Long-term salvation

"It's Italian custard, sponge pastry with syrup and liqueur, and a little puff pastry," Nikki removed the stainless steel lid from the plate, letting the wonderful aroma of the food fill the room. She continued calmly, "And a cup of hot milk with sugar... I know the Commander doesn't like things too sweet, so I didn't put too much in it."

"Ahem, please, Marianne."

"No, this is what I should do," Nikki said calmly. She reached out to tuck her hair behind her ears. "After all, we are your property. We will always be loyal to you and obey any of your orders."

"..."

Rhode looked at Marian's calm yet slightly resentful gaze, and his rationality, which had become fragile due to his guilty conscience, immediately broke, turning into an unsightly rage. He pushed Nikki down on the sofa, his left hand clasped with her right, and his right hand pinched her chin. Just like when they first met, he smiled and asked,

"any?"

Being swept by that extremely aggressive gaze, the girl tilted her head slightly, closed her eyes, and whispered expectantly:

"any."

"In that case...I hope someone can tidy up my room for me in the evening."

"Tonight," Nikki raised her cherry-colored neck and let the man kiss her wantonly. She reached out her free hand to grasp the man's clothes from behind, forcing the trembling voice that often squeezed out from between her lips and teeth to calm down, and replied to her master, "I will come, Commander."

"Call my name at this time. This is an order."

"...Yes, I obey."

Nikki called out her beloved's name softly, over and over again, until the rain outside the window stopped.

"The milk... the milk is cold."

"Let's take it to the kitchen and heat it up," Rod said, pulling Marian from the sofa into his arms. He then reached out and ran his hand through Nikki's hair, slowly smoothing it down. It was only then that he noticed the smooth touch and the faint scent of perfume. "You're using perfume? This smells like homemade rose essential oil."

Rhode then felt Nikki nod her head against his chest and said:

"Mrs. Parry, who runs an incense shop in town, knows how to make this. She taught Noah and me. In return, I asked Yang to introduce her to a reputable flower supplier."

Noah's speed is not as fast as yours, right... You're a step late, Noah.

After praying in his heart that he would surely be tortured by that eccentric girl in the future, Rhode sighed and helped Marian tidy up her clothes. As he did so, his hands began to slide down, but Nikki, who was standing on tiptoe, kissed him lightly on the side of his face and said softly:

"You have important work to do today—organize and write the content for the Foundation Board Meeting. Have you forgotten? And you promised Hinata that you would let her become more familiar with the secretarial work. Noah alone can't do it."

“Saving the world is such a hassle.”

"After all, we're not playing games." Marian buried her head in Rhodes's arms for a while before leaving. She turned around and covered the lid of the plate, saying with a hint of regret, "That custard tastes best right out of the oven. If you heat it any longer, it will lose a lot of its flavor."

"It's okay, I don't really care."

Rod said this, picked up the dinner tray, and left the room with Marian, heading towards the kitchen. When the door was unlocked by those delicate hands, Rod blinked and sighed deeply, making Nikki look back at him in amusement. With a hint of embarrassment still lingering, she asked, "What's going on?"

"What are you sighing about?"

"I'm just lamenting that the last bit of my free time as a man is about to be snatched away—everything has an end, and the silence of darkness is unique to each individual."

"Isn't it appropriate to use Tagore's poem here?"

"That's because I didn't use the first sentence, my dear Marianne, Mary, my Holy Mother, my everlasting love."

Nikki's face suddenly flushed, she ran down the corridor and quickly disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

Looking at Nikki who had escaped triumphantly, Rod walked in another direction, shaking his head. He walked through the corridor of Hill Villa and came to the kitchen.

As he walked into the kitchen, Abigail, who was lying on the table with her face pressed against the surface, suddenly jumped up and attacked Rhode's knee, angrily saying:

"When you took Marian away, could you please consider the people who haven't had breakfast yet?!"

"Don't bother, you must be up late," Rhodes said angrily, dodging the soft kick. "I still have some breakfast here, custard and milk, but it's cold. Do you want some?"

"Of course you can, but what do you want to eat?"

"I can go heat up the sausages in the refrigerator, as well as the vegetable soup and bread that we didn't finish last night." Rhode shrugged and placed the plate on the long dining table. He reached out and flicked Abigail's head lightly, reminding her seriously:

"And I didn't take Marianne away."

