An Junlie had arrived the day before, having the robots clean up the house thoroughly. She entered the warehouse; everything was in order there too, except the docking bays designated for the Pingan-type mechs were empty.

She nodded, relieved. Currently, only Red Hair and Black Beard were out in space, which meant there were still eight mechs remaining on Silver Talisman.

Both An Junlie and Lan Li had arrived in stealth bombers. Two stealth bombers could carry a maximum of thirty people; adding the eight mechs meant thirty-eight people could go out together this time!

Ziye felt a surge of joy just thinking about it. During this time, she had finally, truly felt the importance of her companions.

Previously, it was just the three of them—Red Hair, Black Beard, and herself—in space: one working desperately as a pirate to earn money, one using all their spare time to build mechs and robots, and one managing the shop and company for sales. But ultimately, because they were too few, they couldn't expand their enterprise significantly.

Of the thirty-eight people, subtracting the two from the Angel Legion, and subtracting Red Hair and herself, there were thirty-four remaining. If these thirty-four people could work together to earn money, it certainly wouldn't take a year for them to accumulate the funds needed to purchase territory on Wolf’s Den.

If there was one thing least valuable in space, it was territory. And if there was one thing most valuable, it was also territory.

Only with strength and territory could one survive in the predatory environment of space. By then, even if they couldn't earn enough money to buy territory, with so many people, they could develop new interstellar domains.

At worst, they could seize territory from their enemies. The more Ziye thought about it, the happier she became.

She wandered through the house, announcing to the plants and robots, "I'm back!" Then, she went to Tangshan’s room to pay her respects, personally cleaning his memorial tablet and everything else in the room. No matter when, she was grateful to Tangshan; without him, none of what she had today would exist...

Once the cleaning was done, she trotted to the study. She hadn't understood the value of Tangshan’s collection before.

Only after going out into space, when she found she couldn't locate many books she had been too lazy to read before, did she realize their true significance. The inhabitants of Silver Talisman Star hadn't yet decided who would be in the first wave to leave, and the timing was also uncertain.

The only thing she could do in the time remaining before departure was to read more books. The bookshelves in the study were exceptionally tall, divided into upper and lower tiers by wooden shelving, and the floor was covered with thick carpeting.

Ziye climbed to the upper level; the ladder creaked softly, and fine dust motes danced in the air, amplifying the profound silence. An Junlie, having finished brewing the sweet soup, noticed Ziye was gone.

Passing the study and seeing the door ajar, he glanced inside. He saw a figure scurrying back and forth on the upper shelf, like a little squirrel.

He couldn't help but think that the contents of Ziye’s clever little head must be as neatly organized as the books in this room. Whenever she needed it, the books would automatically open in her mind.

Ziye read for a while, feeling the light was too dim. She flipped to the bottom of the pages, where there was usually a red woven satin ribbon used for marking her place for easy reference.

As she turned the page, an electronic bookmark suddenly slipped out. Ziye couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.

It was the first time she had ever seen a bookmark! She bent down to pick it up, gently tapped the small touch-screen switch on the lower right corner, and the bookmark's screen lit up.

The image displayed was of a very beautiful little child, three or four years old, with a face carved like pink jade. His clothes and hat had two ears, making him even cuter than a young beast.

He clutched a small ball, his bright eyes darting around, looking utterly endearing. Seeing something beautiful brightened Ziye’s mood.

She tucked the bookmark where she had stopped reading, closed the book, and descended the wooden steps. An Junlie heard the sound, placed the book he was holding back on the shelf, turned around, and said, "Little sister, go drink your sweet soup first." Ziye was surprised.

"What are you doing here?" An Junlie smiled faintly. "I was waiting for you.

I saw how focused you were just now, so I didn't want to interrupt. Tangshan really collected some excellent books; some aren't even held by Angel University." Angel University was the absolute best institution in the Angel Domain.

Ziye said proudly, "Of course! Some aren't even in the Spirit-S library." Since the collection at the Spirit-S Library could no longer satisfy her needs, she had also obtained a borrowing card from the Kaga Public Library.

It was only natural that books unavailable at the Kaga Public Library would also be absent from Angel University. However, this time upon returning, she didn't plan to take the books with her.

Without a stable base in space, carrying these books would be a hassle. It was better to let them stay here on Silver Talisman to accompany Tangshan, with the exception of Principles of Starship Engines.

To study starships, that book was fundamental; she had to take it. Just in case, she would arrange for Little Sprout to create an electronic version as quickly as possible.

She once again felt the importance of Little Sprout. If it were here, whatever book she wanted, it could scan and archive it in a few minutes, solving all her future reading problems.

She remembered the first time she took it to the Spirit-S Library; it had scanned and saved every volume related to mechs, and had shown off about it to her for ages! Leaving the study, Ziye carefully locked the door and followed An Junlie to the dining room for the sweet soup.

