Herrscher of Reason's Arknights

However, to be fair, although there are many infected people, they are not so many that they are everywhere. In order to meet this hard target, some soldiers or police officers simply pretended to be infected.

For example, right now, you're saying this is an infected person? The old soldier didn't believe it at all, after all, these kids looked like members of an ordinary family. However, the veteran just glared at the recruit and didn't say anything.

After all, this is not an isolated case. A lot of people have been gathered in the centralized area, and such situations have already occurred. However, everyone has tacitly agreed to it, since everyone has to meet this mandatory target. The higher-ups don't care whether there are actually that many infected people in the city. They just give you a number, and you have to meet it. If you don't, you can go home and farm.

elder sister·····

Yelena, who had been brought over, looked around at the chaotic crowd with a sense of bewilderment.

When the military police came to take her away, she didn't resist. It wasn't that she couldn't, but she followed her sister's instructions: if there was no danger to her life, she shouldn't use Originium Arts. One reason was that it would break the disguise she had released, and the other was that this wasn't the middle of nowhere; the whole city was full of Ursus people, and if she started a fight, things would get complicated.

Sodium chloride dislikes trouble, which is why she gave the girl those instructions.

The military and police did not take any action against her; instead, they brought her here.

There are many infected people here. Most of them have blank stares, are mentally scattered, and are dressed in rags, looking like homeless people in the city or regulars in the slums.

Of course, there were also a small number of citizens who appeared to be dressed neatly, but each of them carried a degree of confusion and fear on their faces.

what on earth is it? !

One family appeared to have had an argument with the military and police.

They seem to be saying that they are not infected.

"You can't just arrest people randomly!! We're not infected, are you out of your mind to put us among the infected?!"

Indeed, the men argued heatedly, but the crowd was also dividing itself. The infected all looked coldly at the well-dressed Ursus citizens, while the Ursus citizens gradually banded together, distancing themselves from the ragged infected around them.

The infected people's eyes were filled with schadenfreude and mockery, while the citizens' eyes were filled with disgust and arrogance.

Both sides looked down on each other. However, it was clear that although the infected were usually despised like rats in the street, now that everyone was gathered together, and the military and police spoke to each other with a tone of reprimand and threat, the infected actually felt much better.

This bizarre sense of fairness truly reflects a morbid and distorted society.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the officer standing on the table was flipping through the report in his hand.

The targets have been largely met, which is good. A few minor instances of half-hearted efforts are not a big deal, since the issued orders already contained too many questions about the number of people.

Therefore, it's not a big deal if a generation produces a few mediocre individuals.

The specially dressed officer closed the form and coldly observed the crowd gathered in the square by the military and police.

He was an officer from Ursus' special forces, not a regular army or mechanized group, but a mage.

As a relatively small but strategically important branch of the military, mages are naturally the elite in the military system. Unlike the army system, which is made up of a bunch of illiterate soldiers, mages need talent, money, and knowledge to arm themselves. They not only need the talent to use Originium Arts, but also need to learn how to use them and how to concentrate the use of Originium Arts in battle to achieve firepower projection. All of this requires knowledge; at the very least, they need to be able to understand the manuals.

Therefore, these kinds of talents naturally use the best resources and are the most valuable and treasured troops in each army group.

Of course, they are also the main fighting force in this special operation.

Snow Removal Plan

Because the existence of the Snow Demon has begun to threaten the supreme influence of the Ursus military, someone has to step in and deal with this problem.

So when they arrived, the military even deployed its most trusted mages as a special task force.

Of course, this matter was a top secret. The military and police only told them to get moving, and the reason was naturally a secret. Even the soldiers who were cooperating with the operation were carrying out their mission with blank expressions.

This matter is classified at the highest level; it's estimated that even the Imperial Council is unaware of its planning and execution, and will only find out the outcome at the end.

"To conceal our actions from Parliament and act without authorization...isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

Beside the officer, the adjutant, who was not wearing a standard military uniform but a special black uniform resembling a raincoat, asked with some concern.

"In the East, there is a Chinese idiom that is very suitable for the current situation."

