On the Ark.

"that's it?"

“That’s how drones work. Otherwise, why wouldn’t we use human operators?” Zilan said calmly. “You just need to wait for them to finish their work and then give them the command to return. We’ve already recorded your voice into the system, and with your current status, you’re qualified to command these drones.”

Zilan's words sounded quite exciting to Lin Ye, as if he had instantly upgraded from a kindergarten principal and the director of a mental hospital to a battlefield commander, surrounded by dangerous and deadly cleaning drones.

Okay, maybe we should be less immature at this age.

"Do I need to send these drones back?" Lin Ye asked.

“No, that’s not necessary,” Zilan said. “I already said, you just need to give them commands.”

"understood."

Just as Lin Ye was about to hang up the phone, Zilan spoke up again: "After the drone finishes its work, you should go back quickly and not stay on the fourth floor too late."

"Huh? Why are you saying that too?"

“Has anyone else said that to you? But you don’t need to worry too much about it. I think today isn’t the right time, but it’s still best to be careful,” Zilan said. “Although I know Amiya’s reason for making you a fourth-level manager, I still think… never mind, you should just go back early.”

After saying that, Zilan hung up the phone.

Lin Ye put down his phone, the light from the phone shining on his face, making his complexion appear somewhat pale.

"Why does everyone have to say it?" he muttered. "Are the residents on the fourth floor human or ghosts? The rumors are a bit too outrageous."

It might be an illusion, but Lin Ye felt that the temperature in the room had dropped considerably.

Evil begone! Evil begone! The light of communism shines upon me!

Lin Ye comforted himself in his heart, and then he really felt that there was nothing to be afraid of. Didn't Amiya say that the people living on the fourth floor were just a group of ordinary people who were just misled by rumors because they were not good at socializing?

Yes, that must be it. And Zilan also said that today is not the day they come back.

Lin Ye felt more at ease, and then he began to give commands to the drones. Just as Zilan had said, these drones were highly intelligent. After giving the commands, they buzzed away from Lin Ye's room and headed towards the other empty rooms on the fourth floor.

Although Lin Ye was curious about how these tiny drones cleaned the rooms, his mind was still on the guests on the fourth floor. He had already heard rumors about them from many people: Amiya thought they were ordinary people misunderstood by rumors, Saria compared them to the ocean, Ansel said they were monsters with blood and gore on their hands, and White Owl and Zilan advised him not to stay on the fourth floor for too long…

Despite warning himself not to think too much about it, Lin Ye couldn't control his curiosity. It was like someone working in a haunted house couldn't help but think about ghosts... Wait, why did he already think his workplace was a haunted house? Weren't kindergartens and mental hospitals enough?!

Lin Ye wondered if it was because he was too tired from work these past few days that he couldn't help but overthink things, or perhaps it was a side effect of overusing his abilities? It seemed he needed to take a hot shower and get a good night's sleep as soon as he got back. No, he couldn't go straight back to his dorm; he had almost forgotten that he still needed to practice swordsmanship with Yato.

This is really a headache.

Forty minutes later, all the cleaning drones returned to his office, signaling the completion of the task.

"It's quite efficient."

As Lin Ye spoke, he went to check the adjacent rooms. To his surprise, the trash and cardboard boxes in these empty rooms were gone, the floors had been mopped, and there were even some simple pieces of furniture in the corners, such as a metal bunk bed and a water dispenser. Then he tried the lights in the rooms, and they actually worked. It was as if the previously messy storage room had been transformed into a clean and simple guest room.

"You guys are pretty capable," Lin Ye praised the drone swarm, which buzzed around his feet as if responding to his compliment. The drones' human-like efficiency surprised Lin Ye. He wished he had had these little guys assemble his furniture earlier; otherwise, he would have spent the whole day painstakingly putting it together. "Alright, you can go now… wait, should I use a command tone?" Lin Ye thought for a moment, then said to the drone swarm, "The fourth floor cleaning is complete. Drone swarm, withdraw!"

The drone swarm successfully recognized Lin Ye's voice, then buzzed away and quickly left the fourth floor through the security passage.

"This is too intelligent."

