Asura in Arknights

Although it was impossible to determine exactly when the mark was made, Provence realized that the next target needed to be changed.

“Knight, can you tell anything from those marks on the door?” Provence asked.

"It must have been left not long ago, no more than a day ago, as there are still many traces of magic left on it."

After some consideration, Li Ang decided it would be best to reunite with the Candle Knights as soon as possible.

Viviana is now very close to the center of Plot 21, but she seems to have encountered some trouble and has temporarily halted her progress.

Regardless of what Viviana is trying to do, Leon believes it is necessary to stop her now, or at least wait until she explains her purpose before making any decisions.

Anyone even remotely connected to Plot 21... frankly, is no good. Viviana's identity is extremely important, and Li Ang can't just stand by and watch her walk into a fire pit.

That's why Li Ang made this decision, taking this opportunity to reveal Viviana's whereabouts.

Li Ang believed that any intelligent person would not overlook this obvious piece of information.

Of course, this big-tailed Luper girl did not disappoint Li Ang.

"No more than a day... Could it be the Candle Knight?"

If we limit the timeframe to one day, the person who broke down the gate could indeed be the elusive One Candle Knight, but that doesn't matter.

Upon hearing Li Ang's answer, Provence quickly followed up, "Can you track down their whereabouts?"

“That person used Originium Arts many times. I can trace the traces left by their spells. Although the interference here is quite severe, it is still possible.”

After a pause, Li Ang added, "However, after a while, these traces will disappear, and then it will be very difficult for me to continue tracking them."

This isn't exactly a lie; Viviana entered the ruins about an hour earlier, not much earlier than their group.

In this environment, the traces left by her Originium Arts can only last for two or three hours at most. Of course, even if the traces disappear, it will not affect Li Ang's ability to track Viviana's whereabouts.

Upon hearing that Li Ang could actually trace the traces left by Originium Arts, Provence was overjoyed and immediately ordered, "Stop clearing the road for now, let's go after them."

Provence was very clear about their mission this time.

Clearing passages and surveying ruins are secondary; the most important thing is to find the experimental data required by Rhine Lab.

Now, traces of other people have appeared on this desolate land. Whoever left them behind, it's the right thing to do to follow them.

If that person is the Candle Knight, they can meet here. If it's someone else whose identity is unknown... wouldn't that be even better? They could just capture them and ask them about the situation here.

Even the representatives of Rhine Lab couldn't say where their experimental data was stored, and yet other people had come to this godforsaken place. They were probably after the data that Rhine Lab valued.

"Prepare for battle."

Without Provence's prompting, everyone in the team knew what they were about to face.

Lacking combat experience, Elena gripped her short staff nervously and instinctively moved closer to Astro.

At times like these, it's definitely her older sister who brings her a sense of security.

"Yay, finally I don't have to do these boring things!"

Upon hearing the captain announce the preparations for battle, Huang cheered and dropped the 'sweeping machine' control lever.

Controlling this thing is both troublesome and laborious, and Huang has long been getting impatient. Unfortunately, Rhodes Island's first team was small, so this most troublesome task really had to be done by her.

After all, in situations outside of combat, Blaze is really not very useful.

Now, it's finally time for her to show her skills.

Huang took off the large box on his back and took out a chainsaw that was half a person tall and had an extremely ferocious appearance.

The sharp serrations reflected a cold light. Huang tried to activate this special weapon, and the dense serrations immediately began to spin rapidly, leaving a chilling afterimage in the air with a shrill whistling sound.

Compared to the simple structure of swords, chainsaws are indeed easier to damage, but if they are used as a deterrent... I doubt anyone would want to touch what Huang has in his hand.

"Stop messing around with your chainsaw and hurry up and catch up."

ACE glanced back at Huang, who was adjusting the chainsaw, and said irritably.

"Yes, yes, I'll be right there, don't be in such a hurry," Huang replied cheerfully.

After checking that the chainsaw was working properly, Huang jogged to the side and rear of ACE and set up the formation that the two of them had used many times before.

The group soon arrived at the front of the urban plot and saw the traces left by the melting on the heavy alloy door.

Viviana had already created an opening in the door, so they didn't need to go to the trouble of building a ladder to the upper level.

