Ch4: Military Zone

"Ben Yuan! Where's lunch? Hurry up! We've been starving all morning." Mo Yichen jumped out of his Maserati and strode toward the rear Mercedes, diligently opening the back door.

Soon a young lady stepped out, the scene was undeniably eye-catching. Youthful and full of energy, she had a certain elegance that was hard to ignore. But it wasn't just her face that drew attention—it was something indescribable below the neck.

I stole a shameless glance, secretly hoping that the fabric of her spring casual T-shirt wasn't thick enough to hide...

I coughed. My thoughts were getting too dangerous.

Snapping out of it, I quickly erased any trace of a piggish grin from my face and walked forward with a smile. "Brother Yichen, lunch is ready. You can eat now."

"Wait, let me introduce you first." Mo Yichen gestured toward the others. "This is my sister, Mo Weiming. This is Tian Lei, and this is Qi Zi."

I caught something subtle—when Mo Yichen introduced Tian Lei, Mo Weiming's lips twitched slightly, as if in disdain or helplessness.

Looks really do give extra points in life. I must've been staring a little too long because Mo Weiming's sharp gaze locked onto me, silently warning me not to say anything.

My social awareness kicked in immediately, and I chuckled, smoothly inviting them into the supermarket.

"Wanling, this kind of place is too..." Tian Lei frowned as if just stepping inside was an insult. "Why don't I take you to the West Lake instead? A new three-star Michelin restaurant just opened there."

Mo Weiming scoffed. "If I can eat it, why can't you?" Without waiting for a response, she strode inside, grabbed a fast-food plastic bag, and picked out something to eat.

Tian Lei hesitated at the entrance for a long time before reluctantly picking up a white scarf to cover his nose and stepping inside like he was walking into a slum.

"Brother Yichen, where did this guy come from? Does he live in another dimension?" I muttered as I walked alongside Mo Yichen.

Seriously, even if you're rich, can't you act normal? It's just a supermarket, not some biohazard zone.

"Don't even get me started." Mo Yichen sighed. "It's all thanks to my aunt's matchmaking. This guy's a foreign-educated turtle who just came back to China. He acts like everything here is beneath him. But I can't say anything because his family is a major client of my dad's company. If I screw this up, my old man will kill me."

I shrugged. "Whatever. Just pretend he doesn't exist."

"Exactly." Mo Yichen sighed again.

I glanced at Mo Weiming. She looked about my age, maybe a bit younger, but her delicate features made her seem even smaller, triggering an instinct to protect her like a little sister.

Not that it mattered. I already knew how things worked in the upper class—marriages were just business deals. None of it had anything to do with me.

True to form, Tian Lei acted like no one else existed. No matter what Mo Yichen and I talked about, he ignored us, devoting himself to fawning over Mo Weiming, pouring her drinks and wiping the table. It made me nauseous.

"But hey," I thought sarcastically, "at least he's committed to being a loyal lapdog."

I finished eating and got ready to start setting up the model.

"This is a replica of the domestic J-10. Not bad. Did you build it yourself?"

I didn't want to talk to Tian Lei, but since he was Mo Yichen's aqantance, I answered. "I handled the assembly, testing, and maintenance. A professional company made the shell, and we bought the key components as finished parts."

"Oh, so you're just a mechanic." Tian Lei immediately lost interest and turned back to Mo Weiming.

"*!@# $% $ !!!!" My mind was a mess. "Screw you, man!"

"Just bear with it. I'll make up for it later," Mo Yichen whispered.

For the sake of money, I sucked it up. I placed the model on the ground and adjusted the remote control for pre-flight checks. "Mo, I recently developed an autonomous landing system for fixed-wing drones. Your model now has a balance stabilizer—"

"Yeah, yeah, I trust you. Just tell me if it flies well," Mo Yichen interrupted, waving his hand dismissively.

I ran the final checks. "Ready for takeoff?"

"Go for it."

I pushed the throttle forward. The fuel system inside the aircraft model ignited, and flames burst from the rear. The runway—a straight 1.3-kilometer stretch of highway—was perfect. Not just for a model, even a real plane could take off here.

As the high-end model roared to life, its flames catching everyone's attention, I carefully controlled its ascent. The nose lifted, the wheels spun rapidly, and then—it was airborne.

Switching my focus to the display on my remote, I checked the GPS module. Altitude and speed were stable.

That's the main difference between an aircraft model and a drone—an aeromodel is controlled in real time through a remote, while a drone can operate autonomously. By definition, this was still an unmanned aerial vehicle.

The wind speed was a bit high today. I noticed slight nose shakes, but the stabilizer compensated for it, keeping the plane level.

"Expensive stuff really does its job." Mo Yichen was finally paying attention. He took the remote from me, switched to manual, and started maneuvering.

"Whoa!" Gasps of admiration came from the crowd.

Mo Yichen might not know the technical details, but he had a good hand. He just pulled off an aerial stunt like a pro.

"Haha! This is awesome! Watch me do another one!" He was fully in the zone now, feeding off the energy of the onlookers.

I stood by, silently recording the balance stabilizer's effects during the stunts.

"Ben Yuan, this feels way smoother than my previous model, but why does it stall so fast when I go vertical? I even increased the fuel."

"That's the stabilizer at work. You gain something, you lose something. Some extreme maneuvers are sacrificed for overall stability." I shrugged, pretending to sound like an expert. In reality, I was just guessing.

Mo Yichen seemed convinced. "Eh, whatever. It still flies great!"

He pushed the model further, weaving through a cluster of hills. With a 25-kilometer remote range, he had plenty of room to play around.

Then, just as he was about to make a big turn—

"Ben Yuan! Ben Yuan! The controls aren't responding!"

My stomach dropped. The aeromodel was out of control, flying straight ahead. The camera feed showed that everything was normal—except for the fact that we couldn't control it anymore.

A sudden cry rang out from the crowd.

"Ahhh! That direction... isn't that the military zone?!"