Asura in Arknights

She could understand what Leon and the others were talking about, but she didn't know how to explain it to Professor Valcke.

The professor shows no signs of regaining her memory yet, and even if she explains, Adele doesn't know if the professor will understand.

"...Professor, please come with me, we'll go next door to explain to you,"

After thinking for a moment, Adele said, "And Mr. Lynn, please come along too."

Upon hearing this, Lynn hesitated for a moment before following them into the next room.

The soldiers who remained in the living room glanced at them and then looked away, not caring what they were discussing in other rooms.

When explaining the truth, Adele felt it was best not to let the soldiers hear it, otherwise who knew what kind of chain reaction it would trigger.

"Alright, now you can tell me what happened, right?"

As soon as the door closed, Professor Valcke asked impatiently, "Liu Yi... what happened to those soldiers that I don't know about?"

“Professor, please calm down. I will tell you everything,” Adele urged. “I promise everything I’m saying is true, but could you please not interrupt me before I finish?”

"...I promise I won't interrupt you."

After receiving the professor's assurance, Adele recounted everything in detail, including the truth of the world, her and Leon's purpose in coming here, and the true identities of Valcke and Lynn.

During the explanation, Professor Valcke clearly wanted to interrupt Adele several times, but he held back because of his previous promise.

"...That's roughly the situation."

Are you kidding me?

Professor Valcke naturally did not believe Adele; no one would easily believe such a bizarre claim.

“I’m not joking,” Adele explained seriously. “Professor Valcke, you haven’t regained your memories yet, so you may not understand a lot of what I just said, but you’ll understand once we leave here.”

"..."

Professor Valcke frowned. How could he possibly believe such an unfalsifiable explanation?

After all, all the illogical aspects can be attributed to the 'Great God' altering the world's setting, which contradicts his 'professional knowledge.' The Great God is clearly just a symbol created by people; how could he possibly possess actual power?

Seeing that Professor Valcke still didn't believe her, Adele added, "If you don't believe me, you can ask Liu Yi yourself later. She shouldn't be hiding anything from you now."

Professor Valcke fell silent.

That's right... In Adele's explanation just now, her precious daughter is the incarnation of the Great Goddess of Feather Robes.

Is this some kind of joke they're playing on me? But those heavily armed soldiers don't seem like imposters... It doesn't seem to make sense for so many people to fool an old man like me.

Just then, Lynn, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "I think you should trust her."

The sudden sound startled the other two people in the room, but Adele quickly exclaimed with delight, "Mr. Lynn, you've regained your memories?"

Lynn shook her head. "No, I just... remembered some fragmented images."

"However, this also confirmed for me that there are definitely problems with my current memory... I haven't found the specific loopholes yet, but I have discovered quite a few illogical things."

After repeated mental shocks, although Lynn did not recall anything, he began to doubt the authenticity of his memories. Many things in his memory now seemed impossible for him to do.

With Lynn's support, Professor Valcke seemed to have no choice but to believe him. He sighed and said, "Alright... I'll believe you for now."

After convincing Professor Valcke, Lynn suddenly said to Adele, "May I ask you a question?"

"You were on the rooftop then... What was that red glow in the sky back then? I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."

Adele's body stiffened slightly as she remembered that Lynn was a tower sorcerer.

The characteristics of the Witch King's magic were too conspicuous. Everyone who had read the legends related to the Witch King would never forget that scene. Moreover, the Witch King had only been dead for a few decades, and not all the people who had lived through that era had died. As a member of the Tower, Lynn certainly understood what that ominous red light represented.

Fortunately... Lynn's memories of this world will eventually be erased, and Adele doesn't need to worry about the Witch King's existence being discovered.

After calming down a bit, Adele replied, "That's my Originium Arts."

……

"Then, Lady Shrine Maiden, may I ask where exactly the key is kept at the police station? Before things get worse, my soldiers and I will retrieve it from there."

Amidst the silence of the crowd, Kumano made a difficult decision.

He decided to personally lead the team to the police station to retrieve the control key for the train dispatch console, which made Li Ang take a second look at him.

Everyone knows what his decision means.

Those mutated monsters need time and sufficient nutrients to evolve. If you don't count their ability to infect, the newly transformed mutated creatures are not even as good as a four or five-year-old child. They are just disgusting and frightening in appearance. But if given enough time, those mutated creatures will evolve into terrifying killing machines.

Just like the mature mutant that Li Ang killed on the rooftop, it took him more than ten seconds to strike it with lightning. It was completely different from those weaklings that were just scary in appearance. Even in the world of Terra, this would be considered a troublesome monster. Ordinary people would only be able to run away if they encountered it.

“No, you stay here to protect the others. I’ll get the key,” Li Ang said, shaking his head.

Ultimately, Li Ang still didn't trust these guys.

