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ArabicArknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 33
Chapter 33: Ch’en’s Dilemma
“Mr. Kai, what were you and W just talking about?” Amiya asked, her long ears twitching with curiosity. If her memory served her right, this was only their second time meeting. Why had the mercenary been acting so agitated just a moment ago?
Kai reached out, casually ruffling Amiya’s soft hair. “Nothing much. Just sharing some deep reflections on life.”
Amiya let out a soft “oh” and fell silent, her brow furrowing slightly as if trying to piece together a puzzle.
Noticing her intense expression, Kai leaned in. “What’s wrong? Are you that curious?”
“Um… not really,” Amiya murmured, glancing up at him. “I just had this feeling that you were talking about something related to me.”
“Is that so? Well, you guessed right.” Kai smiled, his tone shifting into a teasing lilt as if coaxing a child. “I was just debating with W about who the cutest girl in the room is. We both came to the obvious conclusion that it’s Amiya.”
Heat rushed to Amiya’s cheeks, painting them a bright crimson. She stamped her foot, caught between embarrassment and a hint of bashful anger. “Mr. Kai! I’m not a child anymore!”
Watching this cheerful, domestic scene unfold from the shadows, W curled her lip in disgust. This man really knows exactly what to say to manipulate the right person, she thought bitterly. He had just been bluffing and threatening her moments ago, and now he was effortlessly playing the doting older brother. Absolutely sickening.
Still, W had to admit that the little Cautus wasn’t bad. It made sense why Her Highness had taken such a keen interest in her. W still retained some fond memories of this little rabbit trailing after Theresa back in the day.
As for M3… W’s crimson eyes shifted toward the quiet figure nearby. Hmph. Wearing a face that looks exactly like that old woman’s… it’s irritating just to look at her.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. We’re back.”
Hoshiguma’s hearty, booming voice echoed from the doorway. The instant the sound hit the air, W vanished from the room, melting into the shadows without a single sound. A second later, Hoshiguma stepped inside, followed by a remarkably quiet Ch’en.
“Was there some movement in here just now?” Hoshiguma scratched the back of her head, her green eyes scanning the room in confusion. “Did someone else drop by?”
“No, it’s just been us. Weren’t you two standing guard at the door? We didn’t see anyone come in,” Kai answered smoothly, not missing a beat. He shot Amiya a subtle glance, silently warning her to watch her words.
Amiya caught the hint and nodded in agreement. Skullshatterer remained completely silent in the corner; W was technically on his side to begin with, so he had no reason to expose her.
“Oh… I see.” Hoshiguma didn’t press the issue, taking Kai’s word for it. “Old Ch’en and I just had a quick talk and received a new set of orders. Lungmen urgently needs our main forces back in the city. So, the task of keeping an eye on these Reunion Movement members will have to be handed over to Rhodes Island. Is that alright with you?”
Nearby, M3 was crouched on the ground, boredly counting loose pebbles. Kai and Amiya exchanged a quick look.
“Of course,” Amiya stepped forward, her tone shifting into her professional, authoritative register. “Rhodes Island can dispatch personnel to take over their supervision immediately. I believe Mr. Skullshatterer will be willing to cooperate with us as well.”
“Listen to you, little rabbit, sounding all official. Haha! Then we’ll leave this mess in your capable hands.” Hoshiguma grinned, teasing the young leader before turning her attention back to the transmigrator. “Also, there’s one more thing. Kai, are you free right now?”
Kai pointed a thumb at his own chest. “Me?”
“Yeah. Old Ch’en… she has something she wants to talk to you about.” Hoshiguma placed a heavy hand on Ch’en’s back and gently pushed the silent Lungmen officer to the front of the group.
A few minutes earlier, just before W had slipped into the room.
Hoshiguma had led Ch’en out of the safehouse, the cool air doing little to ease the heavy atmosphere between them. “Old Ch’en, what is wrong with you? It’s just seeing… you-know-who. Is there really any need to look this despondent?”
Ch’en stared at the ground, the silence stretching on for a long time before she finally spoke. “They said Little Tal was possessed.”
“Wait, there’s such a thing?” Hoshiguma blinked, genuinely surprised. She hadn’t been privy to the details of that specific conversation yet.
“Yes.” Ch’en nodded, her fists clenching at her sides.
“Uh… so you’re blaming yourself?” Hoshiguma asked tentatively, trying to read her partner’s rigid posture.
“Blaming myself? No. Why would I blame myself?” Ch’en asked, though her voice lacked its usual sharp edge. “I just… I started thinking about some things.”
Two people born from the exact same background. Both of them Infected. Yet Talulah was out there leading their suffering compatriots, raising the bloody flag of resistance, while Ch’en relied on Wei Yenwu’s political cover. She held a high-ranking, prestigious position in Lungmen, masquerading as a ‘normal person’ while acting as the very executioner her own kind despised.
She had always told herself that she was doing this for justice. That by working from the inside, she could save more people from suffering. But hearing the truth about Talulah made her realize something she had ignored from the very beginning: by enforcing Lungmen’s harsh laws, she was also one of the culprits actively causing that suffering.
She had spent years convincing herself that Little Tal had simply been forced onto a dark path. She believed that as long as she could find her sister, defeat her, and drag her back home, everything would magically return to the right track.
