After finalizing the cooperation with the Ursus Emperor, Xing Chen and Theresa prepared to depart for the desolate eastern snowfields.
Before leaving, Xing Chen requested a brand new set of Wendigo heavy armor and a small amount of pure gold from Ursus officials for travel expenses.
It was a chance to fleece the officials, and he wouldn't pass it up.
As for the Imperial Guard protective suit that had been impounded, Xing Chen had it delivered to Friston via Wandering's End, who would then pass it on to Rhine Lab for decryption.
He only wanted the technology; he would have difficulty finding a reasonable explanation for possessing the physical item.
"Xing Chen, isn't this much faster?"
Theresa chatted with Xing Chen, turning her head as she drove, with snowflakes flying past them on both sides.
"Poor Banshee scooter, it was forgotten so quickly."
Xing Chen couldn't help but sigh. The vehicle manufactured in River Valley indeed seemed a bit out of place in Ursus's territory.
Theresa had no choice but to scrap it, transforming it into a more portable state.
It was a witchcraft unit, and for the resource-savvy Sarkaz, it was an absolute treasure.
For instance, it was currently generating heat through its witchcraft circuits, providing warmth for the three of them.
"Ivan, where are we now?"
Ivan, who was maintaining the new shieldguard armor given to him by Saint Junius, unhurriedly picked up the military map upon hearing Xing Chen's words.
"Theoretically, we've already reached Chernobog's jurisdiction."
Ivan's demeanor remained unchanged; to an ordinary Ursus person, there seemed to be no difference between Kazdel nobles and Sarkaz Demon Lords.
However, he had proactively learned some Sarkaz, so Xing Chen and he wouldn't need Theresa to translate when communicating.
"Hiss." Xing Chen stood up from the carriage, observing his surroundings with binoculars. Aside from a distant patch of woods, "There's nothing."
"That's why being assigned to Chernobog is considered exile to the frontier."
The eastern Ursus environment is harsh and sparsely populated, making it indeed difficult to find Patriot's Guerrillas in such conditions.
Ivan put down the map and continued maintaining his shield.
"By the way, I just looked at the map, and basically, wherever there are woods, there's usually a village."
The Ursus man's words gave Xing Chen an idea, so he told Theresa, "Theresa, stop when we reach that patch of woods."
Next to the woods, Theresa parked the vehicle, and Xing Chen asked Ivan in which direction villages were usually found in relation to the woods, such as to the south or on a leeward slope.
"Hmm, let me think, roughly in this direction."
Ivan gestured with his hand, so Xing Chen took two shovels from the vehicle and handed them to Theresa and Ivan.
The two cleared a large open space in the snow, finally discovering clues beneath the thick layer of snow.
A carbonized wooden board.
Theresa picked up the fragment and concluded that it must be from a year ago.
Ivan agreed with her, identifying it as part of a common wooden house found in small Ursus villages.
"So, there used to be a village here, but it was completely destroyed?"
"That should be it," Ivan nodded, "Who did it? The Infected Control Squad? Those inhuman monsters!"
As a regular Ursus soldier, Ivan inherently despised those gangs made up of hooligans and ruffians.
He bled on the front lines to protect the empire, only for these scumbags to persecute the people back home?
Watching Ivan's indignant expression, Theresa looked pensive.
Xing Chen's country's army was indeed powerful, but it was too difficult for the Sarkaz to achieve that.
"I don't think it's likely that the Infected Control Squad did it."
Xing Chen's words made the other two instantly turn their heads.
"It must be those beasts. It's so far from the Ursus Emperor here; they do whatever they want, and no one punishes them."
Ursus's grassroots governance was quite poor, and coupled with its vast territory, such phenomena were very common.
The Guerrillas could operate in the snowfields of northeastern Ursus precisely because of these management loopholes.
"But, have you ever considered that the Infected Control Squad also needs supplies? If all the villages are destroyed, they won't have anywhere to requisition from when operating far from mobile cities."
The Infected Control Squad was indeed brutal, but as an officially recognized organization, they still had some capacity for thought; draining the pond to catch all the fish would not be common.
Unless the villages resisted the Ursus authorities, but Xing Chen generally didn't make such extreme assumptions.
"Then who else? It can't be the Infected Guerrillas, can it?" Ivan had a rather good impression of the Guerrillas.
"The Guerrillas definitely wouldn't do this, but the Infected are different."
Xing Chen didn't believe Ursus's cruel Infected policy was correct, but the existence of such systematic discrimination against the Infected certainly had its reasons.
"An Infected person on the verge of starvation is not a human; they are a beast." After saying this, Xing Chen glanced at Theresa, who nodded, "They don't need to consider anything about the future; they only need to fill their stomachs now."
Infected people on the verge of starvation were, of course, related to the Ursus authorities' oppression of the Infected, but here, the discussion was only about their behavior after becoming Infected.
Ivan scratched his head; it seemed he had fallen into the idea that "all Infected are innocent."
"Humans are humans, not binary switches." Xing Chen couldn't explain the difference between the proletariat and hooligans to him for now.
Just then, Theresa made a new discovery.
The ruins of a granary and several skeletons. After examining them, Theresa believed these people were likely healthy at the time of their death.
"The cause of death was... Originium Arts. The method was very crude, definitely not caused by Ursus regular war mages."
As one of the most elite Sarkaz mages, Theresa's proficiency in Originium Arts and witchcraft was beyond question by ordinary people.
"I have an ominous feeling; we need to speed up our actions now."
The mutual harm between the Infected and the lower-class populace had become tangible; Xing Chen could only pray that the event affecting Talulah had not yet occurred.
The Draco's combat power was still very strong, and whether Patriot would side with the Demon Lord remained to be seen.
"I have a way," Theresa murmured, then she turned to Xing Chen, "It's just that I don't want you to suffer so much..."
"Then do it; it's not like I'll die." Xing Chen thought, based on previous experiences of overusing Civilization's Continuity, he would just be bedridden for a few extra days, and many more people could be saved.
He believed that if Theresa knew the losses caused by the Chernobog incident, she would likely suffer greatly from her hesitation now.
Making those he cared about sad because of him, Xing Chen felt, was worse than death.
"Alright, Ivan, you drive; I need to concentrate..."