Evolution - Chapter 149
Chapter 149
Yu Zhiyao wasn’t the least bit angry.
Did she not know Ji Changqing? Not understanding was one thing, but she would definitely go home and secretly look it up, then giggle to herself for a long time.
But after she finished singing and came down, why was He Yi even more excited than Ji Changqing?
A torrent of praise followed:
“That was amazing!”
“Perfect!”
“Beautiful person, sweet voice!”
“So gentle!”
...
Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought this was a celebrity fan meet-and-greet.
Was this flattery incarnate? You’ve said everything I was going to say, what’s left for me to do? Ji Changqing forcefully pulled Yu Zhiyao to her side, adopting a posture that declared her sovereignty and looked down on everyone, powerfully blocking He Yi, who had transformed into a fangirl, from getting too close to her idol.
Only then did she ask with a look of surprise, “Hey, what are you doing here?” The words had barely left her mouth when she remembered He Yi saying years ago that she wanted to apply to the Academy of Sciences after graduation. She quickly added, “Wow, you actually got in.”
He Yi rolled her eyes at her, muttering, “So possessive, so petty!” Hearing Ji Changqing’s string of questions, she was momentarily stunned, then looked at Yu Zhiyao with an accusatory and deeply mournful expression.
She had been President Yu’s colleague for several years! They saw each other practically every day recently, but was this how distant they really were?
If they hadn’t run into each other by accident, would these two have ever remembered that there was someone here who knew them both and, she thought, had a tiny bit of a friendship with them?
Damn it! These two bastards who prioritize lovers over friends!
At times like these, Yu Zhiyao’s skin wasn’t as thick as Ji Changqing’s. But she was a superb actress. Pretending not to understand the accusation in He Yi’s eyes, she showed no sign of guilt and calmly extended an invitation, “Spend New Year’s with us?”
Ji Changqing was still marveling, “Yeah, yeah, let’s celebrate New Year’s together. What a coincidence, I had no idea you were here.”
He Yi thought about it and figured it made sense. Ah, forget it. What was the point of arguing with a couple like this?
In my eyes, there is only you and no one else, no room for even a speck of dust.
Standard procedure, standard procedure.
Having consoled herself, she cheerfully accepted Yu Zhiyao’s invitation!
Later, she went to show off to Zhong Lan and Lin Huang. “Ahhh! You have no idea who I ran into today!”
The two of them replied calmly, “Was it Her Majesty and President Yu?”
“?!” A large question mark hung over He Yi’s head, her heart aching beyond repair. So everyone knew but her! But she quickly rallied, determined to show off to the end. “President Yu even invited me to spend New Year’s with them.”
“Oh, Her Majesty told us that two days ago,” Zhong Lan and Lin Huang continued their calm replies. They had already had their moment of excitement two days prior; now, their hearts were as still as water.
“Hmph! I was personally invited by President Yu!” He Yi said indignantly. “I’m having dinner with them later!”
On the other end, Zhong Lan and Lin Huang just wanted to say, alright, alright, you’ve successfully shown off. You seem pretty proud of being a third wheel.
They had witnessed Ji Changqing and Yu Zhiyao’s clingy daily life back in the day. Did they ever show off? Kids these days really hated to lose.
It was only then that Ji Changqing found a moment to glance at her long-neglected comm, where she saw the message Zhong Lan had sent earlier, reminding her that He Yi was also here.
She muttered a few words. Now that they’d already run into each other, how could she not know?
After that Sunday, there was less than a week until the New Year’s holiday at the Academy of Sciences. Besides their research, everyone began to set aside some energy for award ceremonies and various year-end summaries.
Consequently, Yu Zhiyao became a little busier than before. She also found time to submit an application to bring Ji Changqing in for a micro-armor test, using the data from the test to make adjustments and modifications.
According to He Yi, this project was something Yu Zhiyao had approached her to co-develop two years ago. The design was based on the defensive artifacts from the cultivation world, which could provide all-around protection once activated. They were especially small, portable, and had a passive activation feature.
