Departure
All the Infected in the Tundra mobilized.
There was no helping it. With an unknown amount of supplies inside those stacked shipping containers, the Infected, who had been traumatized by poverty, simply couldn't bear to watch them sit out in the open like that.
"These iron boxes are treasures," FrostNova reached out and knocked on a container enthusiastically. "With a little modification, they can become houses capable of holding several people, and there are so many of them..."
"But they don't retain heat, do they?" Xia Yu asked doubtfully upon hearing this. "It's still fine now during the summer, but once winter sets in... won't the people living inside freeze to death?"
"That's why I said they need to be modified," FrostNova gestured excitedly with her hands. "We can build semi-underground houses and cover the roofs with moss, branches, and other insulating materials. As long as we leave ventilation holes, it'll basically be fine."
"But this is merely a stopgap measure," FrostNova sighed at this point and looked out at the settlement. "At first, I thought this mobile town was quite large, and with the added space of the ten battleships, it would be enough for all of us."
"But now there are more and more Infected. Two hundred thousand people... The maximum designed capacity of this town is only a hundred and twenty thousand. The other eighty thousand are scattered across the various battleships. The sheer administrative cost of managing them is unimaginable."
"It's barely enough to live in right now, but Reunion's reputation has already spread throughout Ursus. There's a constant stream of Infected joining us every day..."
"Ursus wants to use this method to drag you down," Xia Yu spoke up upon hearing this. "The Tundra is barren, and they have plenty of Infected on their hands. More importantly, they know you can't feed this many people."
"I've seen the file Ah Tui submitted regarding the Black Snake. He's an incredibly cunning man. He won't just dump all his Infected on you at once; he'll always keep adding to your population right at the limits of what you can endure."
Xia Yu analyzed, "He doesn't dare let you collapse, nor does he dare let you grow. Therefore, he wants to rely on these endless administrative costs to drain all the Guerrillas' energy, keeping you constantly running around dealing with trivial matters every day."
"Leaving you with no energy to deal with anything else. This is an unsolvable open conspiracy."
"Talulah has also analyzed everything Miss Firefly just said," FrostNova said helplessly. "But so what? We can't just watch our fellow Infected freeze and starve to death in the snow."
"The reason Talulah exhausted herself to that state, a dignified Draco nearly dropping dead, is partly because she refuses to concede defeat."
"But she can't carry it all by herself," Xia Yu shook his head. "What you need isn't a superhuman leader, but a mature administrative management system."
"We know that too, it's just..." FrostNova smiled bitterly and shook her head.
"Have Buldrokas'tee go find Theresa," Xia Yu suggested upon hearing this. "Kazdel has the same troubles as you, but the difference is that they have capable people over there."
"An administrative management system based on a shipboard system is currently under development. Once it's released, it will be able to solve the biggest problem you're facing."
That's right, he was talking about Rhodes Island's PRTS system, fully known as the Primitive Rhodes Island Terminal Service.
There was no helping it; Theresa and Kal'tsit were also pushed to the brink. Even if they plucked Kazdel bald, they still couldn't conjure up that many administrative talents.
In the end, left with no other options, they could only set their sights on the PRTS system.
Sometimes, an efficient system can replace many of the redundant yet indispensable positions within an administrative system.
As a prehistoric starship system, the PRTS system was fully capable of handling this task. It merely needed the Doctor to modify it slightly.
What? You're asking how the Doctor is going to explain this to Priestess when she comes back?
Oh, then may she rest in peace.
"That's truly wonderful," hearing this, FrostNova breathed a sigh of relief. "I just don't know if that Lord of Fiends is easy to talk to."
"Rest assured, she's absolutely easy to talk to," Xia Yu smiled at this. "If she hears that your Reunion is an organization purely fighting for the rights of the Infected, she'll be even easier to talk to."
This perfectly matched Babel's ideals.
They too wanted to fight for the rights of the Infected, at least in other countries.
Only in Kazdel was Babel a paramilitary organization.
"Right, Miss Firefly, it's almost lunchtime now," FrostNova checked the time. "Let's go eat together."
"Sure," Xia Yu followed behind her. "Does Ursus have any specialty cuisines?"
"You could try the stewed Meat Soup," FrostNova said with a smile. "We specifically hunted for fresh game today, and it's being personally cooked by the former head chef of a famous Ursus hotel. It's a rare delicacy."
