"So, you said it was cold just now because..."
Noah said half of his words and did not continue. This was a topic involving Frost Star's darkest memory. Although she was very curious, it was not convenient to get to the bottom of it. If Froststar herself really wanted to say something, she would get the answer
If you don't want to say it, that's normal.
This is equivalent to uncovering the healed scars in people's hearts. Although most of the time, when telling others about those painful memories, you will feel the pleasure of venting stress, but it is really difficult to break the thick psychological wall between "not wanting to talk" and "talking out". It's a very difficult thing to do, especially in front of two strangers who have only known each other for less than an hour.
Not to mention that not long ago these two strangers were their enemies.
"...Ore sickness has created this terrible body of mine."
Frost Star finally chose to continue the memories. Time goes by, the sun sets and the moon rises. She seemed to be back in the mine again, watching her "father" hug her tightly as a bystander. Even if this is just a picture she imagined, Shuangxing can still feel a trace of warmth active in her eternally cold body.
"However, at that time, Bodrokasti tightly hugged my cold body that didn't know what warmth was. He didn't care at all that his two arms that had taken off their armor were almost completely necrotic due to my cold."
Totally necrotic...
Valentine sighed silently in his heart. How cold it is to freeze a pure-blooded Wendigo's body like this... No wonder she likes those strange candies so much, no wonder she longs for warmth so much.
The longer we stay in darkness, the more we long for light. Even if the light blinds you, burns your skin, and burns every nerve in your body, you still have to run towards it desperately, raise the corners of your mouth, raise your arms, and raise your middle finger to the darkness behind you. Leave without regrets in the flames.
So, what is the light in Frost Star's eyes? This is what Valentin doesn't understand the most. If it is for the status of infected people, she should understand that what the integration movement does will only make the existence of infected people in the world more embarrassing.
But the most realistic point is... currently, in the entire world of Terra, the only organization that can stand up and speak out for the infected is the Integration Movement. Even Rhode Island now is nothing more than a private armed force disguised as a pharmaceutical company. They have not stood in the sun.
This is very helpless. You want to do something for your fellow man, you want to change the world, and then you look around and find that there is only one organization that can help you achieve this goal. Although that organization is contrary to your behavioral philosophy, you will still join it, at least to fight for the goals that overlap with the organization.
At least the first step has been completed and you are starting to move towards the light. Wrong paths can be corrected, mistakes made can be made up for, but if you continue to sink in the darkness, I am afraid you will have to watch the only remaining team heading towards the light disappear into ashes, and finally fall into the darkness forever. among.
Someone is always going to do something.
"I don't know whether it was because his emotions infected me at the time... I stayed awake and survived in the end."
Human emotions are really a magical thing, especially in this world, where there are countless examples.
"So Bodrokasti..."
"He is considered a relative of mine. When I was young, I used to treat him as a close relative."
Thinking of the little moments he had spent with the Patriots on the snowfield, Froststar felt a little depressed. That old guy is good at everything, but a little...
axis.
"I also said that I don't remember much about my biological father...Subconsciously, I must have regarded this huge beast as a relative."
"I can't tell."
There is no need for a should, it is a yes.
Thinking of the sacrifices made by the patriots just now to save the young Shuangxing, Shuangxing's words when talking about the patriots. Although her voice was still so cold, the eyes and expressions of the snow monster princess had betrayed her.
"It's just different from his appearance. He is very sentimental, but he is also stubborn in some places. Such a person used to be Ursus' killing machine. Isn't this ridiculous?"
Noah glanced at Valentine who was sitting aside. The air in the ruins was very quiet.
"You can't laugh, can you? I can't laugh either."
"Can you imagine that an executioner who kills without blinking an eye and loves to use violence to solve problems was once a person who did not dare to fight back when he was fatally attacked? Even if he held a weapon in his hand that could kill the attacker instantly?"
Just when Froststar wanted to continue speaking, a deep voice caught her attention.
Valentine did not look at Frost Star, leaning against the wall with his head lowered, holding a small stone in his hand, and slowly scratching it on the ground. The long pink ears drooped on his forehead, and his voice was as low and numb as the experimental subject.
