Arknights: I'm Pretty Strong With Minecraft — Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Fatal Wound? Oh, And Then What?

Ivan watched FrostNova’s figure completely disappear around the corner at the far end of the shadowed alley. The biting frost in the air began to dissipate, leaving behind only the damp chill of the ruined city. He let out a quiet breath, stretched his shoulders, and prepared to turn around to head back to the temporary Rhodes Island base.

After walking only a few steps over the cracked pavement, he looked up and happened to catch sight of two familiar silhouettes ducking behind a pile of rubble.

Ivan immediately narrowed his eyes, a playful smirk tugging at his lips as he deliberately drew out his voice.

“Hey. I say, you two… you weren’t just hiding back there eavesdropping, were you?”

Rosa and Zima instantly stiffened, freezing like deer caught in a spotlight.

They turned around very slowly, both wearing expressions painted with the unmistakable guilt of being caught red-handed.

Rosa subconsciously waved her hands in front of her chest, her cheeks flushing a deep, embarrassed pink.

“Uh, no, no! We were just… we just happened to be patrolling this sector! We really didn’t hear anything at all!”

Zima crossed her arms tightly, feigning a tough composure as she loudly chimed in to back up her friend.

“Hmm, right! Didn’t hear a single thing! Who’d be interested in listening to you guys talk about all that sappy stuff anyway!”

But her flickering gaze, darting everywhere except at Ivan’s face, completely betrayed her bravado.

Seeing their desperate attempts to protest too much, Ivan wanted to laugh out loud, but he deliberately kept his face perfectly straight, letting the awkward silence stretch.

After a moment of tense hesitation, Rosa seemed to make up her mind. She dropped her hands, stepped forward from the rubble, and looked at Ivan with absolute seriousness.

“Mr. Ivan… Although we don’t know exactly what happened back there, but… please keep going. Trust the choices you have made today. No matter what happens, we… will always support you.”

Ivan was stunned for a moment, the teasing demeanor melting away into a wry, helpless smile.

“…Didn’t you basically just admit you heard everything?”

Caught completely in her own trap, Rosa’s face instantly turned crimson, burning all the way to the tips of her ears. Zima, standing next to her, slapped a hand over her own face and let out a loud groan.

“Oh no!” Zima muttered.

“Hey! You two! Don’t even think about running! Stop right there!” Ivan made a sudden lunge as if to grab them by the collars.

Rosa and Zima exchanged one panicked glance, then spun on their heels and bolted down the street in perfect unison.

“No way!” Zima shouted over her shoulder.

“Nothing good will happen if you catch us!” Rosa yelled back, her aristocratic poise entirely abandoned.

They had only sprinted a few steps away when a sharp noise cut through the air.

Ding ding. Ding ding.

A rapid, continuous communication alert suddenly rang out from the terminal in Ivan’s pocket.

Ivan had no choice but to stop his pursuit. He pulled out the device, checked the flashing caller ID, and pressed the answer button.

“Hello?”

A frantic, slightly trembling voice immediately blasted from the other end of the line, the words spilling out at a breakneck pace.

“Hello! Ivan! Where are you right now?! Can you hurry over to our coordinates?! Something big just happened here! We urgently need your help! It is very, very urgent!”

Ivan’s expression sobered. He ended the call, locked onto the coordinates sent to his terminal, and immediately broke into a sprint. He handled through the desolate, debris-filled streets of Lungmen, vaulting over shattered barricades and bypassing smoking craters until he breached the perimeter of a heavily damaged Lungmen Guard Department blockade.

Blood stained the concrete. Several officers were on the ground, groaning in pain, while the remaining forces maintained a defensive line.

“Ivan?! How are you here?!”

Hoshiguma stepped forward from the defensive line, her tall frame casting a shadow over the wounded. Her tone was thick with confusion as she looked him up and down.

“Shouldn’t you be with Amiya and the others in the ruined city sector?”

Ivan casually patted the concrete dust off his clothes, completely unfazed by the grim scene surrounding them.

“Oh, you mean over there. I am done with that. The Reunion Movement is temporarily handled.” He paused for a second, as if recalling a minor detail. “FrostNova also agreed to switch sides and join our Rhodes Island.”

Everyone present, including Ch’en and Hoshiguma, was stunned into absolute silence by this preposterous battle report. They stood rooted to the spot, staring at him as if he had grown a second head.

No, seriously? How was a high-ranking Reunion ringleader poached without them doing anything or hearing any massive explosions?

Ivan, however, completely ignored their paralyzed reactions. His gaze drifted past the commanders and fell upon a dying L.G.D. guard named Afa, who was propped up against a shattered concrete pillar. The man’s armor was melted into his flesh, and his eyes were severely burned.

Ivan habitually reached deep into his pants pocket, fumbled around for a second, and then pulled out a gleaming, solid gold apple.

He walked straight past the dumbfounded officers, approached Afa, and squatted down beside the dying man.

Afa, whose consciousness was rapidly fading into a blurry haze, felt someone approach. He spoke with immense difficulty, his voice a wet rasp.

“Is this… a medic…?”

