I Never thought simulating life could screw me up this badly!!

After being (dragged) out of Kal'tsit's office, it took Wang Fei quite a while to find his way back to the room where Shining was supposed to be waiting.

But when he arrived, Shining was nowhere to be found, despite saying she would wait for him here. That left the young man a bit anxious, unsure of what he should do next—he didn't even know whether his medical check-up was finished or not...

"Well, I'll just call Sister Hui-jie first," Wang Fei thought to himself. He took out his phone and called his older sister.

It didn't take long for the familiar voice on the other end to answer.

"Fei Fei, you're done with the check-up?" Chen asked quickly, though her voice held clear relief.

"Yes, I am. By the way, where are you now?"

"At Rhodes Island's cafeteria. I'm eating with Amiya."

Oh, dear sister... While waiting for your little brother, you went off to flirt with the little bunny, huh? Your brother feels a little hurt, you know.

"Alright then, I'll head over right away."

"Okay, no need to rush..."

After ending the call, Wang Fei hurried toward the cafeteria. Luckily, earlier Shining—his temporary guide—had briefly explained the route to him. So he didn't think he'd get lost easily.

But... it seemed he had overestimated himself.

"Where the heck am I?" Wang Fei looked left and right, surrounded by branching hallways. After taking the path Shining had told him about, the area he was in gradually shifted—from the medical zone to something called Relaxation Zone 4.

He had been walking for minutes now and still hadn't left the relaxation zone. Worse, the numbers on the signs were decreasing—from Zone 4 to Zone 1. Normally, with building layouts, lower numbers should lead to main exits or important areas, right? But somehow, the farther he walked, the more the place felt ominous.

"And why is Zone 1 so much darker than Zone 2? Does Rhodes Island have a power-saving mode for dormitory sections?" After noticing the varying lighting, Wang Fei began to form a theory.

"Wait… don't tell me I've stumbled into one of those daily horror stories at Rhodes Island? If I keep going and reach Zone 0, all the lights will go out and a monster will appear to kill me?!"

Wang Fei remembered a horror movie he recently watched with his sister and chuckled to himself, thinking how lame the joke in his head was.

But before he could go deeper into his imagination, he caught sight of a shadow at the corner he just passed—someone hiding poorly.

"Even though I've felt like someone was following me for a while, this stalker really sucks at hiding…"

As a (former) righteous policeman, Wang Fei decided it was time to teach this stalker a lesson.

Taking advantage of the corner ahead, he hid behind the wall and waited for the footsteps to approach. Then, he jumped out to surprise them.

"Boo!"

"Shit!!!" The owner of the footsteps was so startled, they stumbled and fell to the floor.

Wang Fei was a bit surprised to see the stalker's face—she was just a young Sarkaz girl in a patient's gown, around the same age as Amiya.

"I was expecting a voluptuous older lady, but it turns out to be a cute little girl?"

Seeing that she was just a kid, Wang Fei bent down and extended a hand to help.

"Aww… Are you lost from your parents? Want big brother here to help take you home?"

"W-What?! Who said I was lost?!" the blonde girl snapped angrily, batting away his hand and pointing accusingly at him.

"You're the one who's suspicious! I've never seen you before! Are you one of those disgusting white coats?!"

"White coats? Is that Rhodes Island slang or something?" Wang Fei rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Judging from her attire and behavior, she was likely a patient—and the tsundere type, just like his Sister Hui-jie. Luckily, he was immune to that type by now.

"No, no. You've misunderstood. I'm not one of those white coats," Wang Fei quickly clarified and pulled something out of his pocket.

"My name is Wang Fei. Starting tomorrow, I'll be a new staff member here at Rhodes Island. Sorry for scaring you. Here, have a grape candy as an apology."

The girl glanced at the candy, then back at him with a scowl.

"Are you treating me like a kid or something?!"

Not only did she reject the candy, she also snapped at him, shocking Wang Fei.

"N-No way! She resisted the temptation of grape candy?! She's not an ordinary child!"

"You're the child! And who apologizes with grape candy?! Lord Ifrit only eats strawberry candy!!" she said proudly, puffing out her nonexistent chest like it was the proudest thing ever.

"In that case, here—strawberry candy," Wang Fei offered her a pink one, and she froze.

"O-Oh? Not bad... B-But one candy isn't enough to win over Lord Ifrit—"

Before she could finish, she saw him pull out a handful of colorful candies from his pocket. Her eyes sparkled instantly.

