Arknights: How Did I Actually Become the Doctor? — Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Gray Matter and Obsessive EchoesYou're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

Let’s table the lore implications of Jesselton and the fourth ending of the Sami roguelike for a moment. Right now, I had far more pressing matters at hand.

Outside the towering walls of the prison, a familiar long-haired girl with green spikes was already waiting.

“Doctor! It took such a—huge—effort for Kafka to plan such a flawless escape route!” Kafka leaned against a battered, heavily modified jeep parked by the roadside. She and Pinecone had already cleared out the blocking prison guards with brutal efficiency.

“Thank you for the hard work, Kafka.” I instinctively reached out to give her a headpat for a job well done, but she nimbly ducked under my hand.

“Mr. Commander, aren’t you afraid of making enemies by touching a lady’s head so casually?” She flashed a playful grin, sticking her tongue out before circling around to yank the passenger door open. “Get in, Doctor. The big fluffy gentleman and our lady assassin are already inside!”

“…I’m actually not an assassin,” Robin protested weakly from the backseat. Sure, the title sounded incredibly cool, but her actual kill count was still firmly sitting at zero.

Mountain offered a polite, refined nod. “Thank you for your very useful assistance, Miss Kafka.”

“Don’t mention it! I’ve never been hated by anyone!”

I slid into the passenger seat, slipping on my tactical headset and pulling up my mask. After quietly severing my connection to the public comms channel, I pulled out the prize I had ripped straight from Jesselton’s neck.

“Stick to your planned route, my beautiful Miss Kafka. For the next little while, would you mind if I put on some music?”

Kafka laughed and tossed over a data cable connected to the jeep’s console. “You’re a bit full of yourself, but Kafka admits you aren’t annoying! Plus, you’re actually willing to trust me!”

I murmured a word of thanks, plugging the cable into my headset. A small slot popped open on my PRTS communicator, and I slid the item inside. As for Dureka, who hadn’t caught up yet? It didn’t matter. She would fly back obediently on her own when the time came.

The item was a hard drive. An exact, 1:1 physical replica of the kind I used back on Earth. It couldn’t actually be the real thing, of course—it was a flawless imitation forged by someone who knew my past life a little too well.

The PRTS interface instantly bled into a cold, dead leaden gray. A dark red progress bar crawled across my vision.

[Loading (1 / 100%)…]

[Loading (99 / 100%)…]

The drive’s capacity wasn’t large. It held only a single, heavily corrupted video file. The background was a swirling mess of gray data streams, shifting violently between light and shadow. The digital environment was deathly silent and terrifyingly empty, a suffocating gray mass that swallowed the sky and the earth.

Just like the inner world of Originium, my mind supplied subconsciously.

Then, I heard it. My own voice from the past. It was weary, yet laced with a dark, magnetic undertone that I couldn’t quite describe.

“Priestess.”

In a violent flash, I was yanked into the perspective of my past self. I watched as a black-and-white anomalous authority was systematically cornered by the surging gray tide. I felt formless—an omniscient, god-like entity observing the gray data sea churn from a completely alien vantage point.

Past-me let out a soft, low chuckle.

Suddenly, I understood why everyone’s first reaction to my husky voice was to compare it to a cello. It was deep, alluring, carrying a gentle cadence that instinctively made the listener’s skin crawl with danger.

“I thought, at least you would understand me.”

My internal reaction was immediate: Holy shit, was I always this seductive? Why does every word out of my mouth sound like a twisted pick-up line?

Sadly, the recording didn’t care about my internal screaming. I could only curl my toes in pure cringe as I listened to my past self go full supervillain.

“Trust me, wouldn’t that be better? I will lead everyone across the wasteland witnessed by Death. We will cross the graves scattered across the starry sky, put an end to all this meaningless sacrifice and suffering, and return everyone to the Eden I have foreseen.”

“The Lumberjack is not invincible. I merely employed a few… unconventional methods. Just like the ones we used to enjoy together. You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you? You always stand by my side. You see the same sea of stars that I do.”

Even as the voice murmured sweet, gentle consolations, the leaden gray data sea mercilessly crushed the black-and-white authority’s space. It sealed her layer by layer, grinding down her defenses, suffocating her every attempt to struggle.and support the real translator.Read at elysianreads.com This is a stolen translation. You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

[Prophet]

[Wake up, this is absurd]

[You are crazy]

The frantic messages transmitted with all their might, but the only response they received was a tender whisper.

“My dear, you will understand me. Do not doubt. Do not worry. For I have already seen the future.”

I could feel it. An energy far more volatile than Originium, bleeding out from the planet’s core, from beyond the Starpod itself. The gray data sea bloomed, spiraling into the exact magnificent galaxy my past self had described. It was heavy and horrifying. It consumed and deconstructed everything it touched, rapidly iterating into a state of absolute perfection.

I had seen Seaborn tissue samples in Rhodes Island’s labs. Their vaunted evolutionary speed was an absolute joke compared to this gray ocean. This thing was iterating, recursing, and deriving at an exponential rate, hurtling toward a vast, aesthetically horrifying ultimate form.

WTF! What the hell is this thing?!

Flashes of cosmic horror tropes and apocalyptic internet memes from my past life bombarded my brain. Unfortunately, the compressed file was too heavily corrupted to make out the finer details. Whoever sent this USB, if you’re so damn capable, render it in 1080p next time!

The silhouette of the black-and-white authority began to break down. Just as the gray was about to swallow the last inch of space, a sharp, brilliant pink data stream violently pierced the digitized world, tearing a massive rift in the gray.

Seizing the opening, the black-and-white authority vanished from the space.

Past-me didn’t chase. I just watched them leave. Soon, only the pure, boiling gray remained.

A piercing burst of static shattered the audio, and the video abruptly ended.

I sat frozen for a split second before violently ripping the headset off, gasping for air as if I’d been held underwater.

“Haa…”

The heavy, suffocating dream shattered. I looked up. The operators were staring at me, eyes wide with concern. Warm sunlight filtered through the jeep’s windows, brushing against my skin.

A world without that gray is a fucking blessing.

“Sir, are you alright?” Robin asked softly, breaking the silence.

I shook my head, waving her off, and slumped heavily back into the leather seat. I covered my face with one hand.

I must have woken up too fast. Did I just watch Priestess and Theresa team up against me?

Wait… the obsessive, world-ending yandere ex of this lore is actually ME?!

My lingering dread of Priestess evaporated instantly. A pervert isn’t afraid of another pervert. Was it her turn to be terrified of me now?

Wait, the plot had derailed so violently that there was a literal apocalypse timeline now. How the hell did “I” manage to drag the plot back to the Chernobog rescue after pulling a stunt like that?! Are you trying to get me killed?!

Under the worried gazes of my operators, I forced my lips into a calm, reassuring smile.

“It’s nothing. The new Siren Records track was just a bit too intense. I got carried away listening to it.”

My thumb subconsciously traced the metal casing of the USB drive. Etched into the base were a few tiny, deliberate words:

See you at the ‘Gray Matter’ bar tomorrow night at eight~You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.