Chapter 252: line with translation of chapter title

NO．14： He is petty-minded.

Aomo had once deliberately trained his adaptability.

Because he had realized from a young age how futile 'plans' could be.

When you want to devise a plan of action, schedule things by date, and hope everything goes exactly as you wish—it usually ends up getting slammed by reality, especially when you pack that schedule tight.

Even later, when he grew older, understood more, and knew to leave himself some flexible time for emergencies—he still often ran into the so-called unexpected and accidents.

The so-called 'leaving nothing to chance' is the result of continually accumulating preparations, drafts, and tight information control.

But generally, the vast majority of people can only achieve one of the above.

Accumulating preparations and drafts, or controlling information.

Or they can't do any of those and just go with the flow.

There are also people who constantly jump back and forth among those three—Aomo is one of them.

Trying to grasp information, trying to accumulate preparations, but often getting slammed by reality, then briefly giving up and just dealing with things as they come.

But even if you want to practice dealing with things as they come, you first need a lot of accumulation.

As the East Flame martial arts tradition says, the supreme realm of 'no technique beats technique' is not a fantasy but the result of accumulation.

First you must learn enough before you can truly consider, after integrating and comprehending, the premise of breaking free from set frameworks.

So preparations still need to be made, drafts still need to be written, adaptability still needs to be improved—and the last of those actually has no shortcut.

It's nothing more than strengthening practice like building muscle memory, simulating response plans for different situations, and practicing emergency preparations for different situations.

Such training is most conveniently combat-oriented.

After all, this era has training systems specially prepared for various combat drills, which are not only standard at major training grounds but also come with specifications for certain dojo installations.

There are also applications for deep network intrusion equipment, conducting combat simulations on a mental level.

So Aomo's training in this area is bound to be lopsided, but in fact… Aomo's actual combat drill time in reality is far less rich than his life drill time.

Although combat experience in the mental realm via Super Dream and VR systems is sufficient in intensity, it was not initially expected much.

After all, there is still a difference between the mental world and reality, let alone saying that combat experience from a futuristic domain could be used in reality—then it's truly lacking in hardware conditions—

——Aomo's physical condition is not that strong.

But he never thought back then that his future would bring the rewards of deep accumulation leading to sudden success.

After a round of demonization-induced physique enhancement, he also had the chance to monsterize and put his monster-fighting experience to use.

And now he has employed the emergency preparations he ingrained as instinct from simulated battles—dealing with high-temperature attacks and his own overheating.

The freezing spell with omitted incantation always works.

Suppressing the 'CPU overload' that isn't life-threatening but will surely cause strong discomfort is already enough, and it's not overly conspicuous.

But for the few people not far away, the changes in Aomo are still quite obvious.

The three girls facing Aomo almost immediately noticed his abnormality; one of them even asked about Star Jura, whereupon he turned his head at once upon hearing it—

——Then they saw Mr. Linton covered head to toe in white frost, yet his whole body, especially his head, was emitting visible steam.

"Mr. Linton!" the man shouted, rushing forward and raising his claw to trace runes in the air.

Meanwhile, two of the three girls obviously trusted the man's ability, standing by and muttering under their breath.

"I thought you were the only one weird enough to be hot all over." The black‑haired girl in red exclaimed in surprise.

The brown‑haired cat‑ear girl was even more incredulous: "He couldn't possibly be a Terra person using Origin Arts!"

"He looks like an Aegir person or a pure human."

"Hard to say—didn't Rhodes Island hire a lot of human staff?" The black‑haired girl pursed her lips, "Do they have any aptitude for Origin Arts?"

【The issue of slow chapter updates has finally been resolved on the source-switching app; download huanyuanapp here and also check the latest chapters of this book on multiple sites.】

Those two were still muttering when the light‑blond, long‑haired horned girl rushed forward, holding a handheld medical kit.

"Lord Star Jura, can you tell what condition he's in?"

As a medic she ought to assess the patient herself, but the girl felt he wasn't an ordinary patient—this freezing was self‑induced, making her suspect it involved some magic‑related matter.

But she isn't a spellcaster; she's merely invited here as a guest and is accompanying an old colleague from work.