The only problem is that the opening Viviana made can only be squeezed through by tall, slender women like her. Even an adult man like Li Ang could squeeze through sideways, but for a muscular man like ACE who is twice as strong as a man, it's a bit of a stretch.

Left with no other choice, Provence had to take out a few spare Originium bombs and widen the gap.

In this way, apart from some large equipment, all the supplies they need can be transported to the surface of Plot 21 through this opening—the natural disaster only brought pollution that was difficult to clean up, and even the most destructive natural disaster could not completely destroy the basic structure of the urban plot.

This is, after all, the essence of Terran civilization, so it is a guarantee of human survival and is not so easily damaged.

In fact, the lower-level structures within the mobile city were originally designed to serve as shelters, to withstand the direct impact of natural disasters when the mobile city could not be evacuated in time.

However, nowadays people prefer to use this place to hide things that are not meant to be seen.

The main target of this Rhode Island investigation is the substructure area of ​​Plot 21.

"This way."

After entering the interior of plot 21 through the gate, Li Ang sensed something only slightly before he became intimately familiar with the structure of the place.

After the rain receded, a very strange smell lingered in the air. Fortunately, in order to resist external pollution, the protective suits had automatically entered an internal circulation mode, so they were not bothered by the smell.

Wearing specially made spiked boots, the group moved slowly on the crystal membrane. Under Li Ang's guidance, they forcibly broke through some security doors that could not be opened and successfully returned to the ground.

In this process, Huang's weapon played a significant role.

Li Ang also admitted that he had misjudged it; he hadn't expected that the thing was actually a thermomelting weapon.

Huang seems to possess a technique for generating high temperatures using Originium, but the intensity is not very high, at most enough to cause severe burns. Compared to some spells that can melt metal and stone, it is indeed not very powerful.

However, this weapon greatly enhances, or rather gathers, Huang's Originium Arts, concentrating all the heat into a thin layer of serrations.

When Huang turns on the chainsaw and uses his Originium Arts, it becomes an extremely powerful and terrifying molten cutting weapon, making it as easy as chopping vegetables to cut open a security door.

Of course, a 20-centimeter-thick alloy door was a bit beyond Huang's capabilities.

Li Ang could tell that Huang's Originium Arts were not very adaptable; her mana bar was short, and she could only maintain that thermal burst mode for a very short time, but that was enough for a warrior.

Why would you need a second to cut through an enemy's armor?

Back on the ground, Li Ang finally witnessed the city's dilapidated state.

Clusters of black, translucent crystals grew everywhere. Under the sunlight, the crystalline film covering the surfaces of all objects reflected a bright light, which was actually quite dazzling.

Without protection, it wouldn't be long before you develop snow blindness here, which is quite a rare experience in the hot summer.

Of course, they were all wearing closed protective suits, and the meager ultraviolet rays could not penetrate the goggles of the suits.

"Don't you guys feel like something's not quite right here?"

As they moved forward rapidly, Huang suddenly spoke.

"What's wrong?" the ACE in front asked casually.

"Although I've only explored the contaminated area a few times... don't you guys think it's a bit too quiet here? Besides us, there's not a single living thing to be seen. Not to mention, where are all the insects? Isn't this the kind of environment they love most?"

The 'insects' that Huang mentioned naturally refer to the Originium Bugs.

These tenacious creatures can live in almost any corner of the world, and even change their life form according to their environment.

It is somewhat similar to Hyster, but it does not have the same abnormally fast evolution speed as Hyster.

However, it's not surprising to see 'high-energy stone worms' in the contaminated area. These worms are like living bombs, and their numbers can be quite troublesome.

This is also the most common organism in the polluted area.

"Yeah...something's definitely not right...Where are the Originium Bugs?"

After Huang's reminder, Provence finally realized what was going on.

Everything around them seemed too quiet, as if the ruins had become a dead land and they were the only survivors.

This is not normal. This is not normal at all.

As a messenger of natural disasters, Provence knew all too well just how tenacious the Originium Bugs were.

If we were to make a list of all the creatures that could possibly survive a natural disaster, the Originium Bugs would be second to none, and no other creature would dare to claim the top spot.

A mere torrential rain wouldn't be enough to drown the Originium Bugs. In fact, in a few years, the unique environment here might give rise to a new subspecies of Originium Bugs.

