Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Giving You a Task

Was Kai currently huddled up in some dark, serious strategy meeting with Kal’tsit? Of course not. Instead, he was standing tall on a temporary scaffolding platform, a heavy-duty megaphone gripped in his hands, shouting into the shadowy depths of the Lungmen Slums. And he was having the absolute time of his life.

“Listen up, people inside! Listen up… up… up…” Kai’s voice boomed, the metallic echo bouncing off the dilapidated concrete walls of the Slums. You really had to hand it to the Lungmen Guard Department for their top-notch tactical equipment. Just look at this megaphone—the sheer decibel output was staggering! The audio clarity was immaculate!

“You! Are now surrounded by me! Surrounded… ed… ed…”

“Madam Ch’en… is he supposed to be doing that?” a dark-haired, thin young man in a standard L.G.D. uniform leaned in, his face etched with professional concern.

“Just let him shout. I’ll take full responsibility if anything goes sideways,” Ch’en said, shaking her head with a weary sigh that indicated she was entirely used to this nonsense.

“Understood…”

Ch’en waved a dismissive hand, sending the dutiful young officer back to his post. She then turned her sharp gaze to Swire, who was sitting on a nearby supply crate, and picked up their previous conversation.

“That is basically the gist of the operation. This afternoon, they will emerge from this specific sector,” Ch’en tapped a gloved finger against a detailed tactical map spread over the hood of a vehicle, pointing to a massive maintenance entrance for the Slums’ drainage system. “And then, they will travel straight through a deliberate gap in our defensive perimeter that we have intentionally left wide open.”

Swire leaned forward, her feline tail twitching as she studied the map with uncharacteristic seriousness. She scratched at her blonde hair, looking somewhat uncertain. “And then we just stand down? Act like we didn’t see a damn thing?”

“No, of course not,” Ch’en shook her head, her tone turning strictly professional. “We have to put on a convincing act. When the time comes, Rhodes Island and the Black Cloaks will step in to create a massive wave of chaos. We will adapt and react according to the situation on the ground.”

“Tsk, it is like we are acting in some kind of gritty undercover mob movie,” Swire muttered, though the vibrant, excited glint in her eyes betrayed her thrill. “I am honestly starting to regret not going with you back then.”

“If you had come with me, who would have managed the Guard Department’s deployment here?” Ch’en shot back crossly, crossing her arms.

“Oh, so that is why I didn’t go, isn’t it? You really are something else,” Swire pouted, puffing out her cheeks before her gaze drifted back to Kai, who was still hollering with boundless vigor on the platform. “By the way, is acting like a complete idiot really going to get him a meeting with the leader of that Yeti Squad?”

“…Probably?”

“What the hell do you mean, ‘probably’?” Swire gave her a flat, incredulous look that practically screamed, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’

Ch’en sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in utter helplessness. “Kai himself swore up and down that this method would definitely work, but he absolutely refused to explain the logic behind it. Trust me, you are not the only one who wants to know what goes on in his head. I do too.”

“If you know what is good for you, drop your weapons and surrender immediately! Rhodes Island can stand up for you! We will return justice to you! Justice… ice… ice…”

“Miss Ch’en, Officer Swire,” Amiya’s soft voice drifted over from nearby. The two L.G.D. elites turned around, only to find the young Cautus looking a bit… strange.

“Amiya, what is with your head?” Ch’en pointed a finger at Amiya’s ears. Those long, expressive rabbit ears, which were usually upright and full of lively energy, were currently folded down and tied securely beneath her chin with a makeshift hairband, resembling a bizarre, fluffy bun.

“…Mr. Kai’s megaphone is just way too loud…” Amiya’s voice was muffled and dripping with deep resentment. “It made my ears ring so badly that they physically hurt. I had to tie them down to cover the canals…”

Ch’en stared for a second, momentarily speechless. “…Alright. Maybe you can go find that sniper officer over there with the binoculars. She is also a Cautus; she might have a spare set of tactical earplugs.”

“Really?! Thank you so much, Miss Ch’en!” Amiya’s face instantly lit up with pure delight, and she immediately spun on her heel to go hunt down the sniper.

“Hey, wait a second!” Swire called out, halting the girl in her tracks. “Why are you running off already?! Did you seriously only come over here just to complain and find earplugs?!”

Amiya froze, turning back with a deeply awkward, sheepish smile. “Ah… I am so sorry! I was just a bit too excited about the earplugs and completely forgot my actual report!”

