After a long silence, she looked up at Zi Ye, confusion clouding her eyes. "Why?"

Zi Ye smiled sweetly. "Wolf's Den needs talent right now, and you fit the bill perfectly."

Ling Yin pouted. "Zi Ye, I'm fine right now. You don't need to comfort me or pity me."

Zi Ye sighed helplessly. "Ling Yin, I'm serious. Wolf's Den needs a lot of people right now—talent from every industry and every field. You start your internship next year, truly, aren't you considering it?"

Ling Yin pondered for a moment. "This isn't something to rush. I'll think about it first."

Zi Ye nodded. "Well, that's just my suggestion. How you proceed is up to you. By the way, I asked you here today because I wanted to go commit some misdeeds with you. Interested?"

Ling Yin blinked, and Zi Ye leaned in conspiratorially. "We're going to kidnap **."

Ling Yin's expression shifted. "Zi Ye, you really don't need to..."

Zi Ye seriously sent Ling Yin a screenshot of the message ** had sent her. "This is what he sent me. Since he knows you better, I wanted to invite you along."

Ling Yin let out a heavy sigh. "Forget it, I'll go. It's time I had a final reckoning with him."

Zi Ye arranged the time and place with her, and after hanging up the comm-link, she saw Tang Wan peering at her with wide eyes. "Zi Ye, are you going to do something bad?"

Zi Ye nodded. "Don't get involved in this. Big Black, call those ten guys from the garbage planet over. We're leaving."

Halle's eye twitched, electing to ignore the nickname. He opened his comm-link and shouted for his team.

Zi Ye opened the refrigerator. She retrieved a cup of rose jelly, scooping spoonfuls into her mouth while considering the feasibility of kidnapping **.

Honestly, based only on **'s message, she didn't dare trust him easily anymore. That was precisely why she had called Ling Yin along.

No matter how much of a scoundrel ** was, he wouldn't willingly harm Ling Yin.

If ** had set a trap for her to fall into, having Ling Yin present would make him hesitant to move against her.

In short: Ling Yin was now her "hostage."

However, this move was also beneficial and harmless to Ling Yin.

Because Zi Ye was confident she could protect Ling Yin.

Ling Yin had been agonizing, depressed, and heartbroken for so long, not just because ** had wounded her, but because she suspected she had misjudged him entirely. This was an opportunity for Ling Yin to see **'s true nature clearly; whether to sever ties or maintain them would then be her decision.

Yet, Ling Yin held a drastically different view.

Seeing the message ** had sent, which Zi Ye had screenshotted, Ling Yin felt as if her throat had been squeezed shut. She felt utterly dreadful.

—Last time, ** had kidnapped Zi Ye, leading to Zi Ye’s disappearance for several months. He had never offered an explanation. Now, being asked to help kidnap him, Ling Yin instinctively felt that nothing good could come of it.

The only reason she agreed to go out with Zi Ye was to stop **'s reckless behavior!

Zi Ye finished the jelly, and her plan solidified. She summoned the youths, shared a meal with them, brought Little Sprout along, and departed.

Tang Wan realized she had been left behind and rushed frantically towards the docking bay entrance, shouting as she ran, "Little Ye Zi, why are you abandoning me?"

Little Black stood at the hatchway. "Goddess, should we wait for her?"

Zi Ye shook her head. "Absolutely not."

Little Black scratched his head sheepishly, decisively sealed the hatch, and the battleship engaged its engines.

By the time Tang Wan reached the entrance, the gate was already closing, and the battleship slid out of the dock.

"What an attitude!" Tang Wan stomped her foot in anger. She looked up and saw the space station's robotic police watching her, which only fueled her ire. She kicked out at the nearest officer.

The robot policeman swiftly sidestepped, maintaining its standard smile that showed exactly eight teeth. "Please refrain from assaulting law enforcement!"

Tang Wan glared at it hatefully, then a thought struck her. "Are there any other warships here? Can I borrow one? I have my work credentials here... wait, where did they go?"

Tang Wan rushed back toward the office to find her credentials.

As she reached the doorway, she bumped into Halle coming in from outside, causing them both to pause. "You aren't going out with Little Ye Zi?"

Halle blinked. "She left?"

Tang Wan realized this guy was also unaware, pushed him aside irritably, and entered the office.

Halle stood at the office doorway, recalling that Zi Ye had asked him to go to Os’s office to retrieve a report, and his heart skipped a beat. That report didn't require him to run over; a simple comm-link command would have had Os's staff send it over.

Zi Ye was setting him up!

Connecting that to what F431 mentioned this morning about the "kidnapping," he suddenly felt his heart accelerate; something felt seriously wrong.

Halle's first instinct was to report the matter to his superior and act only upon receiving orders.

But now, Zi Ye was his superior. Whom should he report to? The Commander of Wolf's Den?

This kind of minor issue shouldn't bother the Commander.

Halle glanced at Tang Wan, who was sulking on the sofa. "You stay here and be responsible for the safety and progress of engineering. I need to step out for a moment."

Tang Wan grabbed his arm. "You are absolutely not allowed to go!"

A vein pulsed on Halle's forehead. "Let go."

Tang Wan stubbornly refused to release him. "Zi Ye clearly doesn't want you to go. It'll be useless even if you do."

That sentence struck Halle right in the heart. He became even more annoyed, but having served under Red Hair for so long, he knew better than to carelessly offend a woman. He managed to restrain himself and glared at her. "She doesn't want you to go."

Tang Wan tugged fiercely at his uniform, preventing him from moving. "You can go, but you have to take me."

Halle was crisp and clean. "I'm not taking you!"

Tang Wan glared at him, cheeks flushed with anger.

In this situation, she couldn't help but recall what Zi Ye had said: against an enemy, one cannot always resort to direct confrontation, especially when the opponent is stronger.

As a top student in Combat Command, using flanking maneuvers was child's play.

She cleared her throat dryly. "Big Black, think about it carefully. The reason Little Ye Zi sent you away before leaving was precisely so you would stay here and work diligently. A lot of the space station construction needs your confirmation. If Ye Zi leaves and you leave too, and an accident happens, who will be held responsible?"

Halle's lips tightened into a thin line.

Tang Wan continued her persuasion. "So, you should obediently finish your work first. Otherwise, when Little Ye Zi returns and sees a pile of unfinished tasks, she'll explode again."

Halle shook off her hand and stepped into the office without looking back.

Tang Wan stared blankly. She hadn't managed to say her final line—which was, "If you finish your work early, we can go find Ye Zi sooner."

But now that Halle wasn't planning to go, what was she supposed to do?

Tang Wan covered her face. How could she go by herself?

Maybe she should just wait in the office for a while. Perhaps Zi Ye would need her and send a comm-link. She believed that after the battle at the Rose Garden, she was definitely Zi Ye’s number one helper for kidnapping people.

Kidnapping—it sounded so much fun!