Arknights: The Life Inside

Vina expected Yoren to fight back, to scramble for a brick, a bottle—anything—to make a last stand.

But what Yoren said next was completely at odds with the fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I'm the leader of the Glasgow Gang. I won't be soft-hearted. I never have been, I'm not now, and I won't be in the future."

His voice was steady, but his trembling hands betrayed him.

"Wait."

"I'm sorry, but I'll make it quick."

"No—you can't kill me."

Vina raised her black warhammer, its weight effortlessly poised in her grip.

"Give me one good reason."

Yoren's mind raced, filtering through every scrap of knowledge he had about this world, every detail he had pulled from his own reality. There had to be something—

Then, a spark of clarity.

"You can't kill me. My existence is too important. I know things about this world—things that haven't happened yet."

Vina's grip on the hammer didn't waver. But she tilted her head slightly, curiosity flashing in her crimson eyes.

"Oh? Like what?"

Yoren inhaled sharply, forcing his body to stop shaking. He had one shot at this.

"Three years from now, the Reunion Movement will use a natural disaster to obliterate Chernobog. The city will be left in ruins and turned into their stronghold. That's only the beginning. Afterward, they'll set their sights on Lungmen."

Vina's expression remained unreadable.

"Chernobog? Lungmen? Even if what you're saying is true—what does that have to do with me? Besides, why should I believe you?"

Yoren clenched his fists.

"It is true. And I know something even more important."

He took a step forward, locking eyes with her.

"For centuries, humanity has learned how to endure natural disasters. But disasters don't destroy civilizations—people do. Vina, you don't turn your back on the infected. Even when your own men fall to Oripathy, you don't abandon them. But not everyone is like you. One day, the world will break, and when that happens, the infected and the uninfected will be at war."

Silence.

A long, heavy silence.

Then, Vina exhaled slowly.

"And?"

Yoren swallowed. He had her attention now.

"Vina—Victoria is cracking. The empire is crumbling, and while the world watches in silence, dark clouds are gathering over Londinium. Three years from now, when the Reunion Movement—led by Tallulah—rises, it will shake the foundations of the world. Not even Victoria will be safe."

The weight of his words hung thick in the air.

After a long pause, Vina finally spoke, her voice quieter than before.

"So? Are you saying you want to save this world?"

Yoren let out a dry, almost bitter laugh.

"I don't have that kind of power. I'm not here to save the world."

He took a breath, his next words steady and certain.

"I'm here to save an innocent rabbit."

Vina blinked. "...Rabbit?"

"That's right. She wants to save everyone. Even when she's misunderstood, even when the whole world turns against her, she won't waver. Three years from now, she will lead a powerful armed medical organization, one that will stand at the center of it all. The name of that organization is—Rhodes Island."

Yoren had spoken all he knew, all he had been sent here to do.

He didn't need to save everyone. That wasn't his burden to bear.

But she—Amiya—would try.

And before her ideals consumed her, before she burned herself to ashes for a dream no one else believed in—

He had to save her first.

Vina studied him for a long moment before finally lowering her hammer.

"You don't sound like you're lying."

"Of course I'm not."

Another beat of silence.

Then—

A familiar voice rang from the entrance of the alley.

"Ororand~you!"

Yoren stiffened.

A small head of orange hair peeked into the alley, squinting playfully as it surveyed the scene.

"Hey! What are you two doing here?"

The corner of Yoren's mouth twitched.

No way. How had he run into Kroos twice in one day?! With this kind of luck, it was no wonder he had never managed to pull Exusiai back in his original world.

Kroos' eyes landed on him, and she grinned.

"Oh! It's you again! Haha, what a coincidence."

Yoren forced a smile. "Uh… hi."

Kroos stepped further into the alley, hands on her hips. "It's so dark in here! What are you doing? Hey—who's the blonde girl?"

"She's a gangster."

Kroos' smile faltered. "...Gangster?"

At that moment, she noticed the enormous hammer in Vina's grip.

Her expression changed instantly.

"Wait—you're being robbed?!"

