Long-term salvation

Icicles hung in a row outside the window, and occasionally a small one would be blown off by the cold wind and pierce the snowdrifts below. The weather was pretty good today, gloomy but no snow. It seemed that the blizzard had passed too quickly, so that the great power of nature had not yet had time to punish humans as usual.

Rhodes arched out from the warm and thick quilt. The fur on the blanket beneath him made him feel a little itchy, but he really didn't want to lift the quilt in this weather, so he got out of bed and put on his cold plush slippers.

Last night, Rhodes dreamed of the lovely girl with emerald eyes again. She looked much better than before, and it seemed that she had slept well recently. Of course, when leaving, Rhodes still put the muzzle of the gun to that smooth forehead and pulled the trigger under the girl's expectant gaze.

"I won't dream about her every night from now on..." Rhodes muttered, looking up at the clock hanging in the room. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning, a good time.

After hesitating for a while, Rhodes retreated into the quilt and stretched before suddenly pulling it open. The cold air in the room immediately gathered and whipped every inch of exposed skin, making him immediately want to escape back into the quilt.

But if he delayed any longer, the girls would surely knock on his door one by one. Rhodes had no doubt that they might pry open - that was a bad way to put it - his door using some technical means. But that wasn't a big problem, as he never locked the door.

Rod, stripping out of his pajamas, briefly walked around the room, then put on the clothes hanging in the closet. He picked up the white ceramic cup on the desk and saw that the coffee inside was gone, leaving only a circle of coffee stains at the bottom. Next to the cup was an open history book covering the two world wars from the beginning of the century. Beneath the book were two pages of delicately written timelines.

There was a narrow bookshelf in the bedroom that stretched all the way to the ceiling, with a folding chair leaning against the brown wooden furniture. The bookshelf, stuffed with books, was clearly prepared by Atlas, and so was the house he and the girls now lived in.

The house resembles a typical single-family home in a small American town, with a brown and beige brick exterior, dark brown tiles, and, of course, a white garage door large enough for a pickup truck. The two-story house has plenty of rooms, all with a warm, homey feel, clearly indicating the previous family hasn't been away for long.

After closing the book, Rhode took the cup and went out. He then turned the sleepy Yuuka over like a screw and told her to go back to sleep. The girl had stayed up late playing board games with Abigail and the others the previous night, and had also helped Rhode compile a timeline of major events in this world, so she had only just gotten out of bed.

"Hey! You're up!"

The cheerful red-haired Nikki raised her hand to greet Rod. She was sitting carefree on the sofa, playing Super Mario World on Super Nintendo with a game controller in her hand... In this world, the development of electronic products seemed to start a little earlier than the normal timeline.

"Good morning, Little Red Riding Hood. How did you sleep last night?"

Rhodes yawned and waved to Nikki. Unlike the gloomy board members, he played board games with the girls yesterday and even went out for a walk around the town - this was a regular program. He caught all the hiding Atlas Company agents and asked them to bring him a few more books on world history.

Red-haired Nikki didn't answer directly. Instead, she dropped the controller, stood up, put her arms around Rhodes' neck, rubbed his hair, and said with a smile:

"The sofas here are really nice. Commander, you must have slept well too, with so many beautiful girls keeping you company."

"You say that as if they're all... forget it," Rhodes numbly enjoyed the surprisingly soft feeling coming from the side of his face. "Let me go, I still have to wash the cups, huh? Wait, where are Noah and Marian?"

"Noah and Marian went out. They were planning to go to the supermarket. Abi-chan is still sleeping."

Nikki Little Red Riding Hood and Azure Files Student Salt Noah are both characters that appear after Rod uses the character exchange voucher.

Noah's (the humble girl) situation was similar to Yuka's, so leaving aside the question for now, Rhodes had thought that the next Nikki would be the three little ones, Laby, Anis, or Nian, but it seemed that the system did not specifically distribute the characters according to the order in the game.

Not only that, he checked out Little Red Riding Hood's weapon, Wolfsbane, which was based on the Barrett M82A2 anti-material sniper rifle with a caliber of 12.7mm. It also had the feature of "enhanced damage to creatures in the other world" - it felt like a targeted measure taken by the system to deal with the upcoming events in the other world.

