Arknights: Studying medicine can't save Terra

The next second, under everyone's watchful eyes, Scout aimed at the round stool wheel beneath Outcast and threw the model in his hand with all his might.

Scout, a former sniper, showcased his precision to the fullest at this moment, precisely wedging the sniper rifle model into the wheel of the Outcast stool.

With Outcast's gasp, she nearly tipped over on her stool, but managed to save herself thanks to her excellent balance.

However, this delay caused their speed to decline uncontrollably, and they were successfully overtaken by ACE and others.

"Be careful, don't get really hurt."

ACE fully embraced his composed persona and came to Outcast's side to help her steady the stool.

Before Outcast could thank her, ACE forcibly stuffed a shield into her arms.

Outcast: ?

"This is the real deal, guaranteed to be tough and heavy."

ACE gave Outcast a reassuring smile, then with a sudden burst of strength, flung Outcast, along with the stool and shield, away.

"You tricked me!"

Outcast, shield in hand, began a spiral sweep across the track.

You tricked us!

Scout and the others realized something was wrong, but it was too late; they were instantly scattered by Outcast, this humanoid tactical gadget.

A fragile alliance collapsed at this moment.

With a radiant smile, ACE began to accelerate wildly, leaving everyone else in the dust as he sprinted forward.

Qi Yan's Enlightenment on the Field

The cheers in the audience even fell silent for a moment because of ACE's move.

"My God, something's not right! The prizes for this competition are definitely not right!"

Kroos felt a chill run down her spine: "What is it about this prize that's so appealing to you guys that it's driving even the ACE crazy!"

Unfortunately, no one provided an answer for Kroos.

In the audience, the female operators were just as confused as she was, while the male operators had already realized that the real competition had just begun.

On the field, Logos and others were so angry at ACE's betrayal that they gritted their teeth. After regaining their balance, they no longer thought about maintaining their fragile alliance and began to use their own trump cards.

Scout fiddled with the parts in his pockets, under his stool, and even on his belt, piecing them together to create a fully functional sniper rifle. He even used the same recoil acceleration as the Outcast when turning around.

The saying goes, "Bigger is better," and "caliber is beauty." The recoil of a sniper rifle is significantly greater than that of a revolver, and the Scout's acceleration is even more exaggerated than that of the Outcast.

In a split second, he overtook the other competitors and headed straight for the leading ACE.

As he shook off the crowd, he didn't forget to mock Logos:

"I unexpectedly lost the last round stool race, you know? I toss and turn every night when I think about it and can't fall asleep!"

I've waited so long for this day! This time, the championship is mine!

"You're planting a flag!" Logos' pen tip made a smooth stroke in the air, completing the curse of words.

Scout's expression changed instantly.

After easily defeating this defeated opponent who dared to challenge him, Logos's gaze swept over the remaining competitors on the track.

But he didn't rush to cast the spell; instead, he allowed the others to surpass him one after another.

In the commentary booth, Kroos temporarily suppressed her unease, thinking, "I'm going to die sooner or later anyway, so I might as well have some fun before I die," and continued to shoulder her commentary duties.

"The city walls crumbled due to a crisis of trust, and the contestants began to show their skills, and the competition officially entered a heated phase."

"Currently, ACE and Scout are in the top two positions, with Outcast closely following behind, and the others are not far behind."

"However, Logos, the champion last time, has fallen behind and is now ranked in the middle of the group."

Where is Qi Yan? Why is he still ranked at the very bottom? #Check Qi Yan's status

Qi Yan couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard Kroos's explanation.

After eliminating the Doctor, he tried to minimize his presence, waiting for Xi's illusionary scroll to arrive so he could easily take down everyone. However, he was repeatedly called out by Kroos.

"I'll definitely dock your pay later!"

Qi Yan glared fiercely at Kroos, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

“This feeling…” He slowed his pace slightly as he tentatively began to mutter, “Kroos never calls me ‘boss’ on ordinary days, so I have to deduct my salary. Kroos is secretly taking kickbacks from me every day, so I have to deduct my salary. Kroos… ugh, what excuse do you have? Deduct my salary, deduct it badly!”

After mentally drafting a series of salary deduction plans, Qi Yan felt a tingling, pleasurable sensation all over his body.

"So this is what it feels like to deduct employees' wages."

"Hate Kal'tsit, understand Kal'tsit, become Kal'tsit!"

"I get it!"

Upon thinking of this, Qi Yan felt as if the clouds had suddenly parted, and he had gained a clear understanding of life. He wanted nothing more than to laugh wildly at the sky.

Then he felt the stool being kicked.

"What are you doing here again?" Huang slowed down and came closer, asking curiously, "I really have no interest in competing with you for the champion's reward. Just tell me."

Qi Yan composed himself and first looked around at the situation on the field.

The group of players at the front had already completed the first lap and successfully moved from in front of Qi Yan to behind him, and were about to complete the lap.

Qi Yan's gaze shifted to his younger sister in the audience, and he asked her with his eyes about the progress of the illusion scroll, but all he got in return was a helpless shrug from Qi Lin.

"Could something have gone wrong?" Qi Yan frowned and muttered to himself. "Could it be that the Doctor foresaw something and intervened in secret?"

"Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Feeling neglected, Huang kicked Qi Yan's stool again.

"Stop kicking me, or you'll kick me out." Qi Yan's eyes darted around, and another plan came to mind. "I can tell you, but you have to agree to one condition."