"Then it would be impolite for me to refuse," Xia Yu arrived at the Reunion cafeteria with her, where the chef had long prepared the meal and was waiting.
"This Meat Soup is indeed quite good," Xia Yu looked at FrostNova while savoring the delicacy. "It's just a pity that I'm leaving soon, so I won't be able to eat it anymore."
"Uh, you mean..." FrostNova was stunned upon hearing this.
"The handover of supplies is almost complete, so it's about time I left, isn't it?" Xia Yu looked at FrostNova beside him and set down the large, completely empty bowl in front of him. "I still have other missions."
"It's extremely urgent. There's no helping it, a huge group of people is waiting for me to save their lives."
Originally, FrostNova had planned to persuade him to stay a few more days so Reunion could properly entertain their guest. But since he had mentioned a mission, it wasn't her place to force him.
"Sigh, you're just leaving like this, and Talulah is still sleeping right now," FrostNova sighed helplessly. "When she wakes up... I don't even dare to imagine how much she'll blame herself."
"What's there to blame herself for? I already said it has nothing to do with her," Xia Yu shook his head. "She's just the one having trouble getting over that hurdle. Don't worry, she'll slowly figure it out."
"Or maybe in a few years, when Ah Tui's condition stabilizes, she can come and comfort her personally."
"Then on my father's side..." FrostNova was somewhat troubled hearing this.
"Alright now, you all have your own things to busy yourselves with. I'm just an errand runner anyway," Xia Yu smiled and comforted her. "There's no need for a grand send-off. It's not like we won't ever see each other again."
"Miss Firefly, then until we meet again."
"Mhm, until we meet again." Xia Yu took out his transformation device. The SAM armor materialized once again, and then his entire being turned into a shooting star, blasting towards the horizon.
Creak.
Xia Yu gently pushed open the door to the small house.
It was still just as dim inside.
He walked over to the computer, picked up his cup, poured himself a glass of water, and then placed it on the desk.
He stared blankly.
Then he started transforming.
From the very beginning with Furina, to Ah Tui, then to Acheron, Firefly, Bailu...
One face after another surfaced on the pitch-black screen.
Who would be next?
After staring blankly for a while, he swapped back into Firefly's body, took a sip of water, and then turned on the computer.
Quickly, it booted up in three seconds.
He opened the browser first this time. The perfectly clean page didn't show a single ad, and then he aimlessly clicked on various tabs.
It was useless; it displayed a network connection failure.
It could only be used to watch anime. What a joke.
Then he opened his game library, from Steam to various independent launchers. He looked at the games in the list one by one, but couldn't muster the slightest interest to open any of them.
Finally, he looked at the rewards for this mission.
It was still three globes of light.
He clicked open the first one.
[Fate — Human Order Guarantee Arts]
GG, the very first one was a massive deal!
What was the Human Order Guarantee Arts? It was the Arts created by the former director of Chaldea to ensure the eternal survival of humanity.
Sounds pretty grand and impressive, right?
But if you peeled back the core to look inside, it was practically anti-human.
Simply put, it involved using his daughter Olga Marie as the core control unit, fusing her into Chaldeas to make it a program that drove the development of human civilization.
After his death, Olga Marie would lead Team A to repair the Singularities, ultimately completing the reboot of civilization.
Next, it would create the illusion of the center of the universe, setting Earth as the cosmic center. Through the Fantasy Tree harvesting ritual, it would symbolically 'eradicate' the entire observable universe, preserving only human existence.
It seemed wonderful; humanity would never have to worry about any external threats again. However, there was a tiny problem.
The former director thoroughly despised modern humans. He felt that today's humanity was far too 'shrewd'.
In his ideal vision, humanity should be devoid of desires, noble, free of any self-interest, and completely devoid of emotion.
He demanded that everyone be a flawless saint.
Naturally, in the replaced universe, those 'humans' would be able to live on without desires, just as he wished.
How should I put this... perhaps some people could accept it, but Xia Yu absolutely could not accept this point.
Setting aside everything else, just look at the emotion-stripped former director. While watching his own daughter Olga Marie being dissected and tortured for so many years by the humans inside Chaldeas—using her bodily tissues to build a magnificent civilization bit by bit—what was he doing?
He was observing. He was recording. He didn't care in the slightest that his daughter was being tortured, even with her agonizing wails right by his ears.
If all of humanity became like that... tsk tsk tsk.