She knew there was no issue with the soup, but looking at An Junlie’s utterly innocent eyes, she couldn't bring herself to refuse. Besides, even when An Junlie cooked with ingredients that sounded terrifying, the resulting flavor was always delicious.

Thus, Ziye contentedly gulped down the cold-prevention sweet soup An Junlie had brewed. After finishing, she bathed and went to sleep.

That night, Ziye enjoyed a rare, good night's rest. During her time at Spirit-S, she constantly worried about duels; at Sprout Villa, Black Beard was always rushing her for new products; at the Research Institute, Tang Wen mocked her low IQ daily, and Blanch whipped her into studying—there wasn't a moment of leisure.

Returning to Silver Talisman Star, she could finally rest easy. Even if the sky fell, she had so many people, and An Junlie to bear the brunt of it.

The next day, she woke up and jogged, worked out, and practiced martial arts with An Junlie, then told him, "Alien, let me cook a meal for you." An Junlie stared at her, astonished. "Are you saying my cooking isn't good enough?" Ziye shook her head.

"No. I just realized while watching you cook that my previous methods were a bit off.

I want to refine them and try again. You can help me test and critique it later?" An Junlie sighed.

"Fine, you cook, I'll eat." Ziye gripped her fists excitedly. Previously, when cooking, she cut the meat with precision down to the cellular level.

Logically, it should have tasted excellent. She couldn't understand why her results were so much worse than An Junlie’s.

Following the K-series robot cooking system developed by Little Sprout, the vegetables, meat, and sauces were all precisely measured. Therefore, if she also adhered completely to robotic precision, her cooking would surely improve dramatically!

Entering the kitchen, An Junlie cooperated by sitting on a chair as an observer. Ziye, meanwhile, created a controlled whirlwind, preparing all her implements: measuring cups, test tubes, a small balance scale, droppers, etc.

She lined up the seasoning dishes one, two, three, four, used the measuring cups for exact quantities, transferred them to the dishes, adhering strictly to the sequence, like children in military training standing rigidly at attention in their designated dishes. Mushrooms were arranged one by one.

Vegetable leaves were laid out neatly, one by one. Meat was cut precisely according to cell texture, arranged in concentric circles on the plate.

An Junlie watched the military formation covering the table and nearly burst out laughing. Fortunately, he had strong self-control and didn't want to dampen Ziye’s enthusiasm, so he maintained a façade of calm observation.

Starting the cooking process, Ziye monitored the flame's intensity, silently counting seconds, timing the precise moment to add ingredients and seasonings, with no deviation in sequence. An Junlie checked the time on his Silver Comms and monitored the internal timer Ziye was using in her head—they were exactly synchronized!

This excruciating culinary operation lasted for half an hour. An Junlie gazed somewhat helplessly at the small girl bustling about the kitchen.

The firelight cast a soft hue on her slightly pale face, and the flames flickered in her gentle eyes, suggesting profound happiness. A strange feeling suddenly spread through his heart, like the fire leaping in the kitchen, casting its glow.

When she finally presented the first finished dish, An Junlie snapped back to attention, sighed, and shook his head. "Child, you should probably stop cooking from now on.

This job isn't suited for you." Ziye was 100% confident in her creation. Hearing An Junlie’s immediate criticism upon presentation made her hand tremble, nearly causing her to drop the dish.

An Junlie took the plate, and catching sight of the helpless tears welling up in Ziye's eyes, he quickly put the plate down and asked with concern, "Good girl, what’s wrong? Did you get burned somewhere?" "Alien, you big brute!

How dare you despise my cooking!!" Ziye flew into his arms in mortified anger, hitting him repeatedly. "You haven't even tasted it yet and you’re saying it’s bad, sob...

You're a mean person, I put so much thought into this..." An Junlie knew he had misspoken and held her tightly, comforting her. "I didn't mean it like that.

It's just that this field truly isn't yours." As soon as he said that, he realized he was digging a deeper hole, so he rushed to remedy it. "Listen to me.

It was quite good. It had the movement patterns of a physicist, the reaction principles of a chemist, and the color theory of an artist.

It was truly excellent; believe me, I’m not lying to you." As for the final sentence, "You just lack the talent of a chef," he forcefully swallowed it back down. Ziye looked at him through watery eyes.

"Are you telling the truth?" An Junlie nodded decisively. "Yes." Ziye cheered up considerably, picking up the plate.

"Then try it and see how good my cooking is!" An Junlie helplessly covered his forehead. He didn't even need to taste it.

Judging by Ziye's setup, he could already guess the resulting flavor. However, he didn't want to upset Ziye further, so he forced himself not to frown, picked up his utensils, and began to eat heartily.

Ziye sat down beside him, asking expectantly, "How is it? Is the taste acceptable?" An Junlie didn't answer, nor did he dare let her sample it herself.

He forcefully shoveled everything on the plate into his stomach and, steeling himself, offered a well-intentioned lie: "Compared to last time, there is improvement." -RS