Hello, Arknights

Chapter 329: Comfort; Crisis

"It seems that Roy has also let you down." Monique had also read his information, but there was no intelligence indicating that he would have a city-breaking spear as a secondary weapon. Seeing the dangerous heavy weapon in his hand, she glanced at the surrounding environment inconspicuously. She had no advantage in the enclosed space.

Although the Platinum Knight had beaten the Rusty Bronze Knight with his bare hands before, it was unknown whether the Knight had mastered the ability to use heavy weapons in combat. If there was an information gap, it was possible that Roy failed.

Monique tightened her grip on the bow a little more. She was still calculating the right moment to attack, trying to take advantage of the shortcomings of heavy weapons and find an opportunity to injure or even kill with one blow. But at this moment, she also noticed the second breath that had not yet appeared in her field of vision, which immediately dispelled her original intention of fighting.

"It seems that the Wuzhou Alliance will have to suffer a loss today. I can return the people to you, and we will just stop here. How about that?" Monica lowered her bow, sighed, and showed weakness helplessly.

Ling Dengxian couldn't help but smile, but his eyes were full of coldness, and the tip of the spear fell to the ground: "Is it over? You hurt my friends, disrupted the order, created chaos, and now you want to write it off without paying any price? I'm afraid this is not the way to daydream, right?" He tensed his muscles and made a gesture ready to charge.

He did not dare to look into Maria's eyes. It was he who brought Platinum to the Terror Martin. Although she herself knew this place, it was he who brought her to the tavern for the first time. Whether objective or not, he was responsible for today's bad results.

Monique sighed. Sometimes she really didn't want to waste time talking. Sometimes she gave in, which would only make her prey more arrogant and unaware of their own strength.

"It seems that you still don't quite understand the current situation. I discussed with you, but I just felt that doing this next is unnecessary and will only waste time. It doesn't mean that I can't kill you all here." Monique's breathing stagnated, and she shot three arrows at the same time to block the Platinum Knight's advance route. At the same time, she moved again and said in a cold voice: "Platinum, if you don't move, I will kill you here first."

"I knew you were planning to defect."

Bai Jin's gray eyes began to fluctuate violently. First, there was a bit of unbearable anger, and then she realized her own fragility and powerlessness in reality. That bit of resignation was rebuilt again, built up, and built up again... But in the end, the reassuring appearance of Ling Dengxian in her mind coincided with the look of Ling Dengxian in reality, and a bit of hatred ignited her collapse.

The white Kuranta was trembling, and Monique's last bit of patience was gone. She raised her hand, and she was sure that she could execute Platinum before the Platinum Knight's attack arrived.

Platinum moved.

The ponytail knot fell apart, and the long white hair fluttered in the air, covering up the girl's movements.

An arrow that surpassed anyone's reaction to tear through the cold silence and blood, piercing the blue-green figure into the air.

"What do you want me to do to make you *Casimir's swear* satisfied?!"

"If you want me to kill someone, I will do it!"

"If you ask me to break off my relationship with Ikaros, I will do so!"

"If you want me to continue playing this role, I will do it!"

"But why the hell do you still think I'm a traitor?!"

"But why the hell did you have to expose me?!"

"I can't confess on my own, do you have to be so noble?"

"Don't push me anymore!!"

The roaring Platinum glared at Ling Dengxian with bloodshot eyes. Monique's injured body fell heavily between them, like the sound of a heavy hammer falling in Xinteleya's heart, crushing her will.

It's bad... Ling Dengxian felt a dull pain in his heart as he looked at the dangerous and desperate appearance of White Kuranta. He was afraid that the so-called curse was at work, which shattered her will so thoroughly.

"Sorry..." This time the responsibility is all on him.

Bai Jin was his friend. No matter what he had initially thought when he learned of her identity, it was now clear that he would never abandon her, and he should bear the consequences of his hesitation.

The oppression and torture of the No-Hero Alliance have been avenged, and it is his turn next.

The arrow came faster than he thought, and before he could move forward, the arrow of the collapsed platinum had already been shot at him.

"Ling boy! Get out of the way!"

Bruno's voice was thrown away by his acceleration, and the white arrow pierced through the white flames, gouging out a piece of blood from his shoulder.

The city-breaking spear was raised, but the strong penetrating force of the next arrow pierced through the armor and rolled to the side with the weapon. Ling Dengxian loosened his five fingers just to take one more step.

The third arrow pierced through his collarbone without any obstruction, and the arrowhead deviated slightly due to his movement and broke into his body.