"What conditions?"

"Once you exit this bend, there's a straight acceleration zone. I need you to find the right angle to kick me and help me accelerate."

"It's simple. I can even slow down and wait for you to lap me, and then give you a kick."

Huang readily agreed.

Seeing Huang's frankness, Qi Yan also stopped hiding anything:

"Actually, the sentence that was given as a prize was specifically designed to target us guys. To put it another way, it's like when you hear Hoshiguma and Rei begging for mercy at a drinking party, admitting that they can't outdrink you."

Huang gasped sharply, shocked, "I suddenly feel like my pay is too low."

"I'll cover your drinks next month," Qi Yan said arrogantly. "Just now, I successfully mastered the art of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, and made a fortune."

"A word is settled!"

Huang became incredibly excited, as if he had been injected with adrenaline, and went behind Qi Yan, pushing him to accelerate through the corner.

After successfully exiting the turn, Huang took a deep breath, pointed at Qi Yan, and shouted:

"I'm here to help you!"

"How dare you steal Lin Yuxia's lines... Oh my god—"

Before Qi Yan could finish his complaint, he was startled by Huang Shi's acceleration and screamed, turning into a white shooting star on the track.

As the new round of curves drew ever closer, Qi Yan's eyes widened:

"How do I slow down to get through the corner?!"

Huang: "..."

Just when she thought she might never have the chance to reunite with Qi Yan on the track, a miracle happened.

"What is Logos doing?" Kroos exclaimed through the loudspeaker, echoing throughout the training room. "He's standing up! He's standing up from the stool! He's raising his bone pen!"

"I get it! That explains it. Logos deliberately slowed down his ranking to a mid-tier position so that his curse could perfectly affect every player!"

Logos on the round stool smiled elegantly, and a bone pen swept across the void, writing a string of incantations.

"Spin, everyone."

As the incantation took effect, the round stools beneath everyone began to spin wildly, like clockwork.

All the competitors' speeds began to drop rapidly and uncontrollably. Many competitors even lost control of their direction while spinning and crashed into the track fence, being eliminated on the spot.

"Outcast, out!"

"Stormeye, out!"

"Misery, out!"

"Sharp, out!"

The announcements of players being eliminated by Kroos were relentless.

Just as Logos was feeling quite smug and gracefully sat back down on the stool, he heard Kroos's sudden, high-pitched scream.

"Qi Yan, my God! Qi Yan actually took the turn like that!"

"He started spinning!"

"He showed absolutely no intention of slowing down or resisting the curse, yet the acceleration bestowed upon him by Huang and the rotational tangential force exerted by Logos achieved a delicate balance!"

"Qi Yan raced across the track like a tornado!"

The professor, rubbing his sore backside, walked to the commentary booth and couldn't help but let out a sneer:

"Is it because he doesn't want to resist? It's because he can't control himself. Didn't you see his tail was practically wagging?"

Qi Yan's Plan B

"I won't allow you to talk about my boss like that!"

Kroos bared her two little fangs and said fiercely.

"Take care of yourself first."

The doctor looked around with a good view from the commentary platform, but did not see the unspeakable pink figure.

"It seems there's still a problem." Alarm bells rang in the doctor's mind.

Immediately after being eliminated, he went to the private room prepared for Eureka, hoping to minimize the impact on Eureka.

But when he opened the door to the private room and saw that it was empty, he felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

"Doctor, what are you saying?" Kroos clearly didn't understand.

"...It's okay, my butt still hurts a bit. I'll go to the medical department to get some liniment."

Seeing that things were not going well, the PhD student decisively chose to make a run for it.

Kroos looked at the Doctor, who had turned into a riddle-maker, and swallowed back the words of advice that were about to come out of her mouth.

After watching the doctor leave, she muttered to herself:

"This is the riddle teller's retribution. I was going to remind you that Gavial is on duty in the medical department today."

Shaking her head to clear the doctor's mind of what she had been condemned to death, Kroos returned to her commentary.

"The situation on the field has become clear. ACE and Scout are indeed elite operators. Under the threat of the curse, they reacted quickly, re-formed their alliance, and supported each other to minimize the impact of the curse, successfully maintaining their rankings."

"After a surprise move, Logos successfully eliminated all the competitors who were moving at high speed ahead of it, and became the third."

"However, due to the deliberate slowdown in the previous stages, although Logos' ranking has improved, there is still a considerable gap between him and the top two, and he seems to be showing signs of decline."

"Then, oh my god, Qi Yan, with his amazing skills, actually managed to become fourth place. Although his speed has obviously slowed down now, his eyes are wandering, and he's wobbling so much he's almost falling off the stool, but..."

"He overtook many contestants in one fell swoop, and his temporary lag cannot hide his brilliance. I have already prepared a congratulatory message for Qi Yan's victory!"

Even the contestants on the field couldn't help but glance at Kroos, feeling disgusted by this blatant flattery.

However, Kroos is Kroos after all. She seemed oblivious to other people's attitudes and stared at Qi Yan, who was already retching in his wheelchair, showering him with compliments.

"Qi Yan truly lives up to his name; even when he was so disgusted he was vomiting, he still upheld the competitive spirit of never giving up!"

"Look, everyone! Although he has stopped spinning, his tail is still spinning like a windmill because of the dizziness. What a tenacious spirit!"

"And... um, why does it feel a bit chilly? Did someone turn the air conditioning down?"