The assistant looked at Bai Lanxue helplessly.

He knew finding someone in Lingsi would be troublesome, but he hadn't expected it to be this complicated.

Lingsi did not give the Interstellar Federation any quarter.

Surprisingly, Bai Lanxue didn't lose her temper.

She nodded, said, "Thank you," and signaled the three of them to leave together.

Du Xiu watched Bai Lanxue walk away, scoffing, "Don't assume Lingsi is part of your Interstellar Federation.

As long as my Du family stands in Lingsi, there's no place for you to throw your tantrums!" But why was Bai Lanxue investigating Zi Ye? Bai Lanxue was no pushover; she wouldn't travel all the way to Lingsi just to investigate an irrelevant person.

After a moment of thought, Du Xiu picked up his internal communicator and dialed a number. "Chief, Bai Lanxue is in Lingsi investigating Zi Ye.

There might be something deeper going on; should we look into it?" The Chief, who was Du Shuangyu's grandfather, pondered for a moment. "Don't startle the snake.

You investigate the situation first, and ensure her safety—don't let Bai Lanxue take her away.

Of course, avoid direct confrontation with her." Kaja was a neutral faction; it didn't wish to incur the enmity of any party, which naturally meant it couldn't clash with Bai Lanxue, the representative of the Interstellar Federation.

Du Xiu felt disgruntled but acknowledged the order.

He hung up the communicator and dispatched personnel to search for Zi Ye.

Chief Du set down his communicator, thought deeply for a long moment, then picked it up again and dialed another number. "Get that boy Shuangyu on the line for me." Ever since Du Shuangyu orchestrated a low-level frame-up involving cheating, Chief Du had thrown him into the military for brutal training.

Just as he was catching his breath, this summons made his heart tremble.

However, facing his formidable grandfather, Du Shuangyu dared not mess around and obediently asked, "Grandfather, you needed me?" Chief Du nodded. "Sit." Seeing his grandfather's calm expression, which suggested he wasn't about to settle old scores, Du Shuangyu secretly let out a sigh of relief.

He sat down, careful not to let even his hands rest crookedly.

Chief Du spoke in a tone reminiscent of a heart-to-heart talk. "How is your relationship with Zi Ye?" Du Shuangyu grew angry just mentioning Zi Ye. "I hate her!" Chief Du inquired, "Why?" Du Shuangyu snapped back indignantly, "She excels at everything I do; everything about her is better than mine!" Chief Du let out a soft laugh. "What a child." He shook his head and sighed. "Shuangyu, you are old enough for me not to lecture you.

However, you are destined to be a manager, not an executor.

Your studies are secondary; the most important thing is learning how to command people and utilize them, making others carry out the work for you." This caused Du Shuangyu to hang his head in shame.

Chief Du spoke earnestly. "Tang Wen is a talent, but he cannot be used by Kaja, or by us.

If Zi Ye is Tang Wen's student, she is better than average, even if she's not the best.

What you need to do now is bring her over to Kaja to work for us, not compete with her over things that mean nothing to you.

Do you understand?" Du Shuangyu had long understood this principle, but he couldn't help wanting to stand in the spotlight himself.

Perhaps he was too impetuous, he told himself internally, as he raised his head to look at his grandfather.

In the military, he had felt anger and resentment—anger at not being as good as others, resentment that his family didn't understand him.

It turned out, the fault was his own.

It was meaningless to pit his weaknesses against another's strengths. "I understand now.

Thank you, Grandfather." Chief Du smiled with satisfaction. "That's my grandson." "However," Du Shuangyu hesitated slightly, "Grandfather, could you give me one more chance? I want to defeat her in the Mecha Competition!" Chief Du shook his head. "Sigh, you are so single-minded, child.

You can play around in the Mecha Competition; if you manage to win against her, it will be easier to bring her into the fold later.

But you are forbidden from teaming up with anyone from Kaja." Du Shuangyu was confused. "Why?" Chief Du walked over to him, and Du Shuangyu immediately stood up.

Chief Du patted his shoulder. "People from Kaja, no matter how good, are still our own.

If you want to expand your network and advance, you should focus on absorbing outstanding students who haven't joined a legion yet, like Zi Ye." Du Shuangyu suddenly had an epiphany, his face lighting up with joy. "I understand, thank you, Grandfather! I'll go find her immediately." Chief Du gave a slight smile. "Go on then." After Du Shuangyu ran out the door, Chief Du shook his head and sighed. "He's still too young, after all." Having grasped the underlying logic, Du Shuangyu felt a wave of shame for his past actions.

His grandfather was right; Zi Ye shouldn't be his adversary; he should be trying to recruit her.

If someone else poached her, that would be the greatest loss to him.

The fact that Zi Ye was currently in Kaja was his advantage.

Du Shuangyu couldn't help but feel fortunate that although he had done a few things targeting Zi Ye before, he hadn't shown his face directly.

Otherwise, recruiting her now would be genuinely difficult.

He was a man of action; the moment he thought of something, he moved.

After leaving Du Residence Space Station ①, he decisively set course for Lingsi.

