Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Throttled Data and Sanity PotionsYou'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.

“You… you handed her over to Lungmen?!” Skullshatterer’s voice cracked with raw, unadulterated fury. His heavy mask hid his expression, but the sheer venom in his tone painted a vivid picture. “You… Rhodes Island… comrades, attack!” He directed his grenade launcher forward, commanding the Reunion Movement to launch a suicidal assault. It was as if he intended to bury his blinding rage beneath the corpses of the Rhodes Island operators.

“Hey! Kai, think of something!” The Doctor shouted from the rear guard, his voice barely cutting through the deafening roar of artillery and clashing steel. As the old proverb went, overwhelming force shattered all strategy. The Doctor’s tactical acumen was unmatched, but facing a relentless human wave tactic still left him in a tight spot. The masked Reunion soldiers showed zero fear of death, throwing themselves forward with the sole purpose of tearing Rhodes Island’s defensive line to shreds.

Kai stood at the edge of the fray, nervously tracking the chaotic three-way clash between M3, Amiya, and Skullshatterer. Hearing his name called, he blinked and turned back. “Me? You’re the one with the big brain and the battlefield maps. What exactly am I supposed to pull out of my hat?”

“I mean you need to get up there and knock them all flying! You’re supposed to be our heavy hitter!” the Doctor yelled, simultaneously gesturing for a squad of Vanguard operators to plug a collapsing weak point in their formation.

“I can’t right now. And honestly, we don’t need to wipe them off the map. We just need to hold the line a little longer…” Kai’s voice trailed off. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the Doctor popping the cork off a familiar glass vial and downing the murky liquid in a single gulp. Kai’s eyes locked onto that small Sanity Potion. A sudden, restless heat began to stir deep within his chest.

“Hold on for what?” the Doctor asked, wiping a stray drop of the Originium-laced supplement from his visor.

Kai ignored the question entirely. “Do you have any more of that stuff? Hand one over.”

“Give you one? What for? You can’t even process this safely, can you?” The Doctor tilted his head, genuinely baffled. This was a high-concentration Originium Sanity supplement, custom-brewed by the Engineering Department specifically to keep his own unique physiology functioning during grueling campaigns. What could Kai possibly do with it?

“Never mind the details, just toss me a bottle.”

Seeing Kai’s deadpan insistence, the Doctor sighed, dug into his tactical pouch, and tossed over a spare vial.

Kai caught it and popped the cork. An indescribable, sharp metallic scent hit his nose. It smelled dangerous, yet strangely enticing. Unlike the Doctor’s reckless chugging, Kai tipped the vial, letting a single, viscous drop fall onto his palm. He stared at it for a second, then leaned down and gave it a tentative lick.

Back on the frontline, the clash between Amiya, M3, and Skullshatterer had escalated into a blistering exchange of Arts and explosives. Despite being surrounded by Reunion grunts, the Rhodes Island duo was dismantling the siege with methodical precision.

Without warning, Skullshatterer let out a guttural roar, his movements blurring as he pushed his body into a berserk frenzy. His speed and raw kinetic output spiked violently. A relentless barrage of explosive rounds shattered the ground beneath Amiya. Caught completely off guard by the sudden shockwave, the young Cautus was launched into the air.

‘Ah…’ Amiya panicked as gravity abandoned her. M3 instantly broke off her own engagement, pivoting to catch the falling girl.

But someone else beat her to it.

A blur of motion cut across the battlefield. Kai materialized beneath the arc of her fall, catching Amiya securely in his arms before setting her gently onto the scorched earth. Realizing she was completely unharmed, Amiya looked up, her eyes widening in pure delight. “Mr. Kai!”

“Leave the heavy lifting to me, Amiya. You and M3 go reinforce the flanks.” Kai raised the half-empty Sanity Potion and downed the rest of the bitter liquid. The moment it hit his stomach, that terrifying, familiar sensation violently ignited in his veins. It wasn’t quite as world-breaking as his stunt back in Chernobog, but it was more than enough to work with.

“Hah! Now I’m feeling motivated!” Kai cracked his neck, his fingers moving in a blur as he rapidly stacked multiple offensive Arts buffs over his own body. He leveled a single finger directly at Skullshatterer and the advancing horde. “Supreme Inaction, Ultimate Yang Flame Annihilation True Scripture.”

A short distance away, Skullshatterer froze, his brain momentarily short-circuiting at the sheer absurdity of the attack name. He only snapped back to his senses when a suffocating, apocalyptic wall of heat slammed into his armor.

“Fall back!” Skullshatterer roared, his voice cracking. The sheer scale of the Arts signature instantly jogged his memory. This was the anomaly. The exact man Talulah had explicitly warned the entire Reunion command structure to avoid at all costs.

