Ziye's eyes snapped open wide, staring at Sprouty in astonishment, enunciating every word, "Where did you lure him off to?"

Sprouty's expression twisted into one of genuine grievance. "Didn't you say you didn't want to see him? Are you actually here to see him, and not to look for little old me?"

Ziye stared blankly for three seconds, deflating like a leaky balloon, all energy gone. She grabbed the tiny sprout on its head, hauled it over to the restaurant beside the dock exit, slumped into a seat, buried her face in her arms, and refused to speak.

Sprouty anxiously hopped onto her head, stomping around wildly. "Hey, what's wrong with you? Ziye, you didn't actually come to see aliens, did you!"

Ziye let out a heavy breath, pressing her face against the cool tabletop, and lifted her eyelids just enough to glare weakly at it. "The courage I managed to muster up is completely ruined." One push, then another, then a final collapse.

Her courage was utterly depleted now, like finishing a marathon of several thousand miles. She finally understood the sensation of having every ounce of strength drained from her body—truly, devastatingly powerless.

Sprouty hadn't expected her attitude toward An Junlie to execute a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree pivot. Suddenly, it dared not reveal that on her journey to the Angel Domain, a passing shuttle—one that had narrowly missed hers—had carried An Junlie.

Shuttles were the most popular civilian transport between star systems, favored by tycoons, the wealthy, and even interstellar heavyweights. Because they were so ubiquitous, even spotting an Angel Domain shuttle flash across a cerebral interface screen wouldn't raise many eyebrows.

Furthermore, the shuttle Ziye was piloting bore the insignia of the Interstellar Federation. Even if An Junlie had caught only a fleeting glimpse, there was no way he could have known it was her...

Sometimes, one couldn't blame fate for a lack of connection.

Sprouty wanted to comfort her. As if presenting a precious treasure, it activated the virtual optical screen, located a video of An Junlie, and poked her arm. "Look, look! He's so magnificent now!"

Ziye covered her face with both hands, pretending to be dead.

Sprouty grew frantic, burrowing into her embrace and vigorously poking her with its little sprout. "Ziye, why the sudden change of heart? Did you suddenly realize you’re in love with him?"

Ziye snapped, grabbing its tiny sprout, and sneered, "You even know what love is?"

Sprouty boomed, "Of course, I do! To love someone is to value them and hold sincere feelings for them. Like the weasel's feeling for the chicken—a sincere love that remains unchanged for millennia!"

Ziye rubbed her forehead. Communicating with the optical brain had definitely been a mistake.

She sighed. "I just realized... there was no need to hide from him after all."

Sprouty gazed at her with surprise, as if something had shifted without its notice.

Ziye decided to set aside the matter of An Junlie for the moment.

On the way over, she had done extensive mental preparation. She had hoped that when An Junlie learned she was female and had deceived him, he might still forgive her.

Now, all that effort was useless. Ziye only felt an emptiness in her heart, a subtle feeling akin to what Lingyin called heartbreak.

Recalling her past experiences on Planet Qila, she felt a sense of deserved retribution.

Everything she had done to An Junlie back then was now being returned to her, thanks to Sprouty’s unintentional actions.

The saying, 'You reap what you sow,' probably described this perfectly.

She flicked Sprouty's cheek. "What's fun in the Angel Domain? Take me there."

Sprouty finally saw her cloudy mood clear, and it happily bounced up. "Roger that!"

Having tagged along with An Junlie for a few days, Sprouty had a decent grasp of the Angel Domain's basic layout. Once back aboard the shuttle, Sprouty settled firmly into the co-pilot seat, directing Ziye on which star-gate to use and where to catch the high-speed orbit.

The Angel Domain's space stations and star-gates shared a unique aesthetic: hexagonal architecture with softly rounded edges, devoid of any sharp impression.

While the overall style of the stations was consistent, no two were exactly alike; each shared about a 90% similarity, with minor adjustments in details, making them easy to distinguish.

Space stations always maintained a clear star rating, from the highest five-star down to the lowest one-star. Most stations in the Angel Domain were four-star, with only occasional, remote stations dipping to three-star.

Only a few private stations were rated two-star; one-star stations simply did not exist.

One could gauge a region's strength just by looking at these infrastructural elements.

The Angel Domain's space stations generally met the mid-level standard of the Interstellar Federation, yet this domain was merely a single legion.

Ziye couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration for An Junlie.

The closer they got to the central areas of the Angel Domain, the higher the station star-rating climbed. All stations in the Angel series were five-star. However, compared to the massive space stations of the Interstellar Federation, these stations held far fewer people—mostly legion personnel, with a small contingent of buyers or casual visitors from neighboring star sectors.

Sprouty acted like a professional tour guide. "This is the marginal star sector; few visitors come here. The aliens say they are a bit remote, but their advantage is abundant resources. I went with him a few days ago; the massive asteroid belt to the east is filled with rare minerals. They built their fortune selling ore."

Ziye casually asked, "Don't temporal rifts or spacetime whirlpools often appear in the marginal sectors?"

"Exactly," Sprouty confirmed, pointing north. "There are two over there. They forcibly inject high-intensity magnetic storms into them. No vessel can approach within a 3,000km radius, and all their routes automatically avoid that area. They aren't worried in the slightest."

That sounded incredibly formidable!

Ziye listened as Sprouty spoke, following its directions to dock the shuttle at the Angel-7 station. Sprouty hopped off the shuttle with a whoosh, exclaiming excitedly, "The aliens live here!"

Ziye remembered the two robots she had brought. Since she was already here, should she deliver them personally? But then, An Junlie wasn't present, so dropping them off seemed wrong.

Seeing Sprouty looking at her with expectant eyes, she hardened her heart, dragged it back into the shuttle, and departed.

Arriving at the nearby Angel-9 station, Ziye disembarked, placed the larval pod inside the robot's internal storage compartment, packaged it neatly, found the nearest legion courier service, arranged for delivery, and then returned with Sprouty to Kela's sprout villa.

Having Sprouty back made her happy. She took her spending card and went on a spree at the Kela market, sweeping up all the raw materials she needed and every piece of mecha she desired. After spending fifty million, she returned to the villa, completely satisfied.

Black Beard’s business was expanding rapidly; her robot development speed couldn't quite keep up with sales. She had to dedicate her precious weekends to R&D.

Sprouty sprawled comfortably on the desk and suggested, "Should we make the robots look like mechas? Except they wouldn't need pilots."

Ziye paused her work and asked, "Why?"

Sprouty shook its head back and forth. "That way, they can automatically fight the Fluff Beasts without needing someone to step in."

Ziye shrugged. "That's easy enough. We just build a robot pilot and have it sit inside the mecha to fight, right?"

Sprouty gave her a disgruntled glance, rolled off the desk, and tumbled into her lap, playing dead.