Arknights: The Scarlet Devil of Terra — Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The Honest and Reliable Little FlandreYou're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

Only after hearing Wei Yenwu’s solemn promise did the tension bleed out of Ch’en Hui-chieh’s shoulders.

“That’s right, Little Ch’en. I think you should listen to your uncle on this matter,” Madam Fumizuki added, her voice a soothing balm over the lingering friction in the room. “The situation with the Ursus Fourth Army Group is entirely volatile right now, and war is on the verge of breaking out. We would all be terribly worried if you marched into Ursus territory at a time like this.”

Fumizuki offered a gentle, sympathetic smile. “We miss little Talulah very much too, but the current climate simply doesn’t allow for a reunion. Once the borders stabilize, even if you don’t say a word, we will arrange for you two sisters to meet. Trust your uncle, and trust me. In this matter, our goals are exactly the same.”

Seeing that Ch’en’s rigid posture had softened, Fumizuki’s perfectly timed words finally laid the remaining arguments to rest.

“Alright. I’ll listen to you both.” Ch’en took a long, deep breath, her tone returning to its usual measured calm.

“Now then,” Wei Yenwu murmured, tapping the ash from his pipe. “Next is the matter of whether Miss Flandre Scarlet will be staying in Lungmen. Officer Ch’en, as a member of the L.G.D., what is your take on this?”

Wei took a slow draw from his pipe, the curling smoke framing his sharp gaze as he looked toward the blonde girl.

Ch’en frowned slightly, her eyes flicking toward the small vampire. “As an L.G.D. officer whose sworn duty is to protect Lungmen, I naturally harbor certain reservations about allowing a Blood Fiend to roam our streets. However… as a sister, I trust Talulah’s judgment.”

Even though she had no idea what world-shaking atrocities or miracles the young girl before her had committed, Ch’en still placed her absolute faith in the Talulah she hadn’t seen in over a decade.

Wei Yenwu hadn’t expected such a definitive answer from his usually stubborn niece. He sat in silence for a long moment, the gears turning behind his calculating eyes, before shifting his full attention to Flandre.

“So, Miss Blood Fiend. I’d like to ask you a rather practical question,” Wei began, his tone perfectly neutral. “What exactly do you usually eat?”

“Human blood, of course!” Flandre chirped brightly, swinging her legs off the edge of her chair. “The fresher, the better! Flandre isn’t an adult yet, so Flandre can’t eat expired stuff like the grown-ups do!”

A suffocating, dead silence instantly descended upon the office.

The adults simply stared at her. Did she even hear what she just said?

She was a foreign anomaly asking for asylum in one of the most heavily policed cities in Yan, yet she lacked even a shred of self-preservation or tact. A simple lie would have sufficed to smooth over the negotiations, but her cheerful, brutal honesty made it entirely impossible to keep the conversation moving naturally. And what in the world did she mean by grown-ups eating ‘expired stuff’?

“…You can only consume fresh blood?” Wei Yenwu asked slowly, attempting to salvage the diplomatic dialogue.

“Of course! Though some people say a virgin’s blood is tastier, it all tastes about the same to Flandre, so Flandre isn’t picky!”

The sheer innocence in her voice as she discussed human predation left the room entirely speechless.

“Then… how many people’s blood do you consume for a single meal?” Wei pressed. He figured that even if this terrifying little girl couldn’t stay in Lungmen, extracting firsthand intelligence about the dietary habits of a Blood Fiend made the headache worthwhile.

“It’s not that much,” Flandre said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Based on a normal person’s blood volume, Flandre can go about a whole month without eating after finishing one off.”

A collective, quiet sigh of relief rippled through the room. At least she didn’t need to slaughter a citizen every single day; otherwise, the entire population of Terra wouldn’t be enough to sustain her kind.

“You have to kill a person every month?” The righteous L.G.D. officer instantly flared up. “Don’t you feel there’s anything wrong with that?”

“Eh?” Flandre blinked, tilting her head in genuine confusion. “Flandre has indeed killed a lot of bad people, but there’s no need to do something as strange as killing one person every month!”

