However, she didn't get the chance to ask Tang Wen, because Bran announced that Tang Wen would be entering a period of closed-door cultivation of an uncertain duration. During this time, Bran would be responsible for her daily studies and work.

Zi Ye felt a small pang of regret; it seemed her dream of latching onto him during the vacation to learn more had fallen flat!

Still, this meant she could spend more time on mecha construction during the break, letting Black Beard sell them. University lasted four years, and as long as she was still Tang Wen's student, there would be opportunities to learn from him.

Besides, Bran excelled in many areas that were also worth studying in medicine.

So, Zi Ye asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

Bran smiled and asked back, "Do you want to learn the violin?"

The moment this topic came up, Zi Ye's head started pounding. "Absolutely not!"

Bran shook his head with exasperation. "Then think about it: what do you want to learn?"

Zi Ye blurted out, "I want to be as formidable as Teacher Tang Wen!"

It could be said that learning Tang Wen's true identity was a major turning point in her life.

It was a sudden epiphany: her goals shouldn't be limited to mecha. She could cast her gaze further, toward starships. Even if she couldn't build one herself one day, with superior capability, she could at least push mecha design to the absolute pinnacle!

Tang Wen was an insurmountable mountain.

She felt like she was running in his shadow.

When she was working on robots, she discovered he was the chief mecha designer; when she began delving into mecha, she found he was the design director for starships.

That gap—no, that wasn't a gap; it was an unbridgeable chasm.

Bran laughed heartily. "Good child, you have eight years to surpass him. Go for it!"

Zi Ye shot him a disgruntled glance, decisively cut off the link, and began reassembling the disassembled Disaster-Class mecha, taking the opportunity to fix a flaw.

It wasn't really a flaw, though. To put it more accurately, it was something that wasn't optimized for human operation.

No matter how profound or complex a mecha looked, its essence was the same. Once familiar with the internal structure, the systems, and having piloted it personally, one could basically solve any problem encountered.

She started playing around with the Disaster-Class, tinkering with modifications, improving the energy recovery speed, and upgrading the ballistics system. Once done, looking at the mecha standing tall again filled her with a sense of accomplishment.

Compared to Tang Wen, she did have one area where she excelled: modification.

Tang Wen focused on the overall standard of the mecha, whereas she aimed to maximize combat effectiveness within the given parameters. If Tang Wen was the best design director in the Star Federation, then she would become the finest technician!

Just as Zi Ye settled down, preparing to find a book in Tang Wen's archives, Bran sent over her vacation schedule. It was a nine-to-five commitment with two required tasks.

The first: master long-range attacks.

Bran had planned to teach her this after her duel victory, but during that time, Tang Wen had to return to Star Federation headquarters for business, so systematic training hadn't occurred.

The second: learn how to be Tang Wen's assistant.

Zi Ye looked at the second item and a pleased smile curled her lips. As long as she could get close to Tang Wen, hmph, she would definitely steal some secrets!

However, since she didn't know when Tang Wen would emerge from seclusion, the second task had to be shelved temporarily in favor of the first.

With Tang Wen in seclusion, Bran was comparatively free. He took the Disaster-Class out with Zi Ye to practice long-range combat. Space was perpetually deep in color, sparse with stars, and far in the distance, glowing planets cast only faint slivers of light.

Once they reached outer space, just as Zi Ye was about to activate the auto-navigation, there was a sudden thud, and the mecha shook violently. Zi Ye jolted, her gaze sweeping across the control interface—who was shooting at her?

Pirates?

She scanned the optical display and found only one other mecha nearby: Bran, also piloting a Disaster-Class.

Bran was even harsher than An Junlie! An Junlie at least fired blanks; this man was using live ammunition!

Zi Ye watched her shield show signs of imminent fracturing and frantically maneuvered her mecha to escape. But no matter how she dodged—left, Bran fired left; right, Bran fired right. When she moved in a Z-pattern, Bran was faster, striking precisely where she was predicted to be, scoring direct hits every time.

He was using the Yellow Crystal laser cannons. The resulting yellow beams were incredibly straight and sharp; despite being a warm color and giving off a dazzling impression, they were lethal.

Zi Ye suspected that if this continued, her entire mecha would explode.

How annoying!

Zi Ye grit her teeth, engaged the micro-warp thrusters, boosting her speed from 200 m/s to 350 m/s, intending to flee his firing range before counterattacking.

But Bran stuck to her like a shadow, giving her no chance to catch her breath.

With the same configuration of Disaster-Class, everything she could use, Bran could use as well.

And she couldn't engage in a head-on confrontation; otherwise, she would certainly be the first to die. Her shields were nearly depleted from Bran's barrage, and exchanging blows of equal magnitude meant her inherently weaker frame would break first.

Bran wasn't an ordinary pilot, nor a pirate; he was a special forces mecha warrior who had undergone intensive training since childhood, immersed in this field for over two decades. He pummeled her relentlessly, leaving her miserable.

This training method was maddeningly frustrating!

