Ziye suddenly recalled that Shuangzi had sent her a comm-call before the exams, meaning she probably knew something, so she called back. Shuangzi merely laughed during the call, "Let's grab a meal."

The two arranged a meeting spot. Ziye glanced at the time; there wasn't much left, so she headed towards the location.

She always felt Shuangzi was an enigma. Neither she nor the group of girls they hung out with knew what Shuangzi was up to, yet she always managed to surprise everyone.

Shuangzi arrived before her, seated by the window, posture perfectly straight, expressionless, giving off an air of wanting to be left alone, only softening her gaze upon seeing Ziye.

Curiously, Ziye asked, "Who upset you?"

Shuangzi didn't want to answer and immediately changed the subject, "Let's eat first."

Ziye wasn't in a hurry and started eating. After eating until she was about seventy percent full, Shuangzi suddenly spoke, dropping a bombshell, "Ziye, someone asked me what method I should use to pull you down from the clouds."

Ziye froze, "The clouds?"

Shuangzi raised an eyelid to look at her, "Don't you know that in the eyes of others, you stand aloof, high up in the clouds?"

Ziye caught the hidden meaning in her words, "So, someone wants to deal with me?"

Shuangzi nodded, then seriously extended her hand, "Give me some bribe money, and I'll tell you who it is."

Ziye wasn't sure what game Shuangzi was playing and asked, "What do you want?"

Shuangzi suddenly smiled, "Forget it, I'll tell you. Someone told me to target you. I gave them an idea: either catch her cheating during the final exams, or beat her in the mecha competition next semester."

Ziye immediately recalled what happened during the exam and understood, "Since you are supposed to deal with me, why tell me?"

Shuangzi shrugged, "It's not me who has to deal with you." She paused, "I'm just protecting myself. If I didn't do something, the other party would come after me. I still need to navigate things here."

Ziye remained silent, looking at Shuangzi with a scrutinizing gaze, wondering how much of her statement was true and how much was false. Shuangzi didn't flinch under her scrutiny, appearing entirely candid.

Ziye then smiled, "I get it, thank you for telling me this."

Shuangzi returned the smile, "If you knew the one who reported you was me, would you still thank me?"

Ziye's nascent smile instantly stiffened. She had just been thinking about suing that bastard who slandered her, making them taste the bitterness of a scheme backfiring spectacularly.

She never imagined that the person who reported her was Shuangzi!

Ziye felt a choking sensation, like swallowing an egg whole, "Why would you do that?" By now, she had managed to regain control of her emotions, calmed down, and waited for Shuangzi's explanation.

Shuangzi countered, "You didn't suffer any loss, did you?"

Ziye suddenly had the urge to beat her soundly.

What was this nonsense about no loss? She had worked hard to fade from the crowd's attention during this period. If some calculating person spread the news, her reputation would be ruined all over again.

Seeing her crestfallen expression, Shuangzi threw her hands up, "Just saying."

Ziye shook her head helplessly. She knew Shuangzi's personality; if she refused to speak, she wouldn't say anything, so she didn't press further.

Thinking it over carefully, she pieced together a rough outline: Someone coerced Shuangzi into targeting her, Shuangzi complied, but informed her in advance.

This meant Shuangzi had actually helped her.

If Shuangzi had refused, that person might have simply ordered someone else to do it, and Ziye might have been ambushed without even realizing it.

In summary, she still had to thank Shuangzi.

Ziye asked one last question, "Can you tell me who it was?"

Shuangzi shook her head, "Can't say."

Ziye sighed, "Fine, let's eat."

Shuangzi nodded, adding, "Even the brightest schools have shadows; be careful. Don't let anyone get a handle on you."

Now that Ziye knew, she was extra cautious during the remaining exams. However, perhaps because she had seen through it, or maybe it just didn't achieve the desired effect, Shuangzi's mastermind didn't make any further moves.

She successfully finished her finals, packed all her belongings—Little Sprout plus the cultivation box—and returned to Kelaige's Seedling Villa. After setting up the box, she took Little Sprout to Tang Wen's research institute.

She had also completed her project, a paper spanning twenty thousand characters. Although slightly rushed, passing should be fine. Once submitted, she could finally rest properly!

Ziye had been looking forward to the break for ages, constantly thinking about where to go after submitting the paper. By the time she reached the entrance of Tang Wen's studio, her mouth was split in a grin that wouldn't close for half a minute.

Tang Wen took the paper but didn't open it immediately. Instead, he first asked, "Vacation time?"

Ziye beamed, "Yes!"

Tang Wen casually inquired, "Any plans?"

Ziye replied cheerfully, "I'm going to sleep for a long time, and then go out and have some fun."

Tang Wen glanced at her sideways, "No ambition."

Ziye, hit by his cold water, got annoyed, "You have!"

