Hello, Arknights

Chapter 364 Madeline

"White Dove, our first meeting should have been more pleasant, but now we really..." Madeline, who received emergency treatment, was able to move freely. It was hard to believe that she had suffered such a serious injury before.

"I understand." Ling Dengxian looked at the white cloth covering a body not far away. Blood with a heavy smell of death dyed the cloth red. The trembling Victorians were crying softly. The Tara people who had been oppressed by them should have applauded, but they were not happy at all.

The sorrow is long, but the separation is short. Moreover, because of the special nature of the infected people themselves, they have to bury the bodies of their compatriots as soon as possible.

Shen Chi walked forward and Madeline looked at her. She had retired long ago, but still remembered the numbers of each army. The army in front of her was different from the Victorian army in terms of combat style and discipline.

"……Hello."

"Thank you all for your support." Vaifan extended her hand to Draco, who hesitated for a moment and then took her palm.

Victorians, Tara people. Neither side deliberately emphasized their position at this moment; the feeling of alienation outweighed resentment.

"...Your team is the same as ours." Shen Chi was silent for a moment, his eyes fell on the soldiers who had escaped death. Their clothes were tattered, and the crystals on their bodies exposed to the air were extremely conspicuous. Shen Chi's soldiers were clearly separated from the area where they were resting, and in fact, there was no difference from a distance.

The crystals reflected the same dangerous light.

"There's no other way. Becoming an infected person is better than becoming food for those creatures." Madeline looked at the Originium crystal on her arm and didn't care much. "It's just a little bit of broken stone. My old partners and I have almost reached a consensus. Someone has to stand up and kill these beasts."

After a long war with the blood-red monsters, the local resistance forces have accumulated some experience that they did not have on the front battlefield because of the small scale of conflicts and more flexible transfers. Most of them realized that the blood-red monsters are particularly less active in fighting against the oripathy infected. In the case of small-scale conflicts, facing ordinary blood-red monsters of equal or slightly more number than their own, effective battle formation response plans can successfully repel or even eliminate the blood-red monsters.

In other words, the threat posed by scattered monsters is greatly reduced simply by missing a berserk state.

"When you step onto the battlefield, you must be prepared to die at any moment. In that case, contracting oripathy is no big deal."

"It will hurt so much that you can't sleep at night. In serious cases, you will have complications of inflammation for the rest of your life." Ling Dengxian said.

Shen Chi glanced at him, then covered the Originium crystal on his wrist, pain coursing through his veins.

"Sorry, you are from the mineral disease medical organization, right? It is indeed a bit offensive to say this in front of you." Madeline apologized immediately.

"It's nothing...it's just--never mind, it's not the right time to say that." Ling Dengxian wanted to say that their identity as people infected with oripathy meant that they could never return to normal life, but he didn't forget that a fool named Vaifan, who was as determined as she was, was her daughter.

"Bai Ge, I understand. People like us are always faced with bad and worse choices, but if we retreat, we have to give ourselves a reasonable reason. We, Vayfan, can't find one." Madeline patted his shoulder vigorously. The strange power inherited from them made Ling Dengxian laugh dryly. He rubbed his shoulders and fell into thought for a moment.

A figure invisible to others looked at the tragic scene, and a somewhat illusory figure took a step. The desolate wind brought the sound of a shovel digging in the soil. It was the sound of farewell. Ling let out a silent sigh, looked at Ling Dengxian, and slightly opened his pearly teeth.

There is no tombstone for the dead bones in the wild mountains, and only traces of tears remain for thousands of miles of frost and cold.

Ling Dengxian knew that the war was still going on. There were blood-infected people, mineral disease infected people... the pain was materialized before his eyes. Others might not know it, but he deeply understood that this was not Victoria's unprovoked disaster. With the scepter and the magic box it provided, a certain high and mighty duke became the "Pandora".

Why... are there always people who are so indifferent to life?

Why do some people in power always like to pave the road with bones?

Why do suffering and death happen to innocent people?

White Flame lurked in the depths, but the fire in his eyes was furious.

"Where are you going next?" Madeline asked. Ling Dengxian looked towards Shen Chi, her team. Shen Chi had a heavy expression on his face. "Our soldiers are running low on supplies. Our rations can only last for four days at most. We need them urgently."

"Then come with us. Our temporary base for the self-rescue army still has supplies. We can decide whether to stay or go when the time comes."

"Well, aunt, Bagpipe..." Ling Dengxian lost some of his composure. He didn't know how to reasonably and without arousing suspicion tell the recent situation of the person he cared about, so he had to play it straight.

Madeline looked at Shenchi, then looked at him, and became serious: "Are you also a member of this team?"

"He's not. He's not even from Victoria." Shen Chi shook his head and spoke softly before Ling Dengxian could explain himself, "He said he came here for someone important. He was so worried that he wanted to force his way into the blood tide."

The sudden revelation of the bottom of the deep pool made Ling Dengxian's stomach skip a beat. He immediately looked away and dared not look at Madeline. A natural feeling of guilt came over him. He had never thought that he would meet Bagpipe's relatives on this trip, especially before he reunited with Bagpipe.

He knows nothing about his likes, dispositions, or taboos.

"Oh?" Madeline showed a look of confirmation and patted his shoulder again. She didn't say anything intriguing nor did she ask any more questions. "Don't worry, Fiona will stay at the base. You can see each other when you return."

Madeline did not mention that Fiona had mentioned him to her early on after they met, but it was just a brief mention of his name. When she asked a few more questions, the girl just giggled and scratched the back of her head. But when they sat by the campfire to deal with their exhaustion after the battle, she could feel that the child had her own thoughts.

Now it seemed that she could guess what Fiona was worried about.

Ling Dengxian, on the other hand, was unsure about Madeline's statement of "setting a flag", and felt that something unexpected was about to happen.

"Let's go. Before we set off, we heard that they had contacted the support forces near Xiaoqiu County. If nothing unexpected happens, we can go back and join them to reunite with the regular army, and supplies won't be so tight."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chi and Ling Dengxian were both startled. The former was afraid of contact with Victoria's regular army, and the latter sensed that something was wrong.

Little Hanny said that their hometown was attacked by a roaming blood tide. Logically, the blood-colored monsters that escaped from the neighboring counties should have gathered in a limited number of groups, but after going a certain distance deep, there were already three different blood tides... This didn't seem like what Victoria said on the radio: "The current situation in Xiaoqiu County is stable and quite safe."

And now Victoria's regular troops have appeared near Hill County, acting as support forces... The situation in Hill County must be very dire. And the Rhodes Island operators stationed there...

"...I hope everyone is safe and sound."

The identity of an infected person may one day increase the hope of survival.

In the distance, a former soldier of Sakota with a halo on his head cleaned the blood off his knife and kicked aside the bloody monster he had killed in the encounter. He raised his hand and used the Originium technique. A white light flashed by. After confirming that his surroundings were safe, he spread out the map and pointed his fingertips at "Hill County".

"Not far off... These things are truly *Leitania swears* dangerous... Are you willing to sacrifice your life for your career? This kid really needs a good talk..."

Ying counted his weapons and put away his things. Behind him, more than ten bloody monster corpses were scattered all over the place. The next moment, he sensed danger.

The white light brought the picture back to him. In a depression right in front of him, a group of bloody figures were gnawing on each other. From a distance, their flesh and blood seemed to be blending together in a strange way. The pain of losing flesh and skin and the joy of getting food echoed repeatedly in this area.

Ying felt a chill, and at the same time, he also sensed something was wrong. Although these monsters were concentrating on eating each other, the sense of crisis they gave him was getting stronger and stronger.