On the Ark.

Chen: "Dr. Lin Ye, text message harassment is illegal in Longmen."

Ansel: "Did you take too much medicine or forget to take it?"

……

Lin Ye's face immediately turned ashen.

……

……

Author's Note: Wow, I suddenly discovered we have another adorable patron! Thank you to Yuming Zhiren for becoming the third adorable patron of this book, so I'm adding two extra chapters! I updated nearly 8,000 words today, which counts as making up for one chapter; the extra 2,000 words won't be counted. I didn't get many bounties this time, only adding less than 20 chapters in total. Because apart from the day I got more bounties, the other days only got around 100-200, so I didn't keep an exact count. I just added 4,000, which is 16 chapters. The two adorable patrons together make a total of 20 chapters. Including the previous debt and what I've made up these past few days, I still owe about 35 chapters.

Chapter 269 [Maple]

Lin Ye didn't know why, but he always seemed to encounter all sorts of ridiculous things. He had only ever seen examples of accidentally sending the wrong text message to all the contacts in his address book before, but he never expected it to happen to him. Art really does imitate life.

Looking at the replies, Lin Ye's first thought was, why don't text messages have an recall function? His second thought was, why are these women still awake at this hour, and why are they all glued to their phones? His third thought was, thankfully he doesn't have parents in this world; sending these kinds of messages to his parents would be too... wait, why am I suddenly feeling a little sad?

Lin Ye shook his head, banishing those inexplicable thoughts. After all, things had come to this point, and all he could do now was try to salvage the situation. Fortunately, Eileen made many typos, and not everyone understood what she was trying to say, such as a certain naive and cunning devil. But for most of those who did understand, it was a real headache.

So how should we reply?

Explaining each point individually seems too cumbersome; it would be best to send a group message explaining. But could we just type "Sorry, wrong message"? That seems to only exacerbate the misunderstanding.

Please give a full explanation? Saying you found an injured Felin cat-eared girl in the snow, and because she was hurt and couldn't speak, she used her phone to type "Do you want me?" to express her gratitude... How incredibly stupid! It only deepens the misunderstanding!

A text message simply can't explain it; his tall and imposing figure will definitely be misunderstood!

Ugh, how am I supposed to say this?!

Lin Ye was very conflicted, but fortunately, fate didn't give him a long time to struggle with it. With a click, his phone screen went black.

He paused, then tried to restart the phone, but failed. He then noticed his gloves were covered in snow, which had melted and seeped into the phone. Phones of this era were clearly not as durable as those in Lin Ye's previous life; they were incredibly delicate, and even a little water would kill them. No matter what Lin Ye did, the phone wouldn't respond.

"Damn it!" Lin Ye couldn't help but curse out loud, very angry. "How can I be so unlucky!"

Hearing Lin Ye's words and sensing his anger, Eileen, sitting nearby, shrank back like a frightened kitten, her eyes filled with panic. She was unaware of the misunderstanding about the mass text message; she simply assumed Lin Ye was angry because of her assumption.

Lin Ye was indeed angry, but his anger mainly stemmed from the fact that his phone was ruined. The feeling of not being able to clear up this misunderstanding was truly unpleasant. He wouldn't blame Eileen, after all, she looked pitiful, and Lin Ye knew she hadn't done it intentionally; if anything, it was Lin Ye's own operational error.

So he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and then handed the dry food to Eileen: "This is none of your business, eat."

Eileen still didn't dare to answer, looking very frightened.

This made Lin Ye feel a pang of heartache. Just a few days ago, she was a girl with bright, intelligent eyes, but now all that remained was a sense of fear. He couldn't imagine what Eileen had gone through these past few days. Any normal person from the civilized world who had received a good education would feel heartbroken over such a thing.

“You can rest here for a few days,” Lin Ye said. “Once the matter with Chu Xue and the Shivaesh family is settled, I will take you to Rhodes Island. There are people there who can heal your tongue, so you can speak again.”

Eileen understood Lin Ye's words. When she learned that she might regain her ability to speak, her dull eyes finally regained some color.

Lin Ye also sensed Eileen's change in mindset and felt much more relaxed. He wanted to pat Eileen's head to comfort her, but as soon as he reached out, Eileen, noticing his gesture, subconsciously shrank back.

I'm still very afraid of myself.

Lin Ye thought to himself.

