Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Scared the Cat to Death

Lungmen Guard Department.

Heavy combat boots splashed through the shallow puddles accumulating in the plaza. Ch’en led an elite tactical squad of the Guard Department, cutting a swift and silent path straight into the towering LGD headquarters that had recently fallen into the hands of the Reunion Movement.

“Madam Ch’en… something isn’t right.” An LGD officer slowed his pace, gripping his riot shield tight as he approached her side. He scanned the eerily quiet atrium. “We breached the main lobby without triggering a single alarm. Isn’t this a bit too easy?”

Ch’en remained silent, her grip tightening on the hilt of her sword. She was acutely aware of the bizarre lack of resistance. Intelligence had reported hundreds of Reunion insurgents entrenched within the perimeter. Her squad had been fully prepared to launch a bloody, desperate frontal assault if their stealth infiltration failed. Yet, the enemies they had encountered so far were wandering the corridors like sleepwalkers, completely oblivious to the armed operators slipping right past them.

“And look at their condition,” the officer whispered, gesturing toward a slumped Reunion caster in the distance. “Their armor is shredded beyond recognition, and their mental state… they look completely broken. Unstable.”

Ch’en lowered her head, her mind racing through the tactical possibilities. A trap? A third party?

“Regardless of what happened here, we proceed according to the original plan,” Ch’en ordered, her voice a low, authoritative command that left no room for hesitation. “Sweep the floors and map out their distribution. Restart the security systems we bypassed earlier, one sector at a time.”

“Understood.”

As her subordinates fanned out into the darkened corridors, a shadow of unease settled over Ch’en’s features. The eerie silence of the occupied building gnawed at her instincts. It felt as though a much deeper, far more dangerous conspiracy was waiting for them in the shadows.

Meanwhile, safely within the armored hull of Rhodes Island, a gentle rain had begun to fall against the exterior plating.

Inside Kai’s bedroom, the rhythmic pitter-patter of water droplets echoed softly. Beneath a thick, warm quilt, M3 shifted. Her eyebrows knit together in a sleepy frown.

“Mm… is it raining?” she mumbled, her voice thick with sleep. She squirmed against the mattress for a few more minutes, relishing the lingering warmth, before finally struggling to sit up and stretching her arms high above her head.

Blinking away the grogginess, she glanced toward the window across the room. The heavy curtains were drawn tight, allowing only a thin, pale sliver of daylight to filter through the gap and paint a line across the floor.

“Ya~wn…” M3 let out a massive yawn, tossing the quilt aside. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, fully intending to march over and yank the curtains open to check the weather.

Halfway through the motion, her entire body froze solid.

Like a bucket of ice water to the face, a horrifying realization crashed into her waking mind. Her assigned quarters were located deep within the inner residential blocks of the Rhodes Island landship. Where would a window come from?

Her neck snapped to the side. Sitting innocently on the bedside table was a bizarrely shaped, glowing nightlight featuring a cartoonish dragon with stubby horns and a thick tail. She definitely didn’t own anything like that.

A memory suddenly surfaced, playing out vividly in her mind:

( “M3, look! Isn’t this little thing cute? I specifically asked Closure to custom-make it. There are twelve different zodiac styles in total!” )

( “Roar??” )

“Crap, crap, crap!” M3 chanted in a panicked whisper, violently shaking her head to banish the embarrassing memory from before her awakening.

Scrambling across the mattress, she used the faint glow of the dragon nightlight to hunt down the main switch behind the headboard. Click.

Harsh, bright electric light flooded the room. M3’s heart leaped into her throat. The neat desk, the familiar jacket draped over the chair, the specific scent lingering in the air…

How is this actually Kai’s bedroom?!

Operating on pure instinct, she dove backward, shrinking beneath the heavy quilt until only the top half of her head peeked out. She darted her eyes around the room, scanning for any sign of life.

“Kai? Are you there?” she called out, her voice barely a squeak.

Silence.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity and confirming that the room was entirely empty, she slowly slithered out from under the covers, exhaling a massive breath of relief. She slumped against the headboard, pressing a hand over her racing heart while using the other to slap her own cheeks to wake herself up.

She needed to process this. Why was she sleeping in Kai’s bed?

M3 scrunched up her face, forcing her brain to rewind the previous evening. First, she had gone to buy those romance books… then she read them… then she marched out of the cafeteria to track down Kai… and then she had blurted out a bunch of messy, embarrassing nonsense… and then… she fell asleep?

And now she was awake, fully tucked into his bed, with a custom nightlight left on for her, and Kai was nowhere to be found.

