Chapter 1 The Academy's Food

The Imperial Central Military Academy was a boarding school, and for freshmen, they could only leave campus for a break once a month, at least during their first academic year.

Therefore, Mingmei and Lu Xiaoyao's dining location was still the school cafeteria.

Late at night, the school cafeteria wasn't too crowded. Quite a few people sat together in small groups, eating and chatting, and the two of them, sitting in a corner eating, didn't attract much attention.

Mingmei ate while resting her cheek on her hand, looking elsewhere. She unintentionally overheard people around her whispering, many of whom seemed to be discussing the same topic.

"Ah, my favorite director is making a comeback, oh my god!"

"Who is it? Holy crap! What's going on? He posted an account on Star Blog!"

"Yeah, I heard his daughter, who's been in a vegetative state for over a decade, woke up. Didn't he just post on Star Blog? It's been over a decade and this is his first post, so fans are all asking him if he's making a comeback? And he replied 'yes'!"

"I can't wait! His old thriller movies were so good!"

...

Fragments of voices reached Mingmei's ears. As an old soul, she silently absorbed these topics, and then—[Ghost, help me search for information about this director called Durant.]

Having been in this world for so long, she hadn't had much exposure to entertainment news. If the surrounding conversations were all roughly revolving around this person, it meant that this director must be very impressive. This kind of information was worth knowing.

At least, she wouldn't be at a loss for words if she had to chat with someone.

With this thought, Mingmei raised her eyes and glanced at Lu Xiaoyao in front of her, only to see that she was working hard at her meal, seemingly unaffected by the outside world.

The way she ate was really similar to how she was in the game.

It looked so delicious and appetizing.

Lu Xiaoyao's tray contained: two pieces of grilled star beast meat the size of an adult man's palm, a plate of vegetable salad, a glass of juice, a bowl of mashed potatoes, and three small cakes.

Mingmei's appetite wasn't big; for dinner, she only had a plate of vegetable salad and a piece of ocean star fish meat.

Compared to Lu Xiaoyao's food, Mingmei couldn't help but take another look at how much everyone else was eating. It seemed like everyone was eating a lot.

In this day and age, won't people get fat?

Thinking this, Mingmei asked, "Won't you get fat? The energy expenditure is high, you can't stand it if you eat too little."

"No way," Lu Xiaoyao said with her cheeks puffed out, glancing at the food in front of Mingmei. She frowned and asked, "Why are you eating so little?"

After speaking, Lu Xiaoyao seemed to understand something, and then said, "Did you grow up being so picky about food that you didn't grow tall?"

Mingmei, who was almost 1.7 meters tall, felt like an arrow had struck her knee.

Was her height really worthy of such discrimination?

"What about you?" Mingmei remembered that Lu Xiaoyao's height was also ridiculed by some netizens.

Damn it!

Being mocked for being 1.75 meters tall!

Mingmei couldn't understand what growth stimulants everyone in the interstellar era was taking.

"I was just hungry when I was little..." Lu Xiaoyao didn't find this embarrassing at all, and instead answered generously, "I was kidnapped when I was a kid, and I was a drifter for a while. Then, when my parents found me, I was malnourished. So, no matter how much I eat now, I can't grow taller, damn it~"

After speaking, Lu Xiaoyao angrily stuffed another small cake into her mouth, and then was healed by the small cake.

"Mmm~~ So delicious!"

Listening to her words, Mingmei couldn't help but think of the other Lu Xiaoyao. So, the abnormality in her might be related to her childhood experiences?

However, getting too familiar too quickly wasn't Mingmei's style. She would listen to some things first, and she wasn't in a hurry to ask in depth. There would always be opportunities to understand later.

After Mingmei and Lu Xiaoyao returned to their respective rooms, Mingmei had already received the information about the interstellar director named Durant from Ghost.

Durant Malta Yachi, a famous director of the Federation, male, 68 years old...

"Oh, not even older than me."

Hearing Mingmei's吐槽 (tù cáo;吐槽 is difficult to translate directly, but it encompasses the ideas of "roasting", "nitpicking", and "making sarcastic comments"), Ghost's words were interrupted.

"Specializes in thriller films. Famous works include *Blood War in the Insect Cave*, *Slaughter of the Insect Star*..." After reciting a long list of films related to insectoids, Mingmei could only sigh at how deeply the interstellar people hated insectoids.

"Oh? *Blood War in the Insect Cave* is actually adapted from a true story?" Mingmei saw a note below a long list of dots, and it seemed that *Blood War in the Insect Cave* had caused some controversy.

Looking more closely, she realized that the real person the movie was adapted from was from the Empire.

"Based on the former Deputy Commander of the Third Legion of the Empire, Mei Qiu..." Before she could finish reading, Mingmei almost spat out the water she had just drunk when she saw her familiar Second Brother's name!

Former Deputy Commander of the Third Legion of the Empire...

When did her Second Brother become a legion commander?

Mingmei felt that she needed to take some time to get a general understanding of the identities and occupations of her family members in the interstellar era.

It's just... suddenly seeing a familiar name is very awkward.

Then, after the information collected by the optical brain and Ghost was summarized and pushed to her, Mingmei felt that tonight might be a sleepless night.

Her brother Mei Qiu's latest trending search was still the news from more than ten years ago about him running away on the day of his engagement with the Empire's royal princess...

Running away on the day of his engagement with the Empire's princess...

Her Second Brother's actions were... truly inhuman!

The princess's photo was also obtained by Ghost through her godfather's permissions.

After taking a closer look, Mingmei was numb.

Wasn't this her homeroom teacher, Ms. Cheshire?!

...

Hua Lan Star, the Silicon Gaming Company's chief planning office.

"Have you thought it over? You really aren't going to continue here?" Yan Hui stood in front of the wine cabinet and poured two glasses of red wine, turning around to hand one glass to a stubble-faced but bright-eyed man standing in front of his desk.

"I thank Mr. Yan Hui for his help over the years. I will always remember your kindness, this..."

The man tapped on his optical brain, and Yan Hui watched as the light of the prompt sound on the optical brain on his wrist flashed past.

"This is the latest escape game I designed for you. Although I also think my ability to write scripts is good~"

Speaking of this, a confident smile appeared on the man's face, "But I prefer to make movies. Now that Deville is awake, I must hurry up and start filming the movie I promised to give her as a coming-of-age gift."

If Mingmei were here, she would definitely recognize that the stubble-faced man in front of her was the interstellar director Durant, whose information she had asked Ghost to collect earlier.

Hearing the other party's resolute intention to leave, Yan Hui chuckled softly, raised his glass and tapped it against the other's, saying only, "Since that's the case, I won't stop you. However... if you don't want to make movies in the future, you are welcome to come back at any time."

"Thank you for your help. If you hadn't provided the world to nourish my spiritual power, Deville might..." Saying this, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in Durant's eyes, "I will never let go of that bastard who deceived my daughter!"

Yan Hui smiled without saying a word. Besides the file sent by Durant, several other people's message boxes on his optical brain were constantly flashing.

"Then I won't keep you. I still have things to do here." Yan Hui smiled amiably and sent the other party away, the smile instantly disappearing from his face.

"Speak."