A Vulpo Lady's Life as a Rhodes Island Operator

"Thanks for the rescue! But..."

"Eh?!"

Fengling swung her rescuer backward onto her own truck.

The woman who had come to rescue Fengling cried out in surprise. Clearly, she had not expected this seemingly delicate Vulpo girl they had rescued to possess such tremendous strength.

"Sorry, but I can't just abandon my vehicle and run away."

After tossing the woman into the passenger seat, Fengling climbed back into the truck as well.

Since unexpected newcomers had entered the fray and clearly overwhelmed the opposition, Fengling simply went with the flow and made her escape.

"Tell your people to move away from the front of the truck!"

Fengling shouted.

After emerging from the smoke, Fengling finally got a clear look at her rescuer.

A silver-haired, gray-eyed... Vouivre, perhaps?

Her shoulder-length hair curled naturally at the ends, and she wore a neat outfit that did not seem like civilian clothing.

The likely Vouivre woman hurriedly shouted into the smoke, "Watch out for the vehicle! We'll regroup at the designated location!"

With one stomp on the accelerator, Fengling drove out of the dust cloud and sped away.

Rhodes Island's trucks were incredibly sturdy, and their performance was excellent as well.

Fengling drove the cargo-laden truck at a dangerously high speed.

Still, out here in the wilderness, she did not need to worry about hitting anyone.

After putting some distance between them, Fengling gradually slowed down and turned to her rescuer with a smile.

"Thank you for helping me."

"It's nothing." The rescuer looked at Fengling with her gray eyes. "Perhaps... you didn't need our rescue in the first place."

"Not at all!" Fengling waved with a bright smile. "I'm just a passing, delicate Vulpo beauty of a merchant, that's all."

"Delicate enough to throw me into a truck?" The rescuer was clearly amused.

Now that they had livened up the atmosphere a little, it was time to discuss serious matters.

The fact that the other party had appeared here, fully armed, could not have been a coincidence in Fengling's eyes.

Their target was very likely this truck of hers as well.

"So... there's no one else around now." Fengling did not like beating around the bush. After making her lame joke, she got straight to the point. "Who are you? You didn't find me by accident, did you?"

"You can call me Talulah."

Oh ho.

A big fish.

Aside from Instructor Dobermann's repeated warnings, Fengling had done plenty of homework herself.

She knew quite a bit about Ursus from written reports.

Thanks to Rhodes Island's intelligence network, she had access to more information than usual while doing her research.

And Talulah was a name she absolutely had to remember.

"I don't believe it's merely the same pronunciation..." Fengling stopped the truck.

To Fengling, the attempted roadside robbery from earlier was not something worth remembering deeply.

The Talulah before her now was the one she truly needed to watch out for during this mission in Ursus.

There was no need for Fengling to keep up the act that had little effect on anyone above a certain level.

And... she even needed to be a little more aggressive.

For instance, by pointing out an identity that not many people knew about.

To obtain more useful information, there was no need to linger on the surface.

"...Rhodes Island is no ordinary civilian medical company either." Talulah's words indirectly confirmed Fengling's earlier guess.

She was the leader of the Reunion Movement!

An organization that had gathered a massive force in the frozen plains of Ursus and used armed force to defend the Infected's right to survive.

The reason Fengling could still speak calmly with her was that the organization was currently classified as a "civilian armed organization," rather than a "terrorist organization."

Even so, Fengling still needed to handle this with extreme caution.

An individual's fighting strength was ultimately limited.

"Ha..." Fengling quietly sighed.

Her current level of strength was awkward. Against ordinary thugs, or even slightly stronger opponents, she could completely overwhelm them. But once she encountered a true monster, she still had much room to grow.

Unfortunately, Rhodes Island's intelligence suggested that the Reunion Movement definitely had several extremely powerful individuals serving as deterrents.

That made Talulah's combat ability uncertain as well.

Better safe than sorry.

All things considered, Fengling could protect herself, but if she wanted to take things easy and return smoothly, she could not act too casually.

"We received word that this truckload of supplies is for sale?" Talulah pointed to the cargo compartment behind them.

There was no need for Fengling to hide it. She directly explained why she had entered Ursus. "Rhodes Island doesn't care that much about money. Our goal is to trade for some raw Originium ore. As for purity... the higher, the better."

She would not mind if it was pure enough to no longer count as raw Originium ore!

