Spence suddenly called out from behind, startling Ziye so much that her hand trembled, and she dropped the Star Cake. She snatched it back just before it hit the ground, smearing sauce all over her hand.

Looking at it, she gasped in shock: "Why has the rose jam turned into Fan Crystal Fluid?"

Li Chunyu turned around upon hearing the voice, startled. "Did you just eat some?" Ziye nodded, then seeing the Star Cake was intact, quickly shook her head again.

Li Chunyu looked at her with exasperation. "Open your mouth."

Ziye obediently parted her lips.

The twins stood up, and along with Li Chunyu, the three of them stared intently into her mouth.

Ziye kept her mouth open, thinking, Thank goodness I don't have cavities, that would have been so embarrassing...

Seeing no trace of Fan Crystal Fluid inside her mouth, a huge weight lifted from the minds of the three. Li Chunyu leaned in close and took a tissue to wipe her hand clean. "You goof, didn't you even look at what you were dipping it into?"

Ziye glanced at the rose jam on her left hand and the Fan Crystal Fluid on her right, pouting. "The rose jam was clearly on the right just now." The three were speechless regarding some part of her brain, yet no one blamed her. Li Chunyu sighed helplessly. "Go wash your hands quickly. The metallic liquid might be corrosive to the skin."

Only then did Ziye react, running off to wash her hands. As soon as she returned, she saw an email flashing on the light screen. Opening it, she saw it was from Bran. It contained only one sentence: No need to come to class on Friday.

Ziye couldn't help but frown.

No class?

Could it be that Tang Wen, that scoundrel, was angry with her and didn't want to teach her anymore!

If he doesn't want to teach, then fine, who cares about his class anyway.

Ziye recalled how he had stood up the nine of them that day and her face flushed red with anger. What a petty man!

Aix, seeing her face turn red, mistakenly thought she was feeling shy. He exclaimed as if discovering a new star system: "Little Leaf, why are you blushing? Did someone send you a really embarrassing message?"

He stood across the workbench, propped his hands on it, and with the agility of a swallow, leaped over to her side, deftly turned around, and leaned in to look at her virtual light screen.

Ziye couldn't be bothered to hide it and let him see the screen.

He read the content, then looked at the sender, perplexed. "Little Leaf, you don't need to be this shy about not having class, do you?"

Ziye shot him a look and said slowly, word by word, "I'm furious!" After speaking, she shut the light screen, grabbed her bag, and announced, "I'm heading back first. You guys carry on." With that, she stomped out the door, leaving the three looking at each other in bewilderment.

However, thinking back on it, Ziye felt something was off.

Bran never spoke to her in such a tone. Even if he told her not to come to class, he would surely tell her the reason politely, perhaps that Tang Wen needed to visit the Interstellar Federation Headquarters or receive an important guest.

What was really going on?

Should she ask Bran?

Ziye hesitated, then changed her mind. Perhaps that scoundrel Tang Wen had sent it using Bran's name?

That guy might actually do something like that.

If she called him on the hyper-comm to ask, he would surely mock her mercilessly, calling her an idiot.

She decisively retracted the hyper-comm. Hmph, she wouldn't call!

By the way, Aix Spence had accompanied her to buy this hyper-comm. After Duzai gnawed on the old one, she stripped the components and threw them away, leaving the casing for Duzai to chew on freely.

As for the new hyper-comm number, she would tell Tang Wen when she felt like it.

It was probably good that she didn't need to go to the research institute on Friday. She could use the time when all four of them were free to nail down the details of their plan. Thinking of this, Ziye immediately tossed the unpleasantness out of her mind and rushed back to the lab. "I'm back! Let's keep discussing."

The three looked at her speechlessly. Ah, women are truly fickle.

Ziye shrugged, put down her bag, and got back to work.

The mecha competition had temporarily become the fifth most important event in her life, aside from waking up, eating, attending class, and sleeping. Oh, right, the sixth: buying Star Cakes.

"Little Dou, what flavor should we get this time?"

After a long pause with no response from Little Sprouts, Ziye remembered that Duzai was out of its shell today, and Little Sprouts had said it would stay home to accompany it, while also acting as a little sprout to trick the silly kids on the forum.

With no one responding, Ziye immediately lost the mood to choose flavors. She quickly picked two and packed them herself from the self-service section. The Star Cake shop had intelligent robots, but for such a small matter, she couldn't be bothered to summon one.

After getting the Star Cakes and finishing the payment, just as she was about to turn away, her vision suddenly went black, and a dark object plummeted from above. She reached out to grab it, but someone instantly seized her hand and twisted it behind her back.

Startled, she opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over her mouth.

What situation was this?

Ziye couldn't worry about anything else; she kicked backward fiercely.

That kick was certainly hard enough, and a muffled groan came from behind her. She intended to use his moment of pain to escape, but to her surprise, the person didn't dodge at all. He held onto her hand tightly, and with immense force, he dislocated her arm.

Instant searing pain shot through her bones.

Ziye lost all strength to resist.

The person gave her no chance to fight back, and with a crack, he cuffed her hands.

"Heeelp—"

The person covered her mouth again, giving her no opportunity to struggle, and shoved her into an airship. Ziye immediately tried to kick out, and the person, annoyed, picked up a foot restraint and cuffed her feet as well.

After her struggle proved futile, Ziye turned her head and finally got a clear look at the captor.

He had bronze-colored skin, giving off an impression of unyielding steel.

One hand pressed down on her shoulder, the other gripped her wrist. With a snap, clack, he popped her arm back into place. Seeing Ziye staring at him with a look of anger mixed with confusion, he remained expressionless. "If you want to live, don't move!"

