Time flowed backward to the moments just before the tense standoff between Kal’tsit and Wei Yenwu.
Are you kidding me?
You hadn’t even considered reporting this little operation to Kal’tsit.
If that lynx found out you were pulling a stunt like this, she’d probably string you up from the Rhodes Island bridge by your ankles!
The very second you seized control of the battlefield, you weaponized Talulah’s identity, broadcasting a forged command to order all Reunion Movement members to advance in secret.
Coupled with Mephisto gleefully acting as your unwitting inside man, almost the entire main force of the Reunion Movement had been funneled straight to the front lines.
The Annihilation requirement had spiked to a terrifying 600 kills!
It was as if every single infected militant hiding in the Lungmen urban area and its desolate outskirts was converging on this exact spot.
“I am very happy to follow your command once again.”
Radian, whom you had summoned onto the field early, spread out her four arms.
Two of her mechanical hands flashed you a cheerful thumbs-up.
Gazing out at the sea of masked soldiers surging forward like a dark, violent tide, she added, “Every time this happens, I am always amazed by the Doctor’s command skills and your trust in me.”
‘Actually, it’s not trust in you, Mom,’you thought, sweating slightly.’It’s trust in the absolute power creep of the new era…’
You mentally ticked off the operators you had managed to deploy:
Radian, Rosmontis, the entirety of Action Reserve Squad A6, and…
“I’m so touched, Boss!
You actually remembered to bring me along.
Penguin Logistics, at your service!”
“Don’t worry, Doctor.
My fire will burn them all to ashes!”
“Doctor, is everything still within your calculations?”
Exusiai, Blaze, and Thorns!
Thorns had been hard-carrying the team this entire time!
Looking at this classic, high-DPS team composition made you feel like you were right back at the game’s launch.
Having two overly enthusiastic good buddies—one clutching a Vector submachine gun, the other revving a massive chainsaw—instantly smoothed out the wrinkles in your brain that had been worn flat by Wis’adel’s explosive chaos.
“There will be plenty of time for reminiscing later,” you said, your voice dropping into that cold, authoritative register.
“Lemuel, I remember you’ve always wanted to experience the art of explosive destruction, right?
You’d better still have the energy to chat with me after you’re done blowing things up.”
“Hey, hey, hey!
With so many people here, why pick just me?
Boss, are you questioning my abilities?” Exusiai complained, though she still consciously reached up and adjusted her tactical headset, a fierce grin spreading across her face.
In the abandoned market district of the Lungmen outskirts, the dust kicked up by the biting cold wind carried the heavy, metallic scent of rust—the lingering aftermath of the Reunion Movement’s violent riots.
The Doctor stood silently beside the makeshift mobile command vehicle.
On the terminal screen in his hands, a dense cluster of red dots representing enemy forces was converging, exactly as predicted.
“They’re finally here.
Everyone, let’s get to work.”
“Exusiai, 11 o’clock direction.
Light armor units are massing at the edge of the central plaza.
Lay down suppressive fire.
Force them toward the No.
3 passage on the right.
Be careful to leave them the ‘Safety Zone’ I’ve marked.”
Exusiai’s barrage of Originium bullets bloomed through the air like lethal fireworks, precisely ‘herding’ the first batch of Reunion soldiers into the narrow kill-zone you had targeted from the start.
“Thorns, prepare the slow-acting toxin in the No.
3 passage.
Keep the concentration at exactly 10.3%.
I want them to pass through ‘alive,’ but completely stripped of their ability to charge.”
Thorns’ figure blurred through the shadows.
The eerie, corrosive glow coating his blade silently merged into the ground, seeping into the environment like a creeping phantom.
Just as you expected, after encountering relatively weak resistance on the right flank, the more elite core of the Yeti Squadron and the heavy armor units slightly shifted their direction of advance, attempting to force a brutal breakthrough from the left.
‘I’m not afraid of you charging fast,’you sneered internally.’I’m only afraid that you won’t know how to turn!’
“Radian, move forward two positions and activate the Anti-Shock Type-3 Force Field.
Block the first wave of frost.
I need an absolute safety zone behind you.”
Radian crossed her four arms, and blinding arcs of electricity wove together into a crackling, impenetrable shield.
As the Yeti Squadron’s heavy icicles struck the barrier, they shattered into useless powder, tightly locking the freezing air within the passage.
“Good brother, are you ready for a spectacular entrance?”
Almost at the exact moment Radian blocked the first wave of the offensive, a loose shipping container suspended high above the battlefield was cleanly severed by a roaring chainsaw.
It crashed down with an earth-shaking boom, and Blaze’s figure plummeted from the sky like a fiery meteor.
“Boss—the wind—here—is too strong—I can’t hear you!”
‘How unsurprising,’you deadpanned in your mind.’Are all your continuous skills like this?’
Externally, the Doctor’s voice remained a flat, rippleless pool.
“Action Reserve Squad A6, establish crossfire.
Cover the directions marked on your tactical visors.”
The moment the reserve squad opened fire, the straggling enemies that Blaze had deliberately let slip through happened to step perfectly into the crosshairs, taking the full, devastating brunt of the damage.
“Lemuel, the Originium concentration in the air is still rising.
You won’t lose, right?”
Before you could even finish the sentence, Lemuel had already snapped her gaze upward, traded a blistering volley of shots with the opposing sniper, and casually wiped a streak of blood from her forehead.
“Done!”
The cluster of red dots symbolizing the immediate threat vanished from your screen.
“Follow orders!” you snapped.
Now you finally understood why Exusiai was only ever used to ‘polish’ health bars in the late-game meta; discipline and tactical theory were truly massive issues for her.
“It’s not time for you to trade blood yet!”
“Hehehe~”
[Smart Drone unit link established.]
PRTS finally delivered the mechanical chime you had been waiting for.
[Chimera Protocol initiating…]
Torrents of tactical data and information streams flooded your brain once again.
If you still had a visible Sanity bar, you’d probably turn into a drooling simpleton who could only go “aba aba” by the time you finished commanding a battle of this scale.
But now…
Originium, you have returned!
You were now the complete, absolute Doctor!
The drone link instantly replaced the slower, inefficient method of verbal commands.
PRTS’s cold, mechanical voice simultaneously rang in the minds of every operator on the field!
“Radian, reduce Originium Arts output intensity by 23%.”
“Thorns, the next sword strike, 42° south of east.
Can you do it?”
“Exusiai, prepare for halo resonance; three casters are approaching your blind spot!”
Without needing sight, without needing to think, your sheer will permeated every single action on the battlefield.
The operators’ instincts became seamless extensions of your own limbs.
Everyone present seemed to be connected into a single, terrifying hive mind.
You saw through everything.
You influenced everything.
You decided everything.
Blood flowed from your thoughts, submerging everyone on the battlefield in a flawless display of destruction.
Annihilation Progress: 230 / 600.
[Rhodes’s Note: “Polishing health bars” (刮痧 / guā shā) is Chinese gaming slang for doing such pitifully low damage to an armored enemy that it looks like you’re just scraping or polishing their health bar, a common issue for rapid-fire snipers like Exusiai against high-defense targets in Arknights.]
[Rhodes’s Note:
Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?
(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent!
to use the links!)