On the Ark.

“I healed you a long time ago,” Shining said. “Coming here to lie down is just for show. If you really want to rest, you can go home. By the way, this is the best room in this hospital, and it’s not cheap.”

"Really?" Lin Ye exclaimed. "Rhodes Island is really rich."

"No, this is your own money." Shining pulled up his hood, covering his elfin ears, and turned to leave. His black robe fluttered slightly, making him look very dashing. "I always only carry enough money for food when I go out. For a traveler, asceticism is fundamental."

Lin Ye was completely stunned. Three seconds later, he jumped up from the hospital bed.

"Damn it!" Lin Ye yelled as he put on his shoes, "I'm fine and you still dumped me here! Wait for me!"

Next came the discharge procedures. The hospital bill for just one night wiped out a third of the money Lin Ye had saved over two years of work. As he swiped his card, Lin Ye felt as if his heart was bleeding.

"Go back and pack your things, then come with me to Rhodes Island for the interview," Shining said to Lin Ye.

"I know," Lin Ye sighed. "I need to resign from the pet hospital first. The owner has been very good to me; he can't just leave without a word. By the way, how's the salary and benefits at Rhodes Island?"

"I don't know. As a traveler, I don't care about money."

Lin Ye couldn't help but look at Shanling, who still had a calm and composed expression.

But he was filled with anxiety about his future.

The game is about to begin, isn't it?

Chapter Fifteen: No time left, let's go.

When Lin Ye resigned, the owner of the pet hospital was quite surprised and reluctant to let him go. He tried to persuade Lin Ye to stay, even offering to give him a third more in salary, but Lin Ye refused.

Seeing Lin Ye's resolute attitude, the owner of the pet hospital could not say anything more. He could only sigh, settle Lin Ye's salary, give him some gifts, and then let him leave.

“So,” Shining said, glancing at the “gift” in Lin Ye’s hand, “this is the first time I’ve ever seen cat food and dog food used as gifts.”

"This is the most expensive cat and dog food in our hospital," Lin Ye said somewhat indignantly. "And it's not just cat and dog food, there are two tubes of hairball remedy too. There's also pet conditioner. Oh, right, I can give this tube of conditioner to your friend as an apology."

"Nearlight will definitely kill you," Shining said, "if you dare to send it."

Lin Ye felt a little regretful because these were really expensive pet supplies. All of them together were almost equivalent to his monthly salary. It was hard for the animal-eared girl to understand why he would give away such good things.

The two chatted as they returned to their apartment. If all went well, they would be living on Rhodes Island from now on, so they needed to pack their belongings. Lin Ye had been in Chernobog for two years and hadn't earned much money; a significant portion had gone to hospital fees. The salary and benefits at Rhodes Island were still unclear, so they needed to save as much as possible. As he unlocked the door, Lin Ye glanced at the adjacent room and noticed the door was locked.

“If you want to find the brother and sister from last night, you’ll probably have to go to the city hall,” Shining explained, seeing through Lin Ye’s thoughts. “Last night, the military and police in Chernobog suppressed all the riots and took all the infected people to the First Hospital next to the city hall, probably to be quarantined. So, do you want to go see them?”

Lin Ye thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Forget it, the little guy's parents and younger brother are there, so I don't need to go. Although Chernobog's attitude towards the infected isn't very good, at least he's trying to help them."

Shining said calmly, "Perhaps."

Despite feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Lin Ye knew very well that he couldn't help Yi Lan any further. He hadn't even found a place to live yet, while Yi Lan was still with her family.

Unlock and push the door open.

After returning to the small house where he had lived for two years, Lin Ye asked Shining what preparations he needed to make before heading to Rhodes Island.

“No special preparation is needed.” Shining shook his head, then seemed to remember something, “Oh right, here you go.”

Lin Ye turned around and saw that Shining was holding his silver-white Colt Python.

“You left it at the scene yesterday, so we’ve collected it for you,” Shining said.

"Thanks." Lin Ye took the gun. "It's a pity we're out of bullets. Speaking of which, does Rhodes Island have bullets for this kind of gun?"

