The creature instantly felt the prickle of being caught, decisively leaping back to the floor to search for another escape route. The outside was crowded, filled with legs; it darted between people’s feet, failing to find a way out and only increasing the danger.
Finally, it found a stretch of wider cloth, which it grabbed tightly, using the fabric to cover itself as it scrambled upward.
Climbing higher and higher, it suddenly sensed something was wrong. It looked up and saw another person.
This person, however, was different from the others—a thousand times better than the brutal figure holding the knife ahead. She had a kind expression, a soft smile, and her pale red irises appeared quite warm.
“Don’t be afraid,” she said.
The small creature was instantly healed, rushing tearfully into her embrace.
Zi Ye turned her head to see the small creature burrowing fiercely into Chen Yin’s arms. She couldn’t help twitching the corner of her eye and swiftly dismantled the robot. The area where the explosion occurred was remarkably smooth, perhaps polished by the creature’s teeth or licking.
There were two holes, one above and one below the abdominal cavity; the flesh around the pelvic area had been completely gnawed clean, exposing the pure gleam of the metal. The chest cavity held the robot’s core components, now chewed into a scattered mess, truly a horrific sight.
For some reason, Zi Ye felt a touch of pity for the little animal.
Locked in this place, living alone for so long, with nothing to eat, it could only chew on robots.
It must have been completely out of food options that it broke through the door, creating such an astonishing scene.
The robotics expert stood beside her, observing her every move. Once she finished her analysis, he asked, “May I have these residual robot parts?”
Zi Ye replied, “Can I say no?”
The robotics expert chuckled, “No.”
Zi Ye laughed back, “Then why did you ask me?”
The robotics expert burst into hearty laughter and extended his hand for a shake. “Pleased to meet you. Your work is quite impressive.”
Zi Ye offered a slight smile.
She guessed he intended to take the robot back for research.
This was Angel Domain territory; if she refused, he could simply order the police to confiscate the “physical evidence” and obtain it anyway.
What goes around comes around. If she bought mechs from various corporations for study, they would certainly buy her robots to study as well. Even if she refused, he would eventually buy them, so it was better to grant him this favor graciously.
It was just intensely irritating to be bitten so brazenly.
Not wanting to dwell on the matter, she changed the subject. “Do you recognize that small creature?”
The robotics expert responded, “You’ll need to ask the biology expert; he’s already en route and should be here soon.”
Zi Ye nodded, moving to the side, and opened her light screen to search for the animal.
If it was truly the creature hatched from the silkworm pupa she had forgotten to dispose of, then someone else must have attempted hatching it before and succeeded.
Yiyi Lingyin had told her that thing was expensive and quite rare, but certainly not as unique as Douzai.
Sure enough, she quickly found similar records, complete with numerous pictures. While not perfectly identical to this little creature that chewed robots, they bore a seven or eight-tenths resemblance.
Furthermore, that thing wasn't called a silkworm pupa; it was called a Kenken Star, an extremely rare and difficult animal to raise.
There were conflicting theories on how the name originated. Some claimed it was named this because it became a glutton upon growing up. Others suggested the planet of its origin was named Kenken Star. Experts had also conducted experiments on it, detailing its habits clearly.
Its primary habit was an intense love for meat.
Zi Ye turned to look at the small creature nestled in Chen Yin’s arms and sighed. Gluttons were always the hardest to keep!
She closed the light screen and walked over to Chen Yin, smiling, “Isn’t it quite cute?”
Chen Yin nodded happily, “Extremely cute, and very docile.”
Zi Ye: …Where was there even a hint of docility? Of course, this was purely an internal monologue; she would never say it aloud. Otherwise, if she made the girl cry again, Aikesibente would surely beat her until she was spitting teeth.
Little Sprout called out, “Zi Ye, Zi Ye, what name do you think we should give it?”
Zi Ye looked at Chen Yin. “What name do you think it should have?”
Chen Yin opened her mouth, about to say "Xiao Lie," but upon seeing Zi Ye’s unguarded gaze, a sharp pain pierced her heart, and she swallowed the words, shaking her head. “I don’t know. Can you think of one?”
Zi Ye turned to the twins and Li Chunyu. “Hey, hey, you guys think of something. What should we name it?”
Before the three of them could speak, Little Sprout loudly declared, “None of you are allowed to choose! I’ll name it!”
Li Chunyu, wanting to tease him, asked, “Then what name do you suggest?”
Little Sprout puffed out his chin like a little emperor. “Dou Ding!”
Pfft—
The three boys almost burst out laughing.
Li Chunyu said, “Aren’t you called Little Sprout?”
Little Sprout said proudly, “That is indeed my esteemed name!”
The twins spoke in unison, “And that pig-like pet is called Douzai?”
Little Sprout became furious. “He is not a pig-like pet! He is my son!”