He coughed, blood trickling from his lips.

“It is useless… in my condition… even if a god came down from the sky… he could not save me…”

Ivan did not bother entertaining his pessimistic dying words.

Ivan directly pried open Afa’s jaw, seized the perfect opportunity, and shoved the entire Golden Apple straight into the man’s mouth.

“Damn it, less talk! Eat it! Eat it all!”

Afa was caught completely off guard by this violent force-feeding. He almost choked on the heavy, metallic fruit, his primal survival instinct making his limbs thrash and struggle subconsciously against Ivan’s grip.

“Wait… wait! I will eat! I will eat! I will do it myself! Do not force-feed me, big brother!”

He instantly recovered a tiny bit of his spirit, though it was mainly fueled by the sheer terror of being choked to death by a golden sphere.

Hoshiguma, watching Ivan’s incredibly rough medical methods, could not help but step forward to advise him with deep concern.

“Uh, Ivan… he is still severely injured… wouldn’t it be… better to be a bit gentler with him?”

Ivan did not even look up. “Is that so?”

He pointed a finger at the struggling guard. “Then take another look.”

Hoshiguma and Ch’en, hearing the absolute confidence in his voice, immediately fixed their gazes on Afa.

They watched in horror, which rapidly shifted to awe, as Afa’s previously bone-deep lacerations began healing at a visible, terrifying speed.

The damaged muscle tissues wriggled, grew, and stitched themselves back together like living vines. The blackened, charred skin shed its dead layers in seconds, radiating a faint golden glow before leaving behind perfectly healthy, unblemished flesh.

Even his eyes, which had been severely burned by Originium Arts, saw the surrounding charring quickly recede. The massive swelling diminished into nothing, revealing completely intact eyelids and eyelashes.

This… this?!

Hoshiguma and Ch’en were completely astonished, their jaws practically hitting the floor.

“Wait… my… my eyes…” Afa himself also felt the devastating changes coursing through his veins.

Incredulously and with extreme caution, Afa tried to open his eyelids.

His previously dark, blurry vision quickly cleared into sharp focus. He saw Ivan squatting close by, and the utterly dumbfounded faces of Hoshiguma and Ch’en standing just behind him.

“I can see! I can see again!!!”

He abruptly sat up straight from the cold ground, his hands frantically touching his perfectly restored chest and face in disbelief. He looked excitedly up at his two superiors.

“Madam Hoshiguma! Officer Ch’en! I… I am alive again?! This… this is amazing!”

Hoshiguma rubbed her temples, trying to process the sheer absurdity of what she had just witnessed, and spoke helplessly to the ecstatic guard.

“Then aren’t you going to hurry up and thank him?”

Afa snapped back to reality. He immediately scrambled to his feet, stood at rigid attention, and gave Ivan an almost ninety-degree bow.

“Oh! Thank you very much! Truly, thank you so much, Mr. Ivan! For saving my life. From now on, whatever you need help with, just say the word! Even if it costs me my life, I will not hesitate!”

However, Ivan just waved his hand casually, looking entirely bored by the dramatic display of loyalty.

“Oh, no need for thanks or anything.”

Then, Ivan reached into his seemingly bottomless pocket and pulled out a massive iron Milk Bucket.

With a heavy clunk, Ivan placed the bucket of milk directly in front of Afa’s boots.

He looked the guard dead in the eye and spoke in an obvious, commanding tone. “Here, there is a bucket of milk. Drink it, okay?”

Afa stared blankly.

He looked down at the huge iron bucket sloshing with fresh milk, then looked back up at Ivan’s completely matter-of-fact expression. The guard’s brain simply stopped working.

He swallowed with difficulty.

“Uh, Mr. Ivan, thank you very, very much for your kindness! But this milk doesn’t seem to cure diseases, does it? And aren’t my injuries already fully healed…?”

Ivan scowled. “Stop talking nonsense! Are you the doctor, or am I the doctor?”

Afa looked at Ivan’s intense gaze, which clearly communicated ‘drink it or I will force-feed you again’. The guard remembered his very recent experience of almost choking to death on a solid gold apple. His survival instinct instantly maxed out.

“Understood! Understood! I will drink! I will drink! Doctor Ivan, you are absolutely right!”

Afa, on the verge of shedding actual tears, hugged the heavy iron bucket with both arms, tilted his head back, and began to desperately gulp down the milk.

Hoshiguma and Ch’en watched this bizarre scene unfold from the sidelines, the corners of their mouths twitching uncontrollably. They were utterly speechless.

It was simply too… unique.

From that day forward, within the tight-knit circles of the Lungmen Guard Department and among certain Operators of Rhodes Island, a new legend was born.

In addition to his other impressive-sounding titles, Ivan gained another widely circulated, highly respected nickname.

The Milk King.

[Rhodes’s Note: In Minecraft mechanics, drinking from a Milk Bucket instantly clears all status effects and debuffs from the player. Ivan is forcing Afa to drink it to ensure any lingering Originium Arts debuffs or poison effects from the battle are completely wiped from his system, even though the Terra natives have no idea how it works.]