Before Yoren could even begin to explain, Kroos turned and waved urgently to the side.

"Mia! Get over here—something's happening!"

"Coming!"

Seconds later, Beagle sprinted into the alley, adjusting her glasses as she took in the scene.

Yoren groaned inwardly. Before joining Rhodes Island, Kroos and Beagle had been part of a security team in Columbia. How exactly they ended up in Chernobog, nobody knew.

"Mia! That guy is being threatened by a gang! We have to save him!"

Beagle nodded resolutely. "Got it."

She grabbed a nearby trash can lid as a makeshift shield, while Kroos drew her short crossbow, stepping cautiously into the alley.

With her voice shaking slightly, she aimed the weapon at Vina.

"You! Drop your weapon and let him go!"

Beagle echoed, "Put it down!"

Yoren stood frozen. The two of them were trying so hard, but… the sight was almost comical.

Vina turned slowly, eyes glowing red in the dim light. The air grew heavy with an unmistakable, bloodthirsty presence.

"You two brats had better mind your own business—or I'll rip you to pieces."

"AHHHH!!!"

Kroos and Beagle screamed.

"Uh… excuse us—"

"GOODBYE!"

Beagle flung the trash can lid aside and bolted, Kroos hot on her heels.

Yoren was left standing in stunned silence.

"...Hey, are you giving up already?! I think I could've salvaged that!"

Kroos barely glanced back as she shouted over her shoulder.

"Try to hold on! We'll call the military police! Kroos loves you!"

As their voices faded into the distance, the alley once again fell into quiet.

Vina slung the hammer over her shoulder, unimpressed.

"We need to leave."

"We?"

"Yeah. After what you just said, I've decided to let you live. But—I can't just let you run around freely."

Yoren hesitated. "Then… what are you gonna do with me?"

Vina flashed a wide, fanged grin.

"Easy. I'm recruiting you. Congratulations—you're now a member of the Glasgow Gang!"

"...Huh?!"

Vina clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You got two options. One—join the gang. Two—I hit you hard enough to make you forget this conversation. Your choice."

Yoren straightened his clothes and bowed deeply.

"Hello, Boss."

Joining the Glasgow Gang didn't seem like the worst outcome.

Yoren was a complete illegal resident now, no home, no status. He had no idea where his next meal was coming from, let alone how he was supposed to change the future and save Amiya. Right now, survival was his priority.

And if that meant sticking close to the King of Advancement, then so be it. At the very least, she could be his key to fully stepping into the world of Terra.

Vina grabbed Yoren's hand and led him cautiously out of the alley.

The warmth of her grip caught him off guard. Small, but strong. A firm, unwavering hold. A strange thrill ran through him.

How would he even explain this to someone? A few hours ago, he had been a nameless nobody in a classroom, mocked for failing to pull a powerful Operator in a gacha game. And now? He was holding Vina's hand.

He almost wanted to laugh.

They crossed a few streets, the crowds thinning as they moved deeper into the outskirts of the city.

Finally, Vina released his hand.

"This should be far enough. No military patrols around here."

Yoren flexed his fingers absentmindedly. "You know Chernobog well."

"If I'm working here, I need to know the layout. I'm not scared of the authorities, but avoiding them means less trouble. Besides…" Her expression darkened slightly. "One of my men is infected."

That was fair. The Glasgow Gang was a foreign presence here. Keeping a low profile was just common sense.

They walked in step, side by side.

"Where are we going now?"

"Our temporary base. That's where everyone is."

Yoren hesitated for a moment, then asked the question that had been nagging him since Winter brought it up.

"Vina, about what you and Winter were talking about… Are we really smuggling Originium?"

He still wasn't sure of Originium's exact worth, but given its destructive potential, it had to be more valuable than gold, oil—probably even more than drugs.

Vina glanced around, making sure they were alone before answering.

"That's right. Right now, it's our biggest business. Ursus has strict control over Originium. Every single shard, from mining to distribution, is tracked. That means no one outside of the government is supposed to get their hands on it."

"So you smuggle it in from Victoria?"

"Yeah."

