On the Ark.

First Snow, Cliffheart, and Susuluo were all watching the excitement. The two-day, one-night journey was actually quite boring, but they felt that with Lin Ye and Lappland around, it might not be so boring.

After seeing that Lappland had let Lin Ye go, Sussuruo ran to Lin Ye's side and grabbed his hand before he could react.

"What's wrong?" Lin Ye looked at Su Suluo with a puzzled expression.

Susuluo carefully examined the teeth marks on Lin Ye's arm and then said, "Some places are already bleeding. I suggest disinfecting them."

"Uh, I guess we don't need that..."

"It's necessary. Sit down, I'll disinfect it for you." Su Suluo took out a small bottle of medical alcohol swabs from her pocket. "It'll be quick, don't worry, it won't hurt."

Lin Ye was both amused and exasperated: "It's not that exaggerated..."

Susuluo ignored Lin Ye, opened the bottle cap, took out a small wad of medical alcohol swab with tweezers, and gently wiped Lin Ye's wound.

Lin Ye immediately fell silent. Looking at Su Suluo's serious expression, her slightly trembling ears, and her gently wagging tail, he suddenly felt his heart melt.

Ah, what a cute and gentle little girl!

Lin Ye thought that if he could have such a well-behaved and adorable daughter in the future, his life would be complete. Seeing Su Suluo, he felt his fatherly love overflowing.

Wait, fatherly love?

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly.

Why are you thinking about something so far ahead when you don't even have a girlfriend?

Thinking this, he couldn't help but sigh softly.

Susuluo immediately stopped what she was doing, looked up at Lin Ye, and asked seriously, "Does it hurt?"

"Pain? Of course it doesn't hurt." Lin Ye shook his head repeatedly, and then, in order to show his masculinity in front of Su Suluo, he added, "Even if it hurts, I won't cry out, that would be too embarrassing."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Ya Xin, who had been watching the commotion from the sidelines, immediately came over: "Huh? Crying out in pain is shameful? Weren't you just making a fool of yourself?"

Lin Ye immediately felt embarrassed and glared fiercely at Ya Xin.

Chu Xue had been holding back for a long time, but this time she finally couldn't hold back anymore. She covered her mouth and laughed softly.

This made the atmosphere in the carriage even more cheerful, except for Lin Ye, who didn't feel any joy. He turned to look at the instigator of all this, Lappland, who was shaking her head and swaying, and couldn't help but say, "Can you not be so crazy next time?"

“Crazy? How am I crazy?” Lappland crossed her arms. “I’ve always been a calm and collected person.”

Calm down my ass!

Lin Ye didn't even want to complain anymore. Then he noticed that there were still a lot of dry grass stuck in Lappland's hair, so he reached out his hand.

"What are you doing?!" Lappland stared at him warily. "Are you already planning to take revenge on me?"

"Who wants to get revenge on you?" Lin Ye said irritably, then pointed at Lappland's head, "Damn it."

"You're still insulting me!" Lappland glared.

"Who insulted you? I said, damn it!"

"You're going to curse me twice more!" Lappland snapped again. "Do you really think I wouldn't dare teach you a lesson again?"

"Are you stupid?! I said there's grass in your hair!"

Lin Ye really felt that spending too much time with Lappland would probably shorten his lifespan due to the anger he felt.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh." Lappland finally realized what was happening, raised her hand and scratched her hair, immediately pulling out several dry grasses.

"Are you still sleeping in the training ground?" Lin Ye asked.

“Yes,” Lappland said smugly, looking at Lin Ye. “Aren’t you envious?”

Why would I be envious?

"What will you do when you get to Shelag?" Lin Ye asked. "There won't be any training grounds for you to sleep in there."

Lappland looked at Lin Ye as if he were an idiot: "Why would I sleep on the grass when I get to Kjerag? Besides, there's not much grass in Kjerag, it's all snow."

"Then you mean..."

“I’ll just dig a hole in the snow,” Lappland said matter-of-factly.

Lin Ye nodded.

He should have thought of that.

