Chapter 131: Is He Full of It?!

Chapter 131: Blacknight: Is He Full of It?!

‘You two seem to be having a pleasant chat.”Just how pleasant? So pleasant that Red took the initiative to share his most private assets with you—his DPS!”Just as expected, he is a Guard-class operator who deals Burn damage, locks his health for three seconds when he drops below half, and is a two-hundred-thousand-damage hyper-carry whose Attack and skill cycling speed double!”He is an extra-large-cup Guard. Xianyu is saved!’

Sitting across the small cafe table, Red did not understand why the atmosphere seemed to inexplicably warm up the moment he finished explaining his combat style. The dull, oppressive rhythm of the control freak tapping his fingers against the tabletop had finally stopped.

Red finally dared to lift his head a fraction of an inch to steal a glance at this Commander, a man whose mere voice was enough to jolt him awake in a cold sweat during his midnight nightmares.

Unlike the morbidly gloomy, fanged monster Red had built up in his imagination, this control freak who habitually hid beneath a heavy hood possessed a highly deceptive face.

The first thing anyone would subconsciously associate him with upon seeing those features would be a scholar, a quiet astronomer, or a good-natured poet. He looked clean, gentle, and utterly refined.

He certainly did not look like a perverted control freak or a ruthless psychopath.

After fiercely despising the evil hooded man in his heart for being a hypocrite, superficial, and rotten to the absolute core, Red honestly lowered his head again. He did not dare to voice a single one of those opinions.

“Doctor, what do you need me to do?”

Look at that. This is what a true, well-behaved employee who knows his place looks like. He was nothing like a certain Liberator who spent half the day sharpening his blade before sluggishly starting to hack at people, and whose very first action upon boarding the landship was to ask, “Doctor, who did you assign my dormitory to?”

Who knew that after so many years, someone would still be squatting in that specific dorm room!

“No rush.” You took a slow sip of your hot chocolate, turning your gaze to the bright, sunlit weather outside the cafe window. “First, tell me what the situation is like in Victoria right now.”

Do you remember why you were imprisoned in Columbia in the first place?

At the time, you had brought Duq’arael along. Relying entirely on the Sanguinarch’s ability to change shape and your own meta-knowledge of the plot, you had brazenly stolen the Sighs of Kings. The legendary Victorian sword was currently sitting safely hidden beneath towering stacks of Ifrit’s unfinished test papers.

You did not feel it was a particularly big deal, so you had not bothered to mention it to anyone else.

Even if the sword were discovered one day, you could confidently tell Kal’tsit that you had hidden it there a long time ago, smoothly dragging the little fire dragon—who absolutely had not touched that pile of homework anyway—down with you.

Red pondered inwardly. ‘Is he testing how long I stayed in Victoria, or is he testing my understanding of the potential crisis? Or could my subjective statement expose some hidden secret I am not aware of?’The deep-thinking hooded man at this exact moment:’Saved another bit of LMD on buying newspapers today, hehe!’

Red cautiously recalled what he had seen and heard in Victoria over the past few weeks.

“These days… Londinium has fully fallen into the hands of those Sarkaz. The grand dukes have blocked most of the news from leaking out, so I do not know how much the situation has truly intensified. There is also a militant group calling themselves Dublinn staging violent uprisings within Victoria, setting fires and killing people everywhere.”

Red paused, thinking hard. “If I had to say there was anything truly unusual… the Catastrophes have been forming much more frequently lately.”

It seems the operation back then really did not leave any traceable clues. You breathed a very slight sigh of relief.

You had used a localized earthquake to cover up the massive commotion from dealing with the Steam Knight. Then, you had forced the little Feline, Goldenglow, to cosplay as a white-stockinged beauty to commit massive corporate fraud, before intentionally fleeing to Columbia. You used that massive fraud case to completely muddy the waters and block the sight of anyone watching from the shadows.

With your vast experience as the Doctor, dealing with Theresis would now be a piece of cake. Once you took back Londinium, the capital of Victoria, and had Siege standing on your left hand and Talulah on your right, who would ever dare to disobey your orders?