The well-dressed officer explained calmly, seemingly without any worry, and even brimming with confidence.

"what?"

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Victories are fleeting; there's no time for slow, hierarchical reporting. Our job is simply to relieve the Emperor's burden and secure victory ahead of schedule—that's enough..."

As for the reasons, that's a matter for the empire's politicians, understand?

That actually makes some sense.

But what if there is no victory?

He wanted to speak, but seeing his superior's face full of confidence, as if he couldn't wait to order his troops to set off and fight the Snow Demon, the adjutant decided not to voice his concerns.

Although speed is of the essence in war, the reasons for this have been found by historians and politicians in later generations, which is not a bad idea.

But the prerequisite is victory.

If the snow removal plan succeeds, that's fine, but what if it fails?

Wouldn't that make the crime even more serious?!

Moreover, as an adjutant, he was not clear about the details of the plan. At most, he only knew that there was such a plan, so he did not understand why the first step of the plan was to collect infected people.

However, his superior noticed his adjutant's doubts and gave him a brief explanation.

"Their role is very important..."

"After all, it's the best material for concentrated spellcasting in one go..."

P.S.: It's so cold! The heating pipes in our building are malfunctioning, my house is turning into an icebox!

I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, sob sob sob.

Yostar updated their video today, looks like they're going to release a GetBackers storyline? ??

No way! I just got my gear set up and you've already spoiled it for me! How am I supposed to write a story now? [collapses]

Chapter 30, Section 30: [The War Begins!]

I'll be going home a little later today.

As the sun was about to set, in the woods, Sodium Chloride leaned against a tree, its golden eyes gleaming ominously in the dark forest. At the treetop, a bird covered in purple markings perched on a branch, its golden eyes watching the marching army in the distance.

With the help of the perspective of the birds that were puppetd by Honkai energy, the Ursus transport convoy marching across the snowfield was extremely conspicuous.

Which unit is this? It's unclear. She's not like Koschich, an old silver coin who knows the entire empire's military system inside and out. Sodium Chloride, who isn't an intelligence specialist, can only gather intelligence with her own eyes at most. Because she belongs to the power-based villain faction, she doesn't have much ability to develop subordinates or become a savior of evil.

Of course, in contrast, sodium chloride's power is dozens of times that of those strategist-type villains. If a villain with personal charisma and who also seems to be very capable has a combat power of 100, then because there are gains and losses, in this rule system where everything has a price, a power-type villain like sodium chloride who has put all his talent points into power and strength has a combat power of 1,000 or even tens of thousands.

The difference between a mortal and a demigod is still significant. The strongest mortal is still a mortal, and the weakest god is still a god.

The difference between them is zero and one, an insurmountable gap.

Previously, due to my frequent harassment, the Ursus garrison legions and non-main force legions all reduced their presence, and even when marching, they tried to spread their reconnaissance as far as possible in order to prepare for my attack in advance.

Although it seems meaningless to sodium chloride, once it enters its range, all other methods are useless. Unless it is sufficiently resilient, nothing will be left under the intense bombardment.

But this time was very unusual; he could almost see the marching formations in his sight.

However, this is the first time I've ever seen a logistics sodium chloride system that only focuses on speeding up and doesn't even bother to scout its surroundings.

Is this a case of not taking oneself seriously? Or is it that there's a genuine 100,000 urgent calls that can't be bothered with anything else?

However, it seems the convoy left in a great hurry. Of course, there is another possibility.

The plot of a certain twin-egg robot anime is just like this: they send out a large number of convoys and military operations to attract a terrifying giant robot organization that claims to be waging an extinction war. They spread the news everywhere as if they were afraid that the other party would not pay attention. When the other party attacks the convoy, they suddenly launch an attack on the allied forces that are lying in ambush around them, intending to defeat them one by one.

If it weren't for the sudden appearance of allies to save the day, the anime probably wouldn't have had a second season and would have ended with the first season.

However, sodium chloride is not someone who wants to end wars, nor does she have any interest in doing good deeds; she is indeed a true villain.

