Arknights: Studying medicine can't save Terra

"If nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected is about to happen."

Chen explained with a wry smile, "Miss Nian's personality complements Qi Yan's perfectly. If we were to translate that into Rhodes Island, it would be like Qi Yan and Warfarin getting together again."

If I wasn't worried about Miss Xi's safety before, I'm changing my mind now. I urge Miss Xi to hurry and escape with Uncle Taihe.

Chapter 824 When the Director Meets the Screenwriter

The Rat King felt he wasn't in good shape.

He remembered the last time he got carsick was the last time.

He was even a little unsure whether his current condition should be considered motion sickness or airsickness.

Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to tell Nian to slow down, since Nian was worried about her sister and was eager to get going.

"The Gray Mountain Range is just ahead."

The Rat King strained to open his eyes in the wind, and after seeing the state of the Gray Qi Mountains, he breathed a slight sigh of relief: "It seems that Qi Yan and Xi did not fight."

“Yes,” Nian said regretfully.

Why did he detect the regret in his tone?

Before the Rat King could think further, a dark sword light suddenly flashed across the Gray Qi Mountains.

"Watch out!" the Rat King exclaimed in alarm.

"It's not an attack, it's a means of entering the painting."

Without dodging or flinching, he drove his chariot headlong into the dark sword light.

The Rat King felt a blur before his eyes, and the scene shifted, placing him in an unfamiliar place.

It was an ancient village built against the mountainside, with houses scattered about and streets crisscrossing, and the bright sun shining down on the fertile fields outside the village...

The Rat King paused, surveying its surroundings, before slowly returning its gaze to the sky. Looking at the nine hastily drawn suns surrounding a single, exquisitely painted sun in the center of the sky, it couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"This...this is!"

Suddenly, Nian let out a slightly trembling voice, braving the scorching heat of ten suns, and drove his chariot across the sky.

The chaotic scene below was clearly visible to the Rat King and Nian.

A giant fleeing in disarray, a group of townspeople dressed in ancient costumes but wielding submachine guns, and a large number of stick figures acting as a mood-setter.

The Rat King could clearly feel Nian's body begin to tremble.

"Miss Nian, please don't be nervous, this is Qi Yan's prank." The Rat King recognized the true nature of the stick figures and spoke up to reassure the person beside him.

"You're saying all of these were written by that Qi Yan?" Nian asked urgently.

"Yes, but please don't..."

Before the Rat King could finish speaking, his chariot made a sharp turn and headed straight for the town.

In the blink of an eye, the Rat King spotted Qi Yan in the town.

He, along with his sister and another man, formed a triangle, cornering a young woman named Pelosi against a wall.

In front of Miss Perot, there was a handsome young man who still looked quite young.

As the chariot landed, Nian jumped off and rushed forward. With some inexplicable sense, he immediately locked onto Qi Yan, one of the five.

Nian opened her mouth as if to ask something, but the moment her eyes met Qi Yan's, she felt that she didn't need to say anything at all.

Nian's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Seeing that Nian was so frightened that he could barely speak and his body was trembling even more, the Rat King couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

Look, despite being so terrified of Qi Yan, he's willing to bear unspeakable psychological pressure to face Qi Yan because he's worried about his sister's safety.

Just as the Rat King was about to step forward to mediate the situation, Qi Yan and Nian rushed at each other at the same time.

The two men's movements occurred without warning, leaving Qi Lin and the Rat King no time to react. They could only watch helplessly as the two men's bodies intertwined.

The Rat King instinctively wanted to make a move, but as soon as he raised his cane, he was stunned by the situation before him and stood there dumbfounded.

"I've finally met you, Director!"

"Qi Yan, don't say anything more. From now on, you'll be my go-to screenwriter!"

Qi Yan and Nian hugged each other tightly, patting each other's backs repeatedly, their eyes glistening with tears.

Qi Lin narrowed her golden eyes, stepped forward, grabbed Qi Yan by the back of his collar, and separated the two.

Qi Yan raised his hand to wipe away the tears that streamed down his face from the pain in his back, and said with emotion:

"I knew that my talent would one day be appreciated by Director Nian."

Director Nian, do you know? I've watched your film "The Family of Hai Si" ten times. It's because of your inspiration that I've come this far, and that everything in this story came to life!

"No need to say anything more, Qi Yan." Nian wiped away the tears of emotion from the corners of her eyes. "I understand, I understand everything!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them couldn't help but open their arms again, wanting to hug each other.

Unfortunately, Qi Lin gently tugged at Qi Yan and pulled him aside.

She glanced sideways and said with a blank expression, "Don't forget the important matter you just mentioned."

"Oh right, I got a little excited."

Reminded, Qi Yan's excited emotions finally calmed down a bit: "Director Nian, please wait here for a while. I still have some things to ask Zuo Le."

"It's alright, for you, I can wait until the seas dry up and the rocks crumble!" Nian solemnly made his promise.

Qi Yan clenched his fist and pounded his chest, then nodded firmly to Nian.

He then looked back at Zuo Le and continued his questioning, which had been interrupted earlier:

"Why are you here?"

"Of course, it's for you." Zuo Le said solemnly, "Qi Yan, Uncle Lin took on tremendous pressure so that you could enter the territory of Yan Kingdom."

But you didn't keep your promise to meet Uncle Lin and have him lead you within Yan Kingdom's territory. Do you know how many people this has stirred up?

Qi Yan looked at the Rat King: "What price have you paid?"

"As long as you don't cause trouble, they're all just empty promises."

