Douzai was dejected, head down, huffing as he slid down the slick metal surface. He was too plump, and one clumsy move turned him into a tumble. The engine whined with a high, tremendous sound. Ziye, fearing he might splatter into pâté upon hitting the ground, sprang up from the airship and reached out.

Thump—

His chest took the full impact of Douzai’s landing, feeling as if struck by a cudgel. She stumbled back, collapsing onto the seat, nearly choking on the impact.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

Ziye rubbed her chest, grumbling, "If you don't lose weight, the heavens won't tolerate it!"

Douzai lifted his dazed head from her body, issuing a confused, "Squeak, squee~?"

Ziye tossed him aside with an exasperated, "Squeak your head off!"

Just then, Little Sprout shook the seedling on its head, letting out a whoosh as it fired a weak electrical pulse. Ziye couldn't dodge in time; the beam struck her wrist, instantly numbing her entire arm.

Is today really not a day for me to go out?

Ziye turned her head, glaring.

I seriously want to wring the necks of these two bastards!

Little Sprout chuckled, "Scan complete!"

Ziye's rising anger evaporated instantly, replaced by excitement. "How is it?"

Little Sprout poked the light screen with its seedling.

There were five light screens in total, densely packed with data—more than ten times the amount for a mech. Ziye glanced at them and immediately felt overwhelmed.

Little Sprout hovered before her, wings flapping rapidly, a teasing look on its face: "Don't you feel fantastic? I had such a blast analyzing this stuff. It’s been ages since I handled such refined data."

Ziye: ...

She could only console herself inwardly: Little Sprout wasn't human; it was just a light-brain, so its obsession with data was normal. She was just an ordinary person, and looking at this data gave her only one feeling: This is not where humans belong.

She pushed the light screens away, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She quickly found a starting point: metal analysis first.

But this was just a warehouse, lacking any other equipment. That meant she needed to bring her own setup here? Ziye hesitated briefly, then dialed the super-com to the product department at Mengya, asking them to send over a few specialized robots.

The rest of the equipment would have to be rented from the assembly workshop.

Then, she tossed Douzai aside with a handful of metal scraps for him to chew on mindlessly, and hauled Little Sprout over to handle the heavy lifting.

Reality proved that while robots were useful, they were far from sufficient.

The robots Mengya Group sent were all specialized units designed for mecha maintenance; their height was inadequate for fiddling with the engine of the Fearless vessel.

Ziye had no choice but to deal with the robots first.

She collaborated with Little Sprout, modifying the robots according to the requirements for analyzing the Fearless's jump drive.

There are only 24 hours in a day, and they flew by in a blur.

It wasn't until only one hour remained in the day that Ziye finally finished modifying the robots.

The person and the light-brain watched Piglet Douzai, who was hugging metal and still gnawing in his sleep, and sighed helplessly.

If only I could stretch twenty-four hours into forty-eight!

The final exams were looming again.

She was stretched too thin.

Ziye was so exhausted she just wanted to collapse in the warehouse and sleep.

However, sleeping amidst the cold, impersonal metal and lack of human warmth in this place would surely terrify her if she woke up in the middle of the night.

In the past, Ziye wouldn't have admitted she was this fragile.

After Tangshan passed away, there was a period where she drove herself relentlessly, often falling asleep in her workshop, only to wake up surrounded by the same cold machinery and herself.

It was only after An Junlie arrived at Silver Talisman that her life began to change.

Now, she was accustomed to being around people; she could barely imagine those solitary days, nor how she had managed to endure them back then.

In short, she could never return to that life at Silver Talisman.

And so, she scooped up Douzai, picked up Little Sprout, left Kulai, and returned to the Seedling Villa to sleep.

The Seedling Villa and this entire area were currently occupied only by Ziye.

But she had spent time in this place; it held affection for her, and more importantly, a warm bed that allowed her to truly relax. She took a deep breath, relaxed her body, relaxed her jaw—and yes, she fell asleep...

For the next month, Ziye plunged into a frenzy, cramming exam subjects during the day and studying the Fearless's jump drive knowledge at night. She studied in class, read books after class, and kept reading into the night.

Ling Yinyue invited her to a club gathering before finals. The members had grown despairing recently because the club had been neglected while everyone focused on the mech competition; it was about to grow moss.

Ziye declined, giving the reason: Busy.

??350

Li Chunyu also asked Ziye to review with her but was equally rejected. Ziye had developed a habit of studying alone, and she was studying so intensely that she wouldn't recognize her own mother, leaving zero emotional capacity to deal with others.

The most optimistic people were probably the twins.

The twins were third-years, having completed everything a student should—earning scholarships, skipping classes, and failing subjects—everything except falling in love. Due to the mech competition, they hadn't dared skip a single class for a whole year. Now that the competition was finally over, they were desperate to sprout wings and fly to the horizon, and they specifically invited Ziye to ditch school with them.

Ziye had only one thought: Different people, different fates!