Wang Fei gave a sly grin.

"So, Lord Ifrit... will you forgive me now?"

Five minutes later.

"Mm!! These candies are amazing!! Way better than anything Mech has ever given me! No—these are way beyond any sweets I've had! This must be that legendary candy from Columbia Mech told me about!" the girl exclaimed, leaning against the wall, stuffed with candy from Wang Fei.

Wang Fei, sitting next to her and peeling candy wrappers, chuckled at her over-the-top reaction.

"You misunderstand, Lord Ifrit. These aren't just the best candies in Columbia—they're the best in the world! My Uncle Lin and I spent years perfecting them. They're the product of children's dreams and hard work everywhere! No toothaches, and they even help improve kids' appetites! Calling them merely 'national-level' is an insult to their greatness!"

"If... if you say so, it sounds amazing!" Ifrit gave him a thumbs-up, impressed despite not fully understanding.

"As long as Lord Ifrit understands." Wang Fei smiled and popped a grape candy into his mouth—only to grimace slightly, having forgotten his sense of taste hadn't returned yet.

Seeing this, Ifrit stared at his face with concern.

Wang Fei turned to her. "What's wrong? Something on my face?"

She didn't answer immediately. She looked at him seriously and asked:

"Do you... have an older brother?"

"Older brother? Hmm… not that I remember. I have an older sister and a younger half-sister, but we're not that close. Why do you ask?"

"No reason... You just reminded me of someone I used to know. Never mind. I don't care about that guy anymore anyway," Ifrit muttered irritably, though Wang Fei noticed a strange hint of sadness in her tone.

But her face soon lit up again. She stood and looked at him with newfound excitement.

"Alright! I've decided! From now on, I officially appoint you as my number-one underling! Be proud, Chris!"

"Honored to serve, mighty Lord Ifrit! But... my name's Wang Fei, not Chris." Wang Fei played along, understanding her "chuunibyou" syndrome well—he'd gone through that phase himself (in his past life).

Ifrit beamed even more.

"Excellent! You said you just started working here, right, Chris? If anyone bullies you, come straight to me! I'll burn those bastards to ashes!"

"Wow! Amazing, as expected from Lord Ifrit! But your loyal underling is in dire need of help right now… and again, my name is Wang Fei…" Wang Fei clapped dramatically and explained he was currently lost trying to find the cafeteria.

"What?! You mean you just finished your check-up and got lost on the way to the cafeteria?! Hahaha! You really are a kid, Chris. Oh well, I guess Lord Ifrit will have to guide you herself!"

Wang Fei was thrilled to have a personal guide and didn't forget to praise her again.

"As expected of the mighty Lord Ifrit! Your humble underling shall follow you for life! But again, I'm Wang Fei."

"No need for praise. This is nothing," Ifrit waved him off, striding ahead and beckoning him to follow.

"Come on, Chris! Stay close, or you'll get lost again!"

"My name is—ugh, forget it."

Why do I feel a strange sense of déjà vu...?

Wang Fei recalled the first time he met Exusiai. It seemed like something about that moment was oddly similar to now—but maybe he was just overthinking it.

The two of them headed off, with Ifrit serving as his temporary guide. She pointed out the rooms they passed, explaining who each belonged to. But since she wasn't very good at remembering names (Wang Fei nodded in agreement at this point), she simply used nicknames she made up on the spot. Things like "Fat Fox," "Top Student," "Shy Cat," "Stingy Girl," and "Cleanliness Freak."

Still, there were several names she did manage to remember, and Wang Fei figured they must be people she cared about—Silence, Mech, Ptilopsis, and Mayer.

It was then that Wang Fei began to notice something odd: all the lights in the rooms were off, as if no one was inside. That contradicted what Kelsey had told him earlier—that today was a special holiday and the staff were supposed to be resting in their rooms.

He couldn't help but quietly ask Ifrit about it.

"Lady Ifrit, I heard from Doctor Kelsey that today is a special holiday. So where did all the staff go?"

"Just call me Ifrit... But wait, did you say a special holiday? I don't remember Silence telling me anything like that. She said she had an urgent mission today and had to leave immediately. She also told me to stay in my room and do homework. But I got bored, so I decided to go out for a walk. That's when I saw you sneaking around suspiciously—so I followed you. Silence warned me not to go out today no matter what, so I figured maybe something was happening in Rhodes Island. If you really were suspicious, I was planning to burn you to a crisp and drag you back to her."

