Arknights: Studying medicine can't save Terra

“If you just want an answer, I can tell you now.” Dario adjusted his gloves and stepped into the city streets. “After you get the answer, you must put aside your idle thoughts and focus wholeheartedly on completing our mission.”

But if you want the truth, you'll have to find it with your own eyes.

Elena opened her mouth, but ultimately remained silent, obediently following Dario's lead.

The master and his apprentice walked through this decaying city.

A strong, fishy stench filled Elena's nostrils. She was no stranger to it; the smell of proteins slowly rotting with the damp, salty seawater was an old friend to the people in the courtroom.

But Elena could see clearly that the city was clean in some ways.

Anything that could be put in a mouth and digested would have been eaten long ago by the emaciated people on the street; there was no way the city would allow food to rot slowly.

Where is this smell coming from?

Elena looked at the city's residents; their withered muscles seemed on the verge of collapsing, their sunken eye sockets filled with dull eyes almost swallowed by shadows. Even as the two walked past them, they failed to elicit any reaction.

The city is rotting, and its inhabitants are rotting.

Elena felt a wave of nausea.

Before Elena could suppress this feeling, she heard laughter coming from ahead.

“It’s Ms. Outcast?” Eleanor’s eyes widened. “How can she laugh in a place like this?”

“You’ve asked a lot of questions,” Dario admonished.

Elena quickly shut her mouth, hurried across the street corner, and arrived at the dilapidated little house from which the Outcast's laughter was coming.

“Anita, you are absolutely dazzling, little girl.”

Outcast's hearty laughter came from inside the door: "And your name, it's so much better than everyone else's in the city. It's my good fortune to have met you. Little wooden stool, don't grin at me, this is a bullet, I really can't give it to you."

Alini listened to the sounds coming from inside the house, clearly confused, and turned to ask her teacher for advice.

But while she hesitated, Dario had already pushed the door open and entered.

The atmosphere in the room paused for a moment because of Dario's sudden intrusion, but it quickly returned to normal, since the atmosphere was entirely driven by Outcast.

"Guys, you guys are way too slow."

Outcast teased a skinny little boy with half a bag of bread in his hand, then turned to Dario and nodded, "If you don't come soon, the little food I have with me won't last until the 100th high tide... Ouch!"

While he was talking, Outcast's bread was bitten off by a little boy named Wooden Stool.

The little boy's numb face even had a hint of ferocity as he took a bite without mercy, biting a gash into Outcast's finger.

"Madam, you're injured!"

A dark-haired girl who looked no more than ten years old next to Outcast looked nervous and hurriedly searched the room for strips of cloth that could be used for bandaging.

Dario silently observed the girl.

His first impression was that he was thin.

Although girls are naturally slender, this black-haired girl was so thin that she was almost sickly. Her slender arms had clearly defined muscles that seemed to cling tightly to her bones, with no fat at all.

Besides the girl, there were two adult men inside the house, both thin. However, compared to the girl's relatively lively reactions, these two were much like the pedestrians on the street outside. Even though Outcast was injured and he and Eleanor, two outsiders, had entered, it did not elicit much of a reaction from the two men.

Perhaps it was because the small house, which wasn't very big to begin with, was packed with so many people that the atmosphere inside became somewhat suffocating.

“Anita, you’d better hurry up.” Outcast seemed unaffected by the oppressive atmosphere, smiling brightly. “If you don’t come and help Grandma bandage up, my wound will heal itself.”

Black-haired girl: ?

She paused for a moment, unsure whether this was a urging or a simple joke.

After a brief moment of thought, the girl named Anita looked down at her tattered black dress.

She reached out and grabbed the hem of her skirt, trying to tear off a piece to bandage Outcast's injured finger, but she couldn't budge it no matter how hard she tried.

"Alright, you've been starving, where would you get the energy?"

Outcast got up and went over to stop Anita, then took a loaf of bread from his pouch: "Here, have this. It's Grandma's last bit of food."

“And what about you?” Anita didn’t answer. “There’s still some time before the next hundredth high tide.”

Outcast looked at Dario and his apprentice with a smile.

Dario remained unmoved, but Eleanor was clearly unable to bear it any longer and took out her own food to step forward.

But the moment the food in Elena's hand came into view, it was immediately locked onto by three pairs of eyes.

The two expressionless adult men inside the house, along with the little boy who was wolfing down half a loaf of bread, almost instinctively lunged at Elena.

For a moment, Elena had the illusion that she was surrounded by three mindless wild beasts.

The wooden chair brushed against Elena's hair, pulling down two gray feathers, before slamming into the three people who pounced on her.

The three screamed as the wooden chair collapsed to the ground.

"Teacher...?" Elena's mind was clearly not quite working properly.

"Kindness is a rare and good quality, but next time remember to show your strength first before giving away your ridiculous kindness."

After giving a curt reprimand, Dario ignored the three groaning on the ground and turned to Outcast: "Madam, let's end this pointless probing."

Chapter 957 Grandma: Little Qi Yan, do you want the little bird or not?

Anita timidly dragged her three companions to a corner of the room. After confirming that they only had minor injuries, she breathed a sigh of relief and then cautiously peered into the room at the man with some fear.

