Separating Ship and Crew

Bai Ye waved at Ifrit.

"W-what are you doing?!" Ifrit looked at Bai Ye warily, but the expression on her face gradually softened.

Since it was their first meeting, Bai Ye's natural affinity made it difficult for Ifrit to develop hostile or hateful negative emotions toward him.

Even the other consciousness within her had become exceptionally quiet, obedient in a way it normally never was.

Of course, Bai Ye's ability, which had in some sense already reached the highest level, was not omnipotent. If the negative emotions in someone's heart were strong enough, they could overwhelm that innate goodwill.

"It's already late. Don't shout in the hallway," Bai Ye said as he opened the door.

Ifrit tilted her head. She could tell that Bai Ye seemed to be inviting her inside.

What a strange person.

But sensitive as she was, she sensed no malice from Bai Ye.

"So mysterious..." Muttering to herself, Ifrit kicked the door open.

"Shh."

Bai Ye shook his head, then pointed at Hermo, who was sitting on the sofa.

"Hermo!... Ah..." Ifrit's eyes lit up, and she hurried over.

"She's asleep," Bai Ye said softly.

"She's tired..." Ifrit instinctively lowered her voice as well. "Hermo usually works until really late at night..."

Bai Ye nodded. Hermo's race had a sleep cycle opposite to that of most people, but judging by how she had rushed out so energetically that morning, she probably had not slept during the day.

"Mmm... mm..."

Perhaps their voices had still been too loud, or perhaps she had not yet fallen into a deep sleep. In any case, Hermo soon woke up.

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Ifrit standing before her.

"How long was I asleep..." Hermo hurriedly rose from the sofa. The atmosphere at Bai Ye's place was far too comfortable, and she had unconsciously let down her guard and actually fallen asleep on the sofa.

How embarrassing!

Hermo felt her face burning.

"We'll be leaving now, Mr. Bai Ye. Please give me your terminal contact number."

Hermo quickly exchanged terminal numbers with Bai Ye, then dragged Ifrit away as though fleeing.

"..." Bai Ye opened his mouth, but in the end, he did not stop them.

"We didn't even talk about anything..." He was speechless. "And there's the second cup of tea..."

Bai Ye had hosted two guests today and made two cups of tea.

Yet neither of them had touched the tea he had brewed, so he could only deal with it himself...

Perhaps he truly had an affinity with tea lately, because the next day, Bai Ye received an encrypted message from Dr. Kal'tsit asking him to visit her office for "tea."

Of course, that was just Bai Ye's own imagination. Dr. Kal'tsit had merely called him to her office to discuss matters. Still, Bai Ye felt that the old woman seemed to have ill intentions.

After packing his things, Bai Ye handed his work over to Typing Girl, then headed for Dr. Kal'tsit's office.

"Please insert a coin."

Outside Dr. Kal'tsit's office stood a strangely shaped capsule toy machine. It seemed as though it would only move aside after Bai Ye inserted a coin and turned the crank. Speechless, Bai Ye pushed it to one side and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Dr. Kal'tsit's voice came from inside, no different from usual.

Bai Ye opened the electric door and walked in.

"Dr. Kal'tsit, there's a capsule toy machine outside."

"Pay it no mind. It is unimportant, merely one of Closure's jokes," Dr. Kal'tsit replied expressionlessly. Then she pointed to the chair already placed across from her. "Please sit."

This was not Bai Ye's first time in the office, but every time he came here, he felt the atmosphere was quite heavy.

Dr. Kal'tsit was not an affable person. She always hid her emotions beneath an indifferent face, making her impossible to read.

Bai Ye did not even know whether his affinity aura worked on this woman.

Dr. Kal'tsit did not know how to make tea, so after Bai Ye sat down, she went straight to the point. "I approved your plan, but I want to speak with you in person."

"Please, go ahead." Bai Ye nodded.

"What exactly do you intend to do? How much do you know about Ursus's frozen wastelands?" Dr. Kal'tsit watched Bai Ye. "I can sense a clear purpose behind your plan."

Bai Ye did not care about Dr. Kal'tsit's gaze. Or rather, he had long become accustomed to such pressure-inducing stares.

"Yes, I have many things to do," Bai Ye admitted frankly. "First, someone asked me to find a person in Ursus."

"I received intelligence that the last descendant of the Red Dragon's bloodline is now stranded somewhere on Ursus soil."

"I suppose only endless frozen wastelands could accommodate the last descendant of a Red Dragon."

The intelligence had naturally come from Chen, though Chief Chen did not actually know much. But after she gave Bai Ye that name, he realized that he might know more.

The memories from his previous life had finally proven useful.

He wanted to visit the ice plains and meet those dungeon bosses he had faced in the past.

"This is your personal affair... However, I must remind you not to do anything detrimental to Rhodes Island." After a moment of silence, Dr. Kal'tsit unexpectedly did not press further.

Bai Ye could not fathom what the young-looking woman before him was thinking.

"I will assign you an assistant. Ursus is far too dangerous, and I do not want Rhodes Island's newly promoted supervisor to throw away his life there for nothing," Dr. Kal'tsit continued.

Bai Ye blinked. There was such a good deal?

"Could it be one of Rhodes Island's elite operators? Logos? ACE? Exusiai? Scout? Or Outcast?" Bai Ye rattled off the names. "They're not coming to monitor me, are they?"

"Heh... None of them." Dr. Kal'tsit sneered. She felt that Bai Ye was dreaming.

Elite operators could not be deployed casually, and even when they carried out missions, they generally acted in squads.

"Do not overthink it. Do what you need to do," Dr. Kal'tsit warned. "When you leave, she will travel with you."

