A Vulpo Girl's Life as a Rhodes Island Operator

Besides, Fengling had quite unexpectedly run into an unexpected incident.

"Your trip... was pretty eventful."

Rarely, even Instructor Dobermann could not bring herself to say anything harsh. She merely made a quiet quip.

"But congratulations are still in order. Due to your outstanding performance during the mission, the relevant departments of Rhodes Island have unanimously decided that you may shed your probationary status and become a full-fledged operator." Dobermann looked at Fengling, her eyes full of approval. "Well done, kid. Though you are officially a full operator now, you have not finished your probationary courses yet, so we will still be spending some time together."

"Thank you, Instructor Dobermann!" Fengling said with a nod and a smile.

"Now then, I will begin evaluating your performance on this mission." Dobermann took out her personal terminal. "Fengling, open your vehicle's cargo hold."

"Sure thing~ Please watch closely, Instructor Dobermann!" Fengling returned to the cab of her vehicle and opened both cargo doors.

"Two cargo holds? You even filled up the hold that was originally meant for transporting supplies?" Dobermann found it odd when she saw Fengling open all the doors, but what she saw inside left her genuinely speechless.

The Specialist truck was packed to the brim with Originium ore.

"This raw Originium ore looks a little off..." Dobermann put on gloves and approached the minerals Fengling had brought back.

Fengling simply watched Dobermann with a smile on her face.

"From the outside, none of these minerals seem particularly remarkable. But the exposed portions... something feels wrong."

Dobermann tapped the miscellaneous material covering the "raw ore."

It sounded hollow.

She understood at once.

"Our client was rather bold," Fengling said with a bright smile. "So this whole truck is filled with high-purity Originium ore like this."

Doctor Kal'tsit had spoken with Chairman Vitt. Given Doctor Kal'tsit's personality, she probably would not hide such matters, but a single truckload of Originium ore was not much on a national scale.

Besides, although the various Ursus army groups had extremely tangled relationships, with some even being bitter enemies, they still had to maintain relative unity when dealing with outsiders.

Family scandals were not to be aired in public. With Doctor Kal'tsit's connection involved as well, Chairman Vitt was presumably happy to go along with things and offer this "hush money."

In the end, Fengling was the one who benefited.

After all, no matter what, Fengling had opened that window of opportunity, and she had done everything she could within her capabilities.

"Heh. If this had been Bolívar back in the day, I would have arrested you as a smuggler." Instructor Dobermann chipped away a small piece of camouflage. Once she saw the quality of the ore inside, she smiled helplessly and shook her head. "Ore of this grade can yield exceptionally pure whole Originium after refinement. Even on Rhodes Island, this is among the most precious material we have. Doctor Kal'tsit seems to intend to keep it as strategic reserves for Rhodes Island's military commander-in-chief, who has yet to take up their post."

Wow, that sounded like another unknown big shot.

Though it looked like she would not get to meet them anytime soon?

"Um... may I ask roughly how much Originium can be refined from this truck?"

Fengling had previously only encountered simple Originium products in her daily life. Even roughly processed Originium ore was enough to serve as fuel.

Pure whole Originium was already something whose precise uses Fengling did not know.

"Conservatively speaking..." Instructor Dobermann gave the cargo hold a rough visual estimate. "By Rhodes Island's cutting standards, it would be more than enough for 185 pieces. This truckload of Originium ore you brought back is immensely valuable."

A Note on Going Premium

Thank you for reading this far.

Fengling has accompanied us through a short stretch of her initial journey.

Her journey will continue for a very, very long time.

As an old Arknights player who has been around since launch, I have wanted to write fanfiction for this thing for ages. Now, I have finally put it into practice.

And I am incredibly, incredibly grateful to all of you who like this book.

Lately, my favorite thing every day has been secretly refreshing the backend. I do it at least twenty or thirty times a day, so I have read all of your feedback.

I would also like to thank everyone for your recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, blades, and tips.

Thank you all so, so much. You have truly given me tremendous encouragement and support.

But there are some questions that I am genuinely not in a position to answer yet. Haha.

Mainly because some of them affect later plot developments and details. I am still thinking about how to handle them better, so many questions do not currently have definite answers.

And Hypergryph's story... after all, it has been going on for four years. There really are places where things contradict themselves, and some timeline conflicts make it seem like Rhodes Island is flying all over Terra...

So when creating fanfiction, there will inevitably be some places that conflict with the original setting. I will do my best to keep everything logically consistent~

There will also inevitably be cases where characters related to operators currently have absolutely no information available, only for future canon to contradict me. I can only apologize in advance for that. I will try to touch those plots as little as possible, but it is hard to avoid them completely, especially in the upcoming Siracusa arc.

The names of many Siracusan families are unknown.

There are also some operators in that region who have not yet come aboard the island, and there is a lack of detailed information about them too. I can only do my best to write them well~ [But I am almost certainly going to get contradicted by canon on this...

