Arknights: It Can't Possibly Be My Fault... Right? — Chapter 91

Chapter 91: He’s Targeting Me!

“Hello? Who is it? I’m a bit busy right now.” Kai tapped the answer button on his terminal, leaning back in his chair. Why was his phone ringing now of all times? He had been right on the verge of successfully convincing Amiya to take a break—or at least, he liked to think he was.

“This is Ch’en.” The crisp, unmistakable voice of the Lungmen Guard Department’s finest cut through the device’s tiny speaker.

Officer Ch’en? Shouldn’t she be drowning in paperwork and riot control right now? Kai raised an eyebrow. Under Amiya’s curious, wide-eyed gaze, he tapped the screen again, switching the call to speakerphone.

“Officer Ch’en… can I help you? What’s the occasion for a call at this hour?” Kai asked, keeping his tone light.

A muffled, chaotic scuffle echoed from the other end. It sounded exactly like a hand being clamped over a microphone, accompanied by the faint, unmistakable screech of a certain wealthy feline. Kai could practically see the struggle happening in the L.G.D. command vehicle.

After a few seconds of heavy breathing and rustling fabric, the terminal crackled. “Yes,” Ch’en said, her voice slightly strained. “We have something to ask you.”

Kai exchanged a knowing glance with Amiya. He reached up, scratching the back of his head. “Ah… I see. Sure, no problem. But, uh, is Officer Swire doing alright over there?”

Dead silence stretched over the line. When Ch’en finally spoke, her usual absolute certainty was nowhere to be found. “She’s… fine.”

Right. It was incredibly hard not to be suspicious when the L.G.D.’s strictest officer sounded like she was hiding a body. Still, Kai knew better than to pry into the domestic disputes of Lungmen’s top brass. It was entirely above his pay grade. “So, what’s on your mind?”

“It’s about Lin.”

“Oh?” Kai leaned forward slightly. “Lin Yuxia? You’ve spoken with her?”

“Yes. I’m not entirely sure if Rhodes Island has picked up on the movements of the Black Cloaks in the Slums, but they are currently mobilizing across various sectors of the district.” Ch’en was clearly trying to lay out the board, stepping carefully through the information.

Kai gave a slow nod. Noticed them? He had personally rearranged the faces of two of them just recently. But bragging about assaulting local mafia enforcers to the chief of police wasn’t exactly a pro-gamer move. “Mm. We’re aware of them.”

“Swire and I… intercepted one of them. We had a brief confrontation. Although the suspect managed to slip away in the chaos, we still extracted some highly useful intelligence,” Ch’en explained, measuring every syllable.

Kai let out a dry chuckle. “Let me guess. You two got suspicious of Lin Yuxia, gave her a ring, and she immediately deflected and threw my name into the mix. You found her story completely absurd, so you decided to call me and verify. Am I close?”

The communicator went dead silent. Clearly, Ch’en hadn’t anticipated him laying out their exact sequence of events with zero hesitation.

Then, the line exploded. The microphone was no longer covered. It sounded like the terminal had been violently snatched away.

“I told you we should have just interrogated him directly!” Swire’s voice blasted through the speaker, shrill and furious. “You just had to insist on beating around the bush and laying the groundwork! I don’t see you laying groundwork before you draw your sword!”

“I was simply trying to—”

“Alright, shut up, let me handle this!”

Kai stared at the terminal. Did the Lungmen Guard Department really not have the budget to issue them separate phones?

“Hello?! Hello?! Are you listening to me?!”

“Loud and clear, Officer Swire.” Kai casually slid the communicator a few inches further across the desk to save his eardrums. “You really don’t need to shout.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Swire cleared her throat, her tone shifting into a forced, haughty professionalism. “I was just arguing with this stupid dragon. Ahem. Now, I am going to ask you a question.”

Kai smirked. Time to play. “Yes, I have loved.”

“Loved… what? Wait, no! Not that!”

“Oh, my mistake. Then I’d save my mother.”

“Hey! What kind of absolute garbage are you spouting?! Not that either!”

“Uh… sorry, Officer Swire,” Kai said, his voice dripping with faux-tact and deep concern. “I just feel like, given our current professional relationship, it might be a little inappropriate for you to ask me the third question.”

“What?!” Swire shrieked, the audio peaking violently. “I just wanted to ask what the hell you did to that stinking rat! What kind of deranged answers are you giving me?!”

“Whoa, Officer Swire, let’s watch the phrasing,” Kai chided gently. “What do you mean, ‘what I did’ to Miss Lin? Isn’t she perfectly healthy right now? We just had a very casual, friendly chat.”

“Ugh, it’s the exact same thing! Just spit it out! What did you say to her that made her so incredibly cooperative?!” Swire sounded like she was tearing her own hair out.

Kai finally pieced it together. Lin Yuxia hadn’t cracked. She hadn’t confessed a single detail of their arrangement to the L.G.D. “Let me get this straight. You interrogated her, and she didn’t explain a single thing? Nothing about the plan, the movements, nothing?”