"Let me tell you, sleeping in the snow is much more comfortable than sleeping in a bed." Lappland started recommending it to Lin Ye, but Lin Ye couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted her.

"You'll be in the car for the next couple of days, so you'll still be sleeping in here, won't you?"

"Who said that?" Lappland said dismissively. "I'm not going to sleep in such a cramped space. If a room is a prison, this place doesn't even qualify. It's only two days, I can just not sleep here."

Half an hour later, Lappland lay down on the sofa and was the first to fall asleep.

Chapter 222: Don't worry about it, Rhodes Island is just a pharmaceutical company.

Shelag, a shrine for worshipping gods.

The hunched old man knocked on the door of the ancestral hall and said in a low, humble voice, "Lord Goldman, your loyal servant Green greets you."

A moment later, a solemn male voice rang out in the ancestral hall: "Come in."

Green pushed open the door of the ancestral hall, walked in, and then gently closed it again.

"Did Ensiodis not notice you came to see me?" the person in the shrine spoke again.

Green turned around, looked at the middle-aged man standing under the statue, and slowly bowed: "No, Lord Goldin, Ensiodes... that is, the Silver Grey Clan Head, has already gone to sleep."

Gorvin nodded slightly: "That's fine then."

A few seconds later, he asked again.

"Have you delivered the letter yet?"

“It’s already been sent out,” Green said. “If nothing unexpected happens, it’s already been delivered to the Saintess or Encia.”

"Will they come back?" Goldin asked. "In the first place, Ensiodis sent his sisters away to avoid conflict with us, so that he could fight us for power in Sherag without any scruples."

“That was his own plan. Neither Enya nor Miss Enshia knew about it… No, perhaps the Saintess knew something, but Miss Enshia was definitely kept in the dark,” Green said. “In my letter, I said that Enshiodis was bedridden due to illness, and given the Saintess and Miss Enshia’s feelings for Enshiodis, it was impossible for them not to come back.”

“That little girl is another matter. Didn’t the Saintess have a falling out with SilverAsh a long time ago?” Gorvin frowned. “She left Kjerag for the same reason back then. Now she’s going to return to this place she hates because of SilverAsh’s serious illness?”

Green bowed even lower: "Lord Goldin, what a person says and what they think are often different. Even if the Saintess has a lot of dissatisfaction and weariness with Ensiodes, she will definitely come back because of the bond of blood. As for Miss Ensia, there's no need to say more. In her heart, her brother and sister are the most important people, and compared to them, she's like a child."

Gorvin nodded slightly. "You know that family far better than I do. Since you've said so, there must be no problem. In that case, I should have prepared earlier." He paused, then continued, "I originally didn't want to use two little girls as scapegoats, if it weren't for Ensiodes pushing us too far. Ensiodes, like his obnoxious father, is someone whose true intentions are never revealed. Right now, he's using the Kalan Trade to suppress the power of the two great families and the Council of Elders to its lowest point, and he even wants us to hand over our last remaining military strength. Ha, he's really overthinking things."

Green didn't speak, he just listened.

“I admit that his Kalan trade is well-run, but that’s not a reason for his arrogance. We were able to wipe out his family back then, and we can wipe him out now.”

“What should we do?” Green whispered. “If the Saintess and Miss Encia received the letter, they should be on their way by now. Judging by the time, they should arrive in Sherag the day after tomorrow. Should we make our move before Encia sees them?”

“No, no need, absolutely no need for that much trouble.” Gorvin sneered. “As long as the garrison is still in our hands, we hold the ultimate power in Kjerag. Once the Saintess and Encia return, SilverAsh won’t dare to be as aggressive as he has been lately. Can he protect himself, and can he protect both of his sisters at the same time?”

"what do you mean……"

“Use his two sisters to negotiate with him,” Goldman said. “Get him to hand over the Kalan trade to us.”

Will he do as instructed?

“We won’t just kill his two sisters or sell them to brothels. Ensiodis knows we’re capable of that,” Gorvin said coldly. “We failed to kill Ensia back then, only making her an infected person, but this time we won’t fail. Either hand over the Karan Trade, or the Shivaish family is completely removed from Sherag. He should be able to tell which is more important.”