She decisively procured a ribbon, wrote "Do Not Disturb" on it, tied it to her forehead, and marched off to fight.

The exams lasted for over half a month. Ziye pushed through in one breath, finishing all subjects until she was completely spent.

Little Sprout, that idiot, understood nothing of human limits or the misery of exams. It flapped its wings casually, "Little Ziye-dummy, I've sorted out every structure and principle of the Fearless jump drive for you. Let's go to the warehouse for physical research tomorrow!"

Ziye collapsed on the floor, wheezing, "Please, just leave me alone."

Little Sprout pouted in dissatisfaction, huffed, and flew to the balcony to roll around and play with Douzai.

Ziye dragged herself up from the floor, starting to fret over her vacation plans. Summer break was forty days long. Bobo suggested the Vanguard Squad take a week-long trip, leaving just over thirty days—genuinely not enough time.

Since time was already insufficient anyway, she decided to calmly join them on the trip!

However, the Wolf's Den's application to become a Sovereign Legion was entering its review period.

Old Dog, Red Hair, Big Head, and the others were actively campaigning, seeking votes from other sovereign powers.

During the exams, she had turned off group communications and completely forgotten about it.

She stared blankly for an hour, finally remembering she hadn't showered. Just as she got up to wash, a long-unheard-of contact initiated a super-com.

When Ziye saw the name Colin Gall, it took her a moment to realize—it was Stathis's adjutant, that scoundrel who had once kidnapped her.

Ziye's first reaction was that Stathis must be bored again.

When the call connected, Colin Gall said emotionlessly, "There is an issue with the robot maintenance personnel sent by Mengya Group. The Unified Command shuttle will arrive at the landing platform atop your apartment building at 7:00 AM tomorrow. Please prepare in advance."

Ziye was stunned. "Issue with the robot maintenance personnel? Who?"

Colin Gall offered no direct answer. "You'll know tomorrow. Goodbye."

With that, he hung up.

Ziye wanted to ask more, but it was too late.

The military style was infuriatingly direct: notification only, no discussion.

The Unified Command had recently acquired another batch of specialized robots from Mengya Group. This added one more technician to the Unified Command roster: Xiaoxiao, Freddie, and Nissen.

Freddie and Nissen were external hires; their professional skills were acceptable enough that they shouldn't be causing trouble.

What exactly was going on?

Thinking this over, Ziye dialed the number for the Mengya Group After-Sales Service Center: "Have we received any complaints recently?"

The service center operated twenty-four hours, usually staffed by robots at night.

The robot detected the data and replied with a smile, "This month, a total of seventy-eight complaints have been registered, of which..."

Ziye lost patience listening to the robot's precise recitation and directly accessed Mengya's shared database to search for the complained-about entries.

She flipped through them. The complaints did not include the Unified Command, and most of the seventy-eight cases were retail complaints, none of them serious issues.

Ziye puzzled over it: Where exactly was the problem?

Poor thing, she had just finished her exams and hadn't even had a moment to catch her breath, yet now she had to agonize over group affairs. She felt like she was going schizophrenic.

The busier one gets, the less time one has for contemplation and long-term future planning—alas!

Ziye flopped back onto the floor, letting out a long sigh.

But no matter how depressed she felt, she had to go to the Unified Command on this matter.

She instructed the robots to pack her things, took a short nap, and climbed out of bed around 6:00 AM to organize her thoughts before the shuttle arrived.

Since the holiday had started and she wouldn't be returning to school anytime soon, Ziye brought Douzai along. As soon as the shuttle arrived, she packed up her whole 'family' and headed to the Unified Command as a guest.

Unexpectedly, the route to the Galen Space Station was packed with shuttles, constantly entering and exiting, all flying under the banners of various legions.

Ziye asked the captain curiously, "What's going on lately? It seems very busy."

The captain steered steadily, not turning his head: "In one week, it will be the annual Legion Assembly, where the voting for Legion Sovereignty takes place."

Ziye froze, then her mouth dropped open. Damn, the Wolf's Den is also campaigning for sovereignty!

She had completely forgotten, ugh.

It was obviously too late to do anything now, especially since Ziye knew that even if she had the will, she lacked the strength. She understood too little about legion operations.

In the end, she could only sigh, send a greeting to Red Hair, and calmly proceed to deal with the robot complaint issue at the Unified Command.

Since the Unified Command had addressed the complaint directly to her, she hadn't contacted Xiaoxiao or the other two beforehand.

However, the captain didn't take Ziye directly to the robot maintenance center but instead to the internal guesthouse of the Unified Command.

Ziye became even more confused. What game was Stathis playing this time?

It can't be related to Tang Wen again!

As she was thinking, Colin Gall walked over and explained succinctly: "Next week is the Legion Assembly, and Commander Stathis is occupied. I will explain this to you. The technician your side sent, Xiaoxiao, might be a legion spy. If that proves true, you will bear joint responsibility."

Boom—

Ziye's mind exploded instantly.

Xiaoxiao might be a legion spy?

What kind of situation was this?!

-RS

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