"I don't believe it," Abigail said, her eyes wide open, matching Rhodes's, causing the latter's eyes to twitch slightly. "Rhodes is the most lustful person. He will definitely kidnap everyone in the villa one by one."

"Including you?"

"Hehe," Abigail sneered cutely. She stood on the chair, her hands on her hips, and puffed out her barren chest. "I am the daughter of the One Who Returns All Things to One. My current form is just because I like it. If you dare to attack me, hehe, Rhode, I will make you suffer!"

"Yes, yes, yes, okay, okay, okay, great witch Abigail, could you please get down from your chair first?"

Rhodes said perfunctorily, and at the same time reached out to support the blonde girl who wanted to jump off the chair. The latter came down and leisurely got a rag to wipe the mud stains on the chair.

"Did you go play in the forest?"

"I was going to go and trample some mushrooms for some soup—don't worry, I know the dangers—but I'll have Pickman taste them before I try them myself or cook them for Marian and the others."

"That's enough, let Pickman go!"

Chapter 154: Daily Life: Hina Only Wants to Work

Rod's study was moved twice. It was originally on the second floor of the old villa building, but as more and more documents, books, and girls stayed in the study, he had to move it to the newly built long house.

The new study is larger than the kitchen, and it is furnished with a complete set of sofas and coffee tables. The two rows of bookshelves reaching the ceiling will be filled up little by little over time. The best thing is that by opening the large study window behind the desk, you can see a corner of the town of Arkham, as well as the forests and fields extending into the distance.

At this moment, two girls were working in Rhodes' study.

"Firstly, the assets currently under the Sensei and our names... If too many assets are held by one person, they will be targeted by those with ulterior motives and will be easily targeted."

Yuuka placed a large pile of documents on Hinata's desk, almost completely blocking the view of the petite girl. Hinata blinked, stood up, and stood on tiptoe. She took the thick document on top, looked through it, and asked aloud:

"so much?"

"What you're looking at is a catalog and a brief introduction to each project. You don't need to know everything, but as Sensei's secretary, you still need to understand some things." The purple-haired girl stuck out her tongue at her companion, whose eyes were similar. "Noah will go over the information about the Army Without Borders with you tomorrow. Of course, it's just a brief introduction. You will definitely have other specialized tasks in the future."

“…Saving the world is such a hassle.”

"Well, it can't be helped. After all, we have a Sensei who wants to save the world."

As Yuuka spoke, she walked to the window and stretched. The girl's beautiful figure was coated with a wonderful halo by the sunlight after the rain. The pair of white legs that were enough to compete with D were reflected in the faint light, which made Hina's eyes hurt.

Helplessly, the girl sighed, stretched out her hand to pull her companion in front of the window to herself, and asked aloud:

"I just need to read it in the order of the table of contents...wait."

Hinai sniffed Yuuka's neck, lowered her eyes slightly, and said in a flat tone:

"Sensei's favorite cigarette smell."

"!!!"

Yuuka's face flushed suddenly as she jumped up. She grabbed the hem of her skirt with both hands and stammered, then poured out all the words that were stuck in her throat in one breath:

"Table of contents, yes, yes, yes. Just read it in the order of the table of contents. I'll go organize the information first!"

"I haven't said anything yet—ah, he escaped... What a sin, Sensei," Hinai sighed helplessly at the fleeing figure, muttering to herself as she flipped through the documents, "A sinful adult like you should stand with the 'devil'."

After closing the window that had just been opened slightly, Hina returned to sit at the desk. She was sitting at the desk that Rhodes used. Her study had not been tidied up yet, and the furniture had just been moved in. It would take some time to dissipate the smell and clean up. Because of this, Hina could only stay in Rhodes' study for a few days.

After padding the seat with a few thick books and covering it with a layer of silk velvet, Hinai finally felt the height was just right. He opened the first directory file:

The first thing you see is a neatly organized list of assets, which is also classified so that people can see it clearly at a glance.

From shipwreck treasure salvage companies to real estate investment, or emerging electronic industry research and mineral development, huge, small, high-end, low-end... even if just reading the text, Hina can feel the rapidly expanding capital power.

