About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Tallulah, who had been so aggressive before, sat down on the chair, her whole body slumped over on the wooden table as if she had shrunk.

"I can't pretend anymore..."

Tallulah let out a faint complaint.

"Isn't this quite similar? A nouveau riche, second-generation young lady who's ignorant of the ways of the world and possesses a strong desire for dominance. Aa ...

Orson, who was joking at the side, was scalded to 8% rare by Tallulah before he could finish gloating.

"Is this the only way to do it..."

Tallulah complained helplessly, while Alina smiled and rubbed Tallulah's shoulders.

"Thank you for your hard work, Talulah. We've tried this before, and it's the most effective method. Only by exchanging interests with a high profile can we quickly gain the other party's acceptance, and we can also convey the theory that the infected are harmless in a non-obtrusive way, while also—"

"At the same time, we can use the trade network as a cover to connect the village's intelligence network."

After acting like a spoiled brat, Tallulah got back to her normal self.

"Thanks to Orson, we were actually able to build an intelligence network."

Alina looked at Orson with admiration.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that the communication problem that had been blocking the guerrillas for so long was finally solved by Orson's Originium skills. I really picked up an incredible humanoid signal tower back then."

Tallulah was joking with Orson.

"And there's no charge for the phone calls. That's really conscientious."

Orson quipped, then noticed that Tallulah was currently missing "that thing."

"Sister Tallulah, you forgot your badge."

"Hmm? Oh, I'm still not used to having a proper name."

Noticing that she had forgotten to wear her armband, Tallulah took out an armband and put it on her left shoulder. It was a red cloth with a pattern like a DNA spiral printed on it.

Its name is——

Integration movement.

21. Integrate the Stranding Movement

A full year and two months have passed since Alina woke up.

The things that happened during this period of time were not a lot, but they were definitely not a little either.

First of all, the organization that came together because of Tallulah finally decided on a name that would accompany everyone for the rest of their lives: the Reunion Movement.

This name was proposed by Orson, and everyone including Talulah, the Snow Monster Squad, the Shield Guards, the Guerrillas, and the Infected Warriors chose this name at the first moment. Perhaps this is also a choice of the world line.

Because of this, other names proposed by Orson, such as "Chaldea", "Griffin", "Sakura Empire", "Anti-Entropy", "Tekkadan", etc. were all rejected.

Along with the name change and Alina's return, the policies that the Integration Movement had always implemented also began to change.

Talulah realized the limitations of the previous method and took the initiative to invite and accept the infected. Although she was able to gather a lot of fire in the early stage, it was impossible to set the whole field on fire because there were too many fires.

The real opportunity for a fundamental change in the behavior of the Integration Movement lies in the development of Originium skills by "Tuner Orson".

People who have been struggling to get their hands on the official Ursus communication device suddenly discovered one day that Orson's tuning of objects can keep them at a specific frequency. As long as they make another object with the same frequency, they can receive and send signals. On top of that, they only need to DIY a little electric signal amplifier and the communicator is made.

It is also a separate frequency band and an absolutely encrypted communicator.

"As expected, it's my own talent that's frightening...!"

Orson, who called himself "Terra Edison", not only failed to understand the difference between Bell and Edison, but was later dragged by Talulah to make a bunch of communicators in one breath, which burned into snow-white ash.

At this point, the integration movement has gained the power that can bring about qualitative change - the power of communication, or the power of connection.

Some infected people and poor villagers have long been tied to the land beneath their feet. Forcing them to leave and instilling in them the will to pursue freedom and warmth is, to some extent, a form of arrogant plunder.

In this case, we chose to let them stay in their own village, but also have the opportunity to access information from outside towns.

The final result is to use trade as a pretext to connect various village nodes with a trade network to exchange materials. On the one hand, it can improve the living conditions of these northern residents, and on the other hand, it can make them more intuitively feel the gap between their own lives and those of the towns.

After all, when people see the gap, they will unconsciously produce some emotions.

