"Wow, my king, you're amazing! When will I ever become as strong as you?"
Tong Yao tilted her head up, her eyes sparkling. At just 1.4 meters tall, she looked especially tiny under the lights in the observation station's corridor.
Li Chen glanced down at her.
"You're a hundred and fourteen," he said. "Could you stop talking to me like a thirteen-year-old?"
"But I really do admire you," Tong Yao declared, entirely unabashed. "You dealt with those three ugly things in the blink of an eye. When will I be able to do something like that?"
"They're materials now." Li Chen took the data tablet from her hands and scanned its records. "Materials don't need to be described as 'ugly.' They only need numbers: one, two, three. Label them properly, and don't mix them up."
Tong Yao pursed her lips, but still quickly changed a few words on the tablet.
"The Technology Institute said the demons' carapaces are harder than expected. The standard cutters need new blades.
The dark energy samples are already in the centrifuge. The doctor said processing all the data will probably take seven days."
Li Chen handed the tablet back, his tone level. "Tell them to take their time. Don't ruin the samples by rushing. Once these three are used up, there's no telling when we'll catch a second batch."
"Then... what about the thrusters?"
"We can't rush the thrusters either." Li Chen turned and headed deeper into the corridor. "We've already waited a thousand years. Another three days won't make a difference."
Mostly, the flow of time in this world made each day feel far too short to him. It was gone almost in the blink of an eye, with little sense that it had actually passed.
Tong Yao jogged after him, clutching the tablet