Chapter 140: Solitary Confinement, Blocked Doors, and Kal'tsit

“Yelena…”

“She is alive.”

“Patriot…”

“He is alive too.”

Talulah fell silent for a moment before looking up. “Why aren’t you asking about Mephisto and Faust?”

“…Could they be alive too?!”

That ‘could’ carried a very subtle, heavy weight. The Doctor detected a distinct trace of disbelief in her voice. What was that tone supposed to mean? Did she actually think he was the type of maniac who just indiscriminately wiped out enemy rosters for fun? He conveniently opted to ignore the trivial fact that every single one of his previous encounters with Talulah had involved either desperate, lethal encirclements or explosive surprise attacks.

“Misha is right next door in the adjacent solitary confinement cell. Haven’t you talked to her?” he asked.

“Misha survived too?” Talulah looked genuinely incredulous. Ever since regaining consciousness, the former tyrant of Reunion had been trapped in a prolonged daze. She had willingly accepted her supervision and detention, locking herself away without uttering a single word to her fellow inmates.

‘Is this woman actually this well-behaved?’The Doctor finally figured it out.’Great, she is literally just another Saria!’

“Talulah, I have suddenly realized something,” the Doctor sighed. “Before you start agonizing over whose responsibility all of this is, you should probably upgrade from dial-up and check the current patch notes.”

The main storyline of Terra had already escalated into a full-blown clash of civilizations, yet here she was, still agonizing over the early-game questline of how the Infected could fight for equal rights. The current version of Terra was already suffering from severe power creep. Beyond the standard NPC system of normal people with an average Originium blood-crystal density of less than 0.05 percent, and the Infected system hovering around 10 percent, Terra Online was about to launch a brand-new, broken meta featuring entities with 100 percent Originium content!

Talulah simply stared at him. “?”

Although she had no idea what he was talking about, the Doctor seemed to be looking at her with a sudden, deep sense of pity. Meeting Talulah’s confused yet clear eyes, the casual gamer explanation on the tip of his tongue took a sharp turn. He immediately shifted gears, adopting an incredibly pretentious, mastermind persona.

“Talulah, when viewed from a grander scale, there is no fundamental difference between sacrificing and being sacrificed. Just like the concepts of nobility and despicability, when observed from a sufficiently grand and distant future, they are all nothing more than ordinary deaths.”

He paused, letting the silence stretch. “Unfortunately, most people lack the vision to see that far ahead. Therefore, the path of a pioneer is always paved with criticism and doubt. To the ignorant, it even appears cold-blooded.”

“I hope you can learn to look back at all of this from a much broader perspective…”

“There is no death that is entirely unacceptable, and no ideal worth burning everything to the ground for. All the supposed nobility and inferiority on this land ultimately boil down to a simple clash of positions. Who knows? Maybe my true ideal is just to set the world on fire like a giant firework while I play animal match-three games in the background. Come with me.”

He grabbed Talulah’s wrist, pulling her up from the cold floor with an obvious force that allowed no room for refusal. Stepping forward, he shoved open the heavy metal door of the solitary confinement cell.

Having been confined in the dim room for so long, the blinding, brilliant sunlight that suddenly flooded in stung Talulah’s eyes. The sheer warmth of it made her subconsciously want to shed a tear.

Bang!

The Doctor suddenly backhanded the heavy door, slamming it shut with a resounding crash. Moving with a rapid, tactical retreat that was even more unyielding than his previous advance, he dragged Talulah all the way back to her original spot and sat down with absolute composure.

“Ahem. Actually, on second thought, you can take some more time to mull it over. I am not in a rush.”

Talulah blinked. “?” What on Terra was going on?

The Doctor lowered his head unhurriedly, pretending to brush invisible dust off his sleeves. “We still have plenty of time, and I have no need for a flame that is hesitant and confused.”

Talulah was taken aback. She had not expected this man, who had projected such an overwhelming, domineering presence just a second ago, to suddenly display such boundless patience with her. Beneath her rising gratitude, however, the Red Dragon’s innate intuition was vaguely ringing alarm bells.

At that very moment, while the Doctor looked perfectly calm and composed on the outside, his internal monologue was screaming in pure panic. ‘Oh crap, why is Kal’tsit still spawn-camping the door?!’