The world now is quite different from the world Lin Ye once knew. In this world, firearms and ammunition are not mainstream weapons because most people use magic. Firearms are still a scarce commodity monopolized by a certain race; even the elite military and police forces of Chernobog have very few. Therefore, Lin Ye has always been unable to obtain bullets, only having his initial three rounds. Otherwise, as a gun enthusiast (in his previous life), he would have at least kept several boxes of ammunition on hand.

So he pinned his hopes on Rhodes Island: "I can pay."

Shining thought for a moment, then shook her head: "Rhodes Island doesn't sell bullets."

"Is that so?" Lin Ye was somewhat disappointed. He didn't want his gun to become just an ornament or a toy.

“Indeed, there aren’t any, because even on Rhodes Island, operators who use guns are extremely rare,” Shining said. “But you can ask Jessica for some; that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Jessica?” Lin Ye remembered the name.

“Hmm, you could try trading your gift with her.” Shining said, looking at the large bag of pet supplies Lin Ye had placed on the table. “In your words, she’s a catgirl.”

"what?"

"And Exusiai, if you have the money, you can go to her to buy it, although she may not necessarily sell it to you."

"But you just said Rhodes Island doesn't sell ZI ammunition."

"Yes, because she wasn't originally from Rhodes Island."

Lin Ye was somewhat bewildered. There was nothing he could do; his understanding of Rhodes Island was simply too limited. Aside from knowing about the mascot Amiya…, Shining was the first Rhodes Island person he encountered after arriving in this world. Thinking about it, he could only blame *Arknights* for this; after so many years, even until his sudden death, it still hadn't been released—it was simply outrageous. No game transmigrator had ever been like him, completely ignorant of the game itself after transmigrating; his advantages as a transmigrator were completely useless!

Despite complaining, Lin Ye was still grateful for the time travel, as it had at least given him a second life.

He then memorized Jessica and Exusiai's names and began packing his things.

A small suitcase contained all the space he had spent living in Chernobog for the past two years, with plenty of room to spare. As he zipped up the suitcase, Lin Ye felt a sense of disorientation, as if the past two years had been an unreal dream, or a bubble that would burst at any moment.

Shaking his head to shake off those pretentious thoughts, he then distributed the cat and dog food he had opened to the stray cats and dogs in front of the apartment and patted their heads.

Lin Ye decided to leave.

He arrived in Chernobog in the morning and left in the evening, as the sun set and the sky turned red.

"Which way should we go?" Lin Ye asked Shan Ling, who had been waiting silently by his side.

“As a traveler…” Shining began slowly.

Lin Ye was shocked: "You're not saying we have to walk there, are you? How far is Rhodes Island?"

Shining glanced at Lin Ye and silently took out her phone: "As a traveler, I can call a car."

Lin Ye: "..."

“There’s a squad that just finished a mission nearby; they can pick us up.” Shining dialed the number. “Is it the Rangers?”

Half an hour later, a van stopped in front of them.

The driver's side window was slowly rolled down, revealing a horse's face.

It really does have a horse face.

"Hello," Ma said. "There's no time, get in the car quickly."

Lin Ye no longer knew what words to use to describe his feelings.

Good heavens! The horse not only started talking, but it's also trying to drive!

Chapter Sixteen: Welcome to Rhodes Island

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Ye felt that the atmosphere inside the car was a bit strange.

Every few minutes, he couldn't help but secretly turn his head to look at the driver in the driver's seat. At first, because it was too dark and visibility was poor, he mistook the other person for a horse.

The horse could drive. This made Lin Ye exclaim "Holy crap!" in his heart, but after getting into the car, he realized that he had been mistaken. The other party was not a horse at all, but a white lizard.

Thankfully, it wasn't a horse driving the car, but a lizard.

He tried to comfort himself with that thought, but a dozen seconds later he exclaimed "Holy crap!"

Lizards can't drive as well as horses! Horses are experienced drivers, at least. What is a lizard trying to do with the steering wheel?! Is it going to drive straight into a ditch?! Good grief, I finally escaped Chernobog, will I even make it to Rhodes Island alive?!

Lin Ye felt his feelings were very complicated, which was also related to his overly vivid imagination.

