On the Ark.

"That old fox is quite interesting."

The chief inspector looked up at Ying Ren: "Then, is it alright that His Highness Ying Zhen is still alive?"

"Let him be," Ying Ren said slowly, his hands behind his back. "He won't come after me."

The chief inspector nodded and then asked, "What about Princess Ying Li? Will she leave with Princess Ying Zhen?"

Yingren thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Given her personality, she will definitely come back. Tell Father not to worry, just say that Ying Li is right beside me, she is doing well, she is just a little sad because of Ying Jie's death and wants to rest for a few days."

“Yes, sir,” the Inspector General said. “There is one last matter: the Crown Prince of the Eastern Kingdom…”

"The wedding is naturally canceled," Ying Ren said calmly. "Let him go back to the Eastern Kingdom. It's better for my Great Yan princess to marry a Yan man."

Chapter 593 Parting

In the following days, contrary to Lin Ye's expectations, he did not have to hide and flee within the Yan Kingdom with Ying Li. On the contrary, the Yan Kingdom was unusually peaceful, as if no one cared about the death of the Second Prince Ying Jie and the disappearance of the Fourth Princess Ying Li... Oh, at least some people did care about Ying Jie. At least Lin Ye could see eulogies for him in various places, but as for the "lost princess," the people seemed to have forgotten that such a person even existed.

“How could I forget?” The Iron-Eating Beast scrolled through the news on its phone while showing Lin Ye the comments below the news. “People are saying that Her Highness the Princess was too heartbroken because of the death of the Second Prince, so she not only canceled her wedding with the Crown Prince of the Eastern Kingdom, but also locked herself in her room and grieved.”

Feeling sad and alone in the house?

Lin Ye glanced at Ying Li, who was smiling and talking to Skadi, and thought to himself that she was really heartbroken.

"Hey, hey, hey." The iron-eating beast suddenly nudged Lin Ye with its elbow and said, "Your screwdriver..."

"It's Rhodes Island."

"Oh, Rhodes Island," the Ironhide nodded repeatedly. "Could I join?"

Lin Ye glanced sideways at the Iron-Eating Beast: "What do you want to do with us?"

"Well, well," the Iron Eater scratched his head and stammered, "it's nothing serious, I just want to change jobs. After all, making movies all the time isn't very challenging..."

"Can't you just say you want to get treatment for Oripathy?"

The iron-eating beast's eyes widened: "How did you know?"

Lin Ye couldn't help but sigh: "Do you think I'm stupid? Can't you even see that?"

"You actually figured it out...aren't you afraid of me?" the Iron-Eating Beast asked.

Lin Ye retorted, "Why should I be afraid of you?"

"You actually asked why? Of course it's contagious," the Iron-Eating Beast said. "Aren't you afraid I'll infect you? Although I've been taking my medicine properly, I definitely won't infect you."

"Even you know it's not contagious, how could I not know?" Lin Ye said. "Let me explain it to you, okay?"

Having spent over a year on Rhodes Island, Lin Ye had a deep understanding of Oripathy. He was about to demonstrate his erudition to the Ironhide Beast when it ruthlessly interrupted him… well, not exactly ruthless, because the Ironhide Beast interrupted him with a grin, a relieved expression on its face: “I’m relieved to hear you say that. I’ll go with you then. I knew it! The first time I saw you, I felt you weren’t a bad person. No wonder you’re the princess’s brother.”

Uh, I was flattered for no reason.

“But our ship is about to leave,” Lin Ye said. “Did you buy a ticket?”

"Hey, it's no big deal." The Iron-Eating Beast pulled out a stack of banknotes. "Just spend a little more money to buy another one."

Hmm... no wonder he's a national treasure, it's good to be rich.

Watching the Iron-Eating Beast grinning as it ran to Grani to tell her that she was now a member of Rhodes Island, Lin Ye truly felt that Kal'tsit should give him another raise. He felt he was much better at recruiting talent than Zilan, who sat idly in the office all day.

Iron-eating beast... I guess it's a talent, right?

Lin Ye was somewhat unsure.

But even if it's not perfect, it's still a mascot.

