On the Ark.

But he didn't know when Nightingale would wake up, and standing for so long was too tiring. So Lin Ye took a few steps back, intending to sit on another bed for a while and rest, since Nightingale lived alone anyway.

So he groped his way to the other bed in the dark and plopped down on it.

A second later, he sensed something was wrong.

Because there's someone in the bed.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" A heart-wrenching scream rang out from beneath Lin Ye, "Who dares to ambush my Lady Ifrit! Die!"

Before Lin Ye could get up, he looked down and saw the flames rising.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

Amidst the chaos, the nightingale was awakened.

She rubbed her eyes, still half-asleep, and looked at the scene before her. She unconsciously called out, "Pineapple bun?"

Then I felt something was wrong, as if I was a little more awake, but then again, I wasn't, so I tilted my head.

"A baked pineapple bun?"

Chapter Sixty-Four: Promises

Nightingale breathed on the alcohol swab, then gently dabbed it twice on Lin Ye's face, and Lin Ye's expression immediately turned ferocious.

Having just regained consciousness, Nightingale couldn't effectively use her healing magic. After healing Lin Ye's burns, she was hesitant to move her face, so she could only temporarily treat it with alcohol, planning to find another medical operator to treat him at dawn. While Nightingale was applying alcohol to Lin Ye, Ifrit stood by with her arms crossed, looking very uncomfortable.

“You can’t blame me for this,” Ifrit said. “Such a big butt was on my head…”

"It's clearly on my leg," Lin Ye said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, so it was on my legs.” Evelyn nodded. “So it’s normal that I subconsciously retaliated a little, isn’t it?”

"You're practically burning me to a crisp!"

"How dare you slander someone out of thin air?" Ifrit said, somewhat displeased. "I have excellent control over my power, you know. I just wanted to teach you a lesson, and I definitely won't burn you to death. Don't worry, I always use this kind of heat when I grill meat at home."

Lin Ye nearly jumped up: "You just said barbecue, didn't you?! You just said barbecue, didn't you?! You really were planning to barbecue me, weren't you?!"

Ifrit realized she had let something slip and immediately shut up.

Lin Ye gritted his teeth.

Demon, oh demon!

This is a demon!

How many donkeys must have kicked his brain to think that demons are a cute species? So close! So close! He almost became roasted human flesh, or the roasted pineapple bun the nightingale spoke of.

However, Lin Ye had no way to blame Ifrit.

Ifrit has been unconscious since being ambushed by W, and her subconscious is probably still in a fighting state, which is why she had some... well, resistance when she was violently awakened.

Unconsciously, Lin Ye found a reason in his mind for Ifrit. Although he was still very angry, he was bound to make a few sarcastic remarks.

"You're saying I was ambushed?" Ifrit's eyes widened. "Who dares to ambush Lady Ifrit?!"

“Just like you, a Sarkaz,” Lin Ye said. “You demons have always been this violent when you fight.”

"That despicable bastard! How dare he ambush me, Lady Ifrit!" Ifrit clenched her fists tightly, clearly furious. "If it weren't for the ambush, and we fought openly, I certainly wouldn't have lost."

"Who knows?"

"Hey, how dare you not believe me!?"

"Anyone can say such hurtful things after the fact," Lin Ye said. "But what does it change? The fact is you were beaten to a pulp before you even saw the other person's face. If I hadn't risked my life to save you, you'd be dead by now, you know?"

"Nonsense!" Ifrit was clearly unable to accept the fact that she had been defeated and became angry. Then, noticing Nightingale, she seemed to realize something and immediately pointed at Nightingale, turning her attention to her. "Isn't she a medic? Why didn't she heal me?!"

Nightingale, whose name was called, was a little confused because she couldn't quite remember what had happened before; it seemed to be a side effect of the drug Kal'tsit had given her. So she stared blankly at the furious Ifrit, tilted her head, and remained silent.