Tang Wen gave her a 'you just figured that out' look and opened the project, scanning it quickly. "This level? Redo it."

Ziye protested, "Was my work that bad?"

Tang Wen's expression remained blank, "Even a ten-year-old knows the knowledge mentioned inside; you don't need to repeat it to me."

Ziye was furious!

Ling Yin and the others also had projects; not only were their topics simpler than hers, but what they produced was also much easier, and they passed with flying colors. Why was Tang Wen holding her up?

Ziye felt resentful, but she couldn't openly argue with him. She offered an excuse, "I intended to analyze it more deeply, but I'm not very familiar with Disaster-class structures yet. I was busy with exams. Perhaps I can review it again."

Tang Wen pointed a finger, "Go out and turn left, Mecha Warehouse."

Ziye stuck out her tongue at him in a face, then stomped out the door, making the floor boom with every step.

Entering the mecha warehouse, Ziye thought viciously, Hmph, since he gave the order, don't blame me for not holding back. She wheeled the Disaster-class into the Mecha Modification Room, grabbed her tools, and proceeded to dismantle the Disaster-class from head to toe!

Dismantling a mecha was actually quite simple, as long as one understood its structure and had robot assistance; it took two hours to complete.

But reassembling it was exceedingly tedious.

Different mechas had different assembly procedures. Ziye had beforehand scanned the internal structure diagrams and paid special attention during disassembly, terrified she might not be able to put it back together.

If that happened, Tang Wen would laugh himself silly.

She absolutely would not allow that outcome to materialize.

Tang Wen's assignment required focusing on the armor layer, so she removed the shields and structural components, leaving only the armor layer to begin independent testing. Little Sprout flapped its wings above her head, cheerfully broadcasting into her mind, "Ziye, I built a Super Armor System, integrating all of Tang Wen's work data. Want to take a look?"

Ziye didn't look up, "Later, when I'm done."

Little Sprout looked slightly disappointed, pouting, "Okay. But I can tell you this: its turret output power is double that of a standard mecha, and the armor has been specially treated—thinned and weakened—to focus entirely on output. Haven't you noticed its armor is actually very brittle? A few missile hits and it shatters."

Ziye frowned slightly.

Often, a mecha's true strength was only revealed in combat. Should she go out and test it with some missiles? Long-range bombardment required independent space and terrain. If she opened fire inside the research institute, Tang Wen would certainly lose it!

Forget it. She would obediently stick to checking the structure using instruments.

Ziye resumed her work. Little Sprout, unwilling to give up, chirped again, "Ziye, Ziye, have you studied starships?"

Ziye casually replied, "Battleships?"

In hopes of bringing everyone out at once, she had been researching battleships even before earning her Silver Talisman; the blueprints for a battleship were currently stored by Little Sprout.

Beyond that, nothing else.

Little Sprout prompted, "That's right! Of course, besides battleships, there are also Marauder-class ships. Don't you think the Disaster-class was designed based on the Marauder-class prototype?"

Marauder-class? Ziye's mind went blank. Her recent focus had been entirely on mechas; she hadn't yet ventured into the realm of starships and couldn't form a complete concept in her mind.

Seeing her blank expression, Little Sprout sighed with frustration, "Sigh, I wanted to give you some pointers, but alas, this student is incorrigible." It then shook its head like a little old man.

Ziye pinched its cheek, dissatisfied, "Who are you calling incorrigible?"

She hadn't finished venting her anger at Tang Wen yet, and now this thing dared to present itself? Was it tired of living!

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Little Sprout grimaced, flapping its wings vigorously, "Put me down right now, or I won't tell you the principle."

Only then did Ziye let go, smoothing its fur as she did so, "Good, now tell me quickly."

Little Sprout zapped her lightly with a sprout-tendril and whispered mysteriously, "I discovered that all of Tang Wen's mechas have prototypes found in starships, and not just the Disaster-class, there are others. Compare these two sets of data: the left side is mecha system data, and the right side is starship system data."

Ziye's gaze slid down the data, and her eyes widened further, almost shooting out like bullets. Disbelievingly, she pointed to one of the Marauder-class ships, "Look, who is the designer?"

Little Sprout quickly searched the net-light and found the entry. It only showed a very simple, looping symbol, resembling a combination of a T and a G.

Ziye looked at Little Sprout, and Little Sprout was looking back at her, both transmitting the same thought: We’ve seen this symbol somewhere before...

Ziye dropped the instrument in her hand, opened her optical computer's virtual screen, and began searching the net-light.

She pulled up numerous results in a short while.

In this era, starship designers were strategic assets of immense power and rarely revealed themselves. The symbol etched on the hull only represented the designer, not their name.

She found many identifiers, the most famous of which was TG.

The symbol of the Chief Ship Designer for the Interstellar Federation!

Holy crap, this was a god-like entity!