The Administrator looked exactly like a penguin.
That was Hao Fan's first impression of the black-haired girl—
A white high-collar sweater, a black hooded jacket, black stockings, black hair, a black eye-mask… plus that amnesiac, dazed-cute vibe.
It was uncanny. Like a penguin in human form.
"Goo-goo gah-gah OAO?"
Thanks to Hao Fan's malicious encouragement, the Administrator tried mimicking penguin noises—only to discover the pronunciation felt weirdly natural for her.
"Goo-goo gah-gah OVO!"
She tilted her chin up and kept repeating the phrase. The more she said it, the smoother it got, and the more absurdly adorable she looked.
Seeing this, Perlica was completely stunned.
"Administrator—what are you doing?!"
She hurriedly covered the Administrator's mouth with her hand, trying to prevent the Administrator's image from collapsing in front of everyone at the Hub District Base.
Of course… the act of the Administrator getting hand-muffled was already a pretty heavy hit to her dignity.
Meanwhile, the culprit, Hao Fan, guiltily looked away.
He hadn't done anything bad.
He'd only casually said "goo-goo gah-gah," and the Administrator had copied it on her own.
Still—
So this was the legendary Administrator?
Even though players of Endfield "are" the Administrator, Hao Fan hadn't played the public test and wasn't familiar with her at all. He could only sigh at the obvious truth: people always pick female characters.
And those black stockings? Absolutely traditional—pure Arknights DNA.
Hao Fan approved.
"Administrator, be a little more serious. We're discussing something very serious… where were we? Right—this crisis is urgent!"
Perlica finally removed her hand, face stern again.
The Administrator, now unmuted, played along and responded earnestly.
"We should go 'return the gift.'"
She nodded hard, as if to prove she'd become very serious now.
"We can't just sit by while members of Endfield are put at risk."
"Mm. Administrator, I knew you'd say that."
Perlica smiled warmly—like a benevolent mother—and then turned back to Qin Jiangchi to continue the serious discussion.
"Engineer Qin, we'll help deal with the enemy, and we'll also guide the scattered workers to shelter in the Central Control Tower."
"That's wonderful… I feel a lot more at ease. Thank you—please."
Qin Jiangchi finally smiled in relief.
The anchor's sudden impact was catastrophic, but she believed the legendary Administrator would resolve everything.
After all, even back during the First Angel War, the Administrator had been a world-famous legend.
But that was then.
The Administrator now was simply an amnesiac young woman, nowhere near her peak strength.
And thanks to a certain hooded man's influence, her behavior had… also become a little meme-brained.
"Goo-goo gah-gah~"
She muttered it softly, then even gave the Doctor a playful blink—clearly intrigued by him.
Because something about him felt strangely familiar, as if she'd met him before…
Was this some kind of mysterious twist of fate?
That's what the Administrator thought, trying to hold eye contact.
Unfortunately, with the black eye-mask on, Hao Fan didn't notice the subtlety.
Perlica, meanwhile, was still talking business with Qin Jiangchi.
"Also, I haven't seen Mr. Andre. Where is he?"
Perlica scanned the area but didn't spot the Chief Engineer from Integrated Industries.
According to the contingency plan, he should have been handling the situation together with Qin Jiangchi, but—
Not good. Something felt off.
He was too important to lose.
"...Ugh. That old man—he probably went off to play hero again!"
Qin Jiangchi clenched her hands.
Before, she hadn't had the mental bandwidth to worry about it while holding the line. Now the anxiety surged all at once.
"He's always like this—acts like his work matters more than his own life!"
She cursed under her breath and hurriedly pleaded:
"If you find him, tie him up and drag him back to the Central Control Tower immediately. In this whole base… this is the safest place left."
As she spoke, she saw that Security, under Hao Fan's direction, had already re-formed a temporary defense line.
That hooded man who loved throwing coins was bizarre—but in a crisis, he felt unexpectedly dependable…
"Wow—one dollar! (๑´ㅂ`๑)"
While issuing orders, Hao Fan reflexively tossed another coin.
It rolled to a security officer's feet, and the guy picked it up with a delighted expression.
…Clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Qin Jiangchi's mouth twitched. She suddenly felt the hooded man might not be so dependable after all.
Perlica gave her guarantee anyway.
"Don't worry. We'll find him."
Her voice stayed steady, calm, and reassuring.
"The anchor in the Old Factory District is still producing Angels. We have to eliminate this threat first. Let's go, Administrator… Administrator?"
That steady voice turned baffled again.
Perlica spotted her Administrator sneaking over to the suspicious hooded man—apparently very interested in the floating box under his feet.
"Wow, this box floats! It'd be perfect as a step stool… is the switch right here?"
The Administrator enthusiastically fiddled with the floating box.
Then it started following her around, and she visibly lit up.
"Holy—don't mess around, you stupid penguin!"
Because the box under his feet moved, Hao Fan nearly lost his balance and swore instinctively.
"I'm not a penguin! That's the second time I've said it!"
The Administrator complained, indignant.
But honestly… her airheaded manner made her look exactly like a silly penguin, especially when she started touching random things.
"Mirrors are great. I hope you try one sometime."
Hao Fan didn't dare stay on the floating box. He climbed down and tossed out the tease.
The Administrator got even more annoyed, but she didn't forget the actual mission.
"Hmph. I'll be the bigger person!"
She stuck out her tongue, then went over to Qin Jiangchi to gather intel before departure.
"Administrator—anything you need to know?"
"What do you think an anchor is?"
Qin Jiangchi found the question odd but still answered.
"Anchors are constructs that fall from the sky. They extract nearby underground minerals and manufacture dangerous Angels."
"Based on past experience, we've developed response protocols, but to this day we still don't know where anchors come from."
"And the matter used to assemble Angels is highly variable."
"In extreme cases, they can even use nearby biomass to assemble Angels… it's rare now, but still chilling."
"Only by destroying the anchor can we stop new Angels from appearing—then we can begin rebuilding the Hub District Base."
Hearing this, the Administrator nodded thoughtfully.
She used to know all this—but with her memory gone, she had to relearn it.
Perlica, fully aware of that, added a critical point:
"An anchor's weakness is its stabilizing core. Break that, and the entire structure collapses."
"The core is fragile. The real difficulty is the Angels swarming around it—dismantling it means a major fight."
"Huh… so we'll get attacked nonstop on the way there, like earlier?"
The Administrator paused.
She understood the basics and immediately locked onto the practical issue:
If possible, she wanted to avoid Angel encounters on the way to the anchor—because it wasted time.
"Then… I think we need someone who can guide us. Someone who can help Perlica and me avoid most of the Angels."
A perfectly reasonable request.
As the base leader, Qin Jiangchi instinctively turned to look at the hooded man.
After all, he'd escaped an Angel encirclement alone—almost like he could predict their movements.
Under everyone's gaze, Hao Fan blinked, looked left and right in confusion, then pointed at himself in disbelief.
"Huh… me? OAO?"
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