Lin Ye naturally couldn't let Ifrit blame Nightingale, so he pressed Ifrit's hand down and said, "You're blaming Nightingale. If it weren't for Nightingale, would you be completely unharmed? Hey, you were blown up, you know. It's normal for someone who's been blown up to lose an arm or a leg. Look, you're not missing anything, all because Nightingale healed you... uh, treated you."

Ifrit was also a little confused.

That makes sense. She's not Nightingale; she can remember what happened before and knows she fainted because of serious injuries. But right now, she doesn't feel any discomfort anywhere in her body. If there is anything, it's just her legs, because Lin Ye pressed down on them.

"But since you've healed me, why didn't you wake me up?" Ifrit asked. "If I woke up, I could fight that guy who attacked me for three hundred rounds. No, I'd kill her instantly!"

“You think I didn’t want to wake you up?” Lin Ye said. “But you were about to explode at that time, how could I wake you up?”

"What?" Ifrit didn't hear her clearly. "What do you mean I'm going to do?"

"You're going to explode."

Are you insulting me?

“I didn’t insult you. You were about to explode anyway. I’m just stating the facts,” Lin Ye said. “If we woke you up, you probably would have exploded right there.”

Just as Ifrit was about to explode, Lin Ye immediately explained to her that her Oripathy had worsened, which calmed her down.

"You mean..." Ifrit looked at her hands, somewhat incredulously, "I almost exploded?"

Lin Ye: "..."

It was obvious that Ifrit knew about her physical condition, probably from her "mother" Himeru. Knowing that she had almost self-destructed due to the worsening of her Originium disease, she couldn't cause any more trouble and sat on the bed in silence.

Lin Ye looked at Ifrit and suddenly thought of something.

"I guess you could say I saved your life this time," Lin Ye said slowly.

Ifrit frowned, a premonition telling her that things weren't simple: "What do you mean? I saved your life too, didn't I? If it weren't for me, you would have been beaten to death long ago."

"To be honest..." Usually, if someone starts with the words "to be honest," then what follows is basically completely unreasonable. "Actually, even if you hadn't attacked, we wouldn't have done anything. Besides, you were clearly being attacked at the time, which is why you retaliated..."

"What are you trying to say?" Ifrit's eyes widened. "I saved your life, and you're trying to renege on your debt?"

"I won't renege on my debt, I won't renege on my debt." Lin Ye waved his hands repeatedly. "Since that's the case, you saved my life, and I saved yours, so let's call it even. The promise you owed me before should still stand, right?"

Ifrit remembered this, and then looked at Lin Ye, suddenly feeling very annoyed: "What if I say it doesn't count?"

"Then I'll tell your mother." Lin Ye said expressionlessly.

“…Despicable!” Ifrit took a deep breath. “If it’s a promise, then it is. I, Lady Ifrit, have always kept my word. I’m not like some despicable lords.”

Lin Ye nodded in satisfaction.

So what if it's despicable? If adults aren't a little despicable and shameless, how can they be considered adults?

The reason he brought this up with Ifrit was because he hadn't taken her promise seriously before. After all, what could a little kid do for him? But after witnessing Ifrit's power firsthand, he realized the promise carried much more weight, and naturally, he wanted to take it back.

Seeing Ifrit's indignant expression, he almost laughed.

Children can never beat adults.

Look closely, the devil is actually quite cute.

As he was thinking this, Nightingale poked his wound again with an alcohol swab.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!"

Chapter Sixty-Five: Welcome to Rhodes Island

After daybreak, Lin Ye met Kal'tsit again in the laboratory.

Kal'tsit seemed to have rushed back, her brows still showing signs of exhaustion. When Lin Ye entered, she was still gently rubbing her temples, only putting them down when she saw him, forcing herself to perk up.

“I’m very sorry about what happened last night,” Kal’tsit said. “We didn’t expect this to happen.”

Lin Ye shook his head: "It's okay, thankfully nothing unexpected happened."

