She realized she had never actually experienced hot pot before! She had only recently searched for it in recipes and heard it was absolutely delicious!

"That's wonderful!" Xing Rui immediately brightened up, a smile spreading across his face. "I have all the equipment at my place. Why don't you come over in a bit? I'll go buy a few more ingredients first."

Zi Ye nodded.

Xing Rui ran a few steps, then turned back. "Oh, right, do you eat spicy food?"

Zi Ye shook her head. "Not really."

Chen Xing Rui looked slightly disappointed. "Alright, then we'll do a Yin-Yang hot pot."

When the pot was brought out, it was divided down the middle. Xing Rui's side was a fiery red expanse, like blood, instantly suggesting intense heat. Zi Ye's side appeared much milder. They sat on opposite sides, facing the pot.

Donkey meat hot pot.

Dragon meat in the heavens, donkey meat on earth. Zi Ye dove in with gusto, thoroughly enjoying herself. Xing Rui, however, was constantly letting out sharp breaths from the spice, steam rising around him until a fine mist coated his glasses. His nose turned red, and he had to wipe it every few moments.

Seeing Zi Ye watching him and smiling, he looked a little embarrassed. "I like spicy food, but I can't really handle it that well. Sorry to make a fool of myself."

Zi Ye waved her hand, indicating it didn't bother her.

Not wanting her to see him so flustered, Xing Rui changed the subject. "What do you usually do for fun?"

Zi Ye replied between bites, "I look at things like mecha robots, that sort of stuff."

Xing Rui's eyes immediately widened. "A girl who likes that? That's so rare. I'm a huge mecha enthusiast too! I have several collector's models—the Fire Phoenix type from the Fige Group, the Super Wind type from Changshun Group, and lots more! Do you own any of these mechas?"

Zi Ye kept selecting bits of donkey meat while shaking her head. "No, I don't."

Xing Rui puffed out his chest proudly. "Well, you're a girl, so it's normal you don't collect them. But let me tell you, mechas are truly miraculous things. From the engines to the structure, they are full of complex knowledge!"

Zi Ye smiled slightly. "Indeed."

Xing Rui, getting excited, asked further, "Have you ever visited the Mobile Forum?"

Huh?

The Mobile Forum? Zi Ye hesitated, not answering right away.

Xing Rui assumed she hadn't, and began showing off a little. "Then you truly can't be called a mecha enthusiast. Let me tell you, the Mobile Forum is paradise for anyone who loves mechas. Everyone there is so skilled and interesting. Why don't you register an account too?"

Zi Ye gave a dry laugh. "Maybe later."

When talking about the Mobile Forum, Xing Rui’s eyes truly lit up, completely oblivious to Zi Ye's mood. He rambled on incessantly, "There’s a new girl who joined recently, goes by Meng Ya Ya. She's incredibly talented. I've wanted to ask her to mentor me for ages, but she never pays me any mind."

Zi Ye had just managed to swallow a piece of donkey meat when she heard this, and nearly choked, the meat almost going down her windpipe. She coughed uncontrollably.

She took a sip of water to settle her breathing, sighing internally at how small the world was.

"Don't rush, eat slowly," Xing Rui advised, shaking his head and sighing dramatically. "You're still young. If you work hard, you can show off on the forum too someday. My nickname on the Mobile Forum is Xing Bao. I’ll send you the link later, you should definitely get an account. Since you're a girl, you'll definitely be popular there."

The hand holding Zi Ye's water cup trembled slightly, almost spilling the contents. Right, Xing Bao.

She just couldn't reconcile the Xing Bao from the network—who acted like a total clown constantly trying to assert his presence—with the slightly chauvinistic Xing Rui in front of her. She couldn't help but feel relieved she hadn't engaged with him initially.

However, if she needed to find a mecha fabrication plant, perhaps asking him for help in the future wouldn't be a bad idea.

Zi Ye activated her "poker face" once more, calmly retrieving meat from the pot and shaking her head. "That place sounds like a professional hub. I haven't even started learning the basics; I wouldn't even know what to do if I joined."

Xing Rui confirmed, "You guessed it, that place is highly specialized. Non-professionals truly can't last there. Meng Ya Ya is amazing; she gained the attention of the forum's senior staff within days of joining. Back when I first joined, it took me a month before anyone even noticed I existed."

Zi Ye shrugged off the comparison. "None of that matters. As long as you can learn things, it’s all the same."

"It's not the same!" Xing Rui countered. "The difference is huge. But you wouldn't understand if I explained it. My only regret is that Meng Ya Ya doesn't like me."

Zi Ye almost choked again. "How do you know she doesn't like you?"

Xing Rui pouted. "I sent her eighteen emails in total, and she only replied to one. Ah, never mind, it’s sad."

Zi Ye remembered that pile of emails; she truly hadn't had the patience to read them all. She coughed lightly. "Why did you develop a crush on her?"

Xing Rui pursed his lips. "The first time she spoke in the chatroom, I was instantly smitten. Her voice was very soft, not the sweet and bubbly type, but it was incredibly soothing."

Zi Ye looked heavenward, speechless. Was this what they called telling bald-faced lies? She had kept her audio file volume extremely low so it only sounded soft to them. She decided right then that she absolutely could not let Xing Rui discover she was Meng Ya Ya; it would be too much trouble.

