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Ziyè blinked, feeling the dryness in her eyes. She rubbed them with her hands and blinked again. "Feels a bit."

Sbente shook his head with a sigh. Even at such a young age, they were already working so hard. What would it do to his mischievous twin children? He said, "Ziyè, when you study, focus on it; when you play, enjoy thoroughly. There's really no need to work during a vacation."

Ziyè looked up and replied, "Once I finish one problem, I get the hang of it. The rest I can definitely do once we're back."

"That sounds reasonable!" Sbente ruffled her hair. "How far have you come with this?"

At the mention of work, Ziyè beamed. "Just need an hour more to calculate everything!"

Sbente's face lit up as well—the meaning was clear: tomorrow, Ziyè would joyfully ride her bike! Especially since he found her determination admirable, he added, "Share your insights after you're done, but it's getting dark. Let's head back."

Ziyè stood up and stretched lazily. "Okay."

Lichunyu was still deeply immersed in calculations, deaf to the world around him. Aikes nudged him and asked, "How much have you finished?"

Without looking up, he replied, "If I complete it by tomorrow night would be a miracle."

Aikes suggested, "Then let's go back first and take it slow tomorrow," and decisively reached for the screen to turn it off.

Lichunyu panicked, shouting, "I haven't saved it!"

Aikes shrugged with a smile. "Don't try to fool me—it auto-saves itself."

Though Lichunyu knew this was true, his obsessive-compulsive tendencies kicked in. He opened the file again to confirm everything remained intact, saved it multiple times and made backups until he felt safe enough. Then he muttered, "Fine, let's go back."

The six of them rode home together. Lingyin struggled through exhaustion, barely managing to stay upright. Lichunyu was even more erratic—sometimes fast, sometimes slow; drifting left and right occasionally nearly colliding with the guardrail. The twins watched in horror.

Was this drift racing? It's dangerous! Fortunately it was a one-way road or else...

The sky darkened quickly as they turned on their headlights. Everything beyond blurred into darkness except for the faintly illuminated path ahead beneath their lights. Poor twins had no fun at all during this activity—both leading the group and constantly monitoring teammates' erratic movements, fearing these pig-like companions might cause accidents.

At least though Ziyè was relatively well-behaved despite Lichunyu's uselessness in riding.

They didn't know yet that Xiaodouya had already climbed onto Ziyè's head, its tiny stalk upright. Whenever she dared to lose focus or think about the unfinished calculations, it immediately poked her repeatedly until she returned to awareness.

Nighttime cycling was dangerous. One must ride with caution.

Back at the hotel after a long bath, Ziyè wanted to finish writing up what remained but was too exhausted to move like a dog panting for breath. She flopped onto the bed and couldn't find energy even to lift herself. Instead she stared blankly at the ceiling.

Her body felt weary, her mind equally so. Ziyè didn't know whether she was thinking or daydreaming—her consciousness seemed detached from reality entirely.

After some time passed, Xiaodouya suddenly spoke: "Foolish little one, aliens are calling you on Comlink."

Ziyè mumbled sleepily in response, imagining herself reaching out to grab the device as if she had already taken it. She muttered through heavy lids, "Alien... I'm so sleepy..."

Xiaodouya rolled its eyes sideways and connected the call for her.

An Junlie's soft voice came through the Comlink: "Little sister, did you have fun?"

Ziyè mumbled sleepily after turning over and burrowing into her blanket. "Not really."

His heart tightened slightly. "Why not?"

She curled up further, "Too tired."

He chuckled gently, "Missed your exercise regimen then?"

"No!" she protested sleepily. "I run every day!"

That was indeed commendable—especially since it was his training method that kept her in shape. He felt particularly pleased, "Then tomorrow I'll join you for a run?"

Ziyè sighed tiredly, "No running tomorrow—I ride with the twins."

He said smoothly, "I can accompany you on your bike."

She replied sleepily, "Okay," then suddenly hesitated. "Still... nope."

"Why not?"

Her muffled voice drifted through the haze of sleep: "Another system to calculate tomorrow..."

Xiaodouya didn't close the video feed. From An Junlie's screen view, he could clearly see Ziyè appeared asleep now, her words sounding like dreamtalk. Yet even in this state she still worried about unfinished tasks—this made him feel both tender and helpless. He sighed softly, "It doesn't matter. I won't disturb you—I'll work with you."

Ziyè finally smiled sleepily, "Okay... come over then."

He murmured gently, "Get some rest first."

She pouted cutely, "Also need a cuddle."

"Of course," he replied warmly.

After prolonged silence from her side, An Junlie realized she had already fallen asleep. He exhaled soundlessly and felt his chest tighten slightly.

For someone so young to bear such burdens was difficult indeed. It infuriated him that he couldn't personally do anything for her.

All his actions needed to originate from the military's perspective—helping Wolxie as a strategic unit, but assisting her individually? Impossible.

Though they were in an intimate relationship, she oversaw strategic weapon systems. Whether he dispatched personnel or did it himself directly would be against protocol. If he placed people near her, some might even accuse him of planting spies.

An Junlie silently observed her face. Her cheeks had probably thinned again from too much stress and her complexion wasn't as good as before. With her naturally fair skin, she looked paler than usual now. The sight tugged at his heartstrings painfully. He turned to Xiaodouya: "Xiaodouya, turn out the lights for her."

Xiaodouya glanced up at him with a playful face.

He quickly corrected himself, "Thank you, Honored Xiaodouya."

Xiaodouya chuckled, "That's better," and its stalk twitched slightly to shut off the light. Its body gradually deflated into thinness before curling beside her neck.

An Junlie closed his Comlink interface and rubbed his temples as he continued working on his unfinished tasks. His cybernetic brain contained thick piles of documents—the Angelic Domain's pending contracts with Wolxie for multi-trillion investments in space station factories.

Though officially labeled as humanitarian aid, the mutual-benefit nature was clear—Wolxie would rapidly develop while boosting commercial growth within the Angelic Domain border regions to form new business clusters.

Tomorrow after signing those contracts he could finally visit Ziyè again. The thought brought a smile to his lips at last.

-RS