In addition, the system has also launched a free character exchange function. It seems that after owning a character in a team or school, you can directly exchange it for other characters. For example, Little Red Riding Hood's goddess team members, Yuka's students at Millennium Science Academy... This function is currently grayed out and it is estimated that it will need to be unlocked after completing system tasks.

But now there is a problem - Little Red Riding Hood is in the same state as Marian, with no memory of the past, which is not normal at all.

In the current game setting, Nikkei is a member of the first generation of the Goddess Army, known for her outstanding achievements and immense combat power, essentially representing humanity's spiritual symbol of resistance against Letcher. However, as with many stories, they are betrayed immediately after protecting humanity's entry into the underground Ark, and are scattered across the surface.

The characters given by the system for exchange, whether it is Nikki or the students of the Azure Files, are more like being "created" by the system, and then stuffed with the character personalities set in the game, slightly modified abilities and fragmented and vague memories, so that they appear by his side and become helpers.

In fact, he himself is quite similar.

But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Without the constraints of tragic memories of the past, there is no need to worry about possible betrayal. You just need to run in the direction you have chosen until you die or you want to stop.

"By the way, Noah and the others are going to the supermarket so early. Will it be open?" Rhode broke free from Little Red Riding Hood's embrace and wandered to the kitchen to wash the cups. The faucet wasn't completely turned off, but was still running slightly. "But Christmas has been over for several days, so they should be back to work... Ugh, the tap water is so cold. I hope the pipes in this house don't freeze and burst in the next few days."

After washing the cups, Rod returned to the living room and pushed Little Red Riding Hood aside on the sofa. Little Red Riding Hood's attitude toward Rod wasn't as respectful as Marianne's, but more like a good friend from the same dorm. He picked up the bag of chips on the table and shook it. There was no sound inside, obviously she had eaten it all.

In desperation, Rhode switched the game to Street Fighter II, took out a new controller and shook it at Nikki:

"Want some?"

"Okay, okay," Nikki agreed readily. She rolled her eyes slightly and continued with a playful, cute smile, "The timing is perfect, Commander. Want to bet on something?"

"What do you want to bet on? Haha, you're challenging my dignity as a commander and a Street Fighter expert. So, what do you want to bet on?"

"Let's win first," Nikki said confidently. She sat up and crossed her long, white, jade-like legs on the table. "Just so you know, I'm pretty strong!"

"Ha, what a boast!"

However, just a few minutes later, Rhodes' face became tense and his hand holding the handle trembled slightly. The Long he used was being beaten by Chun-Li, and the Guile he used in the previous game was even defeated by Zangief.

I'm going to lose... Could it be that this little girl has been up all night playing games here?!

Rhodes's eyes fixed, and he used his right hand to control the controller to make Long on the game screen retreat temporarily. His left hand immediately grabbed Nikki's arm. Nikki seemed to be prepared for this. She raised her arm suddenly, making Rhodes's move miss.

"Cheating prohibited!"

"Damn it! Pull the line! Pull the line now!"

"Ahhh, Commander, you—"

The two were playing around when they heard the sound of slippers scraping against the carpet. Rhode loosened his grip on Little Red Riding Hood's face and turned to look at the newcomer.

"Good morning, Abigail."

"Good morning, Little Red Riding Hood, and good morning, Mr. Big Bad Wolf."

"...I think you can change the word," Rhodes sighed. He stood up from the sofa, looked at the clock in the living room, and said:

"Wake up Yuuka in half an hour. I'm going out now to see why Noah and Marianne haven't come back yet."

Chapter 34: Everyday Arkham Town Stories (2/2)

Putting on a long brown windbreaker and stuffing the space between the collars with a scarf, Rod prepared to go out.

"If you find them in the supermarket, remember to bring me two bags of chips, original flavor."

Little Red Riding Hood, who was still playing, curled up on the sofa and raised her hands, shouting loudly without turning her head, while Abigail stood at the entrance and whispered:

"I want candy, any flavor."

"No problem, ladies."

Rod reached out and patted Abigail's little head, then turned and walked out.