When I walked through the garbage and sludge piles in the lower structure area just now, I was surprised that I wasn't attacked by Originium Bugs. No wonder Provence always felt like something was missing. Don't those bugs like this kind of environment?

"Knight, have you detected anything else alive besides us?"

"...No, there is nothing alive within my detection range."

Li Ang shook his head and replied, "Apart from the few of us and the trace we're tracking, there are no other signs of biological activity here."

These few people... were probably the first to visit this ruin in the six months since the natural disaster struck.

Li Ang's senses had completely enveloped the entire ruins, and he indeed found no signs of life.

He initially thought this was a normal phenomenon in the disaster zone, so he didn't pay much attention to it. But listening to Huang and Provence's conversation... this situation seemed unusual? Li Ang still lacked a lot of knowledge in these niche areas, but that was perfectly normal.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. Even natural disasters can't completely turn a region into a dead zone. After half a year, it should have recovered some vitality.

When Li Ang further improved the precision of his perception and actively observed the microscopic world that was usually ignored, he was shocked to find that, not to mention Originium Bugs, the number of microorganisms here was pitifully small, which was obviously something was wrong.

"...Let's speed up and catch that guy quickly."

Provence shuddered and lowered his voice.

The abnormally low radiation levels, the complete absence of life in the dead zone... the strange phenomena in the ruins of Plot 21 had only revealed a few traces, yet they gave Provence an extremely ominous premonition.

This almost crystallized ruin is so bizarre that even Provence, which has experienced dozens of natural disasters, has never seen such an unusual place.

If she could, she wouldn't want to stay here for even a second longer.

Hearing their conversation, the others felt a sense of urgency and quickened their pace.

Finally, guided by Li Ang, they found Viviana standing on the wreckage of a wrecked truck.

"Candle Knight? What are you doing here?"

Warfarin stared in astonishment at the Candle Knights ahead, who hadn't taken any precautions.

Chapter Sixty-One: Viviana's Fate

Warfarin's voice contained neither any emotion nor any acting skills.

It was so fake, so incredibly fake. Li Ang, standing to the side, just wanted to give Warfarin a bad review. She couldn't even be bothered to put on an act.

Fortunately, the others were distracted by the tense atmosphere and their attention was now drawn to the Candle Knight, so they didn't notice the odd tone in Warfarin's voice.

Upon hearing Warfarin's shout, Viviana slowly turned around, her brows furrowing slightly as she looked at the group below.

She didn't recognize the group's identities, and therefore failed to spot Li Ang, who was hiding among them.

"Who are you people?" Viviana asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

“We are Rhodes Island operators, hired by Rhine Labs to explore this ruin. Your superiors should have already given you the relevant information,” Warfarin explained quickly. “But that’s not important.”

“Candle Knight, are you really okay like this? The radiation level here has exceeded 7000C.”

To be honest, Warfarin was quite taken aback when she saw that Viviana was wearing ordinary knight's armor.

In an environment with such intense radiation, an ordinary person would probably not survive for more than an hour. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, the chance of contracting Oripathy would be 100%, and they would only be able to prolong their lives for a short period of time.

Direct exposure to excessive Originium radiation renders even the blocking drugs developed by Rhodes Island ineffective.

Although Warfarin guessed that Viviana must have something to rely on to do this, she couldn't help but ask another question.

What if... this seemingly naive young lady really doesn't know what to do? If we try to save her now, it might not be too late.

"Oh, it's you guys."

Viviana nodded knowingly, and then turned around completely, letting everyone see what she was holding in her left hand.

It was a small and exquisite three-branch candlestick, with three slender white candles flickering weakly, illuminating Viviana's entire body.

The candle flame, which could have been extinguished by a gust of wind, seemed to outshine the sunlight streaming down from the sky, stealing everyone's attention.

"Don't worry, I can protect myself."

Viviana lowered her eyes and spoke softly.

Clearly, the three candlesticks in her hands are also some kind of specially made magical unit, used to assist Viviana in using her unique Originium Arts.

In Li Ang's perception, although the faint candlelight had no physical defense whatsoever, it did continuously release energy, helping Viviana block the energy radiation from the outside world.