Hello, Arknights

Chapter 346 Before departure? 1

"Miss Platinum, what are you doing here?" The huge tail of the lavender Rupert almost blocked the view of the aisle. His fur seemed to have regained a lot of luster compared to before. He found the white-haired Kuranta hesitating near the medical department while carrying the comfort supplies.

Bai Jin was a little surprised: "I don't think we've met before? Do you know my code name?"

Provence smiled slightly, his ears moving slightly: "The person that Bai Ge brought back, I want to see if there is any..."

The word "same kind" is as soft as a mosquito's thought.

The fine hair at the tip of the white ear trembled, and Platinum smelled a hint of abnormal emotion.

"So, Miss Platinum, you're here... because you heard he's injured again and you're here to visit him?" Provence flicked his tail to the side. "But I heard you didn't come when Baige was in the hospital before. That's a bit puzzling."

"...Same to you." Bai Jin narrowed her cold eyes, sensing the sharpness in the other party's words. She said bluntly, "Just because I didn't come doesn't mean I don't know the specific situation."

Lupo gave an apologetic smile. "Ah... I'm a little hesitant to leave, but Miss Platinum, back then, just like now, was just wandering around outside and didn't go in for a formal visit? Are you hesitating... or worried about something?"

"...I'm also dealing with personal matters...emotional issues." Then, Bai Jin saw the other person's eyes flash slightly, and his expression became much more excited.

"As expected..." She smiled brightly again, showing her beautiful teeth, but Xinteleya instinctively felt that her canine teeth were flashing with cold light.

"Then let's go visit Bai Ge together this time! Let's apologize to him sincerely. As a friend, I was indeed a bit negligent..." Provence wagged his tail happily.

"Okay." But before she could be happy for a moment, Bai Jin's next move of extending his hand and his words froze her smile on her face: "Then give me the contents of that lunch box and throw it away."

"..."

"..."

Provence's face quickly turned gloomy, his expression as cold as ice, his fingers tightly clasped around the "comfort gifts" in his hand.

Bai Jin's expression did not change at all, he just kept extending his hand, just as determined.

As the Platinum Lord of the No-Head Alliance, she had seen many poisons due to work needs and was familiar with their use. Provence's "craftsmanship" naturally did not escape her observation, and she was now very angry.

"... Such despicable behavior. Would Rhodes Island allow such a person to have a place on this ship?"

"Miss Platinum, are you just naturally taking the moral high ground?" Provence's gloomy expression finally changed, and he narrowed his eyes in a smile. "I'm just trying my best to do what you're good at..."

Bai Jin clenched his fists, suppressing the anxiety in his heart, and instead revealed a hint of coldness.

"I'm just adjusting my mental state... I won't argue about the past." She gave a dangerous look. If the situation changed next, she would not sit idly by.

"Restrain your killing intent, right?" Provence's smile widened, his eyes becoming deeper. He didn't care about the threat in the other's eyes, and whispered softly, "I said, we seem to be... 'the same kind'."

"I'm afraid it's not a psychological or emotional problem... Our minds," Provence pointed at his own and Platinum's temples, "seem to no longer be under our control, and... perhaps there's something that wants him to feel pain."

"...What are you talking about?" Bai Jin was confused and felt that Rupert in front of him was a little mentally unstable. He changed the subject and said, "Do you need me to call the medical department for you?"

Rupert, with his lavender hair, paused for a moment and revealed a pitiful look. His eyes seemed to become clearer, with a watery glint in them.

"…Provence?"

Ling Dengxian appeared in the corridor leading to the water room with a kettle in his hand and found the two women who were in a stalemate there. This morning seemed to be particularly lively, but it was a pity that he probably didn't have much extra energy today. According to the plan, he had to find a way to "escape" from Rhodes Island tomorrow. After communicating with Mostima yesterday, he went to test Kal'tsit's attitude. The latter said calmly that if he continued to irresponsibly abuse his fragile body, she would really lock him up in the dormitory.

