Arknights: The Prophet of Penguin Logistics — Chapter 93

Chapter 93: The Winds of the Era (Part 1)

“Silence… are you truly leaving?”

“Yes. Kazimierz sent word. A VIP is critically injured and requires immediate medical support.”

Saria stood blocking the doorway, her usually stoic face betraying a storm of conflicting emotions. Looking at the imposing woman, Silence offered a gentle, weary smile and reached up to push her round glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“It was an open distress call broadcasted to all major medical institutions,” Silence explained, her voice calm but firm. “Our Rhine Lab may be fractured, but we still hold the facade of a massive medical enterprise. I need to evaluate this VIP’s condition personally. If it is feasible, I intend to bring him over to our side.”

“Is he truly that valuable?” Saria’s brow furrowed. “Valuable enough for you to temporarily abandon your current research just to play nursemaid?”

“As the Director of Security, you have read the frontline reports, Saria. One man annihilated the main rebel legions of Kazimierz. He paid the price with severe injuries, but he succeeded. He even struck down Midir the Lightless—a monster whose Originium Arts could hijack the five senses of an entire city block, driving everyone within into a rabid frenzy. If we can secure the loyalty of a powerhouse like that, we don’t just gain a formidable ally. We gain a lifeline. A way out for Rhine Lab. Kazimierz is a sovereign state, which means—”

“It hasn’t come to that yet, Silence,” Saria interrupted, her tone hardening. “Rhine Lab, our division, the Columbian government—we are all still on the same side. We have the resources to encircle and annihilate those rebels who dare desecrate the sanctity of scientific research. There is absolutely no need for you to abandon this safe house for some unknown, lawless territory.”

“Saria…” Silence paused, the weight of the world bleeding into her sigh. “Times have changed, Saria.”

Silence looked at the rigid figure before her. Saria was trying to force a persuasion—not just on Silence, but on herself. A sharp pang of heartache flickered in the medic’s golden eyes. The Director of Security, a woman whose will was harder than diamond and who valued order above all else, was slowly fracturing under the crushing weight of their harsh reality. Saria was forcing herself to cooperate with the new administration, selectively blinding herself to how the higher-ups overstepped their authority, coercing them into atrocities through a web of conflicting commands.

Today’s Rhine Lab was no longer the shining beacon of medical advancement it once was. It had been swallowed whole, eroded into a mere biological weapons subsidiary for its new corporate masters. The original research studios had been systematically purged, leaving only the counter-measure divisions working around the clock to combat Umbrella Technology. The Rhine Lab dedicated to healing the human body and advancing pure science was dead. The moment the schism occurred, that dream had shattered.

Those who remained were merely chasing the ghosts of a dead ideal. Saria knew this better than anyone, yet she fought harder than anyone to deny it.

“We can’t afford to be naive anymore,” Silence said, her voice dropping to a fierce, intense whisper. “Watch over the last dying sparks of Rhine Lab. Protect what little we have left, but more, Saria… do not lose the integrity of your own heart. We have reached the precipice. We must take the initiative. Kazimierz is a good place. It’s far away from this… this hell.”

Hearing that word, Saria’s eyes dimmed, the fight draining out of her posture.

Hell. There was no better word for the Columbian plains right now. It was an endless meat grinder. Machines, bio-engineered horrors, and devastating Originium Arts clashed in a ceaseless slaughter. The boundary between the living and the dead had been obliterated; people could barely distinguish reality from a fever dream. A colleague you laughed with yesterday might be dragged out onto the battlefield today, their consciousness trapped inside a cold, mechanical chassis.

And Umbrella Technology was no different. A single soldier could die half a dozen times—rising from the mud, recovered by drones, grotesquely remodeled, and thrown back into the fray. This nightmare had become their new daily routine.

This was no longer a stage for scientific dreams. It was a living hell.

“I have to plan for our future,” Silence said softly, gripping the handle of her suitcase. She looked at Saria’s shadowed face and offered one last, fragile smile. “That child… I’m leaving her in your care. I have to go now. Hold the line here, Saria. Don’t let them assimilate you.”

Saria’s jaw tightened. “…Mm. Safe travels, Silence.”

“You too.”

Goodbye, Silence.

Watching the medic walk away down the sterile corridor, Saria bit her lower lip until it nearly bled. Long after the sound of Silence’s footsteps faded, Saria slammed her fist into the reinforced steel door. The metal groaned, denting under her immense strength. She let out a long, shuddering breath, her expression smoothing back into its impenetrable, stoic mask as she turned back to her post.

She did not know that the unblinking red eye of a surveillance camera had captured every micro-expression.

“Medical Director Silence has departed for Kazimierz. Security Director Saria is exhibiting elevated signs of psychological resistance. Director, how shall we proceed with the disciplinary judgment?”

“Saria, the indomitable Security Director of Rhine Lab…” The man shrouded in the shadows of the executive office swirled the amber liquid in his crystal glass. He waved a hand with deep disinterest. “Forget it. Let her be.”

Sitting back in his leather chair, the Director watched the surveillance feeds with cold amusement.

“In this new era, the gap between individual martial prowess and mass-produced weaponry is rapidly closing. There is no point in wasting resources trying to leash such stubborn conservatives. If the remnants of Rhine Lab want to scramble for a way out, let them. They are nothing but defeated stragglers anyway. Everything of true value within them has already been extracted and consumed. We aren’t Umbrella Technology; there’s no need to be so ruthlessly absolute. Those factions in Kazimierz are just a bunch of backwater country folk, entirely unworthy of our strategic targeting. Our true enemy remains Umbrella.”

He leaned forward, the glow of the monitors illuminating his sharp smile. “The fusion of biology and Originium, the pursuit of eternal life and artificial intelligence… pitted against our mechanical, biochemical, and electronic paradigms of immortality. I am genuinely curious to see which evolutionary path will claim ultimate supremacy. Do the executives over there not understand it as well? The frontline fighting looks intense to the masses, but in reality, we are merely using the battlefield to stress-test our data against theirs.”

“Then let the testing continue. There is an endless supply of fools desperate to make a fortune, and an equally endless supply of raw materials. As long as we complete our primary objective, the collateral damage is irrelevant.”

This was a golden opportunity handed down by heaven itself. It had to be.

On the glowing monitors, Saria was already moving, quietly gathering the remaining loyalists of the old Rhine Lab, preparing to sever their final ties with the corrupted corporate body. The shadowy Director merely shook his head, a patronizing smile curving his lips.

“What use is a pawn who cannot see the shape of the era?” he mused to the empty room. “You have already been dragged into the vortex, yet you foolishly believe you can swim against the current and escape the tide. Heh. Impossible. Those who struggle only sink faster, eventually swallowed whole by the undertow until not even bone dust remains.”

Personal integrity and moral persistence were quaint traits, certainly worthy of a fleeting moment of respect. But that was all they were—quaint. As the old proverb went, it is hard to give good advice to a ghost hell-bent on dying. Since she had chosen to walk away, to reject the evolution of this era, she would have to face the consequences.

Fortunately, in this grand game, Umbrella wasn’t the only player with vision. This new, militarized Rhine Lab possessed it too. It was nothing short of a blessing.

“Without a worthy enemy, the summit would be terribly lonely,” the Director whispered. “We aren’t mortal enemies, Umbrella. We are merely competitors in the grandest market of all.”

Watching the real-time combat data cascading across his secondary screens, the Director took another slow, deliberate sip of his vintage wine, savoring the intoxicating sweetness of a perfectly calculated win-win situation.