a woman, clearly dressed differently from the others, protecting a group of children.

The people here are not only prisoners of war, but also workers. They will be directly involved in production later. This sugar factory is also responsible for transporting production materials to the front line.

Work must start at a fixed time and place, including rest time and meal time must be strictly observed.

Perhaps it was because of this that this group of people survived until now, and more importantly... it allowed me to meet these people...

I absolutely cannot stand idly by, but how can I hand these people over to the rebels?

Actively revealing coordinates? Or...

While Noah was still thinking, a child in the crowd quietly picked up a stone with a sharp edge, and quietly approached the distracted Noah with all his strength. Then he suddenly jumped up, wanting to hit Noah on the head with the stone, but unfortunately his body was too thin, and such an action was impossible to accomplish. He jumped very low, and was easily hugged by Noah who reacted quickly.

"Hey, little warrior wants to sneak attack me?" Noah couldn't help but find it funny when he saw the child in front of him who was staring at him intently but whose hands were too short to touch Noah's head.

But her actions made his mother panic and almost cry. She quickly walked out of the crowd and knelt directly in front of Noah. "The child is ignorant. Please don't blame me, Soldier. I will discipline him well!"

"...Me too..." Noah was helpless. She put the child on the ground and let him return to his mother's arms. She looked at the mother and daughter in a daze. But at this moment, a woman in red stood in front of her.

"If you want to execute me and my companions on the spot, then go ahead. But don't forget, there are more than a hundred pairs of eyes staring at you here." The other party's words were loud and clear, and attracted everyone's attention, but the problem was... most of the people here did not dare to resist Noah.

"I'm not planning on doing anything." Noah shook his head. "Besides, you're just a group of captives. You pose no threat to me."

Behind me are the members of the team. I can't say directly that I don't care, so I can only pretend that I don't care.

"No threat... Indeed, we pose no threat to you. But work waits for no one, does it? You said your general wants this batch of materials processed tonight."

"Is that true?" Noah turned around and asked the old soldier beside him. After receiving a positive answer, Noah calculated the time and asked, "Can you still sleep tonight?"

"The general didn't say that," the old soldier said, spreading his hands. "But I think the general meant that there's no need for rest time."

"No, that won't work. The efficiency is too low." Noah waved his hand. Since the work starts at night, you now have three hours of sleep time. When the sleep time is up, you can eat something and get ready to start work. Is that okay?

"No, Captain, this is against the rules." The old soldier quickly pulled Noah aside and said, "This is even less efficient."

"No, they're so sleepy they can't even open their eyes. How can they be efficient? Letting them rest first before working is the only way to be efficient," Noah explained. "People can go without food, but they must sleep. I'm the boss here now, so do as I say."

Although the old soldier still didn't think such behavior was useful, he announced it reluctantly.

"Listen up, everyone. The Sarkaz will never keep idle people. Whoever is unwilling to work will be killed, do you understand? The leader lets you sleep for three hours, and that's three hours. No one is allowed to sleep more than that! If you understand, then get moving! Find a place to sleep. If you dare to be lazy at night, I will beat you!" The old soldier's majesty was still there. The group of civilians were soon driven to the rest warehouse, and one after another lay down and fell asleep.

Noah watched this group of people leave, and to be honest, he still felt a little distressed... The child just now was obviously in the growth stage, but he was so thin that his bones were visible, and the hatred in his eyes could not be concealed.

Noah had also seen similar looks before he left Casimir. That group of people also looked at him with similar eyes.

That is... hatred...

That's the child's hatred.

"Ms. Heidi, thank you for just now." Regardless of Noah's feelings, the mother and daughter had just expressed their gratitude to Miss Heidi for standing up for them before going to bed. "If it weren't for you, we might... really never have come back."

"It's just a small favor. If I don't stand up, others will. The justice in people's hearts cannot be killed." Heidi put her hand on her chest and said with a smile, "Go back to the house and stay with your friends. The Sarkaz still need your skillful hands, and they won't harm you for the time being."

But Heidi was actually very curious as to why that mercenary seemed different from the other Sarkaz. When she saw the child attacking her, her eyes were not filled with anger or disdain, but a hint of sadness.

Heidi felt that she was not mistaken. That Sarkaz might be special...

If she guessed correctly, the operation time of this factory was almost up, and the safety of these people would be no longer guaranteed... She had to find a way out... a way to take them away.

But... there is little hope... what can a group of powerless people do?

But even she probably didn't expect that the person who had the same trouble was actually the same person as her imaginary enemy.

If he lets someone escape inexplicably, his werewolf identity will be exposed. Although he can still transform and change his identity, it would be a pity to give up after finally connecting with Hedley.

How can we release these legally and compliantly?

"Hey..." Noah walked past the box of firefighting supplies and suddenly came up with an idea.

——If there is no chaos, then let’s create some chaos... But we need to protect these people, so we need to put in some effort.

-

7:27 PM Weather/Overcast

Londinium, Sadian district, underground structure.

The soldiers of the Self-Defense Army were advancing along the pipeline. After locking onto the sugar factory as their target, they immediately came here and planned to launch a surprise attack.

After confirming the safety of all entrances and exits, Fester sat down with the other soldiers and began to discuss how to rescue the people in the factory - this was almost a head-on conflict between them and the Sarkaz. The weapons in the hands of these Sarkaz were not fake. They were a group of militiamen...with very little combat experience. How could they possibly fight against so many Sarkaz troops?

"If you keep thinking about it, there won't be time. Otherwise, just go for it head-on!"

"How can that be possible? Us and the Sarkaz troops? Is that true?"

"It will win."

"Come on, we're just a stone at best. If we fall into the water, the most we can do is make a splash."

Several self-rescue teams complained to each other, but no matter how much they complained, the battlefield command was in Fester's hands. Without his approval, these people would never move.

"Let's contact the commander first, and those people from Rhodes Island - if we really have to have a head-on conflict, although I don't want to admit it, those people from Rhodes Island are better at this than us." Fester shook his head and decided to see the opinions of his partners first.

At this time, Clovisia, the commander of the self-rescue army, was traveling with Rhodes Island and others. They were still two blocks away from the sugar factory. Compared to Fester and the others, Rhodes Island was less familiar with the terrain and could only move one step slower.

"Everyone, are you ready?" Clovisia looked at the team behind her and said, "You have just arrived at the exit closest to the target location. From here to the alcohol plant, we still need to pass through two underground blocks. Our two teams are already in place, and they will ensure a smooth journey. From now on, command will be handed over to you, Ms. Doctor."

"Mr. Fest just sent a signal, we have arrived." Amiya also spoke. Because of Kalsil's presence, the communication system was very smooth and there was no interference.