“No! That detestable, smug little sewer creature!” Swire snarled, her feline temper fully ignited. “If I get my hands on her, I am absolutely going to teach her a lesson!”

“Oh…” Kai dragged out the syllable, a knowing smile touching his lips. He then cleared his throat, shifting his tone to deadpan seriousness. “In that case, I can only offer you this piece of advice: do not investigate the Drainage System.”

“…Wait, you mean you want us to go into the Drainage System to find her?” Swire’s voice faltered, suddenly laced with genuine confusion.

“No. I am explicitly telling you, do not investigate the Drainage System.”

“Hmm… is this a guessing game?”

Kai reached out and tapped the screen. A sharp beep cut the connection, replacing the chaotic feline with a smooth, looping hold melody.

“Mr. Kai…” Amiya stared at the terminal, listening to the cheerful elevator music, and then looked up at him with a helpless smile. “Although it isn’t very polite to say, I get the distinct feeling that Officer Swire is screaming curses at you right now.”

She didn’t entirely understand why Kai had suddenly decided to relentlessly tease the L.G.D. superintendent, but she knew him well enough by now. He always had his reasons. She chose to trust his bizarre methods.

“It’s fine.” Kai waved a hand dismissively, completely unbothered. “This is simply the necessary toll one must pay for speaking in riddles.”

A few moments later, he tapped the screen again. The connection restored, and Ch’en’s voice returned. This time, there was a faint, unmistakable trace of amusement softening her usual edge. “My apologies. Miss Swire was feeling a bit… agitated just now.”

“Don’t you ‘Miss Swire’ me!” a furious voice screamed in the background.

Kai nodded sagely, speaking with the serene calm of a monk who hadn’t just intentionally provoked a tiger. “It is perfectly alright. I completely understand. After all, everyone in Lungmen is operating under an immense amount of pressure right now.”

“I’ll pressure your fing—”

“Ahem.” Ch’en coughed loudly, forcefully drowning out the string of profanities echoing behind her. She quickly steered the conversation back to business, her tone hardening. “So, to confirm: Lin and the missing residents are currently holed up in the Slums’ Drainage System?”

“Yes. Assuming nothing unexpected happens.” Kai nodded, dropping the playful act.

“…And if something unexpected does happen?” Ch’en asked, the silence stretching for a heavy second.

“If something goes wrong, we are all going to deeply regret it. So, Officer Ch’en, you don’t get to rest just yet,” Kai said, his voice carrying a quiet, sharp warning beneath the casual delivery.

“Understood. In that case, I know what needs to be done. We will accelerate the operations on our end.” Ch’en paused, the weight of the city resting in her next words. “At the same time… we are counting on everyone at Rhodes Island.”

The line clicked dead.

Back in the L.G.D. command vehicle, Swire slammed her hands onto the console, glaring at Ch’en. “Ch’en! He is deliberately targeting me! I know it! He absolutely made a backroom deal with that stinking rat just to annoy me!”

“Alright, alright, calm down.” Ch’en offered the frazzled tiger a rare, wry smile, patting her shoulder. “I’ll have a stern word with her on your behalf when the time comes.”

“Hmph. You better…” Seeing that Ch’en was actually taking her side for once, Swire’s bristling posture relaxed slightly. She crossed her arms, her tactical mind clicking back into gear. “So, what’s our next move?”

Ch’en fell silent, her gaze drifting toward the rain-streaked window. The usually uncompromising, fiercely direct Officer Ch’en was actually hesitating. “I am thinking… we could intentionally allow a small pocket of Reunion forces to slip through our net. We can use the momentum of pursuing them to justify moving our units deep into the Slums for a full-scale investigation.”

Swire frowned, her tail flicking in annoyance. “What’s the point of playing games? They are already moving people out in the open.”

“Because we need to project our strength into that sector immediately,” Ch’en replied, her eyes narrowing. “We cannot afford to gamble on whether an accident will happen. If the situation deteriorates, I need the Guard Department to be in a position to seize total control of the Slums within minutes.”

“Aren’t you afraid of the higher-ups dropping the hammer on you for overstepping?”

“Who exactly is going to stand up right now and publicly claim that this secret mafia force belongs to them? Hmm?” Ch’en scoffed softly. “Besides, Lin Yuxia is already operating outside the bounds of her own superiors’ orders.”

Swire stared at her partner for a long moment before letting out a sharp breath. “…True enough. Let’s do it, then. I’ll back your play. But what about Rhodes Island…?”

“They are bleeding for Lungmen just as much as we are,” Ch’en said quietly. “And they are fighting even harder to erase the divide between the Infected and the ordinary citizens. We cannot burden them with our political messes any longer.”

“Hmph. Fine. Always full of grand, sweeping principles, aren’t you?” Swire turned away, hiding a small smirk. “Then we’ll just have to clean up this mess ourselves.”

“As always.”