Just then, Messiah's voice rang out behind Lin Ye: "What are you thinking about?"

Lin Ye turned to look at Messiah.

Messiah smiled and said, "I'm leaving soon, won't you go and say a few more words to your sister?"

Lin Ye said, "I've said everything that needed to be said in the past two days."

"Really? How's it like having a younger sister?"

"pretty good."

"How does it feel to be about to part ways with your sister?"

"That's fine then..."

Upon hearing Lin Ye's answer, Messiah couldn't help but shake her head and say, "A man who says one thing and means another."

Lin Ye scratched his head.

Was this a case of saying one thing and meaning another? He wasn't quite sure. Just as he had said, he had talked a lot with Ying Li these past two days, gone shopping, eaten snacks, and done many things that normal siblings would do. This had indeed deepened Lin Ye's feelings for Ying Li, but it didn't seem to have reached the point of a life-or-death separation before they were about to part ways.

Even normal siblings wouldn't go that far. At most, they'd feel a slight pang of reluctance, a void in their hearts, as if they'd lost something, just like Lin Ye is feeling now. But that's all. Such emotions wouldn't even show on their faces, so he doesn't know if he's being hypocritical, as the messianic described.

Ying Li was the same; she behaved normally these past two days, and even though Lin Ye was about to leave, the smile on her face never disappeared.

“This is good,” Messiah said softly. “It feels like the trip was worthwhile.”

Lin Ye turned to look at Messiah: "Are you going back to Karan?"

“Yes.” Messiah nodded. “Once we’ve had enough fun, it’s time to go back.”

When will you come out next time?

Messiah smiled and said, "Save those questions for later. Right now, it's your sister who's parting ways with you, not me."

Half an hour later, the ship emitted a "whoosh whoosh" sound, reminding the passengers below that it was time to board.

At this moment, Ying Li's smile no longer looked as natural as before.

As Lin Ye was carrying his luggage and preparing to board the ship, Ying Li suddenly reached out and grabbed the hem of Lin Ye's clothes, making a little girl-like gesture, and then asked in a very soft voice, "Will you come back?"

Lin Ye paused, then turned around. Ying Li seemed to suddenly realize something, immediately withdrew her hand, and then smiled again: "Just kidding, please, please don't come back again. I don't want to clean up your messes anymore."

Seeing Ying Li's expression, Lin Ye remained silent for a moment, then turned around and extended his hand to Ying Li.

Ying Li guessed what Lin Ye meant, immediately took a step back, wrinkled her nose, and showed a disgusted expression: "What? You still want to hug me? That's too much."

“Yes,” Lin Ye said, “Let me push my luck a little, it’s a rare opportunity.”

"Difficult? Your skin is getting thicker and thicker." Ying Li shook her head. "I don't want to... well, never mind, I'll let it go because you're my brother."

As she spoke, Ying Li stepped forward and gently hugged Lin Ye.

"Is this enough?" Ying Li wanted to leave, but found herself being held tightly by Lin Ye. She instinctively tried to break free. "Hey, you're pushing your luck..."

"Don't smoke anymore," Lin Ye whispered in Ying Li's ear.

Ying Li was taken aback, not expecting Lin Ye to suddenly say this, and said, "You didn't say that before."

“I didn’t know you were my sister before,” Lin Ye said. “Now that I do, I naturally can’t let you smoke anymore.”

"It's not like you can tell me what to do."

“Yes, I can,” Lin Ye said. “If I smell smoke on you when I come back next time, you’re in big trouble.”

"You're coming back?! You're taking my words as..."

"I will come back," Lin Ye said earnestly. "I will definitely come back to see you."

Ying Li remained silent.

She felt her eyes stinging and couldn't say anything forceful. She could only utter a choked "Mmm" and then softly say, "I'll wait for you to come back."

……

Yingren stood in the watchtower, silently watching the ship gradually disappear into the distance.

"Your Highness," the chief inspector of the Dali Temple said to Ying Ren, "this is your last chance to stop that ship."

Ying Ren calmly said, "It was decided long ago, why say more?"

