Arknights, But the Family Had Fallen into Decline Again, Again, Again

"Let's read it together!" Jessica rarely put her foot down.

"You have that book?" Frostleaf inadvertently revealed the mindset of someone poor.

Jessica, meanwhile, was completely oblivious. "Lungmen's commerce is thriving... A famous novel like that definitely has to be on sale somewhere. Let's go buy it together later, okay?"

But halfway through, her tone turned pleading.

The adults all laughed.

"Speaking of which, let's make a temporary duty roster," Oute said. "Until the main ship arrives, we're still isolated and without support. Even inside the city, we need to remain cautious."

"But there's no need to be overly tense. Rhodes Island's main ship hasn't arrived, so Reunion Movement's main force definitely won't either. Anyone not on duty at night can still move about freely. Those assigned to night duty these days will receive triple overtime pay once this is over."

"Since Jessica and the others are going shopping, we might as well remove them from tonight's shift."

After saying that, Oute added, "I still have some work to deal with tonight. I'll probably be pulling an all-nighter. Put me on the roster too."

Your boss wanted you to work overtime.

Sigh...

But there was triple overtime pay!

Awesome!

Your boss was abusing his authority to give two young girls the night off!

But he was covering their shift himself!

Damn it!!

A leader willing to lead by example was a good thing in itself.

But working overtime with the boss?

Wasn't that a new form of torture in this era?

"It's just paperwork. You won't even see me."

Awesome!!!!

Wait, the Doctor said that... Were we being too obvious?

The operators felt a little awkward.

"It's fine. We're all the same."

He could read minds!?

"I can't read minds."

Did he need to read the minds of wage slaves?

Oute silently added, then turned and went upstairs. Meanwhile, several extra lamps had been lit at the entrance to the stronghold, specifically illuminating those who had finally heard about the free clinic.

The PRTS terminal was a great helper for handling paperwork.

Its only problem was that it was still a small terminal the size of a phone, making certain operations inconvenient.

Oute made a mental note of that.

He was using the terminal to take reading notes.

Last night, in Hamlet, he had swiped quite a few books from the ruins.

Most of them were dense literary classics, with a small number of theological treatises. But there had indeed been a single-digit number of necromancy texts. With that necromancy, Oute had successfully brought Alina back to Terra and, through the Proxy Protocol, creatively attached her to W.

All that could be said was that he was another mad scientist who considered himself rational and cautious.

And considering how he always had a Plan B ready for anything, acted as though everything was under control, and said "It's fine. We're all the same" every day, perhaps a certain bluebird suited him better than a raven...

Those books were not accessories, so they could not be brought directly back to reality. For that reason, Oute had spent most of his time in Hamlet forcibly memorizing the contents of the necromancy texts, conducting only a small amount of practical work.

Or rather, experiments.

Although he had obtained Alina's consent, for Alina, whom Oute had personally "saved," she would never even have thought of refusing something he asked her to agree to...

What a scumbag, taking advantage of a girl's desire to repay him!

Despite his astonishing memory, Oute did not trust it in the slightest. He was using the PRTS terminal to transcribe the necromancy texts from his mind.

The work was tedious, but necessary.

Besides, he could also run through the spells while transcribing them...

Time passed quickly, and the noise downstairs had long since died away.

"Doc Otter, it is time to take your medication," PRTS reminded him.

Oute sighed.

"I'm busy... Can't it wait a little longer?"

"According to the calculations, if I do not remind you now, Doc Otter, you will continue working until you collapse."

Nonsense!

Am I that kind of person!?

What normal person liked working that much!?

Just as Oute tried to rise from his desk, his vision went black and his legs gave out like noodles.

"Because you were overly focused, you missed dinner. Intense mental activity has also consumed a significant amount of blood sugar. Your physical condition is currently extremely weak."

Only then did Oute remember that such a thing had happened. Several operators on rooftop duty had greeted him and reminded him to come down, but Oute had replied, "In a little while."

But Oute had been too absorbed in necromancy, and "a little while" had stretched all the way to ten at night.

