Alien Zoo, staff cafeteria.
A folding tablet was propped up on the table, streaming an online class.
The teacher was Katerina. She had been pregnant for a long time, and her belly was enormous, but her dedication was plain for all to see. Afraid that confinement after childbirth would delay her lessons, she had recorded a huge number of math classes in advance and uploaded them to Former University of Science and Technology's Campus Network for free. Anyone who wanted to listen could do so.
But it was obvious that not everyone could understand the classes Katerina taught herself.
Zhao Yiyi listened to the lesson while eating skewers, her face twisted in agony. It was as if what she had put in her mouth wasn't sizzling, glistening lamb skewers, but salt-baked bitter melon mixed with mustard.
When she reached a crucial point, she waved her hand to the left at the screen, rewinding the progress bar by three minutes.
Katerina's voice came from the tablet:
"Obviously, the value of x here is..."
"It follows that the result of Equation 3 is..."
"We note that the range of motion of Point P..."
Zhao Yiyi raised her little hand again and waved it toward the left side of the screen.
"Obviously, the value of x..."
"It follows that the result of Equation 3..."
"We note that Point P..."
After listening to it, the agony on her face hadn't diminished at all. She waved toward the left side of the screen again.
"Obviously..."
"It follows..."
"We note..."
Wave, wave, wave...
"Are you stuck in a time loop? You've been listening to these three minutes over and over! Has your brain stopped working?"
A familiar voice came from behind her. A hand reached over and tapped the screen, bringing the endlessly lecturing Katerina to