On the Ark.

Eileen fell silent.

Lin Ye, who was listening nearby, couldn't help but want to applaud Chu Xue.

He had initially thought that Chuxue wanted to keep Eileen around either because of her resentment towards her brother SilverAsh—she would oppose anything SilverAsh wanted to do—or out of pity, not wanting to see such a girl die tragically in the streets.

But now Lin Ye realized that both of his guesses were wrong. Chu Xue had known all along that Eileen had woken up, but she still had a fierce argument with Silver Ash. Her purpose was different from her brother Silver Ash's; Silver Ash wanted to drive Eileen away directly, while Chu Xue wanted to learn more from Eileen.

So she first tried to use her status as a saint to make Eileen comply, but when that failed, she brought out SilverAsh, whom she disliked. In the argument with SilverAsh, SilverAsh, who advocated throwing Eileen out, was the good cop, while Frostleaf, who stood on the opposite side of SilverAsh, naturally became the bad cop.

It has to be said that Lin Ye had to admire Chu Xue, this seemingly naive saintess, for coming up with such a plan in such a short time. But this also raised a question: if even Chu Xue noticed that Eileen had woken up, did SilverAsh notice as well?

If so, does that mean SilverAsh was also cooperating with Frostleaf in this performance?

Lin Ye didn't know if all of this was just his imagination, but if it was true, he could only admire the brother and sister even more.

Now it's up to Eileen to react.

Lin Ye pretended not to notice anything and silently watched Eileen. This time, Eileen remained silent for longer than before. Then, she lowered her head again, wrote "Thank you for your hospitality" on a piece of paper, handed the cardboard to Chu Xue, and then stood up from the sofa.

Chu Xue looked at her with considerable surprise: "You're leaving?"

Eileen nodded.

“The Eben family won’t let you go back, will they?” Chu Xue said, frowning. “Regardless of whether Gorvin Eben sent you here as a ploy, since he’s treated you like this, why are you still defending him? You’re not even a Sherag person.”

Eileen smiled; this was the first time Lin Ye had ever seen her smile. Although Eileen had smiled at him a few days earlier, it hadn't left much of an impression on Lin Ye, probably because it felt too fake.

Then, Eileen opened her mouth, but could not utter a clear syllable. Her lips opened and closed a few times, and then she dragged her battered body towards the outside.

Lin Ye looked at Chu Xue: "What did she say?"

Chu Xue watched Eileen's departing figure and sighed softly: "What she said was, 'The master has raised me for many years, and I cannot betray him, even if he no longer wants me.'"

Lin Ye suddenly felt a pang of unease.

Cliff Heart's expression changed as well: "Did she really say that?"

"Read the lip movements." Chu Xue nodded. "Yes."

"...I feel so sorry for her," Ya Xin asked. "Sister, is she really a bad person? Is she a spy sent by the Aiben family?"

"It's hard to say," Chu Xue said. "Although I feel it's unlikely, since she could easily make up any reason, and we have no way to verify it. If she really was sent here by the Aiben family, her primary task should have been to stay with us, not to pay such a high price and then leave like this, and..."

"And what?"

“Regardless of whether she was sent by the Eben family to gather intelligence, since she has already been treated this way, her future is ruined regardless of whether the mission succeeds or not,” Chuxue said softly. “Just as Susuro said before, only Sarkaz’s medical skills can completely heal her injuries. But there can’t be any Sarkaz in Sherag, and I don’t think Golvin Eben would find one specifically for her.”

Cliffheart immediately panicked: "Then should we let her go? In her current state, if the Aiben family doesn't want her, she definitely won't survive. Sister, since you think she's unlikely to be an actress playing a victim, why not let her go..."

“As I said, it’s unlikely.” Chu Xue glanced at Ya Xin and said softly, “The Three Races Council is in three days. Whether the Shiva Ash family can be revived depends on three days from now. There must be no trouble in these few days.”

Cliffheart stared blankly at Snowfall. If she hadn't heard it with her own ears, she would have thought SilverAsh had said those words. Snowfall also saw through Cliffheart's thoughts and said softly, "I don't like that man, but that doesn't mean I don't agree with what he did."

Ya Xin was speechless.

Lin Ye, who had been listening from beginning to end, finally stepped forward and patted Ya Xin on the shoulder: "Leave it to me."

Chu Xue and Ya Xin looked at him with some surprise.

"As long as she doesn't affect the Shiva's family, it should be fine, right?" Lin Ye said. "Then let's do this: I'll go out and take care of her for a few days, and after the Three Races Council you mentioned ends, I'll bring her back to Rhodes Island. Is that alright?"

