“Mo Mo? Are you having lessons now?”

“No.”

“Oh, you forgetful girl, don’t you know to give your mom a call? It’s been so long.” Her mother’s voice was soft, a little lethargic but sweetly so. “It’s getting colder these days, you didn’t bring any autumn coats with you, are you cold? Did you buy any?” 

“Enh, the school gave jackets… Lu Yu Chen bought one too.” 

“Heheh, thank goodness there’s a Xiao Chen, how are you going to take care of yourself otherwise goodness, Mo Mo, is your allowance enough?”

“Yes.”

“Really? Do you want me to transfer you more?”

“Up to you.” 

“Oh…” Her mother replied hesitantly, “Xuan Mo, remember to study hard, your school is so strict, I don’t know when you’re free either.”

“I’m usually free in the afternoon and at night.”

“Are you getting along well with your friends?”

“You asked this last week, my reply was yes.”

“Aye, look at you, what do I do; the female-male ratio is already skewed, there aren’t a lot of girls to begin with, if you’re cold, you might make even less friends. Don’t study all day long okay, look at how the other people socialise and learn from them, university is the best time to learn how to network, once you pick up this skill, you’ll make it far in life…” 

Her mother’s preaching call came in every week. Though her mother was as feminine as she could get, she was like a man in many ways — she wasn’t the kind to drone on about great principles of life, but she would repeat in many permutations the same old set of reasoning she believed in.

Fortunately, Xuan Mo had ample patience. She listened carefully to her mother, and even reminded her when the latter lost her train of thought. 

In this blank canvas of a lifestyle she had, her mother’s nagging had become a routine, and one that was very interesting. It would always remind her of the bays of being parents and related sayings. She’d never felt that she lacked kinship affection, she had no need for something like that. But when someone nagging at her did appear, it didn’t feel all too bad. 

After a while, someone called her. It was Kang Qiao. Xuan Mo hummed in reply before speaking into the phone: “Mom, someone’s calling for me, I’ve got to go.”

“Ohh okay.” Xuan Mo’s mother was very happy about the fact that someone was calling Xuan Mo. She quickly added, “have fun.” Before hanging up. 

Xuan Mo kept her phone and entered the room. Inside, Yi Fei had a stern expression on as he held the golden stone in his gloved hands. There were many unknown additional terminals and wires connected to the stone. 

“Xuan Mo, there’s nothing for you to do right now, if you don’t have anything else either, you can head back to rest first. I’ll call you over again when we make any futher findings.”

So she’s just here to see how things were going? They don’t seem to need her at all. And his tone seemed to imply that if they didn’t notify her, whether she wanted to drop by was completely up to her. Xuan Mo shrugged, she didn’t mind anything. And life was getting a little boring these days too. 

She took the documents, and nodded her head: “Okay, I got it.”

She headed straight back to her dorms. There was no one in. The three other girls in her dorm were usually either studying on their own or out participating in some activities; if they were in, they would flip through their documents and books before lying back down on their beds, bored out of their minds. 

The StarCraft Tournament had ended. Usually Year Ones don’t get to use the wifi, her teammates thought she won’t be allowed to play, so none of them pulled her along when they had activities. She was really not very interested in the other online games and whatnot. Xuan Mo switched on her computer and surfed the internet before she suddenly came across this movie called Starship Troopers. 

She found this in the entertainment section of a technology-related forum she often surfed. The original poster had tagged his own thread, and had listed down his favourite sci-fi movies. Star Troopers was ranked among the top. 

She recalled the days back when she had been stationed at the Tyron Belt.

The troop she was from was known as the Milky Way, because the star belt they were stationed at looked like a boundless and majestic river from afar. The stardust within the star belt flowed like a river, it also served as the last layer of defense between them and the galactic bandits. 

It was there that she became a warrior, that she finished off the bandits, and also that she became a mental power wielder. 

She’d imagined the movie to be troops stationed at the Milky Way garrison, pity it was instead about humans battling the Insectoids, similar to the main lot featured in StarCraft. 

The Insectoids were sly and cruel; it was a bitter and tragic war. 

She had to admit though, blue planet beings really had a way with imagination. Even though the Insectoids were different from the real Porto Insect Race, the extent of their cruelty, as well as their survival tactics were similar. 

This reminded Xuan Mo of the countless battles against the Insect Race. Their confrontation had always been endless, and bloody. 

The war between two races of immense vitality was catastrophic and dreadful. The Insect Race had their own ways of transmitting bioinformation, and this interfered with the Scorpio warrior’s mental control. Gifted with incredible strength and power, the Scorpio warriors on the other hand were able to mercilessly slay the insect race as a result.

It was there when she experienced what it felt like to be on the brink of death. Even the most intelligent insect race had mistaken her for a withered mental spirit. Yet at the very end, she managed to make a comeback and finished off the youngling insect king. 

The disgusting taste, the thrill of crawling between the insects’ legs, the anger when she had been drenched in excrement, the helplessness and gratitude when her mental activity had been covered by that excrement — they were memories that she would never forget. 

After Xuan Mo finished the movie, she found herself drowning uncontrollably in her memories. 

She wanted to return. Any form of reminiscence magnified her longing — she wanted to return.