No Access Card, and You Still Want Ribs?
The gates of Flamebearers' Academy were grander than the bunkers of Lahai-Roi. The smooth metal walls gleamed coldly in the morning light, without a seam in sight.
Zhou Yu led the two women around to a landscaped area at the side, crouched down, and pointed to a corner of the wall.
"See that gap between the wall and the decorative pillar?"
Sigelica followed his finger. The gap was half a meter wide, so narrow even a cat would have had trouble squeezing through.
"It's a blind spot left over from modeling. There's a flaw in the physics engine's collision detection."
Zhou Yu sounded unreasonably certain.
"Sidestep along the base of the wall using a specific footwork pattern, and the main gate's identification and thermal scans won't detect you. You'll go straight into the inner plaza."
"Are you serious?"
Sigelica's voice rose.
"Flamebearers' Academy has the best security in all of Solaris. How could it have a flaw like that?"
"Shh."
Zhou Yu held up a finger.
"I've used this method to slip back and forth along this wall no fewer than eight hundred times. What do you think?"
"That just means you were lucky!"
"Be lucky eight hundred times and you can put it on your résumé as a core competency."
Dania wasn't paying any attention to the wall.
All she could think about was sweet-and-sour ribs—the glossy sweet-and-sour sauce coating them, the crisp, tender bite.
Dania: (﹃)
"Zhou Yu."
She tugged at his sleeve.
"Are the sweet-and-sour ribs sold in the plaza?"
"No."
Zhou Yu flicked her forehead.
"Second floor of Cafeteria No. 3, at Auntie Sweet-and-Sour's special counter. Get there late and there won't even be any sauce left."
"Then let's hurry."
"What's the rush? Let's get past the wall first."
He pressed himself against the icy wall and moved sideways, his posture awkward to the extreme.
"Follow me. Keep close to the wall and don't make a sound."
Sigelica's temples throbbed as she watched him.
Sigelica: (ㅍ_ㅍ)
"I'm a Sunspeakers trainee, and you want me to sneak into my own school by creeping along a wall with you?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"I have a student ID!"
"Can that student ID of yours get two unregistered people with no identity records through the turnstiles?"
Sigelica opened and closed her mouth, her face turning red.
Dania had already copied him and pressed herself against the wall. Her movements were clumsy, both hands clinging to the surface, but her gaze was unwaveringly determined.
"Yaya, wait!"
"But the sweet-and-sour ribs will sell out."
"It's only seven thirty in the morning!"
"Zhou Yu said if we got there late, there wouldn't even be any sauce left."
Sigelica's chest tightened with frustration. She gritted her back teeth and followed.
The three of them crept slowly along the wall in single file.
"Zhou Yu."
Dania spoke softly, pressed against the wall.
"Hmm?"
"Is it normal for us to be doing this?"
"Perfectly normal. This is the standard wall security inspection posture."
"But Xixi is grinding her teeth."
"She's excited. Her Sunspeakers combat instincts have kicked in."
"Shut up!"
Sigelica's voice came from the back of the line, so muffled it sounded as though water could be wrung from it.
They were almost past the last scan line. The plaza ahead was faintly visible, and victory was in sight.
Dania happily imagined the taste of sweet-and-sour ribs. The bowl of sweet soy milk in her stomach sensed its owner's joy and cheerfully produced a bubble.
"Burp~"
A clear, satisfied belch rang out, amplified several times over in the quiet corner.
Beep, beep, beep, buzz!
Rings of red light lit up the wall. Several gun barrels and scanners popped out overhead and on either side, all locking onto the three people at the base of the wall.
[Warning! Unauthorized organisms detected intruding! Repeat! Unauthorized organisms detected intruding!]
Two fully armed security teams closed in from the left and right. Their exoskeleton armor made the ground tremble with each step, and electric arcs flickered over their standard-issue weapons.
"Don't move! Hands on your heads! Get on the ground!"
The metallic voice blasted from a loudspeaker.
Zhou Yu was the first to raise his hands, his expression even a little relaxed, as if he were watching a show.
Dania huddled behind Sigelica, her hands still held in the position they'd been in against the wall, all ten fingers picking at the seams in its surface.
Sigelica froze, her head buzzing.
Sigelica: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
I'm done for.
The security captain stepped forward, his helmet scanner sweeping over their faces one by one.
Zhou Yu.
[Identity unknown]
Dania.
[Identity unknown]
When the beam landed on Sigelica's face, the terminal beeped and a bright green profile box popped up.
The captain looked up, amusement in his voice.
"Sunspeakers trainee, Sigelica. Student number SX-735."
He read it out word by word, then stared at her for two seconds.
"According to your file, you were sent to the Lahai-Roi Defense Line for a field internship a week ago."
Cold sweat ran down Sigelica's temple.
"Sir!"
She gritted her teeth and stood straight, her voice wavering.
"I completed my internship assignment ahead of schedule! We're conducting an on-site inspection and stress test of the security flaws around the academy!"
She puffed out her chest, doing her best to look more credible.
"Oh? Is that so?"
A cool female voice came from behind the security team.
The crowd parted of its own accord.
A woman in a neatly pressed professor's uniform stepped out. She wore gold-rimmed glasses, every strand of her hair was neatly in place, and she held a tactical tablet in her hand. Every step landed on the beat.
She was Professor Moning, the preparatory division's director of instruction, whom students privately called the walking credit-deduction machine.
Sigelica's face went pale in an instant.
"Professor Moning..."
Without looking at her, Moning swiped a few times on her tablet, pulled up an attendance sheet, and turned the screen toward her.
Bright red absence marks filled three consecutive days, painfully glaring.
"The internship report submitted by the frontline command at the Lahai-Roi Defense Line."
Moning looked up, the morning light reflecting off her lenses.
"Absent from work for three consecutive days, abandoned your post without cause, internship evaluation: under observation."
She took the tablet back.
"Would you care to explain how you completed your assignment ahead of schedule and still found time to test the academy's security?"
"Professor, there's a reason for this!"
"What reason?"
"There was an emergency at the defense line!"
"And once the emergency was over, the first thing you did was climb over your own school's wall?"
Sigelica opened her mouth, but couldn't get a word out.
Zhou Yu cut in from the side.
"Actually, it wasn't really climbing the wall. Technically, we were sidestepping."
"You shut up!"
Sigelica bared her teeth at him.
Moning glanced at Zhou Yu without taking the bait, then reached out, grabbed Sigelica by the collar at the back of her neck, and lifted her clean off the ground.
"To the academic affairs office."
"We'll take a good look at how to write your disciplinary report."
Sigelica's feet left the ground, and she kicked twice in the air.
She looked back and reached out pleadingly toward the only person in the crowd who might save her, her hand stretched out like Erkang's.
"Zhou... Yu..."
Zhou Yu stood where he was, hands in his pockets, not moving an inch.
He met her desperate gaze and very slowly gave her a solemn, resolute look.
Its meaning couldn't have been clearer: Go in peace. I'll make sure to keep a careful record of your breakfast bill for you.
Zhou Yu: (￣^￣)ゞ
The last light in Sigelica's eyes went out.
Professor Moning dragged her away, leaving only her sorrowful figure receding into the distance in the wind.
The alarm was lifted, the security personnel withdrew, and calm returned to the scene.
Only Zhou Yu and Dania, who hadn't understood what was going on from beginning to end, remained.
She stood there blankly for a while, then raised a hand and poked Zhou Yu's arm.
"Zhou Yu."
She looked up at him, her gaze clear and innocent.
Dania: ( ´･ω･`)
"Then... does that mean we won't get to eat sweet-and-sour ribs?"