The airship's protective shielding was specially treated, giving it a slightly dim color, but Ziye knew that while she could see outside, people outside definitely could not see in.

She asked in shock, "Who on earth are you people?"

Having finished speaking, the man took clear tape and sealed her mouth shut.

Now, she didn't even have the liberty to speak.

Ziye glared at him viciously, wishing she could bore two holes right through him with her eyes.

The kidnapper seemed utterly cold-blooded and indifferent to her gaze. He sat beside her, not blinking for a long time.

Ziye's arm still hurt, but her mind was slowly growing calm.

This was clearly a kidnapping.

She wasn't wealthy, so why would she be kidnapped?

She had no idea what the other party wanted.

The airship moved incredibly fast, soon plunging directly into the docking bay of a larger vessel. After it stopped, the man hauled her out of the bay and into the ship's lounge area.

On both sides of the lounge stood two perfectly straight rows of people, all uniformly dressed in black suits, identical in height and build. At a glance, they looked like two rows of black lamp posts.

Damn, are these all gang members? Ziye felt her heart pounding relentlessly.

Who exactly kidnapped me????

Shortly, the sound confirming the departure request was accepted echoed. Ziye grew more desperate. Where were they taking her?

She silently racked her brain, wondering if she had offended anyone recently.

Or perhaps she had unintentionally slighted someone she didn't even know about?

Or maybe they had the wrong person?

Ziye felt a surge of panic, but her hands and feet were restrained, and she couldn't speak. No matter what signals she tried to give, the man beside her remained motionless, like a block of wood, neither speaking nor moving.

After leaving the station, she could feel the slight vibration associated with a warp jump.

A long-distance warp jump?

Holy cow, where are they taking me!

Were they planning to dump her in some remote corner of space?

For the past week, she had been buying Star Cakes at the same shop every day. If the perpetrators had been staking her out, then there might truly be a conspiracy!

Cold sweat dried on Ziye's back only to start flowing again. The Star Cake shop's robots weren't smart enough to call the police for her. Now that they were out of the station, what could she do?

Her bag was still at the Star Cake shop. She could only hope someone found her belongings, realized she was in trouble, or that the intelligent robot had saved them for her. If some opportunistic person took her things and didn't report anything, that would be disastrous.

Currently, she only had the silver comm and the hyper-comm on her person.

The new hyper-comm number was known only to a few people at school.

As for the silver comm...

Ziye cautiously moved her hand toward the silver comm while the man wasn't looking. Her movement was minuscule, but the moment she stirred, the captor's eyes snapped open, radiating cold light.

Ziye was almost frightened into a cardiac arrest.

The man warned coldly, "If you want to live, don't move randomly!"

Ziye dared not move for the moment. Even if she managed to contact someone via the silver comm, they might not be able to catch up immediately, but she absolutely had to try...

She didn't know how long the warp jump lasted, but Ziye gradually calmed down. The captors probably weren't planning to dispose of the body; they must have a specific objective. As long as there was a purpose, and as long as she could meet the mastermind, there might still be a chance.

Not long after Ziye was abducted, another group dressed in black suits entered the Lings Space Station.

Among them were three men and one woman; her name was Bai Lanxue.

Dressed in a crisp pantsuit and small men's leather shoes today, she stood at the front of the group, looking like a smaller version of a man.

Upon entering the Lings Space Station, she immediately dialed Ziye's hyper-comm.

Once, no connection.

Twice, no connection.

Three times...

Bai Lanxue narrowed her eyes slightly and instructed the male assistant beside her, "Confirm her location."

The assistant quickly pulled up the coordinates: Kaga Station 14.

The four of them headed there, but before they arrived, they were met with a sky full of refuse. Bai Lanxue's face turned green. This was Kaga's garbage processing center!

Even with high-decomposition technology eliminating most of the stench, Bai Lanxue recoiled in disgust.

The other two Interstellar Federation Security Investigators exchanged bewildered glances. Did Ziye hide in the garbage processing center? Or had she been dismembered and thrown in there?

Bai Lanxue frowned. "Contact Lings official channels. I want to see if she ran into the trash or became the trash."

The assistant replied, "Yes," and dialed the Lings official hyper-comm while returning to Lings Station 1 to find the External Affairs Office directly.

The director of the Lings External Affairs Office was a woman from a branch of the Du family, named Du Xiu. She had been in the office for years and had seen every kind of person imaginable.

Seeing the four imposing figures before her, she offered a slight smile. "What business do you have with my school's student?"

Bai Lanxue did not reply.

The assistant answered on her behalf. "We are here to conduct a security assessment on student Ziye."

Du Xiu suddenly seemed enlightened. "Oh dear, so our student Ziye has become a person of interest? This is difficult. Is she planning to blow up our space station or destroy our school?"

She spoke with the same calm tone one might use when discussing what to have for dinner.

The assistant took out an Interstellar Federation Investigation Data Form and stepped forward. "You misunderstand, Director. We are merely conducting a routine investigation for the Interstellar Federation."

The director glanced at the form and raised an eyebrow. "Did our student Ziye blow up your Interstellar Federation planet?" The assistant wiped a bead of sweat and stealthily glanced at the expressionless Bai Lanxue, feeling even more nervous. "No, no. This is just a general inquiry."

Did a general inquiry require this level of mobilization?

Du Xiu had no intention of calling Ziye over. She adopted a serious expression. "I apologize, but we cannot grant your request. Since Student Ziye enrolled at Lings University, all her affairs have transferred to Kaga. She is now a resident of Kaga and a student of Lings. If you insist on investigating her security risk level, I'm afraid you must apply at Kaga and bring the official documents stamped with the seal. Otherwise, we cannot process it. Thank you."