Annie took a full two hours to finish her meal.
For Shi Qiang, who usually finished a meal in no more than five minutes, that was naturally unbelievable and incomprehensible. As he grumbled from the side, "Who the hell would eat like that on a battlefield? The enemy would probably have reached our command post before they were halfway done!"
Annie, however, wasn't at war, so she certainly didn't need to eat as if she were.
She took her time, occasionally shooting a smug little sideways glance at Uncle Shi, who was growing impatient but couldn't very well rush her. She seemed to enjoy watching him get worked up with nothing he could do about it.
Two hours later, she was finally full. She wiped her mouth, hopped down from her chair, and followed him to a heavily guarded little airport on the outskirts of the park district. They boarded a military transport plane with a somewhat luxurious interior, then took off at high speed under escort from several advanced fifth-generation fighter jets, heading for some unknown destination.
By the time half a day had passed, Annie was getting a little sleepy. She had spent the whole flight curled up in a seat more comfortable than a child's car seat, happily playing an offline game. At last, the plane reached a heavily guarded island airport.
But that wasn't their destination. It was only a stopover.
Soon!
After landing, refueling, and picking up a group of strangers who hurried aboard, the plane took off again in a rush. Escorted by another group of fighter jets, it roared toward some unknown place.
"..."
Once the plane was cruising steadily, one of the newcomers who had boarded along the way—a man in his late twenties, perhaps nearing thirty, with a slightly cynical and