Hello, Arknights

When Ling Dengxian arrived at the visitor room, he found that things were much more complicated than he had imagined. There were three people waiting for him, and their attitudes towards each other were a little subtle. In name, they all came on behalf of Victoria, but they belonged to different factions.

Among them was an acquaintance. When he saw Dai Finn, the latter had a complicated look in his eyes, but now was not the time for greetings. The other two also stood up. One of them was wearing a coat and a top hat, and the emerald green embellishments on his clothes made him look even more mysterious. The other one had eagle eyebrows and tiger eyes, and his serious expression made people subconsciously think that it was a cedar standing there, a soldier.

"Are you looking for me?" Behind Daphne was naturally Windermere, and the other two naturally represented other dukes.

"he came."

There was no need to say much about his impression of Windermere, but his impression of the other dukes... couldn't be said to be particularly bad, it was simply that he intended to never have any contact with them again.

In his absence, the ones who took his place in dealing with the Victorian officials were Kelsey and the Carters girl, whom he had known for a long time but had never seen even after being on the island for a long time.

Amiya.

This young girl with long brown-black hair was wearing a coat with the Rhodes Island logo printed on it. She had rings on all ten of her fingers. The blue-green rings flickered with light and trembled slightly with the owner's nervous mood.

Ling Dengxian naturally knew Amiya, the young yet strong leader. He had 'known' her long before he landed on the island and before he traveled through time. Now, after seeing the pair of rabbit ears with his own eyes, he was dazed for a moment, and then a gentle smile appeared on his face.

But now was not his personal time, so he looked at Kal'tsit again and nodded as a greeting. Kal'tsit cleared her throat and indicated that she would leave the situation to him, then she took Amiya and left for the time being.

"Operator White Dove, we're all very happy to see you recover so quickly." Before leaving, Amiya smiled back, her lovely figure seeming a little excited.

The two men left, and Victoria's envoy followed them for a moment before turning his attention to the "protagonist." Ling Dengxian glanced at Dai Feien, who subconsciously shrank his neck. Without exchanging pleasantries, he sat down in the chair next to Dai Feien and asked directly, "What are your names? What brings you to see me?"

Caster's Gray Hat, who had handled various conversations, didn't mind his attitude. He took a seat and saluted with a smile. "Greetings, Your Excellency Ling Dengxian. I'm Bellingham, a pawn under Caster. If you find it tedious, you can just call me 'Gray Hat'."

"Gray hats? I heard someone mention before that there were over twenty gray hats in a battle during the early stages of the Red War..."

"Exactly twenty, sir. My colleagues failed to save the precious life of the Steam Knight, nor could they save their own lives." The man in the gray hat took off his hat and pressed it against his chest.

"Kaster made a biased decision himself, but he asked the soldiers to pay with their lives. Even the decision lacked the most basic legitimacy." Dai Finn narrowed his eyes, revealing the stupidity behind the sacrifice.

The soldier, dissatisfied with Ling Dengxian and Dai Feien's attitude, snorted coldly and said sarcastically, "Kids who have never been to the battlefield, there are no candies to give you after dinner. Just do your job well and don't criticize things that have nothing to do with you."

There was anger in Dafen's eyes, but he just clenched his fists and did not fight back.

"Well, Mr. Gray Hat, the bloody war is over. Why did the honorable Duke of Castle disturb my life again?" Ling Dengxian had not had time to eat breakfast and wanted to get rid of the uninvited guest quickly.

He chose to continue talking to the man in the gray hat, which was a disguised way of ignoring the man, which made him a little annoyed, but when he was about to speak again, a chill stung his limbs. His instinctive reaction to danger told him that this was a very bad sign. He looked at Ling Dengxian, who just glanced at him, and the chill became more obvious.

"Mr. Ling, there's no need to harbor such hostility. We're here for two reasons: to discuss future activities with your company and... to notify you of the conferment of the title of Viscount."

After these words were spoken, the soldier and Dai Feien fell silent, and all three of them turned their eyes to him.

Ling Dengxian was puzzled. "What? I'm not from Victoria, so why are you making me a viscount?"

"So you're no ordinary viscount." No matter how impatient the soldier was, he had to follow protocol after hearing the news from the gray hat. "You represented Victoria in the Red War, slaying the source of evil, and played a significant role in the Battle of Everspring. As a war hero, the dukes proposed, and the parliament approved, that you be granted the title of honorary viscount."

"...Sorry, I'm not interested." Ling Dengxian suddenly lost interest. As a small person, he didn't want to be bound by any identity, and he was really tired of Victoria's routine.

"Mr. Mike, could you please move aside and take a rest? Mr. Ling and I have some matters other than work that we want to discuss." Bellingham smiled, intending to eliminate factors that would be detrimental to the conversation.

"...You have no right to order me to leave before confirming whether the goal has been achieved." The soldier did not buy it. His every word and action was linked to the reputation of the duke behind him.

"Your Excellency, Mike, don't worry about Mr. Ling's attitude. Mr. Ling doesn't mean to embarrass insignificant people like you and me..." The man in the gray hat suddenly calmed down, his eyes narrowed slightly, "Even in front of the Duke of Caster and the Duke of Fife, Mr. Ling still has his 'personality'."

"Mr. Gray Hat, I truly have no interest. It's not the circle I aspire to, nor is it part of my life plan. I'm just a visitor to Victoria, and my aspirations differ from those of the high and mighty Dukes. If they're causing trouble for me because of my offense in the previous meeting, please pass on my regards. I can visit you in person if necessary."

Daphne's eyes twitched as he listened. This guy's words were full of thorns, and for some reason, they seemed a bit like his mother's style. The man in the gray hat, embarrassed, pressed Mike again. Mike hesitated for a moment, then bowed and withdrew.

