Hello, Arknights

Chapter 360 Deep Pool

"My name is Rorich, and I'm a nobody in the station. Nice to meet you." The film man said with a smile, leading the two of them over the rocks, a little closer to the blood tide.

"Actually, the map you gave me is detailed enough. There's no need to be so 'attentive'." Ling Dengxian did not let down his guard just because he was friendly.

The current decision to continue going deeper into the canyon was the result of a consensus reached by the three people under their own subtle mentalities. The most obvious one was naturally Mandela, after all, she was the one whose attitude changed the most.

"If we dare to provoke a triple-digit blood tide, we will be courting death."

As a result, it is she who now advocates going deeper into the canyon, and this action is exactly in line with what she said about "seeking death."

At this moment, she could only curse the leader's "shadow" in her heart for being unreliable. Combining her previous judgment, the conclusion she came to was naturally that the Deep Pool team and the Blood Tide had collided...

"Damn it! What is she doing!"

Mandela cursed softly, and Ling Dengxian glanced at her: "Be quiet, Blood Tide."

Filin glared back at him, but knowing the seriousness of the problem, he made no more unnecessary noise.

"Actually, it doesn't matter if they're louder. For now, they have their own goals and won't be interested in our small amount of meat." Rolichi looked relaxed, then turned around and asked, "Ms. Deep Pool, what do you think of the infected?"

Mandela was a little slow to react. In all the previous conversations, the two men had basically bypassed her. She only interrupted to get information about the shadow leader. This was the first time that the mysterious visitor took the initiative to pass the conversation to her.

"It's okay, if it doesn't bother you, I'm not particularly discriminatory." Mandela chose an answer that he thought might leave a good impression.

Unlike White Dove, who she disliked, she didn't dare to offend the man who called himself Roerich, regardless of the value of the intelligence or the uncertainty.

As for strength, Bai Ge already had fear written all over her face; she was not blind.

"That's not bad." Rolichi smiled. Although he was indeed a member of the Filin clan, Ling Dengxian couldn't help but feel once again that this guy was really like a cat who liked to make his steps illusory.

"Why are you asking this?" he asked.

"Let's see if there's a chance to be a good person." Rolichi answered vaguely, and then he stopped. The two of them also found that they could see the camp.

"...It was indeed her, it really turned out like this..." Mandela confirmed again and again that it was indeed Shenchi's team.

What made her heart sink was that the team had obviously lost a lot of members compared to before she left, and now almost everyone was injured while surrounded by blood-red monsters.

"..." Ling Dengxian looked at her and asked, "Is that right?"

"...Follow me." Mandela took a deep breath. After finding the team, he seemed to have regained a lot of pride and walked ahead.

Rolichi stroked his chin, thoughtfully: "Is this a call for punishment? This is a case of insubordination? The internal network of Shenchi is quite interesting."

"...What experiment are you doing?" After Mandela walked a distance away, Rolichi felt a chill, and Ling Dengxian's question followed.

"Why do you ask? I thought our communication just now was based on the most basic trust, Mr. Ling Dengxian." Lorich said "sadly".

"I'm asking this because I trust your style of doing things."

The chill deepened. Rolic had no doubt that the other party would attack him if they disagreed. The Scepter and the Place had left the worst impression on him. Tobrand's pain and Casimir's exploitation were only because the Scepter and the Place had indeed helped him in Ursus. Only then could Ling Dengxian sit down and communicate with him.

"You would never appear before me without profit or value. I saw it clearly in Casimir. Even if the sky falls, you can continue your humane and inhumane experiments."

"Hey, this is not right." Lorich raised his hand, put away his smile, and said calmly, the energy fluctuations in his body surged, and Ling Dengxian immediately unsheathed his sword, but he only distorted his face for himself and was unmoved by his actions. Then he took out a photo from his body and handed it over.

Ling Dengxian froze for a moment and didn't answer. Rolichi spoke again, "Although this is indeed the organization's job, it has now become my personal application. I promise to help you find the girl as quickly as possible. Do you agree to this private job?"