In the early morning, there were already more pedestrians on the streets of Arkham Town. They were all familiar neighbors, standing in the slightly cold breeze, eagerly discussing everything that had happened recently. The white mist exhaled from their mouths flew in the direction of the wind and disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Rod took a deep breath, feeling the slight sting of the cold air filling his lungs, then he took out the cigarette case from his coat pocket, but he couldn't find the lighter after searching all over his body.

"Tsk... I think I put it there yesterday when I was playing board games and lighting candles." Rhode reluctantly put away the cigarette case, wrapped his windbreaker tightly around him, and headed for the supermarket. "I should buy a few more next time. Anyway, the system doesn't have an exchange function, so it would be nice to exchange them for some daily necessities."

After greeting the Atlas Company agent who was pretending to be out walking his dog, Rhodes wanted to borrow a light from him, but the latter shook his head repeatedly - this agent had participated in the cleanup work at Salem Town Hospital and had seen the pools of foul-smelling minced meat and the deformed and horrifying non-human skeletons inside.

Although the fire was claimed to be caused by a circuit overload caused by a snowstorm, the truth was quietly spread among Atlas agents:

The man before him rushed into the hospital with several little girls and not only killed all the monsters sacrificed by the cult inside, but also left without a single scratch on his body! No wonder Mr. Irons favored him so much - there were even rumors that Mr. Irons was planning to train him to be the next generation of the Atlas Corporation's helmsman!

If the news is true, then this young man named Rhodes will be shrouded in mystery... Some say he is actually Irons' illegitimate son, but this statement was quickly refuted by those who have seen Rhodes:

"How could Mr. Irons have such a handsome son?!"

Although this wave of public opinion was quickly strangled by Irons himself, and the two unlucky guys, Gideon and Joker, who refuted it, were fined, Rhodes' existence did spread within Atlas Corporation.

If Rhode knew about this, he would probably only use a game feature in Crusader Kings 3 to explain it.

The seeds of legend have been planted, and the legend is being spread!

"Okay, if you don't have a lighter, can you tell me which direction Noah, the one with silver hair, and Marianne, the one with black hair, went?"

The agent pursed his lips, struggled to tighten the leash of the golden retriever that was pouncing on Rhodes, and then pointed in a direction.

Looking at the agent with a look of "Please leave quickly" on his face, Rhode raised his eyebrows and asked:

"Why don't you like talking to me? Irons' orders?"

After holding it in for a long time, the agent, with a flushed face, blurted out:

“…There are a lot of reports to write.”

"You have to write it down after just saying one sentence?"

“…Write every single sentence.”

"Oh, good job!" Rhodes laughed, patting the agent's shoulder and pulling a small communication device from his collar. He started by saying a Rabindranath Tagore poem, then some incomprehensible nonsense. Then Rhodes winked at the agent and whispered, "Now, you're not the only one writing the report."

Leaving behind the sad-looking agent, Rhodes continued walking along the streets of Arkham Town in a happy mood.

Some parked cars were still covered in unmelted snow, their tires stained with a mixture of frost, snow, and slush, which had dried. The occasional passing car would add to the stains. Several residents watched as shovels and brooms emerged from their houses, slowly clearing the snow in front of and behind them. Their children also helped, but mostly played around.

At this moment, neither the shadow of the Cold War nor the horrific killings by the creatures of the other world have anything to do with ordinary people. They live here, either happily or miserably, but ultimately they are living a "human" life.

Rod watched all this with enjoyment. He was sure that he was doing the right job, so now he should...

The noise of bicycle wheels rubbing against the slippery ground suddenly came from behind Rhodes, and the reality of the brake pads completely failing turned into a terrified cry:

“Ohhhhh, the person in front, get out of the way!!!”

Rod stood sideways, lifted the boy's collar from behind and stopped his bike. However, the puddles where the bike ran over still splashed dirty water, leaving some mud stains on Rod's trouser legs.

Putting the boy on the ground, Rhodes reached out to brush off the dirty snow on his shoulders that had rubbed off from somewhere, and then looked at the shabby bicycle again, and said unhappily:

"Boy, you should get a new bike. The brake pads on this one are completely broken, and I don't know where another one is. The brake levers don't work very well either. If you hit an old man next time, I'm sure you'll get a good beating on your ass... What's your name?"

"Mike... Mike Wheeler, sir, that's my name."