She figured that since Xing Rui probably only heard a chorus of male voices when he logged into the forum, he must have developed some kind of auditory illusion about female voices. He just needed to meet more girls in real life for that notion to disappear.

Xing Rui seemed to be thinking of something else, his expression brightening again. "But things are different now—I have you! Once you join the forum, I'll show you around, and we'll see how arrogant that Meng Ya Ya dares to be!"

Zi Ye was thoroughly defeated by silence.

Xing Rui went back and forth, wiping his nose one moment and recounting his forum exploits the next—some exaggerated, some possibly true, but always delivered with an air of self-importance.

Some experiences that were clearly from Chun Niu, he had appropriated as his own. Zi Ye treated his stories like seasoning, listening while she ate her meat.

When they finished the hot pot, it was just approaching six in the evening.

Xing Rui wiped the sweat brought on by the spice and took a large gulp of plain hot water to soothe his lips, which were already slightly swollen from the heat. He wiped his mouth clean and spoke again. "Zi Ye, what’s your comm signal? I’ll save it so I don’t have to shout for you downstairs every time I want to ask you out for a meal." The thought of his earlier shouting downstairs made him feel quite embarrassed.

Zi Ye blinked in surprise. "I don't have a Comm signal." Since she never had anyone she needed to contact, and was used to her Silver Comms, she hadn't even registered this gap.

Xing Rui exclaimed loudly, "Are you an alien? You don't even have a Comm signal! Wait for me a moment; I’ll take you to buy one."

Zi Ye immediately frowned. "Isn't that a bit late? It's almost evening." Having grown accustomed to Silver Star, she had a routine of retreating indoors as soon as the Purple Star began to rise around 18:00, never venturing out afterward. Her habits from living on Silver Star had not changed, even after residing on the Kira Station for so long.

Xing Rui couldn't help but rub his forehead. "You really must be from off-world. The nightlife is just starting now; the evenings are lively! Trust me on this."

Zi Ye considered that having an acquaintance guide her, and being away from the maddening γ-baseline, it should be fine. "Okay, I’ll go back and change. See you downstairs in half an hour?"

They set the time, and Zi Ye excitedly hurried back to her quarters. After changing her clothes and clipping Little Sprout to her pocket, she went downstairs to wait for Xing Rui.

Xing Rui arrived in a grav-car, beckoning Zi Ye inside. They zipped off toward the market sector.

The space station was meticulously laid out, with the market and residential areas separated but not far apart. Given the speed of the grav-car, they arrived quickly. Xing Rui parked the car on the first hundredth floor of the commercial complex’s parking structure. "There’s a parking level every ten floors here. It’s very convenient. If you need to go anywhere later, you can ask me for a ride."

Zi Ye nodded her thanks.

Xing Rui was intimately familiar with the market, leading her straight to the section selling Comm devices. He pointed to a pink bracelet-style Comm. "I think this one would suit you well. Try it on?"

Zi Ye looked at the silver Comm bracelet already on her left wrist, then slipped the pink one on as well. Fortunately, neither bracelet was heavy, or her wrist would have suffered.

Xing Rui studied the result and exclaimed admiringly, "It suits you perfectly; it complements the silver one." He turned to the sales counter. "How much is it?"

The attendant smiled pleasantly. "This model is newly released; it’s only 2200."

"What? Are you robbing us blind?" Xing Rui was instantly critical. "I saw it online for only 1500! Comm signals are cheap now; you can't just inflate the price like that."

The attendant's smile faltered slightly. "I apologize, but this mall does not bargain."

Seeing the situation turn sour, Xing Rui told Zi Ye to take it off. He opened his own Comm and said coldly, "Fine. Let me check with the Price Bureau about this practice."

The attendant realized this was escalating. "Alright, alright, I'll sell it to you."

Xing Rui decisively took the Comm and moved to fasten it onto Zi Ye's wrist, but she stopped him, using her own card to pay. Outside the mall, Zi Ye looked at him with genuine admiration. "You are amazing at haggling. Where did you learn that skill?"

Xing Rui blushed slightly. "Uh... I was kicked out by my family for a while, and I spend so much money buying mechas that I don't have much left for other things."

Zi Ye nodded sympathetically.

Mechas were indeed cash sinks. If one wanted to build a career around them, even running a sole proprietorship required initial investment in the high nine figures. While Xing Rui's speech might sometimes be superficial, he clearly possessed his own merits, making him a good friend.

She looked at Xing Rui with a sense of appreciation.

Even back on Silver Star, she had known that no person was absolutely good or absolutely bad, absolutely frivolous or absolutely steady. The group on Silver Star might be seen as irredeemable villains by outsiders, but the good they did on Silver Star was evident to those who knew them.

Xing Rui, despite being somewhat flighty when trouble arose, was undoubtedly someone passionate about mechas, funneling his daily funds into them while being extremely frugal in other aspects of life.

As long as a person has something they deeply love, a goal to strive for, she felt that any questionable actions or deficiencies in other areas on the path to that goal could be forgiven.

Xing Rui was, ultimately, quite decent.

The small knots of annoyance she’d felt when he talked about the hot pot quickly dissolved.

Xing Rui took her new Comm number, inputting it into his own. He briefly explained the basic operations, noting that the Comm was similar to the Silver Comms, with the main difference being that the Comm was integrated with a Lightbrain interface, allowing it to function as one.

Zi Ye played with the new device, a genuine smile lighting up her face. "Thank you."