A Vulpo Girl's Life as a Rhodes Island Operator

There was no need to dwell on many things.

Silently, she tied the ribbon around her ponytail, where she normally kept her hair tie.

"Yay!" Cardigan cheered.

"...Welcome... to the A4 Reserve Squad!"

As the team leader, Melantha's voice was soft, but she firmly welcomed Fengling's arrival.

Truth

"Cheers!"

The crisp clink of glasses drew approving looks from the other operators eating in the cafeteria.

In Rhodes Island's cafeteria, the A4 Reserve Team, now temporarily expanded to six members, was celebrating Fengling's arrival as their newest member.

Of course, they were all underage boys and girls. Even Fengling, the oldest, was only seventeen, so the cafeteria naturally did not serve alcoholic drinks.

They used juice instead.

Rhodes Island had just restocked in Lungmen and had yet to depart, so supplies were being distributed rather generously for the moment.

As long as supplies were not scarce, Rhodes Island's cafeteria usually provided fairly refined meals in unlimited portions.

Still, the tray in front of Fengling startled the others a little.

"Fengling, Rhodes Island punishes food waste very severely!" Cardigan kindly reminded her.

The rice, steak, and all the other items on her main tray that could absolutely count as staple foods...

Were probably three times the amount a normal adult man could eat.

It was piled up like a small mountain.

"Don't worry. I've never wasted food since I was little."

Fengling had always lived in poverty, and her appreciation for food was practically etched into her bones.

And the reason for that poverty... aside from the hardships of the Lungmen Slums themselves...

Was also related to Fengling's enormous appetite.

Ever since she came to Lungmen as a child, Fengling's need for energy intake seemed to have become abnormally high.

Work that could barely keep others fed in their daily lives... was almost never enough to fill Fengling's stomach.

That was also why Fengling looked even slightly malnourished.

It had not affected her health, though, apart from her height... compared to girls her age.

But as long as she ate properly for a while, those negative traits would surely disappear.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, Fengling ate at no slow pace whatsoever.

Yet her movements were not rough at all. If anything, they even carried a hint of elegance.

Chewing always came with a sense of happiness.

Whether it was her twitching ears or her gently swaying fox tail, both almost openly proclaimed just how pleased and happy Fengling was at the moment.

And the mountain of food quickly shrank away.

In the end, just as Fengling had said, not a single bite was wasted.

"I'm full!"

Fengling wiped her mouth with a napkin and sighed contentedly.

"Ah..."

The other members of the A4 Reserve Squad had long since been dumbfounded.

They had watched with their own eyes as Fengling stuffed enough food to feed their entire team into her stomach.

If Rhodes Island held an eating contest, Fengling's appetite would definitely be enough to compete for the title!

"Hm? What are you doing?"

At that moment, a soft, sweet voice cut in.

"Amiya! Good afternoon."

With the lazy air of someone who had just eaten her fill, Fengling waved an arm at Amiya.

"Good afternoon, Fengling!" Carrying her tray, Amiya sat down at the A4 Reserve Squad's table.

Though she was usually extremely busy, Amiya still tried to eat in the cafeteria whenever she could.

And after becoming somewhat more familiar with Fengling, Amiya no longer called her "Miss Fengling." It simply felt too distant.

"Amiya, F-Fengling ate a really terrifying amount of food! Won't she upset her stomach?"

"Huh?" Amiya then looked Fengling over.

There was no problem at all. She looked perfectly healthy.

And since Amiya knew Fengling's physical data quite well, she could roughly guess the reason.

After all, it was only natural for such a powerful body to require a matching amount of energy.

"It's fine. Fengling, just eat according to what your body needs." After speaking, Amiya placed an index finger before her lips and winked playfully. "Of course, as long as you don't waste any food!"

"Of course I won't!" Fengling answered without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing the ribbon on Fengling's head and how she was already getting along with the A4 Reserve Squad...

"It looks like you've already adapted well to life on Rhodes Island!" Amiya said with a smile between small bites of lunch.

"Everyone treats me very well." Fengling nodded.

But these things went both ways.

Fengling herself was doing her best to fit into the environment here, and the people in this environment gave her the same response in return.

No one's sincerity would be let down.

Who would not like a place like this?

Though she had only been here for a short time, Fengling now truly wanted to do something meaningful aboard Rhodes Island as an operator.

Of course, that would have to wait until she passed Rhodes Island's tests.

Even with her individual strength, Fengling still had to honestly start from the basics.

Everything was for the sake of improving operators' chances of surviving their duties.