"But Victoria also regulates Originium, doesn't it? How do you even get it?"

Originium was a highly dangerous material. If he had to compare it to anything from his own world, it was probably closest to nuclear fuel. No country would let civilians handle something that hazardous.

Not to mention, exposure to its radiation caused Oripathy—an incurable, fatal disease.

Vina, however, spoke of it casually.

"We have different sources. Sometimes we buy from the black market. Sometimes we bribe the right people and get it out of government stockpiles."

"…That's it?"

Vina smirked. "Of course not. Our biggest supply comes from robbery."

Yoren choked on his own spit. Coughing, he looked at her in disbelief.

"Robbery?! You mean, like, storming a government facility with guns?!"

"There's no Originium in government buildings."

"Then… where the hell are you stealing it from?!"

The corner of Vina's mouth curled into a devil-may-care grin.

"There's one place where massive amounts of Originium are produced on a regular basis."

Realization dawned on Yoren.

"The aftermath of natural disasters?"

"Exactly."

That made sense. The easiest way to get something valuable was to go straight to its source.

Vina nodded approvingly. "We can't fight over Originium after a disaster hits a major city. Governments predict these events in advance and evacuate. They bring in military forces and mining crews. We wouldn't stand a chance."

"So where do you steal it from?"

"Well, large cities have disaster forecasts. But natural disasters don't exactly follow human convenience."

She tilted her head, her grin widening.

"If a disaster hits a remote area, or no-man's land near disputed borders… that's when things get interesting. Countries and private forces scramble to claim the raw Originium deposits. That's when we strike—right in the chaos."

Yoren exhaled slowly. It made sense. Ruthless, but logical.

This world had been reshaped by Originium. It had created everything—profit, power, suffering, war.

And, of course—the infected.

No matter how much people feared it, they would never stop fighting over it. Even knowing what it did to human bodies, they still chased it like fools.

Yoren turned to Vina.

"Aren't you afraid of getting infected?"

Vina snorted. "Everyone's scared of Oripathy. This time alone, two of my men caught it."

She rested her hammer on her shoulder and smirked.

"But someone's gotta do this job. If it's not us, it'll be someone else. And I, Vina, don't fear Oripathy. If I get it one day, then that's just my fate."

Yoren understood. The world wasn't kind. If you wanted something, you had to pay the price.

Originium pushed civilization forward, but it left corpses in its wake. The powerful profited, and the weak paid with their lives. That was the law of survival here.

Amiya knew this, too. She had seen firsthand how the world treated the infected. The more she tried to change things, the more she would suffer for it.

And one day, if nothing changed, it would destroy her.

The atmosphere between them grew heavy. Yoren forced a grin and changed the subject.

"So… where exactly is our base?"

"Just ahead. We're almost there."

—

Ten minutes later, they arrived at a secluded three-story villa.

Yoren whistled. "Damn. You guys are living good."

It was remote, sure, but one look at the place told him it was expensive. Way out of reach for most people in Chernobog.

"As expected of a famous gang. The Glasgow Gang's loaded."

Vina walked up and knocked lightly.

"Who is it?"

"It's me. Open up."

The door swung open.

A tall, silver-haired woman stood in the doorway, scars lining her face. Filin, unmistakably so. Messy hair, sharp ears and tail, clad in tight leather and boots. She exuded strength and attitude.

Her golden eyes flicked to Yoren. She raised an eyebrow.

"Vina. Who's the kid?"

Vina shrugged. "New recruit."

"…Huh?"

Yoren stared at her, something about her felt familiar, but he couldn't place it.

He smiled awkwardly and extended a hand. "Uh, hey. I'm Yoren. And you are—"

Bang!

The woman slapped his hand away, smirking.

"Indra. And I don't do handshakes." She crossed her arms, eyes gleaming with amusement. "These hands? Only good for fighting."

Yoren's stomach dropped at her next words.

"Welcome to the gang, rookie. From now on, you're at the very bottom of the Glasgow Gang."

Yoren groaned internally.

He had just joined, and he was already the lowest-ranked member. Great start.