But here's the question: why does he keep wanting to touch girls' heads? Where did this habit come from? He never even held a girl's hand in his previous life, so why did he suddenly do it in this life without any instruction?

It’s weird.

"Then you should get some rest." Lin Ye didn't bother to think too much. After giving Eileen the dry rations and boiled water, he got up from the campfire. "You can just sleep in the tent. The conditions might be a bit tough, but you'll get through it. The Felin tribe isn't that weak, is it?"

Eileen nodded gently.

Lin Ye was about to leave and walk around, but as he got up, he remembered something, took out a can of catnip from his pocket, and tossed it to Eileen.

"Take a bite when you feel unwell," Lin Ye said.

……

Lin Ye did not go far.

After all, he had already been walking along St. Louis for two days and had to take care of Eileen; he didn't have the energy for a walk anymore. He just felt that Eileen needed a quiet environment right now because of what had happened, which had kept her nerves constantly on edge. And nerves are like bowstrings; if they're stretched too tight, they're easy to break. Since Lin Ye and Eileen had previously been on opposing sides, it wasn't appropriate for him to try and persuade her.

The best thing to do is provide Eileen with food and water, and a place to rest so she can get a good night's sleep. She'll feel much better by tomorrow. It's just like raising a cat; a frightened cat always needs time to recover on its own. Forcing it to be petted can easily kill it.

So Lin Ye sat down not far from Eileen. Eileen couldn't see him, but he could sense the movement of the tent.

chapped.

Lin Ye inserted the maple leaf into the snow, making a crisp sound.

"You should go to sleep," Lin Ye murmured. "I don't want to sit here all night; it's too cold."

The snowy landscape was indeed very cold at night. Lin Ye took out [Maple] to see if this divine blade had the ability to generate heat, but it seemed it didn't. Lin Ye still didn't know what abilities it possessed, and Messiah refused to reveal them.

Lin Ye felt a little tired and wanted to rest.

So he sat down next to [Maple], gripping the knife hilt with his hand and resting his chin on his hand.

At that moment, the sound of the wind in my ears disappeared.

He felt as if he had entered an extremely quiet space, so quiet that he could clearly hear his own heartbeat.

Boom, boom, boom.

Lin Ye suddenly felt that something was wrong.

This doesn't sound like his heartbeat.

Lin Ye suddenly opened his eyes and jumped up as if by reflex, pulling [Maple] out of the snow. The movement was so sudden that it kicked up a patch of snow.

Amidst the swirling snowflakes, [Maple] and another knife became locked in a struggle.

Lin Ye met a pair of eyes filled with icy killing intent.

The next second, another knife was broken by [Maple].

……

……

Author's note: Thank you Dingdang for becoming the fourth "cute master" of this book. Wow, there are so many wealthy patrons! As usual, I'm now 37 chapters behind.

Chapter 270 I asked you guys, have you really never seen a Guardian Gun before?

When Lin Ye severed his opponent's blade in an instant, he was filled with astonishment. He was astonished by the sharpness of [Maple] and by his own reaction speed.

Upon realizing that the heartbeat did not belong to him, his body tensed up like a bowstring, and he immediately drew [Maple] to block the opponent's attack.

Although he performed all of these movements himself, they were incredibly fluid. Even during his sparring sessions with Yato, when he was well-prepared, he couldn't match the fluidity of what he just did.

Whether it was his own improved reaction or the power of [Maple], Lin Ye didn't have time to think about it in detail at the moment, after all, he was currently in a state of battle.

The person who attacked Lin Ye was clearly experienced in combat. When Lin Ye instantly neutralized the attack he launched from behind, and even cut the blade in half, he was not surprised. He quickly retreated until he reached a distance he considered relatively safe before stopping.

Lin Ye gripped the hilt of the [Maple] sword tightly, staring at the attacker.

Because it was nighttime and the attacker was dressed in dark clothes, it was difficult to see clearly. All that could be seen was that the attacker was wearing an ugly mask, presumably to avoid revealing their identity, though other reasons were also possible. After all, this wasn't the first time Lin Ye had dealt with masked individuals.

In the past, Lin Ye would probably have sternly demanded to know who the attacker was, where they came from, and why they attacked him. But now he wouldn't ask those questions. His previous experiences had taught him that resolving the immediate crisis was the only right thing to do.

Moreover, Lin Ye's understanding of the other party's background was quite clear. After all, in Sherag, the only family with the ability and reason to attack them was the one called **Ben, who were most likely the same family back in Saint Road.

