A Vulpo Girl's Life as a Rhodes Island Operator

"Oh? It's little Ling. Haven't seen you in a while, have I?"

Uncle Lin slowly ate the fish balls before him, teasing Fengling as he did.

"Ah, money's been tight lately~" Fengling shrugged helplessly.

Medicine that could suppress Oripathy wasn't cheap.

In the slums, odd jobs alone were definitely not enough to cover daily medication. Fortunately, Fengling could occasionally rely on her innate scavenger's luck to earn a little unexpected income, barely managing to support herself.

Uncle Lin ate his fish balls while studying the Vulpo girl before him.

Fengling did the same, enjoying her favorite food while occasionally making idle conversation with Uncle Lin.

Uncle Lin was no ordinary man.

Fengling appeared rather carefree around others, but she was actually quite meticulous. The fox ears atop her head and the fox tail behind her weren't just for show.

Whenever she regularly encountered someone, Fengling naturally kept an eye out and looked into them a little. That was a lesson the slums had taught her countless times.

"Rat King."

Throughout Lungmen, from Governor Wei Yenwu at the top to beggars in the slums at the bottom, even those who had never met him knew that title.

Rat King Lin Ge Rui.

It would not be an exaggeration to call him the true ruler of the Lungmen Slums.

The fact that most Infected in the Lungmen Slums could live relatively normal lives was largely thanks to the Rat King's efforts.

Finding out Uncle Lin's true identity had not taken much effort.

Because the Rat King simply did not care about such things.

And in Lin Ge Rui's eyes, little Ling before him was a rare promising talent.

She was clever and quick-witted, capable of judging the situation and adapting on the fly. She merely lacked a proper education and some life experience.

Unfortunately, as an Infected, her infection was likely already quite severe.

At such a young age, without undergoing rigorous training, she had already attained considerable strength among her peers. While her own talent played a part, everyone living on this land understood what the main reason was.

In present-day Lungmen, even if Fengling grew strong enough to work under Lin Ge Rui, she likely would not have long to live.

But if such a promising talent simply withered away like this...

What a pity. Such a terrible pity.

Lin Ge Rui had become a father late in life, and his daughter was only a few years older than Fengling. Even though he had weathered countless storms, he could not help but regret seeing a girl around his daughter's age fade away like this.

But if all she needed was better treatment, there were other options available now.

Lin Ge Rui pointed Fengling toward a clear path.

"Uncle Lin... you mean... there's a medical company called Rhodes Island? They have cutting-edge medical technology, their fees are relatively low, and treatment can even be exchanged for working for them?"

Fengling's expression became slightly strange as she cautiously looked at Lin Ge Rui across from her.

"Um... Uncle Lin, you aren't fooling me, are you? What company doesn't want to make money? What does this Rhodes Island gain from doing that?"

Yes, what did they gain?

Even as the Rat King of Lungmen, Lin Ge Rui had lived most of his life without ever seeing such a company.

This medical company called Rhodes Island had only been established for a short time, seemingly just a few months, but the favorable rumors surrounding it had already earned it a certain reputation.

Of course, Rhodes Island itself was little known to the public.

Its popularity was limited to certain special groups.

But the most frightening part was... with the Rat King's discernment, his current judgment was that these rumors were true.

A medical company with a landship, traveling through different regions to heal and save people.

And soon, their ship would make a brief stop in Lungmen for supplies.

Fengling could take that opportunity to contact Rhodes Island.

Sending Fengling to Rhodes Island also carried the possibility of pushing her into a pit of fire, if that company was not what it appeared to be.

But Lin Ge Rui was only giving Fengling this information.

Whether she went or not was Fengling's own decision.

Fengling was someone capable of making her own choices and taking responsibility for them. Lin Ge Rui did not believe his judgment was that poor.

"Anyway, thank you very much, Uncle Lin! I'll think it over carefully."

After a little while, Fengling finished her fish balls as well. Having heard all the information Lin Ge Rui had provided, she now had much on her mind. She stood, thanked him, and prepared to leave.

"Mhm." Lin Ge Rui nodded.

Then his gaze sharpened.

At that moment, the man standing opposite Fengling was the "Rat King."

He spoke slowly, one word at a time.

"Little Ling, if you go and something feels wrong, come back. At least here in Lungmen, even if your illness cannot be cured, there will still be a place to shelter you from the wind and rain."

Those words carried considerable weight here.

Fengling understood that this so-called place of shelter was, in another sense, a promise the Rat King was making to her.

The corners of her lips curved up slightly, and she chuckled.

"Since Uncle Lin has said that, then I really have to make this trip."

There were only a few possible outcomes if she went to Rhodes Island.

If Fengling did not return and could continue living healthily for a long time, then Rhodes Island truly had the goods.

If the opposite happened, or something even worse...

Then, as the Rat King—

Lin Ge Rui would naturally find a way to seek justice for the residents of the Lungmen Slums.

A Cautus Girl with Rabbit Ears

The wait did not last very long.