"It's not funny, it's not funny."
His voice didn't rise or fall.
"The world is forcing people to change, and those who don't change will die."
Valentine raised his head and threw the stone aside. He looked at the two people in front of him and smiled, his drooping ears perking up again.
"I'm sorry I said something weird, please continue."
The atmosphere in the ruins became depressing. Froststar and Noah didn't speak. Valentine lowered his head and fiddled with the small stones at hand. At the beginning, when they were about to be crushed into the ruins, the atmosphere between Noah and Valentine was very harmonious. They could even quarrel and quarrel in danger, looking like brainless optimists.
But when the topic gets deeper, people will involuntarily take off the masks on their faces. Even if you just open it a little and put it back on, the past revealed inside is heavy.
Noah felt that this silence was very familiar to her, as if it was this feeling that had been with her a long time ago. She tried hard to recall her forgotten past, but she only felt pain after the fleeting familiarity.
"He was once a war hero in Ursus. He retreated to a certain city-state when he was old."
Just like the water that opens to release the flood, once the memories are not suppressed, they must be released before they can end. Froststar continued to tell her story. As for Valentine just now, she just pretended not to hear him.
No need to pay too much attention to it, Valentine expressed it in the same way.
"As a soldier of Ursus, fighting for the infected?"
There was still nothing in Noah's mind, and the memories of the past were not as clear as Shuangxing's. In this case, it is better to continue to be a listener.
"If you don't listen to Ursus's words, then you will see that there are actually many such people. Although, there is only one person who is called a 'patriot' by the infected."
"His wife died young and he and his son depended on each other."
It's a familiar saying again. Everyone in the world of Terra has such a tragic past, and Valentine has even become resistant to sadness.
…No, not everyone.
He thought of certain groups of people. At this moment, Valentine suddenly wanted to hear about the past of Emperor Ursus, as well as those high-ranking nobles.
After all, everything they have now is based on the tragedies of countless people.
"By the way, he is a demon. The most ferocious type among the demons. However, his son became a scholar, a Wendigo scholar...perhaps the first in the history of Ursus."
Valentine thought of the book he had read on the red gold assembly line, titled "The History of Ursus That Is Not Boring". The content inside was not as boring as other history books, so he still remembered it very clearly.
Wendigo Scholars... are not only unheard of in Ursus, but are extremely rare in Kazdare, Sakaz's hometown.
"Bodrokasti contracted oriosis during the last battle he participated in. His soldiers helped him hide his illness, and he hid everything from his son. He didn't want to drag his son down, he just wanted to drag him down. The sick body dies in some dark corner."
"However, during the 'Great Rebellion', his son was running around for the rights of the infected. Father and son have not been in contact for a long time, and the son still regards his father as a pawn of Ursus."
Poor parents in the world are always right no matter where they are.
"He was. He had orders to his troops to maintain order at all costs. It allowed soldiers to use their weapons, conflicts broke out, and people fell in the falling snow."
"That's who he was."
This passage reminded Valentin of the warlords of the Rabbit Family during the Republic of China.
"Then he saw his son on the street, and by then his son had no body temperature."
…
Valentine didn't know what to say.
Yes, what the former patriots did was not right, and retaliation came quickly, even though it seemed serious.
But the people behind the scenes who turned this country into such a bad situation are still alive and well.
This world is so fucked up.
He cursed secretly in his mind and continued to listen to Frost Star's story.
"I wonder if he thought about his son when he hugged me?"
"His son fought in his own field for infected people like him, and he believed that he killed his son with his own hands. His team left with him, and since then, there has been an additional team on the northwest tundra for abusing infected people. The Ussans are terrified of the guerrillas.”
"...This old beast has never mentioned a word of this to me."
Shuangxing's eyes were a little lonely.
"He may really regard me as his daughter. But I also want him to tell me these things word for word. Everything was told to me by his subordinates. Bozoukas spoke for me , will not reveal even a word to anyone."
"That monster-like stubborn old man has a fragile and porous heart."