The aristocratic education that Tallulah received from Koschei was indeed very effective. Almost 7% of the villages were directly shocked by Tallulah's aura and behavior, and were able to sign contracts with these villages readily.

In the rare villages that have clear lords under their jurisdiction, Tallulah will first try to sign an agreement, and then test the waters using Kosice's identity.

The biggest advantage of the "Immortal Black Snake" is that no one dares to conclude whether this guy is really dead, and no one dares to be sure that the silver-haired Draco in front of them is just talking nonsense.

The integration movement slightly changed the mode of action. What each village needs to do is no longer "test the infected and mobilize the infected to join themselves", but is divided into the following elements.

1. Build a trade network to ensure that the existence of the "Integration Movement" can indeed improve the living environment of the village and increase its own influence and credibility.

2. Supply external goods and provide the villagers with information about the outside world and surrounding villages, so that they can clearly feel the class differences.

3. Use transactions and other means to send several members of the integration movement into the village, either openly or secretly, to serve as operators of intelligence nodes. At the same time, use a moderate attitude to publicize that the infected "are productive forces that can be utilized and there is no need to panic." Through benefits, people will gradually adapt to and get used to the existence of the infected.

4. Build an intelligence network that can monitor the movements of more than 8% of patrol teams in the North, while allowing villages to exchange intelligence.

Eight months after the Reunion Movement adopted this operating model, more than three-quarters of the villages on the northern tundra had established intelligence and trade networks.

Although the intelligence network did not further deepen its connections due to concerns about the existence of "spies" and "insiders", the situation has changed a lot compared to the initial integration movement that could only make a living around its base.

Although these villages did not completely regard the infected as their own people, they would shelter them for the sake of their own interests and gradually adapted to the daily life of living with the infected.

Some villages would even proactively report to the Integration Movement that they were hiding infected people, which became one of the main ways for the Integration Movement to absorb fresh blood.

Back at the village, the deal proposed by Tallulah had already been accepted by the village chief, and everyone was preparing to leave at the village gate.

"Thank you so much for your help, Miss. I will take in the infected people, the coal our village needs to survive the winter, and those... ahem, cigarettes. I'll leave that to you."

"Thank you for your contented lifestyle, otherwise these things in the city wouldn't be profitable."

Tallulah responded with a smile, and this remark just stung the people around her who had never thought of moving towards the South.

"Just kidding. I know it's incredibly difficult to survive on this tundra. But even so, I still hope you can yearn for the towns in the south. After all, yearning is the first step to action."

"...Well, Miss Noble, you may be right."

"Well, it's time for us to go. Let's make good use of those infected. They're worth more than just a few packs of cigarettes. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to get along well with them and build good relationships with them."

Tallulah nodded to the several infected people arranged here, and then left the village in an off-road vehicle with Orson and Alina.

“Haa ...

After getting into the back seat of the car, Tallulah revealed her true colors again and leaned directly on Alina's shoulder.

"Master Chief, Master Orson is still driving. Is this okay?"

Alina asked Tallulah who was leaning on her shoulder with a smile.

"Orson's words are fine. At worst, we can just kill him secretly."

"Can I stop and cry for a while!?"

Orson complained loudly, while Tallulah and Alina smiled.

"So……"

After playing, Tallulah took out a map, marked the location of the village, and wrote down the needs and supplies that could be provided.

"Hmm... the villages in the north have basically all been 'planted'. Aside from food, a resource that no one has much of, the trade network is now able to supply each other. So the next step is, as expected..."

"We're going south, Tallulah. That's the goal you've been telling me since then."

Alina gently ruffled Tallulah's hair beside her, her tone gentle and calm.

Although everyone has the belief that we can reach this point, after actually uniting the North, it still feels a bit hazy and hard to believe.

"Well, everything that happened before was just a buildup. Every step we take next will become more and more difficult."

Tallulah put away the map, and at the same time Orson suddenly slammed on the brakes.

"Stop the car! Where are you from? Forget it, no matter where you are from, hand over all the valuables on you!"

