Arknights: Studying medicine can't save Terra

Taihe leaned against the doorframe of the inn, arms crossed, leisurely watching the people inside.

It was already late at night, and because of what had happened during the day, there were no customers staying at the inn. After discussing it with Chen, Wuyou immediately put the staff off duty and put up a sign outside the door saying it was closed.

Afterwards, with nothing else to do, Wu You began tidying up the room, meticulously helping Qi Yan organize the inn.

Chen sat behind the counter, idly flipping through the inn's ledger, speculating how long Qi Yan could keep the inn afloat before it went bankrupt.

Not far from her, two Qi Lins were sitting facing each other, each looking at the other with curious eyes.

Xi, who had already designed the clothes for Qi Lin, still couldn't sit still. She sat in a corner of the inn, spreading out a scroll and casually painting the night view of Shangshu outside the window.

Zuo Le stayed by Xi's side meticulously, never forgetting his duty as the Si Sui Tai.

Taihe, standing at the door, looked at everyone, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled up slightly.

He couldn't remember the last time he experienced this feeling of relaxation.

In the workplace, everyone must remain extremely vigilant. A single sentence should be broken down into two parts, leaving one half unsaid. Before making a decision, one should consider all possible escape routes.

The people on Rhodes Island, however, do not seem to have this problem.

Taihe finally understood one thing: Chen Gan's big argument and even physical fight with Qi Yan was not because Chen was so strong, nor because Chen had any leverage over Qi Yan.

It was purely a relationship between the two of them, not a purely professional one. In other words, they were friends, fellow travelers who came together for a common goal, and there was never any distinction between superior and subordinate.

Taihe had a premonition that this strange phenomenon was likely a common occurrence on Rhodes Island.

"I'm actually starting to feel a little tempted." Taihe chuckled self-deprecatingly, then turned to continue admiring the night view of Shangshu.

"Oh my, oh my? What's making your heart flutter?"

A familiar teasing voice rang out from outside the door, and Nian, sporting an afro, descended from the sky, her eyes full of curiosity, and asked, "Have you finally blossomed like an iron tree? Or are you planning to take advantage of a young girl?"

Taihe was taken aback: "Miss Nian, what's wrong with you...?"

Nian chuckled and scratched his static-filled hair, explaining:

"I got a few shocks, it's nothing serious."

"Is it Master Bai Tian?"

"That old man can't hurt me."

Nian offered a brief explanation, then glanced at Xi, who was elegantly painting inside the room, with an unfriendly look. He immediately strode over and slapped Xi's unfinished painting.

A perfectly beautiful night scene of Shangshu was suddenly marred by a glaring handprint.

Xi looked up at her sister expressionlessly and calmly said:

"It's Qi Yan who won't take you with him, so why are you throwing a tantrum at me?"

"You can only blame yourself for not having a specific skill that allowed you to take on this fashion design job."

“These are all negotiable.” Nian smiled menacingly. “But my dear sister, what did you mean by drawing that sky full of thunder before Qi Yan took you away?”

The old man had been knocked down by Qi Yan's blow, leaving him only with the strength to send out the message. Then you unleashed a torrent of lightning, not only trapping me but also giving the old man a massive energy boost!

Xi couldn't control her facial expression, and the corners of her mouth turned up on the spot:

"After all, Qi Yan accidentally injured someone. Is it a problem for me to leave a painting to help Master Bai Tian comprehend thunder magic as compensation?"

Nian was so angry his mouth almost twisted into a crook. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted:

"Qi Yan hurt someone, why should you compensate him? When did you two become so close?"

As soon as she finished speaking, many eyes in the room focused on her, and two of Qi Lin's even stood up subconsciously.

Xi's breath hitched, and she quickly changed the subject:

"How did you escape from Bai Tianshi's clutches?"

"Escape? What escape?" Nian asked, bewildered. "Who told you I successfully escaped?"

The people in the room were stunned by the man's unreasonable yet confident answer.

Taihe, who was standing at the door, was about to step forward to ask for clarification when he suddenly felt a terrifying aura descend from the sky.

Taihe turned around in shock and looked up at the night sky.

In the pitch-black night, a flash of blue lightning appeared, and the next moment, rolling thunder, like a vast swamp, instantly spread to half the sky.

At this moment, Shang Shu seemed to have returned to daytime.

"Master Bai Tian, ​​no!"

Taihe roared in terror, trying to stop the heavenly lightning from falling.

Otherwise, if the battlefield were to shift to Shangshu City, no one could estimate how many civilians and buildings would be affected. Once the imperial court investigates, all officials within Shangshu would have their official robes stripped away.

But the thunder and lightning did not subside in the slightest despite Taihe's reminder.

An old man stepped out from the thunder and landed on the street in front of the inn.

The moment he landed, Taihe felt a tingling, electric-like sensation coursing through his entire body.

"Master Baitian, how come you... how come you also..." Taihe's shock was suppressed by the old man's appearance before her, "How come you look just like Miss Nian?"

The old man, sporting the same explosive hairstyle as Nian, looked grim. He ignored Taihe in front of him, glared and stormed into the inn, surrounding Xi with Nian on the left and right.

Under Xi's incredulous gaze, Nian smiled smugly:

"I'm sorry, my dear sister, I've betrayed you!"

Chapter 844 Sleepwalking Jiang Feng

Guest room at Liang Mansion.

Old Li, holding a cup of strong tea, sat alone at the table, deep in thought.

