Arknights: The Scarlet Devil of Terra — Chapter 84

Chapter 84: The Arrival of Ch’en Hui-chieh

As more and more members of the Reunion Movement charged onto the battlefield wielding superior, freshly looted equipment, the Ursus Patrol finally realized that something catastrophic had occurred in the east. Stripped of their usual arrogance, they beat a hasty, pathetic retreat through the frozen mud.

Upon returning to their staging grounds, the patrol members were utterly dumbfounded. The entire eastern front had been shattered. The Reunion Movement had not only seized a mountain of military supplies but had somehow captured a High-speed Warship intact.

‘How are we supposed to fight this?”How do we go back to hunting the Infected now?’

Forget hunting them. If an Infected walked up and claimed the sky was green, the patrol wouldn’t dare breathe a word of disagreement. Fortunately for their fragile sanity, the High-speed Warship mysteriously vanished into thin air shortly after the battle, offering a meager shred of psychological comfort to the terrified soldiers.

Regardless of the vanishing ship, this territory was now a strict forbidden zone for the Ursus Patrol. The Infected here wielded firepower that rivaled the regular military. With the patrol’s standard-issue gear, they wouldn’t even serve as a decent appetizer for the enemy’s vanguard. Rather than risking their necks trying to round up stragglers only to be strung up from the nearest dead tree by this so-called Reunion Movement, they decided it was far wiser to simply relocate. Oppressing the defenseless could be done anywhere in the empire, after all.

Thus, with the young Emperor’s silent consent, the Fourth Legion nursing losses so severe it would take years to rebuild, and the Ursus Patrol terrified into submission, the Reunion Movement secured a permanent foothold in the frozen wasteland. Ironically, the heaviest casualties from the recent conflict belonged to the Infected who had fought the Ursus Patrol on the western forest front. The forces that had clashed head-on with the Ursus regular army in the east suffered practically zero losses.

Inside the newly established medical tents, the Rhodes Island delegation felt just as bewildered as the retreating Ursus troops. After listening to Doctor Anto relay the battle reports gathered from the wounded patients, Ace and Logos exchanged long, silent glances.

The primary question hung heavy in the sterile air: how exactly had the eastern front been won?

That was a fully mobilized regiment of the Ursus regular army, backed by the devastating artillery of a High-speed Warship.

What did the survivors mean when they said ‘two people bombed the sky until the enemy just ran away’?

And what in Terra’s name did they mean by ‘the High-speed Warship sat completely dead without firing a single shot, and when we got there, the crew was just running out screaming’?

Were these even human words?

Was this still Terra?

It would have sounded infinitely more plausible if the patients had claimed the High-speed Warship had sprouted legs and sprinted away on its own.

Despite their deep doubts, the Rhodes Island team had no time to dwell on the absurdity. They immediately threw themselves into the grueling medical relief efforts. Since neither Ace nor Logos cared for the spotlight of leadership, and Talulah was buried under a mountain of administrative work, Rhodes Island’s arrival did not cause much of a stir among the general populace. The Infected only knew that a pharmaceutical company had sent capable doctors and desperately needed medicine. The original diplomatic purpose of their visit was entirely forgotten in the chaos of survival.

For the Reunion Movement, the geographical exposure of their base was a worthy trade-off. Standing before the growing crowds, Talulah publicly declared that this land was a sanctuary. As long as they adhered to the rules, no Infected would ever be turned away. Almost overnight, countless desperate souls oppressed by the Ursus Empire began the perilous trek toward their territory, swelling the Reunion Movement’s ranks exponentially.

Amidst this rapid expansion, Flandre simply waited. She sat on a stack of crates, kicking her legs, anticipating the arrival of Ch’en Hui-chieh and the second massive wave of resources from Lungmen.

“If I had known you managed to capture so much military hardware this time, we wouldn’t have bothered smuggling these weapons across the border.”

After spending a full half-day reconnecting with Talulah in a private, emotional reunion between sisters, Ch’en Hui-chieh stood outside, sighing as she gestured toward the heavily loaded convoy.

