"Huff... I think we've lost them by now," said Wang Fei as he gradually slowed his pace after running for a while. He came to a stop, panting heavily, and leaned tiredly against a glass wall.
The girl next to him couldn't help but complain.
"What's wrong with you? You're out of breath already? We haven't even been running for five minutes!"
Wang Fei turned to look at Ifrit, whose face didn't even show a single drop of sweat. He was at a loss for words.
Even with a normal human body, I still can't compare... not even to a kid?
"S-Surely, as expected from the great Lord Ifrit. Your body is incredibly strong," Wang Fei quickly plastered on a smile, trying to cover his embarrassment with open praise.
"Nope. I think you're just weak," Ifrit shot back bluntly, leaving Wang Fei completely dejected.
At that moment, a woman's voice suddenly rang out.
"Ifrit... what are you doing here?"
Both of them turned to see a brown-haired woman walking out from a glass-walled room, looking surprised.
"Silence!" Ifrit exclaimed, both shocked and delighted. But that joy quickly faded when she saw the woman approaching with a displeased look on her face.
"You snuck out to wander around again, didn't you?!"
"W-Wait, Silence! Let me explain first! This guy was lost, and I was just helping him find his way! So this time, I'm really not in the wrong!" Ifrit quickly hid behind Wang Fei and looked at him like, Say something, will you?!
"It's just as Ifrit said, Miss Silence. I got lost, and Lord Ifrit kindly helped guide me. She's been very helpful!" Wang Fei said with a stiff smile.
But right after he spoke, Ifrit pinched him hard for some unknown reason. Wait, is she mad that I called her a kid?
"You must be Wang Fei, right?" Silence said after finally getting a good look at him. Her eyes widened briefly before her expression softened into a gentle, sisterly smile.
Wang Fei was a little surprised that she knew who he was.
"You know me, Miss Silence?"
"Yes... To be more accurate, you're quite well-known at Rhodes Island. There's no one here who doesn't know you."
"Haha... Amiya said something like that too, but I didn't think I'd be that—ow! Lord Ifrit, why did you pinch me again?" Wang Fei winced mid-sentence, confused about what exactly was upsetting her this time.
"Ifrit, don't cause trouble for Mr. Wang Fei," Silence gently scolded, prompting Wang Fei to quickly wave his hands.
"Not at all! Not at all! Ifrit is a very—ow—uh, I mean, a very polite and adorable young lady! If she hadn't helped me, I'd probably still be lost around here."
"See, see! I told you I'm the best!!" Ifrit boasted loudly.
"Um... by the way, where were you headed, Mr. Wang Fei?" Silence asked.
"The Rhodes Island cafeteria. I just finished a medical checkup and was supposed to meet my sister there."
"The cafeteria? Umm... Mr. Wang Fei, you actually just passed it," Silence said, pointing behind him.
"Eh?/What?" Both Wang Fei and Ifrit turned around and realized that the cafeteria was just a few meters behind the glass room they had just passed—barely ten meters away.
"..."
"..."
"Lord Ifrit..." Wang Fei turned to look at his tiny guide with a twitching smile.
Ifrit, knowing full well what she did, quickly avoided his gaze and muttered,
"W-Well, I only just got here a few weeks ago! At least I was heading in the right direction, wasn't I?!"
"But if Miss Silence hadn't called out to us, we would've gone way past it. And besides... I was the one leading the run the whole time."
"H-Hey! I told you not to say that word!" Ifrit, blushing, raised her hand to smack him, but Wang Fei quickly dashed behind Silence.
"Help me, Miss Silence! Lord Ifrit's going to hurt me!"
"Ifrit... Mr. Wang Fei is a guest at Rhodes Island. Please behave yourself," Silence scolded softly, making Ifrit shrink back sulkily.
Seeing that, Wang Fei quickly pulled out a pink candy.
"Would you like a strawberry-flavored candy?"
"You jerk..." Ifrit growled through gritted teeth but couldn't say much in front of Silence.
