Watching Svarog, whose armor was dented, joints sparking, and movements clearly sluggish from the few throwing knives and frost traps he had casually tossed out, the expression on Sampo's face slowly shifted from initial vigilance to pure confusion.
He scratched his blue hair and walked half a circle around the metal giant, which was moving with difficulty yet still trying to shield the unconscious Clara behind it, muttering to himself:
"You've got to be kidding me, buddy? You look imposing, but why are you so 'fragile'?"
He tapped the hilt of his dagger against Svarog's pockmarked chest armor, producing a hollow "clank, clank" sound.
"Doesn't sound like solid, high-end stuff either. This metal hardness... it doesn't even feel as sturdy as the bricks of our old Belobog city walls? That makes no sense. I have to think twice before even getting close to the real Svarog down in the Lower District..."
The Svarog before him merely locked its scarlet electronic eyes onto him, emitting a low, static-filled threatening hum, but it couldn't launch a more effective counterattack, its movements as stiff as a rusty old toy.
"Forget it, forget it. Never mind."
Sampo shook his head, deciding not to dwell on what was wrong with this obviously "all show and no go" robot.
With a flick of his wrist, he clamped a special dagger between his fingers, one with a faint electric paralyzing effect.
"Let me send you to 'rest' early so you don't keep thinking about calling the police... oh wait, I mean calling for repairs."
He aimed at a visible dent on Svarog, flicked his wrist, and the dagger shot out like a bolt of cold light!
"Clang!"
The dagger precisely pierced a gap in the armor, and a shower of short-circuiting electric sparks "crackled" open!
This time, Svarog seemed to have finally reached its limit.
Its massive frame shuddered violently, its scarlet electronic eyes flickering rapidly, and it emitted one last reluctant, intermittent synthesized sound: "Pro... tect... Clara..."
Subsequently, a dull, ominous humming and an overheating alarm sounded from within the entire chassis.
Sampo sensed something was wrong and instinctively took two steps back.
"Wait... could this sound be..."
Before he could finish his sentence— "BOOM!!!"
A not particularly violent, but sufficiently shocking explosion rang out!
Svarog's tall body didn't shatter into fragments like a normal machine; instead, it burst from within with dazzling blue-white data stream light. Immediately after, the entire chassis, like a pencil drawing erased by an eraser, instantly decomposed into countless tiny specks of light, which then rapidly dissipated in the air, turning into nothingness.
Apart from a few shallow pits and scorch marks left on the snow, and the lone dagger stuck in the ground, there was nothing else left. Not even a speck of metal debris remained.
Sampo was pushed off balance by the shockwave of the explosion. After steadying himself, he looked at the empty snow in front of him, completely dumbfounded.
"Cough, cough, cough! Ptooey!" He waved away the small amount of smoke and dust in front of him, his eyes wide as saucers.
"It, it exploded?! And it exploded so... environmentally friendly?! Not even a scrap left?! What kind of new biodegradable disposable combat robot is this?!"
He crouched down, picked up his dagger, and poked at the scorch marks to confirm it wasn't a hallucination. A sense of absurdity welled up in his heart.
"First, I crawl out of a snowdrift and get stabbed in the butt, then I run into a kid who should be in the Lower District and her 'daddy,' and now the 'daddy' self-destructs so cleanly..."
Sampo held his forehead, feeling that the bizarre things he'd encountered today exceeded all the strange goods he'd trafficked in the past year combined.
"What is all this... could it be that I haven't sobered up from that bottle of 'Blazing Concentrated Tea' I drank last night?"
He shook his head helplessly, put away his dagger, and turned to look at the remaining two "spoils of war"—Stella [Clara] and [Hook], who were still unconscious and whom he had cleverly dragged to a safe distance before the explosion.
The two little ones lay side by side on the snow, their little faces pale, breathing steadily, sleeping so sweetly.
Sampo crouched beside them, rubbed his hands together, and revealed his signature smile—one with a hint of apology but much more calculation:
"Sorry, you two little ones. Don't blame your Uncle Cold-Legs for being rough; it's just that you and your 'daddy' appeared too strangely. Uncle here has no choice; I have to figure out where you came from, and whether you're worth... ah no, whether you're safe."
He calculated that if he kept these two children, who clearly had special identities, "safely stored," he might be able to trade them for some unexpected benefits from that real Svarog, or Wildfire, or even these strange outsiders. This was Sampo Koski's way of survival.
— — — — — —
Meanwhile, at a warm temporary camp within the Belobog wall defenses.
"Ugh... my head hurts... it feels like I was kicked around like a ball all night..."
Stelle rubbed her temples, which felt like they were about to split open, and opened her eyes dizzily.
Her vision blurred for a few seconds before focusing. She found herself lying on a simple but clean cot, covered with a thick blanket.
A heater was lit in the tent, and the air was filled with the faint scent of burning pine and... some kind of refreshing ointment?
"Where is this...?" She propped herself up and looked around blankly.
The material of the tent and the furnishings inside all exuded a rough and practical style that was completely different from the Herta Space Station or the Astral Express she was familiar with.
Just then, March 7th's highly recognizable, anxious, and angry voice came from outside the tent:
"...That's exactly it! That blue-haired guy, with that super punchable smile, who calls himself Sampo! He used a despicable smoke bomb to ambush us! And he kidnapped our most important partner! Please! You must catch him! Save our partner!"
Stelle hurriedly threw off the blanket, put on her shoes, lifted the tent flap, and walked out.
Outside was an area sheltered by high walls, where many soldiers wearing uniform silver-white armor and serious expressions were patrolling or resting.
