Tang Wen slightly lowered his brow, his expression serious, as if she had raised some incredibly complex design query.

Zi Ye gritted her teeth in anger, for a moment wishing she could shatter his handsome nose with one punch, and yet he offered no apology.

But looking at his pure and innocent face, she simply couldn't bring herself to strike.

They remained locked in this stalemate for nearly a minute before Zi Ye exhaled, retracted her fist, and sat down on the sofa beside him, modulating her tone, "Do as you wish."

Tang Wen secretly glanced at her, noticing that the previous fury was gone, replaced instead by a kind of chill. Unable to bear such a drastic shift, he turned and cupped her cheek, trying to placate her. "If you still want to hit me, I'll let you have a couple more rounds." He paused, then added, "Just not the face."

Zi Ye ignored him, reactivated the small sprout's personal device, deactivated the jamming function, walked to the door, knocked once, and opened it.

Bran turned around, surprised by the sound. Zi Ye forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace: "You must be tired just standing there. Go on in. I’m leaving now."

With that, she strode out, disregarding Bran's look of surprise.

Bran entered the lounge, watching Tang Wen with a sense of vague loss. "You didn't tell her the truth?"

Tang Wen slowly shook his head. "She doesn't need to know."

Bran considered it and agreed; it made sense.

Though this incident appeared settled on the surface, it was merely the preamble to the struggles taking place behind the scenes.

Tang Wen’s decision to take the Galer-Galun route to the Unity Command was not an impulsive move.

Every step he took had been carefully deliberated.

Last year, under Bai Lanxue’s machinations, Tang Wen had signed a binding five-year contract that forced him to remain within the Interstellar Federation. To leave the Federation now, he had to proceed step by step.

His appointment as a visiting professor at Karga was the first move to detach himself from the Federation.

Thanks to Fia’s recent disruption, the move had progressed to the second stage—a superficial detachment from the Interstellar Federation.

However, how could the Interstellar Federation let such a talent go easily? For someone of Tang Wen’s caliber, they would stop at nothing to secure him; if they couldn't secure him, their only alternative was destruction.

Bran felt a knot of worry, anticipating how many more tough battles lay ahead.

Tang Wen tugged at his clothes like a child. "Bran, why don't you start a legion? Then I can just stay safely within your ranks."

Bran looked at him with deep affection, unable to utter a single word.

Tang Wen was a god in the field of mecha, his external glory enough to incite envy and hatred across the entire sector. But who knew he lacked even the most fundamental right of choice?

He let out a silent sigh, wiped his face, and instantly reverted to his humble demeanor. He gently said, "Mr. Tang Wen, we have arrived at Karga."

Tang Wen stood silently for a long moment, slowly releasing Bran's cuff and rising to his feet.

As he stood, his face had already returned to calm, even sporting a slight smile. "Shall we go out?"

Upon reaching Karga, Tang Wen promptly signed his teaching contract with the university and confirmed that he would be opening courses there the following semester before returning to his home on Planet Katcher.

After having struck him, Zi Ye felt a pang of regret for her impulsiveness and intended to find a time to apologize. To her surprise, he had already left, leaving her with an unexpected feeling of melancholy.

In the apartment, his W0889 robot was still waiting expectantly for her to send it back to the Interstellar Federation Research Institute.

But who could have predicted that the Institute had already changed hands in just a few short days?

Zi Ye checked the robot’s chassis. "I'll take you to Colay for maintenance, and we’ll figure out a day to send you to Katcher later."

The twenty thousand robots ordered by Stas were nearly complete. Since it was another weekend, she packed her belongings: Little Sprout, Douzai, W0889, and the robot samples she’d taken to the Unity Command, and headed back to Colay.

After depositing W0889 in the nano-repair room, she took Douzai to see the Mad Scientist for a routine check-up.

Before she could even leave, Little Sprout zipped over, pulling her towards the inspection area for the twenty thousand robots about to ship out.

The robot sales negotiations went smoothly, finalized after only a few rounds of discussion.