Outcast pulled over the only two wooden chairs left in the room and sat down opposite Dario at a table.

Elena glanced at the third wooden chair that her teacher had just smashed, then stood there with a pout, acting as a wooden stake.

"Your Honor..."

"Madam, just call me Dario."

“Alright, Dalio, I did want to test the Inquisition’s attitude toward Saltwind City.” Outcast crossed his legs, looking at the master and apprentice in front of him with amusement. “But the result surprised me. It seems that the current state of Saltwind City is intentionally orchestrated by the Inquisition.”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Dario told the court.

"So, there are many cities and settlements similar to Saltwind City in Iberia?"

"Madam, you are very clever."

"But my decision may not be considered very smart."

"You want to save these people?"

Outcast nodded readily.

Dario shook his head: "You can't save it. Even though Iberia is declining, its strength is still incomparable to that of Rhodes Island."

“Saving even one person is better than saving none,” Outcast said firmly.

Dario did not refute this.

After a moment of silence, he reminded him again, "Rhodes Island can't save them."

Outcast replied without hesitation:

"Rhodes Island only considers whether to rescue or not; the rest is never in Rhodes Island's operator operation manual... Besides, you're saying Rhodes Island can't rescue them?"

"They can't be saved."

A work ID was slapped on the table.

Outcast pointed to the Rhodes Island symbol above and asked, "Can this save them?"

Dario gave a wry smile and emphasized again, "We can save them, but we can't save them all."

Another pile of messy clutter was slapped onto the table.

Outcast pointed to the tokens given by representatives from various countries serving on Rhodes Island and asked, "Can these be saved?"

Dario's wry smile deepened: "They can be saved, but Iberia won't allow it."

Another document was slammed onto the table, covering all the other clutter.

Outcast pointed to the Rhodes Island recruitment contract and asked, "Now, is there any way to save it?"

Dario: "..."

He once again marveled at Outcast's cleverness.

The other party had long seen through Iberia's attitude towards Rhodes Island, and now as long as he nodded and accepted the recruitment contract, he could establish a cooperative relationship with Rhodes Island.

With Rhodes acting as a mediator and buffer, perhaps the nations could indeed re-establish contact with Iberia.

After a moment of internal struggle, Dario couldn't help but ask:

"Madam, can you really guarantee that once I sign the contract, I will receive such strong support from Rhodes Island?"

“You’ve misunderstood.” Outcast shook his head.

Seeing his confused look, Outcast pointed at Eleanor:

"I want to sign her."

Alene: "Huh?"

In Eleanor's speech, a statement worthy of being recorded in Liberian history as a standard template, Outcast explained:

"For the many countries in Terra to cooperate, it is essential that the Doctor personally drafts the plan to ensure success, and that Kal'tsit personally intervenes to receive feedback. But most importantly, a person of sufficient stature must step forward to initiate this cooperation."

And the only suitable candidate is Qi Yan, so if Iberia wants to succeed, it must please Qi Yan.

Dario's expression was strange.

This sounds like they're suggesting they marry off their little bird.

Or rather... sacrificed?

“…I must refuse.” Dario shook his head regretfully.

Even setting aside Iberia's stance and pride, he simply couldn't get over the fact that his young apprentice had been sacrificed.

"Are you misunderstanding something?" Outcast chuckled. "We're just sending this little bird to speak nicely to Qi Yan as one of our own. Little Qi Yan is easily swayed and will unconditionally protect his own people. More importantly... Rhodes Island needs a reason to intervene, doesn't it?"

Dario fell into deep thought again.

This time he thought for a long time, but Outcast was in no hurry and waited patiently for Dalio to give a response.

Five minutes passed before Dario spoke again:

"What are you going to do?"

“At the World Summit, Qi Yan certainly won’t miss such a lively event.” Outcast looked at Elena with a smile. “Little Bird, you go and find Qi Yan, and then explain your purpose frankly. He will make the decision that best follows his heart.”

As he spoke, Outcast handed over the recruitment contract.

Elena instinctively caught the contract, then, a beat later, remembered to look at her teacher.

Dalio pursed his lips, then nodded and said:

"You go and try it first. I'll communicate with Mr. Carmen about things in Iberia."

"I'm going right now!"

Elena turned to leave.

"Wait a moment!"

Outcast called out to the restless little bird, "Anyway, Iberia and Lateran are adjacent, they'll be gone in the blink of an eye. Let's deal with the problem at hand first."

“What else are you planning to do?” Dario asked.

"There's a tough nut to crack in Saltwind City, and I need your help."

"Don't rush, wait for the tide to bring them to us."

Two cars were parked in front of a valley on the border of Yan Kingdom.

One is an off-road vehicle, and the other is an off-road vehicle with a somewhat pitiful appearance.

"Sister Qiu Bai, I'm leaving Xiao Shi in your care for now. You must come to Rhodes Island to visit me in the future!"

Qi Yan reluctantly bid farewell to Qiu Bai.

"decide as things go."

Qiu Bai subconsciously looked away.

She was still hesitant about visiting Rhodes Island, fearing that if she went, she might never be able to leave again.