March 7th was standing in front of a tall, young officer with blonde hair, blue eyes, a resolute and handsome face, and particularly ornate shoulder armor, gesturing and recounting their encounter with great emotion, surrounded by a few curious Silvermane Guards soldiers.
That young officer—Gepard Landau—listened very carefully, his brow furrowing tighter as March 7th recounted the story, especially when he heard keywords like "Sampo," "smoke bomb," and "kidnapped partner," a sharp glint flashing in his blue eyes.
"I understand." Gepard's voice was steady and powerful, carrying an unquestionable authority.
"I didn't expect that incorrigible slippery guy, Sampo Koski, to dare commit such a heinous act of kidnapping! Before, it was mostly petty theft and disturbing the peace, but this time, it cannot be tolerated!"
He straightened his back and solemnly promised March 7th: "Please rest assured, the Silvermane Guards will never sit idly by. We will do our utmost to search for Sampo, find your partner, and bring them back safely."
"Thank you so much! Officer Gepard!" March 7th immediately broke into a smile through her tears (her eyes had been red from excitement just a moment ago) and bowed deeply.
Gepard nodded, said no more, turned briskly, issued a series of clear and definite search Orders to the surrounding soldiers, and then personally led a team of elites, marching with firm steps away from the defense line, heading towards the city of Belobog.
"Stelle! You're awake!" March 7th turned around, saw Stelle, and immediately ran over with surprise.
"Where is this? How did we get here? Where is Dan Heng? And... where is Stella?" Stelle asked in a rapid-fire manner, most concerned about the last question.
"This is the gate defense line of Belobog!" March 7th explained quickly.
"After we passed out, we were found by their patrol. I showed them the photos of the starry sky of Jarilo-VI in my camera and our group photo on the Astral Express, and only then did they believe we really came from 'beyond the sky,' and weren't Rift monsters or scammers."
Speaking of this, her little face set, and she waved her fists angrily: "Then I asked them if they knew a blue-haired bastard named Sampo! Guess what? That guy is actually a registered wanted criminal! He specializes in swindling and trafficking contraband! The Silvermane Guards have been wanting to catch him for a long time! Damn it! We actually got set up by a wanted criminal!"
"Where is Dan Heng?" Stelle looked around.
"Over there!" March 7th pointed towards a guard tower on the periphery of the defense line.
Dan Heng was seen fighting side by side with several Silvermane Guards soldiers, dealing with a few Abnormality that had crawled out from a nearby Rift fissure.
His marksmanship was precise, his movements fluid, and his coordination with the soldiers was surprisingly tacit, quickly clearing out the monsters, and he was currently communicating with a soldier who seemed to be a captain.
"Then where is Stella?" Stelle's heart tightened, and she had a bad premonition.
"Stella..." March 7th's eyes dimmed suddenly, full of worry and self-reproach. "She was... kidnapped by that goddamn wanted criminal Sampo! It's all my fault! I didn't protect her well!"
"Stella was kidnapped?!" Stelle's voice rose sharply, extremely shocked.
That Stella, who could turn into all sorts of people, possessed a magical system panel, but whose main body (and clones) had combat power approximately equal to zero, had actually fallen into the hands of a disreputable wanted criminal?!
"Yeah!" March 7th bit her lip, anxious and angry. "I don't know how she is now, if she's being bullied, if she's freezing... That Sampo doesn't look like a good person at all! Damn it! Sampo! You just wait for this lady! Once I find you, see if I don't freeze you into an ice sculpture and smash you a hundred times, a hundred times!"
— — — — — —
Meanwhile, Belobog, in a remote, abandoned, chilly corner where mechanical parts were piled up.
"Achoo—!!" Sampo sneezed violently, rubbed his itchy nose, and wrapped his blue coat, which wasn't very thick, tighter around himself.
"Hiss... as expected, this corner is even colder than outside, isn't it? The draft feels like knives."
He muttered, looking down at the ground. There lay the thickest old blanket he had dug out of his pack. On the blanket, Stella, Clara, and Hook were still in the positions they were in when he knocked them out, eyes closed tight, breathing steadily, little faces rosy (likely from the cold this time), sleeping so deeply, as if they wouldn't wake up even if the sky fell.
Sampo crouched beside them, having observed them for nearly half a system time.
He extended his finger, poked the soft cheeks of Stella and Clara, and shook Hook's shoulder, but the two little ones had no reaction.
The confusion on his face grew heavier, finally turning into frantic head-scratching.
"There's no reason for this?!" Sampo talked to himself in the air, as if trying to convince himself. "The dosage I used was for adult men; it's more than enough to knock out three outsiders and a cold-faced guy, but for kids, I specifically halved it! They should have woken up by now! Could it be..."
A terrible thought flashed through his mind: "Did my hand shake and I grabbed the enhanced version by mistake?! No, that's not right, the bottle is correct..."
He carefully checked the two children's pulses and breathing again; everything was normal, they were just simply... sleeping very soundly.
"It can't be that these two kids have particularly weak constitutions, right? Weaker than ordinary children?"
Sampo stroked his chin, completely baffled. "Clara looks delicate, but that girl Hook is usually running up and down the Furnace Core path, she's full of energy..."
Little did he know, he wasn't facing some local children with special constitutions at all, but two bodies with only Level 1 base templates (Clara's enhancements were all on Svarog), whose resistances were pitifully low.
His halved dosage, meant for ordinary adults, was, for these two "people," no less than pouring a bucket of anesthetic directly into them; that they hadn't died on the spot was already a testament to their resilience.
Sampo, this self-proclaimed knowledgeable and infallible underground intelligence broker and trafficker of Belobog, was currently facing two "hostages" who had fallen into an ultra-long coma due to being "too low level," and was trapped in a rare, purely technical professional confusion.