Meanwhile, after the investigative party of four left the Lingsi External Office, the assistant meekly asked Bai Lanxue, "Are we just letting it go?" Bai Lanxue’s expression remained blank. "Find out where Zi Ye lives, hack into the surveillance system of her apartment complex, and check if she's inside or if she has left." The assistant replied, "Yes, ma'am." As Bai Lanxue's assistant, he had to be capable in court, competent in the kitchen, able to breach systems, track residences, infiltrate networks, and capture critical evidence! Following Bai Lanxue's orders, he immediately took action.

The two Interstellar Federation investigators glanced at Bai Lanxue and then at her assistant, nodding secretly.

Indeed, Bai Lanxue lived up to her reputation—her methods were crude but effective.

The assistant quickly located Zi Ye's apartment complex and safely infiltrated the surveillance system.

Following the direction Zi Ye had gone, he reported, "She left at 2:30 PM.

The maglev track leads toward the laboratory...

Wait! She was abducted mid-way!" What? Both Interstellar Federation investigators froze.

Even Bai Lanxue displayed a look of disbelief.

Someone actually kidnapped Zi Ye? And managed to do it just ahead of them? The assistant copied a segment of the surveillance footage and displayed it on the light screen, opening it. "Look, right in front of this Star Cake Shop.

The coordinates are..." Bai Lanxue decisively commanded, "Go immediately!" They reached the Star Cake Shop in just three minutes.

Bai Lanxue leaped from the maglev vehicle, taking two steps for every three, and rushed toward a service robot.

Before the robot could fully react, it was knocked over.

She turned to her assistant. "Export its system footage, now." The assistant nodded, dragged the robot behind the shop's display window, and crouched down to work.

The two Federation investigators stood by the entrance, exchanging glances, inadvertently blocking the line of sight.

While transmitting data, the assistant analyzed, "The people who abducted Zi Ye are outsiders.

The robot's system indicates this is their first time here.

They were tall, driving an FA3122 general-purpose shuttle, equipped with a matte anti-peep coating on the shield.

This happened about half an hour ago." Bai Lanxue picked up her comm-link. "All personnel, pay attention: confirm the destination of any FA3122 shuttle heading toward the docking bay within the last fifteen minutes.

I repeat, all personnel, pay attention..." One Federation investigator guessed, "Fifteen hours ago? That was when we were at the waste disposal center?" This meant the kidnappers arrived in Lingsi at almost the same time as they did.

While they were checking the location designated by Zi Ye's comm-signal, the kidnappers took the opportunity to abduct her.

Does this mean they deliberately dumped her comm-signal at the waste disposal center to lure them away? All four of them came to this conclusion simultaneously, a chill running down their spines.

Bai Lanxue, especially, found it incredible.

Very few people knew she was investigating Zi Ye; not even Tang Wen knew the exact time she planned to find her.

Who could have known her movements so intimately? The corner of Bai Lanxue's lip curled into a cold smile, a sinister expression that sent shivers down the spine. "It seems that after we resolve this matter, we need to conduct some internal audits!" The assistant finished the data transfer, erased all traces of hacking the service robot's system, and shut down his optical computer.

Just as he was about to stand up, several police maglev cars sped over, and several Lingsi Campus Police jumped out.

Arriving at the storefront, they immediately drew their weapons. "Nobody move! Hands up!" Bai Lanxue raised her hands and slowly turned around, her eyes almost capable of devouring people, fixed on the campus police.

The officers felt an intense wave of killing intent slowly slide down their spines, causing them to break out in a cold sweat.

Bai Lanxue's gaze was more terrifying than that of the most heinous criminal! Of course, no matter how frightened the campus police were, they couldn't retreat in the face of suspects endangering students.

Moreover, there were many of them, emboldened by numbers.

Five or six officers gradually closed in. "The one crouching on the ground, stand up immediately." The assistant kicked the robot, accidentally hitting its power switch.

The robot sat up from the ground, looked around bewilderedly, then stood up stiffly, revealing a standard smile: "Welcome to Lingsi's 31st Star Cake Shop." In the tense standoff, such words sounded strangely comical, yet no one could manage a laugh.

Seeing it was a robot, the campus police disregarded it and shouted loudly, "Who are you people? Why have you kidnapped our student?" Bai Lanxue turned to face the police, her hands still raised but showing no fear. "You claim we kidnapped a student?" The campus police flinched at her gaze but blustered weakly, "Yes, a student just reported seeing a kidnapping nearby.

If it wasn't you, who was it?" Bai Lanxue couldn't be bothered to argue.

She pulled out her Interstellar Federation Secretary-General credentials and flashed them in front of them. "I kidnapped someone? If you don't mind dealing with the Interstellar Court, I certainly don't." With that, ignoring the dumbfounded campus police, she leaped onto the maglev vehicle.

The assistant followed closely behind.

She turned to the Interstellar Federation investigators. "You two stay here and assist with the work." With that, she activated the maglev vehicle and sped toward the docking bay.

Du Xiu watched from the shadows and smiled faintly.

Hmph, she had only agreed to avoid a direct clash with the Interstellar Federation.

She couldn't manage anything beyond that.

The assistant opened his optical computer and received a message from Lingsi's covert personnel. "The FA3122 shuttle entered Docking Bay VIII ten minutes ago.

During this time, five vessels applied for departure from Docking Bay VIII..." He paused. "We might not catch up." Bai Lanxue leaned back in her seat, then suddenly turned to ask the assistant, "Tell me, who exactly would want to abduct her?" -RS