Perhaps without the assistance of Atlas Corporation and the Cogito Foundation, the development of Rhodes and the Army Without Borders would not be much slower, especially when Hina saw the Detroit city's domination (this part was crossed out)/investment plan, which was almost based on controlling the entire city and surrounding satellite cities!

Not to mention the overseas investment plan that has been gradually unfolding. The amount of prepared investment marked at the back alone is enough to make Hina secretly frightened.

The catalog was very detailed, except for the content related to the Army Without Borders and the other world - these should be Noah's responsibilities. Her excellent memory was just enough to record those things that could not be preserved on paper.

After reading for nearly an hour, Hinata, intent on taking notes, looked around but couldn't find a ballpoint pen or any other paper, so she opened the drawer and rummaged through it. There wasn't much in the drawer: a few unpainted Warhammer chess pieces, a pair of small scissors, sandpaper shoved together, and a half-empty pack of cigarettes.

It was clear what the owner of this desk did every day... After searching for a while without success, Hinata jumped off the chair and prepared to go outside to get a notebook. But before she could leave the desk, the door to the study was opened from the outside:

Rhodes came in carrying a square lunch basket with a white porcelain teapot and two small cups, some cheese and muffins with honey sauce.

"Mary's little church received some thank-you gifts from the townspeople. It's bright yellow cheese! That muffin is Marian's new creation. Try it."

Hinai's mouth curled up slightly. She slowly walked over to Rhodes and watched him place the food in his lunch basket on the coffee table. The faint, familiar scent of Red Apple cigarettes on him was mixed with other aromas. Then, the girl said meaningfully:

"Does Sensei only have one smell?"

"what?"

"No, I mean, is this the only flavor of tea?"

"Um... do you want milk tea?" Rhodes reached out to straighten his collar, hiding the spot on his collarbone where Noah had just kissed him. "If you want, I can make it for you. I've just learned a little bit of crafting skills recently, but don't get your hopes up."

"Thank you, Sensei," the girl smiled.

Looking at that smile, Rhode raised his eyebrows—he no longer felt any shame! As if knocking open a door, he sat on the sofa, took Hina in his arms, and wrapped his right hand around the girl's slender waist. He kissed her smooth white hair and said with a smile:

"I'm the one who should say thank you."

"Hmm...wait a minute," Hinai subconsciously grabbed Rhodes' arm. After more than ten seconds, she was finally let go. She could only look back at those blue eyes in shame and anger, and said unhappily:

"You said you would take Mary and me to the foundation's board meeting. I can't waste time now. I need to at least understand and record your conversation. And then I'll be heading to Europe right after that... Uh... Sensei!"

"There's always time," Rhode shrugged, looking quite scoundrel. "I plan to lead the Army Without Borders team on a mission tomorrow. I've been quite slack lately. I also need to go to New Orleans to hire some mercenaries to serve as outer security personnel."

"The council meeting..."

"This is a general meeting. The directors will need some time to finish their work and fly here from all over the world. It will take at least a week or two, so we still have some free time."

Rod said as he slowly unbuttoned Hinai's shirt and put his hand inside.

Chapter 155: Newcomer Assessment

It's not easy to become a member of the team in the Army Without Borders that specializes in the world confrontation mission - not everyone can face the attacks of groups of ghosts and the ever-changing strange space, not to mention the terrifying monsters beyond the boundaries of human imagination.

Even among the first four teams, namely "Goshawk-1", "Hornid-2", "Vulture-3" and "Falcon-4", there were cases where people left the team due to psychological unbearableness, or had to temporarily retire due to injuries in the other world incidents.

The problems primarily lay with the third and fourth teams. The first Goshawk team, having faced a top-tier Otherworldly event (Midnight Cannibal Train) in their first combat mission, remained relatively stable. The second Harpy Eagle team was also in good shape… except that after their first mission (Stork), they were quite ruthless in their attack on the Otherworldly artifacts that appeared in subsequent events, leading to frequent complaints from Atlas Corporation's recovery personnel about their difficulty in recovering sufficient samples.

Although the third and fourth teams were also composed of elite soldiers, they were still flesh and blood after all, and their luck was a little worse.

Because of this, Rhodes and General Hammer discussed and reorganized the original three and four squads to form the fourth hunting falcon squad. This was done by screening and recruiting soldiers from the second batch of Marine reconnaissance companies that arrived in Arkham.

