Zi Ye wouldn't give up and asked again in her mind. This time, Little Sprout was much more sincere, adopting a swaggering tone: "Hmph, this Master isn't one to suffer humiliation.

You wait, in a few days, this Master will even strip his underpants off." Zi Ye: ... So the little fellow was just waiting for a chance to take revenge.

Since that was the case, she didn't stop him. She said, "Help me with something.

Investigate the online correspondence of a person named Aless. I have the Redemption Match in three days, and I can't afford to have him sabotage me." Speaking of the Redemption Match, Little Sprout chuckled nonstop, then fiercely mocked Zi Ye again: "What a useless little dummy.

Even that trash Tao can defeat you." Zi Ye retorted testily, "You're so capable, why don't you go!" Little Sprout let out a "Hmph" and turned his face away. "Tang the Great Bastard said I can't help you anymore.

Even though I hate him, I think he’s right." Zi Ye sighed in resignation, "So, are you helping or not?" Little Sprout said, "I can monitor the network, but nothing else." Zi Ye didn't expect much help anyway, so she nodded, "Fine, it's settled then." Tang Wen watched Zi Ye look at Little Sprout, her expression shifting rapidly—one moment fawning, the next acting proud, cycling through several changes in the span of a minute. Yet, neither of them said anything nor made any move, which greatly surprised him.

Could they communicate through glances alone? How mysterious.

Zi Ye straightened up and noticed Tang Wen staring intently at her. Her face suddenly flushed hot, and she snapped, "What are you looking at?" Tang Wen shook his head.

"You look beautiful." Zi Ye: ... She decisively covered her face and fled.

With Little Sprout helping, at least her mind was put at ease. Back at the apartment, after explaining the situation to Ling Yin, she pulled up videos of past Redemption Matches to get an idea of the required knowledge and start preparing.

The Redemption Match was scheduled for five days later. The only instruction given was to wait at the entrance to the Kaga ① Space Station Dock at six in the evening on the specified date; nothing else was revealed, just like that infuriating military training session.

Seeing the notice, Zi Ye actually felt a bit more relaxed. If, like the military training, they were given no time to prepare, their chances of success would certainly be higher.

The only hope was that those other teams hadn't somehow gotten internal information from Lingsi beforehand. After reviewing the notice, she retrieved a metal chew toy from her studio and tossed it to Douzai to gnaw on, silently calculating what preparations she needed to make.

Just then, her Ultra-Comm buzzed. The incoming caller was unexpectedly Xing Rui.

Xing Rui had gotten into Lingsi this year and was currently a first-year student. He had happily shared the good news with Zi Ye upon acceptance and later asked her to be his guide after enrolling.

Unfortunately, Zi Ye was busy with the competition, so she had asked Ling Yin to help him. Now Ling Yin was also preoccupied with competition matters, so perhaps he was bored and looking for her?

Zi Ye thought so, at least, as she accepted the Ultra-Comm. Xing Rui sounded very cheerful: "Zi Ye, Zi Ye, what are you busy with?" Zi Ye casually replied, "Busy with competition stuff." Xing Rui's eyes widened: "The Redemption Match?" Zi Ye smiled: "Yeah, what's up?" Xing Rui wheedled, "Zi Ye, can I join your team and participate in the Redemption Match with you?" Zi Ye blinked in surprise: "Why?" Xing Rui's eyes sparkled: "I think you're amazing.

Your team must be amazing too. Sister Ling Yin told me you guys are very small in number and extremely busy.

If I joined, I could help you out." Zi Ye smiled: "Thank you, but our team size is currently sufficient." Xing Rui was unwilling to give up: "Zi Ye, are you refusing me because I’m a freshman?" Zi Ye shook her head: "I didn't mean that. I know you have good ability.

But the team isn't just my decision; I can only ask them for you." Xing Rui insisted: "You have to ask! You absolutely have to persuade them to let me in!" For some reason, Zi Ye felt a bit annoyed.

She told him she was busy with something and ended the Ultra-Comm. As soon as she hung up, Ling Yin called.

"Did Xing Rui approach you about joining the team?" Zi Ye nodded: "He asked you too?" Ling Yin sighed: "Yes. This kid...

how should I put it? His motives are quite clear.

He thinks our team is guaranteed to get through the Redemption Match and into the finals, so he wants to jump on board during our low point so he can rise swiftly." Zi Ye's face darkened: "He thinks too much." But it was better than him being a spy sent by an opponent. With mutual understanding reached, Zi Ye’s refusal carried more weight, leaving Xing Rui speechless.

He ended up squatting dejectedly in a corner, drawing circles. When the designated time for the Redemption Match arrived, Lingsi indeed reverted to the military training protocol.

All members of the rematch teams were loaded onto a single cruiser heading to the surface base. In the cruiser's corridor, Chu Chu and Phileus had an 'accidental' meeting.

Aless sneered, pointing his thumb downward, looking down on them condescendingly: "This time, don't even think about winning!" His expression was somewhat sinister, and coupled with those words, the coldness was utterly chilling. Zi Ye felt something was wrong.

Little Sprout had sent her messages over the past few days saying he hadn't found any dirt on Aless, which had put her mind at ease. Now, seeing him so brazen, it was clear he was prepared.

Could the information be flawed? She mentally called out to Little Sprout, three times in a row, before Little Sprout finally squeaked a response.

Zi Ye asked, "Did you find anything inappropriate about Aless?" Little Sprout replied, "Just received word, it's not just him, it's the entire one—" Just then, the cruiser initiated its first warp jump. The speed of the jump was so instantaneous that before Zi Ye could hear what Little Sprout was about to say, the cruiser had already warped out 1 AU, far exceeding the range where Little Sprout could maintain conscious communication with her.

Zi Ye gritted her teeth, about to say something, but looked up to find Aless being crowded into a small corner by the twins. Ling Yin hooked her arm, "Let's go.

There’s nothing worth saying to people like that." Leaving the corridor, Zi Ye whispered, "The network monitoring just said Aless is highly suspicious, but they didn't finish. I'll email it to ask." Ling Yin nodded, looking at Bobo, and shook her head with resignation.

Among the Chu Chu team members, aside from Zi Ye, who among them had ever taken such abuse from others? Now, being suppressed by such a low-tier team made every one of them simmer with suppressed anger.

Even the usually mild Li Chunyu felt the impulse to rush over and beat him up. Never mind Bobo.

Upon arrival at the base, all personnel were uniformly assigned lodging. The next morning at eight, every member was equipped with nothing more than the most basic walkie-talkies and airlifted into the great mountain valley designated for the field combat exercise.

Before deployment, the official Lingsi announcement detailed the Redemption Match content: "Attention all teams. You must find mech parts and tools within this valley and assemble one mech by five o'clock this afternoon.

Teams that have not completed this by the deadline will be eliminated." Someone raised a hand and asked, "Can we use any method?" The official personnel replied, "Any method is permissible." As soon as this sentence was uttered, the Phileus team members let out cold sneers again. Zi Ye looked at their ten burly figures; her own team of just a few seemed utterly inadequate.

No wonder the opposing side was so reckless—they were indeed prepared early!