Asura in Arknights

"Being forced to be a mollusk for a few hours... was quite a strange experience. And what's even more incredible is that even with such a drastic change in my life form, my personality, memories, and even my way of thinking didn't change at all; I just developed a strong urge to eat."

"I can't understand... Is this kind of life really something that would exist in nature? If this kind of life really exists, then why have I never heard of anything like it? Is the information being blocked...?"

Roy was completely at a loss for words when it came to evaluating Ayin's actions, but since he still retained his senses, there seemed to be no need to be so wary of him.

Anyway, Roy couldn't really do anything about him.

However, considering his fragile heart, Roy forbade Ayin from getting within twenty meters of him, and Ayin agreed rather nonchalantly.

For a period of time afterward, Ayin began to study the changes that had occurred in her body.

The food problem was quite easy to solve. Ayin had always lived by eating grass, and now that he was in this state, he didn't care about the details anymore. He even skipped a processing step and could directly eat the plants that grew everywhere.

In addition, Ayin, relying on her exaggerated self-healing ability, spent a night in the dangerous environment outside and found out the truth about the attack they had encountered that night.

"It's very likely a reflection of negative emotions in reality in this world. You should also know that Originium Arts is deeply connected with thoughts and emotions. It's probably something like that... I don't know much about Originium Arts, so there may be quite a few problems."

"The palm print on your body is not a simple physical injury, but rather a subconscious feeling that you are injured. This world is quite special, so it manifests in this form. If you can leave here, this injury should heal on its own."

Ayin then told him about a famous experiment about 'the subconscious and burns'.

Now, Roy had to admit that Ayin was right; eating the stone had indeed been a great help to them.

That's not all. Ayin later discovered that he could actively absorb most of the energy and store it inside his body.

Although storing too much energy can lead to hardening of the skin, it also gave Ayin a new inspiration.

After consuming 80% of his Originium reserves, Ayin successfully opened a portal to reality. Although it only lasted for a second and was only the size of a fist, it proved that his theory was correct.

Moreover, Ayin successfully donated a portion of her own body tissue.

"This is my private laboratory, where I keep a portion of my clones. The body tissues I send out will assimilate these clones, and then absorb the Originium sent by your client, as well as the radiation left over from the external natural disaster. If nothing unexpected happens, the demand for pure Originium will be reduced to one-tenth of the original amount."

One-tenth... such a price doesn't seem unacceptable.

Roy fell silent.

On the one hand, even if only one-tenth of the original quantity is needed, it is definitely not something that can be obtained through ordinary channels. Now that the Unarmored Alliance has been destroyed, he is unwilling to involve Monique in this trouble again.

On the other hand, if a real opportunity to escape were presented to him, it would be a lie to say that Roy wasn't tempted.

In the end, a relieved Roy decided to leave everything to fate. If the text message could be sent before the end, he would gladly accept whatever fate had in store.

If not, then after you leave, you should sincerely apologize to Lady Monique.

Roy checked the plan with Ayin again to boost his confidence, then habitually glanced at his phone, only to find it displayed "sent successfully." His gaze froze on that screen.

At the same time, Ayin, who had returned to the shadows, let out a soft exclamation.

"My clones... seem to have all been wiped out."

"Your feeling might be right. Just now... my text message was successfully sent."

He clenched his fists instinctively, then slowly relaxed them.

That's finally over... Lord Monique no longer needs to risk his life for this trivial matter.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief. To avoid seeing it and getting annoyed, he simply unplugged the charging cable and turned off his phone.

Turning back, Roy sneered at Ayin in the shadows, "Didn't you say your plan was foolproof? How come all the clones are dead after only a few days?"

“This was indeed somewhat unexpected,” Ayin admitted frankly. “However… not many people know the location of my lab, and those clones are not easy for just anyone to defeat.”

"Could it be him? If it is him... he certainly could have done all of this."

After a moment's thought, Ayin quickly identified a suspect: the man who had imprisoned him there.