"...It's possible, but why would you do it?"

Lin Ye shrugged: "Because I'm a veterinarian."

……

……

The author's rant: The saddest thing in life is having writer's block while trying to update...

Chapter 268 Do You Want Me? (3K) (35 chapters owed)

Regardless of whether Eileen was a spy sent by the Eben family to infiltrate the Shivaish family, Lin Ye found it hard to believe that a girl so badly injured would leave alone. Therefore, he wanted to help, but didn't want to implicate the Shivaish family, so leaving with the girl was the best option.

Although everyone was surprised by his choice and wanted to persuade him otherwise, Chuxue and Yaxin swallowed their words when they saw the [Maple] ornament on Lin Ye's waist. Although Lin Ye might not have realized it, for Chuxue and Yaxin, Lin Ye receiving the [Maple] ornament meant that he had gained the Messiah's approval.

Men who have gained the gods' approval can do things that are unconventional, and the women have no way to refuse them. So, Lin Ye, who had only been back in his warm, roofed room from the snow-capped mountains for less than two hours, picked up his bag, which he hadn't had time to put back, and ran out of the house to chase after Eileen.

……

Standing on the second-floor balcony, SilverAsh watched Lin Ye's departing figure, remaining silent for a long time before asking Horn Peak, who was standing beside him, "The sword he carries, is it the Blade of God?"

“Yes.” Horn Peak nodded and said, “God himself handed the sword to him and named it [Maple].

“The Sherag people have never obtained a weapon from the gods in thousands of years,” SilverAsh said softly. “His name is Lin Ye, right? Tell me everything you know about him.”

Horn Peak nodded slightly: "Yes, sir."

……

It took Lin Ye some time to find Eileen because before leaving, Su Su Luo had asked him to wait a moment and then gave him a packet of anti-inflammatory medicine to treat Eileen's injuries.

So Lin Ye was delayed for a short while, but given Eileen's current condition, he couldn't run very far in that short time. However, when he chased after her, he couldn't see her anymore.

He searched for a full half hour before finally finding Eileen just as the sun was about to completely set. Eileen hadn't run far at all; she was curled up at the bottom of a flight of stairs less than a hundred meters from Shiva Ash's house. Lin Ye had run too fast earlier and missed this spot.

When he found Eileen, her eyes were tightly closed, her body was covered with a thin layer of snow, and her ears were drooping limply, like a cat that was about to freeze.

Lin Ye hurriedly dug Eileen out of the snow, and then found that Eileen was still holding the sign that read "Warms the bed, looking for a sugar daddy" in her hand, but her fingers were frozen stiff.

He carefully examined Eileen's condition and found that her pulse and breathing were very weak. If he had arrived any later, he would have only found a corpse.

We need to find Eileen a warm place as soon as possible.

Since he couldn't go back to Shiva's house, Lin Ye's first thought was to find a hotel to stay in. However, another problem arose. Although Kjerag had become less closed off since SilverAsh returned, it wasn't much better. Hotels were impossible in Kjerag, where there were hardly any tourists all year round.

So, staying at a private residence? That doesn't seem like a good option either. After all, Eileen is currently involved with the Aiben family, and staying at a private residence could cause trouble for unrelated people. Besides, the Sherag people don't really welcome outsiders.

So after much thought, Lin Ye realized that the only thing he could rely on was the tent in his backpack.

"Hey, hang in there, little kitty." Lin Ye took out two catnip leaves and stuffed them into Eileen's mouth. "I don't want to be your corpse."

Sensing the scent of catnip, Eileen hummed softly twice, but still didn't open her eyes. Lin Ye then carried her quickly away from Shivaash's house, and found a sheltered spot far from the residents before putting Eileen down.

Next came gathering firewood, lighting a fire, and setting up the tent. While the series of actions wasn't exactly seamless, it wasn't slow either. Midway through, Lin Ye even considered trying to see if his [Maple] could light the firewood, but it turned out he was mistaken; [Maple] didn't have the ability to start a fire.

"The sword Messiah gave me couldn't just be a little sharper, could it?" Lin Ye muttered.

The campfire was lit, the tent was pitched, and Lin Ye took out a coat from his backpack and draped it over Eileen's shoulders. A short while later, Eileen finally slowly opened her eyes, her dark green pupils looking at the scene before her with a hint of confusion.

"Looks like she's come back to life," Lin Ye said to Eileen. "What would you like to eat?"

Eileen turned to look at him, her expression even more confused.