"It seems like… just a simple fever plus overall heating," the rune combination flashed, Star Jura saw the steam on Aomo thinning further, and Aomo's eyes, which had never closed, visibly began to refocus, his expression slightly subtle, "His whole body is trying to dissipate heat, and it's almost over."

After explaining, he lowered his head to look at Aomo and asked, "Do you need help? Mr. Linton."

"Not bothering with me is already more than I could ask for."

His tone was devoid of joy or sorrow, like seeing through the mortal world after social death.

It's indeed pretty embarrassing.

Because he forced himself into a self‑freeze on a whim of curiosity, it would have been fine if no one noticed, but now not only have newly met netizens seen him, but three women have as well—this is quite awkward.

Especially since he knows those three women.

Although it's only a one‑sided acquaintance.

Tosaka Rin, Tianhuo, Lafuxini

The first two he knew through that 'nonexistent memory,' while his way of knowing the third was via the Rhodes Island forum—he had once come across a post with that person's photo while briefly lying in the intensive care ward.

That post not only mentioned the other's codename: reedthemeshadow, but also gave their name; by comparison, Miss Tianhuo remained unknown to him.

As a veteran operator of Arknights, his real name and such were never mentioned in those otherworld memories, but now that he's seen the person in the flesh, he no longer needs to wonder whether future game versions will bring it up.

Calling operators by their code names is fine; heaven knows, given the Victoria background of the Londinium district, Tianhuo's real name might be quite long.

Although Aomo is a Berd person, his attitude toward names is not much different from that of the East Flame people.

Any name over six characters feels like a hassle.

"You're sure you don't need me to check you?" Miss Lafuxini beside him was still asking; she seemed worthy of her pure white attire and the medical kit in her hand, having the quality of a medic's benevolent heart.

But Aomo's spiritual sense was sending him some kind of avoidance warning, as if the inspection weren't as ordinary as he imagined.

Upon reflection, it's indeed strange—Miss Weicao… in those otherworld memories, wasn't she a vanguard wielding a long spear? How did she become a medic carrying a medical kit?

Aomo really couldn't figure out what kind of story had happened here, but before that, he still had to:

"…No thanks, Miss Lafuxini."

He politely declined, heeding the warning of his spiritual sense.

"…?" "Do you know each other?"

The former was obviously somewhat surprised, while the latter, having just taken a few steps, apparently indeed intended to go along with his suggestion and ignore his online friend—upon hearing this, they turned back again.

They acted the part well, showing no sign of knowing that he had teamed up with Rhodes Island to beat up the 'merchant,' and even directly causing the other party to nearly end up in jail.

"I have worked with Rhodes Island before," Aomo said, thinking for a moment, then pulled out a business card for Penguin Logistics from his briefcase and handed it to Miss Lafuxini, whose code name is Yanyingweicao, adding, "That's just what happened a couple of days ago; I don't know if you remember."

"At that time I stayed briefly in the Rhodes Island Infirmary, so I'd heard of you."

Lafuxini, hearing this, seemed to indeed have no impression as she turned her head to look at Tianhuo, evidently seeking her help: "Mongbelan…"

"It's true," Tianhuo, whom Lafuxini called Mongbelan, approached, curiously looking at Aomo and even reaching out a hand, "I've seen the discussion on the forum while on the airship over Jiemen Qu; I didn't expect to see you in person here."

"Hello, I'm Aisaierfullei·Youliyue·Mengbelan, code name Tianhuo, and also a Rhodes Island operator."

He lowered his gaze to look at the hand hovering before him, Aomo traced a fleeting black fire across the wet hand, evaporating the moisture on it, his tone light as he said, "Hello, Miss Mongbelan."

Indeed, the guess about that rather long name proved correct, but what surprised him even more than the name was that the other party seemed to have a fairly good impression of him.

Otherwise, according to the intel he'd recalled, Miss Tianhuo shouldn't be this enthusiastic.

By contrast, Miss Yuanbanlin didn't come over at all, merely tapping the projection board lightly to draw everyone's attention, then greeting the manager Xingjialai: "Manager Xingjialai, you ought to finish the explanation soon so your guests aren't kept waiting, right?"

An attitude that didn't even bother with a self‑introduction was, in fact, the most normal, letting Aomo breathe a sigh of relief.

Then he furtively wondered whether Miss Yuanbanlin could offer Bopang some pointers on the electric‑assassin problem.