A few more days of the same peaceful life as usual passed.

She did short-term work for others, wandered around gathering interesting information when she had nothing to do, read through books at night—useful or useless, she read whatever she could find—and occasionally fought to deal with the thugs in the slums.

That was Fengling's daily life.

Fengling was indeed smart, but she also understood that being "smart" only meant learning quickly, not having already mastered something. Though she had never received much formal education beyond Lungmen's most basic compulsory schooling, Fengling had never stopped trying to improve herself.

Perhaps she was pursuing the "good life" of her fantasies, or perhaps she simply refused to keep living like this.

When Lin Ge Rui offered Fengling a new possibility, she truly was tempted.

And on this day, the Rhodes Island landship finally arrived in Lungmen for routine resupply after a long absence.

Lungmen, Lauter Shore.

As the external docking port of Lungmen, this mobile city-state, and with Lungmen being Terra's commercial and trade center, its daily cargo throughput was easy to imagine.

People came and went, and the place was extremely busy.

That gave Fengling, as an Infected, an opportunity to slip in.

After all, Infected who wandered around freely would be arrested and thrown in jail for a few days. If the circumstances were serious, jail time would be the least of their worries.

But if she only disguised herself for a short while, she would not be discovered so easily.

There were no visible Originium crystals on Fengling's exposed skin. Wearing a short outfit convenient for movement, she could move around Lauter Shore without any issue for the time being.

Rhodes Island's main ship was not difficult to find.

Such a huge and distinctive landship could be seen from far away.

With Fengling's eyesight, she spotted the massive hull from a distance, the open side door, and a white-haired figure tied up on the bridge.

Huh?!

Bound up like a caterpillar and dangling from the bridge, the figure swayed back and forth while apparently shouting something... but it was too far away for Fengling to hear.

Could this be some kind of shady company? How could they hang someone from the bridge?!

Fengling silently marked down a question mark in her mind.

Though she walked openly through the bustling port, Fengling was not foolish enough to stroll directly into the patrols' line of sight. She remained fairly cautious along the way and finally arrived near Rhodes Island's main ship.

Numerous cargo crates and containers were piled up at the port, waiting to be transported. Besides the dockworkers, Fengling saw quite a few people in identical uniforms working busily.

Rhodes Island

Those words were printed on the turned-out collars of their black-and-blue uniforms.

"Hmm... everyone's busy. This really isn't a convenient time to start talking."

When people were in the middle of exhausting physical labor, they probably did not want to be pestered with questions at the same time...

People moved constantly through the area, making it lively and bustling.

"Ugh... ugh... heave-ho..."

A young-looking Cautus girl struggled to carry a crate even larger than herself.

Judging by her clothes, she was clearly a member of Rhodes Island as well.

But did such a young child have to do heavy labor too?!

Could this really be some kind of shady company???

Fengling decided to silently multiply that question mark by three.

The rabbit-eared girl looked no older than twelve or thirteen. She had brown fur, blue eyes, and an adorable face.

"Ah, careful!"

The Cautus girl did not seem very good at heavy labor. A small problem with her center of gravity caused her to gradually lose balance.

If she fell while holding something that heavy, she would probably need quite a while to recover.

A gust of wind swept past, applying force from behind the Cautus girl, while Fengling steadied the crate from the front.

Then, with a slight exertion, she took the crate from the Cautus girl's hands.

Wow, it really was not light.

If the girl had been a Vouivre or something similar, that would have been one thing. Those absurd beings were naturally gifted with extraordinary physiques.

But for a Cautus girl, this was a bit too much of a burden.

Of course, for Fengling, it was effortless.

"...Seriously, is this company really so unscrupulous? They make such a young child do heavy labor?"

Honestly, although she had not officially contacted Rhodes Island yet, this small incident alone had already caused Fengling's subjective opinion of the company to plummet.

"Phew... thank you, big sister."

The Cautus girl wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead. Seeing Fengling carry the crate for her, she spoke with some embarrassment.

However, the girl's cheeks puffed up slightly, as though she was a little angry. It made her look especially adorable.

"But Rhodes Island isn't some strange, unscrupulous, shady company! I came to help everyone out on my own!"

I don't remember using that many strange descriptions... Fengling muttered inwardly.

"Yes, yes... so..." Fengling lifted the crate slightly, glanced at the work badge hanging around the Cautus girl's neck, and asked, "Where should I carry this, Amiya?"

Helping out a little while gathering information and making herself familiar seemed like a good choice.

"Then thank you, big sister..." Amiya's small face reddened slightly. She had wanted to help out as much as she could, but she had ended up troubling someone else instead. "Just carry it behind the main ship's entrance. Rhodes Island's docking port doesn't quite match Lungmen's model, so we have to carry things manually over this short stretch."

"No problem." Fengling judged the distance with a glance. It really was not far.

So she followed Amiya's footsteps as temporary labor while chatting with her.

In just a short while, Amiya's manner of speaking made Fengling look at her in a new light.