Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 584: Rhodes Island Through the Eyes of Outsiders
"Come on now, Officer, no need to be so aggressive. We were just passing by, right?"
Steven stepped out from behind the pillar with a cheerful grin. He had just been about to glance back toward Lin Yuxia—only to realize she had already ditched him and vanished somewhere without a trace.
Hmm.
If he remembered correctly, she'd mentioned before that she had some sort of history with the girl in front of them. Judging by the timing, she probably didn't want to meet her under these circumstances.
Narrowing his eyes thoughtfully, Steven decided not to sell out his teammate.
If Lin Yuxia didn't want to show herself, then fine.
He'd already enjoyed the show thoroughly anyway, so stepping out to handle the aftermath himself wasn't exactly difficult.
After all, she was technically his personal tour guide. Taking a bit of the blame for her in situations like this wasn't that troublesome.
"…Why is it you again?"
The moment Ch'en saw Steven's face, a headache instantly began forming.
Of all people she could run into, why did it have to be this guy?
No wonder everything had gone wrong the moment she stepped outside today. So this disaster magnet was the source of the bad luck.
Ch'en remembered very clearly the ridiculous amount of trouble Steven had caused around Lungmen already. The truly baffling part was that somehow, for reasons completely beyond her understanding, he seemed to have fed Wei Yenwu some kind of enchanted potion.
Despite already knowing full well what Steven had been up to in Lungmen, Wei Yenwu still acted as though he saw absolutely nothing.
If it had been literally anyone else, they'd already be rotting inside a Guard Department holding cell by now.
Steven scratched his cheek awkwardly and continued with an honest-looking smile.
"To tell the truth, I was actually thinking about stepping in to help you earlier. But considering Officer Ch'en here seems to have just a tiny bit of prejudice against me, and since you looked like you could still handle things yourself, I figured staying on the sidelines was the better option."
"At least in Lungmen, just standing around watching shouldn't count as a crime, right?"
Steven rarely lied.
That didn't mean he was bad at it.
He casually fabricated an excuse on the spot. There was no way he could admit he had simply stayed behind to watch the drama unfold for entertainment, right?
Though honestly, even if he did admit it, Ch'en probably couldn't actually do much to him.
After all, Lungmen law didn't prohibit ordinary citizens from being spectators.
"…I don't know why you and your companion were hiding there spying on us," Ch'en said coldly, narrowing her eyes. "But remember this."
"If you keep causing trouble, then even if Old Wei protects you, I'll still personally arrest you someday."
"I swear it in my capacity as the Special Inspection Unit Chief."
Steven's words were irritatingly slippery, but the problem was that he technically wasn't wrong.
He hadn't ambushed anyone.
He hadn't interfered in the fight.
And they had no evidence connecting him to the white-haired Lupo girl who escaped earlier.
Under those circumstances, the only thing Ch'en could really do was issue a warning.
"Come on, Officer," Steven protested dramatically, pressing a hand to his chest as though deeply wounded. "I've said this so many times already, but I'm just a law-abiding citizen."
"You saw it yourself just now! Even while you were out there fighting someone in the middle of the street, I didn't get involved at all. Doesn't that prove I'm just an innocent, ordinary civilian?"
"How could you look at me through such biased eyes? You're really hurting my feelings here."
He stared at Ch'en with an expression of heartbreaking disappointment, as though she had committed some unforgivable betrayal against him.
Meanwhile, Hoshiguma—who had been quietly watching from the side—could tell almost immediately that Steven genuinely held no hostility toward either of them.
But at the same time, there was equally no doubt that he absolutely enjoyed teasing Ch'en for fun.
Honestly, Hoshiguma couldn't help wondering if something was wrong with the guy's head.
Otherwise, why would anyone deliberately go out of their way to provoke someone with Ch'en's personality?
Didn't he realize that once Ch'en fixated on someone, getting rid of her became extremely troublesome?
"Drop the terrible acting already," Ch'en replied flatly, rolling her eyes at him. "I'm not gullible enough to be fooled by that level of performance."
Even if Ch'en couldn't read Steven as clearly as Hoshiguma could, there was at least one thing she was certain about:
She couldn't sense any real malice from him at all.
Still, Ch'en absolutely could not allow Steven's habit of constantly spewing nonsense to continue unchecked.
Sure, she couldn't exactly drag him back to the Guard Department and lock him up, but at the very least, she could verbally warn him.
"And another thing," Ch'en said, her tone suddenly turning sharp as she stared directly into Steven's eyes. "Since you insist you're just an innocent civilian, then let me ask you this."
"What connection do you have with that Lupo girl from earlier?"
Steven had been hiding nearby watching for the entire fight.
Logically speaking, there was a very good chance he knew something about the mysterious girl's background.
"How would I know her?" Steven immediately spread his hands helplessly. "Officer, could you maybe stop letting your imagination run wild for once?"
Then, after a brief pause, he grinned shamelessly.
"Fine, I'll admit it—I was just hoping to see you get beaten until your teeth scattered across the floor. Happy now?"
This was one accusation Steven definitely wasn't going to take responsibility for.
He truly had no relationship with the white-haired girl whatsoever.
At most… he was just a little interested in her.
"She's infected," Ch'en said flatly. "And Rhodes Island…"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…has a habit of taking in exactly those kinds of infected people. Powerful fighters with strange personalities. Then you recruit them as mercenary operators."
Ch'en actually knew quite a bit about Rhodes Island.
Or more accurately, as a superintendent of the Lungmen Guard Department, she wasn't particularly fond of the organization's methods.
Taking in the infected wasn't the problem, but proper screening and oversight were still necessary, weren't they?
Some people's actions simply shouldn't qualify them to become operators at all.
"Hiss… the way you describe it makes Rhodes Island sound like some kind of asylum for abnormal humans."
Steven muttered under his breath.
Unfortunately, after mentally reviewing the absolute collection of weirdos currently employed aboard Rhodes Island, he suddenly realized he didn't actually have a convincing rebuttal.
Especially considering that he himself would probably rank first place on Rhodes Island's annual "Most Unhinged Operator" list.
As the reigning champion, he really wasn't qualified to argue.
"But even so," Steven continued seriously, shaking his head, "I still need to clarify this: I genuinely have nothing to do with her."
"Yeah, she's infected. But you can't just assume every infected person is connected to our company, can you?"
As an honorary shareholder of Rhodes Island, Steven felt obligated to defend the reputation of the pharmaceutical company he had invested in.
Then he suddenly looked up at Ch'en.
"…Besides, if we follow your logic here, wouldn't that mean you also have something going on with me?"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"After all… you're infected too, aren't you?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M