But his soul is still as hard as iron, just like himself.
"Before rescuing us infected children, his team had already passed through four mines. The previous infected people did not fare well with us. Their bodies were buried in the collapsed mines, and the Ursus company that executed them has disappeared. Traces.”
"What did he find in me? Family affection? Salvation? Or a little psychological comfort? I don't know."
Froststar's memories end here. She coughed twice, her expression even more painful than before. A stream of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth, but it was quickly frozen. Noah wanted to wipe it off for her, but was embarrassed to find that he couldn't touch her skin at all.
"Are the coughing and internal bleeding also symptoms of your...infection?"
Her voice is no longer as out-of-the-box as it was at first, becoming more like a doctor leading a company.
"Probably, it's nothing. Maybe it's just the sequelae of excessive use of spells. Today it was more violent. This kind of thing has only happened once in the past."
Noah remembered the scene when they fought Frost Star just now. Black ice spread across the square, the cold wind howled fiercely, and the temperature dropped to an unbelievable point. Roads and buildings froze and collapsed, trapping them in the ruins with no way to escape.
If Huang hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid she would have turned into a cold corpse together with Frost Star Valentine.
"Coma, total paralysis, and being unable to move freely after waking up have all happened. I know my own situation best."
Yes, I know best, but I still use my Origin Stone skills so stubbornly.
"You can no longer use Source Stone skills."
Noah's voice was serious, she wasn't kidding. Shuangxing's body was riddled with holes and was infected by the Origin Stone to a terrifying degree. If she uses the Origin Stone skills again, Longmen may be her burial place.
"I don't have to. Should I ask you to fight on my behalf?"
Shuangxing's voice was a bit louder, with a hint of aggressive coldness.
"Rhode Island...what should I call you?"
"You can call me like the Rhode Island operators."
Shuangxing looked at the strangely dressed guy in front of her, looked at the smiling face that appeared on her display screen, and remembered the name she heard during the battle.
"Noah...?"
"Dr. Noah."
This name seems to have some special meaning. Frost Star has never heard it anywhere else. Today is the first time.
"...I admit that you, Rhode Island, are good warriors. But I still can't trust you. Not to mention that you were originally just a pharmaceutical company."
A pharmaceutical company with a complete armed force? A pharmaceutical company that trains its operators as soldiers? A pharmaceutical company undertaking security work in a mobile city-state?
Is there any pharmaceutical company that can integrate sports with you and fight back and forth?
Valentine complained crazily in his heart.
“Rhode Island needs to do a lot.”
Yes, it even includes pharmaceuticals.
"Things other than fighting have nothing to do with me."
Froststar's mind is as stubborn as her father's.
"In Chernobog, I watched your battle. You had a firm stance. I confirmed this with my own eyes, but I cannot judge your good and evil."
"...I heard that Alex died at your hands. This makes me suspicious of you. Now, I cannot let you leave the ruins of the Chernobog sub-city and allow you to harm more integration movements. of infected people.”
Valentine raised his head and tilted it a few degrees to the side, staring at Frost Star lying on the ground. He stuck out a little tongue and licked his lips. The corners of his mouth were raised, and the expression on his face was half-smile. He blinked, but finally couldn't hold it back and laughed.
"Haha...haha."
Both Froststar and Noah were attracted by his laughter, and turned their attention to Miss Pink Rabbit, whose voice suddenly became a little crazy like his movements.
"Allow them to harm more...infected people?"
Valentin suppressed the urge to yell, stretched his neck and almost gritted his teeth to say a few hoarse words. They even heard the click of broken teeth in the voice.
"You look at the ruined city outside, look at the corpses that were burned to char, and look at the severed heads and limbs, and you tell Rhode Island that they cannot be tolerated to harm more infections of the integration movement. By?"
"Can't we allow them to harm a group of fucking beasts that have lost their humanity?"
The temperature of the air is rising, and an orange-red film appears on the surface of Valentine's body, looming. Frost Star noticed the changes in the Origin Stone skills in his body, as well as the anger that was enough to break through the ruins.
"That's how these people have treated them in the past."
