Arknights: Studying medicine can't save Terra

The poet turned his head in horror and found that a Sarkaz had thrown his weapon at him.

"Let's talk this out. I'm not here to talk to you."

The poet twisted his waist again to dodge the flying long knife, and for the second time, his lumbar vertebrae made a crisp sound of dislocation.

A seductive murmur escaped the poet's throat, and half of his body went numb from the exertion.

"What kind of situation is this? Haven't the Sarkaz all submitted to Qi Yan?"

No one answered the poet's question.

Those Sarkaz don't like to chatter during battles; once they decide to fight, their only goal is to kill the enemy.

Seeing that his words couldn't distract Sarkaz, the poet gritted his teeth, turned around, and threw out a large amount of paper scraps:

"Behold my hidden weapon!"

The Sarkaz pursuers were on high alert and quickly dodged the flying confetti.

But they soon discovered that the scraps of paper were just tumbling around and had no real danger.

"Damn it, how dare you play us!"

The strongest Sarkaz, the leader, was enraged and roared as he charged at the poet with his weapon.

Faced with the Sarkaz unleashing their inner power, the poet once again tossed something out.

The poet was initially delighted when a real hidden weapon pierced Sarkaz's body, but then he became bewildered again.

The pain of the hidden weapon piercing his body did not deter Sarkaz; instead, it fueled his ferocity. He swung his longsword wildly, slashing at the poet's vital points.

"That's why I really don't like fighting with you brutes."

The poet gave a wry smile, drew his dagger, and precisely blocked the Sarkaz's attack.

A terrifying force traveled from the dagger into the poet's arm, almost causing his wrist to go numb. However, the poet also managed to use this force to retreat faster.

"I advise you to stop chasing me. My hidden weapon is poisoned. Continuing to fight will only cause the poison to attack your heart, and even a god couldn't save you."

The poet deftly sheathed the dagger and spoke up to remind the Sarkaz.

Of course, the effect would have been even better if he hadn't been leaning to one side and supporting his lumbar spine with his hands when he said that.

The other Sarkaz looked at their captain with some concern upon hearing this.

"You think you can just stop chasing me just because I don't want to?" the Sarkaz squad leader roared. "Cut him down!"

"*Victorian greetings*!"

The poet uttered a beautiful phrase in dialect, then quickly turned and continued his escape.

The two sides engaged in a life-or-death chase in the dimly lit underground parking lot, with one in front and one behind.

During his escape, the poet not only straightened his lumbar spine but also continued to think.

“These Sarkaz are clearly not aligned with Rhodes Island, which means they are the Theresis faction's… hostages in a trade!”

A flash of inspiration struck the poet, and he guessed the other person's true identity.

Then he couldn't help but break down again:

"What kind of nonsense is this? I'm not here to investigate your love-hate relationship; I'm just here to find someone."

The bitterness rising in his heart almost burst forth from the poet's lips in beautiful dialect.

With astonishing willpower, he forced back the greeting that was about to come out of his mouth and darted up to another corridor in the underground parking lot.

As the poet climbed the stairs in the corridor, he gradually left the Sarkaz behind him.

Hearing only two footsteps behind him, the poet breathed a sigh of relief and climbed to the rooftop in one go.

The sunlight fell on the poet again, and the cool breeze made him unconsciously take a deep breath, but before he could exhale, the situation before him choked him.

My mood, which had just brightened, instantly turned from sunny to cloudy.

"You Sarkaz are really crazy! This is a building more than ten stories high. Don't tell me you climbed up from the outside without any protection!"

The poet pointed at the two Sarkaz who jumped up from the edge of the rooftop and loudly condemned their dangerous behavior.

"Since you care about us so much, then you might as well just die, you Kast agent."

The two Sarkaz men had menacing eyes, and the blades of their knives gleamed blindingly in the sunlight.

The poet wanted to back away, but found that the footsteps that had just left behind were approaching again in the corridor.

"I really am. We've kept to ourselves, so why do you all want to kill me the moment we meet?" The poet was starting to lose his composure. "I'm warning you, I'm now one of Qi Yan's men!"

One of the Sarkaz sneered: "You think we'd believe your nonsense?"

The Sarkaz and the nobles are inherently enemies; do we need a reason to kill members of the nobility?

"I really can't explain it to you."

The poet clicked his tongue, turned and rushed to the side, heading straight for the edge of the rooftop.

Without the slightest hesitation, he jumped onto the edge of the rooftop and leaped off the ten-story building.

The two Sarkaz who were blocking his way were startled and rushed over, but could only watch as the poet's body flew away toward the edge of the plot.

"You call us crazy? You, who jumped off a building without any protection, are even crazier than us!"

"Never mind him for now. The important thing is whether our whereabouts will be exposed."

His companion worriedly said, "We haven't figured out the airship's status yet. If Rhodes Island wants to take all the spoils in this situation, we'll be powerless to resist."

"We have no choice but to split into two groups. One group will stall for time until the Duke's troops arrive and the Norbert district is in complete chaos before we can proceed with the transaction. The other group will go and make contact with the airship."

"That's all we can do. The only thing to be thankful for is that the doctor from Rhodes Island isn't here."

The two Sarkaz finalized their plan and, without lingering on the rooftop, quickly rejoined their companions to begin a new operation.

On the other side, the poet used a hook to hang on a building, swinging back and forth on the ground to dissipate the inertia of his fall, and finally crashed in a sorry state in front of an abandoned building.