"Mmhm… But since I'm not suspicious, you didn't burn me or hand me over to Mama Silence, right?" Wang Fei nodded, but still couldn't figure out why Kelsey had lied to him. Was there something Rhodes Island was deliberately keeping secret?

Ifrit nodded.

"Yep, because Silence always says—wait a second."

After a few seconds of silence, something dawned on her.

"Hey! When did I ever say Silence was my mom!?"

Wang Fei looked at her, surprised.

"Huh? She's not? But it really seemed like you cared about her a lot, so I assumed she was your mom."

"N-no way! Even if she does act like a mom… Silence is… she's someone important I need to protect, that's all!" Ifrit looked down, mumbling with a slight blush.

'So she didn't actually deny it in the end,' Wang Fei smiled.

Just as he was about to tease her, an eerie laugh suddenly echoed behind them without warning.

"Heeheehee~"

Both Wang Fei and Ifrit froze in place before turning to look behind them.

"Uh… what was that?" Wang Fei asked Ifrit.

"Oh, that's probably the weird nun from the innermost room. That woman laughs like that every night. No idea why she's laughing now, though. Maybe she's in a good mood?"

"She laughs? At night? Isn't that terrifying for the others?"

Ifrit gave him a strange look.

"Scary? Why? It's just laughing, isn't it? I can do it too—watch! HAH HAH HAH!" she shouted, bursting into exaggerated laughter. Her laugh, however, sounded more like a mischievous kid than anything truly scary.

Scrreee~ Wang Fei then heard something sharp being dragged across the floor, the sound grating painfully against his ears.

"Th-that sound… what's being dragged?"

"Oh, probably the chainsaw that nun likes to carry around. She does that every night too."

"Wait, did you say chainsaw!? Then why isn't anyone afraid of her!?"

"It's just a chainsaw, right? It's for cutting grass. My Fire-01's way scarier!" Ifrit said proudly of her weapon. But since she wasn't allowed to carry it around currently, it had been confiscated by Silence.

"Heeheehee~" That unsettling laugh crept closer, along with the scraping sound. Even without seeing her, Wang Fei's imagination conjured up a terrifying image of a woman in a nun's outfit with a giant chainsaw heading their way.

Without hesitation, he grabbed Ifrit's arm and took off running.

"Wait! We haven't even said hi to that nun yet!!"

'Kid, if you see someone laughing with a chainsaw in their hand, the last thing you do is say hi. You run—now!'

Wang Fei wanted to explain that to her, but the situation wasn't ideal for making noise—so he focused on running instead.

Clack...

Not long after they fled, the figure behind the eerie laughter arrived at the spot they had just been. A dim light revealed a black nun's outfit and flowing white hair.

She looked around, then laughed chillingly from deep within her throat.

"Heeheehee… this scent… the scent of my Lord… my one true Lord…"

But before she could continue in the direction they ran off to, another figure stepped out from behind a wall to block her path.

It was a white-haired wyvern woman, her long hair reaching mid-back. In her hand was a shield nearly the size of her own body.

She glared at the nun and sternly spoke.

"Agent Specter, please return to your room. According to Dr. Kelsey's protocols, you are not allowed in Zone Two under any circumstances. I, Saria, as Rhodes Island security personnel, order you to return immediately."

"Heeheehee… are you trying to stop me from meeting my Lord?"

"You want to be sliced into pieces?" Specter giggled, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"I won't repeat myself. Turn around and go back to your room. Now." Saria raised a gun from her belt.

Specter's grin widened, and her chainsaw revved up with a shrill, violent screech, sending vibrations through the air.

"Heeheehee… those who stand in the way of my Lord… those who took my beloved away… I… I'll kill every last one of you!!"

What started as joy and longing quickly turned to rage and madness. The nun lunged at Saria, chainsaw in hand.

But before she could get close, Saria fired her weapon, unleashing a red, blood-like beam that bound Specter in place. Her once-crazed eyes widened in shock before her body collapsed backward, falling unconscious with a peaceful smile.

"Ahh… this is… the embrace of my Lord…"

Saria stared silently at the woman lying blissfully unconscious on the floor. Then she hefted her over her shoulder and glanced toward where Wang Fei and Ifrit had been.

"At least his instincts are still sharp."

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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 46)

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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)