Perhaps he initially harbored some kind of fantasy, but after experiencing so much, with his hands stained with blood, and having become accustomed to death and betrayal, the sodium chloride of today has long since lost all interest in such things.

Murder is murder. No matter the reason, the moment the knife pierces the body, who is right and who is wrong is irrelevant. What needs to be done is to eliminate the other party, to eradicate them by any means necessary.

trap?

Then let's completely destroy those ambushing troops and improve our KPIs a bit.

From the perspective of sodium chloride, human life has no special value.

After all, that's how humans are. When they become powerful enough to be very different from those around them, their ability to empathize as social animals will gradually disappear.

So--

It’s about to start.

The purple storm had already gathered beneath their feet, and as the snow on the ground was swept up and floated into the air, the girl was no longer in the woods.

······················

"Will the Snow Fairy really take the bait?"

"Of course, how could we not attack such a convoy that appears so openly right under our noses?"

In the distance, on the snow-covered hills, several eerie black figures stood amidst the swirling snow and darkness, serving as the implementers and supervisors of the military's plan.

The Emperor's inner guards, without relying on any external equipment, can see every move happening several kilometers away solely through their bizarre visual Originium Arts.

The convoy is moving towards its target location, and so far everything has been calm. As bait, if no fish bite, then the failure of the first step of the entire operation will also signify the failure of the entire operation.

However, the Emperor's inner guard and the military behind them were still very confident in this.

After all, with such a grand and elaborate march, the Snow Demon had no reason not to take the bait.

Once they take the bait, everything will be much easier.

The operational content of the "Snow Removal Project" is quite in line with the traditional thought process of the Ursus people: bigger, stronger, and more.

It might sound a bit like a green hat, but it's true. There's nothing that can't be solved with firepower. If once doesn't work, then twice.

This time, even siege cannons have been brought in. If the Snow Demon dares to show up, a saturation attack will be enough to injure him. After that, it's just a matter of relentlessly maintaining firepower and wearing him down.

Mages have energy requirements, and the large-scale use of Originium Arts will definitely consume a lot of Originium products. If we don't want our precious Imperial mages to become disposable items...

That's why they forcibly conscripted many infected people, and even dragged out infected miners from the mines under the Seventh, Sixth and Third Army Groups to use as living Originium batteries.

It is sufficient to ensure uninterrupted firepower delivery for several hours.

Not only can it eliminate the scourge of the Snow Demon, but it can also deplete the infected, making it a model of both gaining control and recycling waste.

As for whether it's humane or not, are infected people considered human?

What? You're asking what to do with those ordinary people who are just pretending to be something they're not?

—The policies of an empire do not need to conform to common sense and habits.

This is an excerpt from a prepared statement by an Ursus spokesperson.

Time ticked by, and the soldiers lying in ambush in the heavy snow were all on standby. Information relays at all levels were also operating at full capacity to ensure that the massive Ursus army could be fully coordinated to carry out the operation.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the Snow Fairy's next appearance.

Every second seemed incredibly long. Snowflakes slowly drifted down onto my clothes, melting into water droplets that soaked them.

Suddenly, the Emperor's inner guards, with their exceptional vision, spotted a faint purple hue blooming in the distance.

"It's the Snow Demon! The Snow Demon has arrived!!"

P.S.: I got a chapter recommendation for "I Was Imprisoned by My Family Immediately After Transmigrating".

By the way, oh my god, I've been featured!!! Probably tomorrow, or Monday, Orange Mom's Youthful Dream.

So happy, so happy!!!

Chapter 31, Section 31: [War Begins!]

It's getting lively.

The convoy was completely unprepared and continued its hurried journey.

boring.

There are two types of battles that are annoying: fighting against an opponent with strong immortality, having to kill them repeatedly until they suffer a mental breakdown or their resurrection ability reaches its limit, which is quite boring.

The second method is fountain diving.

The other party is incredibly bad, and in large quantities. While creating art everywhere can bring temporary pleasure, the downside is the emptiness afterwards.

After all, it doesn't involve any technical skill whatsoever.

However, a task is a task, and work is work; if you're going to do it, do it well.