This was the time Kal'tsit had set for him to take his medication, and also the time when PRTS was "supposed" to remind him.

"Operator Blaze has already brought a late-night meal. Please calm down first, Doc Otter, and do not move around recklessly."

"Then why didn't you remind me earlier?"

PRTS replied coldly, "Considering the long-term nature of the medication reminder service, after conducting calculations, I determined that this would be more beneficial to the continuation of future work."

Why were you a schemer too!?

Clearly, Oute had not realized where the problem lay. Congratulations, Coca-Cola!

Victoria's Big Cat's Carefully Selected Vinegar-and-Salt Delicacies

Today's duty roster had been decided by the operators themselves. Still, they had followed Oute's wishes and removed the two girls while adding Oute himself.

Come to think of it, could Oute receive overtime pay himself?

And as this was the first day—though this arrangement could not possibly last long—Blaze, as an elite operator, had volunteered.

That was also why PRTS had specifically contacted Blaze.

"Doc Otter! I'm here!"

Considering that the others still needed sleep, the big cat was not actually that loud. Yet every movement Blaze made brimmed with a different kind of vitality, causing Oute's brain to automatically amplify her voice.

"PRTS told me not long ago that you still hadn't eaten, Doctor. That won't do!"

The big cat carried a bulging bag of late-night food and practically charged over.

When PRTS had contacted her earlier, she had likely immediately gone out to buy Oute a late-night meal. A concealed warmth radiated from Blaze, and she had probably used her Originium Arts to keep the food warm the entire way.

Blaze's Originium Arts could rapidly heat the air within a designated area, though the temperature they could reach had its limits. Her file described it as "at most, super hot."

Not only that, her Arts could not directly affect objects, could not extend beyond a certain range, and sometimes could not even inflict effective damage. These Originium Arts imposed considerable restrictions on materials and targets.

The chainsaw she used was a personalized weapon that complemented her Originium Arts.

Actually, if not for the Yeti Squad's presence, Oute could even use Blaze as a crutch to quickly explore the high-temperature gas branch of the rifle technology tree.

"Is it cold enough outside to need Originium Arts?"

The steam rising from the Feline woman's sweat was rather conspicuous.

Oute instinctively stood to take the bag, but staggered halfway up.

One clear possibility flashed through Oute's mind:

Blaze would throw the late-night meal aside in order to catch him as he seemed about to fall.

And what would spill from the bag... were fish balls, cheung fun, and milk tea.

They would make the floor extremely dirty!

Oute's thoughts raced, and he immediately equipped the Ancestor's Family Signet Ring directly onto Blaze.

He practically barked an order. "Stop!"

The command echoed twice, once through sound and once through their mental link. Blaze stood there in confusion.

She did not understand why her body had suddenly been filled with a... strange power. She understood even less why... her body had obeyed Oute's command before her reason could react.

The bag of late-night food remained intact, while Oute supported himself against the desk.

At last, he breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sat back down.

Blaze was released from the command to "stop," and she remarked, "I'd heard about Doc Otter's Originium Arts, but experiencing them firsthand is a completely different matter!"

Unlike the ordinary family signet ring Oute had carried in Hamlet, which could only be used for stamping seals, the accessory he had just equipped on Blaze was the one dropped by the novice-level crawler last night: the Ancestor's Family Signet Ring.

This powerful ancestral accessory granted the hero an outrageously overpowered 10 Accuracy, along with 10% Protection as a bonus. Its price was merely the familiar 10% increase to stress damage taken!

Of course, for Oute in reality, it worked the same way as the blank accessory, the Stone of Speed. That was, give it to an operator and establish a mental link.

The easygoing Blaze did not care at all why Oute had told her to "stop." She simply enthusiastically opened the bag in front of him.

Sure enough, they were exactly what Oute had expected.

But there were also some skewers, canned beer, and rice noodles. Notably, Oute caught a very strong scent of vinegar.

This British cat had bought intensely flavored vinegar-and-salt cheung fun in a British style.