"Then thank you." Bai Ye accepted it readily.

"Remember, do not do anything detrimental to Rhodes Island." At last, Dr. Kal'tsit warned him again.

"I understand, Dr. Kal'tsit. No matter what, our goals are the same. We are all working for this—land."

Password accepted.

Dr. Kal'tsit nodded. "I hope so."

Just how little does she trust me...

As Bai Ye left Dr. Kal'tsit's office, he pondered her attitude.

Perhaps she already knew something. She knew more than he did.

She knew what was in Ursus.

Human-Ship Separation

Naturally, Bai Ye had no idea how fantastical Dr. Kal'tsit's past experiences were. If he knew that she had once been a scientist in Ursus, taught students, researched technology from previous eras, plotted revenge through the assassination of a grand duke, and buried people... he might have developed a sense of awe toward Dr. Kal'tsit.

Well, perhaps just a little.

Unfortunately, he did not know.

So, in Bai Ye's eyes, this mysterious woman was far too cryptic. She knew things, yet refused to say them aloud.

Still, he was quite curious about which operator would be accompanying him to Ursus.

There were not many operators from Ursus within Rhodes Island.

Bai Ye could not read Dr. Kal'tsit's intentions.

But he also felt that his privileges within Rhodes Island seemed rather excessive. Bai Ye had originally thought that his proposal would not be approved so easily, yet Dr. Kal'tsit had granted him considerable authority.

Other departments were also cooperating with the External Operations Department's plan, and all kinds of supplies were being allocated without delay.

"This is a bit too generous." Bai Ye shook his head, stopped dwelling on it, and opened his terminal.

He had finally received an urgent telegram from Lungmen and gotten in touch with Miss Swire.

It was not merely a simple two-way messenger exchange.

Miss Swire had found a more efficient method: using signal transmitters to locate active ports, perform secondary transmissions, then erase the traces until the message reached the target port.

Afterward, a messenger at the base station would deliver the telegram to Bai Ye.

Most nations' military transmission equipment did not possess technology of this level.

Bai Ye did not know how this young lady had acquired such advanced communications technology.

It was just that the cost was a little too high.

Bai Ye went to his office, then patiently read through Swire's letter.

She had brought good news. Northern Cross had registered a logistics company. Though it had not recruited many employees, its basic structure had already been established.

At the same time, she had drafted a contract for cooperation between Northern Cross and Rhodes Island. In Bai Ye and Swire's vision, Northern Cross would ideally make use of Rhodes Island's already well-established network of offices.

In return, Northern Cross could use the Players to provide Rhodes Island with higher-quality messenger and logistics services.

That way, Rhodes Island's own messengers could handle more confidential and complex assignments.

"She really is impressive..." Bai Ye looked over the message Miss Swire had sent and could not help admiring her capabilities.

She truly was good at this sort of thing.

However, Swire also complained in her letter.

They did not have enough money.

Yes, even with Swire's assets, doing all this was only a drop in the bucket.

She was already preparing to sell her shares in Victoria and her businesses in Columbia. She even wanted to dispose of part of her mining assets in Leithanien.

Of course, she had already sold off some of her other assets.

Bai Ye was deeply moved. This was trust. Miss Swire believed in him completely, even pouring her money into this bottomless pit before seeing any returns.

Bai Ye felt the weight resting on his shoulders.

"What a foolish girl. We haven't even known each other for long..."

Shaking his head, Bai Ye wrote a reply to Swire. He advised the girl not to sacrifice long-term profits just to plug the current hole.

Bai Ye still wanted Swire to keep her mining assets in Leithanien. Who knew, perhaps one day they might dig up a Rhodes Island Ship from underground themselves...

"There will be bread, and there will be money. Also, please give Miss Chen my regards. I have already begun looking into her old friend's matter. Please wait patiently..."

After writing the letter, Bai Ye used an encryption tool to turn it into gibberish, then handed it to a messenger.

Closing his eyes, Bai Ye began reconsidering the loopholes in his previous arrangements.

Swire had advised him not to take such a huge step right from the beginning.

He should first stabilize the foundation. If he tried to expand in every direction and proceed with everything at once, he might end up unable to focus on either side.

Bai Ye naturally understood that principle. However, Rhodes Island's arrangements had nothing to do with his own business. Rhodes Island's offices already had a certain foundation, and they were more like charitable organizations, so they would not directly affect anyone's interests or attract too much attention.

Still, some areas could be adjusted slightly.

Over the following days, Bai Ye gradually grew accustomed to life at Rhodes Island.

During the day, he worked while also passing some of his work experience on to Typing Girl. Bai Ye was clearly preparing to hand part of his work over to the reliable Laterano girl after leaving Rhodes Island.

In the afternoons, Bai Ye went to the training room to hone his skills. His Unarmed Combat skill was already nearly at the mastery level, while his swordsmanship would enter the expert level once he developed a swordsmanship philosophy suited to himself.

Of course, his greatest gains came from developing his arts talent.

Rhodes Island's caster department was very interested in Bai Ye's Originium Arts. Thus, the researchers helped Bai Ye develop his Originium Arts, while Bai Ye cooperated with them in a series of tests.

Unfortunately, Bai Ye's arts talent actually had little to do with Originium. Although the development progressed quite smoothly, his theoretical Originium Arts skill only improved by a tiny amount.

Even so, Bai Ye was satisfied. The improvements he gained from discussing matters with the caster department's researchers far exceeded what he could obtain by reading basic textbooks alone.

Besides work and training, Bai Ye also had to visit the medical department to deal with the clingy vampire lady.