Zoe Pierce, suspecting nothing, vaulted up from beneath the mecha.

She heard Erin Xavier let out a whistle of praise. "Zoe Pierce, you’re getting more and more impressive."

At first, she’d been awkward with these maneuvers, but now her movements were seamless. Every action, paired with the look on her face, was a joy to watch.

Zoe Pierce accepted Erin Xavier’s compliment completely, raising an eyebrow. "Otherwise, would you guys have been training me for nothing all this time?"

That was true. Four S-Class Alphas as personal, on-call instructors—only Zoe Pierce could command such treatment.

In all his years, Erin Xavier had never been this attentive, not to an Alpha, let alone an Omega.

Once Zoe Pierce buckled her seatbelt, Erin Xavier grinned at the others over the channel. "Well then, I’m heading out. You guys better catch up quick."

With that, he didn’t wait for a response, shutting off the channel and looking at Zoe Pierce. "Ready, Zoe Pierce?"

Zoe Pierce nodded at him.

The mecha shot forward like a falcon, its thrusters firing. The Light Mecha’s speed climbed steadily—fifty percent, eighty percent...

Erin Xavier turned his head to the side to look at Zoe Pierce. "Doing okay?"

The mecha left little more than a white streak across the sky before vanishing in an instant. Even with nearly eighty percent of the sound dampened, a faint roar remained.

Erin Xavier’s mecha used more shock-absorbing material than the others. Even at this speed, Zoe Pierce didn’t feel any discomfort.

In a flash, the two of them arrived over the ocean.

The azure sea glittered under the sun like a blue jewel.

She looked down and asked Erin Xavier, "Can we dive down and give it a try?"

Her expression made it clear she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Erin Xavier gave a hand signal. A moment later, his spiritual power sent the mecha into a steep dive. Just as it was about to plunge into the sea, it abruptly pulled up.

Just then, a giant beast surfaced from the depths to breathe, spouting a cloud of mist. At extreme speed, Erin Xavier’s mecha shot straight through it.

Droplets of water splattered against the mecha before rolling off and back into the sea.

After the thrilling maneuver, Erin Xavier noticed Zoe Pierce’s eyes and lips were curved in a smile.

"Zoe Pierce, if you had to rank the few of us, who do you think is the best to you?" Erin Xavier asked suddenly, clearly aiming to catch her off guard.

His face was full of smug pride. "You don’t even need to rank me. After showing you such a good time today, I’m definitely number one."

Zoe Pierce didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’Who even says things like that?’

"I’ve noticed you’ve been getting pretty close with Chase and Miles lately. Was it because of the late-night snack the other day?" Erin Xavier continued on his own, as if he didn’t need Zoe Pierce’s answer. "That day, Chase and I were heading back when we ran into Miles. We asked him to go buy some barbecue. Later, they told me you had some too."

He paused deliberately and, as expected, heard Zoe Pierce nod. "Mhm, it was delicious."

"Did Chase bring it to you?" he asked, his eyes darting toward Zoe Pierce.

Zoe Pierce subconsciously recalled Chase’s words about wanting her to try it, and her eyelashes fluttered.

"I guess so," she said.

Erin Xavier raised an eyebrow at her. "It either is or it isn’t. What’s this ’I guess so’?"

When he started pestering like this, he was really a bit much to handle.

Zoe Pierce gave a helpless smile. "I waited with Chase for Miles to bring it that day."

Erin Xavier looked thoughtful. "Why does it seem like Chase is guarding against Miles so intensely now? He’s even more extreme than I am."

But it was Nathan Lockwood who had told him to say that.

If Nathan hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have even paid attention to these things.

’Do manipulative people always observe others like this?’

’It’s as if no secret can escape Nathan Lockwood’s eyes.’

"I don’t think Miles is acting weird toward you or anything. Isn’t he just being normal?"

Hearing this, Zoe Pierce found herself agreeing. "I think so too, but Chase always thinks I’m at a disadvantage. He keeps saying I lack an Omega’s self-awareness."

She asked quietly, "Is my Omega common sense really that bad?"

Erin Xavier glanced at her. It was hard to say. After losing her memory, Zoe Pierce was less like an Omega and more like a Beta.

And with the problem with her glands, the resemblance was even stronger.

Erin Xavier changed the subject, accidentally stumbling upon a key point. "How’s the recovery of your glands? We were talking about having you go to Nathan’s place for a check-up, but then we ended up coming straight to Siren Star."

Zoe Pierce’s hand instantly went to the back of her neck, but she quickly realized she had overreacted.

She pursed her lips and changed the subject. "There was a small issue before, but I’ve already been to the infirmary."

Erin Xavier hadn’t known about this.

’Zoe Pierce went to the infirmary alone?’

Erin Xavier asked, "Do Miles and the others know? Zoe Pierce, an Omega’s gland problem is no small matter."

Although it probably couldn’t get any worse, Erin Xavier thought of the comments online, frowning as he added a word of caution. He didn’t want to see anyone attack Zoe Pierce over this again.

She was recovering! Not crippled.

"They know. They all know... It’s fine now." Zoe Pierce remembered not to mention the marking.

Erin Xavier had pretty much asked everything he needed to.

He didn’t see the connections between the pieces of information, but that didn’t matter. Nathan Lockwood would analyze it all. Erin just needed to know the final result.

Erin Xavier glanced at the red dots on the Intelligent Brain that represented Miles and the others, then narrowed his eyes. "They’re about to catch up. Let’s floor it!"

The mecha accelerated again. Unsurprisingly, when Miles and the others arrived, they saw Erin Xavier squatting on the ground, waving at them. Zoe Pierce stood beside him and, upon seeing them, tilted her head and offered a small smile.

Mission accomplished.

Nathan Lockwood’s gaze met Erin Xavier’s. Seeing Erin flash a toothy grin at him, Nathan’s own lips curved slightly in a rare smile.

* 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

「Planet B36.」

Night had fallen. Convoys of transport vehicles snaked through the darkness, dozens of them making their way to a military base. After passing inspection, they entered slowly.

Two Beta supervisors checked the ore in the vehicles. As a robot moved a load into the warehouse, the data updated automatically.

Once all the Energy Mine was unloaded from the vehicles, another group of specialized robots lifted individual chunks of the ore and headed deep into the mountain range.

The inside of the cavern was clearly reinforced with a special metal. To the naked eye, the mountain had been almost completely hollowed out, resembling an anthill with countless "worker ants" moving toward the center.

When the robots reached the central location, they entered a massive assembly laboratory. Dozens of Betas in research uniforms were busy calculating figures and analyzing data from the ore.

At the very center of the room stood three or four skeletal frames that resembled mecha.

"No, that formula is wrong. If we build it like that, it’ll just fall apart from structural instability like H-125."

"This approach is good. Let’s consider... linking the brainwaves via a patch. What about the wavelength?"