Indeed, as expected, the FeiFei Team secured a spot in the final four. In the match against the Girls' Academy Team, the pilot from FeiFei Team was practically putting on a clinic: first, completely overwhelming the Girls' Academy Team until they were cornered, then feigning defeat and retreating step-by-step when the Girls' Academy Team mounted a desperate counterattack.

When the moment was ripe, they shattered the opposition's assaults time and again, ultimately reducing the Girls' Academy Team to dust. This particular duel had devolved entirely into a showcase performance.

The casual observers, the laymen, saw only the spectacle; they couldn't discern the underlying reality, only that it was thrilling, with twists and turns that left them breathless. The FeiFei Team, truly formidable—a round of applause.

The experts, however, saw the mechanics, and they all thought the Girls' Academy Team had lost their minds. The FeiFei Team wasn't that much superior to the Girls' Academy Team, unless there had been some prior arrangement between the two sides.

Most of the audience consisted of these insiders, and they all felt the Girls' Academy Team was actively sabotaging their own reputation. The Girls' Academy Team was the only all-female crew to make it into the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight, a rare and precious sight in a mech competition where the gender ratio skewed ten to one.

Had the Girls' Academy Team simply been overpowered, many would have deemed their defeat an honorable one. But they had, it seemed, failed to preserve their integrity in this crucial match.

What a pity, what a lamentable display. None of them knew that at that moment, the pilot for the Girls' Academy Team was sitting in her mech cockpit, drenched in cold sweat.

This time, there was no showmanship involved; somehow, she had been suppressed, rendered utterly incapable of exerting her full strength. Veins bulged on her hands as she tried every maneuver she knew, yet the mech seemed disobedient, refusing to respond fluidly to her commands.

What followed was an effort of sheer willpower, barely managing to achieve the visible result... When the match concluded, the host, aiming to heighten the excitement, asked, "During those incredibly difficult moments just now, the FeiFei Team's pilot acted decisively, turning the tide with a sudden counterattack, and then steamrolling the opponent—it was a breathtaking display.

Could you tell us, FeiFei pilot, how you managed that?" The FeiFei pilot offered a humble smile. "I won by sheer luck, truly.

I was backed into a corner, on the verge of giving up entirely. At that moment, I suddenly remembered what our captain had said: 'Never surrender until the very last second.' I held on!

My sincere thanks to our captain!..." The host then turned to interview the FeiFei Team captain, Illya. Illya smiled faintly, her voice soft.

"Our team might not be the strongest, but we share one unwavering belief: never give up. I have faith that our team can go all the way!" The members of the ChuQiao Team could barely watch; they all turned away.

They had seen posturing before, but never such blatant hypocrisy. If sheer conviction and the refusal to quit guaranteed victory, the interstellar arena would be entirely devoid of losers by now!

The final four teams were confirmed: Qingtian Team, FeiFei Team, Fero University Team, and ChuQiao. With the competition nearing its climax, Kaga intensified its publicity efforts while granting the four remaining teams a week to reorganize and prepare.

Kaga was experiencing its biennial peak. Space station docking bays saw millions of entries and exits daily, creating an atmosphere of intense activity.

Major media outlets, countless reporters, university faculty, military personnel, and headhunters flocked to Kaga, seeking access to the competitive teams, trying to learn about Kaga itself, and scouting promising talent among the students. However, just as Kaga attracted them, it was equally capable of safeguarding the information pertaining to the competing teams.

All teams remained sequestered in their respective laboratories, entirely undisturbed. Within the ChuQiao Team, the most energized was Lingyin.

Every day, she would venture out for a reconnaissance lap and invariably return laden with news: "The HR Director from the Moke Legion was here today, brought a whole entourage. Oh, Bo Zai, I heard your father is coming to visit in a few days—is that true?" Bobo chuckled.

"I don't know; he hasn't told me. But you, knowing the Moke HR Director—you're quite something, aren't you?" Lingyin shrugged.

"That classic bald patch he refuses to fix with nanotechnology? Who doesn't know him?

Don't tell me you suffer from face blindness." Bobo boomed. "If I were face blind, how would I recognize you?" Lingyin giggled sweetly.

"Good boy." Li Chunyu, standing nearby, silently turned away. —The one who was face-blind was Bobo, not him.

Lingyin glanced at Li Chunyu, then looked at Ziye. "Is your Teacher Tang Wen visiting soon?

A lot of people want to come to Kaga just to see him. Too bad they keep missing him." Mentioning Tang Wen immediately soured Ziye’s mood.

She pouted. "How would I know about him?" Lingyin sounded surprised.

"You don't have his contact information?" Ziye turned away sharply. "I'm going to start dismantling the mech's modification parts.

We need to make some serious adjustments to our machine this time." With that, she retreated. Lingyin looked helplessly at Bobo, who merely shrugged, signaling he was clueless about the situation as well.

Ziye walked silently toward the towering mech, gazing at its silhouette. Somehow, her thoughts drifted far away.

Recently, even without Little Sprout's assistance, her modification skills had sharpened considerably. The fragmented pieces of knowledge that previously lacked cohesion now seamlessly integrated into the ChuQiao model, making her feel increasingly proficient.

Yet, she still wasn't accustomed to life without Little Sprout. It felt like losing not just an assistant, but a pet, a companion.