The result of alerting the enemy was naturally that Kal'tsit considerately asked Ace, who had no mission yet, to pay attention to Ling Dengxian's movements. After all, many operators knew more or less about the relationship between Fengpi and him, and the fact that he calmly accepted the secret that could not be hidden naturally meant that he might have his own plans. Considering the gentle boy's stubborn past, the possibility of him listening to advice was almost zero.

Ling Dengxian indeed thought so, and perhaps it was a tacit understanding. The only difference from his imagination was that there was an extra fallen angel who planned to travel with him.

"Ling Dengxian..." Seeing the real owner, Provence's eyes flashed with a moment of embarrassment, but she immediately smiled and came closer. However, as the sound of hurried footsteps rang out, Bai Jin grabbed her wrist tightly and glared at her:

"Ling Dengxian! She poisoned me!"

Ling Dengxian glanced down at the focus of the two people's wrestling, a thermos bucket swaying slightly with an unsettling iron-blue glow - he naturally knew what was going on.

Under Platinum's anxious yet incomprehensible gaze, he reached out and took the "comfort gift" and gave Platinum a helpless smile: "Well, Cintrea, although it's a bit difficult to explain, I actually know... Just think of it as anti-toxic training?"

"Bai Ge! Do you think I'm an idiot?" Bai Jin looked incredulous. She was sure that this was not a joke.

Ling Dengxian's gaze lingered between the two for a moment, and he gave a wry smile. After carefully considering his words, he spoke again, but first to Provence: "Provence, you do look a lot better..."

"Probably, it's okay..." Faced with the victim's frank words, Provence was no longer as calm as when he confronted Platinum.

"It's a bit counter-intuitive and a bizarre coincidence, but I really have to thank you. You gave me adaptation training in advance before going to Casimir this time, including injections and food poisoning. I didn't let down in the crucial fight. Thank you so much." He was naturally referring to the battle with Qing Jin. His honed immune system didn't leave him with any excessive flaws.

"Although I know that this is not your original intention, the source of your pain is me. Don't worry, continue. I will take it well before I die unexpectedly."

Having said that, Ling put it into practice.

Provence was stunned. After seeing him open the thermos, pick up the spoon and take a sip of the hot soup, it was as if she had taken off all her disguises. Her mask-like expression shattered and she couldn't hold back her tears again.

"Ling... Deng Xian, even though you left and I calmed down for so long, I still... really want to kill you..."

"It's not your fault." Ling Dengxian savored the taste in her mouth. Even though she had poisoned him, even though she knew he wouldn't avoid it, even though she didn't need to go through so much trouble, Provence still tried her best to make this murderous intent delicious.

Contradictory and painful.

Ling Dengxian reached out and rubbed her head, his fingertips stroking the wolf ears with neither light nor heavy force. The lavender-colored and textured hair trembled slightly, and the girl's fragrance was quiet and crazy.

Provence rushed to his chest and grabbed his collarbone tightly with his hands. His nails pierced through his clothes and dug into his shoulders. Fear, confusion, and an extreme sense of crisis flashed in his eyes. The sudden force pressed him against the aisle wall, but his first action was to reach out to Platinum over Provence and signal him not to act rashly.

The overturned food and thermos fell to the ground, spreading like panic in Provence, and her growl was filled with anxiety.

"Why aren't you afraid even though it's so absurd?! I told you I really want to kill you! For myself! For myself! I don't want to die, I just want you to die. How can you *Syracuse curse* accept such a horrific fact so calmly?!"

Blood dyed Provence's fingertips red, and the pain did not confuse Ling Dengxian's words. He hesitated again and again in pain, and finally put his arms around her shoulders and leaned her head against his face. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and Provence's pain was transmitted to his nerves through his teeth. Ling Dengxian took a breath, swallowed the growl, and the uneasy trembling of the body in his arms slowly dissipated.

"Because in a sense, the root cause of your current situation is indeed me, and I just can't turn a blind eye to the dire consequences of my actions. I don't want to die, but I can't let you die because of something so ridiculous. So come on, I won't die for such a ridiculous reason either. You can't kill me for such a reason."

If anyone thinks that this can defeat me, let me tell you, the answer may not be what you want!

