Ziye finished reading all the emails, feeling that something was amiss, as if something had happened that she was completely unaware of. She logged onto the mechanized forum and the first thing she saw was a post with a red title: "When did the Lingsi-type get equipped with wrist blades?"

The user ID who posted it was a newly registered account named "You Naughty Little Sprite," clearly a sock puppet, which made Ziye suppress a smile.

As for anger, she wasn't feeling it now.

The moment she had been most furious was at the dueling site; her heart had calmed down since then.

However, she was quite grateful to this little sock puppet; no matter who was controlling it from behind the scenes, they had helped her vent some frustration. She curved her lips into a smile and opened her Hyper-Com to reply to Ling Yin and the others one by one. She told them that things would be resolved completely and they should rest assured, and most importantly, confirmed the plan to meet up.

The group then happily went shopping again.

Ziye had deliberately dressed up, afraid of being looked down upon by them. Being scorned by four people was already bad enough; today the Twins were joining too. If she were scorned by five people simultaneously, she’d absolutely want to run into a wall.

The six of them had distinct auras and unique styles of dress. Even more remarkable, thanks to the meticulous touch of Shaxini, a professional, their flaws were well hidden, revealing only their most beautiful aspects, earning the unified attention of everyone passing by.

Ziye turned her head, gazing at the row of beauties, and suddenly thought of something, asking, "Beauties, do you know how to play any musical instruments?"

Ling Yin, being closest to her, blurted out upon hearing this, "In this day and age, if you don't know a few skills, do you dare to venture out?"

Ziye secretly wiped a bead of cold sweat.

This...

She seemed to have brought up a rather significant topic.

April nodded in agreement. "I agree with Ling Yin's point. Because I love cooking, I usually spend my time studying recipes, so I only learned the violin and I'm always teased for it. It really hurts."

Aina immediately chimed in with a proud tone, "I've learned so much—piano, violin, harp... My mommy made me start music lessons when I was three."

Ling Yin instantly felt the pressure. "Just knows piano, passing by."

Shaxini patted Ling Yin’s shoulder with an expression of fellow traveler, sighing, "I have congenital deficiencies and postnatal imbalance; I also learned the piano. Ling Yin, don't be sad; I'm pretty much the same as you."

Seeing that the Twins hadn't spoken, they asked, "Twins, what did you learn?"

The Twins said faintly, "Just casually learned a **."

Ziye: "~~~~(》_《)~~~~" She no longer knew what to say. Asking this question was clearly asking for trouble; even the Twins had learned an instrument. This time, she decisively couldn't find an ally!

Seeing her mournful expression, the five asked in unison, "What instrument did you learn?"

Ziye scratched her head and uttered five words in a voice as small as a mosquito’s: "Didn't learn any."

All five opened their eyes wide. Shaxini asked in the most incredulous voice, "Sweetheart, what secluded backwater planet did you grow up on?"

Ziye was speechless.

Did she absolutely have to learn an instrument? This was unscientific!

She had originally wanted to find someone who hadn't learned an instrument to confide in about Bran's unreliable suggestion. If she had known the outcome would be this, she wouldn't have asked even if they beat her to death.

Aina walked up to Ziye, slung an arm around her shoulder, and comforted her, "It’s okay. Even though you’ve passed the prime age for learning instruments, you have us. Tell us what you want to learn? We can go pick out an instrument right now. Anything I know, I can teach you; I'll have you mastering it in three months."

"That’s right," Shaxini nodded in agreement. "Sweetheart, you are Tang Wen’s student; you'll have plenty of social interactions in the future. It's never wrong to learn. Don't you agree?"

The other four immediately echoed, "We agree!"

Ziye was on the verge of tears.

She wasn't good at socializing to begin with; if she had to do this in the future, wouldn't she be miserable? She'd much rather hide alone in her workshop, talking to the little sprout, touching the cold metal... Besides, didn't Tang Wen know nothing about it either?

Instruments—absolutely not learning them!

The five people watched her, waiting for her decision. Finally seeing that her expression was no longer hesitant, assuming she had made up her mind, they asked, "Have you decided what you want to learn?"

Ziye didn't answer. She secretly sent a Hyper-Com message to AlexBent, calling them over for a celebration, and sent the same message to Li Chunyu. Then she raised her head and smiled sweetly, "I don't know much about instruments right now, so I plan to look up some information tonight. Oh, right, a few friends said they wanted to see me to celebrate. They should be here shortly; do you mind if they join?"

The five looked at each other, finally looking to Aina. Aina pinched her hard: "You little rascal, trying to escape, huh!"

Ziye quickly raised her hands in surrender. "I'm serious, Li Chunyu is almost here."

As soon as the words left her mouth, everyone except the Twins showed expressions of pleasant surprise. Ling Yin rubbed her fists together excitedly. "Come on, come on, we've admired him for so long! Since we have this rare opportunity, sisters, let's tease him mercilessly later."

Ziye's heart trembled upon hearing this.

It seemed she had just thrown Li Chunyu into the tiger’s den.

However, as long as it could shift the group's attention, that was good enough.

