Asura in Arknights

However, there aren't many Originium Arts that can induce this phenomenon in neurotransmitters, and Ferdinand couldn't say for sure which possibility was worse.

But Ferdinand already knew in his heart that this surveillance would probably continue until he left the Grand Knights' territory.

Although he had already made the request through the 'Unrivaled Alliance', Ferdinand still felt it wasn't safe to do so. His intuition told him that the guy named Trevor was definitely hiding a big secret.

Ferdinand's men were mostly unavailable in Trimont, and the only ones he could trust with any fighting ability were his students.

Elena has also been assigned the same important task by him.

It seems I'm all alone now.

Thinking this, Ferdinand glanced at his suitcase without making a sound.

That contains his biggest trump card for this operation; the neurotransmitter-driven engine is just one component among many.

I hope it doesn't get to that point... I really don't want to be a tester for those guys in the engineering department.

Ferdinand turned his gaze away and silently focused his attention on the book in his hands.

-------------------------------------

On the other end of the phone, Monique hung up and muttered to herself.

"Another business deal... Investigating Rhine Life employees? Isn't that Columbia Pictures? Do they have operations here too?"

Monique, formerly a Blue Gold Master of the Unrivaled Alliance and now a freelancer, frowned deeply.

Although the Unarmored Alliance was swiftly and decisively wiped out by the Securities and Futures Commission, this did not affect Monique.

Those arrested were all low-level rabble from the Wuzha Alliance. What did that have to do with her, an ordinary citizen with a perfectly clean background?

After the destruction of the Unarmored Alliance, she not only stayed in the Great Knight Territory without any hesitation, but also used the channels left behind by the Unarmored Alliance to take on some private jobs to make a living.

Aside from the difficulty in obtaining some supplies, Monique's life was no different from before.

Monique's presence in the Unarmored Alliance is quite low, and many people even think that only Roy is the only one in the Blue Gold faction.

Only Roy and the three Xuan Tie who have disappeared without a trace know her true identity. Even Bai Jin probably doesn't know who she is.

Platinum Monique gets angry just thinking about it. She actually saw that woman on TV a while ago, and she had somehow transformed into a chairman's secretary.

Monique had some understanding of the task Roy had assigned her, and when she saw her swaggering into the news, she instantly understood what was going on.

This is a shameful betrayal!

The Unarmored Alliance had built so many safe houses and secret passages in various urban areas. If they hadn't been betrayed by high-ranking figures like Platinum, how could they have suffered such a devastating blow in such a short time?

What's most infuriating is that even knowing who the traitor is, Monique has absolutely no way to deal with that little Pegasus.

It is said that people's greatest enemy is their own peers. As a Platinum-ranked member of the Unarmored Alliance, Hinterlea may not be the most outstanding one, but she is very familiar with the Unarmored Alliance's style of doing things, and at least she can guard against their assassination attempts.

Although Monique is stronger than Hintria, her strength is not overwhelming.

Moreover... Hinterlea has completely cleared her name and gone ashore. Although Monique's current identity appears innocent on the surface, it absolutely cannot withstand a thorough investigation by the SEC.

As a hero in the open foreshadowing of the Unarmored Alliance, countless eyes are watching Hinterlea's every move. Monique is not foolish enough to expose herself to the spotlight.

She wanted to take revenge on her parents, who were being held captive by the Unarmored Alliance, but by the time Monique came to her door, they had already been moved to an unknown location.

Left with no other choice, Monique had to give up the idea of ​​revenge.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. If they hadn't arranged all their escape routes, how could anyone be so bold as to betray the Wuzhou Alliance?

However, Monique thought the same as Hinterlea: she had no intention of returning to the Unarmored Alliance. Why would someone who had finally escaped from the quagmire willingly jump back in?

Revenge against Hinterlea was purely revenge, and had nothing to do with the Unarmored Alliance. It's only natural to want to get back at someone who has suffered a loss, isn't it?

Monique was indeed cornered by the Conqueror Knights at one of the Unarmored Alliance's strongholds, but fortunately, she was more skillful and managed to escape without revealing her identity.

With the collapse of the Unarmored Alliance, Monique also experienced the feeling of unemployment for the first time.

Monique's peaceful life should have continued like this day after day.