‘It seems that kind of high-decibel noise is practically a lethal weapon against a Cautus,’ Swire mused inwardly. She then began to idly wonder if she had any Cautus friends she could tease with loud noises… Wait, she didn’t seem to have any. Why was that?

Ch’en waved her hand lightly, dismissing the apology. “It is fine, I understand the priority,” she said, glancing sideways at Swire, who had suddenly zoned out into deep thought. “It is not too late to tell us now. Has something happened on his end?”

“It is like this. Mr. Kai just informed us that the timing is almost right,” Amiya said, her expression shifting back to serious professionalism. “If possible, he is preparing to go in right now.”

“So soon?” Ch’en frowned, her tactical mind already racing. “Alright then. I hope everything goes smoothly for him in there. Is there anything specific he needs us to do to coordinate his entry?”

“Yes.” Amiya’s expression suddenly morphed into something terribly awkward, as if she were deeply hesitating over whether she should even vocalize the request.

“What is it?” Ch’en’s eyes narrowed. She immediately felt a very bad premonition creeping up her spine.

“Mr. Kai said he desperately needs someone to take over his highly important post…” Amiya murmured, turning her face away to avoid eye contact.

“…Important post?” Ch’en slowly turned her head to look at Kai, who was still obnoxiously shouting into the megaphone, and then looked back at Amiya.

Visibly, a faint, embarrassed blush crept across Amiya’s cheeks.

“Why?” Ch’en asked, genuinely struggling to comprehend the necessity of this.

“Mr. Kai didn’t elaborate.”

“…Alright,” Ch’en muttered, shaking her head as she accepted the sheer absurdity of the situation. She then turned her gaze to Swire, who was still staring blankly into space, lost in her own little world. “Hey, feline. Stop daydreaming. I am giving you a task.”

Swire blinked, snapping back to reality. “Huh?”

“Big Sister, they are still shouting out there… though it sounds like they have switched to a woman’s voice now. Maybe the last guy finally blew out his vocal cords,” a burly figure wrapped in a thick, white hooded cloak grumbled. His voice was muffled behind his heavy winter gear as he stood beside Frostnova. “They aren’t launching an assault, they just keep us boxed in and scream at us on loop. What the hell are they trying to achieve?”

“Talking about dropping our weapons and Rhodes Island giving us justice—if they want to talk, they should at least open the damn door first!” he spat indignantly, gripping his staff.

“Don’t pay them any mind…” Frostnova murmured, her icy gaze fixed on the barricaded exterior. She thought of that strange man named Kai; the initial voice booming through the megaphone had sounded suspiciously like him.

“Sigh, I don’t want to listen to it either, Big Sister. It is just… our schedule to rendezvous with our compatriots was already severely delayed because we were intercepted by those L.G.D. units on the way. We finally fought our way in, only to get locked inside this sector by them…”

“And then, to top it all off, they actually have the nerve to shout at us with a megaphone! It is a blatant provocation! If I ever find out whose bright idea this was…” The Yeti Squad veteran squeezed his fists tightly, the fabric of his gloves creaking under the strain of his mounting grievance.

“…How is the evacuation of our compatriots progressing?” Frostnova asked after a heavy moment of silence. As she spoke, she suddenly coughed violently, her slender frame trembling as if her own body were buckling under a massive, invisible burden.

The Yeti Squad member immediately dropped his anger, looking at Frostnova in sheer panic. “Big Sister, your condition…”

“I am fine,” she interrupted, her voice cold but steady. “Answer my question.”

“Alright…” He nodded reluctantly. “To be brutally honest, the situation isn’t great. Since the main gate we used to enter is no longer a viable option, we had to forcefully break open a new gap through the side structural wall.”

“But the gap is far too small, and there are simply too many people. So far, only a handful of groups have managed to squeeze through, and most of them are the critically wounded and the non-combatant civilians.”

“…I see. Is there a way to enlarge the breach?”

“There is… but…” He trailed off, his voice thick with reluctance and dread.

“I need to keep lowering the ambient temperature to shatter the reinforced concrete, right? I understand.”

“Big Sister, please…”

“It is fine.”

Frostnova stood up, the air around her instantly dropping several degrees. She reached out and gently patted the veteran Yeti Squad member on the shoulder, a silent, comforting gesture. Then, she turned and walked slowly, yet with absolute, unshakeable firmness, toward the barricaded gate that stood between her trapped compatriots and their survival.

“Wait! Big Sister Frostnova!” An urgent, breathless voice echoed from just outside their temporary command post, stopping Frostnova dead in her tracks.

A scout sprinted into the room, panting heavily. “…This is bad… Big Sister… that guy… he is back!”