The transport ship issue was temporarily resolved, meaning Silver Emblem would not be dragged into the vortex for the moment. However, this was far from over.

Tang Wen had not been missing for 24 hours yet; aside from the relevant parties, no one knew he had been kidnapped, and his condition remained a complete mystery.

She couldn't even bear to imagine what the malicious Fiya would do to him.

Clutching the little sprout, she sat motionless on the sofa, staring blankly at the interstellar television.

Douzai, abandoned for several days, finally crawled out of the incubation pod, blinking up at them with a pitiful expression: "Chirp? Chirp-eeeee—"

Just then, the Omni-Comm rang.

She jumped up like a startled bird. Before she could even activate the light screen, the Silver-Comm buzzed too—what was this...?

The Silver-Comm was closer, so she immediately answered it, then reached for the Omni-Comm.

"Little sister? Are you alright?"

The Silver-Comm was An Junlie. Ziye’s tension, coiled tight for a whole day, finally met someone trustworthy, someone she could talk to and rely on. She left the Omni-Comm untouched and simply broke down, tears gushing out. "Aliens, wuwu, aliens..."

An Junlie rarely saw Ziye this emotionally out of control and was startled. But since he wasn't near her, distant help was useless. He quickly soothed her, "Don't cry, darling. What happened?" Ziye couldn't speak; she just wept.

An Junlie sighed softly and just stayed with her in silence.

Ziye’s tears came quickly and dried just as fast. She wiped them away, regained composure, and said to An Junlie, "I'm going to get some water." An Junlie watched her pour a glass, drink it, and only then did he speak, "I heard you were kidnapped. Are you okay?" A flicker of apprehension crossed his mind—had she suffered any abuse during the ordeal?

Ziye seemed much better, puffing out her cheeks slightly. "I'm fine now. But Teacher Tang Wen was snatched by Fiya!"

An Junlie frowned. "Fiya?"

Ziye urgently pressed, "Yes, the alien! Do you have any way to save him?"

An Junlie mused, "Fiya probably won't harm him immediately. I imagine Fiya will try to find a way to keep Tang Wen on Niya, making him serve them."

Ziye shot up from the sofa, aghast. "What? How can Fiya do that!" If Tang Wen ended up in Fiya's service, and she was his student, wouldn't that make her Fiya's too? She would rather die!

An Junlie calmed her. "Don't worry. Did Tang Wen usually interact with Fiya?"

Ziye thought for a moment, and her face instantly drained of color. Tang Wen had very few friends. The visitors to the Research Institute were always high-ranking officials of the Interstellar Federation. Otherwise, besides teaching, he stayed home on the planet. The only friend she had ever seen him with was Stas.

She knew perfectly well what kind of place Fiya was.

If Tang Wen refused to collude with Fiya, he would undoubtedly face Fiya's deadly wrath.

She had doomed him!

If the Interstellar Federation stubbornly held onto Tang Wen and refused to terminate his contract, Tang Wen would remain their asset. No matter how ruthless Fiya was, they wouldn't start a war with the Interstellar Federation over a designer.

But yesterday, she had suggested to Stas that the Interstellar Federation terminate its contract with Tang Wen!

After losing the leverage of the transport ship, if the Federation agreed to the termination just to ensure Tang Wen's safe return, Tang Wen might never come back!

An Junlie was terrified by the instantaneous loss of color in her face. He urgently commanded, "You must hold on! I'll send Aixbent to find you!"

Ziye shook her head gently, leaning on the sofa armrest to slowly sit down, tilting her head up. With a last thread of hope, she asked, "Alien, Teacher... he's not coming back, is he?"

An Junlie reassured her, "It’s too early to tell. Rest assured, I will help. You just need to attend your classes obediently at school; I'll handle everything."

Ziye looked up in disbelief. "Really?"

An Junlie nodded solemnly. "Truly. Trust me. He will be fine." Ziye lowered her head in thought, then looked up again. "Alien. Thank you." An Junlie let out a silent breath and finally managed a smile.

The truth was, no one knew how this situation would develop.

Too many factions were involved.

Tang Wen was a hot commodity. If the Interstellar Federation showed even the slightest flaw in handling the situation, various covetous powers would immediately extend olive branches, including the Angelic Domain. Even if they couldn't get Tang Wen, they could certainly stir up muddy waters, and Fiya, swimming in that murk, likely wouldn't have the capacity to fully consume Tang Wen. His only concern was that Tang Wen might become collateral damage in the conflict between these powers.

After hanging up the Silver-Comm, Ziye felt considerably steadier. Just as she was about to take a shower, the Omni-Comm rang again. Remembering she had ignored it earlier, she quickly opened it and accepted the call.

It was an unknown number.

She switched off the video feed and mumbled a greeting, "Hello?"

"Ziye, hello. This is Du Shuangyu." Ziye froze.

Du Shuangyu was contacting her?

That was rarer than rain on a space station!

