Ye Wenlin rolled on the sofa, laughing like a dog, his impeccably neat shirt now wrinkled from his own doing, completely ignoring Fu Luo's murderous gaze.

"You, went to work for that guy on TV who teaches people how to dress and put on makeup, only to find out the customer in urgent need of grooming is your future boss," Ye Wenlin wiped away the tears from laughing, "You really have rotten luck."

"The one needing grooming is the leader's mother." Fu Luo stared at him for two seconds. She wasn't one to be sharp-tongued, but she always couldn't help but make an exception in front of Ye Wenlin. Like now, she couldn't help but slowly add, "Also, senior brother, you know what? Sometimes you're really despicable."

Ye Wenlin cleared his throat, "So what did you learn these past few days among the beauties?"

Fu Luo fell into an eerie silence.

Ye Wenlin: "What's wrong? Say it."

Fu Luo: "...Repairing work robots."

Before she finished speaking, she suffered another round of Ye Wenlin's merciless ridicule.

That incredibly unlucky day passed. Not long after getting off work, she received a call from Ye Wenlin. This shameless senior brother had just finished a mission and was returning to Earth for a break. He shamelessly asked Fu Luo to come over on the weekend to help him with something.

Although this guy was a complete scoundrel, he was really capable. On one hand, Fu Luo felt he was a real bastard when he acted like one, but on the other hand she couldn't help but admire him a little. This made her deeply despise herself each time, while being taken advantage of like a sucker by Ye Wenlin.

After he finished laughing, Fu Luo asked expressionlessly, "You invite me over to help, but first launch a mental attack on me. May I ask what kind of mentality is this?"

Ye Wenlin said frankly, "Not taking advantage makes one a fool, not having fun makes one a bumpkin."

Fu Luo: "..."

"You're really not a good person at all." Fu Luo stood up, picked up her still empty briefcase and walked out.

"Hey, wait wait wait!" Ye Wenlin lunged and grabbed the corner of Fu Luo's clothes, "I really do need your help with something, it won't be for nothing!"

Fu Luo paused her steps.

"Really, I swear on my character, just a bit of manual labor, the pay is generous!"

Of course Fu Luo didn't believe him, because this person surnamed Ye never had a thing called morals to begin with. However, she had been enslaved by Ye Wenlin for so many years that she had long developed a habit of being abused. She finally turned around and sat on the low stool sofa in Senior Brother Ye's home, "Speak."

"Help me move." Ye Wenlin said, "I plan to move into the 'Dagger' headquarters. You just need to help me get my things to the ground transport vehicle, it already has the route set and will deliver it back for me."

"As for the payment..." Ye Wenlin's gaze swept around the room. Finally, he pulled open a cabinet, and what was inside made Fu Luo sit up straight.

"The most complete collection of classic battle cases from ancient times to the present, both domestic and foreign, with detailed archiving. Some of the older ones are even in paper versions. Each case includes commentary from at least three famous generals or military experts, as well as some of my personal views. These are all in my head now, and now they're yours."

The four linked questions of "Is Dagger going bankrupt? Not paying salaries? Have you gone crazy from being broke? Can't you just hire a moving robot?" were decisively buried in Fu Luo's own stomach the moment she saw these things. She looked up with an unusually enthusiastic smile, "When do we move?"

A whole day later, Fu Luo plopped down on the now empty floor of Ye Wenlin's home, flexing her sore muscles—she was a military school student, not a heavy lifter. Being ordered around by that despicable Ye all day to do this and that was a great physical and mental abuse of sorts.

However...

Fu Luo's gaze swept over the things Ye Wenlin had agreed to give her, which had already been packed up and neatly placed in the corner of the wall.

"Forget it," Fu Luo thought bitterly to herself in self-consolation, "In the end, I would have helped even without getting anything. At least the gains aren't small this time."

...This masochist was trying hard to imagine the rewards disproportionate to the labor as a pile of pies falling from the sky, calming her unbalanced state of mind.

Ye Wenlin took the last two drinks out of the fridge and handed one to Fu Luo—the two bottles were naturally stuck together, sure enough it was another buy one get one free deal.

