Arknights, but the Family Has Fallen Again, Again, Again

Kal'tsit spoke to herself.

Even if he had not lost his memory, those things still held true.

"I do not have no recollection of the past, but it is too fragmented to form a coherent whole. Everything feels so unfamiliar, yet mixed in are many things that somehow seem familiar."

He had said something like that last night too...

Kal'tsit gritted her teeth.

Not only could inner feelings remain consistent, carefully planned lies could as well!

Calm down!

Kal'tsit!

Do not let him fool you!

"For example... you. Though I do not remember much, the moment I saw you, I truly felt at ease."

How could that be?

Was that true too!?

"Though it is a little embarrassing to say, I like you."

Amiya blushed and covered her eyes with one hand, yet still peeked through her fingers.

The surging emotions within Oute's heart left Kal'tsit utterly incredulous, and they continuously battered at her psychological defenses.

Was he serious?

He was actually serious!?

How could he be serious!

He... really was serious...

"And everyone else."

You lecherous bastard!

Kal'tsit's face immediately darkened.

This mental link allowed Kal'tsit to genuinely feel Oute's sincerity.

She pushed Oute's hands away and said with a look of disgust, "Doc... Dr. Oute, you have truly shown me humanity's depraved tastes just now."

This face was at its most captivating when it looked disgusted with me.

"..." Kal'tsit paused, then said in a restrained voice, "It seems I need to take back something I said last night."

Thoroughly flustered, Kal'tsit continued in a rush, "You truly have lost your memories!"

"And just like an infant, you have exposed your true nature!"

"However, before this, I never imagined that a great scholar such as yourself... could possess such a base and vile nature!"

Kal'tsit placed one hand on her hip. Her off-the-shoulder clothing did not push her sleeves upward because of the pose; instead, the faint blush beneath her arm became all the more eye-catching.

"Hah..." Oute let out a long breath for no apparent reason.

This felt amazing.

Different people's charms had to be brought out in different ways. Some revealed themselves under crushing pressure, while others looked most graceful as they maneuvered within narrow confines, and Kal'tsit...

Beneath a lynx's sharp claws, the soft pink pads were the most interesting part.

If they did not scratch, it just did not feel right.

Through the mental link, the feelings Oute deliberately conveyed stimulated Kal'tsit.

She pressed on, saying, "It seems your day-after-tomorrow lessons will not only turn you into a twisted control freak, but also correct your sexual preferences!"

Her other arm slowly rose, her slender fingers gently combing her disheveled hair behind her ear.

"Considering this alone, perhaps we should accelerate your reeducation."

Feeling Oute's focus constantly shift, Kal'tsit felt annoyed, but also... secretly pleased.

PRTS had indeed not yet loaded a lying module.

Among Kal'tsit's many feelings toward Oute, there truly were admiration, affection, and inferiority.

A loneliness similar to Oute's had lingered in her heart ever since she gained emotions.

Yet before he lost his memories, Oute had been so dazzling to her!

So dazzling that Kal'tsit could only hide in the shadow of her creator. Though she had gained emotions, she could still only mechanically fulfill her... intended purpose.

Kal'tsit secretly rejoiced at learning such an "unbearable" side of Oute. That seemingly insurmountable wall had crumbled at one corner.

Deep in her heart, within those dark thoughts that should not be put into words, Kal'tsit was even more pleased that she had surpassed her creator in another field.

Amiya, meanwhile, let out a sigh of relief. Though Kal'tsit kept sarcastically calling him "you," she had once again used an intimate form of address at the very beginning of this conversation.

Mm, she had not noticed Kal'tsit's body language.

That was a good thing.

A very good thing.

Children should not learn so many things.

"Ahem, this sort of storm-like verbal abuse can generally be summed up as—she's mad."

"Doc Otter!" Amiya hurriedly stopped Oute from provoking Kal'tsit any further.

Forgot the Beginning, Forgot the End, Anyway This Is a Censored Scene

"..." Kal'tsit did not respond to that.

She merely said, "PRTS, censor the footage of the Bad Boy firing, then re-edit a copy based on this combat record. But make sure the original file is preserved."

Oute asked in return, "Is that necessary? It is not as though no one has researched pneumatic weapons before."

Kal'tsit paced back and forth. Her bare feet, hidden inside her boots, were somewhat restless and very much wanted to communicate with Oute physically.

"Without the guidance of relevant knowledge, they cannot understand the true significance of such a weak weapon. They merely attempt to develop firearms through various methods. They... focus more on developing Originium weapons with lower research thresholds, rather than truly making up their minds to start anew from the ground up."

"Only when a war grows so vast that it depletes the casters of Terra's nations to a certain extent will they find the next step on this path through countless trials and errors."

"And you... clearly, you have retained some of your most vicious memories. Under your escort, this terrifying infant will mature within two or three years, cutting its teeth on blood and killing without restraint."

Having seized the initiative, Oute even began to somewhat enjoy trading riddles with Kal'tsit.

So, I did not hate riddlers—I just hated not being the riddler myself!

Naturally, he had no objections to such censorship, but he still said, "Everyone is a prisoner of their past. Most people on this land are confined by the limits of their own knowledge. They cannot even comprehend what an armed low-altitude aircraft and the two machine guns mounted on it truly mean."

The current prototype truly did not mean much by itself.

But once this technological path yielded usable results, someone who could not even tell left from right could become a manpower unit armed with a pneumatic gun in one or two months—without years upon years of Originium Arts training, as long as he could understand a stick.

As long as he could understand... a "stick."

Since Originium industrialization had already seeped into Terra's very marrow, pneumatic firearms could not change the overall direction in which Terra was moving. Yet they would undoubtedly greatly intensify the wars between Terra's nations.

And with the ceiling at roughly six thousand meters, once armed aircraft were cobbled together with missiles suited for them through Originium technology, Terra's modern warfare, which was based on armored units such as high-speed landships, would rapidly transform.

An entirely new mode of war would propel Terra's progress with unprecedented intensity.

Or bring about its self-destruction.

After all, Terrans really did enjoy courting death.

The possibility of nations falling into chaotic war, neglecting their defenses against all manner of demons and monsters at their borders, and thus destroying themselves... could not be said to be nonexistent. It could only be said to be very high.

Kal'tsit ultimately could not hold back. Instead of correcting Oute's sophistry, she took the bait. "Then, Dr. Oute, having lost your past, have you not completed a jailbreak?"

Oute took Kal'tsit's hand again.

He pressed her hand against his face.

He took a deep breath.

The mental link certainly did not require physical contact, but first, Kal'tsit did not know that right now, and second, Oute simply wanted to do this.

He deliberately sent her a thought: Too bad it is not her foot.

"..." Kal'tsit turned her head away.

"Yes," Oute said softly. "I have broken free from the shackles of responsibility and crossed beyond the confines of the past. Now, I live for myself."

Feelings that were inconvenient to express in words surged through the mental link and crashed through Kal'tsit's defenses.

Live for yourself?

Pervert!

Did he think I did not know what he wanted to do!?

Pervert! Pervert!

Lecherous bastard!

She was embarrassed and annoyed, and somewhat at a loss: was this better, or worse?

Kal'tsit had no way of knowing.

But at the very least... he would have it much easier.

No longer bearing the illusory dreams that had already vanished, all as a lone orphan...

Facing him like this, she would have it much easier too.

"...I hope that after you regain your memories, you can still maintain this mindset."

Kal'tsit took the initiative and placed her other hand against Oute's cheek as well.

"My lord!"

But Specter truly could not endure any longer. She rushed over, clung to Oute's left arm, and refused to let go.