For the Reunion Movement, the fact that a large number of soldiers became Infected was yet another piece of good news.
After all, the increase in the number of Infected soldiers would force the military to lower its harsh stance toward the Infected.
Because even the nobles, who had always treated the Infected as expendable resources, had to consider whether their oppression of the Infected might lead to rebellion when such a large group of Infected soldiers appeared under their command.
It must be understood that this was not a matter of just a few individuals, but tens of thousands of physically strong military personnel with extensive combat experience.
The first to think of this was Buldrokkas'tee.
Although he had not personally witnessed the state of the exploded warehouse.
Based on his understanding of the Ursus military, the explosives stored in the military's warehouses were nothing more than Originium Bombs and Enhanced Originium Bombs.
Judging by the scale of the explosion, the blast must have been immense.
Thus, the spread of originium dust was imaginable.
Even in the Ursus military, not everyone could be equipped with qualified Protective Gear, so the number of Infected after the explosion would directly give the entire Fourth Army Group leadership a headache.
And indeed, that was exactly what happened.
When the casualty report came in, those nobles nearly fainted on the spot.
The dead and missing numbered in the thousands.
Then came the Infected after the explosion. According to inspections, there were about fifty thousand people within the ten-plus kilometer radius at the time.
These were all soldiers who had heard the enemy attack alert and emergency assembly call and began gathering toward the center.
By now, two-thirds of them had been diagnosed with oripathy, and the remaining third were being identified at an alarming rate.
According to expert opinion, it was highly unlikely that many of these soldiers could have safely evacuated after being exposed to the originium dust from that explosion.
In other words, they had to prepare for the possibility that all fifty thousand elite soldiers would become Infected.
So, how should they deal with these soldiers?
Execute them outright as before, or send them to some Sanatorium, only to be shipped off to the Mines one day to spend the rest of their lives?
When the numbers were small, of course they could do that.
But this was over fifty thousand soldiers.
If they dared to start down that path, they would likely collapse without even the Little Emperor needing to lift a finger.
After all, who could guarantee that among these fifty thousand soldiers, there were no siblings still serving on other Land Ships?
Moreover, fifty thousand people, even without High-Speed Warships for support, were an extremely formidable force.
Especially when the emperor was trying hard to promote policies to ease tensions with the Infected.
Doing so would be equivalent to pushing all these people straight into the emperor's camp.
The other side would probably jump for joy.
And Flandre Scarlet had no idea what kind of massive change her actions had brought to Ursus.
At this moment, after recounting the entire mission, she returned to her room.
"Sister Alina!"
Flandre Scarlet hadn't expected Alina to be in her room.
Upon seeing Flandre Scarlet, Alina hurried over, placed her hands on her shoulders, and said with concern,
"Why are you back so late!"
"Uh, the snowstorm was too heavy, I couldn't find my way back..."
Flandre's words weren't entirely a lie, as she had indeed searched for a long time to find the Reunion Movement's location on her way back.
"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
Although Alina didn't know exactly what had happened, Talulah's expression couldn't deceive her.
Flandre Scarlet must have done something very dangerous.
But there was nothing she could do to change it, so she could only suppress her worry and wait here for Flandre Scarlet's return.
Only after seeing Flandre did her anxiety finally settle.
"Don't worry about Flandre, Flandre is strong!"
Flandre Scarlet happily accepted Alina's gentle strokes.
Then, she fell into a deep sleep in the other's embrace.
Alina, feeling somewhat self-pitying, suddenly felt a wet sensation on her hand.
Looking down, she found that Flandre Scarlet was already fast asleep, oblivious to the world, with drool all over the place.
She smiled helplessly and affectionately, then placed her on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and walked out of the room.
"Goodnight, Flandre Scarlet!"
In her dream, Flandre saw her sister again. This time, the distance between them felt a bit closer, and she also saw the head maid Sakuya, who often stayed by her sister's side and usually fed her snacks.
She happily greeted them and danced joyfully.
Soon, when she opened her eyes again, it was already the next morning.
Rubbing her eyes, Flandre Scarlet got out of bed as usual and walked out of the room.