Fu Luo took it suspiciously, carefully searching around the mouth of the bottle for an expiration date, but was surprised to find that it hadn't expired yet. She asked in some astonishment, "I can drink your water while I'm still alive? Has the Earth's rotation direction reversed?"

Ye Wenlin ruffled her spiky hair, "Be more magnanimous, don't be so mean."

Fu Luo paused, then looked up sincerely, "I think there are really not many people in this world more magnanimous than me."

Then, she surveyed Ye Wenlin's now emptied house—the fake windows displayed lifelike scenery, the owner could customize it to any scene they liked, forests, cities, deserts, grasslands, even underwater... The nanomaterials on it would display corresponding dynamic photos, giving one the illusion of being immersed in the scene.

But it was just an illusion after all. The length of those dynamic pictures was limited. After playing once, it would just replay from the beginning. Staring at it for a long time, no matter how detailed the pixels were down to the nanoscale, it would still appear rigid and fake.

That's right, Ye Wenlin lived underground.

The population was decreasing while the per capita land area was increasing. However, this did not mean that the "housing for residents" that people dreamed of in ancient times could be realized. At some point, whether one "lived above ground" or "lived underground" became a distinct class division.

The high-rises above ground were left with only public institutions and office buildings. All residential housing was changing from high to low. After hundreds of years of changes, it had developed to the point where one above-ground residence was equipped with a park. Villas and small courtyards were the worst above-ground housing, while mansions and large courtyards were the main components. There were even more luxurious ones, too numerous to list.

Under people's endless extravagance and indulgence, land resources were still extremely scarce, and every inch of land was still worth an inch of gold.

The vast majority of people could only own a set of their own property underground in their lifetime.

Even for elite-level space service personnel like them, whose salary levels are almost the highest among their peers, if they are just starting out without the support of a wealthy family or decades of accumulated wealth, it is impossible to afford an above-ground residence.

"Are you planning to stay in the unit's apartment and rent out your home?" Fu Luo asked.

Ye Wenlin sat beside her, "I sold my house."

Fu Luo was surprised. She knew that Ye Wenlin had bought this house after scrimping and saving for six years of manuscript fees and school subsidies. You should know that underground housing is also divided into three, six and nine grades. Ye Wenlin's home had a good location, convenient transportation, exquisite construction, and the underground solid noise pollution was also very well handled. It was considered the best of the underground houses and was not cheap at the time.

"Why?"

"Because I probably won't have much chance to come back and live here in the next few years," Ye Wenlin said, "If I don't come back all the time, it's not convenient to take care of the house and it's not good to rent."

Fu Luo keenly heard something else in his tone, "You mean..."

"The war is coming soon." Ye Wenlin said.

Fu Luo was startled for a moment. Then she realized that although Ye Wenlin was not a very good person, he was definitely not a loose-lipped person who would casually talk about military secrets. So there couldn't be any formal orders, and he most likely deduced it himself through some bizarre clues.

"With whom?" Fu Luo put down her drink bottle, "Space pirates? Passing aliens? Or..."

Ye Wenlin shook his head, "None of those matter. What we need to worry about is always our own neighbors."

"You mean..." Fu Luo paused and lowered her voice involuntarily, "Humans."

"Yes, humans from the other star system."

When human activities in space gradually increased to a certain level, they finally had the ability to send effective messages to the vast space. Two hundred and fifty years ago, they began to contact aliens one after another. Just like the era of great navigation in ancient times made people realize the existence of other continents, what was surprising was that other than the original registered residents of the Earth, there were also a few of unknown origin in their star system.

It was only after that that human footsteps began to expand to the entire solar system. Two hundred and one years ago, the first space transit supply station in the solar system appeared, followed by the space Alliance forces sent by various countries as escorts.

The early space Alliance forces were not very good in terms of equipment, scale or combat awareness, which directly led to the inability to withstand the invasion of the space exile forces one hundred and sixty years ago.

At that time, some Earthlings fled, while others remained on their home planet to resist stubbornly, turning the originally one-sided invasion war into a protracted war of attrition.

For a full sixty years, Fu Luo's grandmother was born in the great war a hundred years ago, so she was called the "generation of war".

