After a day of drinking at Zhang Zheng's house, the members of the Xiongbing Company all fell asleep on the floor by midnight. Zhang Zheng didn't bother with them; after all, they were all super soldiers and wouldn't catch a cold. Angel Leng simply carried Ge Xiaolun to her room, which earned her a suggestive look from Zhang Zheng. Feeling embarrassed by Zhang Zheng's teasing, Angel Leng ended up sharing a room with Zhixin instead, while Zhang Zheng slept on the sofa.
As for Liu Chuang, after witnessing what happened with Angel Leng, Lingxi wisely abandoned her idea of bringing him into her room. The remaining girls were placed in the last available room, while Zhang Zheng didn't pay any attention to the men, who were left to sleep on the floor. Zhang Zheng figured that since he himself was sleeping on the sofa, they could just tough it out on the ground.
In the morning, the members of Xiongbing Company gradually woke up. Zhao Xin and the others complained about having slept on the floor, but no one dared to make a fuss with Zhang Zheng since he was preparing breakfast, and they didn't want to risk missing out on it. As a result, Ge Xiaolun, who had the privilege of sleeping in Angel Leng's room, became the target of everyone's criticism. Ge Xiaolun felt quite awkward, especially when Rose saw him coming out of Angel Leng's room. The girls all looked at him as if he were a scumbag, knowing that Ge Xiaolun had always been pursuing Rose.
Although Ge Xiaolun had the Indestructible Body, he still felt hurt being looked at as a scumbag. However, no matter how stubborn or emotionally dense he was, he couldn't claim that it was all a misunderstanding and that Angel Leng's actions were one-sided. Otherwise, he really would come across as a scumbag.
"Lun, what's going on? Why is everyone looking at you like that?" Liu Chuang, being rather oblivious, only noticed after a while that everyone was giving Ge Xiaolun odd looks, though he couldn't quite understand why.
Ge Xiaolun didn't respond to Liu Chuang but instead turned his gaze toward Rose. "Uh, Rose," he began hesitantly, "if I said this was a misunderstanding, would you believe me?" Ge Xiaolun asked, looking at her with sincere hope, his face full of earnestness, like an innocent victim.
"Whatever, it's none of my business whether it's a misunderstanding," Rose replied coldly, not even looking at him, though Qilin noticed Rose's tightly clenched fists under the table.
Qilin felt a bit sympathetic toward Rose, but it was just sympathy. Everyone in Xiongbing Company knew about Ge Xiaolun's feelings for Rose, and Rose herself was aware of it too. Although Ge Xiaolun had confessed his feelings, Rose had always been a bit reserved and hadn't given him a clear answer. Now that someone else was interested in Ge Xiaolun, the group's mockery of him was just friendly teasing. Ultimately, who Ge Xiaolun liked was his own business, and they had no right to interfere.
"Lun, Rose, she..." Qilin seemed like she wanted to say something but ultimately kept quiet. Relationships are personal, and while they were friends, it wasn't their place to get involved. Though she wanted to help Rose, there wasn't much Qilin could do beyond offering silent support.
Ge Xiaolun, having hoped that Qilin would speak up for him, was left disappointed by her silence. He then looked around at his other comrades, only to find that no one would meet his eyes, each of them suddenly fascinated by Zhang Zheng's home decor. When his gaze fell on Zhixin, she gave him a warm smile.
"Lun, Cold Sister is already your guardian angel. Angels don't have any one-husband, one-wife rule. So even though Cold Sister is your future, if you like this girl named Rose, I think Cold Sister wouldn't mind. After all, she won't live past a thousand years anyway." Zhixin's smile was warm, and her words were pleasant to hear, especially for Ge Xiaolun as a man. However, perhaps this wasn't the best setting for such comments—especially with Rose right there.
Seeing Rose's flushed face, Ge Xiaolun wished he could disappear. Ge Xiaolun knew Rose well and understood that her reddened face wasn't from embarrassment but from anger. "What are you looking at? You can like whoever you want; it has nothing to do with me," Rose snapped when she noticed Ge Xiaolun staring at her again, clearly irritated.
Zhang Zheng, not involved in their gossip, simply watched the drama unfold. Angel Leng had already been sent away by him, knowing that if she had stayed, his house might have needed a full renovation afterward. "Zhixin, come here. Let Lun and Rose have a proper talk," Zhang Zheng called out to Zhixin, who was still speaking on behalf of Angel Leng.
The angels had many good qualities, but they'd been too sheltered by Keisha, especially those like Zhixin who had never experienced war. They didn't quite understand human emotions and relationships, focusing more on data and logic. Fortunately, thanks to Zhang Zheng's influence, Zhixin wasn't as data-driven as she used to be.
Realizing she'd said something wrong again, Zhixin nodded at Rose, apologized, and then walked over to Zhang Zheng. The other girls followed suit, giving Ge Xiaolun and Rose some space to talk alone. Even though the normally curious Goddess Rena seemed reluctant to leave, she eventually followed Qilin and Rui Mengmeng outside.
...
On the Giant Gorge, General Dukao wasn't upset about the Xiongbing Company staying out all night. While he'd only given them one day to celebrate, he'd reached an age where he could understand the kids' sentiments and wasn't angry. However, if he knew his daughter was facing one of the most significant decisions of her life, he might not have remained so calm.
"General Dukao, Zhang Zheng didn't reclaim those mechas; he really did give them all to the Huaxia military," Lianfeng reported as she approached Dukao. While the mecha warriors had reported that Zhang Zheng had given them the steel armor, Lianfeng had initially thought that, despite being a decent person, Zhang Zheng was also rather petty. She hadn't expected him to actually donate all one thousand suits of armor to the country.
"Are the mecha warriors back with their respective units?" Dukao asked, leaning back slightly to create more distance between himself and Lianfeng. She was standing a bit too close, and with regular soldiers nearby, Dukao didn't want any misunderstandings.
"Yes, the system has fully unlocked the use of the armor, and the warriors are now operating it themselves. But General, I have a question. Why didn't those mecha warriors help when the gluttonous attacked the Xiongbing Company?" Lianfeng wasn't bothered by Dukao's retreat. Her admiration for him was purely professional, not romantic.
Dukao found her question amusing. Although Lianfeng had been with him for over ten thousand years and had learned much about strategic deployment, when it came to training soldiers, she was still inexperienced. Almost every general who had watched yesterday's battle understood why Zhang Zheng had acted as he did, except for Lianfeng, who had been with him for millennia and still hadn't grasped Zhang Zheng's reasoning.
"Lianfeng, soldiers don't become good soldiers just because they've been trained," Dukao explained. "Without the baptism of fire, no matter how well-trained Xiongbing Company is, they're still just a bunch of rookies."
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