“If you drain a person dry, won’t they die? Isn’t that called killing?” Ch’en crossed her arms, her expression stern. She wasn’t an idiot; she knew basic biology.

“So why would Flandre drain a person dry?” Flandre looked at Ch’en with a pitying expression, as if looking at someone utterly foolish. “Big sister Talulah taught Flandre something called… sustainable blood-sucking! Yes, sustainable blood-sucking!”

Wei Yenwu caught the implication immediately, his eyes widening in mild surprise. “You mean to say… you only drink a portion of the blood?”

“Of course! Although Flandre used to make a mess of things by accident in the past, the current Flandre won’t!” She puffed out her chest proudly. “Take four or five sips from one person, and they can recover after resting for two days at most. Ten people are more than enough!”

The crushing tension in the office finally evaporated. If she genuinely needed to butcher a citizen every month, even Lungmen’s entire roster of death row inmates wouldn’t sustain her for long. But if the required volume could be spread across multiple hosts, Wei Yenwu had countless bureaucratic methods to arrange “voluntary” blood donations every month.

Factoring in the very useful intelligence Flandre had brought regarding Talulah, Wei’s mind began to rapidly calculate the logistics.

“Then, I have one last question,” Wei said, leaning forward, his gaze turning razor-sharp. “Was the incident with the Fourth Army Group your doing?”

“Although Sister Talulah and the Patriot both said this matter needs to be kept a secret, since you all already know, there’s no harm in telling you!”

With a bright smile, Flandre recounted the entire bloody saga. She detailed the betrayal within the Reunion Movement, how she joyfully drew the full, concentrated firepower of the Fourth Army Group, providing Joseph the perfect window to infiltrate the munitions depot and detonate the explosives, and finally, her effortless escape through the ensuing fiery chaos.

When she finished her cheerful story, silence reclaimed the room once more.

Ch’en stared at the small girl beside her, her face pale with shock. Even though she had witnessed Flandre’s bizarre, reality-bending tricks firsthand, she simply couldn’t fathom how a single child had pinned down the elite forces of an entire Ursus army group.

That was the Ursus Fourth Army Group. Not a street gang, and certainly not the L.G.D. The Originium gear wielded by those soldiers was advanced military hardware. The sheer combat quality of a Fourth Army soldier was terrifying; even with equal equipment, a standard L.G.D. operator would struggle in a one-on-one fight.

The fact that this little girl could withstand the combined might of thousands of elite soldiers and retreat without a single scratch—her true strength was magnitudes more horrifying than Ch’en had ever imagined.and support the real translator.Read at elysianreads.com This is a stolen translation. You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

“So it really was you.” Wei Yenwu’s gaze was heavy with complicated emotions.

He looked at the smiling child, cross-referencing her story with the classified Ursus intelligence resting on his desk. Not only had she told the truth, but she had casually provided tactical details his best spies had failed to uncover.

From this, Wei deduced that the massive military movements within Ursus were not aimed at Yan or Higashi. They were preparing to march south. They were seeking revenge on Kazdel.

But could the Fourth Army Group, having lost more than half of its explosive munitions and still bogged down by Infected uprisings, truly gain an advantage over the Sarkaz? Wei doubted it. He suspected the Ursus forces were marching straight into a meat grinder.

His political instincts were entirely correct.

When autumn arrived, the hastily recovered Ursus Fourth Army Group boldly marched south, cutting a path between Leithanien and Yan, their weapons pointed directly at the heart of Kazdel.

Facing a massive imperial army that looked intent on wiping Kazdel off the map, the Sarkaz did not cower. Theresis, the Sanguinarch Duq’arael, and Nezzsalem of the Nachzehrers each led their respective armies to meet the invaders head-on.

