On the Ark.

“Otherwise what? That’s why I hope you don’t wander around outside at a time like this. Even though you’re not infected, Lungmen isn’t safe right now.” ACE put the book aside and said, “Kal’tsit has already called, telling us to leave Lungmen and return to Rhodes Island tomorrow after we’ve received those large-scale instruments from former Rhine Labs. Even Kal’tsit is making this request, so I don’t need to elaborate on the seriousness of the situation, right? But didn’t you stay out all day today? Didn’t you notice anything amiss?”

Lin Ye shook his head: "No, I've been at the hospital giving statements the whole time."

"With Officer Chen from the Guard Bureau?" ACE asked, "Or with Superintendent Swire, the one who picked you up from the theater yesterday?"

"Uh, both of them are here, and there's another policewoman named Hoshiguma," Lin Ye replied.

ACE was very surprised: "Why are there three female police officers accompanying you when you give a statement? And they are all senior officers."

Lin Ye nodded subconsciously, then felt something was off. He felt that ACE's tone was a little strange, as if being surrounded by three female police officers while giving a statement was a very lucky thing.

As the two were talking, the door was pushed open. Lin Ye turned around and saw Ifrit peeking in furtively.

Ifrit, what are you doing?

Upon discovering Lin Ye, Ifrit immediately walked in, intending to say something, but then saw ACE sitting by the window, and shut her mouth, standing silently by the wall.

Ifrit's actions made ACE understand something. He smiled and shook his head, then stood up: "It seems she has something to say to you. Young people should have a lot to talk about. This old man won't get involved. I'm going outside for a smoke. Remember to come to the restaurant for dinner later."

With that, he patted Lin Ye on the shoulder and then left the room.

As soon as ACE stepped out, Ifrit pounced on him, staring intently at Lin Ye with her golden eyes, her lips barely moving: "Give it to me."

"……What?"

"Give it to me! Give it to me now!" Ifrit grabbed Lin Ye's shoulder. "Don't you understand? Give it to me now, I can't hold back anymore."

Although much younger than Lin Ye, Ifrit was significantly stronger, easily pinning him to the bed. Looking into Ifrit's eyes, so close to his own, Lin Ye immediately understood.

"No, your mom won't let you do that kind of thing."

"Hemer doesn't know she's already asleep; I sneaked down here."

"You can't sneak down either. If your mom finds out, I'll be the one who suffers, okay?"

“If you don’t tell, and I don’t tell, how will Himer find out!” Ifrit said. “Hurry up, what are you dawdling about, you big man?”

"...Hemer already knows."

Ifrit was stunned: "What did you say?"

Lin Ye sighed: "Hemer already knows about your call to Saria. He found out that very night."

Ifrit's expression gradually froze, and then she slowly released her grip on Lin Ye's collar, muttering, "I...I know?"

Lin Ye was finally able to sit up in bed and straighten his clothes. Actually, he was quite frustrated most of the time. He was supposed to be a strong, grown man, but in this world, every woman seemed to be stronger than him. Even that brat Ifrit could easily subdue him, making him seem like a weak, helpless pretty boy. It was really annoying.

"Hey!" Ifrit suddenly glared at Lin Ye with a fierce look. "Did you tell Hemer on me?"

“If I were going to complain to Himer, I wouldn’t have agreed to let you call Saria in the first place,” Lin Ye said. “Why do you always think I would harm you?”

Ifrit said, "Because you always look like you have ill intentions."

Lin Ye's lips twitched.

Ifrit lowered her head, looking very uneasy: "Hamer already knows? But, but why didn't she tell me? She never let me contact Saria before."

“Your mother is still your mother,” Lin Ye said. “She can definitely see how you feel.”

"Then why doesn't she give it to me..."

"That's an adult matter, and adult matters are always complicated."

Ifrit glared at Lin Ye: "You think I'm a child? What a joke! I'm Lady Ifrit..."

“Only children add the suffix ‘adult’ to their names,” Lin Ye said. “The louder they shout it, the younger they are at heart.”

"You..." Ifrit was about to explode again, so Lin Ye quickly raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay, I was just joking."

As White Owl and Lin Ye had said, due to her physical condition, Ifrit's personality was always very irritable. Apart from Himeru and Saria, she could hardly listen to anyone else, including Amiya and Kal'tsit.

Therefore, one must be more serious and careful when dealing with Ifrit.

"In short, I'm not giving you the phone today," Lin Ye said. "I don't want to keep being blamed by Hemo, and you don't want Hemo to know either, right?"

Ifrit lowered her head: "But Saria..."

"I promised you I would let you see Saria, don't worry." Lin Ye ruffled Ifrit's hair. "If you can't do it, then come and bother me."

“…Since you’ve said that,” Ifrit turned her head and pouted, “then I’ll just believe you this once.”

"Don't worry, there's just one more thing."

"what?"

"Please don't speak in such an easily misunderstood way next time, although I know this may be a tradition of you Sarkaz people," Lin Ye said seriously. "If Himer finds out that I lent you my phone to call Saria, she might just scold me. But if Himer heard what you just said, I'll probably be humanely euthanized."

……

After dealing with Ifrit and having dinner, Lin Ye returned to his room and, for the first time in a long time, took out his workbook. He always kept his workbook with him, because in a sense, the contents of this workbook were the official work Rhodes Island had assigned him.

The first "patient" recorded in the workbook was Nightingale. Half a month ago, Lin Ye had already written "cured" on her condition progress, marking the end of Nightingale's treatment. Now, his patient was Ifrit on the second page. He hadn't completed Ifrit's information because he didn't know how to write it. Unlike Nightingale, whose condition stemmed from mental damage, Ifrit's irritability was more due to physical pain, so Lin Ye didn't know what to do. After much thought, Lin Ye wrote Himer and Saria's names on the condition progress, circled them, and lightly touched the paper with his pen, pondering something.