So Ayin said to Roy, "It's too early to give up now. Maybe we won't need to prepare that much energy to send you out."

"What did you say?"

Roy was stunned for a moment, and didn't notice that Ayin said he would send him out, not that the two of them would escape from here together.

"But before that, I need to prepare something."

As she said this, Ayin used her arms, which had transformed into tentacles, to drag several heavy objects out of the shadows in the corner.

They were orange-yellow crystals that looked very similar to pure Originium at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that they were actually two completely different substances.

This crystal not only contains no Originium energy, but also has a large number of translucent veins resembling blood vessels inside, making it quite beautiful.

“The Empire of Consciousness… I am ready to explore your deepest secrets.”

Ayin rolled up one of the largest crystals.

As she had done many times before, Ayin took a deep breath and forcefully thrust the crystal toward her heart.

clang--!!

The sharp edges of the crystal pierced the hard outer shell, producing a sound like morning bells and evening drums. An invisible wave spread rapidly from Ayin's center, even crossing an invisible boundary line and affecting the reality of another world.

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

Meanwhile, in the real world.

The moment he heard the knocking sound, Li Ang withdrew his senses and quickly covered the entire area of ​​21, trying to find the source of the sound.

But... nothing happened; Li Ang found nothing.

This time, he even deliberately relaxed the restrictions on his senses, enduring the illusory and sore feeling brought about by the massive influx of information into his mind, and carefully searched every corner of this ruin.

However, he couldn't find anything else related to Hai Si, as if the things in Ayin's laboratory were the only anomalies in this ruin.

As the laboratory and a large area of ​​land around it were reduced to ashes, the place returned to ordinary ruins, with nothing special about it.

This time, Li Ang was certain that he hadn't missed a single place. The only thing that could be considered a new discovery was that before they entered this place, other people had been here, and their target also seemed to be the Ayin Laboratory. But this was a clue that had already been guessed, and it didn't prove anything.

"Did you all hear that just now? Is that the voice you spoke of, Candle Knight?"

Warfarin looked at Viviana, who nodded slightly.

"It's definitely this sound, but... it seems louder than I heard before." A hint of doubt flashed through Viviana's mind; she didn't understand what this change meant.

"Doctor, do you want to investigate this sound?"

Seeing that Warfarin seemed somewhat interested in this, ACE couldn't help but ask.

They also brought extra supplies, and after resting outside for a while, they could go back in to take another look, since their injuries had almost healed.

But... what's truly worrying are those mutants.

However, before Warfarin could answer ACE, Li Ang spoke up first, saying, "I don't think it's necessary."

"This sound is irrelevant to our mission. We can just write it down in the mission log. There's no need to risk investigating it further."

Upon hearing this, Warfarin glanced at Li Ang thoughtfully, then nodded.

"Just like the knight said, we don't need to cause trouble for ourselves, let's go back."

No one objected to this.

Before leaving, Li Ang took a final look towards the ruins.

"The outside of the world...?"

He hadn't forgotten that there was a place he couldn't find no matter how hard he tried to use his senses.

Chapter Eighty Star Pod Fragments

That sound... most likely came from outside the world.

What happened there? Could it be those beings he had previously observed, those beings called 'gods'?

Whatever the reason, this place is absolutely not a place to stay for long.

Urged on by Li Ang, everyone tacitly refrained from mentioning the voice they had heard earlier, packed their belongings, and returned to the car to Rhodes Island.

They didn't talk much on the way back. A lot had happened in those few hours, and they needed some time to process it all.

Back on Rhodes Island, after cleaning herself of the contamination and taking an inhibitor, Warfarin issued the order to disband.

"Everyone, you've all worked hard. Go back and rest now. Remember to submit an action report by the next workday. Huang! I'm talking to you. Don't let anyone else write it for you. Don't think I can't recognize your handwriting."

Huang complained a few times, but still agreed. As for whether she would actually write the action report herself, only she herself knew.

"Candle Knight, let me arrange a room for you too."

"Then please."