But wouldn't it be too risky to make a move in a place like this? After all, he's still inside the city of Shelag.

Lin Ye held the Maple Leaf in one hand and slowly unbuttoned his coat with the other.

"Your weapon is gone," Lin Ye shouted to the attacker. "How about you surrender obediently? I'm a good person, I won't kill you."

He had assumed the attacker wouldn't speak, but to his surprise, after he finished speaking, the attacker straightened up and slowly said, "Outsider, you shouldn't be here."

He actually spoke! Doesn't he know that villains die from talking too much?

Lin Ye was quite surprised, but he didn't show it. He just smiled and said, "Are you in Shelag so unwelcoming to people like us who come to do business?"

“You’re not here to do business,” the attacker said. “There’s no need to tell lies of this level.”

"Tsk... You saw right through me, alright." Lin Ye nodded. "I don't really do any legitimate business; I prefer transporting smuggled goods. By the way, are you a Felin? If so, I can recommend a really good spice to you."

The attacker said coldly, "No need. You can keep yourself as a sacrifice."

"Don't be like that. Let's talk business properly. Threatening others isn't a good habit," Lin Ye said with a smile. "Also, sneaking around isn't a good habit either."

After saying this, Lin Ye swiftly pulled out his Vector from his coat and aimed at the tent less than fifty meters away. There, another attacker, wielding a scimitar, had moved to within five meters of the tent.

"I can hear your heartbeat," Lin Ye said as he pulled the trigger.

This was the first time the Vector had fired since it came into Lin Ye's possession, proving that the one Swire gave him wasn't a fake. Although Lin Ye had switched the Vector to single-shot mode early on to conserve ammunition.

Although using the Vector for single shots feels soulless, there's nothing that can be done about it. Fortunately, even in single-shot mode, the Vector's rate of fire is significantly faster than Lin Ye's Colt Python.

The attacker who tried to bypass Lin Ye and go directly to Eileen was clearly unfamiliar with the Angel Clan's Guardian Gun, and his reaction was extremely slow. The first three bullets whizzed past him, and when they struck behind him, sending up snow pillars several centimeters high, he didn't move at all, standing there frozen in place. If Lin Ye's marksmanship hadn't been so terrible, he would be dead by now.

It wasn't until Lin Ye fired the fourth shot that he realized Lin Ye was using a weapon similar to a crossbow, but it was too late to dodge. It's unclear whether Lin Ye had adapted to the Vector's firing line or if the attacker had simply run into the bullet by sheer chance.

Lin Ye fired a total of five shots, but the first three shots missed when the attacker stood still, while the last two bullets hit when the attacker tried to dodge.

The attacker then collapsed to the ground with a muffled groan, his fate unknown.

But Lin Ye didn't have time to check on the attacker's condition. As he fired, another attacker rushed at him. He had to turn around to fight back. After the initial longsword broke, the attacker pulled out two daggers from somewhere.

This time he was smarter. Knowing how sharp the [Maple] was, he didn't use his own weapon to fight it head-on. Instead, he used his combat skills to duck and dodge Lin Ye's attack. Then he suddenly stood up and slashed the dagger at Lin Ye's neck.

Oops!

Lin Ye took two steps back. Sensing a threat to his life, his body reacted instinctively, and the sound of waves rang in his ears. As the attacker's movements slowed down in his eyes, he saw the attacker's arm suddenly severed by a white light, and blood splattered on his face.

In the moonlit snow, the sound seemed to echo like the howling of wolves.

Lapland suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Let go of that quack, let me handle this!" Lappland, having shaken off the gloom of the past two days, regained her usual "lively and energetic" demeanor, and charged towards them wielding her twin swords. The attacker, whose arm had been severed and unable to continue fighting, snorted coldly, grabbed his severed arm, and tried to run away.

He moved quickly enough to leave Lin Ye's side in the blink of an eye, giving Lin Ye a cold look before he left.

“You shouldn’t have saved that bitch,” the attacker said.

Having escaped the life-threatening situation, Lin Ye was unable to use his Leap Strike and thus couldn't catch up with the attacker. As he watched the attacker flee, he seemed lost in thought, then raised his Vector and pulled the trigger on the attacker's retreating figure.

Twenty seconds later, Lin Ye walked up to the attacker lying in a pool of blood, his eyes filled with disbelief, and sighed: "I say, have you guys really never seen a Guardian Gun before?"