Arknights: Iron-Blooded Savior

Rankopel felt that it was a little inappropriate to disturb at this time, and turned to leave, but saw Frost Star wave his hand at him, motioning for him to come over here as well.

So I thought about it for a while, and finally walked to Frost Star.

"Rankopel..."

Frost Star put down the utensils in her hand, as if she had many words to confide in herself, she turned and looked at herself with silver eyes.

"Say, Froststar, I've always been there."

Rankopel patted Frost Star's shoulder and said to her.

"...,"

Frost Star took a deep breath and said to Rankopel:

"Rankopel, as I call my father, named Bodrokasti, was once a lieutenant of Usas, I usually call him Big Daddy, Big Daddy, and sometimes call him Old Stubborn."

"But my biological father, actually, very early... It's already dead.

"As a child, I vividly remember a man who blocked a crossbow from a picket and protected a woman, and the woman held me in her arms and blocked the second wave of crossbow arrows with her back."

Rankopel looked at Frost Star and said in a low tone:

"You...

Frost Star closed his eyes, raised his head slightly, and replied

, "At that time, I couldn't understand what was happening in front of me,

and this memory was just too stinging in my heart to be forgotten."

"As for what really happened, my grandmother told me later."

"When I asked my grandmother what that vision meant, and she couldn't prevaricate anymore, my grandmother told me."

"That's your real parents, who protected you at the last moment before they died.

"My grandmother talked to me a lot, a lot, before I was caught in the mine, my father took me to pick wild acorns, my mother sang me a lullaby, my parents took me to the snow... Learn about the different footprints of each animal.

"That's when I realized how much my parents loved me, but I was too young to remember much, and a lot of it was forgotten by me, and I was heartbroken at that moment."

Rankopel asked in a low voice:

"So... Your grandmother raised you? Frost

Star replied

, "Yes, but only half,

the other half is the blood of the Usas mutant."

"I was born in a mine in the tundra of the northwest, which was shrouded in cold winds and blizzard all year round, and almost all around the mine was a pale dead land, and even the most tenacious moss and lichens could not grow."

"Someone wants to escape from that mine, no blizzards and cold winds, no pickets with knives and crossbows, snow blindness alone is enough to kill them."

"The mine is remote, small, not a city, and there are no settlements around, so there really is nothing to see except snow all year round."

"Such mines are no different from execution grounds, built only to promote death and slavery, and there are countless such mines in this tundra."

"My biological parents were miners in this mine, working almost more than twenty hours a day, so the mutant pickets still took pleasure in splashing them with ice water during their only two or three hours of sleep."

"My grandmother spent the years learning to speak with me, but she never told me what crime my parents committed to serve their sentence."

“...... Later, when I was older, I inquired around the mine and learned that both my parents had opposed the wartime tactics of Emperor Usas.

"And that strategy, I only superficially heard, I only think that it is simply chopping people to the enemy in exchange for so-called victories, these results are the good results in the hands of politicians, the talk of aristocrats, the gold chain around the waist of businessmen."

"But there is nothing that is mutant."

"And my parents' arrest was just an accident, the bottom two lines of the arrest list were blank, and the non-commissioned officer in charge of the search casually copied the names on the door number."

"Without trial, my parents lost their land, house, name, and even human rights, and moved from the warm town to the cold northland to serve hundreds of years of hard labor."

"Of course, no one will live to that point, let alone leave alive."

"All that went out there were the corpses of mutants."

Rankopel clenched his fists

and said, "Then your

grandmother..."

Frost Star sighed and said, "

Yes, my grandmother, as the so-called 'shelterer', was also sentenced to hard labor and moved to this mine,

she was just an old woman who sold persimmons grown in front of our house in the vegetable market."

"The price is very low, even equivalent to donation."

"In fact... All the miners in the mine have very similar experiences.

"Unsurprisingly, my parents got ore disease during the mining process, and all miners got ore disease, and so did I."

"Now, even if you can really escape this mine and return to that small city, no one will believe what you say, you are just a mutant, the most vicious, the most terrifying, and the most extreme mutant."

"However, the overseers of the mine, a certain garrison of Usas, believe that the natural death rate of mutants is still too slow."

"They draw lots to decide the fate of the patients of the Ore Disease mutants, and torture them to death with extremely painful and cruel punishments..."

Rankopel's heart couldn't help but think of the words of the black snake: "[I don't

want to say too rude, actually, Rankopel.]

"You can always believe in the mastery of human beings in killing their fellow human beings.

Shaking his head hard to let this bad emotion roll out of his mind, Rankopel looked at Frost Star again, and his eyes returned to clarity.

