Chapter 36

Connections really did make things easier. Huo Lin's family seemed to carry significant political weight, while Su Yi's was a military-turned-political family that had been gradually shifting toward politics in recent years—though they still couldn't match Huo Lin's deep roots.

As for Cynthia, her family was loaded. Wu Ying knew that the Federation's top nutritional supplement company was her family's business.

Wu Ying tapped her Light Brain thoughtfully. Her roommates were no small fry. Thinking about Asher, she suddenly wondered if the school had arranged this on purpose.

Under Director Xu's guidance, they easily obtained surveillance data for the city's outskirts—the edge of the forest.

Under the technician's operation, Wu Ying once again witnessed the power of interstellar technology. In what looked like a simple surveillance feed, she watched as the technician typed in a mess of commands, and the video automatically locked onto specific vegetation, zoomed in, identified it, saved it, and matched its location.

In the end, Wu Ying and her group left loaded with results. By now, their mission was eighty percent complete. All that remained was on-site verification of a few anomalous areas flagged in the footage and data categorization—work Jiujiu could easily handle.

They walked out of the government building before lunchtime was even over.

Huo Lin had just turned down Director Xu's enthusiastic invitation, so now it was time to figure out lunch on their own.

"Barbecue! Barbecue!"

Cynthia raised her hand excitedly, and Wu Ying immediately agreed with gusto. This was something they'd been planning for ages, and today was perfect.

"Our mission for today's basically done, right?"

"Of course it is. Hell, even tomorrow's and the day after's are pretty much done."

Su Yi shot Cynthia a glance, then reached out and tapped her on the head. "Tsk, all you think about is food. Do you even know what our mission is before saying it's done?"

Cynthia immediately smacked her hand back with a "hey!", and the two started squabbling right there on the street.

Su Yi, who was usually so composed, only acted this immature around Cynthia. Wu Ying pulled Huo Lin aside to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

They were used to it by now. Luo Meng walked up looking bewildered. "Wu Ying, what's going on with them? Should we break it up?"

They were having fun, so why interrupt? Even though Cynthia was currently making a fierce face while yanking Su Yi's hair, Wu Ying, who had experience with this, decided to talk Luo Meng down first.

Luo Meng was clearly a straight guy, and she was afraid he wouldn't understand the joy of girls messing around.

"They're just playing around, no worries."

Wu Ying said this to Luo Meng with a smile. Boone had gone to get the hovercar, and Luo Meng stepped forward from behind, his voice clear and bright, full of youthful energy.

"Ah, I see. Miss Su really is different from usual."

"Yeah, she only acts like this around Cynthia. Hmm, a bit more... lively?"

Wu Ying tested the word, tilting her head to look at Huo Lin, searching for agreement. Huo Lin nodded firmly and said outright that the word was spot on.

"Usually she's as stiff as a board, more robotic than Jiujiu."

That was definitely a jab. Luo Meng immediately chimed in. "Truth. Jiujiu's tone is different from the standard robot setting—it sounds really warm."

He turned to Wu Ying. "Did you set that up special? It's pretty cool. I want to configure my robot like that too."

As soon as he said it, Luo Meng realized something and shot Wu Ying a nervous glance. His teammates had told him that Wu Ying might not want people discussing her robot, which was why she was guarded around him.

He really hadn't meant it, but the words had just come out naturally.

Wu Ying noticed his look but pretended not to see it, continuing as if nothing was wrong. "Yeah, I set it up special. I like this voice."

Noticing the shift in her attitude, Luo Meng's eyes lit up, and he quickly agreed. "I like it too!"

His voice was so loud that even Cynthia heard him. She left Su Yi's side and came over, asking curiously, "What voice?"

"Jiujiu's baby voice."

Huo Lin explained calmly, watching the group and feeling they were becoming more of a mess by the minute.

Cynthia nodded, agreeing that Jiujiu's voice was indeed nice. She'd never thought about changing her own robot's voice before. She immediately said, "Yingying, how'd you do it? I want mine to sound like that too."

"Sure, I'll find the settings when we get back and send them to you."

Cynthia immediately latched onto Wu Ying, chatting away in a syrupy tone. Huo Lin took two steps back, backing up until she was next to Su Yi, still finding the sight hard to bear.

She turned to Su Yi. "Is this how you two usually talk?"

Su Yi seemed equally speechless. "No. She's just in some sort of mutant state right now."

Her voice was calm but not quiet, and the next second Cynthia whipped around with a glare. "Who's talking smack about me?"

Su Yi and Huo Lin shrugged in unison to plead their innocence—though Huo Lin really was innocent.

"Hmph. Yingying, why'd you name your robot Jiujiu?"

Cynthia wanted to give her robot a fun name too. Hers was called Tianzhi 108, usually just "108," and she suddenly found it super lame.

She wanted to change it but had no ideas, so she planned to pick Wu Ying's brain.

"Hmm, because it was too quiet."

