Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Secrets and SugarYou'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.

A heavy silence fell between the two of them, causing the very air in the office to stagnate. Whether it was a trick of the senses or not, Kai caught a faint, lingering scent drifting across the desk—a crisp blend of sharp ink and bitter coffee. It was unmistakably Kal’tsit.

Beside her, the crystalline monstrosity let out a puzzled, low rumble.

“I am Kai, an ordinary operator of Rhodes Island,” he finally replied, having weighed his words carefully.

Kal’tsit raised a slender eyebrow, clearly not expecting such a deflection. “And before that?”

“Before that, I was also Kai.” He offered a casual, almost roguish shrug, leaning back in his chair.

Kal’tsit didn’t get angry, nor did she press the issue. Instead, she pivoted back to her previous line of questioning. “The bloodline of the Cyclops?”

This time, Kai gave a definitive, unwavering denial. “No. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I have no relation to the Sarkaz Cyclops.”

Another stretch of silence followed. Mon3tr shifted its massive weight, its jagged head swiveling back and forth between the two of them in visible confusion.

Kal’tsit picked up her mug and took a slow sip of the long-cold coffee. “But you seem to know a great deal. It is almost as if you possess precognition.”

For a fleeting second, Kai genuinely wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted to lay all his cards on the table. But he held back. Thanks to his agonizing reflections the previous night, he understood the harsh reality of Terra. Spouting the truth about being a transmigrator wouldn’t just be dismissed as clinical insanity—it ran the very real risk of drawing the attention of the terrifying, god-like existences lurking in the background of the original plot.

Thus, he chose his words with surgical precision. “I do know a lot, but it can’t exactly be called precognition. At the same time, I need to make one thing perfectly clear: I hold no hostility toward Rhodes Island. In fact, I care about this place deeply. As for the exact reasons why… I can’t state them explicitly just yet.”

“‘Explicitly’?” Kal’tsit’s ears twitched slightly, her sharp mind immediately snagging on his deliberate phrasing.

After a moment’s thought, Kai decided to borrow a metaphor from the original lore to give her a hint. “Imagine a vast forest where two nearly identical saplings grow along completely different paths. Sometimes, one tree might cast a malicious shadow over the other for no apparent reason. But ultimately, that means nothing—after all, a tree is just a tree. However, somewhere in that same forest, there exists a Lumberjack. He swings his axe diligently, completely indifferent to the nature of the trees he fells.”

Kal’tsit’s expression gradually turned solemn. Her fingers subconsciously tightened around her weathered fountain pen. “Who exactly are you?” she asked again, though the weight behind the question had entirely shifted.

Kai merely gave her a deep, unreadable look. Kal’tsit interpreted this silence as a calculated signal for discretion. In reality, Kai was just sitting there wondering why she was asking the exact same question twice.

“Did you come for the Doctor?” Kal’tsit spoke again, breaking into his thoughts.

Kai blinked, genuinely surprised. “Why do you ask that?”

Kal’tsit fiddled with the pen in her hand; the plastic casing creaked under the pressure. “Just an educated guess. The secrets you carry far exceed my initial expectations. I find it incredibly hard to imagine what purpose someone who knows so many hidden truths would have for contacting Rhodes Island. By process of elimination, I can only assume your presence is related to that person.”

“No, or at least not entirely,” Kai answered frankly.

Perhaps in his previous life, sitting behind a glowing screen, he had played the role of the Doctor. He was certainly interested in the current Doctor resting within Rhodes Island. But right now, in this breathing world, he was Kai. He had long since made up his mind to rely on his own two hands to rewrite the tragic endings of this deeply imperfect story.

Hearing his answer, Kal’tsit fell into deep thought once more. The silence washed over the room like a rising tide, thick and suffocating.

“One last question,” Kal’tsit finally said.

“Why are there so many questions?” Kai fired back with an easy smile. It wasn’t that he refused to answer; he just needed to inject a buffer into the conversation. The atmosphere had grown far too grim.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten that you personally told me to ask, and promised you would answer everything.” Kal’tsit drained the last dregs of the coffee. The intense bitterness spreading across her tongue made her frown slightly, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

Watching the usually stoic woman scrunch her face like a disgruntled kitten, Kai couldn’t help but chuckle internally. ‘I see this old cat still has her charm.’

“Did I say that? I don’t remember.” Kai leaned over. “Mon3tr, do you remember?”