“But even if he really hands over the Kharlan trade, can we really take it all?” Green voiced his doubts. “Most of the tribe’s members have never left Kharrag and have never been exposed to the world outside of Kharrag…”

Gorvin interrupted Green, questioning, "If Ensiodis can do it, why can't my clansmen?"

Green immediately lowered his head, his tone even more humble: "Sir, that's not what I meant."

“You’d better not have that idea either,” Goldman’s tone softened. “But I know your concerns, so we’ve brought in outside help this time.”

"Foreign player?" Green looked up at Goldman with some confusion. "Where is the foreign player from?"

“Of course, it’s outside of Shelag,” Goldman said. “Enciodes has endured for so many years in order to get revenge. I don’t believe that he only has the armed forces that we can see.”

"You mean, Ensiodis has a backup plan?"

Didn't he mention it to you?

Green shook his head.

"Tsk, either he doesn't fully trust you, or he doesn't trust anyone in Sheragri," Gorvin sneered. "This kind of scheming is quite in line with the identity of the Shiva'ish. But so what? Since he has a backup plan, I will naturally have one too. He can't beat us in terms of open strength, and he can't beat us in terms of covert strength either. If I'm going to fight, I'll fight a battle that is foolproof."

"I still don't understand what you mean by foreign aid."

"You'll find out then. It's an organization called the Reunion Movement," Golden said calmly. "The leader is Mephisto, and he'll be arriving in Sherag with his men in a few days. That's when we'll have our showdown with Ensiodis. He can choose whether to live or die then. After it's done, the Karan Trade will be ours, and we'll only need to give Mephisto and his men forty percent of the profits."

"Forty percent...is that too much?" Green asked cautiously.

Goldman immediately showed displeasure, and Green lowered his head, no longer asking any questions.

"You can't catch a wolf without risking your cubs. Only by completely controlling the Kalan trade can it truly be ours," Goldman said.

“I understand,” Green nodded. “But sir, there’s another organization involved this time…”

"You mean Rhodes Island?" Goldin scoffed. "Don't worry, I've already checked. It's just a pharmaceutical company. What big waves can it make?"

……

……

Author's note: Twenty-four more chapters are still owed.

Chapter 223 New Training Partner (Part 1)

Lin Ye was utterly speechless at Lappland.

He had sworn he would never fall asleep in such a cramped space because it was too restrictive. Lin Ye could understand this habit, just like many people don't like to sleep with the lights off. But what he couldn't understand was that Lappland said one thing and did another, falling asleep just a few hours after getting on the train. And not only that, but her sleeping posture was restless, sprawling out and moving around, forcing Lin Ye to give up a large portion of his seat.

Her terrible sleeping posture was tolerable, but what was intolerable was her strange habit. She would often sit up abruptly after sleeping for several tens of minutes, and everyone would think she was awake, only to find that she wasn't, her eyes still closed, her head swaying, muttering, "Eek! Can Texas do that?!"

After saying that, he fell straight down, leaving everyone speechless.

"What's wrong with her?" After several attempts, Lin Ye, exhausted, couldn't help but ask Sussuro, the only medical operator on the trip, "Is this sleepwalking?"

"Maybe... I guess so." Sussuro was also curious about Lappland's expression after falling asleep, and had been watching her the whole time. When Lin Ye asked, she thought for a moment and said, "It could be a bad habit, or it could be a racial trait? Many races have all sorts of strange behaviors after falling asleep."

Lin Ye thought about it and realized that Sussuro's words made sense. After all, he had a roommate who loved to grind his teeth in his sleep, and the sound was quite loud. So, the first few nights after joining Rhodes Island were pure torture for him. It took him several weeks to fully adapt, but there were still some side effects. After getting used to Ansel's teeth grinding, his morning alarm couldn't wake him up at all. His body had probably become accustomed to rejecting all noise while sleeping.

So when Lin Ye thought that there was no bad sleeping habit worse than teeth grinding and snoring, he met the oddball Lappland.