Clicking Send, Ziye returned to the bounty area and glanced around. One of the three questions she had answered already had its answer confirmed—it happened to be Xingbao’s question, and Xingbao was still rolling around at the bottom of her reply, begging for a connection.

Ziye ignored him and clicked to load her wallet. The balance was 160 yuan, of which 40 yuan had already been taken as forum tax.

Looking at her electronic wallet, she felt an indescribable joy! This was her first bit of capital since leaving Silver Talisman!

While she was celebrating, she had no idea what a huge headache her one submission of one hundred questions had caused the forum administrators! Chun Niu, whose screen name was Chun Cun’er, was an administrator on the Mobile Forum.

Because he was a niang pao (a man who presents as a woman), everyone called him Chun Niu. Technically, he possessed exceptional talent in mecha design; one could say he was a young prodigy in his age group.

It was worth noting that he was only seventeen. Recently, a major event shook the mecha world.

Tang Wen, the Chief Designer of the Interstellar Federation, was giving a lecture at the Kaga Higher Education Center. As a god in the mecha design field, everyone on the forum flocked to Kaga, leaving the forum unattended.

Since he happened to live in Kaga, attending the lecture was effortless. Thus, the older members who had to travel long distances unanimously dumped the forum management tasks onto him.

Helplessly, he had to ask his classmates to secure a seat for him, planning to rush back immediately after the lecture to guard the forum. Whether rookies or veterans, everyone either ran to Kaga to attend in person or watched the live stream.

At the very least, they were gathered in the Current Events section, so absolutely no one was taking on new questions. When Meng Ya Ya accepted the questions, he glanced at the ID and saw it belonged to a newly registered novice, and the gender was female.

He decisively ignored it. One must know that in everything related to mechas, apart from image endorsers and mecha designers, there were hardly any women.

Even among mecha designers, the most formidable, Tang Wen, was a man. In short, 96% of the personnel in the mecha industry were men; it was the most manly field.

Chun Niu returned from watching the live stream and hadn't even fully digested the knowledge Tang Wen imparted when he was suddenly confronted by the fact that the user had already submitted one hundred questions! The Mobile Forum operated under strict timelines: there were time limits for those answering questions and for the reviewers.

For submitted answers, reviewers had to complete their audit within twenty-four hours, and the funds would be credited within forty-eight hours. He reluctantly gulped down a few bites of rice and climbed up to start reviewing the submissions.

Opening the administrator backend, Chun Niu skimmed through the questions, as Level One tasks were child’s play for him. Who knew that the more he read, the more alarmed he became?

The problems she solved were remarkably concise. It was evident that the person solving them possessed extremely clear thinking.

Many seemingly intractable problems in the mecha field were simplified by her using unique approaches; she summarized thousands of words of theory into a few formulas. One hundred questions.

The initial ones were done competently, not particularly outstanding, but certainly not flawed—like the homework of a model student: neat and orderly. However, as he reviewed further, he found it increasingly miraculous.

She seemed to become more skilled and concise as she progressed. By the eightieth question, he clearly felt that Meng Ya Ya’s abilities had reached a certain level; various theories, skills, and knowledge flowed from her fingertips with complete ease.

She already possessed the characteristics of a mecha analyst. In Chun Niu’s view, this was invaluable.

To become a true talent in the mecha domain, the most crucial element was innate talent—requiring a certain level of imagination and the ability to integrate knowledge across mechanics, chemistry, mathematics, and every other relevant field. Beyond that, one needed an intimate understanding of mechas and hands-on capability.

This wasn't about thinking from a human perspective, but from the perspective of the mecha itself. In reality, many people who mastered sufficient physics, chemistry, and math found their imagination constrained by these theoretical frameworks, preventing deeper advancement.

Clearly, this person had the potential to go far in the mecha world. Chun Niu knew he had discovered an excellent seedling.

Excitedly, he finished reviewing all her submissions, anticipating what she would do next. Just then, the older members in Kaga sent back photos with Tang Wen, showing off, “Look!

The legendary Designer Tang. He’s incredibly amiable, and his reputation is well-deserved!

I must seize the chance to get one of his blueprints to build a mecha!” The Boss was a renowned mecha smith who had traveled thousands of miles to Kaga, not just to cheer on Tang Wen, but more importantly, to acquire Tang Wen’s blueprints. Chun Niu had already returned from the site and scoffed, “Hmph, so what?

I’ve discovered a promising talent, and she’s a girl, too! I’ll make sure to tell her to dislike all of you!” With that, he decisively terminated the long-distance call.

In truth, Ziye hadn't written her age. Chun Niu didn't believe Ziye was close to his age; he figured she must be a seasoned professor in the mecha world—in other words, an auntie.

He genuinely hadn't heard of any highly accomplished women in the mecha field and frantically searched, thinking he must have misremembered. As expected, he couldn't find anyone matching the description.