They can either retire from the criminal world one day, take a large sum of money and run away, or they can be exposed one day for using the remaining channels of the Unarmored Alliance to take on private jobs and be discovered, and then either be thrown into prison or forced to join a new 'Unarmored Alliance'.

However, not long ago, Monique suddenly received a phone call from Roy, who had been missing for several months.

She thought Roy had died in the natural disaster, and even pretended to shed a few tears, but unexpectedly he jumped out of the grave without warning.

The call quality was terrible, with lots of background noise, but Roy's tone was still as annoying as ever.

He said he was trapped somewhere and needed Monique's help to escape.

The call lasted only a short time; Roy only had time to tell Monique what to do without explaining why.

At that moment, Monique really wanted to kick Roy in the butt. Who did he think he was? Trying to get her help without offering anything in return?

But after much consideration, Monique finally agreed.

"...Once this mission is over, we should have enough Pure Originium."

-------------------------------------

Chapter Seventy-Two: Aftermath

The next move of former Blues champion Monique is currently unknown.

On the other hand, Li Ang and his team's exploration of plot 21 was also forced to end prematurely due to an accident.

Everything around was engulfed by the terrifying heat that erupted in that instant, except for the small patch of ground beneath Li Ang's feet, which remained unscathed.

Starting from his location, a dark red light covered a large fan-shaped space behind him, where everyone except Li Ang lay dead, the dark red light illuminating the terrified expressions on their faces.

Although they were lying scattered on the ground, they were not actually seriously injured. They were just thrown out by the shockwave from the explosion and were still a little weak in the knees, unable to stand up for a while.

On the other side, just a few steps away from them, where the laboratory used to be... has now completely changed.

The passage that was originally covered with a layer of mutated rifts has disappeared without a trace. In its place is a pit with molten iron dripping from its edge.

This crater almost completely penetrates the structure of the mobile city. Looking up, you can see the scorching July sun, while looking down, you see a bottomless pit where molten iron continuously flows in and solidifies into a huge pool of metal at the bottom.

From Li Ang's position, it was impossible to even estimate the exact size of the pit, but at least one-tenth of the land area had been destroyed. This land, which could have been repaired and was barely usable, had completely lost its last bit of value.

At this point, the high temperature from the explosion had dropped to a level that the protective suits could withstand, so Li Ang withdrew the spell protecting them.

He pulled out the Rhodes Island standard longsword that he had used to support his body from the explosion; it was this sword that had saved him from being blown away by the shockwave.

However, because it was directly hit by the explosion, even though Li Ang's spell blocked most of the power, this weapon, which was of decent quality, was already half melted, and the remaining half was barely better than a fire poker.

Aside from the 'divine artifacts' that Nian Yong created, it seems that no weapon, no matter how good its quality, could last more than a month in Li Ang's hands.

Shaking his head, Li Ang casually tossed the scrap metal in his hand into the pit in front of him, turned to look at the people lying on the ground, and asked,

Are you all alright?

However, no one answered him.

"...Come back to reality, it's all over."

With this helpless remark, Li Ang walked over to Huang, who was closest to him, and helped her up from the ground.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, the situation was a bit urgent just now."

“I can understand… Ouch—maybe a bone or two is broken, but it’s okay.”

Grabbing Li Ang's outstretched hand, Huang grinned and scrambled to his feet.

This big cat was the closest to the explosion, and with its back to the mutants, it was completely oblivious to what was happening.

In that split second, Li Ang didn't have time to explain anything. He could only grab Huang and throw him behind him, while also kicking ACE in the butt, who had sensed the danger but didn't have time to run away, sending him to safety.

After doing all this, Li Ang plunged his longsword into the ground, directly blocking the self-destruction of dozens of mutants. The others only suffered a negligible impact, and Huang was probably the one who was most seriously injured among them.

Huang limped to the side to rest, waiting for the only doctor in the group to react before treating her.

As Huang recovered, the others gradually recovered from the shock of the explosion.

ACE, lying on his back on the ground, raised one arm and said weakly, "Can any of you come and help this old man... I feel like my butt has split open."

He felt a burning pain in his buttocks and his entire body, and he didn't know if it was because the ground was too hot or if his buttocks had really been kicked into three pieces.

"Then you should lie on the ground for a while longer, sir. It would be troublesome if your buttocks really split open when you get up."

Perhaps to distract himself, Huang actually started joking with ACE at this moment.