While their courage is commendable, their strength is also locked in by this world at the level of ordinary people. Even if they are stronger than ordinary citizens, their strength is still quite limited.

Originium is the biggest cheat code in the world of Terra. Whether it's technological development or personal strength, anything even remotely related to this thing will soar to the sky like a rocket. The fact that the warlock class can occupy a place at the top of the pyramid is not due to the charity of others.

Kitano was infected three months ago... He had three months to evolve, and Kumano's small team, composed of ordinary people, was simply going to their deaths.

"You?" Kumano glanced at Li Ang's thin arms and legs, his eyes full of doubt.

In his opinion, Li Ang's thighs were not even as thick as his forearms, so how much strength could such a weak body have?

Chapter Ninety: Sacrifices

The physical abilities of different races in Terra vary greatly. The stronger ones can support two floors with one hand and split mountains and rocks with ease, while the weaker ones are about the same as the ordinary people in Li Ang's previous life.

Ursus can be considered the second tier of races, apart from those at the very top of the pyramid. And judging by how strong he is, he can certainly look down on Li Ang, who has small arms and legs.

But the Agors... specifically referring to these special Agors, are even stronger than the Waifan people, who are known for their physical prowess. If it really came down to a fight, Leon could easily overturn him with one hand.

Besides, the person who can make the decision isn't Kumano, so it's pointless for him to add more drama to his role.

"In that case, I'll leave the key to you," Liu Yi said to Li Ang.

"Miko-sama!"

Kumano was a little anxious that he had entrusted such an important task to an outsider, and subconsciously raised his voice.

"It's alright, let him handle it," Liu Yi said softly. "If he fails, it's not too late for you to go then."

"And... I have something even more important to ask you to do."

"Stockpiling food, finding suitable bases, protecting everyone's safety... these are all things you need to do. If you leave, we can't do these things on our own."

Hearing what Liuyi said, Kumano's expression softened considerably. He hummed a few times and reluctantly agreed, "Then let's leave it at that for now."

Where is the key?

“In the police chief’s office, or on his person. I’m not sure of the exact location, but it’s definitely inside the police station,” Liu Yi replied.

"Don't know the exact location? That's a bit troublesome..." Li Ang frowned.

If it's not in the police chief's office, wouldn't he have to search the entire police station to find it?

If the location of the key were clear, then Kumano might have a chance of succeeding with a squad of soldiers, but now... this really has to be done by Li Ang, because no one else can escape unscathed from such a dangerous place.

This gave Li Ang a subtle feeling of playing a game... However, this world itself is semi-virtual, and the various settings are established by the Great God based on everyone's perception, so it is not unreasonable to regard this world as a game.

"It's a bit troublesome..."

Li Ang ignored Kumano's threatening gaze and said, "There are some things I'd like to discuss with you privately."

Nodding, Li Ang instructed the soldiers guarding the living room to go about their business. After all irrelevant personnel had left, Li Ang asked, "Who is the current police chief? And what's the deal with that key? Is it related to the settings you changed for those people?"

Now that no one else is around, there are many things that can finally be discussed openly.

Fortunately, Liu Yi didn't enjoy being a riddle teller. She would tell Li Ang anything she could say. She nodded and said, "You guessed right."

"This world... is actually very fragile. Just changing one person's settings will trigger a series of chain reactions. Integrating a non-existent person into this world is actually less troublesome."

This time, in order to deal with the crisis caused by that monster, the Great God changed the settings of nearly a thousand people in one go, and forcibly created a non-existent organization, which has shaken the foundation of Sagazaki City's existence.

Before yesterday, the sewers of Sagazaki City were just ordinary sewers. Although they had been turned into nests by mutated creatures, they didn't have so many messy things.

However, the addition of the Punishing Army created a huge loophole in the world: what faction does such a massive army belong to? Where are they usually stationed? What are their duties?

To remedy these shortcomings, the Great Ming God built a massive structure inside Xianglu Mountain, and the subway station in the sewers led to that place.

The Hagoromo Shrine, which had previously lost its prominence, has been put back into use. Both the military and the Sagazaki police station are now considered properties of the Hagoromo Shrine, so it's inevitable that the key would appear at the police station.

"Of course, there is more than one way to get there, but without the key, it will be difficult for us to reach Xianglu Mountain smoothly."

"Wait, can't we just walk across the surface? Why do we have to take a car underground?"

Li Ang was very reluctant to go to the police station to play the key-finding game. Since he could get there by ground level, why should he bother to find the key?

“That’s impossible,” Liu Yi shook her head. “In order to confine the monster’s main body inside the mountain, all the entrances and exits in the upper part of the facility have been sealed off. The only safe way to enter is through the passage directly below.”

"If we force our way in from the ground and allow part of the monster's main body to escape, I'm afraid no one in this city will survive."

