"Mom, how much longer does Sister have to stay in such a cold place?"
"...She'll be back soon."
"Mmm..."
Little Shirley Zhang watched her parents' red-rimmed eyes, not yet understanding what had happened.
She was in elementary school now, so she only had time after school in the evenings to catch her sister's competition livestreams, and even then her parents would rush her off to bed early.
But today school was out too, and all the doors and windows at home were sealed tight. Shirley Zhang wore the QL team uniform that Sister Wang had specially tailored for her.
"Isn't this the finals? After the finals end and Sister and her team get their trophy, can she come back?
How about we all go to Tianshu Star together to surprise her?"
A large blister had formed on Zhang Qishui's lip. Hearing this, he forced a smile toward his youngest daughter,
"Sure, then Dad will talk to your sister. If she says it's okay for us to come, I'll take you to Tianshu Star."
Laila Christine looked at her youngest daughter's outfit and felt tears welling up,
"Shirley, it's time for your nap. Mom will take you back to your room."
Though sleepy, Shirley Zhang still shook her head,
"Sister said she doesn't have time for naps anymore—she trains every day. I want to be like her. I won't sleep, Mom. I want to go practice martial arts!"
Christine scooped her daughter up from the floor, forcing down her emotions,
"Silly child, your sister is a grown-up now, but you're still little. If you don't sleep, you won't grow tall."
"Mm, then is that why Sister Wang didn't grow tall either? Because she didn't like sleeping when she was little?"
"..."
"If I could build an amazing mech like Sister Wang's just by not sleeping..."
"Alright, off to bed now."
"Achoo!"
Zhang Lyra sneezed for no apparent reason inside the cockpit, warily scanning her surroundings. All clear.
She then continued to face off against the four mechs before her,
"...Wark?"
Wang Tianwei's voice was hesitant,
"Is it the legitimate Wark?"
Though he knew what she meant, Hiranuma Yusho still fell silent for a long moment.
"Huang Yan, what a coincidence."
"Mm? Why are you ignoring my question!?"
To catch up with the Qilin, the Wark team had been moving nonstop since morning.
But now that they'd finally caught up, neither side dared approach across the dozen or so meters separating them.
All four cameras inside the Qilin's cockpit had been shifted to point directly at everyone's chins and nostrils, looking rather ridiculous on the livestream.
Wang Tianwei even wondered why she'd put so much effort into image management these past couple of days.
Huang Yan had initially worried that someone from Wark might have been parasitized already, but seeing Hiranuma Yusho deliberately ignore Sister Zebra's question gave him some reassurance.
"Mm, what a coincidence. You're taking this route too?"
"No! We were originally going through below..."
Barry answered hastily.
He wanted to share the team's discovery about the insectoid creatures, but remembered the rescue flyer hovering right above their heads and grew anxious.
Upon hearing this, Wang Tianwei pulled her chin back, squinted her eyes, and spoke in a horrified tone,
"Below? Hiss... Isn't that not where we should be going?"
"Sister Zebra!!"
Wu Fangyu couldn't take it anymore.
"Get serious!"
"Don't rush..."
Wang Tianwei's hands moved quickly, and in a moment, everyone's livestream froze on a single frame with the audio cutting out.
"Just blocked the signal. We're clear now. Talk fast, get to the point!"
"We ran into insectoid creatures down below."
Hiranuma Yusho spoke the moment the line opened—if Wang Tianwei could cut the signal, it meant the Qilin side had likely noticed something wrong too.
"They're high-tier Alpha insectoids. After we identified them, the scorekeeper gave us twenty points. I suspect the safety officer has a problem."
"Cut—let me restore the signal first, or they'll get suspicious."
The livestream came back online, Wang Tianwei speaking in a disjointed manner,
"So right now we still haven't found the point-adding button. How about a temporary alliance? We can go find the First Military Academy together..."
The brief stutter indeed drew no one's attention; even the viewers glued to the livestream didn't realize the two teams had just exchanged sensitive information.
With a light tap of her fingers, the screen froze again.
"I've confirmed the safety officers up top have been wiped out. They were just talking about killing a few of us to create panic. Our top priority is finding the First Military Academy!"
"What!? They want to kill us? Through parasitism?"
"Not sure. Are all of you alright?"
"No! After the captain noticed, we kept our distance! The mechs are all patched up too—we're afraid they might find a way to slip in!"
Inside the rescue flyer, Kes was watching the livestream of the leaders through his optical brain.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Ah~ Just as expected of the captain!"
Hiranuma Yusho didn't expect Wang Tianwei to have already hacked into the safety officers' communication channel so quickly.
"So it seems we've become hostages. Then why hasn't the livestream stopped? The cameras and broadcast are still running."
Huang Yan offered his take,
"I lean toward the idea that they see us as prey, savoring the show of the prey's last moments. But that also means none of us from the three military academies have been parasitized yet.
Sister Zebra says they're about to make a move. Our priority is meeting up with the First Military Academy."
"Understood."
"Stop!"
The livestream resumed again. Hiranuma Yusho paused for a moment before speaking,
"Since the Qilin is so sincere, we can cooperate for now.
The First Military Academy has dominated every competition for so long—it's about time they tasted third place."
Wang Tianwei nearly lost control of her expression at Hiranuma Yusho's words. Acting is your comfort zone, huh?
"Ahem, well, let's agree first: no backstabbing."
Taylor gave her a deadpan look,
"Don't worry, Sister Zebra."
The viewers were getting anxious,
"Two commanders! Analyze the situation!!"
"And they're still looking for the First Military Academy... Ugh, this is killing me."
"We're surrounded by insectoids! Huang Yan, please THINK!"
"...No one could've seen this coming."
"Maybe it's better they don't know—how despairing would the truth be?"
But the mech engineers watching the livestream closely had noticed the several stutters in the feed.
In the "24K Prodigy Mutual Aid Society" group chat, Lucas was the first to send a message,
"Did anyone else notice the stutters in the livestream just now?"
Tabitha replied immediately,
"I saw them. They were brief, but came very close together!"
Ye Yingxuan chimed in with her analysis,
"These two teams suddenly deciding to cooperate in the finals doesn't add up. And they're keeping so much distance."
"It's definitely Sister Zebra's doing!!!"
Lucas's hands were trembling,
"Remember? Sister Zebra knows how to hack into communication channels!"
"But this competition prohibits—"
"They must have realized something's wrong!!"
Elizabeth, who had been resting briefly, saw the group messages and shot to her feet.
"No one leaks this! Act like you know nothing. I'm contacting the military!"