In fact, the Alliance had been conducting research in this area for many years; defense shields were a result of similar studies.
But the project Yu Zhiyao initiated was for micro-armor that integrated both offense and defense. To most people, this project probably seemed like a weaker, but more exquisite and portable, version of a mecha. If it could be successfully developed, it would at least significantly reduce material costs compared to a real mecha.
He Yi was brought into the project mainly because she had entered the cultivation instance with Ji Changqing during the game and achieved a perfect ending. Inside, true to her nature as a researcher, she had delved deep into things like artifact refining and formations.
Coincidentally, the instance Yu Zhiyao had entered was a much crueler god-cultivation instance, where she had barely survived until the end, scraping by to clear it.
The two of them had reviewed generations of Alliance research on the subject, eliminating all tested and unworkable methods, then repeatedly tested the remaining ones. Now, they had a preliminary completion of the defensive concept.
As for the offensive aspect, that was still unresolved. The main issue was that once the defense was strong enough to withstand powerful long-range attacks, any counterattack would also need to be a powerful long-range one, which was very difficult to implement. If they only equipped it with some high-damage close-range attacks, it didn’t seem very useful.
This made the offensive setting seem like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.
They were still researching how to solve this problem.
However, after the test, Ji Changqing, as a combatant, offered the group of non-combatants some advice. “In a long-range engagement, just being able to survive and escape with your life is already fantastic. Equipping it with some small, concealable close-combat weapons for self-preservation and ambushing enemies is enough.”
When you’ve just been handed your life back in a situation like that, what more could you ask for? The priority should be how to protect yourself after being seriously injured, not how to trade blows with the enemy—that heavy responsibility should be left to mechas.
The staff present noted down her feedback. Yu Zhiyao looked thoughtfully at the test data from earlier and subconsciously glanced at He Yi.
He Yi shuddered. That familiar expression was the prelude to overtime! She quickly interrupted Yu Zhiyao’s train of thought. “Let’s just write this down for now and try it out after the holiday, okay?”
Yu Zhiyao couldn’t help but chuckle. She deliberately teased her, putting on a pensive look and saying slowly, “Two days should be enough to separate the part originally designed to carry weapons, right?”
He Yi shook her head frantically. How could that possibly be enough? She had no desire to spend her New Year’s in the company of various formations and energy conversions. She tried her best to quash Yu Zhiyao’s dangerous idea of working overtime in its cradle. “No, the holiday is about to start, a few days won’t make a difference, right? Besides, Ji Changqing is here. Are you willing to leave her behind?”
“Her friends are arriving soon. They can have fun together.”
Ji Changqing and He Yi wore identical expressions of sorrow.
Yu Zhiyao sighed deeply, her face full of regret but her eyes hiding a smile. She decisively put away the data logbook. “Alright, we’ll deal with it after the New Year.”
On the twelfth day of Ji Changqing’s family visit leave, Xue Hong, Lin Huang, Qian Jing and her girlfriend, and a seven-year-old little bean arrived together.
According to Alliance law, the little bean should have taken Qian Jing’s girlfriend’s surname. However, her girlfriend wanted the child to use her other mother’s surname. After signing a series of required agreements, the little bean’s official name became Qian Cheng, with the nickname Duoduo.
It embodied everyone’s dream of getting rich overnight—Qian Duoduo!
Qian Cheng was very well-raised. She was a sweet and well-behaved seven-year-old who could already take care of herself quite well, making sure not to trouble the adults.
Everyone doted on this sole child of their generation. The little one loved making new friends and had a clear preference for the new over the old. She was already very familiar with Xue Hong and Lin Huang, whom she saw often, so she was quite curious about the three newcomers—Yu Zhiyao, Ji Changqing, and He Yi—and spent noticeably more time circling around them.