Then you would surely bring a beautiful, utopian future to Victoria where everyone gets an engineering hammer. You would especially reward the top operators with two Burning Hammers each!

Wait, why are you thinking about the Stationary Security Service protocol again?

Just then, a Feline with light-brown hair hurriedly pushed open the cafe door. She looked around the room with quick, darting eyes, then turned back, looking disappointed and ready to leave. As she passed by your table, she accidentally bumped hard into your chair, causing your chocolate milk to spill all over your coat.

“I am so sorry, I am so sorry, sir. I will compensate you…”

The petite Feline girl bowed repeatedly, her face full of absolute panic. She cautiously glanced at your coat, which looked incredibly expensive, and swallowed hard.

“It is just that I cannot afford it right now. Can I pay you back a little bit at a time? I promise I will pay it back!”

You took a closer look at her face. Was this not Blacknight?

Was Blacknight’s personality really like this? You did not have much of an impression of her early lore.

While quickly racking your brain, you gently told her it was completely fine and watched her leave with a flawless, forgiving smile. After all, she definitely lived in this city. The monk can run, but the temple cannot. You needed to get Red sorted out first.

For a moment, you just could not recall what her operator files actually said.

The Feline girl was full of overwhelming gratitude, looking back over her shoulder every few steps as she left the door, walking away with quick, small steps. You also began to deeply ponder what Blacknight’s persona was in the archives.

Nearby, Goldenglow retreated step by step, cautiously trying to get further and further away from your table.

She was just about to save up enough LMD to buy her own little shop and finally have a home of her own in this city. If she were suddenly snatched up like a wild animal by this terrifying person who forgot to turn off his auto-loot function and taken away as a pet pig, she would not even have a place to cry.

‘Manager Quercus, when are you coming back? I am so scared all by myself at Green Spark…’

After racking your brain, you finally recalled Blacknight’s file.

Multiple imprisonments. Has a mild case of kleptomania.

You subconsciously looked down at the floor beneath your chair. Sure enough, your heavy suitcase was gone.

Your only source of funds was gone. It was an urgent situation, but not that urgent.

The immediate problem was simply how to pay Goldenglow for these two drinks.

You beckoned with your hand, calling back Goldenglow, who had almost escaped from your line of sight with great difficulty. Looking at the dejected, trembling pink Feline, you asked in a completely earnest tone.

“I just realized I seem to have forgotten my money. Can I use my cat as collateral here? He is a purebred Victorian Feline.”

Phantom turned his head cooperatively from the adjacent seat, not realizing for a split second what you actually meant by that statement.

Goldenglow forced a stiff, terrified smile. “Ah, this… customer, that is not allowed. Our shop cannot accept such a big cat…”

This was completely crossing into the territory of human trafficking!

On the other side of the city, after sprinting through several winding streets and seeing absolutely no one chasing her, Blacknight turned into a dark, abandoned alleyway. She examined the exquisite, heavy suitcase she had dropped on the ground.

The man had looked like a fat sheep from out of town, truly stupid and cute. Out of consideration for how gentle and simple he had been about the spilled drink, she had only stolen the suitcase under the chair and had actually stuffed his personal wallet back into his coat pocket during the collision.

“Let me see how much I gained today…” Blacknight muttered to herself as she popped the heavy latches and opened the case.

Inside was neither jewelry, nor cash, nor any precious Originium metals.

“Why would anyone carry a suitcase full of dirt around with them!”

Blacknight stared at the neatly packed rows of soil, completely unable to believe her own eyes.

Is he full of it?!

[Rhodes’s Note: “Xianyu” refers to a well-known Chinese Arknights content creator whose videos heavily feature Guard-class operators (Warriors) and tier-list discussions. “Extra-large cup” is Chinese community slang for an overpowered, top-tier unit. “Stationary Security Service” (SSS) is an Arknights game mode where operators are buffed using items like Engineering Hammers and Burning Hammers.]

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent! 🙇‍♂️):

Massive thanks for reading and supporting the operation!]