The danger that Platinum was in at this moment had already surpassed that of Qing Jin, and her arrows had no rationality at this moment, but because of desperation, she was always ready to face any possible destruction brought to her by anyone. Therefore, when three consecutive arrows hit the target that was rushing up, she did not move at all. When she saw the face of the person rushing up clearly, she gave up all resistance and waited for harm.

Blood soaked her white clothes. It was not her first time to come into contact with blood. She had long been accustomed to the smell, color and touch of blood.

But this time, the hot blood flowing over her skin was no different from magma.

"This arrow... he really deserves to be hit... he is so self-righteous and has impure intentions... that's why he ended up like this... cough cough..."

The injury was more serious than Ling Dengxian had thought, and he was somewhat glad that he rushed forward fast enough.

“……” Bai Jin opened his mouth, but was choked by the smell of blood and had difficulty breathing.

How long has it been since someone hugged me like this? The last time was when my mother hugged me before I left home.

"It hurts..."

Ling Dengxian held her delicate body without using too much force, fearing that she would get hurt: "... Miss Bai Jin... no matter how you look at it, it's me... cough, does it hurt more?"

"I don't know... it just hurts... my heart hurts, every part of my body... it hurts..." Bai Jin's eyes became clear again, and big tears welled up in her eyes. She sobbed, then hugged him and cried loudly.

"Please... don't abandon me..."

Looking at the scene of the young man hugging the girl with blood on his face, Bu Nuo couldn't help but blame himself for not being fast enough. But after a moment, he couldn't help but ask himself, did he just now... subconsciously hope that Ling Dengxian would be one step faster than him?

Knowing clearly that doing so would most likely lead to the same tragedy as himself in the future, he still "deliberately" slowed down?

But he didn't have much time to think about it. The blue-haired Filin groaned in pain. The arrow that pierced her abdomen had not completely made her unable to move.

"Miss, don't move. I never go easy on you." Bruno stepped on her wrist and ignored the threat of her resentful eyes, knowing that she would not give up.

With a "snap", Monica dislocated her wrist, turned over and kicked Bruno with the pain to create some distance between them. Bruno was about to chase her but an arrow flew at her face. He dodged it narrowly and his body paused for a moment, allowing Filin to escape in embarrassment.

"How can he shoot such a dangerous arrow? I can only say that he is worthy of being Qingjin of the Wuzhou Alliance..." Bruno stopped. He still understood the principle of not chasing a desperate enemy. Moreover, if he left, the safety of the remaining three people could not be guaranteed.

After looking at the two men, he sighed and stepped forward to treat Ling Dengxian's injuries: "Ling boy, you are a bit too reckless... If this arrow is off a little bit, it will hit the heart!"

Ling Dengxian struggled to loosen the hand that was locking Bai Jin, but Bai Jin did not let go. He was in a state of panic due to the stress. His movements were slightly twitching because of the arrow wound. He took a deep breath to stabilize his movements, looked at Maria helplessly, and apologized to her: "Ms. Maria... I'm sorry, it's my fault that you are in danger."

"Uncle Bruno, please help untie Miss Maria and take care of her injuries first. I'm fine." As he spoke, white flames rose up. He used his hand around Bai Jin to pull out the broken arrow under his collarbone. White flames immediately surged up to stop the bleeding of his injuries.

Maria, who regained her safety, did not blame Ling Dengxian. She just silently looked at Bai Jin who was holding Ling Dengxian tightly in the white flames. She was hostile to her, although they were once friendly, but at this moment she could not say any words of hatred towards her, because she looked much more miserable than herself.

Because no matter what anyone said, Bai Jin still refused to let go, as if this would make her feel safer. Ling Dengxian had no choice but to hold her in his arms and sit in the corner to rest.

The wound on Maria's hand quickly stopped bleeding and was bandaged. She was silent for a long time, then stood up and stepped forward, squeezing Bai Jin's shoulders hard, her eyes cold: "I don't care what your difficulties are, or what mental illness you have, you hurt my family and elders, no matter what, you have to give them an explanation, otherwise, I will never let you go!"

Bai Jin's eyes fluctuated for a long time, but she finally sobered up. She remained silent, nodded, and said dryly, "I understand."

Ling Dengxian looked at Maria, who returned his gaze: "Just like you said, if you did something wrong, you can just write it off without paying any price. How can that be possible?"

"My aunt was beaten by that woman. It has nothing to do with her, but she beat my elders. They are my elders, so naturally I have to seek justice for them!"