Frost Star's voice still lacked warmth.
"Yes! I can understand your hatred for ordinary people! I can understand your pain in the memories! But think about what the hell you did to the infected compatriots you were trying to protect that day in Chernobog! What I did Every crime imaginable was seen in that fire! It was a fucking indiscriminate massacre!"
"But have you ever thought that among those killed by the integration movement, there are still people who do not discriminate against infected people? Have you ever heard of a clinic for infected people? Have you ever heard of a hospital in Chicheng privately Accepting infected patients for treatment?”
"What about that hospital? It's gone! It turned into ruins like so many buildings outside! Those doctors were burned to death inside, just like the corpses nailed to the building outside, and the death Among their murderers were people they had saved!"
"I know that you and the Patriot team were not involved, and even asked your people to build shelters to shelter those who were still alive. But those infected, those infected who committed crimes in the city, shouldn't they die? ?!”
"Their experiences in the past were tragic, but this cannot be a reason for them to trample on life and morality! I know how they were treated, and I also know what crimes they committed that day!"
"And the Alex you are talking about, the guy codenamed Bone Broken, do you know why they killed him?"
Valentine pointed at Noah, whose short robes were dyed a bright orange-red.
"That's because Broken Bones wanted to kill him! That guy exploded his blunderbuss wand at close range! If you don't kill Broken Bones, you won't be able to lie here and talk to this guy at all!"
"You have doubts about Rhodes Island. Does that mean that Rhodes Island will not resist in the face of the massacre of your integration movement until you are tired of killing and no longer want to wave the butcher knife in your hands, which can trample all normal people? How can you have such a good impression of Rhode Island?"
"I *Chinese expletive*!"
Valentin gritted his teeth, made a fist with his right hand and swung it towards the gravel next to him. The ruins shook, but there were no signs of collapse. He shook his hands, stopped looking at Frost Star, and turned his face to one side. On the gravel he just hit with his fist, a red fist mark was bloody.
Valentine did not use Origin Stone skills, nor did he scold Frost Star.
The Qicheng incident has become a hurdle in his heart. No matter how naive and stupid Valentine is in normal times, as long as the memories in his heart are aroused, he will be as angry as a flame.
After a burst of roaring, the ruins fell into silence again. The temperature of the air has dropped, and Valentine's mood has begun to ease. Shuangxing closed her eyes and said nothing. Noah sat next to her, not knowing what to say.
"Shattered Bones is a fucking idiot. He knows how important Noah is to Rhode Island, but he still insists on carrying out such a suicide attack. Does he really think Rhode Island will forgive him? Even if he can't defeat Rhode Island Will the other party let you go just because they are also infected?"
"Then he wants to kill Dr. Rhode Island. Why can't Rhode Island kill him?"
"Should everyone in this world forgive you infected people? Even if the party you harmed never oppressed you?"
Valentin lowered his head and sat there thinking. It wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it.
"The Integration Movement is a fucking terrorist organization. It is natural to use violence to resist oppression, but if you use violence to vent your desires and become a new oppressor, you should be denounced and killed by others."
Finally, Valentine stopped talking and closed his mouth. He seemed to be tired and leaned against the ruins without making any sound.
"Miss...what is your name?"
After a brief silence, Froststar broke the dead silence.
"Yae Sakura."
Valentine replied to her quickly, but his voice was as cold as before.
He and Shuangxing are still enemies. Even if he has heard Shuangxing's memories, eaten her candy, and chatted with her, they will still be on opposite sides after being rescued from the ruins.
"Miss Yae Sakura, I apologize to you."
"sorry."
Froststar watched Valentine move his neck, his voice sincere. As an infected person, she is probably the most rational person in the integration movement, and she naturally understands what Valentine just vented.
"The crimes committed by Mephistopheles and some members of the Integration Movement are obvious to all, and I will punish him in the future. But now, I cannot leave the Integration Movement."
"In the entire Terra, the only one who can stand up and speak out for the infected is the Integration Movement. It is indeed on the wrong track now, but there is still a chance to make up for it. We can't give up on this only life-saving straw for the infected, Bodrokas and I I will try my best to get this organization back on track."
