"She fought with us, and she became our friend with all kinds of ideas and strength. We left the snowfield together and walked towards the city of Ursus."
Shuangxing fell into deep memories again. Just like when she told the story of the patriots, her eyes lost focus and she looked straight at the broken beam that lay above the three of them. At this moment, she couldn't see the dust in front of her, and what she could see was a vast white snowfield. A thin dragon woman walked at the front of the team. Her clothes were very gorgeous and warm. They looked like the styles commonly used by nobles, but they were a bit tattered. They were no longer bright and beautiful, and even the colors were covered up. There was a layer of dust, as if it hadn't been washed in a long time.
That was the second beam of light Frost Star had seen, a beam of light from the future of the infected.
"Whether it's the words she uttered after deep contemplation or the swing of her sword when she was sparring with me, the power she carried was sincere and heavy enough."
It's really thick...
Valentin thought of Chernobog in flames that day. Wearing burnt clothes, he used his fingers to hold the sword Tallulah wielded, and then tore the culprit of the fire in half cleanly with his bare hands.
This is naturally not something that Valentine can do, it all depends on the immortal in his body. But even if the Eternal defeated Tallulah's attack so lightly, watching the battle from a first-person perspective, he could still feel the majestic momentum of Tallulah wielding the sword as she was vulnerable to the powerful power of the Eternal.
Valentine was convinced that even if he could use his sword skills to successfully block the sword swung by the dragon girl with his strong sword, the power contained in the opponent's sword would forcibly split the sword in his hand into two halves. Taking his own body with him.
Even if he uses the long sword given to him by the Eternal One, Valentine will not be able to hold the hilt due to the impact of the opponent's blade.
This is an absolute crushing force that cannot be compensated for by any technology or equipment.
"She was there when she was treating injured warriors. She was there when she was explaining strategies and her teachings to the infected. And she was still there when she was fighting against the Ursus extermination team."
"...We can even dine with some ordinary people. She doesn't care about her status, and her eyes are not fake. Our team is growing, and our friendship is growing. The people she contacts are all good people, and they are all Good people."
"Pause."
Valentin, who had been listening quietly, raised his hand.
"These words of yours...are you talking about Tallulah?"
Valentine closed his fingers and extended his index finger to point directly upward.
"The one who turned this city into ruins with the flames of the spirit behind him, the one who allowed his subordinates to massacre the citizens of the city at will, the one who had no other emotions in his eyes except violence and coldness..."
"Tallulah?"
Valentine's expression was wonderful, even scarier than the expression he had just heard when Froststar said that people from Rhode Island would not be allowed to continue harming the infected in the integration movement.
"Oh yes, and the people you mentioned she contacted are all good people."
Valentine squeezed out a disdainful sneer from the corners of his raised lips.
"He is indeed a good player. Killing people and setting fires is a high level..."
"But did you just say the word 'good guy'?"
He raised his hands and placed them on both sides of his head, extending his index and middle fingers to make a quotation mark gesture.
"Are you talking about good people in the eyes of those who have gone crazy, or good people in a broad sense? I don't understand."
"literal meaning."
Frost Star's explanation is simple.
"Those people... don't hate ordinary people, just like me. They treat infected people like brothers, treat our enemies like wolves and tigers, and treat ordinary people with the same attitude as ordinary people."
"We don't take the initiative to get close, and we don't take the initiative to express hostility. We will say thank you when we receive help, and we will just treat it as invisible when we receive a blank look. Unless they want to hurt us, we will not take the initiative to attack ordinary people."
"Oh... that's really great humiliation."
Valentine deliberately increased the pronunciation of the word "bear humiliation". Froststar heard the sarcasm in the voice, but she didn't say anything.
The integration movement in the past was indeed a group of rational people. Mephistopheles was not as cold-blooded and crazy as he is now, and he even tried to sing; Tallulah was really a person with personal touch and leadership, and everyone respected her; at that time The Faustdra Bow still feels strenuous, but under the guidance of the Yeti team, it has gradually grown to what it is now...
They are as close as brothers and sisters, they are a family.
but now……
They are still family, but they have changed.
Valentine's taunting was normal. As a survivor of the Checheng Incident, his attitude was mild enough.
"I understand how you feel, and I don't want to excuse them. I just hope... that you can listen to my story."
