Strength in Numbers

Gosudar-batyushka, I should not be running my mouth like this.

That is not necessarily the case.

She can hardly show resistance to a Grypherburger Imperial Guardswoman's face, can she?

Objectively speaking, the Grand Duchess has been acting as lubricant between the Armies and the State Council, making sure the bitterness between the two sides does not devolve into outright conflict.

I must admit, this requires considerable skill.

She gets the favor of both sides, but this also means she must maintain absolute impartiality.

Haha... Surprised? You seem to have some misunderstandings about Ursus, Doctor.

I am simply repeating the sort of gossip you might hear at any Grypherburg banquet.

If you do not know these rumors inside and out, how would you manage to join these dinnertime discussions?

Naturally, idle chatter is one thing, actually trying to leverage this chatter for some upward mobility and putting it into action is another thing altogether.

On the other hand, regardless of whether the Grand Duchess is hiding anything, or if she believes everything hidden well enough...

We will certainly find something in the research institute looking into the abnormal Infected.

Do you hear... the sound of fighting up ahead?

Are those... miners fighting with a Patrol Unit?

W-Wait a sec!

I've got sharper eyes, a clearer view!

The ones getting beaten down... are the Patrol Unit?

...What?

Umm...

Doctor, are we... still going to mount a rescue here?

Enough! Stop! Stop it!

What d'you think you're trying to do?! Kill us?! Blyat, Ursus will never let you get away with it!

*pant*... *pant*...

So what... So what? Since when have we ever been treated as human beings? We're people too, aren't we...?

My hand—

Wh-Where did you come from?! You monster!

Monster? That's my name, don't wear it out.

Sorry, mister, but could you slow down a bit? We have some questions we need to ask you.

Why? You want to protect these Patrol Unit bastards? You're here to take us in too?

Never, mudak! We're not going to follow you back all nice and quiet!

What the—Chyort poberi! What kind of Arts is this?

Sir... Could you allow us the chance to talk things through?

As you can see, I am Infected. Most of my team are too.

We mean you no harm. Please believe me.

Infected... You're Infected like us.

And with some amazing Arts, too...

You... You must be those 'Reunion' guys!

Whuh?

No. We are not Reunion.

We are from Rhodes Island, a pharmaceutical company.

Oh... My mistake. I thought you were the legendary Reunion Movement.

I knew it... A bunch of Infected coming together to form an organization? It's a fantasy, no matter how you look at it.

Rankin. It was Rankin who told us about it.

To the south, real close to the border with Kazimierz, there's a group of Infected who founded a place of their own, who take in all Infected who ask for help, and drive out anyone who wants to do harm to the Infected too.

Rankin would never lie to anyone, and I really hope it's true, too! But... Kazimierz is so far away. How are we supposed to get there?

This Rankin, is he a member of Reunion?

Maybe? I'm not too sure, to be honest.

But he's our hero. When he's around, the Patrol Units won't dare mess with us. I heard he rescued those guys who got dragged into the research institute—

Hey, blabbermouth! We still don't know what these people want!

Oh... Right.

So, why're you here?

We lost contact with our friends in the area.

Have you seen a mobile medical team? There are nine of them, wearing clothes with the same logo as ours, and they would have been handing out medicine here.

Handing out medicine... What, like Santa Claus in the fairy tales?

Poshel nahuy! They are murderers who wanted to kill us! They locked us up and gave us no food, trying to starve us to death!

It must have been because we couldn't dig up anything, so they didn't give us a single bite to eat, right? Stupid bastards! Who the hell even knows what happened to the vein, the Originium just disappeared all of a sudden!

We couldn't take it anymore! We had to run, or we would all die!

Is this true?

Wh-Why are you looking at me like that? What're you going to do to me?

The mining district has had a supply shortage for a while now, more than just a couple of days! We got given about, what, a few loaves of bread this month? We want to know what's going on too!

Don't believe me? Gosudar-batyushka, who even has the time to bother with this rabble? If we killed them, then what, are we supposed to go into the mines ourselves to dig?

Eek—! What are you doing?! Okay, I'll shut up, I'll shut up now!

This isn't just happening in one or two mines... All the Far North, the entire mining district, all of us in it... We've been abandoned.

We heard Rankin was the first one to step up. He got rid of all the soldiers, and led several hundred people on an escape.

And now we've escaped too. We wanted to find his group and leave with them, but they're far away by now.

Okay, we've told you enough. Since you're Infected too, you should get out of the way and let us kill these bastards!

Sorry, but if I may be brutally blunt for a moment.

I can overlook the reasoning of why you have left your mine, and treat you as asylum-seekers for the time being.

But if you actually do kill these unfortunate souls, then things will not go well for you.

(Eloysius! You can't speak to them like that!)

What's with the officer in the pretty clothes? Blyat! I never should have trusted you people!

It looks like if we don't resolve this situation, we cannot continue onwards, can we?

Very well...

Listen up. I have a suggestion that will make everyone happy.

Take this letter. The seal on the envelope will ensure that no Patrol Units harass you, so long as you do not provoke them.

Head north, to Bresk's sentry post. Hand the letter to the soldiers there, and they will find temporary shelter for you. As for what comes next... discuss it only after getting there.

Believe me when I say this is the only way to a peaceful resolution. In exchange, can you find it in your hearts to let these poor whelps go?

......

N-No! You can't!

If we don't bring them back, we'll be disciplined!

Enough. You're lucky to be alive as it is.

Why should we trust you?

Do you have anyone else you can trust?

Eloysius!

We...

If we go to this shelter you mentioned, will there be enough bread for everyone?

Rest assured. If bread is what you need, then bread you shall have.

......

I understand, Doctor.

We can't save... can't help everyone we meet.