"I'm sorry for what happened in Checheng."
Froststar's apology was serious, and Valentine could hear the apology in it, as well as her feelings for the infected.
but……
"If apologies worked, there would be no war in this world."
His voice has become like Frost Star.
"Um... have you ever thought about coexisting with ordinary people?"
Noah felt she needed to say something to change the two rabbit sisters' attention. The atmosphere now was too solemn. Although both sides were deliberately suppressing their Originium skills, she couldn't guarantee whether continuing to talk about the fall of Chernobog would lead to a fight. .
The result of the fight is that everyone is finished together. As an ordinary person who does not know the origin stone skills, Dr. Noah's fate must be the worst among the three.
"Ordinary people..."
Froststar focused her gaze on Noah's face.
"What does it mean to be an ordinary person?"
"Is it the unarmed citizens who founded Chernobog but watched indifferently as the infected were executed, or the Ursus levies in the mine who took pleasure in designing the infected?"
Just like Valentine just now, Frost Star's voice began to become hysterical at this moment.
"Every time I think about the faces of those overseers, I gnash my teeth and want to slit their throats and drink their blood..."
Every time I think of Chernobog in flames that day, I gnash my teeth and want to slit the throats of the Integration Movement and drink their blood...
Valentine hummed softly and repeated it silently in his heart.
This is really a sad thing. Not everyone oppressed the infected, but the Integration Movement retaliated almost indiscriminately across the city. Not all the integration movements committed crimes in Checheng, but now that his memories were recalled, Valentine only thought about how to kill all the integration movements.
People who are carried away by hatred and anger are terrible. Those who are members of the Integration Movement are the best examples.
"..."
"But I don't hate Ursans."
Shuangxing's voice changed.
I don’t hate infected people either.
Valentine muttered quietly. After all, he himself is an infected person, Xing Yihuang is also an infected person, and many people in Rhode Island are infected.
What he hates are those infected who burned, killed, and looted in Qicheng, those infected who did dirty things for the noble reason of resisting oppression.
"When our guerrillas were trudging through the snow, retreating from the valley, or even being chased by the Ursus army... there would be cups of bread stuffed by the windows, also Ursus people."
"The Ursus have never been cold-blooded creatures. My only enemy is the Ursus Empire, which drives the infected to a dead end."
"Yes, yes, the only enemy is the Ursus Empire, which forces the infected to a dead end."
Valentin rolled his eyes, his voice a bit harsh.
"Then your integration movement massacred an entire city. And those officials in Qicheng, the enemies you called, are still happy now."
Froststar ignored Valentine's cynicism because he was telling the truth. As a cadre of the integration movement, she could not influence the decision-making of leader Tallulah, nor could she interfere with the behavior of other cadres. She could only let her subordinates take care of their own hands. As the only team in the integration movement that did not burn, kill, and loot during that war, Froststar did not deserve Valentine's cynicism. But as a member of the integration movement, there was nothing she could do about this situation.
After all, Valentine was mocking the Integration Movement, not her Froststar and Yeti team. And Shuangxing believed that if the person lying here was not her, but other members of the integration movement, then this pink-furred rabbit lady would never listen to those people telling their past stories, but would directly draw a knife and kill them.
He just needed a way to vent, and it didn't cause any harm to himself, so it was okay.
"I will not regard ordinary people as enemies. The Ursus people who were taught to hate the infected were just ordinary people before they were blinded by hatred. It's just because 'we will kill each other if we are enemies', that's why we fight like this, That’s all.”
Yes, enemies will kill each other. This is why Broken Bones died. If he didn't regard Rhode Island as an enemy, maybe that bear could still appear in front of you now.
Valentine cursed in his heart.
"I am an infected person, yes...but before that, I was a normal person."
“What about what the integration movement is doing now?”
Hearing this, Noah asked. But as soon as she said the words, she covered her mouth and glanced at Valentine beside her. Fortunately, Valentin had calmed down and didn't react much, otherwise he would have been extremely excited again by the end of this sentence.
