On the Ark.

The restroom on the fourth floor was at the end of the corridor, and this was Lin Ye's first time using it. He had expected it to be very messy, but he was surprised to find it surprisingly clean, as if it was regularly cleaned.

Is it because people have been using it all along?

Lin Ye recalled what Ansel had told him the night before, and wondered if the "freaks" living on the fourth floor also cleaned the toilets? It was quite a subtle contrast.

After washing my hands, I returned to the office.

They found the sofa was still there, and the white-faced owl was sleeping on it.

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly.

Do you really think this is my place to sleep? That's outrageous! Don't underestimate the power of the village chief!

Just as Lin Ye was about to step forward and call out to the white-faced owl, a mature female voice sounded behind him.

"Let her sleep for a while. It's rare for this child to have time to rest."

Lin Ye was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously turned his head to see a tall, white-haired woman standing in front of the office door, with a semi-transparent giant shield on her back.

"You are..." Lin Ye was certain he had never seen the other person before; this was yet another new face.

The woman walked in.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Lin Ye," the woman said calmly. "I wonder if you've heard of me before? My name is Saria."

Lin Ye's mouth opened slightly wider.

This was the name he'd heard from Ansel last night—one of the former Rhine Labs agents.

"Judging from your expression, you've probably heard of me," Saria said. "That's good, saves me the trouble of introducing myself again."

Lin Ye quickly calmed down and introduced himself: "Hello, Ms. Seria, I am Lin Ye, a newly appointed psychological counselor. How can I help you?"

"Oh? That's a tone I've never heard before. Few people on Rhodes Island speak like you," Saria smiled. "Judging from your appearance, it's hard to imagine that you could do all those things."

"What do you mean by those things?"

“I learned everything about you from Kal'tsit, so I thought I’d come and see you after I got back.” Saria walked to Lin Ye’s desk and took off the shield behind her. “I also wanted to ask you for a few favors.”

Finally having something to do, and wanting to prove he wasn't just sitting around doing nothing, Lin Ye nodded: "As long as it's something I can do."

“I’m glad you said that,” Saria said. “My questions might be a bit aggressive, but please believe me, I mean you no harm.”

Lin Ye was stunned.

“I heard about your abilities from Kal'tsit; they’re quite an amazing talent.” Saria didn’t give Lin Ye time to react and asked directly, “But I want to know if you’ve ever used your talent to participate in any experiments that you shouldn’t have.”

"I don't quite understand what you mean." Lin Ye thought for a moment. "I used to work at a pet hospital, so I shouldn't have been involved in those dangerous experiments you mentioned."

“A pet hospital?” Saria was a little surprised, but it was only for a moment. She nodded. “It would be best if there wasn’t one, because I heard that Ifrit likes you very much, and I am, in a sense, Ifrit’s guardian.”

Ifrit... likes me a lot?

What kind of fairy tale is this?

Lin Ye was speechless. But he roughly understood that this was another parent of a bratty kid coming to his door, just like Hemer.

“I know you saved Ifrit, so please allow me to express my gratitude,” Saria said. “Of course, words of gratitude are not enough, so if there is anything I can help you with, just let me know, as long as it is within my power. In return, I also hope that you can take good care of Ifrit for me… There are very few people who can be accepted by Ifrit and who are willing to accept Ifrit.”

Saria spoke the last sentence very softly, and her expression was quite interesting, like a parent of a naughty child helping their child find friends.

In response, he said, "I will. Ifrit is a lovely child, and I'd like to stay with her if she doesn't bother me. Besides, someone has already asked me to."

"Hermer?"

"Ah."

“I’m not like Himer,” Saria said. “Also, I’d like you to give Ifrit something for me.”

"Bring something?" Lin Ye asked, puzzled. "What is it? Can't you give it to her yourself?"

“No,” Saria shook her head. “I am far from the time to see her.”

Author's BB:

This chapter was a real pain to write. I originally wanted to arrange for the protagonist to meet Miss Orca, and I was almost finished with the whole chapter, but I felt it was so bad that it didn't match my expectations for Miss Orca's entrance at all. So I need to think about Miss Orca's storyline a bit more and postpone it...

By the way, I'd like to recommend a book called "The Ark of the Sun." It's about how people of the same race can fall in love. You can check it out if you're interested.

Chapter 105 You Should Look Directly at the Deep Sea

Saria's words puzzled Lin Ye.

What does "I'm not ready to meet her yet" mean? Why do parents have so many considerations when meeting their own unruly child? Could it be...?

Lin Ye keenly sensed the flavor of those prime-time soap operas from his past life, and then he remembered that Saria had asked him for a favor. Could it be something like this? No way! He had already helped deal with the problem of the inappropriate lifestyle of the saintess of the neighboring Sherag. Would he be asked to deal with some mother-daughter relationship issue this time?

In other books, a protagonist like him would already be saving the world!

Lin Ye thought to himself silently. He was just such a person with a rich imagination. In high school, when he saw a girl's short sleeves on the bus, he would think of white arms. When he saw white arms, he would think of the reading comprehension passage "Kong Yiji" that the teacher had assigned him, which he had not yet read a single word of, and he would feel melancholy.

Saria keenly sensed the change in Lin Ye's mind and frowned slightly: "What are you thinking about?"

"No, no, no." Lin Ye shook his head. "Where were we? Oh, why can't you see her yet? Ifrit is on the island right now, isn't she?"

