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Talulah, is something wrong?
......
What?
You've been pretty gloomy the past couple months. Did something happen?
Nothing... nothing at all.
I haven't spent that much time with everyone here, but going by what I've heard from the others, I got the impression you used to be a bit more... energetic?
Hey, watch it, buddy. Talulah's not often down in the crowd like this. Why don't you try repeating what you just said to the captain and see if he appreciates it?
Yeah, can't say I have the balls.
Patriot isn't as scary as it sounds. The Shieldguards are all like this. Don't let it get to you.
He just hasn't been talking much because of his throat problems lately... and his silence can be intimidating.
As for how I'm doing... Don't worry.
Yeah... I just have a lot going on in my mind. Our team is getting closer and closer to the Ursus cities. and there's a lot we need to thrash out. I probably gave you that impression because I've been really trying to rack my brain.
Yeah, you're right. We're running low on provisions, and we don't have enough manpower. If this goes on, we aren't going to last much longer.
That's right, and that's why we need to pay extra attention to what all the outside forces are up to.
First of all, we need to make contact with the local Infected groups and diaspora as soon as we can.
And aside from that, there are bound to be people trying to track us down... If we take even one wrong step and fall into their trap, all of us will have end up in a snowy grave.
That doesn't sound good.
Of course it doesn't, but as long as we plan our route carefully, we won't find ourselves in that situation.
...So that's why, the most important task we have at hand is to minimize our losses.
Breaking up our teams might conceal our movement better, but then communications will become a problem.
Oh, right, we can't use those comms we took from the Ursus. We don't have their transmitters.
This will put our liaisons and recon units in unnecessary danger.
It's a drain on resources to train someone to use the guerrillas' code words. If we want distribute whole sets of comms to everyone, we'll need to get our hands on the prototype somehow...
Talulah... Talulah! Our recon units were ambushed!
That's nothing. Why do you need her to clean you...
Shut up! This is nothing like what we've faced! Poor bastard fell over before any of us even figured out who the enemy was!
They pinpointed our recon caster and ambushed him with exact precision! We've never seen anything like that from the patrol units...!
Whenever something concerns our teammates, we can't just brush it aside.
Yeti, take me there.
Shieldguard, we might've encountered an Ursus Army platoon. Come with me.
Yes, ma'am!
Remember, even if they are just an advance team, be extra careful. If something goes wrong, we might have a large-scale retaliation waiting for us. We need to avoid that at all costs!
Understood!
Runner, inform Patriot immediately!
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Tell FrostNova right away—Ugh! Ah, *cough*...!
Kondrasha!!
You!
Hang in there, Yeti!
Aghh!!
What...? What just happened?! Quick! S-Set him down here! Take that goddamned spear out!
(...What's going on? The black spear... grew out of his body?!)
(No, it can't be... The Empire's monsters?! What are they doing here?!)
*Hiss*...
Ngh, ugh... Ungh!
What? Think you're all that?!
I'll show you what for! Let's go! Get him!
Stop...!
What are you doing? Why are you stopping me?!
You have no idea... You have no idea what you're facing! You don't even know what exactly he is, and you want to get yourself killed?!