The difficult part was the after-sales service.

The contract mandated that two dedicated service personnel must be stationed at the Unity Command.

But they were critically short-staffed.

Of the first thirty-plus individuals who left Silver Crest Star, two had lost their direction and returned; three had broken away from the Wolf’s Den to seek their own lives independently; and another four were tasked with returning to escort the others out of Silver Crest.

Excluding those unfamiliar with robotics, there were hardly any usable personnel left.

Helplessly, Zi Ye sought out Xiaoxiao.

Xiaoxiao specialized mainly in drones, but the Mengya Group’s drone production was currently low, so most of his work had shifted to robots, making him one of the more proficient staff members.

As soon as Xiaoxiao heard the destination was the Unity Command, his legs trembled, and he clung to Zi Ye’s arm, shaking. "Kid, you’re not asking me to go die, are you? What kind of place is the Unity Command? A criminal like me will be executed if I go!"

Zi Ye gave him a swift kick. "Good for nothing!"

When a person has committed a certain act and paid a heavy price for it, they often carry deep psychological scars, leading to instant distortions when faced with law enforcement personnel.

She understood this perfectly when dealing with Fia.

Therefore, Zi Ye was quite empathetic toward Xiaoxiao, but she wouldn't let that soften her stance.

Zi Ye put on a stern face. "This is a chance for you to resolve your psychological block. Are you going or not?"

Xiaoxiao kept a pained expression and refused to nod.

Seeing Douzai becoming restless in her arms, Zi Ye cupped the creature under its armpits and presented it to Xiaoxiao. "Bite him!"

Douzai, usually incredibly dense, finally showed some intelligence today. It dropped the metal chew toy, opened its mouth to reveal gleaming white teeth, and lunged toward Xiaoxiao’s face.

Xiaoxiao was startled by the sight of its approaching jaws, reminiscent of a vampire, and wailed, his face ashen, "Auntie, fine, I’ll go! I'll go right now!"

Zi Ye stopped him. "Hold on, I need you to train Xiao Fang as well."

Xiao Fang was a robotics technician hired later by Blackbeard, but he had previously only dealt with low-end robots and was not yet fully proficient with the Mengya Group’s advanced models.

Xiaoxiao grumbled sadly, "Wuwu, Little Stink, you’re bullying me."

(Note: He usually called her 'Kiddo,' but today, he was truly miserable!)

Zi Ye smiled sweetly and patted his shoulder. "It's truly for your own good—a chance to experience life at the Unity Command. You should be thanking me." With that, she carried her biting artifact, Douzai, over to the Mad Scientist’s place.

The Mad Scientist was dissecting a mutated Three-Tailed Fox, a scene so gruesome it resembled an organ harvesting operation.

Zi Ye couldn't bear it, dropped Douzai, and turned to leave.

The Mad Scientist called after her, holding a blood-stained scalpel, "Don't go! The pelt of the Three-Tailed Fox is gorgeous; you could easily make a fur coat!"

Zi Ye spat a word of disdain at him, but just as she was about to leave, she suddenly remembered something and spun around sharply. The Mad Scientist was right behind her. Seeing the gleaming, bloody scalpel pointed directly at her, she broke out in a cold sweat. "Please, Mad Scientist, can you not be so terrifying? You scared away the thought I just had."

The Mad Scientist chuckled wickedly and sheathed the scalpel. "Were you going to ask about the medicine the little dog gave me?"

Zi Ye snapped her fingers in realization. "Yes, exactly that! Have you found the source?"

The Mad Scientist pointed to Douzai, who was crawling laboriously on his operating table, and frowned slightly. "This is complicated. Wait a moment; I need to run a full scan on its system first."

Zi Ye nodded. "I'll wait here." Then she immediately realized her mistake. "No, I’ll wait in the cafeteria."

The place in front of her truly wasn't fit for human habitation. The walls were covered in gruesome anatomical charts, and the four corners were piled high with various types of moving loli heads. In