But Rhodes Island will keep pressing on... until the last of our strength has left us.

Yes, I know what you are about to ask me. Believe me, I know about as much as you do. We are of like mind when it comes to these misgivings.

The research institute is not far up ahead. Let us go and find answers there.

Let's go, Doctor.

(Whisper) It's so quiet here...

Rather, it seems there are no Infected here. Or anyone, for that matter.

I've been to several Army research institutes before. They tend to be places of chaos, with plenty of people coming and going. Sickbeds that don't fit in the wards are put in the corridors, not too different from a battlefield hospital.

There is yelling, wailing, screaming from the Infected, but at least they live, at least they struggle on. But here...

Hmph. Nothing.

The entire district appears to be in terrible disarray.

If all the abnormal Infected from the institute have escaped...

The soldiers of the district have been gravely derelict in their duty. Their leader will not shirk responsibility.

Who knows, there may be great change coming to all of Breskenoy...

While we have no accurate blueprints on hand, these sorts of buildings usually follow a standard layout.

If things are as expected, this hallway should form a loop, with standardized linked rooms adjoining. Every floor will also have an enclosed observation deck, for easier viewing of what's going on in the mining area.

Are you able to detect any of those 'biosignals' you mentioned earlier?

(Silence)

Sorry, ma'am, but if you were hoping we could trace signals to a specific room in here, then no can do.

The best we can do is confirm signal waves are coming from a certain area. You'll need to go there and inspect things yourself if you want to find the source, like we're doing right now.

Alright, I was simply asking.

This is a big institute, so I'll head down to the basement to have a look. In the interests of efficiency, how about we split up?

—!

I'll go with you, Eloysius.

Sure, sure. I don't mind having someone else helping out.

(Nods)

This is a pretty spooky place, and it's an Ursine research institute. Who knows what strange things are hidden here, like maybe they were experimenting with fusing humans and burdenbeasts...

Mon3tr, if anything goes wrong, get the Doctor out of here pronto, no fighting!

I know, I know!

I am here.

We have found nothing unusual at our current position.

I have eyes on Amiya. She is safe.

Fourth floor, mineshaft side. Target is not moving.

Wha?

You never told me you could do that, Captain!

We are short on time, Doctor. The target's vital signs are unstable.

You seemed really sure we would find something down here, Eloysius—

Thanks to a little 'laziness', many Ursine government buildings follow the same standardized layout.

If this institute is like the others I've visited, especially when it comes to how they divide up the space for specific uses, then there should be something left in the basement.

The dead cannot get up and leave, after all.

Do you mean this basement is a morgue?

A temporary one, with incinerators equipped to handle the remains of the severely infected.

Aha.

I knew it.

These coffins have been used. They must have lost power just before the evacuation. Could you take the right side of the room, Gospozha Amiya? We'll open them up one by one to check—

Eloysius!

What is it?

Oh, how careless of me. You might never have seen a corpse before... Then call someone over. No need to trouble yourself.

No, that's not important right now!

The Infected remains are very dangerous. If they have disintegrated and we open the coffin lids, this entire room might become a high-Originium-dust environme—

What is going on here...?

......

The corpses interred here...

None of them are Infected.

......

Wait. Stay back, Amiya.

They must have been performing some kind of experiments on the uninfected. That's all I can glean here, and that's all you need to know.

There is no need for you to... personally examine them.

Thank you for your concern, but I... I think I should.

......

......

A-Are you alright?

...Mantra...

I am here.

What is it, Amiya?

Eloysius and I are in the morgue in the basement. We can confirm that the institute was conducting large-scale human experimentation. Experimental methods, unknown...

The victims we have discovered are all uninfected. No clues on the abnormal Infected at the moment...

......

Understood. I will inform the Doctor.

Stay safe, and stay in touch.

We can say that our earlier worries are more clearly defined now.

The situation here, or rather, in the Far North, is much worse than our intelligence suggested.

The strong emotion attacking me in the institute, alongside everything we experienced on our way here, like the Patrol Units harassing the Infected, and the contamination created by the Royal Guard...

All this goes to show that the issues here extend far beyond the Infected mutations.

Hmm... Where is she, anyway?

I've searched all the rooms on the mineshaft side, and nobody was there.

Same thing. The locks are old-fashioned, easy enough to pry open.

But regardless of the status of their locks, most of the rooms had nothing except for things like empty shelves and cabinets or loose graph paper.

Could she have left?

What do you mean?

I never found anything like—

Wait, that can't be. It's regular rooms the entire way around the loop, and we've checked every single one. There's not enough space in this weird building for an observation deck!

......?......

......

(Whispers) I did. Up ahead. I remember the room.

The lights here are broken, so stay behind me, Doctor.

Meaningless, it's all... meaningless.

Great Ursus sits atop all creation, but its vast domain lies barren...

Aside from never-ending disaster.

Hah... Professor Ilia...

I finally see that you were right!

You were right, absolutely right! But where are you? Where have you gone?

I tried my best, tried so hard! But in the end, it didn't even matter!

I wanted to look for you all. I wanted to. But now, all I can do is take everything away. Take it all... away.

Then...

I will find you.

......

Ksenia!

You're Ksenia, right?

She did, I heard it too!

Is that you, Ksenia? You've grown, you look different from before...

Why didn't you leave with everyone else?

......

No apparent response to sound. She may have entered a dissociative state.

Ksenia! We—

I...

I will...

Find you...

...Ksenia.

I'm Mon3tr. Do you remember... Do you remember Kal'tsit? I'm...

Ksenia!

Still no reaction from her. Does it say where the Sarcophagus ended up after it left Chernobog?

Ksenia...

Oka...

Ksenia?

...can kill... the Royal Guard...

It's dangerous.