In the early stages of the conflict, the Sarkaz forces fought a tactical retreat, denying the Ursus vanguard any solid victories. Unfamiliar with the volatile, cursed weather of the Kazdel wastelands, the Ursus army was masterfully ambushed by Theresis and lured directly into the path of a brewing Catastrophe.

using the apocalyptic might of the Catastrophe, the three Sarkaz armies surged forward in a brutal counter-offensive, shattering the Fourth Army Group’s formation. After losing two High-Speed Warships and suffering tens of thousands of casualties and desertions, the broken main force of the Ursus army dragged itself back across the border in utter disgrace.

Following this decisive victory, the faint voices of political opposition within the Sarkaz courts were entirely silenced. The entirety of Kazdel fell under the absolute, unquestioned control of Theresis.

As for the Ursus Fourth Army Group, the catastrophic twin losses left them politically crippled. They were nearly annexed entirely by the young Emperor’s factions, forcing the remnants to retreat to the northern noble territories to lick their wounds and rebuild their shattered strength.

However, a subdued Old Nobility meant that the oppression faced by the Infected within Ursus grew exponentially worse.

Someone had to pay for the massive financial and military losses. What the northern nobles possessed in abundance were Originium mines. The operation of those mines required expendable labor, and ordinary citizens refused to undertake such lethal work.

So, they seized the Infected.

Across the frozen tundra, the Infected were ruthlessly hunted down by the Ursus Patrols. The escalating purges forced the entire Reunion Movement deep underground, hiding in the frozen shadows to avoid being entirely wiped out by the military.

Flandre, of course, was blissfully unaware of the geopolitical bloodbath she had triggered. At this exact moment, she was standing at the wrought-iron gates of a massive, private villa.

This estate was a golden cage carefully selected for her by Wei Yenwu.

First, it was incredibly isolated, situated far from the bustling commercial districts of Lungmen, ensuring she wouldn’t accidentally interact with the general populace. Second, Wei had kept his promise, arranging for a steady supply of “voluntary” blood donations to be delivered directly to the estate every month.

With her food source secured, Flandre had no reason to hunt. In exchange, she was strictly forbidden from initiating any attacks on the citizens of Lungmen.

Naturally, Flandre had raised a single objection: if someone attacked her first, she reserved the right to play with them. Wei Yenwu had agreed to the terms of self-defense, provided she didn’t intentionally provoke anyone into striking her.

And so, the terrifying little vampire moved into her luxurious new prison.

Stepping through the grand doors, Flandre looked around in absolute delight. The entire villa was constructed in a dark, sweeping Gothic style, bearing a striking resemblance to the Scarlet Devil Mansion she called home.

Wei Yenwu had even gone out of his way to prepare a massive study lined with towering bookshelves, alongside a modern living room equipped with a television and various game consoles. The underlying message was crystal clear: Stay inside, entertain yourself, and we will have no problems.

Peeking into the massive library, Flandre smiled and gently closed the oak doors. “Patchouli would probably be very happy if she saw this room!”

As for the game consoles, she stared at the plastic controllers with blank incomprehension. She wasn’t a certain NEET Princess shut away in Eientei; she had absolutely no interest in staring at a glowing screen all day.

Wandering into the master bedroom, her crimson eyes locked onto the massive, canopy bed. With a joyful cheer, Flandre launched herself through the air, crashing into the mattress.

“Waa! So soft!”

She rolled around in the plush blankets a few times, her eyes fluttering shut as the lingering exhaustion of her journey finally caught up with her. Within seconds, she was happily asleep.

When she finally opened her eyes again, it was already the next morning.

Flandre sat up, startled by the blinding rays of light piercing through the glass doors. “So bright… the sun is so big here!”

The sky over Lungmen was a brilliant, piercing blue, entirely different from the oppressive, perpetual gloom of the Ursus tundra. Even in the early morning, the light was so intense she could barely keep her eyes open.

Wandering out onto the spacious balcony, Flandre stretched her arms high above her head, making a mental note to tightly draw the blackout curtains before sleeping tonight.

Let’s go out for a stroll!

After all, the man with the pipe had promised there weren’t many people living around here.

The moment the whimsical thought crossed her mind, Flandre hopped over the balcony railing and set off into the morning light.You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.