Hello, Arknights

Chapter 224 The Disappearing Black Snake

The ridicule was so intense that it surpassed all the arrogance he had ever encountered, and the murderous intent was so strong that it surpassed all the malice he had ever encountered.

The interweaving of gray and white sword edges eventually shattered the innocent onlookers. The red lotus sword and the invisible flame cut left indelible marks on this area. The air shook violently, and Ling Dengxian, who was caught in a flaw, was slashed by Tallulah's sword and flew into the building complex. He was wrapped in the scorching air and penetrated the three back walls and went through the house. He inserted the sword into the ground and used his legs to resist in an attempt to stabilize his body. However, after his feet plowed two long marks on the steel-like road surface, he was overwhelmed by the unbalanced external force and fell heavily to the ground.

There seemed to be an ugly wound on his cheek. Ling Dengxian had changed a lot. He didn't drop his sword even after such a severe injury. The bloody wound caused a piercing pain. White flames stained his cheeks, and his eyes reflected bright flames. He quickly turned over despite the multiple burns on his body. Although his movements were a little deformed due to the severe pain, he was ready to swing his sword again.

"Summon your crown. I just happen to be curious and will give you this opportunity."

From the area where oxygen was being rapidly consumed, a blurry figure passed through the flames that were making way for her like a group of ministers. Gradually, not only her appearance became clearer, but also her fangs gradually emerged.

"...Do you really think that everything is under your control? Kosice, or rather, Black Snake?" The young man restrained his desire to unleash the darkness. He noticed that the Black Snake isolated this space from the outside world with invisible fire and consumed the oxygen in it bit by bit, leaving no loopholes.

Tallulah smiled softly, but stopped approaching him. Instead, she paced around him and put pressure on him. Facing his words, she no longer concealed her true face:

"The Demon King is truly a magical creature. How did you discover my existence? Or are you also exploring invisible emotions at this moment?"

"To be honest, I shouldn't have wasted such a rare opportunity to study the Demon King, but unfortunately, you didn't leave yourself any room."

Black Snake narrowed his eyes slightly. The fundamental reason that led him to make this decision was actually because it was very difficult to completely control White Dove in terms of skills through Tallulah's body. In the previous confrontation, White Dove withstood the initial offensive with the cover of White Flame and gradually became familiar with the rhythm. Perhaps he himself did not even realize that he would take this rhythm into his own hands.

Every time the Black Snake lost absolute control, it decisively used its powerful force to defeat his momentum, and the strength required had gradually become difficult from the initial ease.

No more hesitation.

However, the fact was that Ling Dengxian could hardly hold on any longer. The white crown was draining his strength bit by bit. The infection on his left hand had originally only reached the back of his hand, but now it had spread to his wrist. The spread up the arm had temporarily slowed down and was gradually covering the entire back of his hand. The dark red lines in the pitch-black crystals slowly became clearer.

But... do I need to draw my two swords to protect myself?

There was only one successful case of effectively controlling both swords. And this power combined with the amplification brought by the already declining white crown would have no problem repelling or even defeating Tallulah, but...how to find Tallulah? To prevent this doom?

He is not Chen, nor is he Amiya. He does not have the ability to peek into emotions that a demon king should have. He is far less knowledgeable about her than Alina, even though he knows her past.

He just tried his best to break the spear of doom that was thrown at this land of suffering.

He is just a lonely "crown holder", a demon king who never existed, a rebel with a dark personality, a time traveler who was moved by the bagpipes, a bereaved person who lost his sister, a guarantor who wields a sword against the superior with passion, and a... ordinary person who tries hard to "live well".

Pick up a handful of moonlight and drink a piece of wind and snow.

The hand that was about to replace the red lotus with the white sword stopped, and the boy's anger and hatred suddenly disappeared. He calmed down. With Black Snake's character, if possible, he would never give up the opportunity to quickly eliminate all possible threats just because of a little "interest" and "curiosity". He was very sure that this bastard had not spoken a word of truth until this moment.

As Black Snake was occupying Tallulah's body, it was possible for him to try to defeat her right from the start, but he didn't do so. So why?

Black Snake had long noticed his peculiarity, and had arranged for him to act together with Frost Star in response to his weaknesses. However, he had not expected that after a series of life-and-death crises, Yelena would choose to believe the latter over the strangely behaving Tallulah and the temporarily out-of-contact White Dove. This found Black Snake ridiculous that she chose the latter over a compatriot with whom she had fought side by side for such a long time and a dangerous individual of unknown origin.