Upon hearing this, Li Ang fell silent.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, "I have a question... Do the people in this world really exist?"

Liu Yi gave Li Ang a deep look, as if she could see through his thoughts, and said, "Although they were born into this false world, there is no doubt that they are all living, breathing human beings."

"If you don't want to go find the key, that's fine too. I have no intention of interfering with your decision," Liu Yi said calmly, but these words completely shut down Li Ang's bold ideas.

That's hundreds of thousands of people... not just one or two. Although Li Ang doesn't consider himself a good person, he's not that bad either. If it were just one or two people who were accidentally affected, he might not care, but that's hundreds of thousands of people.

This put Li Ang under immense pressure.

He scratched his head and said with a hint of helplessness, "Alright... it seems I have no choice but to go. I hope that thing hasn't woken up yet."

He's been staying quietly in the police station for three months already, surely he wouldn't wake up at this point? Li Ang isn't that unlucky.

"We can talk about that later. Now tell me what exactly the ceremony is and what preparations are needed."

Li Ang decided to put this troublesome matter aside for the time being, and in addition to finding the key, they also needed to find a way to complete the Feather Robe Festival ritual.

He's been so busy these past two days that he hasn't even had time to catch his breath, so he hasn't had a chance to investigate what the Feathered Robe Festival is all about.

"It's very simple, there are no special requirements, as long as the person chosen for the sacrifice meets the requirements."

“A sacrificial offering that meets the requirements…” Li Ang frowned.

Is this what you call having no special requirements? But there's nothing I can do now, I can only do as Liuyi says.

"What are the requirements? I can go look for them while I'm at it."

“No need for that trouble, the right offerings are right here,” Liu Yi shook her head and said, “You and Miss Naoman are the most suitable offerings.”

Chapter Ninety-One Ceremony

He and Adele were the most suitable sacrifices?

Hearing Liu Yi's words, Li Ang was stunned for a moment, then looked at her with a rather surprised expression, "Are you serious?"

Using the two of them as sacrifices is just sending him and Adele to their deaths... It's amazing that Rui could say something like that so openly; I don't know what she was thinking.

Seeing the strange expression on Li Ang's face, Liu Yi knew he had misunderstood.

“You’re overthinking it. ‘Sacrifice’ is just a term that has been used for a long time. You can call it whatever you want,” Liu Yi said calmly to Li Ang. “There is no need for sacrifice, and you don’t need to do anything special. Just prepare the relevant props and follow the process of consciousness.”

However, this is not Li Ang's problem. Throughout history, whenever the words "ritual" and "sacrifice" are mentioned, people will first think of words like "blood sacrifice" and "human sacrifice." Such rituals have run through the entire history of Terra until the rise of Originium technology in modern times, when this ancient practice gradually faded from the stage of history.

Rather, it would be more accurate to say that Hagoromo Daimyojin is one of the few outliers among the many gods. His rituals are essentially a blessing to the participants, and in this respect, he can be considered a truly benevolent god.

This is quite normal, though. Gods who harbor malice towards humanity probably wouldn't even live to see this day. The Great Yan Dynasty was able to accomplish the great feat of bestowing titles upon gods. While other countries may not be as powerful as the Great Yan, it shouldn't be a problem for them to use their national strength to kill one or two gods who harbor malice towards humanity.

Yu Yi Da Ming Shen was one of those who were overlooked. He had been playing SimCity in this alternate dimension for countless years without anyone deliberately causing him trouble. The current situation was purely accidental.

They have hidden the entrance to Sagazaki City so well that there's no way anyone could find it.

After hearing Liu Yi's explanation, Li Ang was still somewhat skeptical and asked curiously, "Is it that simple?"

The so-called ritual seemed to only require her and Adele to walk around a fixed route without even moving... Is the ritual really that simple?

“It’s that simple,” Liu Yi nodded and said calmly, “Of course, this ritual is only given meaning in this world.”

Upon hearing this, Li Ang understood everything. The so-called ritual was merely a way to communicate with the Great God, similar to... an encrypted alarm clock? Only the Great God would respond to this ritual.

The battle between the Great God and the monster's true form has reached its most critical moment. It is difficult to perceive changes in the outside world, and even Liuyi cannot contact the Great God. Only a traditional ritual like the Feather Robe Festival, which has continued for thousands of years, can elicit a response from the Great God under these circumstances.

This is a signal to Him, signifying the start of the final offensive.

The monster's true form is now blocking the exit of this world, trying to escape, but it has been trapped here by the Great God. Without the Great God's cooperation, they will be unable to completely destroy the monster's true form and open the passage to the outside world.

This was what Liu Yi had been planning all along. Even if she hadn't been attacked today, she would have contacted Li Ang after school, because they really didn't have much time left.

After learning about Liu Yi's entire plan, Li Ang also made his own decision.