"Let's have a bowl of mushroom and beef noodles here."
"Same."
"Then I'll have a bowl of braised pork knuckle noodles."
The once bustling cafeteria is now nearly deserted, and the researchers who used to come and go are gone. Only the cafeteria lady remains at her post, her smile as ever. She deftly prepared three bowls of noodles, which Luo Xiaoli and the others carried over. The steaming noodles were placed on the table, glistening with a few drops of oil.
This is their dinner.
The entire Federation, like the cafeteria, has now become a deserted place, especially at night when it is eerily quiet, with very few rooms lit up.
The cafeteria is a place with a relatively lively atmosphere.
The final assessment was conducted in the morning, and the group parted ways at noon. Apart from the four students who passed, the rest were taken away by Wan Xingyan's research team and assigned to the department that coordinated the mecha, where they spent the afternoon moving documents.
The moving left Ke Bing and Zhao Xuerou with aches and pains, as if they had entered the workplace prematurely.
Everything happened so naturally that they didn't even have time to grieve, and life went on like this.
While moving the documents, Zhao Xuerou had already come to terms with it. She was too busy to think about being eliminated just a few hours earlier. Only when she occasionally stopped to drink some water did her thoughts wander and she belatedly realize, "Oh, I didn't pass the assessment this morning."
Before she could think any further, the researcher came over with documents, so she had to put down her water glass and quickly take them.
Just a few meters away, outside a window, Wan Xingyan was supervising Zhu Yibai and Luo Xiaoli's training. They stayed inside the War Maiden's cockpit, familiarizing themselves with every function and weapon of the War Maiden.
Occasionally, like an earthquake, the lights in the testing room would flicker, and documents would jump off the table and scatter everywhere... Zhao Xuerou knew that the Snow Woman outside had started to move.
As she nearly fell over amidst the tremors, she prayed, "I hope these two people are careful and don't step on their testing room and destroy it. Otherwise, the researchers and I will be doomed, and we won't even have time to run away."
By evening, when work was almost finished and it was time for dinner,...
They just came to eat together.
As Ke Bing rotated her wrist, she asked Luo Xiaoli, "How was your training this afternoon? Are you adjusting well? Was it much harder than the training we did in the simulator?"
"It is indeed more tiring, but it is very interesting. It is the kind of interesting that I don't want to stop for a moment. I will go to practice more after I finish eating."
"Really? You're working so hard."
"You'll know once you pass the test. Living with a mecha is an extremely rare and wonderful experience. It's like... roughly the feeling of starting a relationship with a same-sex lover. You're confused and fascinated, and you really like her and want to know everything about her. Or it's like opening a treasure box and tirelessly searching for the treasures inside, burying your head in it, with dazzling and incomparable colors before your eyes. Anyway, it's very fascinating."
Ke Bing and Zhao Xuerou were captivated by her description and slowly became engrossed in it, as if the treasure box had really appeared before their eyes, and they were imagining that scene.
Unfortunately, after imagining it, the regret only deepened.
They never had the chance to experience it, and they never will again.
Luo Xiaoli continued, "So, I didn't put in any effort at all. On the contrary, Zhu Yibai was eager to practice more. When I came over at mealtime, he was still in the cockpit. I went to relieve him after we finished eating."
Ke Bing glanced at Zhao Xuerou, quite surprised. She hadn't expected the students who passed the test to have such a mindset, completely different from what they had imagined.
"And what about you guys?" Luo Xiaoli picked up a few noodles and put them in her mouth, speaking indistinctly.
"The two of us? We've been moving files all afternoon, we're exhausted!"
“Yes, I can’t participate in the more advanced stuff, I can only help with physical labor. I didn’t expect that after so long of physical training, I would end up doing physical labor.” Zhao Xuerou had no appetite, picked up her chopsticks and put them down again. She suddenly remembered something, “Can the four of you manage to schedule your time?”
"No... there aren't four."
"What about the other two? Only you and Zhu Yibai."
"Instructor Wan sent someone to take them away. I haven't seen Wang Jingyu or Adela since after noon. That's good, it saves me from having her hanging around in front of me all the time and being a nuisance!"
They took...they took it away!
The two looked at each other, and saw a puzzled expression in each other's eyes.
In fact, Wang Jingyu and Adela became the No. 1 and No. 2 pilots of Fengyu and were undergoing secret special training.
After a half-hour meal and a short chat, Luo Xiaoli tidied herself up a bit and said she had to leave.
"No, I have to get back to the cockpit quickly. Jiang Cheng is coming back tomorrow, and the mecha might have to go to the Arctic with him, so there won't be much time for training."
"Is Jiang Cheng coming back?"
Zhao Xuerou immediately put her legs down from the chair and was about to stand up excitedly, her joy overflowing.
"You seem so happy?" Luo Xiaoli squinted at her, gave her a cold snort in her heart, and turned to leave.
Everyone is looking forward to Jiangcheng's return.
Upon hearing the news, Zhao Xuerou's appetite immediately returned.
Thus, the two timelines converge, arriving at Jiangcheng the following morning.
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