Provence relaxed, tears welling up in her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around his back, "This isn't right... This isn't right..."

"If you want to harm me, you must have a plan... whether it's money or looks... I can't harm innocent people without a reason, and you didn't give me a reason!"

"..."

"Just think of it as me begging you. Make it up, and say you're plotting against me. Give me a reason to fight back, okay?"

In order to interrupt the girl's strong sense of uneasiness and calm her mind, Ling Dengxian carefully thought about the appropriate response.

"...Ba." He finally sighed.

"What?" Provence didn't hear clearly.

"I said, I want... to possess your tail. It's fluffy, full of vitality, and has an extremely attractive luster. When we first met, I wanted to hold your tail and you in my arms." Ling Dengxian chose to do as she wished, blending fantasy with reality and giving her a half-true and half-false "reason" to prevent Provence, who was a little mentally unstable, from doing something terrible. He emphasized "the tail and her."

He had no doubt that when Provence went mad, he would really cut off his tail and give it to him because he didn't express himself accurately enough.

That would drive him crazy.

Provence's tears stung the wound on his shoulder, and it was a long time before he heard her say "OK".

"From now on, I will continue to kill you." She let go of him and seemed to have made a decision.

"Yeah." As long as Provence doesn't go to extremes, Ling Dengxian can leave again with peace of mind.

"Similarly, from now on, I and my tail—

"It all belongs to you, Ling Dengxian."

……

"...So, I'm actually the same guy as him?" Bai Jin and Ling Dengxian sat on the deck at a distance, their words barely touching. "The only difference is the early and late stages?"

After sending Provence away, Ling Dengxian told Bai Jin everything about the possible effects of the "curse". As a result, Bai Jin told him... she also had the corresponding symptoms.

She was the first person he had explicitly told about the curse. It was so strange that, so far, only Xinteleya had told him frankly under such circumstances. Perhaps it was because of the situation today, or perhaps it was because she was frank in confessing her abnormality.

"...I brought you out of Cavalleriaki, and you are grateful to me so much that you broke through the lowest line of the curse?" Ling Dengxian said evasively.

"I'm afraid it's not gratitude," Bai Jin frowned, feeling disgusted and irritated, pulling out several strands of her own white hair. "Weren't you very straightforward just now? Don't you understand how hard it would be for a girl who once had a crush on you to refuse your behavior?"

She was once an aquatic duckweed in a precarious glass bottle, living one day at a time and even accepting the fact that she was about to die. However, Ling Dengxian pulled her out of the glass bottle and brought her back to the pool of unknown boundaries.

"...Anyone would do this, like the bagpipe." Ling Dengxian still avoided the main point.

"Will you have a different answer only if my situation becomes so bad that I want to jump off here?"

"..."

"you do not like me."

"..."

"Yes, someone like me is not worthy of—"

"Don't underestimate yourself, it's just not enough to be called love."

"Ha, it's just as I said." Bai Jin smiled, "Of course there will be affection between friends. I still have confidence in this."

"Look at my memory. You told me you weren't here to seduce me, but I just didn't believe you." Bai Jin raised his head, feeling the wind. "But you're so self-righteous and didn't even make it to the finals. This is going to make people laugh."

"I'm not qualified to choose anyone." He shook his head, much more sober. "I'm the root of the problem. Demons have no right to talk about happiness."

"Perhaps this is the consequence I have to bear, but I won't just accept my fate like this."

"I do have to bear the consequences, but I refuse to implicate innocent people."

Ling Dengxian stood up. Bai Jin looked at him and said solemnly, "I will be going on a long trip. You know the whole problem. So, could you please take a look at the results of Provence's treatment for me?"

"...Answer me a question and I'll help you." Bai Jin said calmly.

"Tell me everything you know."

"If it were me, or anyone else, in danger, you—"

"I'll go too." Ling Dengxian said decisively, "You are all important friends to me."

"Really?" After staring at him for a long time, Xinteleya got the answer she wanted, nodded, and looked away.

"Come back alive."

Ling Dengxian gave her a thumbs up and said with a smile, "Of course."