She muttered silently in her heart, "It's better for a Daoist friend to die than for this poor Daoist. Junior sister is in no position to save herself right now, so I can only sacrifice you! You must forgive me!"

The group chatted happily for a while. Ling Yin suddenly remembered someone and poked Ziye. "Do you mind if I call Bo* over? He was the host for your duel."

April was stunned upon hearing the names of these boys. "Hey, they are all campus heartthrob level figures; can we handle it?"

Ziye smiled, "Call them! The more people, the livelier it is."

Among the four boys, Li Chunyu arrived first.

He was handsome and possessed strong charisma. No matter how the girls teased him, he never got angry or swore. He was very polite to the girls, treating all six of them equally, not neglecting others just because he was close to Ziye privately. Consequently, within a few minutes of his arrival, he had integrated seamlessly with the girls.

The girls were all extremely excited, calling out with starry eyes, "Senior Brother..." their voices dripping with charm.

Ling Yin remembered the topic of Ziye learning the piano and brought it up again. "Senior Brother, do you know how to play an instrument?"

Li Chunyu smiled gently, "Yes, I play the Guqin."

"Wow!" The five girls gasped simultaneously. Aina, who loved music, immediately found common ground with Li Chunyu. "I heard the Guqin is quite difficult to learn! A few days ago, I saw a Guqin master perform on Interstellar TV; I thought he was amazing! It's a shame I'm so poor, I can't afford one."

Li Chunyu tilted his head slightly, looking troubled.

Actually, a Guqin didn't cost much. Should he tell her?

Except for the few Guqins preserved by the Huaxia Legion that were thousands of years old, even those auctioned for over several million credits usually cost less than ten thousand in production cost.

In an era where the Guqin cost more than a mecha, could this truth be revealed?

Fortunately, AlexBent arrived, relieving his dilemma.

Not only were they handsome, but they were also playful and rowdy. Being twins, they naturally drew exceptional attention. As soon as they arrived, they stood one on each side of Ziye, patting her head. "Little Yezi, your friends are all so beautiful!"

That single sentence successfully complimented all the girls and boys present.

Li Chunyu innocently took the hit, being labeled as "beautiful." He was quite familiar with the Twins, nodding, "That's right, especially you two, especially beautiful." The Twins patted his shoulders on either side. "Brother, we are handsome!"

Ziye glanced at them dissatisfiedly. "Shouldn't it be that I and my friends are beautiful? Jerks!"

Alex gave a look of pity. "Little Yezi, you really don't count as..."

Ziye glared at him, giving him a powerful stare!

Bent rubbed her head and asked the girls, "Tell us, does Little Yezi count as a beauty?"

The girls patted Ziye’s shoulder with pity. Ziye almost wanted to explode! Fortunately, they had some conscience and knew how to stick together against outsiders. "Little Yezi has always been a beauty; you jerks who don't know how to appreciate her, step aside!"

"Who doesn't know how to appreciate?" Bo* walked toward them with a smile; his voice preceded him. "You group of handsome men and beautiful women are too conspicuous! I spotted you from hundreds of miles away!"

The girls said in unison, "Bo*, you appreciate the most; tell us, is Ziye a beauty?"

The group of five stared with wide eyes, their expressions looking ready to devour someone. If Bo* didn't say Ziye was a beauty, they would immediately pounce on him for a group beating.

Bo* looked at Ziye. "Beauty Ziye, congratulations on your duel victory."

Ziye smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

To be honest, since military training, she hadn't seen him much. It was rare for him to come out today, and Ziye was quite happy. The key was that Bo* wasn't as sharp-tongued as AlexBent, so he seemed quite lovable.

Poor Ziye, having her first celebration party, had absolutely no experience. She hadn't booked a venue in advance, nor had she thought about planning entertainment beforehand. Now, the group was loitering on the street.

Aina spoke first. "Since most of us here know instruments, why don't we go have an indoor concert? How grand would that be!"

AlexBent shrugged in unison. "We don't know much about performing, but we can provide accompaniment; no problem!"

"Oh my," Shaxini waved her hand. "That's a bit too highbrow. For fun, the more common, the better. For instance, let’s have a singing contest and see who can produce the most hideous wails!"

The group debated animatedly. Finally, Bo* clapped his hands. "I know a private club nearby; they have everything from blowing and plucking to singing and dancing. If you like, even dancing on stage... that's fine too. Let's go!"

Sometimes, having too good a venue can cause problems.

Those who could dance danced on stage, and those who couldn't played music—it was quite happy. Only accidentally, while playing around, their true natures were revealed. Not only were their wails hideous, but they almost ended up dancing...

After playing until midnight, Ziye crawled back to her apartment for a sleep. The next day, at six o'clock sharp, she got up to go for her run.

Life began to return to normal.

The missed month of classes needed to be made up, the upgraded robot version requested by Black Beard needed to be completed, and the newly developed version needed to be finished as soon as possible...

There was simply too much to do.

Ziye made a new plan, started attending classes diligently every day, and went to the Kolai Research Institute every odd-numbered Friday to study long-range attacks. As for the robots and other things, she would cram during her free time...

-RS