Rhodes Island's Psychologist

Ch 123: Contrast

If only she didn't kill him twice, Lin Yie might have believed Shining's words, perhaps. She's obviously a doctor, but she's also one of the top fighters in Rhodes Island. That's... quite a contrast.

Lin Yie has no words left.

...

Ten minutes later, Hibiscus and Lava arrived. Nearl arrived shortly after.

The last one to come was Nightingale, still wearing her pajamas.

"Pineapple Bun?"

Lin Yie looks at the groggy Nightingale closely.

Um, she looks the same.

He tries talking to her, but Nightingale still seems normal. Her constant yawning and messy appearance are exactly what he expects from her.

Nearl asks, "Do we start now? Liz just woke up."

Hibiscus gives Liz a simple physical check-up. When she has the results, she reports, "Nothing unusual, she's good to go."

"Let's do it then," Shining says, "It will only take half an hour. Do we need Ptilopsis here?"

Lin Yie takes his phone out, "I can call her now, but we might need to wait half an hour or longer."

"There's no need to call Ms. Ptilopsis," Lava comes out of a room with Ptilopsis's computer, "Ms. Ptilopsis left her laptop behind. She said, if we are just doing data collection, we don't have to call her."

"That bird, always trying to slack off," Lin Yie mutters as he begins dialing her number, but Shining stops him.

"If we can do this without her, then there's no need to trouble her," Shining shakes her head, "Ptilopsis has a very important job, and she can't leave her post for too long."

"Alright."

Lin Yie slides his phone back inside his pocket, even though he still thinks Ptilopsis is slacking off right now. He gives the pills to Liz and asks her, "What do you want to do today, Liz?"

"I want to eat pineapple buns."

Even though her answer is expected, Lin Yie still feels helpless, as he says, "Can we talk about something else?"

Nightingale pouts as she stares at Lin Yie with her imploring look. That really hits Lin Yie's weak spot.

He surrenders quickly, "Alright, alright, pineapple buns it is. We'll go later."

"Um."

"Anything else?"

Nightingale shakes her head.

"Really?" Lin Yie says, "My office has been renovated, and there is actual furniture now. Do you want to come to check it out?"

Nightingale nods her head slightly. Then, she falls asleep, after the pills start kicking in.

Lin Yie takes a deep breath and grabs her hand.

...

Half an hour later, Hibiscus hands Lin Yie a cup of hot tea.

Lin Yie stares at the tea in his hands, while the others are staring at him.

After thinking for a while, he says, "I just verified that the passage I found is the secret passage."

His words caused everyone's face to lighten up.

"Did you go in?" Nearl quickly asks.

"Yeah. All I did this time was check out the passage," Lin Yie sighs softly, "But I couldn't reach the surface."

Nearl frowns. She turns to Shining and asks, "Are Sarkaz tunnels that deep?"

"That depends on where it is," Shining says, "If it were somewhere important, especially the strategically significant locations, the tunnel would be very deep. Liz's location, if I remember correctly, was like that."

"How much time do you think he needs?" But remembering how agile Shining is, Nearl finds her question meaningless, "You know what? Never mind what I said."

"So, what should we do?" Hibiscus asks.

Shining looks at Lin Yie and asks, "Did you go anywhere else?"

"No," Lin Yie says, "My goal was to see if the tunnel would lead to the surface directly, so I didn't waste time looking around."

Shining nods, "So, half an hour is not enough."

Nearl asks, "You want to increase the time?"

"We have to. Half an hour just isn't enough time."

Everyone begins discussing with one another, but mainly about how much time they should add.

But... Nightingale hasn't said anything.

She's just been curled up on the sofa, ever since she woke up.

Lin Yie glances at her and says, "You guys decide. I will act on what you agree on." He puts his tea down, "I'm bringing Liz to the cafeteria."

He extends a hand to Liz, "Come on, Liz. We can go now."

Nightingale looks up slightly. She blankly stares at his hand before slowly shaking her head.

Lin Yie frowns, "What's wrong? Did you change your mind?"

Nightingale shakes her head again before burying her head in her knees. In a very small voice, she whispers, "I don't wanna."

Lin Yie suddenly tenses up, "Why? Don't you want to eat pineapple buns?"

Nightingale shakes her head again.

"I-I want... to stay here."

-------------

Draft by Demo
Proofread by PanzerComrade56