Her rapport with Li Chunyu had also deepened lately, but he was, ultimately, not Little Sprout. At night, as she slept, she would involuntarily assume Little Sprout was curled up next to her pillow, never having left.

Waking up, she’d find only Dou Zai snoring contentedly on his back. She understood the depth of her feelings for Little Sprout, but she couldn't quite categorize her feelings for Tang Wen.

The successful creation of the ChuQiao model owed a significant portion of its success to Tang Wen. Even many of her current modification techniques were lessons learned from him, or gleaned from the library in his family’s estate.

She was deeply grateful to Tang Wen, but she couldn't fathom why his image kept popping into her mind lately. Had his previous 'abuse' not been enough to satiate her?

Every time she thought of him, she pictured him rolling around on the piano, throwing tantrums, being petulant—that pure look in his eyes, that wronged expression... That version of Tang Wen was rather endearing.

Certainly much more so than when he regarded others with that detached air. Had she become so accustomed to being teased that being treated normally left her feeling unsettled?

But he had left without a word of farewell. Ziye ran a hand over the mech's cool metal surface; the hard, unyielding texture strangely soothed her nerves.

She calmed herself and meticulously reviewed everything she knew about Tang Wen. In truth, she had never truly understood Tang Wen.

From their very first meeting, Tang Wen never adhered to convention. Everything he did served a calculated purpose—be it taking the professorship at Kaga, accepting her as a student, or getting himself kidnapped by the Unification Corps...

Until he achieved his objective, his true intentions were beyond her, and beyond anyone else's, conjecture. This sudden decision to leave, taking Little Sprout with him, was another instance where she couldn't read him.

But by taking Little Sprout, he had also taken a piece of her heart. Whenever she found a moment of quiet, she would involuntarily wonder what he was doing right now.

Was he cuddling up to Bran on the piano? Or was he intensely focused on sketching a design?

Or perhaps, was he lounging back with his legs crossed, enjoying the privileges of the Tang Clan's Crown Prince? The Tang Clan's Crown Prince...

Ziye suddenly felt a strange desire to roll around on the mech herself. She pressed her forehead against the machine, and Li Chunyu’s voice came from behind her.

"Ziye, what are your thoughts on this next modification?" Ziye instantly straightened up, her entire demeanor shifting, like a drawn sword, as she focused intensely on the mech. Li Chunyu noticed nothing amiss.

"Mm," he responded, activating his light screen and getting to work. Ziye summoned the service robots and directed them to begin stripping the modification components.

The essence of modification was to mitigate the mech’s inherent flaws while maximizing performance in specific areas. For instance, the core field stabilization unit they were currently removing was designed to allow the mech to operate faster and with greater stability.

Since the combat skills of the Shen Team and the AX Bent Team were not drastically different, having superior speed and stability would significantly increase their chances of victory when a clear advantage was absent. They hadn't yet determined which team they would face in the final four, so they needed to develop three separate modification plans based on the intelligence Lingyin gathered on the other three teams.

Once the draw was made, they could immediately begin the necessary adjustments, aiming to be quicker and more precise than the other teams. Of the four teams that reached the top four, only ChuQiao possessed dedicated technicians.

The other three teams lacked this specialized support. In this regard, Ziye felt immensely confident in her own abilities.

She also held deep faith in the twin sisters. Just as she immersed herself in formulating the modification strategies, her Ultra-Com suddenly chimed.

She activated the light screen, and the displayed avatar was unmistakably Tang Wen, his smile melting like spring snow! Ziye’s nerves jumped violently.

This photo of Tang Wen, taken covertly by Little Sprout, captured a smile of such breathtaking beauty that whenever she saw it, her mood instantly brightened; she had set it as his Ultra-Com profile picture for that reason. The fact that he was initiating contact with her was stranger than the space station being blown inside out by a void storm!

Ziye absolutely would not admit that she felt a surge of happiness. She accepted the communication, about to speak, when she heard a voice dripping with sweet, spoiled affection: "Little Ye Zi, did you miss me at all?" Ziye: ...

—That was Little Sprout’s voice. She could perfectly visualize the accompanying motions: rubbing against chests, clinging to legs, throwing a cute tantrum—so overwhelmingly adorable it was almost painful.

Ziye was so moved she nearly burst into tears. "Dou Dou, did you miss me?" Little Sprout whined affectionately, "Silly little Ziye, of course I missed you!

At the Tang Clan manor, there were so many amazing—" Before it could finish, the voice cut off, replaced by Tang Wen's interruption. "Little Ye Zi, I heard you made it into the final four?" Unable to hear Little Sprout, Ziye urgently demanded, "Hurry up and give Dou Dou back to me." Tang Wen sounded slightly aggrieved.

"Am I truly worth less than even a tiny bit of Little Sprout in your eyes?" Ziye froze. If his voice had been the first thing she heard, instead of Little Sprout's, she would have cheerfully greeted him.

Was it Little Sprout's intervention that colored her mood? Was it because she felt Little Sprout was being bullied by him?

Or was it simply because Little Sprout held a heavier weight in her heart? In that flash of an instant, several theories raced through her mind.

She realized her previous words had been misdirected, and she pouted. "It’s been two days since I made the final four, and you're only finding out now?

You clearly don't care about me!"