Asura in Arknights

Sona looked like a wilted eggplant, listless and weak, even her tone of voice revealed a deep-seated exhaustion and powerlessness.

Although she didn't know how long she had been unconscious, Sona clearly realized that she had failed.

Not only did they fail to obtain the information Lucifer wanted, but they also failed to uncover the hidden human experiments underground, and in the end, they didn't even complete one of their objectives.

"Laugh at me? Why would I laugh at you? I just want to talk to you."

Sona's sarcastic tone left Adele somewhat bewildered; she felt as if the two of them were not on the same wavelength.

"Talk? Where is that man? Why isn't it him?" Sona scoffed.

That's really an unfriendly attitude...

With a sigh in her heart, Adele patiently explained, "Leon said there might be some misunderstanding between you two, but you won't listen to his explanation at all, so he sent me to ask what exactly happened."

"Misunderstanding? There's no misunderstanding!"

To suppress her rage, Sona closed her eyes and forced back her anger, saying, "I really don't know how you could fall for such a scoundrel. Do you know he's using innocent people for human experiments?"

Sona still wanted to believe that Adele was just as innocent and kind as she appeared, and that she hadn't been involved in human experiments.

"Huh? What human experimentation? Um... are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Adele paused for a moment, thinking that Sona had seen the contents of the press conference and had been blinded by anger.

She explained, "Those were done by the former chairman and chief scientist of Ball Pharmaceuticals, and both of them are long dead. The company has now been rebuilt after bankruptcy reorganization, and apart from the same name, it has no connection with the old Ball Pharmaceuticals."

Although Ayin seems to still be surviving on the outside of the world, he can't come back from your side, so it doesn't matter if he's dead.

"It seems you really don't know..."

Sensing the sincerity in Adele's words, Sona also felt that she wasn't lying; it seemed she knew nothing about the secrets hidden beneath the hospital.

"Although I broke in here with some other purpose, I saw with my own eyes that your fiancé was helping people from Pol Pharmaceuticals to conduct human experiments."

Is that so?

Adele was momentarily taken aback by Sona's resolute tone. She thought carefully about whether Leon had ever conducted human experiments... but after thinking for a long time, she still couldn't come up with a conclusion.

Li Ang is more suited to be a human experiment subject than to do that kind of thing.

Seeing that Adele still looked unconvinced, Sona was furious. She gritted her teeth and said, "I saw those things with my own eyes underground. How could I be wrong?"

What problems could there be with what you see with your own eyes? Although there were only two elderly Caprinis, human experimentation is human experimentation, and it has nothing to do with the number of people involved.

"underground?"

This keyword finally reminded Adele of something.

She turned around and looked at the damaged elevator entrance behind her, then at Sona, who was bound hand and foot on the ground, and said in a subtle tone, "The human experiments you mentioned, you wouldn't be referring to those two Caprini people who were placed in the rectangular container underground, would you?"

"You actually knew that?"

Sona opened her eyes in surprise.

But before her feelings of being deceived could turn into anger, she heard Adele say...

"Of course I know...they are my parents..."

"You've misunderstood. That wasn't human experimentation. They had a very troublesome disease, which is why they were receiving treatment there."

Chapter 100

Parents? Illness? Treatment?

Sona felt as if her brain had stopped thinking for a moment.

Upon closer inspection, the eyebrows of the two middle-aged Caprinis did indeed bear some resemblance to Adele's, only Adele's face was more youthful, so Sona couldn't connect the two.

Now, thanks to Adele's reminder, Sona has finally noticed the similarities between the two.

If what Adele said was true... then...

Her face turned pale and then red, and at that moment, Sona realized just how ridiculous a mistake she had made.

Sona felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, nearly dying from the stupidity of her previous actions...

"Um... are you alright?"

Seeing that Sona had suddenly stopped talking and her expression kept changing, Adele couldn't help but ask with concern.

What else could Sona say? She could only manage to squeeze out those three words through gritted teeth.

"I...I'm fine."

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

That's about it, it was just a misunderstanding.

A few minutes later, Adele helped Sona untie her ropes, and the three of them sat in the office, where Adele explained everything she had just learned.

Sona looked as if she had burned out, sitting there dejectedly without saying a word.

"Okay, I knew it might be because of this..."

It's a pity that Sona wasn't willing to listen to his explanation at all, otherwise the misunderstanding would have been cleared up long ago...

Seriously, does he really look that much like a bad guy?

