The night grew deeper.
The lights in the defense room building remained bright.
Before she knew it, Buzhihuo Huaye had fallen fast asleep on the office chair.
“Ugh… huff… huff”
She curled up sideways in the wide leather chair like a kitten, soft snoring sounds escaping her throat.
The city outside the window felt somewhat desolate near the border zone—
No noise, no bustling lights, only the quiet darkness of night.
Though a bit lonely, it created the perfect environment for the girl in the office to sleep soundly.
She slept deeply, brows furrowed, an irritated and annoyed expression on her face as if she was dreaming of something unpleasant.
“What did I do wrong… clearly… why pin it on… me… huff… huff…”
She mumbled like she was talking in her sleep.
The golden ring on her head flickered on and off, unstable—
As if even her halo flickered along with her consciousness during those hazy moments of sleep.
As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, Sensei saw Huaye’s tired and annoyed expression through the glass door.
Though he felt apologetic, he quietly announced his presence and then gently pushed the door open without waiting for permission.
He first unwrapped the bento he had bought and placed it on the desk.
Then he grabbed a seemingly unused enamel mug from the water dispenser, poured in instant coffee powder, added a bit of hot water, and shook it while stirring.
He walked to the desk, hesitated for a moment, set the cup on his side, and arranged the utensils.
Finally, he approached the still-sleeping Huaye and gently pushed her arm.
“Huaye… Huaye? Wake up. Bento and coffee are ready. Eat and then go back to sleep.”
Huaye frowned, turned slightly to the side, and let out an unwilling grumble from her throat, like she really didn’t want to wake up.
Sensei continued pushing her arm gently and called out in a soft voice.
“Huaye? Wake up… It’s almost eight. If you don’t wake up, your work today… sigh…”
The girl remained lying in the chair as if nothing was wrong, snoring deeply.
“Sigh, she really is worn out… Seems like Huaye doesn’t go on field missions much…”
Watching Huaye still wearing a contemplative expression even in her sleep, Sensei sighed quietly, lowered his head, and took a sip of the coffee in his cup.
“Eight… I’ll wait another hour and a half, then wake Huaye up.”
Rest for a bit and then work—though harsh, seeing Huaye so serious, Sensei felt this was the right thing to do.
“If I just ignore her and handle the documents myself… it’ll make Huaye really troubled, won’t it…”
Sensei took another sip of coffee, feeling the sticky sensation of undissolved coffee powder spread through his mouth.
Calmly, he pulled a pen from the pencil holder on the desk and picked a piece of paper.
“Then let me roughly think about what materials and information Huaye might need to quickly complete her report once she wakes up…”
He lowered his head, leaned forward, and started writing and sketching on the paper.
He didn’t know much, but he could help where he could.
Although Huaye would make the final report, he wanted to lighten the burden a little for this girl—
Sigh, he hoped she would forgive him for his unsolicited help, and also forgive him for not waking her up in time.
“Hmm… what to write… I’ll write about what I saw of the Helmet platoon’s defensive layout, the real time of their attack, and an analysis of the building situation inside that Black Market. A few buildings looked especially heavily guarded during the riot…”
If the office had an old-fashioned clock, it might have made a ticking sound while Sensei prepared the extra materials alone, keeping the office from being so quiet.
But unfortunately, Huaye’s office only had an electronic clock.
So, for an hour and a half, the only company for Sensei’s efforts to recall and the scratching sound of his writing was Huaye’s deep snoring and the rustling of her turning over.
The night grew even deeper.
The lights on the top floor of the defense room continued to flow warmly.
…
“Hua… same…”
Huff… huff… so tired so tired… don’t want to get up…
Her body seemed to seal her mind in a black box, preventing it from receiving any outside messages.
“Work… eight…”
Her weary consciousness instinctively resisted the desire to wake up, constantly reminding her of her body’s sorry state through stiff muscles and a throbbing head.
‘Can’t hear, can’t hear… I’m deaf, can’t hear… What cruel words… Can overtime even appear in dreams?’
‘Bento… eat… report… President…’
‘Ugh… report… damn it… President… troublesome…’
‘Sigh… what am I even going on about? I still have the report to submit to the President, I haven’t checked my subordinates’ work yet, and the advisor’s issues aren’t resolved. How can I keep sleeping here… Get up… now!’
Huaye struggled to open her eyes, squinting blankly at the upside-down world in front of her for a while before remembering she was lying on her side.
She slowly pushed herself up from the chair with one hand, but immediately felt numbness and trembling in her arm—
Her sleeping position was bad, and she had pressed on her arm.
Although her brain and body hadn’t started up yet, her nose instinctively caught the scent of food from its twitching.