Mon3tr let out a soft, questioning noise. “Ow?”

“Why are you so… toward Mon3tr?” Kal’tsit struggled to find the right word to describe the bizarre dynamic playing out in front of her.

“Is that your last question?” Kai asked playfully. He reached out and patted Mon3tr’s jagged, armored head. The terrifying summon practically melted into the touch, letting out a low, comfortable purr. It could sense the genuine kindness radiating from the young man, and through their innate connection, it transmitted that warmth directly to Kal’tsit.

Kal’tsit looked at him with a deeply strange expression. “Of course not. It is just that most people are, to varying degrees, terrified of Mon3tr. Yet you show zero resistance to her presence, and you even treat her as a separate, sentient individual.”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.

“Is she not?” Kai countered smoothly. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. The two of you are still maintaining the Dual-cycle System, so you are essentially one entity, right?”

A flash of raw, unfiltered shock flickered through Kal’tsit’s beautiful, emerald eyes—eyes that usually remained entirely devoid of emotion. “How much more do you know?”

Kai rubbed his chin, a teasing glint in his eye. “A lot more than you can possibly imagine.”

They stared at each other across the desk. Kal’tsit narrowed her eyes, trying to dissect his gaze and unearth the secrets buried within, which only succeeded in making Kai feel a bit self-conscious under the intense scrutiny.

The ancient Feline, who had lived through countless eras and tragedies, finally let out a long, slow sigh. “One last question,” she said, her usually crisp tone now carrying a heavy hint of fatigue.

“That’s already several ‘last questions’ today,” Kai teased. Seeing the subtle twitch in Kal’tsit’s brow that warned she was about to lose her temper, he quickly cut to the chase. “I have no relation to Priestess.”

Snap.

The weathered fountain pen finally met its destined end, breaking cleanly in two between her fingers. Ink spilled across her knuckles.

“Is this also your precognition?” Kal’tsit asked, completely ignoring the broken plastic and the mess on her hand.

“I told you, I don’t have precognition. This is just… well, forget it. You can think of it that way if it makes you comfortable, but not this time. This time, I just guessed,” Kai said, his tone softening.

When Kal’tsit didn’t respond, remaining frozen in her chair, Kai clapped his hands on his knees. “Finished interrogating me? Can I be released without charge now?”

Kal’tsit raised an eyebrow, instantly slipping back into her clinical, Riddle-maker persona. “Your freedom was never restricted. No one at Rhodes Island possesses the authority to limit your personal liberty without you having committed a punishable fault. The purpose of this meeting was never to convict you.”

Seeing her retreat behind her usual wall of formal logic, Kai felt a wave of relief. He had passed the test.

“Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now~” Kai stood up and stretched. He took a few steps toward the door before remembering something. Turning back, he dug into his pocket, pulled out a few brightly wrapped candies, and tossed them onto the desk.

Kal’tsit looked down at the colorful wrappers in bewilderment. “This is?”

“Candy. It tastes a hell of a lot better than that sludge you drink. You clearly don’t even like the bitter stuff,” Kai pointed out.

“Sensory enjoyment is not a necessity. Coffee helps me—”

“Just eat it,” Kai interrupted, stepping right back into her personal space. “It’s delicious. I went through a lot of trouble tricking Ceobe out of her stash for these.”

He peeled the wrapper off a bright red candy and boldly held it right up to Kal’tsit’s lips.

Kal’tsit’s brow furrowed deeper than it had all afternoon. “I do not think—”

The moment she parted her lips to object, Kai leaned forward and smoothly popped the sweet into her mouth.

Mon3tr tilted its head. “Ow?”

At that exact second, the heavy oak door to the meeting room was pushed open. A cute, brown-haired Cautus stepped inside, clutching a stack of documents. “Dr. Kal’tsit, I’ve just finished organizing the meeting minutes—”

Amiya froze.

From her angle at the door, she saw Kai leaning intimately over the desk, his hand hovering mere inches from Kal’tsit’s face, while the usually untouchable doctor sat there with slightly parted lips and wide eyes.

“Ah! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt you!”

Amiya’s face flushed crimson. She threw the folder up to cover her eyes, spun on her heel, and bolted down the hallway, slamming the door shut in one fluid, panicked motion.

Crunch.

In the suffocating silence that followed, the sharp sound of hard candy being aggressively bitten in half echoed through the room.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.