The boy whispered. He carefully met Rhodes's eyes and found that the latter did not seem angry. His anxiety immediately subsided a lot, and he began to explain:

"Sorry, sir. I found this old bicycle in the warehouse. I was planning to... uh... repair it. You know, I don't have much pocket money."

"You should let your father do it."

"I can do it myself, sir," the boy pursed his lips, his face full of stubbornness, and it seemed that he didn't want his father to get involved.

"Okay, tough boy."

Seeing him like this, Rod patted his head amusedly, took out a Franklin from his jacket pocket, and said, "I want to know where the supermarket is in this town. If you can take me there, this is the salary I get for working for you."

The boy looked at the banknote, thought quickly, took it and put it in his pocket, with an irrepressible smile on his face:

"There are two supermarkets in Arkham, but the one closer to here won't be open today. The owner is planning to go on vacation. We need to go to the one farther away, sir."

Oh, this might explain why Noah and Marianne haven't come back yet... I should have asked the agent to say a few more words just now, and saved myself the expense.

Rhodes thought about it and followed the boy, who was still chattering about what had happened in Arkham recently, including why the boss was going on vacation.

Turning a corner, Rod noticed three boys waving at the boy Mike.

What is this? Four people in a three-man team?

[Important] A reader posted a question about possible characters in the upcoming second game, so I'm going to give a unified answer here: characters like Zhou, Mi, Girls' Frontline, and Onmyoji will not be featured in this book. Characters like Sengoku, Dust White, and Ashes of War are also not currently planned, but Kancolle will be included. Settings and plot related to FGO will not be featured, and subsequent characters are not planned. Currently, the only character featured is Abigail.

Chapter 35: Everyday Life: An Ordinary Day (1/2)

When multiple men get together, there will always be one who has the best ideas. This is true even when they are children.

Will Byers, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, and Mike Wheeler—all from "Stranger Things." The four boys, with just one look at each other, instantly came up with a new idea. Led by Mike, they were chattering around Rod about the best routes, the best local products to buy at the supermarket, and offering lame compliments, apparently hoping to get this generous gentleman to drop some more gold.

"Hey, isn't school starting for you guys yet?" Rhodes said helplessly. "You guys are louder than a few hundred crows playing rock music together. I'm kind of regretting letting you lead the way."

"Okay, sir, don't be angry," Lucas, who is black, said quickly, and he made a gesture of zipping his mouth, "Let's shut up right now."

"That's right, shut up, Will." / "You should shut up, Dustin." / "Cut it out, both of you, Mr. Rod is making snowballs... ah, don't stuff them in my collar! I was wrong, Mr. Rod!"

The kids did quiet down a bit for the rest of the trip, but they soon found themselves discussing the Dungeons & Dragons board game or the board game they had played the day before, and occasionally the new games at the town's arcade and the home computers for sale in the stores.

Judging from the books Rhodes read in the past two days, the major historical events on the original timeline before he traveled through time would still happen, with only slight differences in the details.

For example, restrictions on commercial internet traffic had long been lifted, and personal computers, mobile phones, and other electronic products were rapidly developing and gaining popularity. According to Rhode's own estimates, not counting military technology and secret research projects he was unaware of, this world's electronic technology was roughly three to five years ahead of the normal timeline, and was still accelerating rapidly.

This is a good thing. Rod still misses the days of using smartphones of the later level, rather than Simon launched by IBM in 1993, or Ericsson GS88... By the way, I wonder when the first generation of Apple mobile phones in this world (originally in 2007) will be released.

"Look, doesn't that lady in front have an angel halo above her head?"

Rhode was lost in thought when he suddenly heard Will's shout, followed by the other children's confused voices:

"No." / "Will, what are you talking about?" / "He probably didn't get enough sleep."

"I didn't see it either," Rhodes said lightly, and wrote down Will's name, ready to tell the Atlas agents - he rarely wore the All-Seeing Eyes outside, as it was easy to cause trouble, such as being watched or questioned.

His companions were talking about it at once, even Rhodes was saying so, which made Will doubt his own eyes. He frowned and looked carefully. It seemed that there was indeed no angel halo... But the boy still felt a strange feeling in his heart, as if someone had erased those inconsistent marks with an eraser.