Outside the door stood quite a few people, all waiting for Flandre to lead the exercises.
This was one of the few collective recreational activities at the base on ordinary days.
Flandre waved to everyone, then stood in the front row.
Upon seeing Flandre, everyone quickly took their positions.
Led by Flandre, everyone shouted in unison,
"One, two, three, four; two, two, three, four... Change positions, do it again."
Talulah and a few others stood in the distance.
"Patriot, do you still think my decision to keep Flandre Scarlet back then was a mistake?"
Hearing Talulah's slightly smug question, Buldrokkas'tee indicated that he could remain silent.
Although it wasn't to the extent that the Reunion Movement would fall apart without Flandre, it had to be admitted that since Flandre Scarlet arrived, though she hadn't done much, what she did happened to help the Reunion Movement overcome its biggest troubles at the time.
It also preserved more personnel for the Reunion Movement.
At this time, due to winter, the situation with the Fourth Army Group hadn't fully spread, otherwise Flandre's deeds would have already spread throughout the Reunion Movement.
Terra Calendar, Year 1095, January
Compared to the cold of November and December, which left everyone at a loss, January should theoretically be even colder.
But perhaps because they had grown accustomed to it, people didn't find the temperature all that unbearable.
After all, now, even though the heavy snow continued, more people could be seen braving the snowstorm to stroll outside during the day.
Of course, it might also be because after being cooped up indoors for two months, everyone was simply too stifled.
At this moment, Flandre was flying in the air, holding a broom, and helping to clear snow from the roof under Alina's direction.
"Slow down, slow down, don't bump into anything!" Alina instructed while telling Flandre not to fly so fast.
"Ouch!" Sure enough, Flandre, being too reckless, was punished by the eaves.
She held her head, teary-eyed, flew down, and hugged Alina, seeking comfort.
Alina could only hold her forehead, gently blow on it, and say tenderly,
"Let me blow the pain away, Flandre, Flandre, don't cry!"
A few seconds later, she stood up and said to Flandre Scarlet in a tone used to coax a child,
"From now on, Flandre must be careful to watch the path ahead when flying."
Flandre Scarlet rubbed her eyes, nodded firmly, then picked up the broom again, flew upstairs, and began clearing the snow.
After finishing this, Flandre and Alina returned indoors, where Alina poured a cup of hot water for Flandre.
"Take a sip to ward off the cold. You've been up there in the wind for so long; you must be tired."
Flandre took the hot water. Although she had told Alina more than once that she wasn't sensitive to temperature, and the outside cold, which was severe for normal people, wasn't a big issue for her.
But Alina simply wouldn't listen, insisting on pouring her a cup of hot water every time she returned.
Later, she stopped explaining. If there was hot water, she'd just take it and drink.
After drinking the hot water, Alina took out a somewhat old storybook and began telling Flandre Scarlet the stories inside.
Just as this cozy moment was unfolding, Talulah walked in with an apologetic look.
"Sorry, Alina, we might need to borrow Flandre for a bit."
"But you said..." Alina's eyes reddened.
After the last incident, Alina had made an agreement with Talulah that unless absolutely necessary, she could no longer assign Flandre to do dangerous tasks.
"After all, Flandre isn't a member of the Reunion Movement; she's just a guest. How can you repeatedly ask a guest to do dangerous things? Talulah, can you live with your conscience?" Alina had said angrily at the time, leaving Talulah speechless.
"Sorry, sorry!" Talulah apologized and led Flandre out of the room.
After leaving the room, Talulah faintly heard Flandre's stomach growl.
"How long has it been since you last fed?" Talulah asked worriedly.
"Since I came back last time!" Flandre Scarlet patted her stomach. Since returning last time, apart from sleeping, Alina had hardly left her side.
After being scolded, Talulah felt too embarrassed to come find her, so she hadn't eaten anything in a long time.
But she hadn't told Alina.
Talulah sighed.
"It's been about a month and a half. Alina doesn't know your situation, so I'll be the bad guy this time!"
After saying this, she took Flandre Scarlet to the office area.
