Only two things hung on the walls of the Admiral's office in the Federation's First Legion.
The National Flag, symbolizing the Federation, and the Military Flag, symbolizing the legion.
Besides these two items, the office contained only a conference table. Beyond that, there were no personal belongings whatsoever.
The office's spartan style perfectly matched that of its owner, Mo Si, Admiral of the Federation's First Legion.
The man stood beneath the two flags. He was tall and slender, a full 195 centimeters. Even standing before Changbei and Qiudao, who were both 180 centimeters tall, he projected an intimidating presence.
He wore a dark green military uniform, completely unadorned. Still, the simple attire could not conceal his overwhelming aura, which was like a sharp blade in the dead of night. "Changbei, Qiudao, have you completed this afternoon's basic training?"
"Reporting, Admiral! Complete!" they answered in unison.
Mo Si checked the training camp's records. The two had indeed completed their basic tasks very well, so—
"Since you've completed your tasks, why do you look so scared?"
'...As if you don't know the reason yourself!'
"So, what were you just doing?"
"Well..." When the Admiral wasn't around, Changbei was a confident little chatterbox, but he had a strange tendency to stammer whenever the Admiral appeared.
It was the more composed Qiudao who stepped forward to explain, "Admiral, we were just watching a food livestream."
"Watching a livestream?" he repeated, his tone unreadable.
Changbei immediately declared that he would never watch livestreams at the station again.
"There's no need for that. You're allowed to watch. Once your training is complete, I permit you to do anything that doesn't violate Federation law to unwind."
"However, be more mindful of your actions next time." From a distance, Mo Si had seen his two adjutants in a tangle, one blushing while the other chased after him with a placating smile. It had led him to assume... "I thought the pressure had gotten to you, and you two ended up together."
Changbei: ???
Qiudao: !!!
They exchanged a look, their faces twisting in mutual disgust. In perfect unison, they shouted, "No, absolutely not!"
-
After answering Mo Si's question, Qiudao and Changbei walked out of the office, one after the other.
Because of the earlier misunderstanding, they refused to even walk side-by-side, maintaining a one-in-front, one-behind formation as they watched the livestream and chatted.
"Gods, Qiudao, did you see? While we were gone, the people from the tasting gave that Jiang Qiuqiu a rating." Changbei was stunned after seeing the score, then became smug. "See? The public agrees with me. It's all positive reviews. Meat really is the most delicious food in the world."
"You're so full of yourself."
"But it's the truth!"
"Oh yeah, Qiudao, did you post a review? If you did, let me see!"
As they talked, they ended up walking side-by-side again. They both sent glowing reviews and tipped Jiang Qiuqiu 1,000 Star Coins.
Around 10:30, the recording of Jiang Qiuqiu's livestream was updated on her homepage. Of the one hundred and ten viewers who had virtually tasted the fried Bibi Meatballs, ninety-five percent had left a review.
The less discerning viewers with Beast Genes happily concluded that everyone was on the same wavelength and had similar tastes. They then went off to their own little circles to discuss this "treasure of the mortal realm," Jiang Qiuqiu.
Only a passing 'livestream detective' sensed the truth of the matter.
'Huh? Who's this streamer? How does she have so many followers after only two days? Is this an alt account backed by a company?'
'Wait a minute, are these virtual tasting ratings fake? An average score of 5.0? (With 5.0 being a perfect score.)'
However, after clicking on the Star Network accounts of some of the reviewers, the detective let out a stunned "Holy shit."