Her dry lips were slightly moistened by the steam from the hot coffee in a cup that had somehow been placed on her desk, right in front of her face.
Her groggy thoughts struggled to function.
First, they registered the hot, fragrant food and coffee before her, then slowly awakened her reluctant consciousness.
A somewhat familiar voice came from beside her, gentle and with a hint of a smile.
“Huaye, you’re awake. On the desk are the bento I just reheated and freshly brewed coffee. If you don’t mind, please eat first before writing your report… I’ve written down what I saw this afternoon and left it on your desk. I hope it helps.”
She tilted her head, letting her slightly messy hair fall freely, staring at the man with confusion and bewilderment, her brows furrowed as if trying to recover her memories.
After a moment, she squinted, shook her head stupidly, and then tentatively spoke as if she had woken up a bit.
“Advisor? Was I asleep? What time is it?”
Sensei, standing by the office chair, was reading a document in his hand as he replied with slight apology.
“Yes, Huaye, you were asleep. It’s 9:30 PM now.”
But Huaye only stared blankly at the document in his hand, a bit puzzled and wary, and asked.
“Advisor, what are you doing now?…”
Sensei looked up, holding the document, and explained calmly.
“When I went downstairs earlier to tell the kids they could leave for the day, they handed me this guide to enrolling in various Kivotos schools. I thought, if I’m going to investigate a school, it would be best to know about them first.”
Huaye’s sluggish thoughts slowly bounced back.
Though hunger was constantly stimulating her nerves, she sharply caught the key point in the advisor’s words.
“Advisor, you let them go home?”
Sensei nodded, wearing an apologetic expression, and bowed his head briefly to say sorry.
Huaye turned her gaze back to the desk—
She hadn’t noticed before, but besides the steaming bento and coffee, there was a small stack of documents.
“Are those the results of their compilation?”
Sensei nodded, showing an apologetic smile.
Huaye didn’t know what to say.
She pinched her brow, feeling a bit cautious and slightly annoyed, with a touch of resentment.
She nodded at Sensei, turned her head, grabbed the stack of documents, and began checking them page by page.
Sensei watched Huaye just waking up, first looking at him with a slightly aggrieved and displeased expression, then nodding oddly before forcefully pulling the stack of documents toward her, puffing out her cheeks and glaring as she read through each page.
“Sigh…”
He sighed, feeling inexplicably weary.
Then he walked over, pulled the documents out of Huaye’s hands, and pushed the bento and coffee in front of her.
“Eat first.”
Huaye looked up and glared at him, then picked up the chopsticks laid out on the table—
Hmph! Just wait until I’m full, then I’ll hold you accountable.
…
In the end, that night the advisor simply explained: The kids came to submit their documents, and he roughly asked them if they had done checks for review, on-site confirmation, source verification, etc.
After confirming the data should be correct, he temporarily let them go home.
And Huaye believed it.
Well, that’s because she had no idea how to check the completeness and reliability of documents.
In her previous life, she was the one preparing data, always completing tasks by following regulations without thinking, so she didn’t know how a leader confirmed the validity of documents.
So, driven by that internal irritation, she complained a bit to the advisor, then awkwardly expressed that she understood his decision, and dropped the matter.
Ah.
Also, she had agreed with the advisor to go together tomorrow to the Sanctum Tower to submit the riot suppression report and the application for armed intervention in Abydos.
Daring to resell main battle tanks—
Huaye unilaterally considered that Abydos High School, which she had never even met, was asking for trouble.
According to the emergency report compiled by those kids, Abydos Academy’s finances seemed to be in a chronic deficit.
Their tax payments and funding in recent years were the lowest among all schools.
Selling the school’s main battle tanks to a company was probably to plug the financial hole—
Though it seriously violated Kivotos’s public security management law.
Its autonomy was also a mess.
Several Helmet squad attacks had occurred right on its border.
Some citizens even claimed they were attacked by an unknown giant machine while crossing the campus.
Tch, a complete mess.
Rotten.
If this spot check really finds problems, I’ll give them a bit of punishment.
Even the latest specific investigation report submitted was from years ago.
Neither the school’s current land area nor specific conditions had been updated.
For some reason, the other party had been consistently refusing investigation requests from the defense room and other departments.
But since the Federal Student Council itself didn’t bother with internal school affairs aside from disciplinary violations, only focusing on collecting taxes and such, and there were always more obvious suspected schools waiting to be investigated, it was left at that.
Although the advisor had some reservations about whether the defense room should intervene with armed force, suggesting a milder approach, Huaye still made the final decision to require armed accompaniment.
No other reason—
She was worried someone might harm the advisor or herself, especially the suspicious Kaiser.
Thinking this, Huaye worked overtime together with the advisor until 1 AM.