He braced his boots against the melting asphalt, struggling against the blistering shockwave. Yet, as the seconds ticked by, confusion pierced his panic. The attack was devastating, but it lacked the absolute, crushing despair he had expected. If Talulah had unleashed a firestorm of this magnitude, he would have been reduced to ash in ten seconds flat. Clutching his bruised ribs, Skullshatterer gritted his teeth. Was it sheer luck? Or was this terrifying monster actually holding back?

On the other side of the inferno, Kai dropped his hand, suddenly feeling as though his stamina had been sucked through a vacuum. “What the hell? Is this trial version throttling my data?” he muttered bitterly. Chugging the Sanity Potion had provided a massive temporary spike in his Arts adaptability, but it was a far cry from the limitless, cheat-code power he had accidentally tapped into during the Chernobog escape.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.

“Hey! Got any more in that pouch? Toss me another one, this isn’t quite enough!” he hollered over his shoulder at the Doctor.

The Doctor didn’t reach for his pockets. Instead, his voice came through the comms, dead serious. “You cannot drink any more of that. Look at the skin on your right arm.”

Kai blinked, subconsciously glancing down while keeping the residual heat wave active. Tracing up his forearm were jagged, glowing golden lines, resembling fractured glass. It looked uncomfortably close to acute Originium crystallization. If the Doctor hadn’t called it out, the adrenaline would have completely masked the warning signs.

“Tch, fine.” Kai clicked his tongue and cleanly severed the mana supply to his spell. An area-of-effect attack of this caliber wasn’t going to lethally finish them off anyway, so it was better to conserve his remaining stamina. Besides, the tactical goal was already met. The enemy vanguard was completely demoralized and physically drained. He never intended to slaughter them all in the first place.

As the blinding heat finally dissipated, Skullshatterer yanked his boots free from the slagged, semi-molten street. The oppressive pressure had vanished. He scanned the perimeter. Just as he suspected, the vast majority of his shock troops were sprawled across the ground, groaning or completely unconscious, their chests rising and falling steadily. The handful still standing were shaking, their weapons drooping. Their fighting spirit was entirely broken.

‘Is this the true gap between us and a top-tier powerhouse?’ Deep, chilling apprehension settled in Skullshatterer’s chest. The man had absolutely pulled his punches. If he had intended to kill, employing the same ruthless efficiency as Talulah, this entire city block would be nothing but scorched bones and ash.

Skullshatterer staggered upright, leaning heavily on his launcher. He had zero intention of exploiting the ceasefire to launch a counterattack. His squad was broken. More, his earpiece crackled to life—his scouts confirmed that W’s side of the operation had already succeeded.

He didn’t understand why the Rhodes Island anomaly had spared their lives, but with their primary objective complete, a tactical retreat was the only logical play. He barked the order to withdraw.

The Reunion soldiers who could still walk scrambled to drag their unconscious comrades away from the frontline. As they retreated, they gave Kai an incredibly wide berth, treating him like a walking Catastrophe.

It painted an incredibly surreal picture across the ruined street. Kai and Skullshatterer stood facing each other from half a block away in total silence. The Reunion grunts scurried along the edges of the buildings like ants fleeing a flood, migrating entirely to one side of the road. Behind Kai, the Rhodes Island operators stood with their weapons lowered but ready, watching the enemy politely carry away their wounded. It was a bizarrely harmonious end to a brutal skirmish.

Once the bulk of his forces had cleared the kill zone, Skullshatterer took one last, deep look at the man standing amidst the cooling embers. He knew the truth. He was only walking away today because that man had allowed it. Without another word, he turned and followed his troops into the shadows of the ruined city.

“They are retreating, Mr. Kai.” Amiya trotted over, her ears twitching as she looked at Kai, who was still standing perfectly still in his imposing posture.

“Do me a favor and call M3 over for a second,” Kai said, his voice strangely tight.

“Miss M3? Of course, Mr. Kai.” Amiya didn’t question it, quickly waving over the tall woman who was currently triaging the lightly wounded operators.

“What is it, Kai?” M3 asked, crossing her arms as she approached.

“Well, um… could you stand next to me and let me lean on you? My legs feel like absolute jelly.” Kai’s voice dropped to a pathetic, reedy whisper.

“Huh? Then why call me over specifically? Can’t Amiya support you? I am actually very busy right now!” M3 huffed, her brow twitching with exasperation.

“No, absolutely not. I can’t ruin the incredibly cool, mysterious expert image I just built up in front of her. Please, M3, just be my crutch for a little while,” Kai pleaded through gritted teeth, not daring to move an inch.

M3 rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. “Alright, alright. Just wait a second, I need to go give the medics some final instructions first.”

“Please hurry. I’ll try to keep up this deep, untouched master act for a bit longer.”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.