Back in his room, Lin Ye was still thinking about Chi Xiao, until Ace suddenly speaks up.
"I also said that if you didn't come back, I'd call you to ask about the situation."
Lin Ye raises his head and sees ACE sitting by the window with a book.
Come to think of it, everyone around here reads, like, all of the time.
I guess that's because the Internet hasn't been developed yet. Even the phones they produce can only make calls and send text messages…
Lin Ye shakes his head at such thoughts, and asks ACE, "Why?"
"Even after what happened last night, you're still going to tell me that you have no clue?", ACE closes his book, "Right now, Lungmen is in a state of tension. Because of that incident, the citizens are already looking for an excuse to attack the Infected."
"Is it that serious already?"
"What were you expecting? That's why I'd rather you not go running off again, as that would be a special kind of stupid. Even though you aren't infected, Lungmen is becoming more and more irrational.", ACE puts the book down and says, "Dr. Kal'tsit already called us. We're going to leave Lungmen right after receiving the instruments from Rhine Labs tomorrow and return to Rhodes Island. I don't want to say anything more about the seriousness of the situation, right? But more things. Weren't you out the entire day? How come you didn't notice anything?"
Lin Ye shakes his head: "No, I was in the hospital giving a statement."
"With that Officer Ch'en from the LGD?", Ace raises his eyebrows. "Or, was it Superintendent Swire who took you to the theater yesterday? If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up giving a statement to three female police officers? On top of that, they're all senior officers."
Lin Ye nods subconsciously, before pausing. What ACE said didn't sit right with him, like he was insinuating that being surrounded by three female police officers to give a statement was somehow great or something.
While the two are talking, the door is suddenly flung open. Lin Ye turns his head and sees Ifrit poking her head in.
"Ifrit? What are you doing?"
Seeing Lin Ye, Ifrit immediately walks inside, but as she begins to open her mouth, she slams it shut when she sees ACE. He flashes her a smile before standing up.
"It seems she has something to tell you. I'll go out and take a smoke, just don't forget to meet me at the restaurant later."
With that, he pats Lin Ye on the shoulder and then leaves the room.
The second Ace shuts the door behind him, Ifrit immediately rushes forward and stares directly at Lin Ye with those bright, golden eyes, "Give it to me."
"...What?"
Ifrit grabs Lin Ye's shoulder and starts shaking him, "Give it to me! Give it to me! Don't you understand? Give it to me quickly, I can't take it anymore!"
Although she's much younger, Ifrit's strength proved to be greater than Lin Ye's, allowing her to push Lin Ye down onto the bed. Lin Ye stares at her incredulously, "No, you're too young. Your mother won't let you do this kind of thing."
"Silence won't know. She's already asleep. I sneaked out!"
"Oh come on. If she finds out, the one going to suffer is me, alright?"
"If you don't tell her, how will Silence know?!" Ifrit says, "Hurry up. Aren't you a man? What're you hesitating for?!"
"... Silence already knows."
Ifrit is shocked, "What did you say?"
She lets go of Lin Ye's collar and steps back slowly while murmuring, "S-she knows?"
Lin Ye shakes his head and tidies his clothes up, which were wrinkled from the struggle with Ifrit.
He's an adult male, yet in this world, every woman he's met was stronger than him. Even a child like Ifrit can easily subdue him. How embarrassing.
"Hey!" Ifrit suddenly stares at Lin Ye with a fierce look, "Did you snitch on me?"
"If I planned to do that, I wouldn't have let you call Saria." Lin Ye says. "Why do you always think I want to hurt you?"
"Because you look like you have bad intentions."
Lin Ye's mouth twitches.
Ifrit lowers her head, "Silence already knows? Then why didn't you tell me? Silence never allowed me to contact Saria before."
"She's still your mother." Lin Ye says, "You can't hide your thoughts from her."
"Then why didn't she..."
"That's what adults do, and adults' world is very complicated."
Ifrit glares at Lin Ye, "You'd treat me like a child? How dare you?! I'm Lord Ifrit-!"
Seeing Ifrit on the verge of exploding, Lin Ye quickly raises his hand up in surrender.
"Okay, okay, I was kidding."