"Again?" Ling Dengxian's tone gradually turned cold. He had been used as a gun by Planst once in Casimir.

"I'm different from that woman. I prefer to be frank. This time, in addition to collecting data along the way, our main mission is to rescue people, just like you." Lorich took out a cigarette from his jacket pocket with one hand and lit it for himself. He didn't offer one to him because he knew Ling Dengxian didn't smoke. The only thing they could talk about was intelligence.

"Cisidore, my old acquaintance. That idiot is from Victoria. When such a disaster broke out in his hometown under his inspection, he was the first person to lose contact."

"This is my personal request. I owe you one more favor."

"Why do you think I can help you? I need your help with everyone I need to find."

"Because you will definitely go deep into the center of this storm, but I may not be able to." Rolich's words made Ling Dengxian feel a little uncomfortable:

"What do you take me for?"

"I'm not saying your fate is certain, but you can't just sit back and do nothing. This is called a reasonable prediction, which is taught in the criminal investigation program at Victoria University of Political Science and Law." Rorich didn't insist and took back the photo.

"Let's go, Nafilin has met her 'leader'."

……

"Mandela, you... are back." Draco, whose white hair glowed light golden in the flames, was the first to greet the cadre who was assigned to "assist" him.

"Good 'leader', you've led the team very well during my absence." Mandela gritted her teeth and almost grabbed her collar to speak. The latter was taller than her, but she allowed her to be aggressive. Under the gaze of many Deep Pool soldiers, Mandela's attention shifted to them. The bright red under the bandage and the wound directly exposed to the air made her eyes red. She almost couldn't help but take action:

"How are you going to explain this to her? Three hundred and fifty-two people! How many are left now?!"

Mandela could no longer control the volume of her voice, and her voice naturally reached the ears of every soldier in the deep pool between the cliffs on both sides without any hindrance.

"W-What do you mean..." A Shenchi soldier stood up with difficulty.

"Isn't that the leader? Who else does she need to answer to?" The two Deep Pool soldiers supported each other and got up.

"That's Mandela... She came back alone? What was she arguing with the leader about..." The three Deep Pool soldiers left the campfire that was emitting faint heat.

People gathered around, and Mandela realized her own confusion, but she showed no sign of calming down. She raised her hand, but before she could do anything extreme, a cold voice as usual sounded from behind her:

"What are you doing again? Did you recognize the wrong person?"

Muscle memory made Mandela's body stiffen and her movements stopped, which made her calm down and realize that she had just impulsively wanted to do something with serious consequences.

But she'd actually reduced the team's numbers by nearly a third! Among those people were countless fellow Tara people they'd recruited along the way... Before they'd even joined the main force, before they'd even raised the Deep Pool Tara flag, even though they weren't truly the main force... they'd already encountered this *Tara curse* disaster!

But Mandela was also very embarrassed by the fact that she was habitually intimidated by the white doves, especially since her body reacted faster than her mind just now.

Ling Dengxian and Rolichi naturally didn't say much, but just waited for someone who could speak to come forward. Mandela was obviously not that person.

"Mandela, who are they?" Finally, in the subtle silence, the white-haired Draco spoke.

"...Report to the leader," Mandela returned to his original position under the watchful eyes of the crowd, "This is an intelligence officer friend who I exchanged information with."

Roerich did not refute, after all, Mandela could not change the facts.

"..."

"..."

Mandela and Ling looked at each other. She opened her mouth several times but took back her words.

"...Mandela, did you forget to introduce someone?" The "leader" coughed lightly and reminded her, while she also saw the performance of the two people.

"...Hello, just call me Baige. What's your name, please?" Ling Dengxian despised Mandela's behavior of wanting to save face but not daring to go too far. In fact, it didn't matter even if what she said was a little outrageous, because her organization had already been found, and they might go their separate ways and have no contact in the future.

Anyway, her words will not change the facts.

"As for me... just call me 'Shenchi'. We are all Shenchi." The dragon girl answered. Her voice was not loud, but clear and distinct.

