Knock, knock, knock.
A slightly hurried knock suddenly interrupted Professor Yao's torrent of words.
He waved the hand holding his pipe toward the door. "Come in."
The meeting room door opened silently, revealing a thin figure.
It was Dr. Du Zem.
"I came as soon as I got your message." The doctor glanced quickly at the others in the room. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but he hid it well and turned respectfully to Professor Yao. "But as you know, construction of Prime Body No. 2 is at a critical stage. I may not have much time..."
"It won't take long. Fifteen or twenty minutes is all I need."
Old Yao put his pipe in his mouth, took a puff, and drew a deep breath. "Phew... Barring any surprises, these three will be the pilots of the Special Configurations. Montria and Colma already know a little about them, so you mainly need to give Zheng Qing a quick explanation. You can do it here. He's pressed for time too—he still has a class to get back to."
Zheng Qing couldn't help glancing at Colma.
She stared straight ahead, looking as though she were lost deep in thought.
"Is something wrong?"
The professor could hardly pretend not to notice the young man's obvious glance. He blew out a cloud of smoke and chided him with a smile. "I'm the one who arranged your timetable. You can skip the teaching-assistant class, but are you planning to skip Clone Transformation too?"
Old Yao was the professor who taught Clone Transformation.
He had every reason to tell Zheng Qing to get back there promptly.
The young man smiled sheepishly and raised a hand a little. "We're going over it here? Vice Dean Colma just said she'd take me to see the Special