"Then we'll take everything in this truck." Talulah immediately made a huge demand, intending to buy out the entire load. "Instead of selling it to the surrounding villages, sell it directly to us. I can guarantee that these supplies will ultimately end up in the hands of the people you originally intended to sell them to. The Originium ore you receive will also be of higher purity—after all, in Ursus, we Infected deal with Originium ore more than anyone else, so we have plenty in stock. Coincidentally, we're willing to fill your truck in exchange for all these things that we can neither eat nor use."

Wow, a big customer!

If she could return with a truck full of high-purity Originium ore, this deal would be an absolute windfall.

And Talulah's words were indeed credible. At least according to the intelligence, the Reunion Movement's reputation among civilians was quite good.

A deal like this also aligned with Rhodes Island's most fundamental principles.

"If it's as you say... the truck isn't for sale, and neither am I. You can have everything else~" Fengling agreed decisively.

This was an insanely profitable deal!

As for whether it might be a trap, Fengling did not care.

The concealed radio was well hidden, and Rhodes Island's radio model had been independently developed, making its appearance relatively distinctive.

Talulah did not know that their entire conversation had already been transmitted to Rhodes Island's landship.

However, assuming everything went smoothly, there was still one step left to this transaction.

"But Miss Talulah, you need to understand that as a legitimate company entering the country, we are not permitted to conduct any transactions with local armed organizations."

"I understand." Talulah nodded.

Then, a blade was pressed against Fengling's throat.

"Then, Miss Vulpo, you and your truck have temporarily been hijacked by the Reunion Movement. From now on, you will act according to my instructions. If you resist, you can imagine the outcome yourself."

Talking to smart people was efficient.

Once that audio was submitted as "evidence," there would be no transaction on the record.

"Okay~" Fengling seemed completely unaffected as she continued driving steadily.

Miss Talulah's Secret

She had not expected this trip to bring back an important piece of intelligence.

The location of the Reunion Movement's base had always been a mystery.

Most intelligence could only vaguely identify a general area.

Although Rhodes Island had no particular conflict with the Reunion Movement.

Fengling still knew that intelligence itself had value.

It might come in handy someday.

The truck followed the direction Talulah indicated, clearly departing from Fengling's planned route.

It was easy to lose one's bearings in the endless wilderness, but fortunately, there was an onboard compass, along with the lessons Fengling had caught up on at Rhodes Island. She would not confuse her directions.

It was also fortunate that Fengling was not directionally challenged. Otherwise, after all these twists and turns, even if she made it back, she would have struggled to describe the exact location.

"But... um..."

Fengling spoke somewhat timidly, her ears drooping.

"Miss Talulah? Can you put your sword away now?"

"Even though I know you don't mean anything by it... there are little rocks everywhere in this wilderness. I'm afraid the truck might jolt and your hand might slip..."

"Huh? We don't need to keep acting?" Talulah asked in confusion, but she hurriedly sheathed her sword anyway.

They only needed that segment of audio, after all!

Though given the methods of those operators in Rhodes Island's Engineering Department, there might well have been plenty of hidden cameras in this truck. Talulah's little performance might have been quite effective.

Fengling did not know. She was merely the truck's user.

"Well... Miss Talulah may be clever when it comes to important matters, but you seem a little slow on some details." Fengling rubbed her pale neck.

Good, good. She had not been hurt at all!

"I feel like I've heard something like that before..." Talulah murmured.

After turning another corner, they seemed to enter a stretch of smooth road.

"Stop here for a while. We'll wait for my companions to catch up," Talulah said.

"Okay."

After all, she was still nominally being held hostage, so Fengling remained quite cooperative.

There was nothing to do while they waited.

Fengling pulled out a bag of gummies from inside her combat suit and tossed one into her mouth.

"Miss Talulah, would you like some candy?"

Though she asked, Fengling had already enthusiastically placed a gummy in Talulah's palm.

The gummy was fairly large, a plain rectangular block with a transparent amber color.

"This is..." Talulah put the gummy into her mouth.

It was a flavor she knew very well... but it had been a long time.

It was mildly sweet, with a faint tea fragrance.

Once it entered her mouth, a delicious lemony sweetness and tartness began to spread.

"Are these Lungmen Frozen Lemon Gummies?" Talulah asked instinctively.

"Huh?" Fengling was the one who froze.

These gummies could be considered a minor specialty of Lungmen. She had stuffed them into her luggage when she left the city.

Fengling was usually busy studying and training, and she only had time to work through her gummy stash when she went on long-term missions like this one. She had brought plenty to relieve the boredom of driving.

But... being a minor specialty meant that few people outside Lungmen should know about them.

Lungmen did not export these things.

This was a little snack only locals would know about. Besides, there were other lemon-flavored gummies outside the city, even ones with similar flavors...