"Miss Shenchi?" Ling Dengxian felt that this name was strange. Apparently, Mandela felt the same way and was very angry: "You should just call her Shenchi."

"Why do you have to butt in on everything? Ms. Mandela, who was picked up by me." Ling Dengxian bluntly told her the truth that was difficult for her to talk about. As expected, no matter what he thought, if Mandela really said something excessively fabricated, he would probably not be able to help but do something.

"You...I don't want to talk to you!"

"Mandela." Shenchi spoke softly. Feilin glared at her subconsciously, but soon realized her identity and had to take a step back indignantly to give up the right to speak.

It was not until this moment that the Deep Pool soldiers, who had confirmed the situation of Mandela and the "leader", finally put aside their doubts and began to take care of each other's injuries again.

"Thank you both for escorting our fellow citizens from the Deep Pool back to us. It's hard to say, but we can't offer you anything in return right now. We're deeply sorry... There's a Blood Tide nearby. If you need us, we... Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Isn't it a bit too much to ask you to take us through this canyon?" Lorich asked knowingly.

However, Shenchi was silent for a moment, then turned to look at the blood-red area looming in front of the canyon and said with difficulty, "It's not that we can't. We were planning to pass through here anyway."

"You!" Mandela looked around at the Deep Pool soldiers and lowered her voice in time, "Are you crazy?"

"We have no supplies. If we retreat, the wild beasts in the wilderness will all run away, and we won't be able to feed so many people." Shenchi's words made Mandela silent, and although she didn't point it out, she knew that Shenchi's soldiers were all injured, and obviously, she knew what that meant.

"Leader of Shenchi, are you planning to choose between possible death and certain death? Judging from the perspective of others, I'm afraid you don't know which option is the way to survive." Rolichi took the initiative to speak, but his eyes were full of pity and sympathy. It seemed that he had something to say, but he kept it to himself.

"I will walk in the front and lead the way." Shen Chi did not make any excuses. She was ready to exert all her energy and was also ready to accept a heavy price.

But even so, it's probably like an egg hitting a rock. There are thousands of blood-colored monsters, and they are becoming increasingly difficult to fight. She can only hope that their encirclement will not be too deep.

"Just say whatever you want to say. If it's unrealistic, they should know to ignore it." Ling Dengxian had a bad feeling.

"Sir, if you have any good suggestions, please tell me." There was a flash of confusion in the eyes of the leader of Shenchi, but also a hint of hope.

However, Roerich's words brought the topic to a freezing point:

"Okay, okay, then let's become 'Infected'. Oh, I mean, those infected with Ore Disease. First of all, the blood and flesh of infected people are of very low value to the blood-colored monsters. If your flesh and blood are not worth them launching a hunt, perhaps breaking through their attack will be much easier...

"Secondly, those who haven't fully transformed into blood-colored monsters and become infected will have a high probability of avoiding the worst outcome."

Rolic threw out a video terminal, and Mandela, with a gloomy face, reached out to take it. There was a video in it, which was shot from a bird's-eye view. An infected person with a large open wound contaminated by the bloody monster's body fluids was struggling to search for supplies among the corpses. It was obviously sped up, and he had not changed at all within the original infection period.

The video ended, and the two people's faces were extremely ugly. Ling Dengxian didn't know what they were watching, but judging by the situation, it was probably the evidence that confirmed what Rolichi said.

"You want us to... become infected?" Mandra couldn't find any adjective other than vicious to describe this suggestion.

"Doesn't Ms. Mandela discriminate against the infected?" Rolic shrugged and threw her "boomerang" back.

"But what's the difference between becoming infected and dying?"

Ling Dengxian glanced at her without saying much, but he noticed the change in Shen Chi's expression.

From the first moment he saw her, she gave him the impression of being tired. Although there were changes later, none of them changed this basic impression.

At this moment, Ling Dengxian saw that her eyes seemed to flicker a little.

"...Leader, what do you think?" Mandela asked irritably.

"The injustice of Shenchi was ignited by me, but the fate of every person in Shenchi should not be decided by me alone."

She decided to give this possibility to every surviving Deep Pool soldier.