"That infected person named Frost Star actually betrayed his leader. The ideals and disciplines of the infected are really just a joke." Black Snake chuckled, cautiously but threateningly narrowing the final distance. "Demon King, a king who lost his homeland, and a betrayer, put aside the identity of the infected and leave this land that cannot be defiled. Maybe you can write a more interesting story."

"Betraying? Sorry, we are just not stupid or blind."

Due to my series of interventions, you took actions that were so abrupt compared to the original world line. Except for those incited thugs, no one who thinks carefully would fall into your trap!

"Patriots..." That's right, the conspiracy can be shattered when the patriots arrive.

"No, you are the flag..." Ling Dengxian suddenly realized that the Patriot could not take down Tallulah directly, because he remembered the reason why the Patriot refused to retreat in the original world line.

The first fire of the infected cannot be changed.

Once this kind of behavior occurs, its original purity no longer exists and its nature will be transformed into those evil power struggles.

He took off his armband to prevent this possibility, but he misjudged her strength and failed to defeat Tallulah.

It is no use relying on patriots. We can only start by finding the weakness that Black Snake fears!

"Demon King" is wrong, "Chixiao Sword Technique" is wrong, and "Dayan background" is wrong... Bai Yan.

He recalled once again how this harmless white flame had once ignited and burned all over the sky full of bizarre scenes.

"And the reaction of the evil spirit... this white flame... what's going on?"

Well, success or failure depends on this one move.

Ling Dengxian looked into the eyes of "Talulah" again. As he thought, the cautious black snake decisively stopped and chose to rain down fire. At the same time, the second round of natural disasters came!

The hand holding Honglian suddenly sheathed the sword!

The stars shine on thousands of rivers, and the moon is brighter than ever before.

The snow on the tundra is pure white. The frost condenses into the enemy's blade, and it shatters along with the illusion under the sword!

Black Snake lost because of his hesitation. He had never seen Bai Ge's sword before, and he was sure that Wei Yanwu had not seen it either. That was the sword intent that Bai Ge had cultivated and honed after he saw the extremely clear double moons and the dreamy white snowfield during that cold and snowy march.

Everyone can see this magnificent scene, but the ups and downs of it are different for everyone.

"Very good, you, braving the rain of fire and natural disasters, still left me a wound." The black snake looked down at the bright red and hideous sword wound on the back of his hand expressionlessly. He gently let go, and the famous sword that was cut in half fell down and pierced into the ground, shedding red sword tears.

"How does it feel to have gone all in and failed?" The black snake's words seemed to be materialized into a hissing snake, and the skirt that was torn in half by the sword wind was like a flag of victory.

Ling Dengxian looked at the Shi Nie in his hand. It seemed that he was not incapable of using the one-handed sword, but this time it did not fail or break. Its performance was completely different from when it received Wei Yanwu's Yun Lie sword.

The shadow of the unicorn disappeared as the Devourer returned to its sheath. The white crown had long since disappeared. At this moment, Ling Dengxian just responded to the black snake that was approaching step by step. He looked up and chuckled: "Sorry, I actually won."

A white flame finally touched the essence of the black snake. At the same time, the black snake finally realized that it had been tricked and made the most correct decision: it decisively abandoned Tallulah's body, without even the thought of lurking again, and immediately cut off its tail to survive.

Ling Dengxian quickly caught the unconscious body of Tallulah. He accomplished the purpose of his trip and found the girl.

And Black Snake... was indeed very decisive. He thought that with Black Snake's ambition, he might hesitate and struggle.

However, Bai Yan was looking for the essence of the Black Snake, and leaving Tallulah's body was not a solution to eliminate the crisis.

"I told you long ago... the best ending is for you to turn into a dead snake."

Ling Dengxian immediately spread out his pure white fire feathers to prop up an area to protect himself and the silver-haired dragon girl in his arms. At this moment, the white of the folded wings on the ground and the pitch-black of the roaring and struggling in the sky formed a strange picture that was difficult to reproduce.

The black snake's breath dissipated, but Ling Dengxian frowned. He felt vaguely uneasy... but he couldn't tell what was wrong. It just... felt like the black snake was not dead yet.

"Forget it... I still have to find the traitor in the team... No, I can't go back..."

By taking off the armband, he openly cut off Tallulah's prestige. Even if Tallulah understood the facts and explained to him and allowed him to return, he could not set a precedent of treating his identity and position as a joke.

Of course, what’s more likely is that he has broken this bad luck and wants to start the next journey more.