His poor lumbar spine let out another creak of strain.

"I'm really unlucky. How could I run into a bunch of unreasonable Sarkaz?"

The poet groaned as he realised his dislocated lumbar vertebrae, then looked at the building in front of him and walked over to rest there.

Filled with resentment, he didn't notice that behind a window on the upper part of the building he was approaching, several pairs of eyes were watching him warily.

Why are Castor's henchmen here?

"Perhaps we've been exposed. Let's just kill him and then move on immediately."

Chapter 684 The fox pretends to be the tiger's power

The building has been abandoned.

It's not because the Norbert district is separated from the main city of Londinium, but because it was originally located in a remote area and had already been abandoned by the Norbert district long ago.

The building, neglected for years, was covered in dust. Only half of the door remained, hanging on the frame and swaying noisily in the wind.

The poet limped to the pillar in the lobby on the first floor of the building, and without caring about the dust, sat down against the pillar.

"Oh dear, what did I do to deserve this?"

The poet stared blankly at the ceiling, where a half-broken chandelier gave him the illusion of sharing a similar fate.

Although his lumbar spine has been repositioned, it still aches slightly, and each time it hurts, it causes numbness on half of his body.

"That Dr. Kal'tsit is very skilled; perhaps I can go back and ask her for help."

As the poet recovered his strength, his thoughts continued to race: "And that nurse in the nurse's uniform, Felin, she must be up to something. And those Sarkaz, I'll report them all to Qi Yan when I get back."

Hmm... something seems off.

During his contemplation, the poet suddenly noticed some details that he had just overlooked.

"Qi Yan told me to investigate freely... so after I started investigating, I began to run into obstacles everywhere... Could all of this have been part of Qi Yan's plan?!"

The moment this thought popped into the poet's head, he broke out in a cold sweat.

Reason told him that this situation could not be explained by calculation, since everything that happened was based on the unexpected.

"But that's Qi Yan..."

The poet felt he could hardly breathe: "If it were Qi Yan, such a calculated operation, like the workings of fate, might not be impossible."

But why would Qi Yan target someone as insignificant as me, a mere intelligence agent?

No matter how hard the poet thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

A soft sound suddenly came from behind the poet, interrupting his thoughts.

The poet, who was already on edge, quickly stood up and looked warily in the direction from which the sound came.

The sound appeared again.

An empty aluminum can rolled on the ground, making a series of sounds.

"What? You scared me!"

The poet breathed a sigh of relief, looked away, and prepared to sit down again.

Turning around, he saw the blade already at his feet.

The poet suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

That knife was right at my head... Damn it, how many times has this happened now!

The poet cursed inwardly, ducked, and narrowly avoided the sneak attack.

But his beloved top hat was not spared this time; the brim was slashed by the sharp blade, and a corner was torn off on the spot.

The already eye-catching hat became even more bizarre.

"You... Deep Pool?!"

The poet separated himself from his attacker, and after seeing the attacker's attire, his forehead was filled with question marks.

Seeing that his attack had missed, the attacker was not in a hurry to pursue. He also cautiously took a few steps back, not daring to underestimate the intelligence agent from Castle in front of him.

The poet took a breath, clenched his teeth slightly, and carefully examined the other person's features to see if they matched with the information in his mind.

Wearing a distinctive Deep Pool uniform paired with a large cloak, he stood tall and imposing, with short, wine-red hair and a face bearing a scar that, instead of detracting from his beauty, only accentuated his resolute and steely nature.

The poet quickly ascertained the identity of the man before him:

"Shinchi, Colonel, Senior Officer of Shinchi, Captain of the Red Iron Guard."

In my memory, we weren't enemies with any deep-seated hatred, were we? Why did they want to kill me the moment we met?

"It seems Mr. Grey Hat is quite good at playing dumb."

The officer said coldly, "There's no such thing as a leisurely chat between Deeppool and Castle. Everyone who lands in Norbert District at this time is simply after the deal that Qi Yan broadcasted."

Since we are competitors, wouldn't it be better for me to eliminate you before the competition even begins?

Wasn't that the same thought that led you to our hiding place?

The poet abruptly stopped himself from uttering the beautiful greeting that was on the tip of his tongue.

He had already noticed that all his escape routes were blocked by the people of Deeppool.

This group isn't like the Sarkaz; they've definitely devised more than one battle plan before making their move, aiming to eliminate the enemy with lightning speed.

“I think there must be some misunderstanding here,” the poet explained in a deep voice. “Perhaps my companions scattered throughout the nursing home want to try to make a deal with Qi Yan, but I am not included.”

In fact, I've become someone operating on the fringes of Kester's power, and now I'm working for Qi Yan.

Upon hearing this, the officer frowned deeply.

The poet pressed his advantage, continuing to use Qi Yan's words as leverage to criticize his opponent:

"My appearance here was just an accident. I was helping Qi Yan investigate a woman named Felin, but unfortunately I had a misunderstanding with another group of Sarkaz and was chased here."

If you want to complete this deal amicably with Qi Yan, I advise you to calm down.

This series of moves indeed made the officer even more hesitant.

Everyone on this land knows that Qi Yan is protective of his own. Once someone is acknowledged by him, anyone who dares to touch him will die.

"...If what you say is true, then lay down your weapons and surrender. I won't lay a finger on you," the officer said coldly.

"Do you think that's possible?"