Viviana did not refuse Warfarin's kindness; she was indeed quite tired after a whole morning of work.

Since Warfarin had already brought it up, it would be a good choice to rest for a while on Rhodes Island. Viviana didn't want to drag her tired body back to the Knights of Favonius to report for duty, so she even had her car towed back by attaching it to an armored vehicle on Rhodes Island.

With a few clicks on her terminal, Warfarin helped Viviana arrange her accommodation.

As the second-in-command of the medical department, Warfarin has quite a lot of authority.

"Next, I'll go find Quick Play. Knight, you'll come with me."

Warfarin waved to Li Ang, who was about to leave.

Since his name had already been called, Li Ang had no choice but to go with Warfarin.

The two did not linger and went straight to Kal'tsit's office.

Upon receiving news of their return, Kal'tsit had already been waiting there for quite some time.

"It seems things aren't going very well?"

Having personally beaten Warfarin countless times, Kal'tsit immediately noticed the abnormality in her and realized that their operation this time might not go smoothly.

"Hey, don't even mention it, I almost died there this time."

Warfarin had been waiting for this line.

It would have been better if Kal'tsit hadn't asked, because Warfarin immediately seized the opportunity to make a big deal out of it.

"Do you know what we found there?"

Warfarin was about to exaggerate the difficulties they encountered in the ruins when she saw Kal'tsit's unfriendly gaze.

Under the 'Are you tired of living?' gaze, Warfarin scratched her head sheepishly, then quickly got to the point, "We discovered Haizi there, the very things you stopped me from researching before. They absorbed and transformed the residual radiation from the natural disaster there, causing a significant decrease in radiation intensity."

"And those things even self-destructed, almost killing us," Warfarin complained bitterly. "I took your advice and did everything I asked to deal with those dangerous things."

"Hai Si? Why are they there?"

Upon hearing Warfarin's answer, Kal'tsit also showed a clear expression of surprise.

Aren't those creatures supposed to stay obediently on the seabed? They only venture into the nearshore area and don't stray too far from the ocean. How could they possibly appear in Kazimierz, thousands of miles away?

"How would I know?"

Perhaps too lazy to explain to Kal'tsit, Warfarin simply passed the question to Leon, "Don't you have some secret agreement with this knight? He knows far more than I do."

Under Kal'tsit's gaze, Leon nodded.

Just as he was about to explain about the shooting star, Warfarin spoke up first, "Wait a minute, can you two talk after I finish my report? You're not planning to leave me hanging, are you?"

Amidst the two men's somewhat speechless expressions, Warfarin said without batting an eye, "I haven't lived enough yet, and I don't want to hear too many secrets."

Kal'tsit sighed, looking slightly exasperated, and said, "Go ahead and say it... speed things up, don't waste time."

"...Actually, there's not much to say."

Under Kal'tsit's almost murderous gaze, Warfarin said quickly, "It was the Candle Knight who heard a strange knocking sound in the ruins. We heard it too when he left. You should ask him about it; he obviously knows something."

"Finally, you need to make a decision quickly: whether or not to continue this contract with Rhine Life. If it weren't for him, I might be the only one who would have come back alive this time."

These are the more important things. Warfarin was too lazy to explain the others one by one. She would summarize them in the action report and let her study them on her own.

"I understand. I will give you a reply as soon as I understand the situation." Kal'tsit's reply was quite formal.

"That's settled then, I'm leaving now. Don't come looking for me today, whether you need anything or not."

Without giving Kal'tsit time to react, Warfarin dashed out.

"...I'm sorry you had to see this."

Kal'tsit twitched her lips and said helplessly, "Warfarin... that's just her personality, completely different from her fellow tribesmen."

"It's okay, this kind of personality isn't good."

Warfarin is indeed different from the ferocious blood demons in the rumors. With such a lively character on Rhodes Island, the medical department must have a very interesting time every day.

Judging from Kal'tsit's troubled expression, Leon could guess what was going on.

The two tacitly skipped the topic of the clown and quickly returned to the main subject.