An Junlie felt awkward about his misinterpretation, but being needed gave him a sense of accomplishment. He immediately snapped out of his dejection, rolled up his sleeves, and headed for the kitchen, preparing to embark on his grand culinary undertaking.

Zi Ye had actually noticed the ashen cast to his face when he returned. She guessed at part of it but said nothing, acting as if nothing were amiss while she washed her face and ate.

She had seen plenty of people who came to Silver Sigil Star unable to accept their situation; no matter the circumstances, wouldn't they all eventually have to adapt? She had thought he was much stronger than that, tsk.

However, the very next morning, she completely dismissed that notion—because that bastard still showed up at her door at five in the morning, exactly as usual, forcing her to go running!

Zi Ye was filled with resentment but had no choice but to obey; otherwise, he would certainly tear her door off its hinges! It was all because he mistakenly thought she was a boy. She had truly never met such an oblivious bastard!

She marched out the main gate in a huff. An Junlie watched her frail little frame behind her, rubbed his forehead, and sighed, "This brat definitely hasn't been exercising regularly, has he?"

110 and 120 exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.

An Junlie grinned, "No wonder you two look so scrawny too. Like master, like machine, as expected."

110 glared at him, "You narrow-minded alien!"

120 chimed in with a sly smile, "Although treating guests this way is impolite, I strongly agree."

An Junlie opened his mouth but couldn't utter a single word. Squabbling with robots wasn't exactly heroic behavior, even though he genuinely felt the urge to punch them both.

Aside from forcing Zi Ye to run, An Junlie had added new items to his schedule this time. Since he planned to stay long-term, he was already calculating his long-term strategy.

The mercenary group held annual recruit training camps, and he was intimately familiar with physical conditioning. Simultaneously, he possessed a complete set of his own rigorous training regimens. His thought process was: once Zi Ye’s body was trained up, he could pull "him" into the mercenary group. A direct disciple of Tang Shan, even if he turned out to be trashy, would still possess more skills than others.

Talent—he absolutely would not allow himself to lose it.

Action was better than mere thought.

An Junlie immediately located his target on Silver Sigil Star.

To have a good body, one must first know how to eat properly.

He accessed the shared network and browsed through every single dish available on Silver Sigil Star. To his delight, the biologists had listed the nutritional components of every dish, detailing the precise content of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc., and specified which body types were suited for which foods.

An Junlie studied the menu and began drafting a daily diet plan. She looked pale; she needed blood replenishment, appearing malnourished. She also needed calcium. She usually didn't eat much, perhaps indicating a weak stomach, so that needed nurturing... Dietetics was one of the fields he knew best. An hour later, a complete one-month dietary schedule materialized.

He instructed 110 to repair the kitchen robot, handed the menu to it, and arranged for it to directly order fresh produce from then on. As for the actual cooking, that duty still belonged to him.

To cultivate the next generation, one must first win over her stomach.

The second component was foundational training.

He sneakily slipped into the workshop. While Zi Ye was busy, he "borrowed" the little Bean Sprout, which was dozing. The Little Bean Sprout possessed a sensory mechanism but held no regard for him, continuing to snore until it left the workshop. Only then did it suddenly stretch out the small leaf atop its head, emit a faint electric current that gave him a small jolt, tilted its chin up, and demanded, "Stupid human, what business do you have summoning His Excellency?"

An Junlie was already immune to the bizarre rhetoric of this cluster of robots. He straightened his posture and asked seriously, "Little Bean Sprout classmate, don't you think the brat is too thin and weak?"

The Little Bean Sprout scratched the fuzz on its head with its leaf and nodded, "Indeed. Too thin and weak. I only reluctantly accepted him as my master because I had no other choice."

"Good classmate, shake on it." An Junlie extended his hand in mock formality. The Little Bean Sprout glanced at him, its head-stalk elongated, touched his palm briefly, and then snapped back, "whoosh."

An Junlie continued, "Since you are dissatisfied with his physique, and I am dissatisfied with her figure, how about we cooperate? I have a complete physical training system in my optical brain, but it’s tailored for me and might not suit her. You understand her physical condition better; could you customize a fitness system for her based on this program?"

"I’ve wanted to do that for ages!" The Little Bean Sprout’s eyes lit up, projecting a light screen instantly. It buzzed excitedly, "Look, I already prepared the program. I was just waiting for the day I could trick him into it."

An Junlie compared the Little Bean Sprout's program with his own and was slightly taken aback. The program created by the Little Bean Sprout was broader and more merciless than his own training levels—it was even three points higher than the requirements for training the strongest ace pilot.

He shared his thoughts with the Little Bean Sprout, which readily agreed, modifying the overly cruel and harsh parts to be slightly more humane, while also incorporating several excellent details from An Junlie’s training program. They merged the two into an entirely new system.

One human and one optical brain were quietly deciding the miserable future of a certain individual.

Zi Ye finished reviewing the wormhole route map that Legs-Weak-Brother had just uploaded to the shared data. It felt too distant; was there really a path directly above her head that could lead out of Silver Sigil Star?

It all felt somewhat unreal.

She wanted to ask An Junlie for his opinion on this route but couldn't find him anywhere after searching. She walked outside and saw An Junlie and the Little Bean Sprout huddled in a small corner of the corridor, whispering about something.

An Junlie wore a smile, while the Little Bean Sprout swayed its fuzzy body side to side, so delighted that the green leaf on its head was askew.

Zi Ye’s eyes widened in surprise. Was there some kind of conspiracy between the human and the optical brain?

The Little Bean Sprout spotted Zi Ye's figure but pretended not to see her. It perched on An Junlie’s shoulder and ran through the entire fitness program in that gym, unused for N years. Once satisfied that everything was perfect, it hopped and flew back toward the workshop, so excited it almost grew wings.

As for An Junlie, he also felt a small surge of excitement for two reasons. First, he could use the training program to make himself stronger. Second, he looked forward to seeing Zi Ye become stronger, too.

As soon as the program was finalized, he put it into immediate execution.

For dinner, he cooked again. His skill meant any dish was simple in his hands. He adjusted the nutrition and flavor to perfection. Zi Ye noticed nothing amiss, only finding his smile strangely twisted. After a day spent wrestling with boring particles and metals, she was exhausted and had no energy to pay attention to such things. She washed up and went to sleep.

At five in the morning on the third day, An Junlie finished washing up, changed his clothes, and arrived precisely at Zi Ye’s door, ready to wake her. The moment his hand lifted, Zi Ye opened the door. An Junlie’s hand froze mid-air. He gazed at the short figure, fully dressed with every strand of hair standing straight up, and exclaimed with delight, "Are you finally willing to get up on time for exercise?"