And Frost Star paused for a moment, and spoke again:

"Maybe the white snow didn't drive the miners crazy but drove them crazy, maybe the mutants are not human in their eyes."

"When I was five years old, my parents drew black lots."

"When I was ten years old, my grandmother drew a black lot."

"When I was eleven, I drew black lots myself, but it didn't matter, they didn't care about the lots, they just wanted to scrap the whole mine."

"At that time, all the adult patients in the mine had died, and the emperor's new treatment method left the mine staffed."

"By order ... The Usas overseers intend to execute the last mutants, some mutant children, their sabers waved down without mercy.

"But they may not even know that their sabers are targeting many corpses that have already starved to death."

"Then they would blow up the mines and serve as graves for mutants to cover up their sins, and I learned from my later marching career that they always did this."

"I was outraged. Unwillingness, and pain.

"I crushed a lot of ore, I lived with the other children in the mine, we were brothers and sisters, and now we will all die and be devoured by the whiteness of this Usas."

"More intense emotions hatched in my chest, and the deaths of my parents and grandmother were vividly remembered."

"My spell awakened at that time, burst out, and killed the four non-commissioned officers who were executed on the spot... But I didn't have the power to turn the tide of the war.

"The miners are just livestock in their eyes, and the children are just cubs of livestock in their eyes, they are armed with blades as soldiers, and we are just little reptiles that just stung them with their tail thorns."

"Just as they knocked me out, the last wave of slaughter was about to begin, and the cries of my brothers and sisters reached my ears, I could clearly see it."

"The sky in the distance, which only knows how to choose people and devour, was suddenly opened into a hollow."

"That's his halberd."

“...... He came here with the guerrillas, and all the Usas soldiers in the tundra of the Northwest would dream, and this team was their worst nightmare. "

If it weren't for him and the guerrillas who eliminated the executioner in front of us, me and those mutant children in the mine... will all die there, and there will be no more us after that. Frost

Star finally said to Rankopel:

"Before that, when they executed my parents and grandmother, I secretly used my own day's food as a reward for other mutant miners to unpack other people's corpses."

"And quietly in a bonfire that rose at night, my parents and grandmother... Cremation, their ashes mixed with the ashes of the trees, was kept by me.

"And I was with my parents and grandmother and promised ... If one day, we can have at least one city of our own, a city where mutants can live in peace, I will bury them here. Frost

Star's tone was a little low, but he was happy that his parents and his grandmother had finally found a place to sleep.

“...... They would be proud to know what you're doing today. Rankopel

said to Froststar.

"Hmm."

What Rankopel didn't expect was that Frost Star actually turned around and took the initiative to give himself a deep hug, pressing almost all the weight of his body up.

"Thank you, Rankopel, for everything you have done for us, and it is really my greatest luck to meet you."

"And... I really...... Appreciate you. Rankopel

hugged Frost Star, closed his eyes, and replied

, "Me too,

Yelena."

"To be able to save you... It's true...... That's great. "

Yes, Rankopel has indeed made up for a big regret in his past life.

"Wow...!"

But at this moment, there was a sudden noise in the surroundings, and Rankopel turned his head to see that it was a member of the snow monster squad who happened to pass by around the corner.

"Uh... Snow monster, things are not what you think..." This

action is indeed a little affectionate for men and women, afraid that this snow monster has some other ideas, Rankopel immediately said to him.

"No... No!! Mr. Rankopel, you misunderstood!!"

But before his words were finished, the snow monster immediately said:

"No one else we met along the way is more worthy of your big sister!" I took the lead in approving this protégé—

" Frost Star immediately stopped him and said,

"

Little Kosova, what do you say——?!?"

The snow monster named Little Kosowa snorted and replied

, "No, big sister, I didn't say anything,

but we really hope that you can meet someone who is really worth living together for a lifetime and can reap happiness for each other."

Frost Star closed his eyes, took a gentle breath, looked at Rankopel, and asked,

"Rankopel... Do you currently have any thoughts about getting married? Rankopel

shook his head and replied

, "No, marriage is a very backward thing in my eyes, at least until our struggle is over,

I don't want my wife to live in worry and confusion every day."

A smile curled at the corner of Frost Star's mouth and said, "

Me too,

Rankopel."

"We're comrades, right?"

Rankopel laughed and replied,

"Then you need to say it!"

Snap!

Rankopel's hand and Frost Star gave a gentle high-five, and both of them were full of appreciation for each other, and without any love, the sincere friendship between the two was enough to surpass everything.

But maybe one day, Rankopel and Froststar will find each other's true partners, and the pair may be someone else, or they may be the two of them.

But they all believe that it must be the best arrangement.