When the invaders retreated due to insufficient supplies after tempering a space bayonet for mankind through long-term suffering, various countries already had a complete space defense system. At the same time, humans who fled during the war drifted to an asteroid less than a light-year outside the solar system. People used technology to stay on that asteroid in horror, took root, and have since been called "humans from the other star system".

"The ancestors of humans from the other star system, who deserted in the face of the enemy at that time, were not only people and materials," Ye Wenlin said softly, "but also the cutting-edge military technology of various countries at that time. In terms of military strength alone, they have the ability to fight against us. They formed their own government and went through the most difficult times, but after finally simulating the ecosystem, they quickly turned from allies to infighting. So far, their domestic economic monitoring data shows that the country is already in chaos. Unfortunately, the victor of the recent factional struggle is an idiot from the Hawk faction. He has no choice but to start a war."

Fu Luo thought for half a minute and humbly asked, "I didn't understand. Why does he have no choice but to start a war?"

Ye Wenlin turned his head and suddenly asked without a trace, "Does your admission notice tell you to report to the Second Department? Did it say what you should do?"

Fu Luo shook her head.

Ye Wenlin said "Oh", his slender fingers lightly tapping the half-empty drink bottle, thinking for a moment, "I have seen your internship evaluation in the Third Department. Old Cao gave you a high score, seemingly excellent?"

Fu Luo's eyes lit up, "So where can I go?"

Ye Wenlin said slowly, "You should be assigned to the General Staff of the Second Department when you first graduate. They happen to need a batch of service soldiers."

"Ah..." Fu Luo was visibly disappointed.

Ye Wenlin laughed, "What are you 'ah'-ing about? Not everyone who wants to enter can enter. First, your personal qualities are good. Second, I heard that your mother has some connections with the logistics people, and your father..."

Fu Luo interrupted him expressionlessly, "Don't mention him."

"Tsk, what do adult matters have to do with you?" Ye Wenlin complained, and readily changed the subject, "Otherwise, where else do you want to go?"

Fu Luo said without thinking, "I also want to go to the 'Dagger'."

Ye Wenlin was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he laughed silently, "Dagger? What's so good about the Dagger? If there is a war, the Dagger is the absolute vanguard, a place where you have to risk your life. Since the day the Alliance was established, the starting point for every real officer is to do odd jobs in the General Staff. By their side, your thinking will rise to a higher level. Isn't that better than going to the front line? Besides, what's so fun about the front line?"

Fu Luo frowned, "I don't want to be an official."

Ye Wenlin: "When the leaders were your age, they probably hadn't started thinking about it either. You don't need to be in a hurry... Well, except for Yang Ning."

"Colonel Yang Ning?" Fu Luo hurriedly asked, "You know him?"

"Met a few times." Ye Wenlin hesitated for a moment, "He... he has a good reputation. It is said that he is very reasonable. Because he is relatively young, his thinking is very flexible. He can also listen to others and has a relatively easy-going temper. Under him, your days should not be too hard."

Fu Luo lost her spirit, "Yes, the other day he kindly praised me for spending my vacation very creatively."

She didn't want to do boring errands under a seemingly smooth "dough" at all. It would be better to repair robots in Uncle Luo's office.

Ye Wenlin didn't pay attention to her implied complaint, seeming lost in thought for a moment, then uncharacteristically spoke seriously to return to his own topic: "You can learn more from him, but be careful when dealing with him. Don't be presumptuous just because he seems good-tempered, and don't get too close."

Fu Luo was stunned.

This time Ye Wenlin didn't explain, only saying in a frivolous manner: "You should remember the advice given by your elders, kid, and don't always have so many questions - look at the time, if you don't kneel down and say goodnight soon, are you planning to treat me to dinner?"

Fu Luo decisively picked up her "reward" and prepared to retreat. When she reached the door, she remembered again: "You still haven't told me, why do you think the other star system's humans will go to war with us?"

"Because..." Ye Wenlin opened the door for her, saying in a tone like a sage saving the world, "this is the difference between a genius and an ordinary person."

Bah.

Fu Luo turned and left.

"Oh, right," Ye Wenlin suddenly called out to her very seriously, then continued just as seriously amidst Fu Luo's expectant look back, "I've been meaning to ask, what's with your Batman getup?"