He was really tired.

After spending a long day on Master Shen's boat, she finally got ashore, but before she could even have a few sips of tea, Qi Yan scared her so much that she started to run for her life. In the end, she couldn't escape her fate and was locked in the same room with Qi Yan, where she was subjected to crazy harassment.

Old Li could still bear the physical torment and exhaustion, but the psychological trauma caused by watching Liang Xun and Ning Ciqiu flaunt their affection in front of him during dinner at the inn that night made him feel that life was not worth living.

It hurts, it hurts too much!

Old Li tilted his head back and drank the strong tea in his cup in one gulp. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether the bitterness in his mouth came from the tea or from the sorrow in his heart.

"Ugh! I can't sleep."

Old Carp shook his somewhat heavy head, not forgetting Qi Yan's instructions.

He could only use the image of his brother's wonderful life to stimulate his fragile nerves and keep himself energized during these long nights.

But then he fell into depression.

"I can endure it for a few days without sleeping, but where am I supposed to find the mountain Qi Yan mentioned?"

Old Carp took out the box from his bosom, but dared not open it easily. He just stared at the patterns on the box and frowned frequently.

"I have heard that Rhodes Island had an operator codenamed Mountain during Operation Victoria, but you can't exactly tell me to run to Rhodes Island to get reinforcements, can you?"

As he talked, Old Carp himself started to laugh.

He shook his head again, placed the box on the table, and reached for the teapot in front of him:

"Shangshu has three mountains and seventeen peaks. If I climb them one by one, when will I ever find the right one..."

Well, at least Qi Yan's reminder was better than Liang's... it just lacked some details... like, taking a nap?

Old Li's hand, which was gripping the teapot, suddenly stopped.

He clearly hadn't intended to say those last words, but his mouth inexplicably lost control, and even spoke with a hint of teasing and joking.

It was as if another person was speaking those words through his mouth.

Old Carp felt a chill envelop him.

He suddenly jolted awake, realizing something was wrong.

The chill that enveloped me did not come from mental oppression, but from the fact that the surrounding temperature was actually dropping.

Old Carp quickly turned his head to look around, then froze in place in terror.

The once warm house was gone, and all that remained before him was a vast, desolate snowscape.

The wooden tables and chairs in front of him had been replaced by stone benches and tables built in the mountains. The box he had carried all the way was gone, and only the pot of strong tea he had brewed for himself remained, quietly placed on the stone table, with a faint white mist swirling around the spout.

Old Carp took a deep breath.

The icy air filled his lungs, making his chest ache.

"Something still happened."

Old Carp cautiously looked around a few times, confirming that he had indeed arrived in the mountains.

He stood up, turned his head and glanced at the boardwalk not far away. The stone used for the steps was obviously quite old, covered with traces of wind, snow and the erosion of time.

"Heh, so be it. Since there's no way to resist, I might as well give up and enjoy it."

Old Carp made a self-deprecating remark, shrugged, put his hands in his pockets, and started walking up the stone steps.

Looking around, all that could be seen were black and white: white snow and black mountains.

The mountain wasn't originally a pure black, but under the misty white snow, the soil and withered branches, which weren't originally black, all turned into varying shades of black.

"I've heard that in dreams, people can't distinguish colors; they only see black and white. So I'm dreaming."

Old Li muttered to himself, trying to find some solace, as if this would help alleviate his inner confusion and tension.

But as soon as he finished speaking, a bluish-gray stone tablet appeared before him.

"...grab Jiang Feng."

Old Li looked at the words on the stone tablet. For some reason, even though he knew it was his first time here, he felt a strange sense of familiarity with the name.

Forcibly suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, Lao Li frowned and continued walking along the plank road towards the top of the mountain.

At this moment, he also became determined, wanting to see what fate awaited him ahead.

"Qi Yan has already made it clear that he's going to protect me. I don't believe that a mere fragment like you can snatch someone away from Qi Yan!"

The old carp threatened the air as it spoke to itself, its pace quickening.

As the terrain slowed down, he finally began to vaguely see the mountaintop and the pavilion that was faintly visible in the snowy landscape.

There was someone inside the pavilion, waving at him.

Old Carp gritted his teeth and continued forward, his feet making a series of crunching sounds in the snow, becoming the only sound in the mountains.

When he finally finished walking the last stretch of road and arrived at the pavilion, he found that there was no one there.

"What's going on?" Old Carp mustered his courage and called out, "Hey, are you still there?"

A woman's reply rang in Old Carp's ears, but he still couldn't see her.

"Where is this?" Old Carp asked again.

"The end of the journey, in other words, is the summit."

"What are you doing bringing me here?"

"You've rebelled. You're the one who sent me."

Old Carp felt a moment of confusion, and then he heard himself speak:

"Yes, I sent you. I wanted to catch up with you."

"Want to play a game?"

"No, there's no suspense, so it's not fun."

"Oh, you look down on me so much?"

The woman let out a soft laugh, which echoed in Old Carp's ears, but he still couldn't see her.

Old Carp wanted to speak, but found himself becoming a bystander.

Someone spoke through him, saying, "I've come here to give you a small gift. This is a pair, one black and one white. You can choose one, and I'll keep the other for myself."

The woman made a nasal sound, as if she was hesitating about something.

Before the woman could make a choice, Old Carp spoke again:

"You figured it out. This isn't surprising. I can fool others, but I can't fool you."