Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 19

Chapter 19: M3, Show Him a Trick!

Kai sat across from Kal’tsit, staring down at the steaming cup of coffee resting between them. It had been brewed by M3, who was currently lingering nearby. He took a cautious sip, and his face instantly scrunched up, his tongue darting out to escape the deep bitterness.

“I don’t have any sugar cubes for you here.” The corners of Kal’tsit’s mouth twitched upward in a rare, fleeting curve. A brief memory surfaced—the last time Kai had stubbornly forced her to eat a piece of candy—but before he could catch the amusement in her eyes, the stoic mask slammed back into place.

“Amiya and Ace submitted their reports regarding your confrontation with Talulah,” Kal’tsit said, her voice slicing through the quiet room. “Regarding your sudden surge in strength…”

“Wait, let’s get one thing straight,” Kai interrupted, raising both hands defensively. “I have absolutely no idea what happened out there either. You can’t pin this on me withholding intel!”

“I am not assigning blame. Quite the opposite.” Kal’tsit interlaced her fingers, resting them on the desk. “I am deeply grateful for your intervention. It reassures me to know you truly consider Rhodes Island an ally. However, the nature of your power is… anomalous.” She paused, weighing her next words with clinical precision. “M3 informed me that your newfound strength has temporarily vanished. Is this accurate?”

“Ah… strictly speaking, it hasn’t completely vanished. Look.” Kai raised his right index finger. Focusing his intent, a pathetic, flickering spark sputtered into existence, blooming into a flame barely the size of a match head. “I managed to figure this out on the way over. Right now, this is the absolute limit of my output.”

Kal’tsit leaned forward, her emerald eyes narrowing as she studied the tiny fire. “It is not standard Originium Arts… yet the structural manifestation is remarkably similar. Fascinating.”

She leaned back, her gaze shifting back to Kai. “I have already reviewed the preliminary diagnostic data forwarded by the Medical Department. Your baseline physiological parameters remain unchanged. However, the imaging scans reveal that the ambient Originium particles within your bloodstream have aligned into an orderly, structured pattern. Whether this is a benign adaptation or a latent risk remains to be seen, but this internal restructuring is likely what permits you to manipulate Arts.”

Kai frowned. Previously, he had possessed zero aptitude for Originium Arts. Staff or no staff, his assimilation rate was perfectly average—the sort of mundane constitution that wouldn’t easily contract Oripathy, but wouldn’t instantly crystallize and drop dead if exposed, either.

“So, what exactly is happening to my body?” Kai asked, the humor draining from his voice. A sudden power-up sounded great in theory, but in the grim reality of Terra, every miracle came with a price tag. He wasn’t eager to pay it.

“It could be a latent trait of your race, triggering a secondary physiological awakening,” Kal’tsit theorized, her tone detached and academic. “Or perhaps the extreme environmental stress of the Catastrophe forced a constitutional mutation. It could even be a localized anomaly. In this world, anything is possible.” She took a slow sip of her own coffee, letting the dark, bitter liquid coat her tongue. Despite harboring thousands of years of accumulated knowledge, the young man sitting across from her remained a frustrating enigma.

“Alright, since we’re just throwing darts in the dark, I’ll stop worrying about it. It’s not like it’s combat-viable anyway. Forget hurling giant fireballs; I’d struggle to light a camp stove right now.” Kai dropped his hand, letting the flame extinguish. He leaned back, crossing his arms. “But let’s be honest. You didn’t call me here just to talk about my parlor tricks, did you?”

“No.” Kal’tsit nodded, her gaze turning sharp. “I want to discuss your foresight.”

“Oh? What about it? Looking for some winning lottery numbers?” Kai asked, a teasing lilt in his voice.

“Quite the opposite. I need you to conceal your precognitive knowledge from Amiya and the rest of the operators.” Kal’tsit held his gaze, her expression deadpan and unyielding. “I have analyzed the tactical logs from this operation. Relying on your intelligence allowed us to bypass nearly every major threat. The mission was flawlessly executed. But… this is detrimental. It is dangerous for you, detrimental to Amiya’s growth, and ultimately fatal to the operational integrity of Rhodes Island.”

“I…” Kai opened his mouth to argue, to justify his actions, but the words died in his throat. A single, chilling concept surfaced in his mind: the Butterfly Effect. Kal’tsit hadn’t yelled, but her measured warning struck him like a physical blow. If a butterfly flapping its wings could summon a hurricane, what kind of catastrophic deviations would a man armed with the script cause?

“…I understand,” Kai said quietly.

Kal’tsit raised a slender eyebrow, genuinely surprised by his immediate capitulation. “You aren’t going to ask for my reasoning?”

“No need. I’m not a child.” Kai rubbed the back of his neck, a self-deprecating sigh escaping his lips. “I was just being… arrogant. I get what you’re saying. I’ll keep my mouth shut from now on.” The memories of his past life had been his greatest weapon, but they had also poisoned his perspective. He was unconsciously still treating Terra like a game board, and himself as the untouchable ‘player’.