Perhaps Meng Ya Ya listed her gender as female merely to attract attention? Chun Niu was conflicted.

The Mobile Forum was notoriously a veritable monastery; it had been lacking female presence for years. The Boss had even issued an announcement: female members and niang pao who registered would receive 100 reputation points—meaning they could immediately take on Level Two questions!

Currently, he was the sole beneficiary of this announcement. He desperately wanted to send an email asking if she was truly female, but he feared being too abrupt, agonizing to the point of nearly pulling out his hair.

Ziye had no idea the massive trouble her task submission caused the administrator. She was just happily watching the amount in her wallet continually climb.

With every refresh, she saw green numbers interwoven with red ones—green representing incoming funds, red representing the website maintenance fees she paid. Ziye stared at the pile of red and firmly concluded that website maintenance fees were ridiculously expensive!

As she was thinking this, a flicker in her peripheral vision caught her eye—an email notification. She casually clicked it open; it was from Xingbao.

“Big Sister Meng, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize your gender; I was wrong, please forgive me. P.S.

You absolutely must take me as your apprentice!” Ziye couldn't be bothered to reply and closed the email, saying cheerfully to Little Sprout, “We’ve earned our first pot of gold! Shall we go out for a walk?” Little Sprout immediately nodded in agreement by vigorously wiggling the tiny sprout atop its head.

Ziye clipped it onto her bag and stepped outside. Just as she walked out, her neighbor on the right happened to exit simultaneously.

Their gazes unintentionally met. Ziye smiled faintly and nodded.

The neighbor didn't look old, seeming more like a college student. He wore large, black, round-rimmed glasses that obscured nearly half his face, making his face appear small.

He had a pork floss bun in his mouth and carried a bag in his hand, sporting a shy expression. Upon seeing Ziye, he quickly raised the bun with his hand: “You must be new here, right?

Let’s interact more often in the future.” Ziye nodded again. Seeing her poised to leave, the neighbor offered kindly, “You’re probably not familiar with the area yet.

How about I show you around?” His voice lacked a bit of conviction, perhaps stemming from good intentions mixed with the fear of rejection. Ziye, accustomed to not troubling others, waved her hand: “No need, I’ll just wander around.” The neighbor looked slightly disappointed; the dejection was evident, but he pretended to brush it off.

“If you need anything, feel free to find me anytime. I’m Xing Rui.

And you are?” Ziye hesitated for a moment. “Ziye.” Xing Rui nodded, looking at Little Sprout swinging on her bag, and complimented, “Your charm is really unique.” Huh?

Ziye followed his gaze and saw Little Sprout making faces at her. She chuckled dryly twice.

“Thanks, I’m heading off now.” Xing Rui waved. “Little buddy, see you around.” Hearing the words little buddy, Ziye inexplicably felt a sense of being utterly confused.

She glanced down at Little Sprout. No wonder the neighbor’s eyes had kept lingering on Little Sprout.

Did he think it was strange for a ‘little boy’ to carry such a charm? She had initially thought he was simple-minded, but was he actually manipulative?

Ziye decided that the humans here spoke very indirectly; she needed to be more careful about listening for hidden meanings in the future. In reality, the neighbor named Xing Rui was also deeply conflicted.

He finally found someone to talk to, but he had completely failed to grasp the right approach. Would the neighbor think he was too intrusive?

Such a cute little boy seemed reluctant to engage with him... The first thing Ziye planned to do was get a haircut.

Perhaps barbers were inherently kind people, because Silver Talisman Star had no barbers, and no one knew how to cut hair. Ziye had always cut her hair haphazardly on Silver Talisman Star, and now it was quite long, stiff, and uneven—a completely awkward length.

Since she was finally somewhere with a barber, Ziye prioritized fixing her hair. The barber touched her hair and said kindly, “Your texture is quite stiff.

If we cut it short, it will look naturally styled without needing wax, but that might lead people to mistake your gender. If you want to keep it long, I can trim it up; you could wear a hat and look quite ladylike.” Ziye decisively said, “Cut—” Before she could finish the word “short,” her hand was suddenly zapped by electricity, and a jolt of trembling sensation spread through every nerve ending.

Without a doubt, Little Sprout had caused that. Ziye looked at Little Sprout reproachfully.

Little Sprout shook violently back and forth, sending her a brainwave message: No cutting it short! If it’s short, it’s hard to tie up!

Ziye couldn’t help but laugh. Little Sprout’s favorite activity was rolling around on her head.

Hard to tie up? Little Sprout was becoming alarmingly human-like.

She touched her head and sighed, “Then help me trim it up.” An hour later, Ziye touched her hair and gave her reflection in the mirror a slight smile. She felt much refreshed, and more importantly, she finally seemed to possess a hint of feminine grace?

She had originally planned to buy men's clothing, but upon reflection, perhaps women's clothing would be better. However, when she arrived at the mall, Ziye still couldn't bring herself to buy female attire...

RS