With the help of Huang Yan and her parents, the patent application was prepared and approved very quickly.
Her proud parents scanned the certificate and had it framed. Their daughter was only eighteen, yet she already had her own design patent!
If Wang Tianwei hadn't stopped them by citing the need to keep her mecha design blueprints confidential, the two of them would have held a press conference to announce it to the world!
When she received the patent fee from Taihe, Wang Tianwei was nearly blinded by the long string of zeros at the end of the number!
"Phew! Phew! Calm down, I'm someone who has seen the world! Phew..."
Huang Yan and Jian Jingyu watched with their own eyes as Wang Tianwei's face visibly flushed red, her eyes bursting with a joyous gleam!
"...Is she going to explode?"
"Not quite, she just got filthy rich."
The next second, the person beside them sprang up.
"I'm rich! I struck it rich!! Tonight! The hot spring hotel! It's on me!! Sir Huang, hurry and order me a small cake! I'm going to splurge!!"
Ever since her first visit, she had fallen in love with the environment and the food there!
Her mecha was also going to be finished today, so it was the perfect time to celebrate!
Huang Yan smiled as he typed a message.
"Yes, boss."
After all, her idea of "splurging" was just eating a massive meal, soaking in a hot spring, and then going home to sleep... Jian Jingyu would at most play a couple of video games, or pilot a mecha for a couple of matches...
Put that way, the pastimes of these rich kids were truly ordinary and unpretentious...
"They have fresh sea urchin today too, do you want some?"
"Yes! I want the biggest ones!!!"
Cheng Yin was busy in the Yida laboratory when she suddenly received a money transfer from her daughter, leaving her a bit puzzled.
Immediately after, a message came through.
"Received the first patent fee of my life! Here you go, Mom, spend it as you like!"
She saved a screenshot.
"Hehehe~"
Tianwei was so cute! She turned around and sent an even larger red envelope back to her daughter.
"My daughter is amazing! Buy some mecha materials and delicious food for our Tianwei!"
Just then, a PhD researcher from the team pushed the door open holding a clipboard and asked.
"Director Cheng, how is the survival rate of the new batch of bacterial strains?"
"How did you know my eighteen-year-old daughter transferred money to me as soon as she made her first pot of gold!? Hehehe, it's actually no big deal~ Who told her to love her mother the most?"
"...?"
**********
It was 7:00 PM when Wang Tianwei finally completed the last mecha safety test!
After confirming that her Super A-class mecha had no issues, she couldn't wait and hurried to the hot spring hotel's restaurant.
The three of them ate and chatted in the pre-booked private room. The high-definition projector in the room was broadcasting the Federal News, which they merely treated as background noise.
"Zhang Lyra! I'll start working on your heavy mecha tomorrow! Don't worry, I'm very experienced now, I've got the hang of it!"
On the other side of the screen, the girl who had just finished training still had beads of sweat on her forehead. She held a meat pie made by her mother in her right hand to replenish her energy.
"Alright, take your time, there's no rush."
"Mhm! That meat pie of yours looks pretty good..."
Jian Jingyu was already eating his second sea urchin.
"Sea urchins are really fresh! Little Bear, do you want a taste? I'll bring you a few when school starts!?"
Zhang Lyra, along with the other three members of her family sitting on the sofa watching the projection, frowned in disgust upon hearing Jian Jingyu's words.
"Absolutely not!"
"Well, alright then..."
Zhang Lyra's father was still weak, but today he was finally able to get out of bed and sit with his family for a while.
"What's so good about sea urchins... they're fishy and have no meat..."
Shirley Zhang, sandwiched between her parents, nodded solemnly in agreement with her dad. Although she didn't know what that was... it definitely wouldn't smell as good as her mom's stewed beef ribs!
"Federal Time, August 8th. While clearing star beasts near the Eastern No. 3 Black Hole and the Northern No. 24 Black Hole, our military encountered a massive Zerg attack, resulting in the heroic sacrifice of fifty-four soldiers, one hundred and eighty-three injured, and twelve missing..."
The three of them simultaneously turned their heads to look at the projection.
"...Northern No. 24 Black Hole."
Wang Tianwei's voice was hoarse. Wasn't that the black hole under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Military Region?
Jian Jingyu swallowed hard in panic, his eyes glued to the projection.
"No way... It can't be!!"
Huang Yan put down his chopsticks and opened his chat window with Yi Shao.
Their last conversation was right before the holidays, when Yi Shao told him a few small methods to improve his physique. They hadn't contacted each other since.
"...Are you there?"
The message he sent out glaringly displayed as unread.
The private room instantly became so quiet that only the sound of the news broadcast could be heard.
Zhang Lyra also heard the news through the video call.
"Mom, switch to the news channel..."
She turned her head only to realize there was no need to switch; all the news channels at this time were broadcasting this piece of news.
"Don't panic, they are all very strong... I'll go check, I'm hanging up for now..."
"Yeah, okay."
Wang Tianwei hung up the video call, feeling restless.
The news broadcast just now didn't show any names...
It should be fine! Yi Shao is a major, and Bei Liu is the chief mecha master of the Ninth Military Region! Their strength is rock solid...
Jian Jingyu hesitated for a long time before clicking into the official website of the Ninth Military Region.
The latest announcement was an obituary for the personnel who sacrificed their lives in this operation.
"Major Yi Shao heroically sacrificed his life during this mission at 3:00 AM on August 8th...
The squad's chief mecha master, Bei Liu, held the defense line and ultimately perished together with the enemy..."
Jian Jingyu's head buzzed...
Wang Tianwei and Huang Yan both noticed Goldfish's unusual behavior, but neither dared to ask him at this moment...
Until they saw his tears surging and falling.
"The obituary... is out..."
Wang Tianwei's hands trembled as she enlarged the announcement. Two familiar names among them made her cover her mouth in shock.
"!!!"
Huang Yan repeatedly read the article until he almost couldn't recognize the characters for "Yi Shao" and "Bei Liu" anymore.
It makes no sense... It makes no sense at all!?
A while later, a new message popped up in the "QL's Greatest Threat" group chat, sent by Zhang Lyra.
It was the same obituary, without any extra words.
Wang Tianwei couldn't wait to open her optical computer. She saw that the video of Huang Yan's mecha she had sent to Bei Liu was still "unread."
"They must have made a mistake, right!? You're there, right!? Just take a moment to reply to my message..."
"Even replying with a '1' is fine!!"
The message was sent, displaying as "unread" exactly like the previous one.
She exited and entered again, but there was still no change...
The food on the table had gone cold, but none of the three noticed.
Not knowing what else to do, they could only constantly refresh the news and the Ninth Military Region's webpage, hoping a correction announcement would appear, telling them that there were actually survivors...
Right! Feng Yi!
Wang Tianwei searched for Feng Yi's name among her friends. When she clicked on it, she saw that Feng Yi's profile picture had turned completely black, and the signature had been changed to "Let me be alone for a bit..."
