After the man on the other end finished speaking, he fell into a stunned silence himself. He truly hadn't expected someone to suddenly pop out and dismantle every single one of the devices he intended to use for the detonation.
His engineers had sworn to him with absolute certainty that no one in the world could cut nearly a hundred wires without making a single mistake; even they weren't sure if they could successfully take them back down...
Yet now, he had nearly mashed the detonator button into pieces, but let alone an explosion, he hadn't even heard a peep from the other side! Was such a massive landship just going to be handed over to them for nothing?
The Supreme Commander of the Third Army was so enraged that he slammed the detonator onto the floor. Unfortunately, the device was built so sturdily that it bounced back up and smacked him right in the face.
"Trash! A bunch of trash! All of them are trash!"
The Commander clutched his face, which now bore a bloody welt from the impact, and glared at the detonator on the ground with eyes full of fury. Those pampered fools built the bombs so poorly, so why did they make the detonator so damn solid?
In a moment, he would hang them all from the streetlights to let them know the consequences of using his money to create such useless junk.
Hearing the commotion through the microphone, the people aboard the landship finally let go of their worries. The man clearly had no other way to deal with them for now; otherwise, he wouldn't be this angry.
"How exactly did you manage to cut them all? Based on what he said, if you cut even one of those hundred wires in the wrong order, it could have triggered an explosion, right?"
Talulah took the device from Jeanne's hand. The complexity of this thing could only be described as intentionally malicious. The day they installed it, they never intended for it to be removed. Talulah looked at the mess of multi-colored wires—some of which even changed colors midway through a segment... How did Jeanne do it? She couldn't even handle basic math, could she?
"Me? I... followed my intuition! Looking at this pile of stuff actually made me dizzy, but I could feel which ones to cut, one by one... Am I amazing or what?"
"...Amazing. Truly amazing..."
Talulah's face went stiff. Looking at the smug Jeanne, she could only offer a dry, hollow compliment. Deep down, Talulah had the urge to hang her up and roast her. How reckless do you have to be to do something like that? Only Jeanne—if anyone else tried that, Talulah would have thrown them into a cannon and fired them out.
"The fact that you succeeded... can only be called divine protection..."
Patriot, listening to their conversation, also felt a sense of disbelief. If finding the correct wire among hundreds was good luck, then Jeanne's method couldn't be explained by luck alone; it was a miracle!
The voice on the other end of the line was still ranting, but Patriot cut the radio directly, ignoring him. He turned to gaze at Jeanne. He could sense that this child seemed to carry a rage and hatred within her capable of burning the world down. It was a power that should have driven a person to madness, yet she appeared so normal...
"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Jeanne looked at Patriot curiously. Although she couldn't see his face, she could feel him observing her intently.
"Nothing. I will go check on the Yeti Squad. Then, we should talk about cooperation."
Patriot left the command center immediately; he needed to check on Frostnova's situation. As for the matter of cooperation... he wanted to see what was so special about this person who seemed to come straight out of a prophecy.
Before long, Patriot and Frostnova returned to the command center. They sat down face-to-face to begin discussing the terms of their cooperation. The Shieldguards and the Yeti Squad had taken the captured commanders to another room; they would not forget the crimes these men had committed against the tundra.
However, Jeanne and Frostnova found themselves unable to contribute much to the formal discussion. Jeanne didn't believe she had the eloquence to move a heart of stone, and as for Frostnova, as long as things weren't too absurd, she followed Patriot's lead.
This created two distinct scenes. On one side, Talulah was declaring her ideals and visions to Patriot, who listened and occasionally interjected. On the other side, Jeanne and Frostnova were staring at each other, eyes locked in silence.
After a while, Frostnova pulled two candies from her pocket and handed one to Jeanne. Jeanne recognized them as a type of low-quality candy, though in the resource-starved tundra, they were a luxury.
"Want one? The taste might be a bit strange, but this is all I have on me."
"Ah, thank you. Getting candy in a place like this is good enough... cough, cough..."
Jeanne took the candy, curious about the so-called "spicy candy." She popped it into her mouth, and an acidic, spicy flavor immediately surged forth. It could hardly be called candy; it was a fusion of strong alcohol, spicy seasoning, and low-grade industrial sugar. The taste hit Jeanne like a bolt of lightning, making her cough uncontrollably.
"The big guys say it doesn't taste great, but I think it's okay. It makes you feel warm quickly."
As she spoke, Frostnova ate a candy herself, her expression unchanged. It was unclear if Oripathy had damaged her taste buds or if she was born that way, but she genuinely enjoyed the flavor.
"Thank you for the Holy Water you sent before. After we drank it, everyone's Oripathy showed signs of improvement. However, there is one thing I wanted to ask you..." Frostnova leaned in and whispered, appearing a bit embarrassed to let others hear.
"I forgot your instructions about mixing it with water and drank a gulp directly. It caused my whole body to glow for an entire night... and lately, I've felt so full of energy that sometimes I can't even sleep."
As Frostnova spoke, the ears atop her head twitched slightly. Upon closer inspection, one could indeed see faint dark circles under the white rabbit's eyes.
Jeanne looked at Frostnova with genuine interest. She hadn't expected her to forget such an important detail! But there was no real danger. Talulah had accidentally drunk it at that concentration before, and she was so hyper she stayed up doing chores until the middle of the night for several days...
"Don't worry about it. That's just because the power of the Holy Water hasn't been fully absorbed by your body yet. I expect you'll feel much better in a few days..."
The two of them began to chat back and forth. Neither side expected that these two would develop such a good rapport so quickly.
"I cannot understand... your methods. With just your strength, you cannot even shake... Ursus. You cannot even save... this tundra, let alone help... them seek a future!"
After listening to Talulah's words, Patriot poured a bucket of cold water over her heart. The person before her was not easily persuaded; her first negotiation had run straight into an iron wall.