She could already tell who was single and who was part of a couple. After they all finished their New Year’s Eve dinner, full and satisfied, they sat in a circle to play games. She abandoned her two mothers, pattered over to sit next to Yu Zhiyao, and swung her short legs, asking Yu Zhiyao expectantly, “Auntie, can you two try a little harder and have a baby sister? I’ll take care of her and play with her.” She sighed, her tone world-weary. “All of you have friends, but I don’t have any playmates. I’m so lonely.”
Everyone was playing together, while she alone was as lonely as snow.
Her little expression was just too funny. Everyone burst out laughing, completely oblivious to the fact that this might touch a sore spot for President Yu—in their subconscious, none of them felt they had to have children, and things like differentiation failure and low fertility rates didn’t bother them at all.
Times had changed. Now, the baby-pushing brigade had even spread to the little ones.
Yu Zhiyao deadpanned as she misled the child, “That’s not how it works. Look, your two moms don’t have sisters, but they are each other’s playmates, right? They’re not lonely at all.”
Qian Cheng stared at her blankly, looking terribly wronged as she pressed her little fingers together. “So even if I have a little sister, I still won’t have a playmate?”
“That’s right,” Yu Zhiyao said, corrupting the youth without batting an eye. “You have to find your own playmates slowly. You have to like them, and they have to like you back. Auntie can’t help you with that.”
The little girl was very disappointed. She didn’t want to put in the effort; she just wanted a ready-made little sister.
When the New Year’s bells chimed, heralding the start of a new year, Ji Changqing and Yu Zhiyao dropped He Yi off at her place on their way home before slowly walking back to their own.
After a passionate interlude, Yu Zhiyao asked Ji Changqing, “Do you want children?”
In the darkness, her expression was indistinct. Ji Changqing chuckled softly, held her, and kissed her. “Just being with you is wonderful enough. Children don’t matter. I’ve never felt that my genes were so important they had to be passed down anyway.”
“Is that so?” Yu Zhiyao’s voice was unreadable.
Ji Changqing, afraid she was bothered by the differentiation failure and genetic conflict, said, “But whether we have children or not, the problem with your genetic conflict needs to be resolved as soon as possible. I’ll apply to transfer my merit points and contribution points to you. If we work together, we should have enough within ten years, right?”
“Maybe,” Yu Zhiyao replied, not particularly interested in the topic.
In truth, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with her current situation. So what if the differentiation failure and genetic conflict consumed her? She was no different now than she was before, except that she had gained several decades of life out of thin air. She thought it was quite good.
She liked the Alliance simply because the Alliance had given her the chance to escape her past, start over, and live freely according to her own will.
That was good enough.
She had no great desire to live any longer. This was also why she spent her merit and contribution points so lavishly without a second thought.
The pity and sighs people had for her were mostly to mock and attack her on Blue Star, and in the Alliance, it was mostly regret for the talent she displayed. Only with Ji Changqing did it seem purer; she simply hoped they could grow old together and didn’t want to be widowed at a young age.
Ji Changqing was clearly getting into the conversation, racking her brain for a solution. “Didn’t they say the worlds in the game instances are real? We can go find Big Sister!”
She looked as if relying on that powerful figure in the instance for nearly a century wasn’t enough, and now she wanted to bring her whole family along to freeload.
Yu Zhiyao couldn’t help but want to laugh. She felt that their Big Sister must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to end up with such a troublemaking junior sister who was so eager to sell her out.
She shifted, resting her head on Ji Changqing’s chest and nestling into her embrace, listening to her strong heartbeat. “Okay.”
She didn’t tell Ji Changqing that not long after He Yi joined the Academy of Sciences, once they had gotten to know each other, He Yi had enthusiastically offered up their powerful Big Sister from the cultivation instance. But she had used Academician Sith’s authority to look it up. That cultivation planet had collapsed and self-destructed in the sea of stars thousands of years ago.
Only a handful of people had been rescued and taken to other cultivation planets.
Whether their Big Sister, whom they trusted and believed to be omnipotent, was still around was now an unknown.
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