Wang Fei smiled contentedly at getting back at her and handed the candy to Silence instead.
"Then I'll give this to you, Miss Silence. Starting tomorrow, I'll be an official member of Rhodes Island, so there's no need for formalities with me... but for now, I have to go meet my sister. Let's talk again sometime soon."
"Of course, Mr. Wang," Silence replied with a gentle smile.
Wang Fei turned to leave for the cafeteria, but stopped when he felt a tug on his shirt. He turned to see Ifrit standing there.
"Brother Wang Fei."
"Yes?" Wang Fei was surprised. Not only had she called his name correctly, but she even called him "brother."
"T-Tomorrow... don't forget to bring me more snacks, okay?"
Her face and tone, unusually shy for her, made Wang Fei barely able to hold back a grin.
As a specialist in "tsundere-speak," he easily interpreted her words: Ifrit wanted him to come play with her again tomorrow. Even though she was moody and acted like a spoiled brat, Wang Fei had to admit—he didn't dislike that side of her at all. In fact, he kind of liked it. (Not that way, mind you...) It reminded him of Hui Jie from back in the day.
"Then I'll bring all sorts of snacks for you to try tomorrow, Lord Ifrit," Wang Fei said as he patted her head affectionately.
"Y-You promised! If you break it, a demon will come and burn you alive!" Ifrit warned, clearly pleased and forgetting she had just been mad.
A demon to burn me alive? That's pretty extreme... but not quite as scary as eating a thousand needles.
"I swear on my life," Wang Fei said confidently, thumping his chest.
Silence, watching the scene, smiled—but the warmth slowly faded from her face. The moment before her overlapped with another memory.
"You've never changed..."
After parting ways, Wang Fei headed toward the cafeteria. It was housed in a large glass structure, easy to see through. But before entering, he noticed a sign and a box with a picture of a young girl on it set on a table near the entrance. A warning was written nearby:
"Ceobe personnel are prohibited from entering the cafeteria after 8 a.m."
—sign on the door.
"You can donate food to Ceobe here."
—sign on the box, which had a large picture of a cute, harmless-looking brown-orange-haired girl (portrayed like a dog) taped to it.
Seeing the announcement and the picture, Wang Fei couldn't help but mutter:
"Why is Rhodes Island so cruel? What did this girl do to deserve being publicly shamed like this...? I can't let this stand. I have to speak with Amiya."
"Oh, that's not a picture," said a voice. "That's Ceobe"
"Yeah! My name's Ceobe.!" came another cheerful voice.
"Huh—what?! The picture talks?!" Wang Fei nearly jumped out of his skin when the picture on the box suddenly moved and spoke.
"You're so rude, boss! Ceobe. isn't some drawing! This is a holo-box Big Brother Matterhorn made for me!" said the girl, stepping out from behind the box. She had been hiding behind the cabinet it rested on, making him think it was just a display.
"Uh... then can I ask why you're wearing that thing on your head?"
"Hehe~ Big Brother Matterhorn said that if I wear this, people will bring me more food!"
"And... has anyone brought you any?"
"Yup yup! Big Sis Vulcan, Amiya, and lots of other big sisters gave me tons of treats! But I already ate them all. Boss, do you want some too? I'll share next time!" she beamed with happiness, making Wang Fei feel fond of her.
"No worries. In fact, I'll be the one giving you snacks," Wang Fei said, pulling out candy and chocolate and handing them to her.
Ceobe looked at the treats with sparkling eyes and thanked him happily.
"Thank you, boss!"
The first thing she opened was a piece of chocolate. After unwrapping it and staring at it for a moment, she broke it in half and handed him one piece.
"You eat too, boss!"
"I'm good, I'm not hungry right now," Wang Fei replied, but hesitated when she frowned.
"No way! You're way too skinny! If you don't eat, you'll get sick!"
"Okay, okay! No need to get so upset, little lady." Wang Fei quickly took the chocolate, feeling a bit awkward as she stared at him intensely. She only smiled again after he took a bite, and then began eating her share.
