A barbecue dinner

Two hours later.

The multifunction workbench had been set up.

All kinds of raw materials had also begun arriving, one shipment after another.

By nightfall, pretty much all the necessary materials should have arrived.

Xu Fan did not wait. He got straight to work.

Once the machinery was built, it would all need to be connected to the preinstalled embedded fixtures and secured.

He needed to mark out the positions and install those fixtures in advance.

With personnel from all sides granting practically his every request for help, Xu Fan finished installing all the embedded fixtures before dark.

That kind of speed could be called a miracle.

Night fell.

Xu Fan went out to dinner with Wang Yixue.

To Xu Fan's surprise, Wang Yixue, a young lady from a wealthy family, was very interested in street food.

Grilled cold noodles, jianbing wraps, takoyaki... she tried them all.

A little foodie through and through.

Finally, they arrived at an open-air food stall.

They ordered a pile of barbecue. Xu Fan did not usually drink much, but he ordered a bottle of Brave the World too.

Wang Yixue wanted a bottle as well.

But Xu Fan stopped her. If they both drank, who would drive afterward?

The arms factory was over ten kilometers away. In the middle of the night, even a taxi would charge extra to go there.

They chatted casually as they ate their barbecue.

Wang Yixue apologized again for asking about Xu Fan's father in the car that day.

Xu Fan smiled and shook his head, saying it really was all right.

And he truly came to regard this silly little rich girl as a friend.

Delighted, Wang Yixue once again insisted on having a bottle of Brave the World.

They were good friends, after all. If they drank, they should drink together.

In the end, they only had one bottle each, but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Only when it was time to leave were they dumbfounded.

It was already eleven, and there were no taxis left.

Having drunk, they could not drive either.

Xu Fan asked the man running the barbecue stall,

"Sir, around here..."

"There aren't any guesthouses nearby!"

The owner cut Xu Fan off and answered.

The moment Xu Fan opened his mouth, the owner knew what kind of fart he was holding in.

Beside him, Wang Yixue's face instantly flushed red.

She looked at Xu Fan.

He couldn't really be thinking about that sort of thing, could he?

I've never done it before.

This is so embarrassing...

Xu Fan was stunned too.

What was up with this owner? What nonsense was he imagining?

He hurried to explain,

"No, sir, I wanted to ask whether there are any nearby..."

"No hotels either!" The owner curled his lip.

He glanced at Xu Fan and Wang Yixue.

Then he sighed and shook his head.

He muttered,

"Young people these days grow up too fast!"

"Barely eighteen, and they already know everything."

"Not like back in our day. At eighteen, we didn't even dare hold hands... sigh!"

Xu Fan's mouth twitched. Was something seriously wrong with this barbecue guy?

Damn it, do I look like someone that shallow?

"Sir, I wanted to ask if there are any taxis nearby."

"Why keep pretending? Tch! No!!"

The owner rolled his eyes at him.

He gave him a look any man would understand.

Xu Fan and Wang Yixue stood by the road near the barbecue stall, sighing helplessly.

Wang Yixue kept pinching the hem of her clothes with her little hands.

Her thoughts could not help wandering.

This little town doesn't even have designated drivers or taxis.

What do we do?!

Or maybe we could walk a little farther and see if there's a guesthouse.

But if there's only one room left, would we have to...

Meanwhile.

At Zhonghai Research Base.

Deep into the night, a beam of dark red light blazed from the eyes of the Crimson Sky No. 2 mecha.

A rapid series of alerts immediately sounded.

[All control units normal]

[Beam weapons not mounted]

[Dragoon System not mounted]

[Current piloting mode: master]

[Quick start complete]

[Crimson Sky No. 2, deploy!]

A burst of flame erupted from Crimson Sky No. 2's back, and it shot into the sky.

Tong Yao's gaze was steady, her eyes determined.

She carefully thought through the piloting methods Xu Fan had taught her.

She practiced, then practiced some more.

The military exercise commendation ceremony was the day after tomorrow.

The head of the Southeast Theater Command would come in person to watch the mecha's simulated combat operations.

Wang Yixue was already fairly proficient, while she had started relatively late and could only make up for it by practicing more.

Just then, her phone suddenly rang.

The call successfully connected to the mecha's holographic helmet.

To her surprise, Wang Yixue's voice came from the other end.

"Xiao Yao, are you busy right now?"

"Well..."

Braking sharply, Tong Yao brought the mecha to a stop in midair and said earnestly,

"I suppose I'm not? What's wrong, Yixue? Do you need something?"

"It's nothing much. Could you come pick us up?"

Wang Yixue sounded a little bashful.

"Sure. Send me your location."

"Mm-hmm! Thank you, Xiao Yao. I'll send it right now!"

A location message was received by the mecha immediately afterward.

"Okay, I'll be there in five minutes!"

Tong Yao yanked the control stick, and the mecha flew toward the marked location.

After hanging up, Wang Yixue told Xu Fan happily,

"Don't worry. Xiao Yao said she'd come get us, and she'll be here in five minutes."

"Where is Tong Yao that she can get here in five minutes?" Xu Fan asked in puzzlement.

"I don't know. She asked me to send her our location, then said she'd be here in five minutes."

Xu Fan said no more.

But an astonishing guess arose in his mind.

How could any ordinary means of transportation get here so quickly?

Could Tong Yao be...

The thought had barely occurred to him when he saw a streak of blue flame cut across the night sky.

Beside him, Wang Yixue looked delighted and said excitedly,

"Wow, a shooting star!"

"Shooting star, my ass! That's Tong Yao coming to pick us up in the mecha!"

"Oh..."

An enormous humming sounded overhead.

The barbecue stall owner had just packed up his stall when he heard the frightening noise.

He hurried outside and looked up, shaken to his core.

An enormous humanoid mecha was giving off a heart-quaking hum as it slowly descended onto the road in front of his barbecue shop.

Then the steel monster grabbed the young couple from earlier and vanished into the night with a deafening sonic boom.

The barbecue shop owner was dumbfounded.

His legs were already trembling uncontrollably.

His jaw shook, his breathing grew ragged, and a rooster-like crow escaped him.

Just then, his wife came out of the building too.

Looking puzzled, she asked,

"What's going on? What was all that noise? I thought it was an earthquake!"

The owner stared blankly and murmured,

"Honey, I think I just saw that young couple get abducted by aliens!!"

His wife sent a slipper flying into his face.

"Have you fucking watched too much of The Wandering Blue Star Part Two?! Get back in here and go to bed!"

Xu Fan did not return to the research base. Instead, he went back to the arms factory alone.

There were few people around at night and no one to disturb him. It was the best time to work.

"Super God Technology Workbench, let's go!"