"This time, the target is a small Mine thirty kilometers away.
Our people have received information that a group of Infected refugees is hiding there. Besides them, there's also a group of Reconnaissance Squad members who have pursued them. It's likely that those Infected refugees have already been captured by the Reconnaissance Squad, but due to the sudden heavy snow over the past two days, they haven't been able to evacuate.
Find them, kill those Reconnaissance Squad members, and bring the Infected back."
Talulah pointed to an area on the map and said.
Flandre Scarlet nodded, confirmed the direction, and flew off.
Thirty kilometers was just over ten minutes for her.
Instead, after arriving, it took her quite a while to find the Mine Shaft Talulah had mentioned.
Arriving at the Mine entrance, she frowned slightly and instinctively swallowed.
Because she smelled blood, and it was very strong.
Walking inside, she found that a fierce battle had taken place.
Facing the Reconnaissance Squad members, those Infected clearly had no intention of surrendering. Even empty-handed against the fully armed Reconnaissance Squad, each Infected fought desperately.
The Reconnaissance Squad members hadn't expected this group of Infected to be so fierce. Both sides quickly became bloodthirsty.
By the time the last Infected was killed, nearly half of the Reconnaissance Squad members had also fallen.
At this moment, they were sitting there, cursing and complaining about the misfortune of this operation.
Just then, a girl in red walked in from outside.
One moment they were excited about possibly capturing a live prisoner; the next, upon seeing her appearance, they instantly felt their blood run cold.
Blood Demon!
The news of the Fourth Army Group suffering heavy losses from a Blood Demon attack was already old news in the military.
But they hadn't expected that Blood Demon to have stayed in Ursus instead of leaving.
The moment they saw her, everyone's eyes filled with despair.
They shakily stood up, raised their weapons, and aimed at the flying girl.
"What a pity, they're all dead. Then, use your lives to accompany them in death!"
Flandre Scarlet's ears twitched, and she looked at the people before her with regret.
She didn't hear any human heartbeats in this cave besides those of the people in front of her.
So, had she arrived too late?
She looked at these people, her eyes filled with killing intent.
"Kill!" Hearing Flandre's words, they realized that she had come for these Infected. Since they had already killed all the Infected, there was no way this could end peacefully. They roared to boost their morale and charged forward.
Flandre Scarlet's figure swayed slightly, instantly splitting into four.
The four Flandres bared their fangs and charged at the Reconnaissance Squad members.
A few minutes later, a few more dried corpses lay in the cave.
After finishing this, Flandre Scarlet, unwilling to give up, checked the dead Infected again, hoping to find a survivor to bring back and report.
But there were no survivors.
After repeatedly confirming, Flandre finally left the area with a look of disappointment.
Although she had fed, she hadn't completed the task Talulah had assigned, which made her unhappy. Returning to the camp, she pouted and told Talulah what had happened in the Mine.
"I'm sorry, Sister Talulah. When Flandre got there, besides those bad guys, there were no survivors."
Talulah sighed. Such things were actually quite common; she had encountered them more than once.
She reached out and hugged the sullen Flandre Scarlet.
"It's not your fault. It's just a pity for those Infected brothers. They fought desperately against the enemy. If that bravery could have successfully joined us, it would have been a powerful force."
After saying this, she patted Flandre Scarlet's head.
"So, are you full?"
"I'm full! I drank all the blood of those bad guys!" Hearing this, Flandre Scarlet finally showed a hint of happiness.
"Then go back and play with Sister Alina. Remember, don't mention today's events."
Talulah patted Flandre Scarlet's back, and Flandre Scarlet skipped away.
"Sigh, what a shame!" Only after Flandre Scarlet left did Talulah sigh.
"Indeed, being able to fight against a fully armed Reconnaissance Squad and kill several of them shows that this group of Infected was quite capable. It's just a pity they didn't hold out until support arrived.
But we're used to such things by now, aren't we?"
Yelena walked in from the side. She had heard Talulah and Flandre Scarlet's conversation outside the door earlier, but considering Flandre's low spirits at the time, she hadn't made an appearance.