Li Ang couldn't help but mutter, "The style of Sarkaz witchcraft... no matter what they do, they make it look like they're performing a sacrifice."

If someone who didn't know the inside story saw it, their first thought would definitely be that it was some kind of evil thing.

The worst part is that this thing can't be easily modified.

Witchcraft is called witchcraft because no one knows exactly how it works.

In a complex witchcraft ritual, making a slight alteration to an inconspicuous pattern can completely change the effect of the entire ritual, which is why witchcraft has gradually been replaced by modern Originium Arts.

However, some of the most advanced witchcraft has been passed down, and they often have effects that modern Originium Arts simply cannot achieve.

The ritual that Shining helped set up to maintain the physical vitality of the two elderly people was a top-level witchcraft ritual.

According to Shining, this technology originated from the Blood Demon and the Carrion King's court. Although the original purpose of this technology was somewhat embarrassing to talk about, after being modified, it became a witchcraft ritual that could help prolong life for a long time.

"I'm sorry... I misunderstood..."

Sona bit her lip, her voice trembling with fear, "Please, please save my friend... I'll do anything..."

Seeing Sona's reaction, Li Ang looked embarrassed and said helplessly, "You don't have to be like this. The Radom Association is a target we have to eliminate. Saving your friends is just a side effect."

"But...isn't it already too late...?"

Although the misunderstanding between the two parties has been cleared up, the time lost before can never be recovered.

With so much time gone by, that bastard Lucifer might have gotten impatient and just killed the hostage...

"There should still be enough time."

Li Ang was more optimistic than her. "Besides you, Monique has also been captured by us... that woman from Felin who was imprisoned with you. She is the true trump card of the Radom Association."

“Now that you two have lost contact, if he really wanted the data in the lab, he wouldn’t have killed you so rashly at this time. He would have done so after receiving confirmation that you had been captured.”

Well... actually, Li Ang just used his senses to search the location where the Radom Hometown Association was hiding and found a few familiar figures inside.

Sona's friends were probably starving for several days. Although they were a little weak, their lives were basically not in danger, which is why Li Ang was able to calmly analyze the situation for Sona.

After listening to Li Ang's analysis, Sona calmed down a bit, and a glimmer of hope rekindled in her heart.

"Let me think... I can give you some information first, so you can keep those guys calm."

In fact, Li Ang took a considerable risk in doing this, and the effort and reward were completely disproportionate. But... Li Ang couldn't just stand by and watch them die, could he? If he accidentally caused these young girls to lose their lives, Li Ang felt that he wouldn't be able to get over that hurdle in his heart.

"By the way, they are actually Tara people."

At this moment, Sona suddenly remembered this important information and quickly told Li Ang about it.

"When they imprisoned me, they didn't cover my sight and hearing, so I heard a lot of their secrets."

"The Tara people?"

Hearing this name, Li Ang was somewhat surprised.

Sona frowned, recalling the conversations she had overheard, and then slowly said, "Those Tara people should belong to an organization called 'Deep Pool.' They probably came to Kazimierz to purchase some weapons from here?"

"They procured weapons? And then they stole Rhine Lab's products?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ang immediately found it somewhat amusing.

This behavior... he found it hard to comment on, but it certainly fit the public's impression of the Tara people. To put it nicely, the Tara people are known for their fierce nature; to put it bluntly, they are a bunch of bandits. This kind of behavior—trying to rob someone when a deal falls through—is indeed something the Tara people would do.

The Tara are a very large ethnic group within Victoria. Note that it is an ethnic group, not a race. The Tara are a group composed of multiple ethnic groups living together.

The Tara people would come here to buy weapons, probably because they want to rebel against Victoria? Knowing this, Leon was not surprised at all.

In the world of Terra, ethnicity is a rather rare concept, especially for multi-ethnic mixed ethnicities.

The differences between different races in this world are very obvious. There are many differences in their habits and lifestyles. So long ago, the Terrans were scattered across this land in the form of tribal groups. Different races had different habits and basically could not get together.

Therefore, these different races gradually formed different countries. Although other races joined later, the dominant ethnic group remained unchanged.

For example, the Great Yan, dominated by the dragon race, Kazimierz, dominated by Kuranta, and Letania, dominated by Elafia, are all basically linked together by the same race.

The Tara... The Tara refers to a region in Victoria. This kind of ethnic group, which is born out of a region, is really quite rare... It is even rarer for a group to resist after being annexed by a large country. The Tara people can be considered a unique phenomenon in this world.