It felt exactly like when she was being beaten senseless in the virtual pilot training base by the Platinum Rich-Type, forced to watch herself take hits with absolutely no recourse.

To win, one had to first be able to evade.

Zi Ye abruptly turned, locked onto his mecha, gauged his firing speed, and predicted the trajectory of his next shot before dodging.

It only took 2 seconds from the firing of the projectile to impact on Zi Ye’s mecha, but her trajectory prediction required 3 seconds. Before the prediction result was even ready, she was struck again.

After a few failed attempts, Zi Ye, in a fit of frustration, shut down the auto-prediction and piloted her mecha randomly through space.

As long as Bran’s speed did not perfectly match hers—if they weren't relatively static—aiming at her would be exponentially harder than when they were static.

Sure enough, after she began running erratically, Bran could no longer hit her every time. The occasional shots merely scraped past, allowing her a narrow escape.

Little Sprout, who had been sleeping on her head, woke up to find her mecha nearly disintegrated and energy severely depleted. It sighed, puffed up its body, and chided, "Silly Little Ye Zi, how can you be so dense?"

Zi Ye grumbled miserably, "How am I dense? I genuinely don't know what to do!" When she couldn't pilot mecha before, her rare victories relied on the inherent differences in machine performance. Now, Bran’s mecha was identical to hers, and his piloting skills were superior; naturally, she was helpless.

Little Sprout didn't help her either, settling back down on her head to continue sleeping.

Zi Ye cried out, "You won't help me?"

Little Sprout mumbled, "I stayed up all night watching the little embryos. Let me rest a bit."

Zi Ye shrieked, "We're going to become space debris!"

Little Sprout casually flapped its wings. "No matter, I have wings."

Resigned, Zi Ye initiated a warp jump, leaping outside the Disaster-Class's effective range. Only once she was safe did she begin re-predicting Bran's firing sequences. Bran needed time to close the distance, allowing her time to use the system to rapidly calculate his trajectory.

Zi Ye knew she wasn't a top-tier pilot. A good pilot could fly the mecha, dodge attacks, and engage the enemy—she managed none of these perfectly. What she could do was leverage her familiarity with data and utilize various auxiliary systems to enhance her advantage.

As she fled, monitoring the systems, she suddenly thought that perhaps she was better suited for piloting a Raider-class ship. After all, those were excellent vessels for auxiliary functions!

While she was thinking, she had already dodged three of Bran's shots. Afterward, though she was still hit occasionally, the frequency of impacts dropped drastically.

Her mecha was listing dangerously, sustaining 92% damage—one more hit and it would explode—when Bran finally ceased fire, using the voice system to say, "That's enough for today; we continue tomorrow. First, you learn how to take a beating, then you learn how to fight back."

Zi Ye was close to tears.

She returned to the research institute, sent the mecha to the nano-repair bay for a full overhaul, and silently contemplated how to avoid getting hit.

Long-range combat was fundamentally different from close-quarters combat.

The damage inflicted by ranged attacks was far greater than in brawls. No matter how heavily armored a mecha was, if it remained in a defensive posture absorbing fire, it would only die again and again. Basically, ten missiles could obliterate a mecha, rendering even the strongest shield useless.

Evasion was an extremely important skill. After several days of absorbing punishment, Zi Ye slowly grasped some tricks; the scope of evasion was related to the projectile's blast radius. To completely avoid damage, one first needed to understand the projectile's characteristics. The yellow RF crystal laser cannons mounted on the Disaster-Class had an explosion radius of 1000m. If Zi Ye could evade the area within 1000m centered on the laser impact point within 2 seconds, she would be unharmed.

Zi Ye mused that if she got sufficiently angry, she'd just requisition a Raider-class ship and wipe Bran out!

Raider-class...

Zi Ye suddenly recalled something. She sent a quick message to Bran, then bolted back to the Sprout Villa, running up to Black Beard. "Uncle Hu, let's go buy a Raider-class ship!"

Black Beard, who was working on a mecha production schedule, was surprised by her outburst. "What do you need a Raider-class for?"

Zi Ye clenched her fist. "Think about it, since the three of us could emerge from Silver Crest, it means traversing the wormhole is viable. We should just buy a Raider-class ship and go back to Silver Crest to bring them all out!"

Black Beard set down his work and sighed. "Red Hair and I thought the same thing back then, but I only know how to pilot a shuttle. You're still young, and we can't ask outsiders for help. It would be too dangerous for Red Hair to pilot a Raider-class alone!"

Zi Ye slammed her left palm hard with her right fist. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Wait for me! I will definitely learn to pilot a Raider-class during this vacation, and then Red Hair and I will go bring them back." Black Beard wanted to say something, but seeing her determined expression, he decided not to dampen her enthusiasm. After a moment's thought, he said, "No, don't learn the Raider-class yet. Currently, there's only one model of Raider-class available for purchase, and the Star Federation records every transfer. That wouldn't be good for us."

Zi Ye agreed; a Raider-class was too conspicuous. "Then what about a Frigate?"

Black Beard shook his head. "No, we need an Invisible Bomber—a Stealth Bomber!" (To be continued.)