Just as his brain was operating at maximum overclock, desperately trying to formulate a plan to trick Talulah into drawing aggro for him, a loud clang echoed from outside.

The door swung open. A woman in a familiar green dress stood at the threshold, her face an absolute, expressionless void. In one hand, she casually tossed and caught a curled-up Mon3tr like a baseball.

“Doctor. Why did you slam the door shut the moment you saw me?”

Talulah stared in sheer astonishment. This was the exact same man who, just a minute ago, had been grandly declaring that anyone could be sacrificed for the sake of an infinitely distant future. Now, all talk of sacrifice and civilization had vanished. He shrank behind her back like a frightened Perro hiding in the mountains, though he still stubbornly poked his head out to argue.

“I… why would I close the door because of you?! We just had not finished our conversation, and you suddenly barged in…”

“Doctor, I heard every single word you just said.”

“That is impossible! I specifically used nested energy-absorbing magnets to soundproof this solitary confinement cell…”

Wait. The moment the words left his mouth, the Doctor realized he had messed up. The solitary confinement cells on the Rhodes Island landship had been custom-modified by Closure. Such highly classified, complex engineering details could not possibly be explained away by a simple memory flashback from his amnesia.

“No, wait, I mean, I did a routine maintenance check on the whole ship a while ago… Talulah, save me!”

Kal’tsit merely sneered. Reaching out, she hoisted the Doctor up by the back of his collar. Right in front of the bewildered Talulah, she roughly dragged him out of the cell with a single hand.

“I will not question his decisions regarding you, Miss Talulah,” Kal’tsit said smoothly. “But during your brief periods of free time, I sincerely hope you will not cause any trouble for Rhodes Island. Otherwise, we will all find ourselves in a very troublesome situation.”

Talulah’s pupils quaked. ‘Why are you physically dragging him away while claiming to respect his decisions?! Does that hold any persuasive power whatsoever?!’

“Talulah, save me… mmph… mmph!”

Talulah was, at her core, an upright and honorable person. She absolutely despised seeing anyone’s free will violated, especially witnessing a man being forcibly abducted against his wishes. If she saw such an injustice, she would normally step in to stop it, regardless of who the perpetrator was.

So, she closed her eyes.

‘Go in peace, Doctor,’she thought solemnly.’When living under another’s roof, one must learn to bow their head. She harbors no true malice toward you. This, too, is a necessary sacrifice!’

“Talu… mmph… mmph!”

Listening to the Doctor’s desperate cries for help being violently muffled as they rounded the corner, followed by the distinct sound of fabric scraping against the floorboards as he was dragged further and further away, Talulah slowly opened her eyes. She climbed up from the cold floor and finally began her first real exploration of the facility where she had been imprisoned for months.

On the other side of the ship, Kal’tsit dragged the Doctor briskly down the corridor. Finding a random, empty meeting room, she unceremoniously hauled him inside and threw him into a chair.

“Doctor. When you went out on this latest excursion, why did you not notify us immediately that the operational plan had changed the moment you laid eyes on that old castle?”

She crossed her arms, glaring down at him. “Amiya has been sick with worry about you for the past half month. She was checking the landship’s tracking coordinates almost every half hour.”

Translation: She cared about him. Before even asking about the tactical details of what exactly had transpired in that old castle, this was what Kal’tsit actually cared about more. Realizing the underlying meaning behind her strict tone made the Doctor’s mood infinitely more complicated.

Kal’tsit was simply awkward. She was entirely unwilling to straightforwardly express her own concern for his safety, opting instead to wear a stern, disciplinary face as if she were merely seeking justice on Amiya’s behalf.

And Amiya… oh right. Amiya was already fourteen years old now.

The Doctor fell into a daze for a moment. After all, from his perspective, the trip to Rim Billiton felt like it had only happened a few days ago. Just a few days ago, Amiya had still been a little girl shedding tears, asking why she could only sleep in a room with Atrocity at night instead of everyone sleeping together in a big dormitory.

And now? Now she had grown into a quasi-Lord of Fiends who had successfully solo-killed the Deathless Black Snake and was actively leading all of Rhodes Island.

Had it really only been a few years in between? For a little rabbit, forcing her to grow up that fast seemed far too cruel.

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent! 🙇‍♂️):

Massive thanks for reading and supporting the operation!]