“She doesn’t know I’m back,” Saria said. “I usually return to the island when Ifrit isn’t around, but this time I came back early because of some special circumstances.”

“But wouldn’t that make it easy for Ifrit to find out?” Lin Ye said. “After all, you’re going back to your dorm, aren’t you?”

“Who said that?” Saria said calmly. “This is the second thing I want to ask of you. If possible, please lend me your office for one night.”

Lin Ye was taken aback: "You're going to sleep here with me?"

“If that doesn’t work, I can go to another room,” Saria said. “I know the fourth floor quite well, and I actually prefer this place to the dormitory. Don’t you think Rhodes Island is too noisy? The quiet here helps me stay focused, and of course, more importantly, it keeps me away from Ifrit.”

Lin Ye was genuinely curious about the relationship between Saria and Ifrit, but according to Ansel, Saria seemed to have a conflict with Himeru? So, Saria's inability to meet Ifrit was also because of Himeru?

Hmm... it really does look like an 8 PM soap opera.

“It’s not that you can’t sleep here,” Lin Ye said. “Anyway, I don’t work the night shift, but there’s only one sofa here…”

“That’s enough,” Saria said. “I used to just use a newspaper as a cushion, so having a box at all is already a good thing.”

How can it be so desolate...

Lin Ye was somewhat speechless: "Since you've made up your mind, then you can have it. How long do you want to stay?"

“I’ll be leaving tomorrow or the day after,” Saria said calmly. “If I stay too long, even here, it’ll be easy for Ifrit to find me, and I can’t see her right now.”

"Okay." Lin Ye nodded, then suddenly remembered something, "Wait, you just said you often stay on this floor?"

"Well, what happened?"

"So you're a resident on the fourth floor?"

“I’d say I’m just a temporary guest,” Saria said. “When Ifrit isn’t here, I stay in my own dorm room, since this place is just too inconvenient.”

"In that case," Lin Ye thought, feeling he had found a good person to inquire about, "Do you know the other guests on the fourth floor?"

“Other guests?” Saria frowned. “Which one are you referring to?”

"Uh, are there still many seats available?"

"Hmm, it seems you don't know much about them." Saria observed Lin Ye's changing expression and said calmly, "Judging from your reaction, the information about them most likely came from other people. And since you don't know how many there are, or their names, it's clear that the information you obtained is not useful."

Lin Ye didn't know how to respond.

“Rumors and gossip exist in every corner of Terra, there’s no need to be so critical,” Saria said. “I originally thought this would be less common on Rhodes Island, but it seems I was wrong. Dr. Lin Ye, as I told you before, Rhodes Island is too noisy. In this noisy environment, it’s easy to make misjudgments about things, which is not good news for a doctor.”

Lin Ye scratched his head, feeling Saria's imposing aura pressing down on him, just like his elementary school homeroom teacher, who scolded him so harshly that he couldn't lift his head.

“Of course, you shouldn’t be blamed for this.” Saria’s tone softened a bit. “The people living here aren’t bad people, but their personalities are indeed different from ordinary people, so it’s no wonder they are ostracized… You working here, Amiya must have arranged it, right?”

Lin Ye nodded.

“That’s right. Amiya wants to use your talent to reach out to those people,” Saria said softly. “From this perspective, Amiya is indeed a very good leader. Even though she’s young, she can gather many people who are willing to stand by her side.”

Lin Ye was at a loss for words. He had only asked one question, yet Saria had rambled on for so long. It reminded Lin Ye of his math teacher, who would always say, "I'll finish explaining this little point and then class will be over," and then the lesson would drag on until the next period began—it was utterly frustrating.

"It seems I've said some nonsense," Saria said. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit old-fashioned, and I always feel like talking about things when they come up. Please don't mind."

Lin Ye shook his head, indicating that he didn't care.

"So let's go back to the question. You asked me about the guest on the fourth floor, and all I can tell you is her name, but that's meaningless. Have you ever heard of the sea?"

Lin Ye was taken aback: "The sea? I've heard about it?"

"Have you ever seen the ocean?"

"I've met you."

“In that case, you should know that what you see and what you hear are not the same thing at all.” Saria looked at Lin Ye and said, “If you really want to know, then go and see for yourself. I believe the ocean will not disappoint you.”

Words that are all over the place...

Lin Ye originally thought that Saria was a calculus teacher, but he did not expect that she also worked part-time as a philosophy teacher.

"That's about it. I have some things to do, so I'll be going now. I'll leave the shield here." Saria walked past Lin Ye. "White Owl, you don't need to pretend to be asleep anymore."

Lin Ye turned to look at the sofa and saw that the white-faced owl was slowly opening its eyes.

“System reboot complete.” White Owl stood up. “Saria, I can detect that Ifrit’s longing for you is growing stronger.”

Saria stopped in front of the door.

At this moment, Lin Ye suddenly remembered something and asked Saria, "You just asked me to give something to Ifrit."

Saria turned to look at Lin Ye: "One sentence."

"A single sentence?"

"Okay, please tell her for me that no matter what happens in the future, I will protect her." With that, he left.

Lin Ye watched Saria's retreating figure, thinking that he really was an awkward "father".

However, Lin Ye had already taken Saria's words to heart.

Looking directly at... the ocean?

Author's BB:

I'm shamelessly recommending another book, "Miss Skadi Just Wants to Go Home," written by a good friend. If you're interested, you can check it out.

Brief introduction: A true god of war, a true sword saint.

A tragic warning about the surging tide!