Though Rhodes Island wished that number could be one hundred percent, realistically speaking, that was impossible.

"I still have to work harder." As Rhodes Island's current "CEO," Amiya remained as demanding of herself as ever.

"Mr. Wei?"

"Spare the pleasantries. State your purpose directly, Miss Kal'tsit."

Lungmen Governor-General's Office.

Inside the reception room were only Lungmen's current governor, Wei Yenwu, and the visiting Kal'tsit.

Wei Yenwu was not surprised by this "guest" named Kal'tsit.

"Rhodes Island wants to take Fengling with us."

"Miss Kal'tsit came all this way just for a girl from the Lungmen Slums? Isn't that making too much of a fuss?"

Wei Yenwu picked up his pipe and took a light puff.

The smell of burning tobacco made Kal'tsit, as a doctor, frown slightly.

But business came first.

Besides, Wei Yenwu had no need for a doctor's advice.

"You and I both know that she is not merely a girl from the Lungmen Slums... This is simply the result of your 'free-range' approach."

"And 'free-range' is already the best response Lungmen can offer." Wei Yenwu was blunt. "Whether for that girl, for Great Yan, or even... in the worst-case scenario, against the Sui Beast."

Fengling had actually been silently watched by Lungmen's governor all along!

"Great Yan today can bear the consequences of angering the Sui Beast. But even if all of Yan's strength were mobilized, we would likely lose forty or fifty percent of it, and Yan's elite forces would be severely depleted." Wei Yenwu let out a long breath. "But if that girl does not foolishly get herself killed, then that young Sui Beast fragment's little sister has no reason to retaliate against Great Yan for it—and if it is only a Sui Beast fragment, it poses no threat to Great Yan at all."

"But angering one fragment and thereby affecting the attitudes of the other Sui Beast fragments is also something Yan does not wish to see," Kal'tsit completed Wei Yenwu's unfinished thought.

"Miss Kal'tsit. Yan's attitudes toward the Sui Beast are not uniform. 'Free-range' is already the best arrangement Lungmen could secure after weighing everything." Wei Yenwu tightened his grip on his pipe. "If Rhodes Island takes Fengling away, then you will naturally have to bear the corresponding scrutiny. You understand what I mean."

"Fine. Then that settles it."

From their conversation just now, Kal'tsit had essentially obtained Wei Yenwu's tacit approval.

"Miss Kal'tsit, why are you so concerned about such a trivial matter?"

Within all of Lungmen, only Wei Yenwu knew the secrets surrounding Fengling's existence.

If Fengling had not happened to run off to Rhodes Island herself, then she would have lived in Lungmen for the rest of her life and eventually died as an ordinary Infected. That had been Fengling's original path.

She would not have stirred even the smallest ripple, like a speck of dust in history.

"Yan should not have focused so much on things that should never have become threats in the first place." Kal'tsit paused before leaving. "And besides—"

"A beautiful wish should have been allowed to bloom into a beautiful flower..."

"Doctors say such naive things too?"

"Doctors exist to protect such things."

Setting Sail

Three days later, morning.

The massive engines roared.

Rhodes Island's landship trembled faintly.

The hatches closed, and the gangways retracted.

The ship's connection to Lungmen steadily disengaged according to procedure.

From the time Rhodes Island started up until it began moving steadily, unrelated personnel were generally forbidden from moving about freely for safety reasons.

So Fengling did not have classes today. It was a rare day off.

"Even though it's only been a few days, I really am tired. Taking a break is nice."

Fengling sat in a chair in her dormitory, browsing information that interested her on her personal terminal.

After a faint sensation of vibration, Fengling clearly felt it.

The landship called Rhodes Island had begun to move.

Through the window, she watched Lungmen gradually recede into the distance.

"We're leaving."

Perhaps she had truly adapted to life on Rhodes Island in those few short days, or perhaps she had already prepared herself mentally.

When this moment truly came, Fengling felt incomparably calm.

Her little home would remain in this city, at least. No matter what lay ahead, she would always have somewhere to return to.

And at Lauter Shore in Lungmen.

"Old Wei? It's pretty rare to see you in a place like this."

Leaning on his cane, Lin Ge Rui watched the massive ship sail away from the port.

"Just taking a walk." Wei Yenwu still held his large pipe, taking a hard drag from it now and then. "The Rat King has left his own turf for a stroll too?"

"Just taking a walk. And taking a look while I'm at it." Lin Ge Rui cast a sidelong glance at his old friend of many years. "Something on your mind?"