“When it comes to armaments, the more the merrier. Bringing them was no mistake,” Talulah replied, her gaze softening as she looked over the massive fleet of vehicles. “But the fact that Lungmen could help us secure this much grain and medicine… that is what truly matters for Reunion right now.”

Over forty heavy transport trucks idled in the snow, their cargo holds packed to the brim with easily storable rations like rice and flour, alongside daily necessities, thick clothing, and winter bedding. But the true treasure lay in the center of the formation: two heavily armored trucks carrying nothing but pure, high-grade medical supplies.

Two trucks might have sounded insignificant, but on the black market, these specific Originium suppressants and antibiotics could be sold for astronomical sums. One could easily purchase half a mobile city district with the contents of those two vehicles. It was only because Talulah was Wei Yenwu’s biological niece that the shrewd old man had been willing to part with such a staggering portion of his hidden assets.

After delegating the logistics of separating the weapons, food, and medicine into secure storage, Ch’en Hui-chieh turned her attention to the small vampire sitting nearby. Flandre was giggling foolishly, her crimson eyes sparkling as she fiddled with a sleek, high-tech camcorder.

Ch’en leaned over, a faint, fond smile breaking through her usual stern demeanor. It was a gift Beatrix had relentlessly demanded she bring for the little girl. The wealthy feline had desperately wanted to come along, throwing a massive tantrum at the Swire estate when she was denied clearance. After crying, making a scene, and nearly getting herself grounded by her grandfather, Beatrix had to settle for purchasing the most expensive camcorder on the market, recording a tearful video message, and forcing Ch’en to deliver it.

Remembering how she had to physically drag the kicking and screaming Little Tiger out from under the back seat of her car on the morning of their departure, the corners of Ch’en’s mouth curled upward.

The sheer scale of the Lungmen convoy naturally drew the attention of the Rhodes Island Operators. Such a massive influx of wealth and resources was impossible for an ordinary faction to procure. Initially, they suspected the young Ursus Emperor was secretly funding them again. But when Logos and the others investigated the tire tracks and vehicle markings, they realized it had absolutely nothing to do with Ursus. It was a Yan logistics fleet.

The war between Ursus and Kazdel had barely paused for breath, yet this convoy had arrived immediately, cutting straight through the scarred battlefields. This proved the supplies had been prepared and staged long in advance. If not for the international conflict delaying their route, they would have arrived weeks earlier.

Just who was this leader of the Reunion Movement, to command such immense backing from a Yan powerhouse?

When Talulah personally directed the two trucks of medical supplies straight into Rhodes Island’s designated triage zone, even the seasoned Operators felt a pang of intense envy. These were top-tier, incredibly precious medications specifically formulated for Oripathy management. With this sudden wealth of resources, Doctor Anto and her team grew much bolder in their treatment plans, pulling patients back from the brink of death. Word spread like wildfire. The Reunion Movement had real medicine. The influx of refugees doubled.

Unable to sit idle while she stayed as a temporary guest, Ch’en Hui-chieh volunteered to do what she did best: organizing public security. Although she had never studied Ursus imperial law, the fundamental values of justice and order remained the same across Terra. As an outsider with no factional ties, she enforced the rules with absolute, unyielding fairness.

With her sharp L.G.D. instincts, she naturally excelled at unraveling disputes. Several thorny internal conflicts that had been giving Talulah endless headaches were dismantled and resolved within hours once Ch’en identified the root causes. Recognizing her obvious talent, Talulah officially appointed her as the temporary deputy of the Reunion Movement’s Public Security Bureau, working directly under Yelena.

Yelena was absolutely overjoyed by the Lungmen officer’s arrival. Having spent years fighting on the frozen frontlines alongside Patriot, she despised the suffocating bureaucracy of desk work and the endless, trivial squabbles of civilian management. But the Reunion Movement’s upper echelon was severely understaffed. They were trying to train a new generation of administrators, but leadership could not be forged overnight. The veterans had to shoulder the burden.