As for characters being out of character, my choice is to avoid OOC as much as possible and follow the original setting. So far, I think it has been alright? But I will also make some changes to a certain extent, making the characters feel more vivid and more human.

And so, Fengling's journey will continue.

It is just that Doctor will have to lie low for a while longer.

After all, there is still some time before the main storyline begins.

By then, Fengling will surely have become a dependable senior on Rhodes Island.

I also established Doctor's setting very early on.

Even earlier than Fengling's.

The result should be pretty good.

Finally, regarding this book's positioning... I know some readers care a great deal about it. Sooner or later, I have to address this issue.

Since the upcoming chapters will be paid reading, I have to make it clear in advance.

This book will definitely be yuri.

I know that tag alone will make many people close this book.

But if you can, please give me a little faith. Trust me, I will not make you feel too uncomfortable.

That is all.

No matter where you are, may you find that patch of peace within your heart.

—Yours truly, merely Xiyue.

A Chat

"Judging by the value of the minerals you brought back, you most certainly earned a perfect S rank in this category."

After inventorying the minerals, even Dobermann could not help but marvel at how much Fengling had profited from this truckload.

Of course, the final evaluation was not based solely on the value of the minerals earned.

How an operator handled problems, whether they had behaved inappropriately during the process—those were all things that needed attention.

But those were matters for later. They would need to be considered comprehensively based on Fengling's final report.

"You got into a fight?"

Instructor Dobermann looked at Fengling with an amused smile.

The teasing in her tone was also meant to keep the person she was speaking with from becoming too tense.

Countless new operators found themselves suffering psychological difficulties when facing the act of taking another person's life for the first time. In severe cases, they could even develop physical problems.

Although Dobermann knew some of Fengling's background, she also understood that the accident in Fengling's records had been an act of passion and could not be fully treated as a normal situation.

So she still needed to have a proper conversation with Fengling about this subject.

"...Yeah."

After a brief silence, Fengling answered softly.

Fengling did not actually want to think back on such things.

No matter what had happened beforehand, when another human being died before her eyes in all manner of horrible ways, the visual impact was deeply distressing.

And the more empathetic someone was, the more likely they were to feel an inexplicable fear in such circumstances.

Especially when they had died at Fengling's hands...

Their corpses probably had not been very pretty.

And such scenes were often accompanied by all kinds of pungent smells mixed together.

Blood, bodily fluids, filth.

Once she thought about it in detail... Fengling felt a little nauseated.

Still, she did not lose her composure too badly.

But this was something she had to face now.

"Tell me about the process," Instructor Dobermann said, putting away her personal terminal. "Let's go somewhere else and sit down for a proper talk."

Rhodes Island had always taken matters like this seriously.

Dobermann cared deeply about these new operators, but she also knew that concern could not become indulgence. Sometimes, stronger methods were necessary to push an operator toward growth.

Thus, Dobermann led Fengling... to the bar aboard Rhodes Island's landship.

"You do not dislike places like this, do you?" A rare smile appeared on Dobermann's face. "I heard you drank Blaze under the table last time?"

Fengling scratched her hair awkwardly. "Blaze was the one who came looking for trouble. You cannot blame me... Still, I feel like I have been ending up at drinking tables a lot lately..."

Could this be what growing up means?

I do not want this kind of growth!

And I do not want to become a drunkard either!!

Fengling did not particularly dislike alcohol, but she definitely would not be happy if she was getting tipsy every few days.

Still, she had heard that the bartenders on Rhodes Island were quite skilled?

This sort of bar was unlike the drinking tables of Great Yan, and unlike the Reunion Movement settlement.

She could just treat it as having a drink with some alcohol in it.

Following Dobermann, Fengling entered a place she had never once visited since moving onto the landship.

Although it was daytime, the bar was located deep within the landship, so no sunlight reached it. Every source of light had to be arranged manually.

The lighting was slightly dim and yellow, but it did not feel too dark.

The shelves behind the bar held countless bottles and jars Fengling had never seen before, all printed with various scripts.

It felt as though they had gathered alcohol from a great many regions across Terra.

A row of tall round stools stood in front of the bar, though there was not a single customer at the moment.

It was daytime, after all. Most operators were still working.

Hardly anyone would come here to slack off at this hour.

The booths in the bar were dimly lit as well, but every table thoughtfully had its own independent light that could be switched on freely.

During such a quiet daytime, it would not be bad to sit here with a drink and read a book.

There was hardly any smell of alcohol in the air. The strongest scent was the rich aroma of coffee.

They probably served drinks like that too.

"Sit."

Dobermann chose a booth and had Fengling sit down first, while she headed over to the bar.

She did not ask Fengling what she wanted to drink at all...

A short while later, Dobermann returned.

"Alright. Now, tell me properly... what happened that day."

Dobermann rested her elbows on the table, interlaced her fingers, and sat across from Fengling with the posture of someone ready to listen.