The result of this plan was that the former director used his entire fortune to rub together an ultra-small Lostbelt—namely Singularity X. It overwrote the original history and constructed a Holy Grail War stage where he could make an appearance. The conflict and divergence between Singularity F and X began right here.
Because of X's appearance, Singularity F was triggered. According to the former director's original plan, Team A could speedrun Singularity F, helping him clean up the final piece of evidence and achieve the perfect crime. But because Lev blew up all of Team A, the speedrun failed. Saber Alter successfully used Avalon to anchor the Fuyuki Singularity, turning it into the ultimate piece of evidence.
So, Grand Bomber, I really misjudged you. You hard carried!
Xia Yu looked at the globe of light in his hand with disgust.
What use was this thing...? The prerequisite for the Human Order Guarantee Arts to function was that the Fate/Grand Order universe had a starting point for everything—the Swirl of the Root that connected all things in existence.
Relying on this thing, the former director was able to complete the feat of replacing a thirteen point eight billion light-year universe.
If it were any other universe... what could he do? Other universes didn't have this kind of hardware support either.
So didn't that mean this thing was useless? Did he have to go to the Fate/Grand Order universe and perform the Human Order Guarantee Arts himself?
You've got to be kidding me.
Xia Yu looked speechlessly at the Arts in his hand and shook his head.
A glance was enough to tell. Trash.
But he still put it away.
He'd just treat it like a hoarder stocking up the warehouse. Who knows, maybe he'd actually find a use for it someday.
Then came the second globe of light.
Ho, an old friend.
[Senzu Bean * 3]
Not bad, not bad. This stuff was indeed very useful.
He just didn't know if they could be planted and grown.
But it was probably impossible. After all, the effects of things like Senzu Beans were truly heaven-defying; they shouldn't be that easy to cultivate.
Putting away the Senzu Beans, he looked at the third globe of light.
[Bull of Heaven]
Looking at the majestic Divine Beast in his hand, Xia Yu was instantly stunned.
Wait, was this even something that could be pulled from the gacha?
The giant beast from Babylonia mythology—the Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna.
In the Original Text of the myth, Gugalanna was the god of the Sumerians, known as the Great Bull of Heaven, and was also Taurus, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
The Epic of Gilgamesh stated that after Ishtar was rejected when courting Gilgamesh, she sent down the Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, to take revenge on him. Later, the Bull of Heaven was killed by the combined efforts of Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
In the historical setting of Type-Moon, Gilgamesh merely repelled the Bull of Heaven without killing it, so Ishtar should still possess the Bull of Heaven.
As a giant beast in mythology, the Bull of Heaven's strength naturally could not be underestimated. In the original Epic of Gilgamesh, the Bull of Heaven could cause droughts and brought natural disasters to Uruk, making it a Divine Beast that affected people's production and health.
Under the setting of Type-Moon, the Bull of Heaven even required the combined efforts of Gilgamesh, the Keystone of Heaven, and Enkidu, the Enuma Elish (Chain of Heaven), to repel it.
In the Absolute Demonic Front storyline, it was also mentioned that if Ishtar hadn't lost the Bull of Heaven, then relying on Gugalanna's size and strength, she should have been able to block the advancing Tiamat, buying more time for the protagonist's party.
It was precisely because she lost the Bull of Heaven that she ended up with the title of a useless goddess.
As for where that Bull of Heaven actually went...
That was a good question.
Xia Yu flipped his hand and put away the Divine Beast.
Regardless, he wasn't the one who stole it.
If she had the capability, Ishtar could come and ask for it back herself!
After sorting out his rewards, Xia Yu stretched, got up to boil some water, and then went back to the bathroom to take a shower.
Then he returned to the kitchen and opened a bowl of spicy beef instant noodles. He would just make do with a few bites for today.
He really didn't want to cook anymore.
While eating, he opened a website and started binge-watching a TV show.
House of Cards was quite good. He just didn't know why he wouldn't transmigrate into those American TV shows.
Just treat it as a vacation, right?
Just like that, he lived a life of eating and sleeping for three days before welcoming the next world.
Xia Yu looked at himself in the mirror. Firefly's peerless beauty had been reduced to a complete mess by his lifestyle. He hadn't even managed his hair properly, opening the door while sporting a bird's nest on his head.
Anyway, he would just be in another body after going out.
He turned the doorknob, stepping toward the vast expanse of white scenery before him.
He took a step forward.
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T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.
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