Froststar's tone was very calm. She didn't deliberately lower her attitude, nor did she respond to Valentin's weirdness. To her, she and Valentine were in two different worlds, and what they saw with their eyes and the emotions they felt in their hearts were different. It’s great that these two types of people can sit together and communicate calmly. As for whether to listen or not, whether to believe it or not...
It doesn't matter.
There is no need to impose one's own views on others.
"At that time, I regarded her as my friend. She silently helped me make these candies, even though her skills were poor and the appearance was terrible."
No matter what Tallulah is like now, Tallulah once was just like Froststar said. Those were her memories, what she had seen and felt with her own eyes, it was completely real.
"When she was eating, she had a weird expression on her face. She tried her best to give me a smile. That expression was really weird. She was forcing it, and I knew it, and even I laughed out loud."
It seemed that this memory aroused Shuangxing's long-frozen feelings. At this moment, the corners of her mouth moved, revealing a rare smile. Clean, pure, and beautiful, as if showing off, with only the cherishment of pure friendship in it, reminding Noah of the snowdrops in the story.
Noah blinked and took a photo of this precious scene.
"Everything has changed now."
In an instant, the smile on Shuangxing's face disappeared. The snowdrops disappeared into the vast wind and snow, and they could only see the frozen snowfield.
"As you can see, Chernobog was destroyed by natural disasters. Most ordinary people either died or became newly infected. In their eyes, I can't even see the slightest desire to live."
Just like everyone else in the mine back then.
Just like Valentine who was once injected with a "key".
Like this...
Like countless people in this world.
"If this was what she wanted, we wouldn't have followed her in the first place."
Yes. The Tallulah of the past was not what she is now, Froststar remembered it clearly. Tallulah is a completely different person now than she was before. Apart from the same appearance, everything else...
Nothing in common.
"If you don't know, let me tell you a secret..."
Froststar stared at the display on Noah's face.
"Now, she is preparing to seize Dragon Gate. It is said that the result this time will be different from Chernobog. The infected will get their own city instead of a huge ruin."
"Would you trust such a person?"
Trust an executioner who just destroyed an entire city?
I believe her *Chinese expletive*
Valentine cursed secretly in his mind. Let’s not talk about how many people there are in Longmen. Will the Flame Congress behind Longmen send reinforcements? Can Tallulah of the Light Dragon Gate Guards annihilate them all?
Use the Originium skills you used that day in Chernobog again?
At that time, Valentin could see clearly that Tallulah's legs were covered with Originium crystals due to overuse of her abilities. If she used them again in Longmen, how long would she live?
It is much more difficult to capture a complete city that can be lived in than to turn a city into ruins.
"If this is a kind of acting skill, then this kind of acting skill will deceive anyone on this earth."
The pain of being deceived had already taken root in Shuangxing's heart, but compared to the pain he had suffered, it was really nothing. Tallulah remains the leader of the infected, at least for now.
"I had an idea that never left my mind."
"If I confront her head-on, what chance do I have of winning? Once we break up, once I find out that she has deceived the infected, or is secretly designing a conspiracy that is detrimental to the infected..."
"I will fight her. She must know the cost of betrayal."
"Countless battles to the death with Ursus have cleared my mind and honed my abilities. I can definitely say that even if I cannot defeat her, I can still let death take her and me away from the earth."
Every infected person is a time bomb. If Frost Star really gives up hope of living, perhaps the coldest ice can defeat the fire that is enough to melt everything.
"The old stubborn will not agree with my idea. He has fought for too long, and his old age is driving him towards a path that only involves sacrifice."
"You don't agree with your father's actions."
Noah smelled a hint of danger from Frost Star's words. If the future continues like this, Shuangxing is likely to fall out with, or even break up with, her only relative.
"He's strong against his enemies, he's loyal to his friends. Once he thinks he's supposed to protect these people, he has to face the reality of his friends, and that makes him weak."
"The old man who has believed in others all his life... This old stubborn never thinks about what to do after being betrayed."
Comparing Tallulah in Froststar's memories with Tallulah now, I'm afraid the Patriots were really betrayed this time.
It can even be said that Tallulah betrayed the integration movement and all the infected people who believed in him.
"Perhaps he swallowed those bitter pills by force. He endured the pain of betrayal again and again, but said nothing."
Valentine understands this. Will parents tell their children about the suffering they have suffered?
Won't.