“But I can still finish this play and let Tallulah drive away the ambitious me…”

"Or how about I step down and retreat behind the scenes and you carry the banner for me?"

"..."

"..."

He looked at her and she looked at him.

But Ling Dengxian had not yet let go of the hand that was hugging Tallulah's shoulders.

"Sister... why did you wake up so early..."

"What? I'll sleep a little longer and you can help me get some fresh air?" She smiled with relief.

"It's not impossible. It will probably take a while for Frost Star and the others to get here." Ling Dengxian gestured for her to move, but when he looked down, he found that Tallulah had fallen asleep.

After a long moment, he just sighed.

There was no direct question, no direct answer, but both knew the outcome.

After all, we still have to deal with Ursus's follow-up actions, and this performance has to come to an end.

Maintaining a somewhat intimate action, Ling Dengxian felt tired and a little sleepy.

"...Big Bear, do you have a camera?" Yelena said after a moment of silence.

Exit the city.

"Doctor, the natural disaster is over. The riot in the city seems to have subsided after a burly Sarkaz leader with a shield and a halberd entered the city."

The Scout who was in charge of covering the retreat of the team carefully investigated the situation in the city and reported the conclusion to the leader.

"Hmm...exit in time. The official response from Ursus should be coming soon. Rhodes Island cannot be dragged into political discussions."

"..."

"I know what you're worried about, Ace. Believe me, he will soon appear in our field of vision again. He is not a particularly peaceful person."

"Um--be careful, Dr. Kelsey!"

"Who?!" Lin Guang and Feng Di reacted a little slowly, and took defensive stances on the left and right to prevent any accidents from happening.

The two giant wolves, Luper and Roper, were noticed by the Rhodes Island team as soon as they appeared.

"I have no ill intentions."

“I’m from Penguin Logistics.”

It can be seen from the statements of the two that their appearance was not an appointment.

"...So, what can you do for the Mouth of a Giant Wolf who has lost his number and Miss Texas?" Kal'tsit accurately reported the identities of the two.

"I saw that you successfully retreated under the cover of the white doves. Tallulah noticed your presence and launched several targeted attacks."

"And his current condition may not be very good. I hope you can leave some medical means for the sake of the upcoming cooperation with Mr. Great."

"No matter how good the medical drugs are, they will hardly work without doctors with corresponding expertise. Do you want us to keep some of them?"

"Yes, although it is dangerous--"

"Okay, Ace, you and Lin Guang stay here. Lin Guang, is it okay for me to leave the treatment to you?"

"No problem, we have all passed the first aid knowledge test, but is first aid alone enough?" Lin Guang asked doubtfully.

"It's enough for him. Besides, the medicines we brought are only for first aid. You can bring more. Judging from the situation of the Integration Movement, they may be more complicated than we thought. You can distribute them to those in need according to your own judgment."

"Okay, got it!"

Texas nodded, "Thank you."

Looking back, Zi and her black wolf companion had left at some point.

Kal'tsit thought for a moment, and finally looked at Texas: "Ms. Texas, if you are interested, you can come to Rhodes Island with Operator Ace to see the environment, which will also facilitate our subsequent cooperation with your company."

"I see." Texas nodded, and suddenly remembered that as a Penguin Logistics employee, the time and energy spent on this task seemed to be not worth it. Although he had his own will, Angelica and the others must be worried after not hearing from them for so long.

"Well, can you do me a favor?"

Kelsey smiled when she heard this: "You can say it anyway."

The infinite place of consciousness.

"You... who are you?! Why, I..."

"Sorry, the master said you have to become a dead snake~"

"Your method of escaping from the shell is good, but unfortunately I still caught the opportunity to attack you. You know, I am very weak. I didn't expect you to come to me. Thank you so much!"

"Are you a giant beast?! Or——"

"Me? I don't know. I didn't have a name before. But now someone is calling me..."

"'Small Crumbs', pretty sloppy, right?"

"Stop!!"

"It's going to dissipate... What a pity. There aren't many tonics that are durable enough. You can only be born if there is civilization. However... 'Undead', it would be better if there were more of them, so that you can all be reborn. It can also be regarded as contributing to the master's vision of a bright future for you—"

"Although, I am not his vassal."

"Victory, victory... You must hold on to this hard-earned opportunity..."

After the unknown power was exhausted and dissipated, a new undead was reborn at the place where the black snake was swallowed. He was blank and clean.

If He could stay for long, the master of the unknown power would have devoured Him repeatedly until Ursus' thoughts could no longer give birth to this undead.

Victory, how hard it is to define.