Several guys dressed like refugees were holding broken weapons in their hands. Perhaps because off-road vehicles were a rare means of transportation in the North, they immediately regarded Orson and his group as fat sheep with abundant resources.

"Ah... Alina, Sister Tallulah, wait for me."

Orson sighed, opened the car door, and walked to the center of the gang.

"Well, let me ask you three questions. First, have you ever killed anyone?"

Orson held up three fingers, showing no fear at all towards those people.

"What? Damn it, who are you looking down on? Of course we're grunts...passing!"

"My stomach's rumbling completely obscured the key point... Never mind. Second question: Have you heard of the Reunion Movement?"

"Huh? What the hell? Hand over the money and food immediately!"

It seems that this group of robbers are not aware of the new organization, the Reunion Movement.

"The last question is——[rest]"

Orson snapped his fingers, and a huge, pure black, invisible shadow, two people's height, appeared behind Orson.

"Have you heard of [The Silence of the North]?"

Before he could get a reply, Recess lunged at the weak and helpless robbers like a grizzly bear.

22. Fire, scattered all over the ground

The off-road vehicle rumbled back to the settlement. Orson skillfully parked the car next to the tent, then got out and threw out various goods from the trunk, including a few unlucky guys who were knocked unconscious and tied up.

The robbery targeted the "Leader of the Reunion Movement", the "Living Program of the Reunion Movement", and the "Silent North". It can only be said that such a small group of refugee thieves has gathered so many talented people.

"Teacher Orson!"

According to "Inno's First Law", as long as Orson goes out to perform a mission, when Orson returns to the village, he will attract the white-haired boy of Libori within 3 minutes.

"Good afternoon, Ino. Have you studied well today? - Pfft!"

Orson didn't finish his words because Ino's warm hug almost pushed his lungs out.

Although the child still looks frail and weak, his physical condition is much better than it was at the beginning due to the gradual increase in resources of the integrated movement.

"Humph……"

While Ino and Orson were sticking close to each other, Sasha on the other side was giving Orson a look that looked like trash.

Orson could understand it. After all, when his student was taken away by Alina, he stared at Alina with the same look.

"Teacher Orson, I learned a new song! Damedane, Dameyo~"

Ino was humming a strange song that he had learned from somewhere, and after listening to it, Orson called him an expert.

"Okay, but the facial expression needs to be more pine cone-like to have more flavor."

"0v0?"

Orson ruffled Ino's hair. This boy loved singing more than anyone else, but he completely lost his singing voice because a fragment of Originium was artificially inserted into his throat. Now that Ino can sing again, Orson feels a sense of accomplishment that "the child he raised has grown up."

"By the way, this is the gift this time."

Orson thought of something, and he ran to the SUV and got a few cardboard boxes.

"This is for you, Ino. Inside is a harmonica, a very interesting little instrument. As for Sasha, here's a switchblade for you. Young people like this kind of thing, right?"

"Harmonica...? Anyway, thank you, Mr. Orson!" "...Thank you."

"Ahaha, you're welcome—it would be even better if you couldn't try to secretly poke me with some weird mind-control feather while you're holding me!"

Ino became weird again. In order to protect his soul, Orson simply collapsed and ran away.

Not long after greeting the Gemini, Orson met Frost Star, who had also just finished a mission.

"Good afternoon, Snow Rabbit"

Orson waved to Frost Star, and Frost Star first showed a happy expression after seeing Orson, but when she noticed Tallulah and Alina behind Orson, her expression became a little awkward.

"How's your mission going? Tallulah and I brought you your favorite carrots. Tallulah's always so considerate of her comrades, puuuuuuuuu!"

Orson happily approached with a carrot, but was then smacked away by a snowball thrown by Froststar.

"Stupid Signal Man...!"

Frost Star left angrily to the other side of the settlement, but turned back after just two steps, snatched the carrot from Orson's hand, and ran away angrily while chewing the carrot.

"...What's going on? Did the mission encounter a problem?"