The two were seated at almost a perfect diagonal, the virtual round table separating them so much they were practically unapproachable.

Quentin Ford wasn’t surprised to hear Jasper Quinn ask this; after all, he had stayed behind of his own accord precisely to explain.

"You’re an excellent mentor in your own right; I just happen to admire your style," Quentin Ford said with a shrug. "Of course, you wouldn’t be wrong to assume I’m looking for political allies. I am, in principle, vehemently opposed to trivializing serious matters for the sake of entertainment."

"Even if the goal is to cultivate a positive public image, I’m not fond of this method. It’s too frivolous," Quentin Ford said with a smile.

"But you ought to be more careful next time. Don’t give them any more leverage against you." Quentin Ford delivered this with a meaningful look, then glanced at the time and smiled at Jasper Quinn. "Well then, if you’ll excuse me, I have another meeting to get to. I’ll take my leave now."

As his voice fell, his form distorted, and in the next moment, it completely dissolved into darkness, leaving Jasper Quinn alone in the meeting room.

With that, Jasper Quinn logged out of the meeting.

He sat silently in his chair, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Quentin Ford, who had left the meeting, did not go to another meeting as he had claimed. Instead, he addressed Justin Lewis, who was waiting by his side, "Did you find anything? Was the interstellar airship that left the military academy early this morning the one with Miles Sherman and the others?"

"There’s no solid proof yet, but from what we’ve gathered indirectly, it’s been a full day and no one from the squad has made an appearance."

Quentin Ford rose from his chair. "If I were Jasper Quinn, I’d have sent them away too. They’re all top prospects. Keeping them here would just be subjecting them to pointless suffering."

He walked to the window and opened it a crack. The air outside was fresh. "Find out where they went. We’ll have to deal with them in the future, won’t we?"

Justin Lewis nodded in acknowledgment.

"That Zoe Pierce you mentioned... I saw some of her video clips online." Quentin Ford tilted his head to look at him. "You have a good eye."

"She’s a good kid," he said.

He waved a hand, and Justin Lewis left the room.

*

「Half a month passed in a flash.」

Zoe Pierce stood before the mirror in her cabin, lifting her shirt to take a look.

In the mirror, the faint lines of muscle were now visible on her slender, fair waist.

Thanks to a scientifically tailored diet and relentless physical training, Zoe Pierce weighed a little more than when she first boarded the airship, yet she could feel her clothes becoming looser.

She was converting fat to muscle.

It wasn’t an exaggerated transformation at all. Her hand unconsciously traced her own faint ab lines...

’They’re kind of nice.’

Zoe Pierce liked them a lot.

A knock sounded on the cabin door. She pulled her shirt down and walked quickly to open it.

Miles Sherman stood outside. Looking up at Zoe Pierce, he said, "We’re almost there. Pack up and head out."

Zoe Pierce’s things were already packed away in her Space Button. Hearing him, she grabbed the Space Button and followed behind Miles Sherman.

It was a short walk from her cabin to the main lounge. Zoe couldn’t resist asking, "Are those two still giving each other the silent treatment?"

A trace of exasperation flashed across Miles Sherman’s usually composed face. "Yeah."

Ever since their private conversation that day, Chase Shaw and Nathan Lockwood had been giving each other the cold shoulder.

Zoe Pierce had been concerned at first, but after watching them for seven or eight days straight, her worry faded and was replaced by a sense of amusement.

’They’re both adults. How can they still be throwing tantrums like little kids?’ 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Even Erin Xavier was exasperated by it.

’Logically, if they were really that unhappy, couldn’t they just have a fight and get it over with? What is all this drama about?’

"We’re about to get off the airship... Maybe I should go try and coax them?" It was one thing to be sulking on the ship, but they were about to arrive on a strange planet. Zoe Pierce felt it was best for all five members of the squad to be getting along.

Miles Sherman raised an eyebrow at her. "How are you going to coax them?"

Zoe Pierce sighed. "I’ll give it a try. It’s not like they can go on like this forever."

These past few days, when she was alone with either Nathan Lockwood or Chase Shaw, everything was fine. Both of them acted normal. But as soon as the two of them were together, the atmosphere would suddenly change.

Sure enough, when Zoe Pierce walked into the lounge, she spotted Nathan Lockwood meditating with his eyes closed, while Chase Shaw was turned away, staring toward the hatch.

The two of them were clearly on the same sofa, yet there was a gap between them wide enough for three or four people.

Zoe Pierce sat down in the middle.

Soon, the airship landed.

The hatch opened, and the three instructors emerged from the control room. Mr. Troy stepped out first, followed by Miles Sherman, who glanced back at Zoe Pierce out of the corner of his eye.

Perhaps because she’d grown so familiar with them, Zoe Pierce no longer felt she had to walk on eggshells around Nathan Lockwood and Chase Shaw. As the two men stood up, she quickly linked her arms with theirs, one on each side, pulling them close.

Neither of them expected her move and were caught off guard as she looped her arms through theirs.

They looked down at her, only to hear her coaxing them in a tone one might use on children. "Alright, alright, stop being angry. Make up, make up."

Nathan Lockwood met Chase Shaw’s gaze, then let out an exasperated laugh at Zoe. "What do you think you’re doing?"

Zoe Pierce tilted her head up, her lovely, clear eyes fixed on him. "I want you two to make up! We’re on Siren Star now, so stop being angry, okay? You saw for yourself last time—there was no problem when my spiritual power linked with your Mecha."

"If you two keep this up, what are you going to do when we face Xenobeasts on Siren Star?"

Following Erin Xavier’s advice, she had spent the last few days testing everyone’s Mecha. Each one was a near-perfect match for its pilot’s spiritual power. Erin’s was a Light Mecha with visibly incredible speed.

Miles Sherman’s was like a Hexagon Warrior, with balanced stats, but his swordsmanship with the Light Saber was so masterful it left her breathless.

She had, of course, tried Nathan Lockwood’s as well, and it was nowhere near as bad as Erin Xavier claimed. In fact, she found its Perception-based controls surprisingly intuitive.

He could tell just by looking at her that she had no idea he and Chase Shaw were fighting over her.

Nathan Lockwood had also done some soul-searching lately.

’When did I start acting like a mother hen with her chick when it came to Zoe, just as Chase said? So protective that I couldn’t bear anyone else even looking at her.’

’Fundamentally, this was my problem.’

’And I was a little reluctant to admit it.’

Nathan Lockwood was silent for a moment. Zoe Pierce’s hand gently shook his arm, her clear, bright eyes reflecting his image. It clearly wasn’t her problem, yet here she was, trying to mediate between him and Chase Shaw.

"Sorry," Nathan Lockwood suddenly said to Chase Shaw.

At the apology, Chase Shaw’s eyes immediately snapped toward him. For a moment, a complex emotion flickered across the man’s fair, handsome face.

Chase Shaw replied in a deep voice, "No need."

His gaze darkened, falling to where Zoe’s hand held his arm. He felt a stir of unease. After all, it wasn’t as if he were completely innocent in all this either.