However, she hadn't seen Du Shuangyu in ages, and her focus wasn't on him right now. Past events didn't matter much. She smiled faintly. "Surprising. Good evening." Du Shuangyu's slightly low voice came through the audio system, carrying a distinct note of concern. "I heard you were kidnapped. I went to look for you, but just as I was leaving, the school received confirmation that you were safe. Are you unharmed?"

Ziye raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Thank you for your concern." Du Shuangyu waved his hand modestly. "It's nothing, not worth mentioning. By the way, you don't need to worry about Teacher Tang Wen's kidnapping; the school will handle it."

Ziye was even more surprised.

He knew about Tang Wen’s kidnapping too?

It seemed the news had spread quietly, perhaps everyone tacitly agreed to keep silent, avoiding the headlines.

Thinking this, Ziye’s heart grew colder. The more it was kept secret, the more precarious Tang Wen’s situation must be!

She let out a silent breath and said sincerely, "Du Shuangyu, thank you." Du Shuangyu responded with an "Mm," "You should get some rest. The matter isn't concluded yet; you need to keep your spirits up." After a few more brief pleasantries, they ended the call.

Ziye pondered gloomily on the sofa for a while, then turned to the little sprout, which was snoring soundly curled up beside her. "Dou-dou, what do you think Du Shuangyu meant?" The matter isn't over? Was he hinting that more trouble was coming?

The little sprout's body deflated slightly, only the top of its head emitting a ZZZZZZ...

Simultaneously, Aixbent was on a call with An Junlie.

Aixbent grumbled, "Can't get through on the Omni-Comm. I wonder how Little Ye is doing."

An Junlie chuckled. "I reached her. She's fine. She should be attending classes normally tomorrow. I’ll need you two to look after her." Spente readily agreed, "Got it, we absolutely won't let anyone snatch her away." Aix, however, was thinking something else: Commander Master, since Tang Wen is kidnapped right now, shouldn't we make a move and snatch Ziye over!

An Junlie grew serious. "Don't cause any trouble. That's not how you bring people in. She’s had a hard time recently; don't add to her chaos!"

The twins puffed out their cheeks sullenly.

An Junlie continued, "Not only do I want to bring Ziye into the Legion, but if possible, I want to recruit Tang Wen as well." Aix exclaimed, "No way, Commander! You're inviting a wolf into the house!"

An Junlie laughed. "Tang Wen is an incredibly talented person. Having him join the corps would greatly benefit the advancement of our strategic weaponry. You two..." The twins mumbled, "Fine, we won't discriminate against him, then."

With the Tang Wen situation unresolved, Ziye slept restlessly. She went to class the next morning with dark circles under her eyes, completely unable to focus on the lecture. She absently plucked the fuzz on the little sprout's head.

By the end of the morning, half the sprout's fluff had been plucked.

Feeling resentful, it quietly hacked into her Omni-Comm and sent a message in her name to April: "Beautiful April, I accidentally tore the doll's clothes. Could you possibly make a new one for it? Like the picture attached." After sending the message, it searched the net for a lovely image and sent that too.

Having done its deed, it nervously glanced at Ziye. Seeing she didn't react, it settled down again, feeling relieved.

Just as the little sprout was about to crawl into her arms to sleep, a message suddenly arrived from its internal system!

Its eyes lit up. It sat up and projected into Ziye's consciousness, "Ziye, I received a message from Tang Wen!" Since Tang Wen's abduction, it had set up a message filtering system; any new messages concerning Tang Wen were automatically forwarded to it.

Ziye instantly snapped out of her statue-like state. She fumbled, opened its light screen, shrunk it to palm size, and hid it under the desk to see what the message said.

The message was from the Interstellar News Live Broadcast.

The host maintained his age-old, practiced smile. "Interstellar Federation Chief Designer Tang Wen was detained by the administrator of Niya Space Station No. 12 for piloting a vessel using an expired pilot's license in the Niya Star System. In Fiya, unlicensed driving results in administrative detention ranging from fifteen days to three months. Tang Wen’s lawyer claims that a new pilot's license is currently being processed and hopes for Tang Wen’s prompt release."

The screen displayed Tang Wen's pilot's license—the expiration date was precisely the day before!

"A spokesperson for Fiya Official briefly interceded on Tang Wen's behalf, calling it an unintentional mistake. However, the administrator of Space Station No. 12 stated that although unlicensed driving is not a major felony, the action endangers public safety and must be punished according to the law..."

Ziye was so enraged she saw stars. Fiya was ruthless!

They were using this method to forcibly detain Tang Wen while washing their own hands of any responsibility. Outsiders wouldn't know the full story and might blame the Space Station Administrator. If they went to demand an explanation from the administrator, they would surely get nowhere.

The little sprout, puzzled, asked, "Ziye, why are you angry?"

Ziye was practically steaming. "How can there be such shameless people in the galaxy!"

The little sprout hugged the light screen with both wings, shaking its head. "Silly Little Ye, this way Tang Wen is safe! Everyone knows he's being detained by Niya Space Station No. 12. If anything happened to him, Fiya would be flamed to death." Ziye paused, then realized he was right.

Now that everyone knew he was at Niya Space Station No. 12, his life was no longer in immediate danger!