Corporal Keegan P. Rath [from "Call of Duty: Ghosts"] was a little worried holding the form in his hand. There was a person in front of him in the queue. The person had a tense body and looked like he was going to the execution ground... For God's sake, they were just going to take a simple assessment!

At least that's what General Hammer said.

With a sigh, Keegan suppressed his nervousness and anxiety and continued to sit in his folding chair to read the form. He had actually already written down the answers and was just checking them again.

The form is filled with densely packed questions, such as "Do you consider yourself a human being?", "Do you think the existence of the other world should be made public?", "Do you sympathize with the creatures of the other world, especially when the latter do not intentionally harm humans?", "Do you think the Army Without Borders should protect humans from any enemy, whether they like it or not?", etc. There are basically nearly two hundred questions in total, and the answers are very simple. You just need to tick Yes or No at the back of the form.

About fifteen minutes later, Keegan heard the voice of Captain Krauser, General Hammer's deputy:

"Keegan P. Rath! Submit your question form and enter the assessment area!"

"Aye, aye, Sir."

Keegan stood up suddenly and handed the form in his hand to Krauser. The latter glanced at it slightly, and the corners of his mouth slightly curled up, making the hideous scar on his face dance.

"Don't be nervous, and don't be afraid of failure," Klausa comforted him. "You have many options. You may not be able to do it now, but after training and small-scale battles, you will have opportunities in the future. But you must remember - staying alive and bringing back intelligence is the most important thing!"

Intelligence is the greatest weapon ordinary soldiers have when facing the bizarre creatures of the other world. Not everyone can face the darkness and madness like Rhodes. This is not a question of courage to make a decision, but a simple, cruel and realistic question of ability.

After responding with a standing attention salute, Keegan walked into the gate of the assessment area under Krauser's gaze, facing the storm that was about to begin.

Keegan had just entered the assessment area when he heard some noise.

When the noise like scratching the glass disappeared, Keegan saw two technicians in white clothes and gas masks motioning him to put on the equipment in front of him, which were common equipment such as CBRN protective suits and bulletproof vests. The weapons were also simple, but of many types. Weapons from NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and even from Aurora were placed on a long table.

After shooting one by one and achieving pretty good results, Keegan went to other assessment areas wearing protective clothing - in the next assessment, he had to wear this slightly bloated and inconvenient equipment throughout the whole process. In the second assessment area, an Ododek scanner was installed on the back of Keegan's equipment.

Almost immediately after the Odraudek scanner was activated, Keegan heard the sound of the device opening and fan blades unfolding, which inevitably made his heart beat faster. But as a member of the Marine Corps Special Operations Force who had trained in deep diving, Keegan quickly calmed himself and walked forward with his selected weapon.

The second assessment area is located in Arkham Forest. It is almost late at night, and the examinees are not allowed to use night vision equipment. The only lighting tools are weak overhead lights and four red signal sticks.

They must cross the forest and reach the predetermined location within four hours, while collecting information props scattered throughout the forest. Of course, there will be a simple map as a clue. It sounds like a Boy Scout outing.

There's plenty of time, but the road is far from peaceful:

An hour and a half after Keegan went deep into the forest, he looked to his left and right, but could not see any lights or the lights of other examinees who had gone deep into the forest. If he looked forward, he could only see the shadows of trees in the dim moonlight.

He reached out and touched the intelligence equipment hanging at his waist - a model of a premature baby's corpse wrapped in fresh cow stomach. The overly realistic model was also engraved with strange and bizarre spells on its surface. If you looked closely, it would only make people feel dizzy. In addition, there were several notebooks and a faintly glowing mineral - Keegan sincerely hoped that this thing had nothing to do with radiation or the like.

The surroundings were silent, so unnaturally still that Keegan could only hear his own breathing, but soon he could hear his heartbeat and the rustling of his internal organs as he walked. A strange mental pressure was slowly pressing in through the darkness, and the faint tingling on his skin felt like fine needles slowly carving patterns.

A slight irritation rose in Keegan's heart, and he began to complain about his own carelessness. He should have worn the protective suit more comfortably, should have adjusted the harness straps, should have checked the magazine and rifle one more time, should have… well, if only he could take off the protective suit and inspect it more carefully… There was plenty of time now… Taking it off didn't seem to be a problem… As long as he could do it before the deadline…