Lin Ye muttered to himself, checked a few more rooms, and found they were all cleaned. He didn't want to bother running around the entire fourth floor; the drone wasn't a white-faced owl, it certainly wouldn't slack off. Besides, it was already almost ten o'clock, and he hadn't even had dinner before heading to Night Blade's place to practice his swordsmanship. So he didn't linger, picked up his things, and prepared to leave.

Before leaving, he turned off all the lights on the fourth floor, plunging the entire fourth floor into darkness. He used his phone's light to enter the elevator and arrived at the first floor.

There was hardly anyone left on the first floor of the office building. Only the duty room was still lit, and it was unclear whether it was Fen or the forest ranger on night duty. Lin Ye hesitated whether he should go over and say hello, but after thinking about it, he decided against it and walked straight through the corridor from the duty room, only to stop in front of the notice board.

He wanted to see if the White Owl had posted his recruitment notice.

After searching around, he found nothing. The bulletin board still had the same few notices that had been posted for who knows how long, such as Zilan's "Please do not repeatedly submit your resume to the HR department if you have already been hired", Amiya's "For the future of Rhodes Island, I hope everyone can work hard", Kal'tsit's "Researchers are prohibited from taking dangerous research items out of the laboratory", and an anonymous operator's "It is recommended to reduce working hours to get more sleep".

Besides that, there was nothing there; the bulletin board was completely empty.

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly.

Has this white-faced owl slept itself again?

Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Ye made a phone call to White Owl.

"White Owl, did you forget to post my recruitment notice again?" Lin Ye asked directly as soon as the call connected.

"Operator Shining has completed the 'posting notices' task you assigned," Shining replied.

"It's been posted?" Lin Ye was stunned. "Really?"

"Operator Shiny doesn't lie."

“But I didn’t see it,” Lin Ye said. “I’m standing right here on the bulletin board.”

The white-faced owl said, "The white-faced owl believes it was stolen."

"...Is that so? Okay then."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Ye was still somewhat suspicious. How long had it been since the recruitment notice was posted before it was taken down? And why hadn't anyone come looking for him? He'd been waiting for the interview in his office the whole time. Or had it been left in HR, or was it just too late and they were coming back tomorrow?

Lin Ye couldn't find an answer either. He thought he should finish dealing with Nightingale's matter early tomorrow and then come here to see if anyone was interviewing. So he walked away from the recruitment notice and when he reached the office building entrance, he found that the door was already closed and an access card was required.

He rummaged through his pockets but couldn't find it. Then he remembered that he had taken out the access card to grant the drones access, and after using it, he had casually put it on his desk and forgotten to take it with him when he left.

"What's going on?" Lin Ye patted his head helplessly and complained, "Am I getting dementia? I have to go back again."

Complaining was useless; without an access card at Rhodes Island, you couldn't even use the restroom. Lin Ye, who had been working there for a month, knew this all too well. He could only turn back and take the elevator back to the fourth floor. Without an access card, he couldn't even turn on the lights and had to grope his way back to his office in the dark.

Fortunately, he doesn't have the habit of locking the door, so he can get in without an access card.

After receiving the access card and preparing to leave, Lin Ye suddenly felt something was amiss.

He suddenly noticed that the light in the restroom at the end of the corridor was on.

How could that be? He clearly remembered turning off all the lights before going downstairs. Or did he remember wrong? After all, the bathroom lights aren't very bright, and it's easy to miss them if you're not paying attention.

Or did the residents from the fourth floor return?

This thought sent a chill down Lin Ye's spine. Although Amiya had always said that the residents of the fourth floor were demonized by rumors, and Saria had said something similar, Lin Ye still harbored both curiosity and fear towards them. Especially since so many people had warned him, he didn't know which version of events was true.

However, didn't Zilan say that the day for the fourth-floor residents to return hasn't arrived yet? As someone from the HR department, Zilan should know a lot about the fourth-floor residents, right?

So the lights are still on, okay?

Lin Ye decided to go check. If the lights were left on, he would turn them off. If a resident from the fourth floor had returned, he would run over and greet them properly, after all, he was the floor owner. Of course, Lin Ye wouldn't be so foolish as to walk over without saying a word.

"Hello!" he called tentatively, his voice echoing through the empty corridor. "Is anyone in the restroom?"