"Mmm~ Boss's chocolate is super yummy!"
Wang Fei smiled awkwardly, though deep down he was still curious.
"Hey, Ceobe.... why do you keep calling me 'boss'?"
"Huh? Because you're the boss, duh," she replied, as if confused by the question.
Wang Fei was at a loss for how to respond.
"Umm... does 'boss' mean something special to you?"
"Hmm... Ceobe doesn't really know either, but Boss is still Ceobe's boss!"
Wang Fei, hearing that, could only scratch his cheek awkwardly.
'So basically... she's the type who calls random strangers her boss, huh?'
Bang!! "What did you just say!!!"
At that moment, while Wang Fei was chatting with Kayobi, he suddenly heard someone shout in anger from the cafeteria. When he turned to look in the mirror, he saw the back of a black-haired woman slamming her hand down on the table of a girl eating next to Amiya.
He wouldn't have been shocked—if that girl eating wasn't his big sister, Hui-jie.
'Oh crap!!'
"Ceobe! I've got something to take care of! See you later!" Without waiting for a reply, Wang Fei rushed into the cafeteria.
"Ceobe will always wait for Boss~!" the girl shouted after him with a wave, before returning to her act of pretending to be a box to beg for food.
"Excuse me!!" Wang Fei called out as he pushed his way into the crowd gathering around the commotion. He tried his best to pass through politely, unaware of the many eyes watching him.
After finally breaking through, Wang Fei arrived just in time to hear Hui-jie's retort:
"I'll say this again: Rhodes Island is far too suspicious. Its management system and open recruitment policies are too lax. Even though their employee benefits are decent, this place is mostly filled with Infected—people with shady backgrounds whose origins can't be traced. That makes it very difficult for ordinary people to trust them. On top of that, letting a child like Amiya lead the organization? That's a huge risk and could seriously harm their public image even more."
"It's not that I mean to insult you, Amiya, but maturity and work experience go hand in hand. If it were me... I couldn't entrust the leadership of such an organization to a 13-year-old girl."
"I understand, Miss Ch'en," Amiya replied with a small nod. She didn't argue, because she understood where Ch'en was coming from.
But that wasn't enough to stop what happened next.
"...I've heard enough!!"
"I wouldn't care if you wanted to insult me or dig into my past! But to judge Amiya and all Infected like that? I'm not letting it slide! Do you think leading others is easy? Do you even realize what this kid has sacrificed to make Rhodes Island what it is today? Do you, as a regular person, understand how much pain we Infected go through? The agony of those stupid rocks stabbing into our blood every single day?! And yet you dare to say you know what we're like?!"
"I never claimed to understand the Infected. But I do accept them—and I'm willing to open my heart. My younger brother is Infected too. So everything I said just now was out of concern as an older sister."
"Heh... So if your brother hadn't become Infected, you'd never have understood us, huh? That's the true nature of you nobles from Yan. Disgusting, all of you!"
"...You've crossed the line." Ch'en narrowed her eyes coldly and reached for the sword on her back. The black-haired girl didn't flinch. She only smirked mockingly and taunted further.
"What? Angry now? I bet your brother's just like you. He probably hates the Infected. I'm sure he couldn't handle finding out he'd become one of us!"
"Blaze!!!" Even Amiya was shocked by the severity of Blaze's words. She turned to Ch'en, hoping to defuse the situation—but it was too late.
Slash!!
The moment Ch'en heard that, her eyes went wide with rage. She drew her sword in a flash, swinging it straight toward Blaze's neck—only for it to be stopped in time by two hands.
"Okay!! Stop right there! I think this has gone far enough..." Wang Fei panted heavily. His hands, gripping his sister's blade, were bleeding slightly.
Ch'en snapped out of it instantly when she saw her brother's blood.
"Fei Fei..." she grabbed his wrist, trembling. She was at a loss, horrified at what she'd nearly done.
Wang Fei tried to calm her with a relaxed smile.