Victoria's attitude towards the Tara people has always been one of repressive policy. No one would be surprised if the Tara people could no longer tolerate it and decided to raise the banner of rebellion.

Kazimir and Victoria are very close, and the Business Federation is a group of unscrupulous merchants who will sell anything for money, so it's not surprising that the Tara people approached them.

It's just... I don't know what role the Grand Knight Commander played in this matter. Someone as cunning as the Grand Knight Commander could very well be pretending to be ignorant while knowing the truth.

Moreover, Li Ang doesn't have time to deal with this personally right now. Ayin is up to something on the outside of the world, and the knocking sound that could penetrate the world barrier makes him quite uneasy. Unfortunately, Monique doesn't know what Ayin and Roy are doing either.

“Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll contact the Grand Knight Commander for you and have her send people to rescue your friend.” After thinking for a while, Li Ang came up with a compromise. “Just tell her that regardless of whether she has any connection with the Tara people, my bottom line is that the mastermind behind all this recent unrest, that guy named Lucifer, must die. She can do whatever she wants with the rest of the Tara people; I won’t interfere. She’ll know what to do.”

After calming down, Sona, whose intelligence had regained its footing, immediately thought of many things: the infighting among the upper echelons of Kazimierz and the open and covert struggles between nations. However, she nodded gratefully in the end.

"I have more important things to deal with right now, so I don't have time to go over and help in person."

"No, this is enough. Thank you very much for your help."

By this time, Li Ang had already taken off his helmet, and Sona, seeing his true face, naturally recognized who he was.

Sona was already very grateful that he was willing to provide some information to help keep Lucifer in check; she never even considered asking someone as busy as Leon to help her personally.

And now, Li Ang actually said that the Grand Knight Commander would provide some manpower to help, which is an unexpected bonus.

Sona had already suffered a rather frustrating defeat last time, but now that the elites from the SEC were there to help her, she was confident she wouldn't lose to that idiot Tara.

"Then it's decided. Later, go and contact my secretary... the one you met the other day, the one with the long platinum blonde hair, Kuranta. She will help you contact the Grand Knight Commander."

As he said this, Li Ang also edited a text message and sent it to Xintelaiya, giving a silent apology to his secretary who was about to work overtime again.

I'm sorry, this is the last time.

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

Chapter 101 I Surrender

After handing over the task to Hinterlaya and making all the necessary arrangements, Li Ang went alone to Plot 21, ready to settle the score with the oversights he had made in the past.

At night, the wilderness of the mobile city becomes a paradise for all kinds of infected creatures, and any rustling of the wind could attract some dangerous creatures.

However, when Li Ang was traveling alone in the wilderness, he did not find any signs of life of large creatures within a radius of several kilometers. At most, he found some insects living in the shallow soil.

There are not many creatures that can live in the contaminated area to begin with, and with the explosion a week ago, any creature with a sense of crisis has fled the area, which has led to the current situation.

With no infected creatures blocking the way and no need to worry about other people's opinions, the Originium radiation here has decreased but is still very strong, making it a perfect place for Li Ang to use his abilities.

Using Originium Arts to enhance his body and eliminate air resistance, he moved through the night like a ghost. In this state, Li Ang's speed was comparable to that of a regular vehicle.

Compared to his disheveled state a year ago when he was running away with Adele, Li Ang can now maintain this state for a long time and still handle things with ease.

Moreover, since vehicles need to be able to navigate different terrains, Li Ang can simply flip over any obstacle he encounters.

In less than half the time it took last time, Li Ang arrived at the ruins of plot 21.

Compared to before, this place truly lives up to the word 'ruins'. The laboratory explosion almost completely destroyed one-tenth of the urban structure, and the resulting shockwave also hit many already crumbling high-rise buildings. The collapse of these buildings caused a serious chain reaction.

Now, even if we give away this shabby place at a loss, nobody wants it anymore.

It's important to know that even garbage disposal requires paying a high garbage disposal fee.

The thought that all of this was caused by his holding back made Li Ang feel somewhat frustrated, and the thought that he held back not because he was soft-hearted made him even more frustrated.

Standing on the edge of the crater created by the laboratory explosion, Li Ang closed his eyes, sacrificing his sight to release the limitations on his perception.

In an instant, every single tree and blade of grass in the ruins of Plot 21 was brought into Li Ang's perception range.