Ptilopsis had told Lin Ye before that because of health concerns, Ifrit's personality was always explosive. In addition, she never listened to anyone else, other than Silence and Saria. Thus, those who are taking care of her need to proceed with caution.
"But I won't let you call her today." Lin Ye says, "I don't want to be blamed again, and you don't want Silence to know, right?"
Ifrit glares at him again.
"I promised you before that I will bring you to Saria." He gently pats her head and says, "If I can't do that, then blame me all you want."
She turns her head away from him, pouts slightly in annoyance, "I'll let you go this time."
"By the way, please don't say something that can be easily misunderstood." He says in a serious tone, "If Silence finds out I let you use my phone to call Saria, the best she can do is shout at me, but if she were to hear what you just said, she would probably kill me."
Ifrit doesn't understand what he said. Nonetheless, she nods halfheartedly.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
After sending Ifrit away, Lin Ye takes his notebook out. This has been his work journal since the first day in Rhodes Island. In some way, what's written on the notebook is what Rhodes Island hired him to do.
The first patient on the notebook is Nightingale. Half a month ago, he wrote that she had recovered and concluded her treatment.
Now, the second patient was Ifrit. However, he didn't have enough information about her, and he still didn't know how he'd get it, so he's left this part blank. Compared to Nightingale's fractured mind, Ifrit's explosive personality stemmed from her physical condition and experience with Rhine Lab. Lin Ye has no idea how he should proceed from here.
In the end, Lin Ye writes down Silence and Saria's names and circles them.
Suddenly, a beer can shows up in his sight.
"Uh, thanks, but I don't drink."
ACE shakes his head, "Didn't you know that alcohol helps you think?"
"Is that what alcoholics tell themselves?"
"Hahahaha...", ACE laughs, "You still want some?"
Lin Ye shakes his head, before, reconsidering and nodding.
While Lin Ye opens the beer can, Ace says, "Actually, I really admire you."
"Admire me?" Lin Ye pauses, "For what?"
"Your personality, that might be why you're so popular with women."
"..."
"I'm not joking. I really think so.", Ace says, "Nightingale, Ifrit, and others, their personalities are pretty bad. Ifrit's probably the worst of the bunch. Old folks like me might not care as much, but the same can't be said for the others. Many people can't take the verbal abuse from her."
"She's just… a bit naughty." Lin Ye says, "But deep down inside, she's a good kid."
"That's why I admire you. You're so young, but… You said you were a vet? Did you have a lot of pets?"
"Um."
"So you're treating them like the pets you had?" ACE grins.
"..."
"What? Did I get it right?"
"Uh…" Lin Ye seems to have recalled something, "maybe."
ACE's words are like a key. It unlocked the box that sealed Lin Ye's memories.
Lin Ye leans back and thinks back to his past, that summer in the first year of middle school when he lost his first cat. He still remembers how he wrapped the kitten up with a newspaper and buried it next to the tree in front of his house. That's probably the first time he experienced the pain of losing "someone close to him."
And I was hoping to see the cat running to me from behind the tree as if nothing happened.
Of course, that didn't happen. However, his neighbors saw the scene and started the rumor that he suffered from depression.
His mother wouldn't sit still and watch her son develop depression on top of having cardiovascular disease. In the end, she brought him to a pet store.
"I'll buy you another cat. Just don't look at that tree again." That's what she told him.
After seeing all the cats in the store, Lin Ye couldn't find a cat that he would want. He admitted that the cats in that store looked better than the one he lost and they were more gentle, but he just didn't like them. He thought those cats were just puppets and toys without souls.
But when he saw a dirty, gray cat in the box at the corner of the pet store, Lin Ye stopped in his tracks.
"That's a stray cat." His mother said helplessly, "We went all this way. Why can't you pick the others? Why are you so obsessed with stray cats?"
"…"
In the end, his mother relented and bought the stray cat for him. Before they left, the store owner mentioned that the cat was male, so Lin Ye named it "Di Di."
That was his second cat.
And Di Di helped him get over the pain of losing his first companion.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Several months later, when his mother brought Di Di to a vet to be vaccinated, the vet told them that Di Di was female.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft by Demosama
Proofread by Demosama PanzerComrade56
Edit by Mihjaqtio