Originally, Yelena had tried to push the desk job onto Reed, hoping to return to the wilderness to lead the Yeti Squadron on their hunting patrols. But the stubborn Draco had flatly refused, stating that Yelena, having just recovered from a life-threatening illness, had no business trekking over freezing mountains and treacherous ridges. Reed declared that the vanguard hunting duties were best left to her.

To settle the argument, they had dragged Doctor Anto into the fray. The Rhodes Island physician immediately sided with Reed. Even without the recent critical illness, Anto would never recommend someone in Yelena’s fragile condition engage in prolonged, strenuous combat operations in sub-zero temperatures. Her internal state was still highly unstable, requiring constant observation and specialized Originium consultations. If Yelena hadn’t been so fiercely stubborn, the medical team would have demanded she return to the Rhodes Island landship with them for intensive therapy.

Faced with the combined, absolute disadvantage of a doctor’s orders and her comrades’ united front, Yelena could only watch helplessly as she was stripped of her combat command and chained to a desk. The physical toll of public security was light, but the mental exhaustion was agonizing. As the settlement’s population exploded, petty conflicts and territorial disputes multiplied by the hour.

Ch’en Hui-chieh’s sudden appearance was a divine salvation. Yelena immediately dumped every ounce of authority and paperwork onto the Lungmen officer’s lap. Free from her administrative prison, the Frostnova spent her days wandering the camp like a carefree vagrant, occasionally dropping into the newly built settlement school to act as a substitute history or physical education teacher.

While the camp flourished, Flandre was occupied with far more serious matters.

Deep within a secured tent, the little vampire sat alongside Alina and the elite minds of Rhodes Island, staring at a complex array of medical charts. They were desperately researching a treatment plan for the insidious entity lurking inside Talulah’s mind.

Flandre’s presence was mandatory. Aside from Talulah herself, the vampire was the only person who had made direct, violent contact with the Deathless Black Snake. Ever since Flandre had nearly crushed it during their last encounter, the ancient consciousness had retreated into the deepest, darkest recesses of Talulah’s psyche.

Because Talulah could not afford to remain in the medical ward while managing a booming sanctuary, Flandre and Alina—the only two who fully understood the stakes—acted as her proxies. They spent hours debating with the Rhodes Island specialists, trying to find a way to permanently excise the unstable, ticking time bomb from their leader’s soul.

Across the table sat the formidable Arts masters, Logos and Pith, flanked by Doctor Anto and her senior medical staff. For days, they had drafted, debated, and ultimately discarded countless surgical and mystical intervention plans.

The reason for their failure was brutally simple: the Reunion Movement lacked the necessary infrastructure.

Operating on a living soul and a conscious brain required unimaginably precise instruments and perfectly sterile environments. A single millimeter of error, a single fluctuation in Arts output, could instantly reduce Talulah to a drooling simpleton or leave her in a state of irreversible dementia. The Reunion Movement was still in its infancy. Neither Talulah nor her loyal followers would ever permit such a catastrophic gamble.

Based on Flandre’s vivid descriptions of the entity’s spiritual texture and the careful examinations conducted by Logos, they confirmed the Deathless Black Snake was still there. They could detect its faint, venomous trace, but it was buried impossibly deep within her consciousness.

The makeshift medical tents of the frozen wasteland could never support a procedure of this magnitude. Even if they transported Talulah to the advanced surgical suites aboard the Rhodes Island landship, Doctor Anto grimly estimated the success rate at less than thirty percent.

Thus, the ambitious plan to completely eradicate the Deathless Black Snake was shelved.

As for using a specialized Arts seal, the logistical nightmare was even worse. To seal a target, one first had to locate it. The entity was hiding too well. If they attempted to construct a passive, reactive seal to protect Talulah’s soul, they would need to establish incredibly strict, complex trigger conditions.

But what if the ancient, cunning Deathless Black Snake simply found a way to bypass those triggers? The risk of a botched seal trapping Talulah’s own mind alongside the parasite was a nightmare no one was willing to entertain.