"Hui-jie, I'm fine. I should thank Officer Margaret—she helped me just in time." Wang Fei gave a weak chuckle and turned to thank the blonde woman who had grabbed the blade at the same time he did. Without her, he doubted he could've stopped his sister's attack unscathed.
Margaret didn't say anything right away. She gently placed the sword down and quickly checked his wound, sighing in relief.
"It's just a graze. I can heal this with my Originium skills." She reached for her weapon to activate her power—but hesitated. Then she changed her mind and instead pulled out a broken golden sword from behind her back.
'Huh... why does that sword look familiar?' Wang Fei thought, staring at the halved golden blade. The moment Margaret gripped it in her right hand and used its white glow to heal his wound, a system message appeared.
(Host has encountered a special condition. Contact with the power of the Knight King detected. Initiating simulation entry protocol.)
(System power low. Entering temporary hibernation mode.)
'What the hell?!'
Before Wang Fei could even respond, his consciousness faded away, amid the shocked faces around him. The last things he saw were his sister's horrified expression—and Margaret's stunned face.
When he opened his eyes again in the darkness, the first thing he saw was a flood of system messages. And what he read shocked him deeply.
(Location: Simulated World - Kazimierz, Year XXXX – 6 years after the death of the Knight King)
(Identity: Rayneer, Race: Unisus, Former: Fragmented Soul, Current: Fragmented Soul (Level: Unknown))
(Background: You are a fragment of the Knight King's soul, appearing on a rundown island due to a failed Kazimierz Chamber of Commerce experiment. Your soul-bound armor was discarded in the city's junkyard.)
(Due to being in a fragmented soul state, you cannot access any abilities.)
"What is this? This special simulation... is it making me live as a dead guy?! Does being a ghost count as a simulation too, system?!"
No matter how loudly Wang Fei yelled, the system didn't respond. It was just pre-written text, and nothing more.
His consciousness was pulled into the simulated world immediately afterward.
And the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes—was a mountain of garbage piled on top of him. He couldn't see the sky or anything outside.
More importantly, he now realized he had possessed a suit of armor. He couldn't feel a heartbeat or skin—just a heavy, unmoving body buried under what must've been hundreds of kilos of trash.
'Great... Don't tell me this damn system's going to leave me stuck here until the end of time.' Wang Fei sighed.
Still, he didn't give up. He tried to channel any power or memories from Ray—his past self—but without blood or a physical body to power the Originium, he couldn't even emit a simple glow.
But maybe fate (or the system) still had a shred of mercy.
After struggling for hours, Wang Fei began to notice that the weight pressing down on him was starting to lift. A faint light appeared in front of him as a crane moved trash away from the pile.
"Ah! Uncle Voghen! Uncle Voghen! Try digging here a little more! I can sense something good buried here!!"
"Sigh... Maria, you've said that a hundred times already."
"But I mean it this time! I saw a pretty suit of armor in here that hasn't been used yet!"
Just as she said that, Wang Fei saw a small head poke into the hole—and caught sight of her face.
'Margaret?!' He froze. The girl looked just like a younger Margaret. The only difference was that Margaret had always been quiet, while this girl beamed with such joy and warmth that it made anyone want to be near her.
But when he heard someone outside call her "Maria," it confirmed what he suspected: this wasn't Margaret.
It was Maria—her younger sister.
'She's grown up so much... She looks just like Margaret.'
Wang Fei looked at the girl with pride. But as he started planning how to signal her, his body froze in shock at her next words.
"Look! Look! Uncle Vogel! This armor will be perfect for parts in my next custom suit!!"
'Wait, wait—my dear little sister. Don't tell me your first instinct upon finding your brother again... is to dismantle him?!'
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Now : (ZAW)System Acting Zhongli in arknights World? (Now Chapter 52)
Now : (INSL) I Never thought simulating life could screw me up this badly!! (Now Chapter 47)
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Coming soon : Texas Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter) *1 Chapter here*
Coming soon : Exusia Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)
Coming soon : Lapland Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)