Upon hearing this, ACE quite decisively raised his middle finger in the direction from which the sound came.

Aside from the friendly exchange between the two elite operators, the others who weren't seriously injured also stood up one after another, checking their own condition.

Upon realizing that an explosion was about to occur, Xingji almost instinctively protected his younger sister.

With her sister acting as a buffer, Elena was only stunned by the loud noise of the explosion and was completely unharmed.

Xingji's situation was worse. After all, she was a young woman carrying a heavy iron block weighing dozens of kilograms. She almost suffered internal injuries from the impact, and was only slightly better off than the two who were brutally attacked by their own side.

Now, the two sisters are huddled together, lying in the corner of the passageway.

"Sister, are you alright?" Elena asked pitifully, practically clinging to Xingji.

"I'm fine now, but I might be crushed to death by you in a little while."

After trying to push Elena off him but failing, Xingji said irritably.

Upon hearing this, Elena realized how heavy she was and quickly got off Xingji.

"Sister, lie here and don't move. I'll go find the doctor," Elena instructed.

If you don't know what kind of injury you've sustained, it's best to stay in bed and avoid moving around too much to prevent accidentally aggravating the injury.

But when Elena stood up and looked around, she didn't see Warfarin anywhere.

Where is she? Where did she go? Warfarin was always at the back of their group; even if something unexpected happened, it shouldn't have happened to her.

"It seems that Dr. Warfarin has run away."

Having overheard the conversation between the two sisters, Provence, who was not far from them, offered a warning.

Like Elena, she was very lucky and was basically unaffected. The only problem was... after rolling around on the ground a few times, the fur on her big tail was probably a mess. This kind of fully enclosed protective suit was not very friendly to her to begin with.

"She ran away? What would she be doing running away at this time?" Elena said indignantly.

Can't you see there are still several wounded lying here? As the only doctor in the team, how can you abandon your post like this?

“Oh… I didn’t explain clearly, Dr. Warfarin… she ran out before the explosion.”

"Her situation might not be very good right now," Provence said with a subtle expression.

It must be said that Warfarin, as the strongest player on the team, has a very fast reaction speed.

When the energy intensity of those mutants suddenly surged, Warfarin turned and ran without thinking. She actually managed to escape the lower structure area before the explosion, her movements were so swift that she didn't seem like a centenarian at all.

If it weren't for Li Ang, she might have been the only one in the team to survive.

But... now that Li Ang has shielded them from the impact of the explosion, Warfarin's actions are somewhat subtle.

From the moment cracks appeared on their bodies to the moment they exploded, only a few seconds passed. In the rush, the area that Li Ang could protect was quite limited, roughly covering the passage where they were.

Warfarin, on the other hand, simply rushed out of Li Ang's protective range.

Elena was stunned; she hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

"I hope she'll be alright..." Elena muttered softly.

Elena had already witnessed the sheer power of that explosion. It was likely that only if all the equipment in the Energy Department went out of control at the same time could a similar effect be achieved. Elena couldn't even imagine how she could survive such an explosion.

Now, all we can do is silently pray for that doctor we've only known for a short time.

Perhaps Elena's prayer was truly heard, because Warfarin soon returned from outside looking disheveled.

It means literally as being covered in dust and dirt.

Warfarin's protective suits were covered with dents and cracks from blunt force impacts, and many areas were damaged, rendering them ineffective.

The protective suit's internal circulation system had stopped working, so to avoid getting in the way, she simply took off her helmet. After running through the ruins for who knows how far, Warfarin was covered in dust and dirt.

Running back into the passage and seeing her unharmed companions, Warfarin was overwhelmed with despair.

She wanted to slap herself right now. What was she thinking, reacting so quickly? Wouldn't it have been fine if she had just stayed where she was? How could she have forgotten that there was a pro player in the team?

However, even if Warfarin regrets it now, she can't change the fact that things are as they are now.

She glanced at the others, scratched her head, and said somewhat awkwardly, "Um... everyone's alright, hahaha..."

Even if it was a subconscious physical reaction, Warfarin did indeed abandon the others and run away alone, ending up in such a sorry state, so it's normal that she felt a little embarrassed.

However, everyone else was only thinking about their own chances of escaping death, and had nothing to do with the things Warfarin cared about.

"How did you get like this? Are you alright without protective gear?" Li Ang asked.