The next day, Kal'tsit sees Lin Yie in her lab with dark circles around his eyes. She frowns, "Did you not sleep well?"
"Uh, no." Lin Yie feels his body ache.
Kal'tsit taps her desk and says, "As a psychologist, how do you help others, if you can't even deal with your own insomnia?"
"... Who needs my help for insomnia?"
"Lungmen Guard Department's Madam Chen. Did you forget already?"
Lin Yie's mouth twitches, "I thought you were joking back then."
"I was, or rather, I was acting on the spot, but you need to be prepared in case it becomes real." Kal'tsit says,
"You are Rhodes Island's psychologist, so you need to act like one. Otherwise, we will be looked down on by Lungmen's people. I suggest you go back and wash your face."
Lin Yie sighs, "I get it, but did you call me here this early to only tell me that?"
Kal'tsit shakes her head, "Of course not."
It is very early in the morning, and Lin Yie is already here in her lab after her phone call. He had a hard time falling asleep last night, but when he finally did, Kal'tsit called him. As expected, he is still sleepy, and he can already guess how he looks right now.
Lin Yie doesn't really understand why he couldn't sleep. Rangers is a good roommate. He didn't grind his teeth like Ansel or snore, but whenever Rangers turned his body, Lin Yie felt a chill down the spine, as if something slippery crawled inside his clothes. He knew it was his imagination, but that made it very difficult for him to sleep. Now, he feels stiff and sore all over.
"Here." Kal'tsit puts a thick envelope on her desk and pushes it towards Lin Yie, "This is your salary for the first month."
Lin Yie pauses.
"Although you haven't worked for a month yet." Kal'tsit says, "You don't have any money left, right? Lungmen's desserts are not cheap to pay."
"... How did you know?"
"It's not hard to find out, really" Kal'tsit says.
"So, Silence..."
"The person who understands Ifrit most is Silence." Kal'tsit says,
"And most of the money here came from her. Otherwise, your salary alone wouldn't be that much, but you took care of Ifrit for her, and if you also had to foot the bill, that makes us look too unreasonable. You can check the amount to see if there's anything missing."
Lin Yie smiles, when he takes the envelope, "I trust you."
"Hmm but Silence asked me to tell you." Kal'tsit looks at Lin Yie, "Just this once."
"Ah?"
"Ifrit is very hard to deal with. She needs discipline, and sometimes,she needs to relax but not self-indulgence." Kal'tsit says,
"If this happens again, Silence won't reimburse your loss. She doesn't want Ifrit to eat those foods. What happened there was her negligence."
"That's about it." Kal'tsit takes a sip from her coffee and frowns at the bitterness,
"But rather than some trivial matter, I called you here because I want to know about your ability. If Nightingale's trust for you is an exception, Ifrit's is not. Ifrit actually doesn't interact with strangers, and her personality is a bit wild. Very few people can approach her. Even I had to take a long time, and it was with Silence's help but you only used one afternoon... Or two hours and eleven minutes to gain her trust. Your talent is incredible."
Lin Yie doesn't speak.
(Was it not because I paid for the food she ate?)
"If there is time, I would love to chat with you." Kal'tsit looks exhausted, "But I have more urgent matters to deal with."
"Did you stay up late?"
"Almost." Kal'tsit says lightly, "I am going to sleep soon. After that, I will have to go somewhere."
Lin Yie asks carelessly, "Go where?"
But then, he realizes he might have overstepped the boundary, "Did I say too much?"
"It's fine. Actually, it is not something important. It just doesn't concern you." Kal'tsit looks at Lin Yie,
"There is an emergency, and it somehow relates to the task Lungmen gave me, so I am leaving Lungmen this afternoon. Tonight, Lungmen's 'cargo' will arrive. That's when the squad will depart."
Lin Yie nods.
"Maybe you haven't realized, so I will go straight to the point." Kal'tsit says, "Silence is the medic of the squad, and I am leaving Lungmen."
Lin Yie frowns.
He feels there is trouble coming his way.
"In other words." Kal'tsit takes another sip of the coffee, "When Silence and I are not here, you have to take care of Nightingale and Ifrit."
"..."
"What?" Kal'tsit raises an eyebrow, "Is there a problem?"
Lin Yie takes a deep breath.
"So you are just leaving them to me?"
No words can describe Lin Yie's feeling right now.
"Are all of you leaving?"
"Of course not." Kal'tsit sounds to take offence on what you said,
"We will leave a few operators behind for your safety, although it should be safe here in Lungmen, and this is Lungmen Guard Department's place. We ask you to watch over Nightingale and Ifrit, because their personalities are awkward, but they can take care of themselves."
Lin Yie sigh in relieved.
"Silence wanted you to know that Ifrit might cause troubles, so you just have to watch out for that. And there is nothing to worry about for Nightingale."
"That's true."
"If anything happens." Kal'tsit writes down a number, "Just call this number."
Lin Yie takes the note.
"Alright, I am going to sleep." Kal'tsit says, "You can go now."
Lin Yie nods, but before he leaves, he asks, "By the way, what did you give to Nightingale last night?"
"Hmm?"
"If I shouldn't ask..."
Kal'tsit pauses, "It can temporarily make her revert to her old self."
After that, Kal'tsit just leaves without waiting for Lin Yie.
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Translator's Notes
The phrase Lin Yie used to describe his feeling after hearing Kal'tsit's request is a proverb "天将降大任于斯人也," which basically means heaven left him an important task (to make him suffer). I left the translation out because I couldn't find a good equivalence for the English translation that also preserve its humor.