Oh, my dear heavens. The sequence of events painted a painfully clear picture.

The thought of Kai sitting there, watching her fall asleep mid-rant, gently carrying her to his bed, tucking her in, and then specifically setting up that stupid little dragon light so she wouldn’t wake up in the dark…

Whoosh.

M3 ducked entirely under the quilt again, curling into a tight ball.

When she finally poked her head back out several minutes later—whether from a lack of oxygen or sheer embarrassment—her face was burning a brilliant, beet red.

Despite the overwhelming urge to spontaneously combust, a strange realization dawned on her. That heavy, suffocating gloom that had been weighing down her chest for days was completely gone. Could it be that the advice in those ridiculous books actually worked?!

Curiosity getting the better of her, she reached out and picked up one of the offending novels from the bedside table, debating whether she should take advantage of the quiet room to read another chapter.

Knock, knock, knock~

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” a cheerful voice called from the corridor.

M3 jumped so violently she nearly dropped the book. Why is someone here right now?!

She stared at the heavy metal door in absolute terror, then looked down at her disheveled state. Wait, is the door locked? What if they just walk in? What if they see me in his bed?!

The light of rationality practically vanished from her eyes as she sat frozen, staring at the fragile barrier separating her from total social ruin.

But the Goddess of Luck was apparently smiling upon her today. The person outside didn’t try the handle. Perhaps Kai had locked it from the outside when he left, or maybe the visitor was just doing a routine check. Either way, the sound of retreating footsteps gradually faded down the hall.

She was safe. For now.

Thump… thump… M3 clutched the quilt to her chest, her heart hammering against her ribs like a war drum. She strained her ears, listening for any lingering sounds outside.

Nothing.

I can’t stay here another second! M3 made an executive decision. If she had to endure another scare like that, she was going to die of cardiac arrest.

Throwing the covers aside, she scrambled out of bed, shoved her feet into her shoes, threw on her coat, and snatched up the culprit romance novels. It was time for a tactical retreat.

She pressed her ear against the metal door. Silence. Gently, she eased the handle down and cracked the door open, peeking left and right down the sterile Rhodes Island corridor.

Clear. She gave herself a firm nod of approval.

Just as she prepared to slip out and make a mad dash for her own quarters, her foot bumped against something sitting on the floor right outside the doorway.

“What is…?”

M3 blinked, looking down. It was a pristine, insulated bento box. She carefully picked it up, noting the familiar logo of Cafeteria No. 4. It was a premium meat steak rice set, and the bottom of the container was still radiating fresh heat. It had just been dropped off.

She threw a suspicious glare down the empty hallway, searching for any sign of an ambush. Seeing nothing but empty space, she realized her escape plan was compromised. She couldn’t just leave the food sitting there.

Retreating back into the bedroom, she dragged the bento inside and aggressively locked the door behind her, clicking the deadbolt three separate times for good measure.

Sitting back on the edge of the mattress, M3 placed the bento next to the dragon nightlight. The person who knocked earlier must have been the delivery runner. But she certainly hadn’t ordered it, and she didn’t even have her terminal on her. Which meant, without a doubt, Kai had ordered it for her.

She scratched her cheek, staring at the sleek container. Her stomach gave a quiet, treacherous rumble. The savory aroma of grilled steak and rich sauce was already leaking through the lid.

Just as she was debating whether to devour the evidence, a flash of white caught her eye. A small, folded note was lying on the floor near the foot of the nightstand.

Kai kept his room carefully clean, so it definitely wasn’t trash. She must have knocked it off the table while thrashing around under the covers earlier. Hesitating for only a second, M3 leaned over and scooped it up.

“By the time you see this note, I’ve already headed out to Lungmen with Amiya and the others to back up the LGD. You were sleeping so soundly that I didn’t have the heart to wake you. Don’t worry about us; we’ll be back before you know it.

P.S. If you’re hungry when you wake up, check outside the door. I ordered a meal for you—all your favorite side dishes. If it’s not there yet, just give it a few minutes.”

At the very bottom of the page, there was a terrible, hastily scribbled chibi drawing of Kai’s face flashing a peace sign.

M3 stared at the paper in total silence.

“Tch…” A small, uncontrollable smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She reached out and poked the smug little chibi face on the paper. “Idiot. That takeout you ordered almost scared me to death.”

Grumbling softly to herself to mask the warmth blooming in her chest, she set the note aside and pulled the bento onto her lap. She popped the lid open, a cloud of fragrant steam rising into the air.

Just as he promised, it was packed to the brim with every single one of her favorite foods.