“Mm.” Kal’tsit gave a subtle nod of approval.

The conversation naturally tapered off, leaving the office bathed in a heavy, contemplative silence.

M3, who had quietly shifted from her standing position, was now sitting cross-legged on the plush sofa. She rested her chin in her hands, observing the two humans playing their silent staring contest with a look of deep, alien curiosity.

“Are we walking on the right path?” Kal’tsit murmured, breaking the quiet just as M3 seemed ready to intervene.

“Huh? The right path?” Kai blinked, caught off guard by the sudden philosophical pivot. He looked up. Kal’tsit’s eyes seemed ancient in the dim light, carrying the crushing weight of millennia.

Was it right? Kai asked himself. Having derailed the original timeline, he suddenly felt entirely unqualified to give her a definitive answer.

“You are walking on a path of hope,” he finally said, his voice steady.

“A path of hope…” Kal’tsit echoed softly. It wasn’t the absolute certainty she sought, but perhaps it was the most honest answer she could receive.

“We will walk toward a bright future together. I promise you that,” Kai added, a fierce confidence bleeding back into his tone.

Kal’tsit looked at him, searching his face for any trace of deception. “Is that another prophecy?”

“No. That’s a blessing.”

The neon-drenched streets of Lungmen were a stark contrast to the sterile halls of the landship. Kai and M3 strolled down a narrow, bustling pathway. Despite the city’s underlying rot and deeply entrenched dark side, the vibrant, chaotic energy of Lungmen made Kai feel strangely at home.

“Hey, if you don’t want to end up in a ditch, you’d better start talking. Tell us what we want to know, or else…”

The harsh, grating voice drifted from a nearby alleyway. Kai paused, glancing into the shadows. A group of rough-looking thugs had cornered a trembling young girl against a brick wall, their posture aggressively threatening.

Kai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Logically, this specific encounter shouldn’t be triggering right now based on the timeline, but logic had checked out the moment he started altering the plot. Now wasn’t the time to worry about narrative sequence.

Scanning his surroundings, Kai spotted a jagged, fist-sized piece of rubble resting near a dumpster. He scooped it up, weighed it in his palm, locked his eyes on the loudest thug, and hurled it with a pitcher’s precision.

Thwack!

“Gah! Who?! Who the hell is throwing things?!” the man bellowed, spinning around.

Before he could even finish his sentence, a second rock whistled through the air, catching him squarely on the bridge of his nose with a sickening crunch. The thug shrieked, clutching his bleeding face as he crumpled to the asphalt.

“Boss!” one of the lackeys yelled, whipping out a rusted machete. He spotted Kai lounging at the alley entrance. “You little rat! Do you have a death wish?!”

The entire gang roared, brandishing pipes and blades as they charged.

Kai didn’t even flinch. He just smirked and pointed forward. “Close the doors! Release the Mon3tr!”

M3 instantly shifted from a docile companion into a living nightmare. Her combat mode engaged with a sickening, organic tear. Several massive, crystalline claws erupted from her spine, casting jagged, terrifying shadows against the alley walls. She stepped in front of Kai, a suffocating, lethal aura radiating from her slender frame. Her cold, dead eyes locked onto the charging thugs, silently promising that the next man to take a step would be shredded into ribbons.

The effect was instantaneous. The sheer, overwhelming bloodlust shattered the thugs’ morale. Screaming in terror, they dropped their weapons and scrambled over each other to escape the alley, completely abandoning their groaning boss and the bewildered little girl.

“You—why are you running?! Cowards! Damn it, you brat, just you wait!” The bleeding boss scrambled to his feet, spitting out hollow, trembling threats as he tried to edge his way toward the exit.

Kai gave a subtle flick of his eyes. M3 moved like a blur, instantly materializing in front of the man and sealing his only escape route.

“Y-you… you guys!” The man stammered, his bravado crumbling. “Don’t push your luck! Do you have any idea who I am?!”

Kai casually strolled forward and delivered a swift, brutal kick to the back of the man’s knees, sending him crashing back down to the pavement.

“Alright, save the villain monologue,” Kai sighed, looking down at the pathetic figure. “You’re just some bottom-feeding grunt from the Reunion Movement, aren’t you? I literally just finished beating the absolute hell out of your supreme leader. Why would I be scared of a two-bit street boss like you? Cut the crap. I have questions, and you have answers.”

“I… I won’t say a damn word to you!” the man spat, jutting his chin out in a desperate, foolish display of loyalty. It was, tragically, the bravest moment of his miserable life.

“Not bad. I always admire a man with a spine,” Kai said, his voice dropping to a gentle, terrifying whisper as he patted the thug’s trembling shoulder. He looked up. “M3. Show him a trick.”

Show him a trick? The thug blinked, utterly confused by the command.

A second later, the horrifying crunch of bone and a display of agonizing screams echoed through the alley.

“Aghhh! Brother! Father! Ancestors, please! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything, just make her stop hitting me! Ouch!”