Wu Ying recalled the first time she'd met Jiujiu, when she'd had months of "alone time" with it. That bastard Asher was never home, and she was bored out of her mind. She'd tried talking to the robot, but it couldn't squeeze out a single word.

So she'd decisively exercised her rights as the lady of the house and renamed it! All so it would talk more, and say nice things at that.

"Oh, I see. Then what should I name my robot? Let me think..."

Cynthia linked arms with Wu Ying, musing. Her greatest wish was to be better than Su Yi, and if Su Yi would do what she said, even better.

She thought for a long time, then declared in a deep tone, "I've decided—Su Yi Number Two! How about it? Huh?"

Cynthia looked at Wu Ying with hopeful eyes, but before Wu Ying could speak, Su Yi cut in. "Shouldn't you ask for my opinion first? Do I agree? You're going with that name?"

Wu Ying tried to back away, but Cynthia had a firm grip on her.

She was starting to regret coming out shopping. They could have just hopped in the hovercar and gone straight back, but now they were stuck on the street watching these two bicker.

"Luo Meng, where's our hovercar?"

Luo Meng had parked it at a designated spot by the road. Wu Ying and Huo Lin each grabbed one of the arguing pair and pulled them into the car. Time to head back.

Even though there weren't many people out, it was still out in public, and passersby kept shooting them glances.

The villa was empty. Miranda and the others were still in the forest outsmarting mutant plants. Their core project required going deep into the territory, and they'd brought days' worth of supplies, so they'd likely be gone for a while.

They'd just arrived at the villa when the guards stationed there came to check in with them.

After a quick exchange, they confirmed the plan for the coming days. The villa was officially theirs alone—all six of them. Cynthia, Wu Ying, and Jiujiu started prepping the barbecue.

Out came the grill, and fresh meat and vegetables were pulled from the storeroom, still perfectly fresh.

As a jack-of-all-trades, Jiujiu handled all these operations with ease. Wu Ying just needed to give the commands.

Luo Meng dragged Boone over to help. "We can't just eat and do nothing. We should pitch in to feel good about ourselves."

Very self-aware. Wu Ying immediately assigned them to skewering the meat. Jiujiu only had one pair of hands, after all.

Wu Ying decided to prepare the seasonings so everyone could mix their own according to taste.

Everyone had their own job. Su Yi and Huo Lin set up the space outside, dragging out the sofas—they couldn't just eat standing around. Cynthia picked the movie.

In the end, they settled on "Star Wars Anthem," which was basically the sci-fi equivalent of a classic war flick.

Fine, they couldn't be too picky. Given the current situation, the government didn't seem interested in offering other forms of entertainment anyway.

Wu Ying stood in front of the grill, swallowing quietly as her eyes swept over the spread of meat. That one was called "Killer's Heart," that one "Soul-Seizing Wing"...

"We've finished all the skewers. Want me to put them on now?"

Luo Meng came over carrying a tray stacked with meat and vegetables. Wu Ying reluctantly tore her eyes away from the grill, gave him a big thumbs up, and told him to set it on the table behind Jiujiu.

"It was nothing, easy work. Anything else I can do?"

Boone silently rolled his eyes, set his own tray on the table, and left. He had to abandon Luo Meng before his idiot teammate abandoned him.

Too bad Luo Meng didn't even spare him a glance.

"Nope, that's about it. Now we just wait to eat."

Wu Ying told Luo Meng to go rest, then started mixing the seasonings herself. For barbecue, that was the soul. Classic chili powder, always in style, plus cumin, and of course sweet bean paste or whatever else.

A little of this, a bit of that.

"I'll help you."

Luo Meng immediately grabbed a small dish and followed Wu Ying around, copying whatever she added.

"Uh, about last time—did you get in trouble back at base?"

He'd heard that Wu Ying and Huo Lin had been confined. As military academy students, the worst punishment was being thrown into the training grounds for months of brutal drills. By the time they got out, Federal University's military training would be over.

"No trouble. What about you guys?"

Wu Ying, of course, wasn't about to mention the backdoor she'd pulled, and quickly tossed the question back to him. Luo Meng immediately spilled everything about their punishment like a bag of marbles.

Just listening made Wu Ying ache all over—long-distance cross-country runs, endless laps were routine. When he mentioned being dumped on a mountain to fight over territory like wild beasts, and that at his worst he'd had a leg broken, she winced.

"Yikes, that sounds terrifying."

Wu Ying felt genuine admiration for military cadets. That kind of hardship wasn't for everyone.

"It's not so bad. We're used to it. Oh, speaking of—you mentioned divorce back then. How's that going now? Need any help?"

At that, a faint smile crossed Wu Ying's face. She remembered how furious she'd been, yelling at him, and he'd still said he supported her.

He'd been so stunned back then that he'd shrunk into his blanket. She rubbed her nose, feeling the last bit of her wariness toward him fade away.

"Eh, I was a bit impulsive back then. Things are okay now."