"Mr. Ling, there's no need to be so. After the Nasirsha assassination incident, every duke has been very careful about their travel safety recently. Before leaving, Duke Kaster even asked me to give you a reminder to be careful."

Ling Dengxian was baffled by the man in the grey hat's words. He was the assassin, and there was a duke who cared about the assassin's safety? Just as he was about to speak in confusion, Daphne leaned in, brushing his ear with his hair, and whispered in his ear:

"The identity of the assassin in this incident has not been announced. Although there are signs of Originium skills, your appearance at the time has never been made public. You can use explanations like Originium skills to cover it up. Most importantly, the one who sneaked in and wielded the knife was Nasirsa, whom Victoria dared not openly attack. Based on the public opinion that she is a war hero, most people are happy to be the slow-witted person."

"I don't think I'm that likable, am I? To put it another way, there will always be some duke who is not so broad-minded and can't stand me, right?" Ling Dengxian still felt that Victoria was a bit abstract.

When he said this, he didn't avoid looking at the gray hat. The latter smiled awkwardly: "The Dukes are a little worried right now. As you say in your Yan country, 'It's better to resolve an enemy than to create one'..."

"Furthermore, if a sorcerer capable of massively paralyzing military communications and organizational discipline can be won over with a small reward, the Duke can swallow all the bad news along with his morning bread." Delphine pointed out the key point. "And using the 'correct reward' to redirect public opinion is a pretty practical tactic."

"Public opinion?" Ling Dengxian was confused again. What happened outside while he was under house arrest?

Dai Finn and Gray Hat rarely showed the same confusion, not understanding what Ling Dengxian had been doing these days and how the outside world knew nothing about it.

……

"It's your own business, so make your own judgment." Kal'tsit stood at the table, organizing the documents on her desk, and rolled her eyes at him.

Amiya on the side showed an embarrassed expression, not wanting to interrupt, but just kept smiling gently. Her lovely smile made Ling Dengxian feel very good.

"I know, I know. I just wanted to ask Director Kai for your opinion. After all, I've been under house arrest for so many days, and I'm seriously short of intelligence information." Ling Dengxian leaned back on the back of the office reception chair. "I have my own judgment."

Kal'tsit sighed, put down the work in her hands, pressed the Yintang acupoint a few times, then looked at him again and sat down.

"If all they promised was the 'honorary viscount', then there's nothing to be ashamed of—for you."

"An honorary viscount does not have a large fiefdom, nor does he have any legal obligations to fulfill. He also does not have the right to participate in politics like a true viscount. It is just a title, and he can enjoy some basic rights and interests."

Ling Dengxian understood part of it and asked, "What are they specifically?"

"For you, the useful content is probably that you can freely eat at every banquet held by the nearby nobles - if they invite you, or even if they don't, you can go with a shameless face. The nobles in Victoria can't bring themselves to turn you away."

"Anything else?" Ling Dengxian was not interested and was a little dissatisfied. Kal'tsit thought this was "useful" to him?

That's all he pursues?!

"At least something to decorate the facade: a separate house and yard, complete with furniture - including a custom-made bed by Victoria's most famous craftsman."

……

"Dr. Kal'tsit, what is Ling Dengxian doing..." The Carters girl felt a little awkward as she watched Ling, who had finally made the decision, leave, but she didn't know where to start.

"He just found an excuse. The doctor just told me that he had already looked for her before coming here." Kal'tsit touched the black ice crystal in her pocket, her eyes twitched slightly, and a smile flashed across her face.

"Rhodes Island was in a difficult situation with Victoria, so he chose to do Victoria a favor, and only then did Victoria do us a favor. Although nothing would really happen if he insisted on not going to Victoria, he felt that he was a burden to Rhodes Island, so he did it anyway." Precious walked in from the door and brought lunch to the two of them.

"Just like Victoria wouldn't really do anything to us, she's just 'making it easy'..." Kal'tsit looked at Amiya, "Amiya, don't you want to come play with us? We finally get to meet again."

"No." Amiya smiled softly. "He needs to relax. He can't help with the Victorian infected matters we're dealing with right now. Let him rest."

"Not necessarily." Precious smiled and pulled out a document with the Reunion logo printed on it. "When he comes back from vacation, we might need his help here."

Watching Mou Ling's convoy leave, Feilin couldn't help but be stunned by the past. The same face, different mental outlook, but doing the same thing. Maybe he was right, he never changed.

But this time it was just a little "trouble" in interpersonal relationships.

……

Set off on a convoy to the designated location.

"You still remember me." Although Nightingale blamed him like this, she was very excited in the relatively small space inside the car. She hadn't been out for a long time.

"Ahaha... After all, there is probably no danger, so I have no reason not to take you with me, right?" Ling Dengxian was more concerned about the interactions between the other people, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"...Oh, and then you set off for Ursus together?" Bagpipe was listening carefully to Texas, who was driving, talking about the past days. She took the initiative to ask about the experiences of Texas and Mostima with him, but the excuse was "I want to get to know Texas better."

She sat on the other side of him, and because of her listening posture, half of her body was leaning on him.

The two girls did not refuse.

"Yes, after the car broke down, we switched to walking... After joining the Integration Movement, we slept together at night for safety reasons."

"Um...sleeping in the same camp?"

"Occasionally at night he would turn over and kick Chi Yu."

Bagpipe stopped asking questions.

Ling Dengxian felt a little regretful that he didn't take Liz with him to ride in the same car with Shuangye Meilansa.

The blue-haired angel in the passenger seat remained silent, just observing. Only when Bagpipe asked would she answer with a smile.

“…Let’s finish this quickly…”