The Rat King, however, was quite frank, quickly accepting the speed at which Nian and Qi Yan had established their friendship, and then looked at Zuo Le with the same puzzlement:

"According to my intelligence, Young Master Zuo should be in Shangshu at the moment, accompanied by Taihe, dealing with some troublesome matters."

Even if Qi Yan's disappearance is a serious matter, it shouldn't be enough to make Young Master Zuo abandon things there, right?

Zuo Le answered honestly:

"It was the Grand Tutor who personally wrote to me instructing me to change the mission."

"Wait, Shang Shu?"

Qi Yan interrupted the two, saying, "Don't tell me it's about the wine cup."

"How did you find out?!" Zuo Le exclaimed in shock. "Logically speaking, only the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice should know about this. The rest are people who got involved... Could it be that man surnamed Li from Longmen who told you?"

Qi Yan was also surprised: "It really is 'Drinking Song'?"

The Rat King was equally surprised, not because he was surprised that Qi Yan knew about this information, but because of Qi Yan's attitude at this moment.

Based on his understanding of Qi Yan, this guy always seemed to have a premonition, arranging things in advance or being in position early to wait for things to unfold.

But what was happening in Shang Shu at that moment was clearly beyond Qi Yan's expectations.

"Why is everything happening ahead of schedule?" Qi Yan frowned in thought.

The Rat King didn't interrupt Qi Yan's thoughts, but simply mentioned it softly:

"I know a little about the cause of the Shang Shu incident. It was mainly because when you left Longmen, you said that you would often go back, which scared Wei Yanwu."

Coincidentally, Wei Yanwu knew that the strange wine cup had ended up in Longmen. He initially didn't want to get involved, turning a blind eye to what others were doing, but...

To prevent you from launching a surprise attack, he directly intervened, arranging for someone from the Carp Detective Agency to make prior contact with Jiu Zhan and establish connections in Yan Kingdom, successfully getting Jiu Zhan into Shang Shu.

After hearing the Rat King's explanation, Qi Yan suddenly realized, "So it was my own fault?"

But then he shook his head: "No, the two people behind the wine cup won't let this trivial matter affect their plans."

It seems someone is inviting me to join in.

Chapter 825 Qi Yan: What is the color of the second son's underwear...?

"Did the Grand Tutor also support my entry into Yan Kingdom?"

Qi Yan asked the Rat King.

The Rat King shook his head: "He neither supported nor opposed it."

"That's right."

Qi Yan smiled: "The national champion Xiang Ru is dead?"

"Has the Grand Tutor already met with the Second Prince?"

"Did the second son escape from prison?"

"Can't say."

"Isn't that already been said?"

Qi Yan stroked his chin and sighed, "It seems that the trip to Shangshu is already imminent."

Zuo Le looked at the Rat King in disbelief, not understanding why he would expose all of Yan Kingdom's internal secrets to Qi Yan all at once.

Noticing Zuo Le's gaze, the Rat King chuckled and said:

"Young Master Zuo, did I really inform Qi Yan of this information?"

"Didn't you say that to my face?" Zuo Le frowned.

"The national champion Xiang Ru died in prison from exhaustion, the Grand Tutor personally went to prison to interrogate Wang, and Wang's escape from prison—these are not things I mentioned."

The Rat King's main tactic was to deny everything: "I only answered the results of these matters, but Qi Yan already knows the matters themselves. I believe that his inquiry was not to seek answers, but to speculate on the extent to which the confrontation between Wang and the Grand Tutor had progressed."

"Doesn't this still expose Yan's secrets?" Zuo Le asked, puzzled.

"You might as well interpret this as me trying to win Qi Yan over to the Grand Tutor's side," the Rat King said with a smile, even a hint of cunning in it.

Zuo Le became increasingly confused.

Seeing this, the Rat King, with a hint of mentoring a junior, explained:

"Before escaping from prison, Wang left behind an unfinished game with only one black stone placed at the center, making his meaning very clear."

“Uncle Lin, please speak,” Zuo Le asked respectfully.

"What I mean is... you bastard, come and kill me if you dare!" The Rat King cursed with a grin.

Zuo Le: "..."

"Faced with the endgame left by Wang, Taifu chose to play white as the second move and accept Wang's challenge."

The Rat King's tone became somewhat wistful: "The two of them used this world as a chessboard and all living beings as chess pieces. Now, Shangshu is the first place where the Grand Tutor and Wang clash."

Qi Yan then pointed out that the situation in Shang Shu had clearly changed, and the hand controlling everything behind the scenes must be Wang, and Qi Yan was also part of Wang's scheme.

"Do you think I should be honest with Qi Yan and let him go to Shang Shu fully prepared, so that Wang can experience what it's like to have a chessboard flipped over and smeared in his face?"

Zuo Le was dumbfounded. He never dreamed that the Rat King and Qi Yan's few words of question and answer would involve so much intrigue and backstabbing.

He stared blankly at Qi Yan, only to find that the latter was also listening and nodding with an "I see" expression.

Qi Yan coughed twice and said seriously, "Don't say anything about flipping the chessboard and smearing faces, that's vulgar!"

Now I'm also joining Director Nian in pursuing my dreams in the art world; I want elegance, not violence.

"So what are you planning to do?" the Rat King asked with some interest.

Qi Yan glanced at Nian, who was admiring his masterpiece to the side, and a slight smile appeared on his lips:

"Let the second son and the Grand Tutor fight however they want; I only need to do one thing."

Listen carefully, I'm about to open the box for the second son of the Sui family.

The Rat King's expression turned serious, and he quickly signaled Zuo Le to prepare pen and ink to write down Qi Yan's next words.