Lin Ye took out his phone and waved it in front of Eileen: "Do you know how to use this? If you do, use it to communicate with me."

Eileen nodded, and Lin Ye handed him the phone.

After taking the phone, Eileen immediately opened the text message editor, showing that she was quite familiar with mobile phones. However, her typing speed was far slower than Lin Ye's, and much slower than handwriting. It took her almost a minute of editing and rewriting before she could write a single sentence and show it to Lin Ye.

"Why does it need nine nests?"

Well, it's full of typos.

Lin Ye simply said, "I don't want to see you die."

Eileen was even more confused. It wasn't that she hadn't understood Lin Ye's words, but rather that she didn't understand why Lin Ye was doing this. Lin Ye was too lazy to explain, so he simply took out a cotton swab, applied some medicine, and wiped Eileen's bloody ear.

Eileen's brows furrowed immediately from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and typed on her phone.

"Feed shrimp?" This time it's a 100% misspelling.

Seeing that Eileen was so persistent, Lin Ye originally wanted to reply with "Because I'm kind," but after thinking about it, he said instead, "Do you remember a few days ago? You bought my goods. I think you're a good person and I didn't want to see you die, so I came. Do you understand?"

After all, she was willing to pay ten times the price even though she forgot to remove the price tag. Lin Ye thought that such a girl might be a little lacking in intelligence, but she shouldn't be a bad person at heart.

This time, Eileen understood. She lowered her head again, watching the rapid typing, looking like a girl addicted to her phone. Lin Ye finished applying the medicine for her, but she was still typing, so he didn't bother her. Instead, he took out a water bottle and some dry food to eat first.

But just as he was about to start eating his dry rations, Eileen held up her phone in front of him so he could see it.

The sign read: "Tie it up, or Grandpa Bei might get his eye on it."

The typos were giving Lin Ye a headache. It took him some effort to understand that Eileen was worried that Lin Ye would be targeted by the head of the Ai family.

"At times like this, you just need to mind your own business." Lin Ye added more firewood to the fire, pretending to be calm. "I'm not the kind of person who can be easily bothered by others."

That being said, only Lin Ye himself knew that the Vector, fully loaded with bullets, was hidden under his coat. In the event of an emergency, he could immediately draw the Vector and start shooting at the attacker.

Although he had never piloted a Vector before and didn't know if he could actually kill someone, he still needed to project an imposing presence. Besides, he genuinely didn't believe the Eben family would attack him; did they really think SilverAsh was a pushover? Within Kjerag City, neither SilverAsh nor the head of the Eben family dared to mobilize troops without authorization; after all, infighting wasn't allowed under the rule of the gods.

This was something Lin Ye had asked Chu Xue about before leaving home.

After hearing Lin Ye's words, Eileen fell silent, simply staring at him. In her eyes, this man had practically pushed her into hell, exhausting Goldman's last shred of patience with her. Yet, he had pulled her back just when she was about to give up everything and peacefully face death.

She didn't understand why. If her tongue hadn't been cut off, she would have had so many questions for Lin Ye. But now she couldn't speak and could only type with great difficulty on her phone.

When she was still a slave, she had heard a saying: "The sunlight that shines into hell is the most dazzling." This man cast her into the abyss, yet didn't let her die there. What did he want from her?

Eileen didn't think she had anything that Lin Ye would be interested in; if there was anything, it was her body. So she wanted to use her phone to ask Lin Ye if he was interested in her body.

He had only been talking for half the call when Lin Ye snatched the phone back and put it in his pocket.

"That's enough, aren't you done yet?" Lin Ye rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Do you really think you're a smartphone addict..."

Before he could finish speaking, a "ding" sounded from his pocket. Lin Ye was startled; he knew it was the notification sound for a successfully sent text message. What the heck? How did he send a text message?

Lin Ye immediately took out his phone and saw a notification pop up that the text message had been successfully sent.

It turns out that when he snatched the phone from Eileen, he didn't turn it off immediately. Instead, he touched the button on it and, almost by accident, sent the text message he was editing.

And it seems to be... a mass message?!

Lin Ye sensed something was wrong and quickly checked what text message he had sent. When he saw the content of the message, his face immediately turned green.

It's the unfinished "You want to cure me..." edited.

Holy crap, what the hell is this?!

Before Lin Ye could react, text message notifications started ringing one after another.

Skadi: "?"

Nightingale: "Medicine? Are you sick?"

Swire: "Is this a confession or harassment? But either way, can you type it correctly? I know a really good teacher, I can introduce you if you need."