“No, it’s still quite significant.” Kal’tsit tapped the table lightly. “Rhodes Island hasn’t reached the point where it needs to send logistics personnel and patients into combat. This was an accident, and it won’t happen again.”

Kal'tsit's words were firm.

With that, Lin Ye didn't say much. He just felt that Kal'tsit, as one of Rhodes Island's leaders, truly exuded a powerful aura; she was a strong woman among strong women.

“Of course, it’s more accurate to say that this was an accident on Lungmen’s part than on ours,” Kal’tsit said with some displeasure. “They didn’t tell us the truth, which led to what happened last night, and that’s why I rushed back so early. What we need is a partner we can trust, not someone who uses us as a pawn or a target. So we should have a serious talk with Lungmen.”

Lin Ye nodded. However, he still had some doubts. He didn't quite understand why Kal'tsit would tell him these things. He was just a junior psychologist, and an intern at that.

However, he soon understood what Kal'tsit meant.

Kal'tsit bent down, picked up the backpack at her feet, placed it on the table, and then pushed it in front of Lin Ye.

"This is..."

"What is your current identity?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment and said, "An intern psychologist at Rhodes Island?"

“Yes, from now on, the word ‘internship’ can be dropped,” Kal'tsit said. “Furthermore, the psychological counseling room will be separated from the personnel department and established as a separate department. I haven’t thought of a name yet; you can decide for yourself. When you return to Rhodes Island, you can take a new office as the highest leader of this department.”

Lin Ye was silent for a moment, then asked, "Is it the payment for last night?"

"If I said no, would you believe me?" Kal'tsit retorted.

Lin Ye shook his head: "I don't believe it."

“That’s it.” Kal’tsit opened the folder on the table and said, “All your information, at least all the information we can find, is in here. To be honest, my initial opinion was similar to that of Radiant Knight Nearl. That is, you do indeed possess inexplicable talent, and you have proven it many times. But because we don’t know your past, we dare not place you in such a crucial position. Can you understand?”

Lin Ye gave a wry smile: "I understand."

"Then can you tell me?" Kal'tsit leaned forward slightly, gazing at Lin Ye with her light green eyes, "Everything from your past?"

Lin Ye fell silent.

It wasn't that he didn't want to tell them, but he knew very well that if he did, they would only see it as an exaggerated excuse, ultimately leading to the opposite result. Like the pre-employment hypnosis, even though he was telling the truth, no one believed him—what could he do? But he couldn't lie to Kal'tsit and say he grew up in Chernobog; that would be an even more foolish lie, easier to pop than a balloon.

Therefore, Lin Ye chose to say nothing.

Fortunately, Kal'tsit didn't insist on knowing everything about Lin Ye's past like Nearl did.

“Since you’re unwilling to talk about it, I won’t force you.” Kal’tsit leaned back in her chair, twirling her pen. “Rhodes Island is a place that doesn’t care about where you’re from. What we need are like-minded partners. If our partners are willing to tell us about their past, we will listen attentively. If they are not willing, we will never force them. That’s why we were still willing to let you join Rhodes Island even though we knew you had tricked us during the psychological test.”

Lin Ye thought to himself: I really didn't trick you guys, I was just telling the truth!

"It's just that out of caution, we can't put a key position on a complete newcomer, so we set up an internship period for you. In fact, everyone who joins Rhodes Island has an internship period, including Shining and Nearl, whom you know. The only difference is the length of time."

“I understand,” Lin Ye nodded, “especially since my job is so special…”

“Yes,” Kal'tsit nodded. “Our initial plan was for your internship to be several times longer than other operators, with Zilan suggesting at least six months. But that's no longer necessary. I learned everything that happened last night from the surveillance footage and from Yato. Even under those circumstances, you didn't choose to abandon Nightingale and Ifrit. You were just an ordinary person without combat abilities, yet you persisted in fighting to the very last moment to protect Nightingale and Ifrit, so…”

Kal'tsit pulled Lin Ye's file out of the folder, then took out a lighter and lit it.