The chief inspector said softly, "But Princess Yingzhen is ultimately..."

“The righteous are invincible,” Ying Ren said. “The so-called destiny is always in the hands of individuals, not in the hands of a race. My dragon clan has been able to rule the Yan Kingdom for over a hundred years, not by slaughtering all the original humans, and besides… that was my brother.”

Having said that, the Chief Inspector understood Ying Ren's meaning.

Just as Ying Ren did not treat Ying Jie as an enemy despite all the evil deeds he committed behind the scenes, Ying Ren also did not regard Ying Zhen as an enemy, even though Ying Jie was a former human who once held the mandate of heaven.

“Oh, right,” Yingren suddenly said, “I remember the Minister of Revenue complaining to me that the price of the medicines for treating Oripathy that the Ministry of Revenue purchases from the West is rising every year, right?”

The chief inspector was taken aback, not understanding why Ying Ren suddenly brought up this matter, which wasn't under his jurisdiction. However, since Ying Ren had spoken up, he agreed.

"In that case, let the Ministry of Revenue switch to another company for procurement. After all, the country's money doesn't grow on trees, and every little bit saved counts," Ying Ren said calmly. "As for the specifics, let... Ying Li handle them. Anyway, she won't be getting married anytime soon, so it's better for her to do more work. What do you think?"

Having said that, the Chief Inspector finally understood Ying Ren's meaning.

He then lowered his head and said, "Your Highness is wise."

……

……

Author's BB: Let me briefly explain why I suddenly wanted to end this story.

Firstly, my recent state of mind is a major reason; it's been quite inconsistent. For example, the scene where Lin Ye kisses Skadi—I thought it was fine when I wrote it, but upon reviewing it, I realized it did feel a bit abrupt, so I'll probably change that part. But regardless, this volume did start strong but ended weakly, failing to achieve the desired effect.

However, according to the original plan, the Lateran arc was supposed to follow the Yan Kingdom arc, because that's my personal preference (I really like Mostima). But as everyone knows, Lateran is a more puzzling place than Yan Kingdom. YJ has given almost no information, and if they're going to write it, they'll have to make it up themselves, which means it's very likely to be another thankless Yan Kingdom arc.

So I hesitated. Because I care a lot about the reader's experience and my own writing style. Although many readers may look down on me, thinking that my writing is inferior to so-and-so's, I still want to say that, so far, the subscription rate of my book is still the highest among all Arknights fanfictions, even when the book was at its lowest point (a little bit of pride here) (the lowest point was the Ghost Valley arc, when the subscription rate almost dropped by 6,000, but Mostima's appearance brought the subscription rate back up to nearly 10,000. Even the editor didn't know how I did it. This is not just a matter of original characters versus fanfiction characters, because the highest subscription rate for this book was when Messiah appeared).

So, I'm a writer who relies heavily on feeling, you could say I'm a Schrödinger's cat writer, very dependent on my state of mind. This writing style has indeed made me very tired, so I was thinking of finishing this and taking a good rest. But I also feel it's a bit of a pity to end it like this, so I'm a little confused and will probably reconsider.

I'm still a bit dazed and don't even know what I said, so let's just leave it at that.

Chapter 594 The Correct Way to Open the Year?

"I never expected we'd encounter so many things on this trip to Yan Country," Grani exclaimed on the ship. "It feels like this could be made into a movie."

While eating, the Iron-Eating Beast mumbled, "It's more exciting than a movie! At least in Yan Kingdom's movies, they would never dare to touch the royal family, but this time we not only touched them, we even..."

Lin Ye coughed suddenly, then glared fiercely at the Iron-Eating Beast. Only then did the Iron-Eating Beast realize what was happening, turn its head to look around, and when it found that no one was paying attention to it, it finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut?" Lin Ye tapped the table, saying unhappily, "How can you say such things out loud? If we were still in Yan Kingdom, what you just said would be enough to cost us our heads."

The iron-eating beast shrank its neck: "Sorry, I'll be more careful next time. I was just too excited."

"What's there to get so worked up about? You haven't done anything right." Lin Ye said speechlessly.