"What are you thinking about?" ACE patted Lin Ye on the shoulder, then placed a can of beer in front of him. "Want some?"

"Uh, thanks, but I don't drink."

ACE said, "Didn't you know that alcohol is good for thinking?"

"Do people who enjoy drinking always come up with so many excuses?"

ACE laughed heartily: "Yeah, you saw right through me, so would you like some?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment, nodded, and took the beer. Before he could even open it, he heard ACE say, "Actually, I really admire you."

"Admire me?" Lin Ye was somewhat surprised. "Admire me for what?"

"Your personality is probably why you're so popular with women."

Lin Ye: "..."

“I’m not joking, this is really what I think,” ACE said. “Both Nightingale and Ifrit are girls with terrible personalities. Nightingale might be okay, but Ifrit’s personality is downright awful. An old guy like me might not care, but many people on the island can’t stand her.”

"It's alright, she's just a little mischievous."

"Skin?"

"It means he's mischievous and naughty," Lin Ye explained. "But essentially, he's still a very good child."

"That's why I admire you. You're only in your early twenties, yet you're like this... You said you used to be a veterinarian? And you've raised a lot of cats and dogs?"

"Ah."

"So you treat them all like your pet cats and dogs?" ACE asked with a smile.

Lin Ye was stunned.

"What's wrong? Did I guess right?"

“…Probably.” Lin Ye said softly, as if he had remembered something. “Maybe.”

Like a key being inserted into a lock, ACE's words unlocked Lin Ye's long-sealed memory box, taking him back to the summer vacation of his first year of junior high school.

That year, his first cat passed away from illness. He wrapped the cat in newspaper and buried it under the osmanthus tree in front of his house. At that moment, he experienced the pain of losing a "family member" for the first time. He would sit blankly in the yard all day, staring at the osmanthus tree, imagining that the cat he had picked up from the garbage dump would suddenly run out from behind the tree, licking his hand and meowing elegantly.

However, this did not happen. Instead, the neighbors witnessed the scene and spread rumors that the little kid in the Lin family had developed autism.

The mother couldn't bear to see her son develop autism on top of his heart condition, so after trying everything she could, she finally took Lin Ye to a cattery.

“Let’s buy another cat. This time, I’ll get you a purebred. Then you can stop staring at that tree. How silly of you!” That’s what my mother said.

So, Lin Ye browsed through the entire cattery but couldn't choose a single cat he wanted. Although he admitted that the purebred cats were prettier and more docile than the white cat he'd picked up from the garbage dump, he just didn't like them. He always felt that those cages contained stuffed animals, not living beings. Until, just before leaving, he saw a dirty gray cat in a cage outside the cattery, and at that moment, he couldn't move.

“This is a stray cat,” the mother said helplessly. “I brought you here specifically. Couldn’t you have picked a better-behaved, nicer purebred cat? Why did you have to keep a stray cat, especially one that you bought with money?”

The owner said he found the cat in a back alley two months ago. The mother cat had given birth to a litter of kittens, but only this one survived. Strangely enough, despite being a stray, it has a very good temperament and its meows aren't as loud as other stray cats. Also, although it's small and thin, it has never lost a fight with other cats. He said he could sell it cheaply if the owner really wanted it.

So Lin Ye took the dirty little cat home. When she took it away, the owner said it was a male cat, so Lin Ye named it Didi (Little Brother). This was Lin Ye's second cat, and the only one she ever brought home from a cattery. It kept Lin Ye company during the difficult summer after her first cat passed away, until several months later when Lin Ye's mother took it to get vaccinated, at which point the vet told them that Didi was actually a female cat.

"What are you thinking about?" ACE's voice woke Lin Ye from his reverie.

"It's nothing," Lin Ye shook his head. "I was just thinking about the time I used to have cats."

"Before becoming a veterinarian?"

"Yes?"

How many did you raise?

"Seven."

ACE looked surprised: "This is a bit too much. Where are they now?"

Lin Ye shook his head and didn't say anything.

“Really?” ACE nodded, then smiled and said, “Don’t be too sad. Maybe they will be reincarnated as humans in their next life and come back to you.”

Lin Ye's expression was strange: "You should use those kinds of words to coax children."

"Hahaha, aren't you just a kid?"

……

……

Author's note: Happy Qixi Festival! Sigh, I was thinking of taking a day off today, but updating on Qixi Festival feels too miserable. Even though I don't have a girlfriend, I can pretend I do, right?

I'm not feeling too well today, so I'll just write about Lin Ye's past life for now. People have always said Lin Ye's personality is awkward, but my idea for Lin Ye is that he wasn't a normally grown-up child. He's a boy confined to his home due to a heart condition, growing up with pets. So… never mind, no need to say too much, just read on.

(③42967465)

P.S., I'm planning to find an artist to draw an illustration. Who would you like to see? (It's the artist who drew two illustrations for my last book. If you're interested, you can check them out; the quality is absolutely guaranteed!)

Chapter 181: Attacked Again!

Perhaps due to the further escalation of the theater attack incident, Lin Ye was dragged out of bed by ACE before dawn the next day.

"Wake up," ACE said to Lin Ye while straightening his clothes. "Hurry up and get ready, we should leave."

"Go, go what?" Lin Ye was still half asleep. "Where to?"

“There’s a factory in the suburbs fifty kilometers from Lungmen. Hamer’s colleagues have already transported the equipment we need there,” ACE said. “We’ll go pick up that batch of equipment and then we can go back to Rhodes Island.”

"oh oh."