Although over 90% of the people living in this world are "subhumans," or what was previously known as beastmen, the proportion of pure humans is indeed very small. Lin Ye had seen all sorts of subhumans in Chernobog. Most subhumans looked similar to pure humans, just with a few extra organs or parts. For example, the spirit sitting behind Lin Ye, apart from the ram's horns on her head and elf-like ears, was no different from a human woman. But the person next to Lin Ye with a completely horse-faced…lizard-like head—Lin Ye had never seen anything like it before today.

But he didn't show it. After all, he was going to join Rhodes Island, and he couldn't act like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

But his supposedly good disguise was still seen through by the other party.

“The Shining,” the Ranger said slowly, “your little friend seems quite interested in me.”

Lin Ye's expression immediately froze.

Shining, who was sitting in the back row enjoying the scenery, turned her head slightly, glanced at Lin Ye, and replied, "He's interested in everything."

"Who is he?" the forest ranger asked.

"Those who want to join Rhodes Island."

"Really?" Ranger glanced at Lin Ye. "A pure human, interesting. ACE should be able to chat with you. Let me introduce myself, I'm Ranger, currently serving as the sniper in the combat team."

"Hello, hello." Lin Ye could only respond, stammering as he introduced himself, "My name is Lin Ye, I am... uh, a veterinarian from Chernobog."

"A veterinarian?" the ranger asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yes…” Lin Ye always felt a little awkward when introducing his profession.

"That's interesting. Rhodes Island doesn't have a veterinarian yet. Have you officially joined the company?"

Before Lin Ye could speak, Shan Ling answered for him: "Not yet. I submitted his application, and now I'm taking him to take the onboarding test."

"Really?" The Ranger looked at Lin Ye's luggage in the back seat through the rearview mirror. "You even brought your luggage. It seems you're very confident about joining Rhodes Island."

Lin Ye smiled awkwardly: "Actually, I'm not very confident. I'm even afraid you won't want me."

"I was going to ask about your abilities, but there's another question I wanted to ask the moment I saw you," the ranger said. "You feel very familiar to me."

"familiar?"

“Hmm, it feels a bit like family. I don’t know why, even though you and I aren’t from the same race.” The Ranger observed Lin Ye through the rearview mirror. “It’s a strange feeling. You remind me of my brother, even though he’s been gone for many years. The moment you opened your mouth, I felt like my brother was talking to me, even though your voices are completely different. But the feeling I get is… inexplicably warm. Even though you’re not from Saffra, you make me feel inexplicably at ease.”

Although Lin Ye didn't know what Saffra meant, the Ranger's words still made him feel very uncomfortable. While this kind of plot wasn't uncommon in anime and novels from his previous life, it usually involved a beautiful girl saying to the male protagonist, "The moment I saw you, I knew you were a gentle person," "Have we met somewhere before?" or "You give me a very warm feeling." The roles of the male and female characters could be reversed.

However, the person saying these things to Lin Ye was a man. No, a male lizard, which made Lin Ye feel quite awkward. Why would he say he resembled his deceased brother? This opening was just too strange!

And how do I look like a lizard?

Lin Ye was internally ranting, but what he said aloud was, "Is that so? It's my honor."

Shining spoke up at that moment: "That's his ability."

"ability?"

"Ah."

Shining explained Lin Ye's abilities to the Ranger, using many technical terms that Lin Ye didn't understand but which sounded incredibly sophisticated. She described Lin Ye's "innate ability to gain the favor of cats, dogs, and various beasts and animals" as "a natural demi-human affinity, even capable of restoring the sanity of out-of-control infected." The Ranger listened quietly throughout, and after Shining finished speaking, he remained silent for a long time before slowly opening his mouth.

"An incredible ability."

"Do you believe it?" Shining asked.

"To be honest, I still don't quite believe it," the Ranger said. "This ability is too incredible; there's simply no way to explain it. You know, we've been researching the effects of Originium on sanity for a long time, but apart from tranquilizers and Originium itself, we haven't found a good solution. And now you're telling me that this is just something that can be done by talent? I really don't believe it."