He was certain his voice could be heard in the bathroom, but no one responded.

"Is anyone home?" Lin Ye asked twice more in front of the restroom, but still no one answered.

It seemed no one was around, and Lin Ye couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He had originally planned to just turn off the light and leave. But for some reason, he suddenly felt a bloating in his lower abdomen, and an unbearable urge to urinate surged up.

"What's going on? I didn't drink that much water." Lin Ye muttered, pushed open the bathroom door, and went in to use the toilet.

However, the moment he entered the restroom, he sensed something was wrong.

A strong smell of blood wafted over him, filling his nostrils and instantly jolting him awake.

"What the hell?!" Lin Ye instinctively reached into his pocket and grabbed the handle of the python gun. "Who's in there?!"

Still, no one responded.

Lin Ye took out the python and pressed the hammer; the sound of metal clashing was particularly noticeable in the small toilet.

"Is it someone from Rhodes Island?!" Lin Ye was certain that someone had gone into the restroom while he was downstairs. "I am Lin Ye, a psychological counselor and the floor manager! If you are also from Rhodes Island, please come out."

Still no one responded.

The fourth-floor restrooms, besides the toilet stalls, also had two shower rooms. Lin Ye didn't know which room the other person would be in; he couldn't very well lie on the floor to look at their feet at a time like this.

Unable to determine the other party's location, Lin Ye wondered if he should retreat downstairs and call for help, since he wasn't known for his combat prowess.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a set of clothes soaked in blood under one of the cubicles; the smell of blood had been emanating from it. He instinctively took two steps forward, and then noticed several familiar-looking pieces of paper under the clothes… Wait, wasn't that his recruitment notice?!

Lin Ye was immediately shocked, and then a guess formed in his mind.

Could it be that the person in the restroom was seriously injured and fainted due to excessive blood loss, which is why they were unable to answer him?

That's right, that's definitely right.

Lin Ye felt his guess was correct, so he immediately put down his gun, ran to the cubicle, and kicked the door open: "Hey, are you alright...?"

He was stunned when the door opened.

The injured person they had imagined did not appear; the cubicle was empty.

The next second, he heard a whooshing sound.

A large black sword pierced through him from behind, almost grazing his shoulder as it went into the tile.

Lin Ye immediately froze.

"You," a soft yet mature female voice sounded behind Lin Ye, "why won't you leave?"

Lin Ye didn't know what to say.

He looked up at the tiles, which had been cleaned exceptionally well by the drone, and they were like a mirror, reflecting him and the woman behind him.

Then he discovered.

The woman was not wearing clothes.

Author's note: Miss Orca has arrived! Where are the monthly tickets?! Where are the razor blades?! GKDGKD!

Chapter 118 Skadi

Lin Ye had imagined countless scenarios for meeting the residents of the fourth floor, but this was the one he had never considered.

The presence of a naked woman standing behind him was something to be happy about, yet the large sword on his shoulder, capable of severing his head at any moment, was also something to be sad about. Torn between joy and sorrow, Lin Ye slowly raised his hand: "Would you believe me if I said it was a misunderstanding?"

The woman did not speak, nor did she move the large black sword away.

"I'm the dormitory manager on the fourth floor, or just the dorm supervisor for short," Lin Ye said cautiously. "And I'm also a therapist in the counseling room, not your enemy."

The woman was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I know."

I know you still won't put down your sword!

Lin Ye naturally dared not voice his thoughts, after all, the broken wall in front of him was enough to say a lot. Although he could understand that it was a threat, the woman who drew her sword at the drop of a hat, directly destroying buildings on Rhodes Island, and who had never responded to his questions before, showed that the woman standing behind Lin Ye could not be judged by ordinary standards.

He was starting to believe Ansel's story; the guy living on the fourth floor was definitely not a normal person.

"You're a resident on the fourth floor, right?" Lin Ye took a deep breath to calm his tense emotions, and then slowly said, "I know you, although I don't know your name. But I really think that as colleagues, we can talk things out. I didn't know you were back, and I didn't know you weren't dressed... I saw the blood-stained clothes on the ground and thought you were injured, so I rushed in. If I offended you, I'm willing to apologize."