Ling Dengxian nodded and said, "I don't mean to excuse her. I will take her there myself. No matter how serious the case is, I also have a responsibility."

Maria was slightly moved, and was about to say something else when a sound, not loud but not ignorable, spread in the west of Cavaleliaki, loud enough for everyone in the city to hear.

Buono stood up suddenly, confused and bewildered: "Something happened!"

He was sure that it was most likely caused by the Scepter and those bastards!

Ling Dengxian also stood up. Bai Jin, who had gradually sobered up, blushed and let go of his hand, knowing that it was not the time to continue cuddling.

"Uncle Bruno?" Ling Dengxian looked at Bruno, whose expression changed rapidly. The latter's look showed that he seemed to have some guesses.

"... Ling boy, after you came to Cavalelia, has an organization called 'The Scepter and the Institute' contacted you?" Bruno said seriously.

"...Yes, not only Casimir, I have met them in Colombia and Ursus." Ling Dengxian's eyes were slightly cold.

"That's the people from the Scepter and the Institute." Buono saw that Ling Dengxian looked like he didn't need to explain any more. "Did they leak any similar experimental content when they were in contact with you in Cavalleriaki?"

Ling nodded and told Bruno about the virtual reality information sea, thinking that he could give him some explanation.

However, Bruno also shook his head: "We have never known the scepter and what they are doing, but one thing is certain, the products of their experiments must not affect the public."

Ling Dengxian was silent for a moment, glanced at Maria, and then asked, "What should we do?"

"Try to find the scepter and the people behind it. They're playing a little too big this time. We need to at least know what they're doing so we can stop them—"

"Don't bother, I'll be right down." The red Kuranta appeared at the door of the hall with a pale face, and stated his purpose before alarming Bruno: "I have no ill intentions. Mr. Bruno is right. Our experiment this time was indeed a bit noisy, but I have to add one thing..."

Planster smiled awkwardly: "We did get carried away."

"Bai Ge, no, Mr. Ling Dengxian, please help me..."

“It’s true that I have a request for you, but in fact, I am just informing you. Don’t get confused. If you refuse, these four mobile cities that make up the Great Knight’s Territory may no longer exist…”

Ling Dengxian's eyes suddenly turned cold: "Are you threatening me?"

"No, no, no, I'm just stating the facts. Ling Dengxian, do you still remember the virtual dream and reality, right?" Planst smiled slightly and moved closer unscrupulously. This was absolute confidence based on strength.

Ling Dengxian's cold gaze could not make her retreat. The pressure brought by the actor who played Ju Meng moving forward step by step made Platinum Maria instinctively feel a chill in her heart, and she took several steps back without even noticing.

Buono did not act rashly. Seeing the two men negotiating, he knew he could not cause trouble.

Nightmare finally stopped at a very close distance. She leaned forward slightly, leaned closer and smiled, also without any warmth. Ling Dengxian realized that she was not joking, she was serious.

"……Remember."

"You should be very clear about the dangers in virtual reality. What I want to say is that this phenomenon is definitely not caused by us. We just chose this place where virtual reality frequently occurs as the experimental site. Otherwise, who would risk being hated by a country and run to their capital to cause trouble?"

"And now, the virtual dream reality has spread, abnormally spread, and now the entire Western District of the Infected has fallen, and it is also gradually engulfing other areas of the Great Knight's Territory. This time it is not 'one drop of water', but many drops of water gathered together and 'invaded' together."

"...When you were away, your team made a strategic deployment. Except for Bagpipe and Texas, everyone headed to Plot Zero. Just now -" As Ling Dengxian's pupils shrank, Nightmare checked his watch and said calmly, "My subordinates informed me that Plot Zero has also fallen."

Ling Dengxian felt as if something in his heart had broken. Regardless of the difference in strength, he grabbed her wrist and stared at her, confirming the authenticity of the news.

"Anyway, the Scepter and Soko have never lied to you. At most, they kept some things from you."

"…What do you need me to do?"

"Aren't you worried that I'll take advantage of you?"

Ling Dengxian let go of his hand and stepped forward to pick up the city-breaking spear: "My people are in danger now. I am willing to be used by you. You inform me of the news and I solve the problem. We both get what we need."

Planster was slightly startled, then smiled faintly, which was extremely moving: "Sure enough... he really looks like a 'knight'."

She shifted her gaze slightly and looked at Maria and Bai Jin beside her, her eyes flashing slightly.