“Alright, Old Ch’en. I don’t know exactly what dark, sad thoughts are running through that head of yours, but standing out here being depressed isn’t going to solve the problem.” Hoshiguma slapped Ch’en on the back, the heavy impact forcing the Lung to stumble forward a step. “Straighten your back. Hold your head high. That’s the Superintendent Ch’en I know.”
Ch’en let out a shaky breath.
“If I’m guessing right, this is all about that possession business with Talulah, isn’t it?” Hoshiguma asked softly.
Ch’en finally looked up. “I didn’t know Little Tal had been controlled this whole time. I spent so many nights wondering why she would become such a cold, heartless monster.” Her voice cracked, revealing a deep, uncharacteristic insecurity. “I want to help her. But I don’t know what to do…”
“Sigh. Is that it? It’s fine, Old Ch’en, we’ll all help you figure it out. Look at those guests from Rhodes Island—they’re all good people. Especially that Kai guy. He seems incredibly strong and knows things he shouldn’t. At worst, just go talk to him. Maybe he’ll be willing to lend you a hand.”
Hearing Kai’s name, Ch’en recalled the sheer, terrifying decisiveness he had displayed earlier. If only she could be that resolute, she wouldn’t be standing here drowning in her own regrets.
“Sigh… you have a point. Maybe I should talk to him.” Ch’en rubbed her temples, leaving Hoshiguma staring at her in mild shock. The Oni hadn’t seen Ch’en look this thoroughly defeated in eight hundred years.
Suddenly, Ch’en’s eyes narrowed, her hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of her sword. “Who is it?!” she snapped, glaring at the shadows near the building.
Hoshiguma immediately went on alert, scanning the perimeter, but saw absolutely nothing. “Old Ch’en, are you getting a bit paranoid? How about you go get some rest?”
“Maybe… but now is not the time to rest, we—”
Ring! Ring!
The sharp trill of a secure communicator cut through the tension. It was a direct line from the Lungmen Guard Department headquarters.
Ch’en checked the caller ID, showed the screen to Hoshiguma with a grimace, and tapped the receiver. Instantly, a highly spirited, aristocratic female voice blasted from the speaker.
“You Rice Roll Dragon! Where the hell are you?! You took so many elite squads out of the city and you still haven’t come back! Don’t you know Lungmen is critically short-handed right now?!”
Ch’en winced, forced to hold the device several inches away from her ear. “Stop shouting, my young lady,” she replied helplessly. “First, calm down and tell me what happened to Lungmen. And stop calling me Rice Roll Dragon, you Char Siu Cat!”
“Ha?! You actually don’t know? Are your frontline scouts all completely useless? If you don’t get your tail back here soon, Lungmen is going to be entirely flooded by the Reunion Movement!”
“What?!” Ch’en’s posture instantly snapped back to her usual rigid authority. “I’ll finish up here and bring the squads back immediately. Can you hold the line?”
“Oh, no need to be that urgent. They haven’t actually arrived yet,” the Feline voice on the other end replied, her tone dripping with a smug, teasing smile.
“…Char Siu Cat, you just wait until I get back,” Ch’en growled fiercely.
“Oh my, this young lady is so scared. Then why don’t you hurry back and do something about it! Are you really going to wait until Lungmen is burning before returning? That’s it, hanging up.”
The line went dead with a sharp click.
“Old Ch’en? So what’s the plan?” Hoshiguma asked, crossing her arms.
Ch’en sighed, the heavy burden of command settling back onto her shoulders. “For that spoiled rich girl to actually call me at a time like this, things must already be incredibly thorny. Let’s hurry up and finish the handover here, then take the squads back to Lungmen immediately.”
“But what about the Reunion Movement members inside?”
“I say, Old Ch’en, you don’t actually want to stay and interrogate them one by one, do you?” Hoshiguma asked.
“What? No, of course not. They’ve already been removed from Reunion’s ranks. Setting aside whether they’d even think about going back after being abandoned by Little… by Talulah, that Skullshatterer guy already can’t possibly coexist peacefully with the current Reunion leader.”
“Then why not just leave them to Rhodes Island? And what about that Infected girl named Misha? I didn’t see her inside,” Hoshiguma pointed out.
Ch’en looked down at her communicator, her thumb hovering over the screen as she processed the tactical data. After a moment, she nodded. “Then… we leave them to Rhodes Island. As for Misha, let her be. Regardless of whether she actually knows any classified information, it’s completely useless to us now anyway. Look at this.”
She handed the glowing screen to Hoshiguma.
“What is it?” Hoshiguma leaned in, her green eyes narrowing as she read the freshly decrypted intelligence briefing.
The main text was a nightmare scenario. The central core of Chernobog had been fully activated and was currently charting a direct collision course toward Lungmen., a massive mobile landmass that had separated from Chernobog early in the incident was moving alongside it—a sector that Lungmen intelligence strongly suspected to be the Reunion Movement’s mobile command center.
[Rhodes’s Note: “Rice Roll Dragon” and “Char Siu Cat” are derogatory but affectionate nicknames Ch’en and Swire use for each other, referencing their respective races (Lung/Feline) and popular Cantonese dishes.]