The laughter from the group grew even louder.
Little Sprout, ashamed and angry, retorted, “I don’t care, I don’t care! He absolutely must be called Dou Ding.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the small creature obligingly made a soft "Ying Ying" sound toward Little Sprout.
Little Sprout raised his little sprout, patted the creature’s head, and said, “Good grandson.”
Chen Yin was set on the name Xiao Lie; it absolutely couldn't be taken. Other names made no difference to her, so she agreed. The name Dou Ding was thus cemented.
Zi Ye smiled at Chen Yin, suddenly feeling someone standing beside her. She turned around, and the person who came into view was tall and thin, wearing a white coat—the biologist.
The biologist said, “Hello everyone. I was sent by the police to deal with this small creature. Shall we step outside to talk?”
By then, most of the police had withdrawn, and the scene was being cleaned up. Seeing that they were obstructing the work inside, everyone moved outside.
Little Sprout turned back, recognized the man, and immediately shot a small electric pulse toward him, rolling on the ground. “I want clothes! I have no clothes to wear!”
The biologist had already seen Little Sprout. He winked at him and asked Zi Ye, “Is this yours?”
Zi Ye nodded.
The biologist cheerfully extended his hand. “I made two outfits for him last time, totaling two thousand yuan. If you need more, I can give you a twenty percent discount—eight hundred yuan each.”
Zi Ye twitched the corner of her eye. “I’ll give you six thousand, and you make five more outfits.”
The biologist laughed, “It’s great talking to wealthy people. However, I’m not that petty. If you give me Dou Ding, these clothes are free gifts.”
Hmph hmph, he was definitely after Dou Ding.
Zi Ye spread her hands. “Sorry, Dou Ding belongs to Chen Yin now; I can’t make that decision.”
Chen Yin’s eyes shone like gemstones, unable to suppress her excitement. “You’re giving him to me?”
Zi Ye nodded. “Of course, but I need something in return.”
She naturally pointed at the biologist’s toolbox. “I need to borrow this for a bit.”
The biologist looked confused. “For what?”
Zi Ye didn't explain, only motioning for him to put the toolbox down. She opened it, found some tools and bags, had Chen Yin hold Dou Ding still, and proceeded to pull out several hairs, extract a small sample of blood, and scrape some skin from the pads of its claws…
She worked so smoothly, so efficiently, that only after taking samples of everything did she belatedly let out a wail: I’m done for! How did I pick up that pervert’s bad habits? This is completely unscientific!
She looked up to see everyone staring at her blankly. She quickly packaged everything and managed a guilty, dry laugh. “Haha, just curiosity, only curiosity. Please don’t mind me. Also, if you want Dou Ding, you need to ask Yin Yin girl. He isn't my pet; I can’t decide.”
The biologist chuckled, looking at her. “Yin Yin girl, I know you’re the best…”
Fortunately, the terrifying office explosion incident caused by Dou Ding was resolved satisfactorily after a few people accompanied Zi Ye and the Angel Corps’ Security Bureau to explain everything and gave their statements to the police.
Seeing that it was getting late, the twins invited Li Chunyu and Zi Ye back to their place for a large communal meal. They would depart for their trip the next day, and after the trip, they would head straight back to school to notify the other two teammates: Bobo and Boweinton.
It had been agreed before the break that they would return to school five days early to prepare materials and construct the mechs.
Because the robot explosion delayed them by a day, plus the day spent traveling, they only had three days left.
Fortunately, everyone’s materials had been delivered to the school via express shipping. Once back, they could test the metals and purify them before use. Bobo was returning to school earlier and had already cleaned up the laboratory and even reserved Kaga’s mech fabrication factory, which would be available on the first day of school.
However, when they arrived back at school, Boweinton was not there yet.
Li Chunyu was the most easygoing of the team, so he was tasked with contacting Boweinton, while everyone else went to the lab to test and purify the metals.
The metal Li Chunyu purchased had the highest purity among everyone’s stock, reaching 99.5 percent. He must have pre-purified it himself, as it was ready for immediate use.
The remaining four people had metals of the same standard market purity: 98.5 percent.
Zi Ye had high expectations for this mech project, so she performed secondary purification on all four of their metals until they reached 99.5 percent.
With the metals secured, the next step was to test the component data, project the entire schematic onto the light brain, and input it into the production control unit to ensure that the items produced on the assembly line fell within the acceptable error margins.
A mech is not small—its height alone was ten meters, sometimes more. To an outsider, such a behemoth might seem to have a large tolerance for error, but this was not the case.
In reality, the internal components of a mech are incredibly precise, with most data needing accuracy down to the nanometer.
Zi Ye held a component schematic and asked, “When is Boweinton arriving? He has two types of metal that are essential for manufacturing the engine. Otherwise, the engine’s tensile strength won’t be sufficient, and it might crack.”