"...The biggest difference between me and Bozhuo Kasti stems from his efforts to protect the infected group."
"'The Integration Movement is the first name that infected people can hear and rely on. No matter where the Integration Movement goes, we cannot directly destroy it. The collapse of the Integration Movement makes infected people lose their confidence and the confidence to fight.' "
"That's what the old man said, and he firmly believes it."
Recalling the words of Patriot, Shuangxing still felt ridiculous. But he is not entirely wrong. The integration movement is indeed the first name that infected people can rely on, and it is the beginning of the infected people's resistance to oppression. If the integration movement were wiped out, it would be a heavy blow.
It ends as soon as it begins. Will the resistance really succeed?
I am afraid that by then all infected people will lose confidence and become the walking zombies at the bottom of society.
But it would be too blind to defend what the integration movement has done just because of this. Just like Valentine's reaction and words just now, ordinary people who do not hate the infected began to hate the infected because of this incident. If this continues, things will only become more serious. In the end, the infected person will only have themselves to rely on, and there will be no help from anyone else.
The original intention of the integration movement was good, but it went astray. Froststar tries to correct herself, but Patriot follows Tallulah blindly. They cannot leave, because that will only cause the infected people under them to lose confidence in themselves and lose hope.
"Why are you talking intermittently?"
Noah heard something strange in the words.
"Because that's how he talks now. I just, ahem, restored his tone."
Froststar coughed, and his voice became quieter, but Noah still heard it clearly.
"Dr. Noah, do you know why Rhode Island is an unknown pharmaceutical company?"
"Because you can't stand on the stage. As long as you come to the stage, you will become what the integration movement is now."
Surrounded and protected by fanatical infected people, there will always be people to support you no matter what you do. Not only that, publicly announcing support for the infected to the world is an extremely rebellious act, which will make Rhode Island a target for everyone. Countless forces will infiltrate and turn Rhode Island into a pawn and a puppet in their hands. Perhaps, at that time, Rhode Island was still Rhode Island on the surface, but there were many sinful and dirty deeds hidden inside.
Isn't this what an organization on Earth is active in West Asia?
It's not that they can't be eliminated, it's just that some people don't want them to be completely eliminated.
"You will go down this path."
"Maybe."
Noah looked at Frost Star's face and didn't know what he was thinking.
"snort."
Froststar is noncommittal about Noah's reaction.
"After wandering around the tundra for decades, an infected woman reached out to us. She said, 'Come with me and let us break all the shackles.'"
Valentin knew who it was as soon as he heard this sentence.
Tallulah.
"Imagine that we meet in an old ruins that has become a battlefield. She is alone, with nothing but the roster and directory with her. Even the words she said I find ridiculously unrealistic. to the point.”
"But she said to us, 'Come with me.'"
An unrealistic idealist...
Valentin suddenly thought of Amiya, the current leader of Rhode Island, a cute little girl.
Just like Tallulah described by Frost Star, Amiya is also an idealist who often speaks unrealistic words, and is constantly fighting for the good wishes in her mind.
However, he really didn't think that Amiya would get involved with the current Tallulah. Their personalities were not similar at all.
What happened to the "little girl" Tallulah in the past to become the tyrant she is now?
Valentine didn't know, he wanted to know, but he didn't want to know.
because……
If he was really allowed to know the truth, he was afraid that he would not be able to kill the instigator of the Qicheng incident in the future.
But if he really doesn't know the truth, maybe Valentine has no chance to kill the real mastermind hidden in the darkness.
Like the whole fucked up world, this thing is contradictory. If Tallulah is really controlled and the Qicheng incident was not her intention, then...
What to do with the blood on Tallulah's hands?
What about the ordinary people who were burned to a crisp by Tallulah's fire?
Even if he knew in his heart that the real murderer was not Tallulah, he still couldn't get over the emotional hurdles, right?
Valentine stopped thinking before his thoughts became more and more confusing. At present, it is still far away from that step, and he still has a long time to think about it. I can only hope that I can find the real answer in this long period of time.
Valentine shook his head slightly and continued to fulfill his obligation as a listener.