“Whether it is an infected person who has heard about the deeds of the integration movement and joined it, or an infected person who feels that all their actions can be condoned...the integration movement is dividing within itself, and our leaders have done nothing and even acquiesced in these things happening. .”
Is the integration movement splintering? Valentine blinked, collecting his wandering thoughts. This is probably the best news he has ever heard, because it means that some rational infected people are surging in the darkness, and the name "Integration Movement" may really return to the right path in the future.
And those who join the integration movement purely to vent their desires will sooner or later die sadly and be cast aside by the world.
Regardless of whether that team will inherit the name "Integrated Movement" in the future, or change its name and become a new infected pillar, this is a good start.
The infected people have begun to wake up. Can the moment when ordinary people open their eyes be far away?
"After the incident in Longmen is over, I will definitely return to Chernobog. This time, I must face her."
"Because I don't have much time left. I promised my brothers that I would find a home for everyone. I have to fulfill my promise before I fall."
Shuangxing's voice was a little weak, perhaps because the long narration made her mouth dry. Valentine and the others have been trapped in the ruins for a long time, and there is still no sign of the rescue team arriving.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
It was really strange to tell a stranger what was in his heart. Even if he used his charming passive skill, Noah was not sure that he could make Miss Rabbit, whose heart was as cold and hard as her body, open her heart.
But Shuangxing took the initiative to do so.
"Because your eyes tell me that you are not another executioner."
"The look in my eyes...?"
¿
A question mark appeared on the display screen on Noah's face.
She was wearing a mask all the time, how could Shuangxing see her face? unless……
Noah remembered that when he was still wrestling with the pink rabbit sister at the beginning, Froststar happened to wake up and saw her true face, and was stunned.
…
No, is this okay? This sister only saw her face for a second!
"Uh... I don't know if I am."
Noah thought it was better not to tell her the truth, so he brushed it off casually.
"Doubting yourself is the best. Only in this way will you not insist on going your own way just because you believe in something."
But Froststar answered seriously.
At this moment, a sudden knocking sound reached everyone's ears. Noah was stunned. She turned her head and looked towards the source of the sound. Wherever she looked, there were still collapsed ruins and rubble that were stacked together. But after the small knocking sound ended, Noah seemed to hear the urgent cry of a certain little rabbit.
"Amiya..."
She whispered the name.
"...Did you hear the noise outside? They seem to be excavating the ruins above."
Not only Amiya's shouts, Frost Star also felt the Origin Stone skills of the snow monsters. Although not as powerful as Frost Star, it is very similar.
"It looks like the story will end."
Valentine yawned.
"Okay...I can move my fingers now."
Shuangxing tilted his head and saw his slightly trembling fingers.
"Thank you."
"Did I do something?"
Noah turned his head, and there was another question mark on the display. She was tapping the broken beam in front of her with a stone to signal the rescue team outside.
"Thank you for helping me kill the time."
"besides……"
Froststar shifted his gaze to Valentine who suddenly sat next to him.
"Miss Yae Sakura, there is no need to be so nervous. Although my body is getting better, forcibly using Originium skills will only make my health worse. I don't want to wait until I see Tallulah. Just pass away."
Although Frost Star said so, Valentine still did not stop the dispersion of power in his body. He glanced at Frost Star and said nothing, but the orange-red film on his body became even more dazzling.
Seeing that Valentine didn't believe him, Shuangxing didn't continue to say anything. She closed her eyes and waited quietly for the rescue team to arrive. But when she just closed her eyes, her body felt something strange.
That is……
warm current.
Froststar had heard the word summer from others a long time ago, but she had never experienced this excessively warm season because there was no summer in Ursus. On countless cold nights, when everyone was wrapped in thick quilts and fell asleep, Frost Star, who was not afraid of the cold, had a fiery dream.
She longed for warmth, so she ate that candy. But except for the day when Chernobog fell, Froststar had never felt warm in his body. She didn't like Tallulah's flames because they contained so many disgusting negative emotions.
Except this time.
Valentin used his Origin Stone skills to cover Shuangxing's body, giving her rare warmth. No matter how much he hates the Integration Movement, no matter how much he hates those infected, he will never hate Frost Star.
At least Froststar wasn't involved in the massacre that day.
Shuangxing looked at the looming orange-red color on his body, closed his eyes, felt the warmth in his body, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
"Thanks."
