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. There were no personal belongings whatsoever.
The office's spartan decor was perfectly in line with the style of its occupant, Admiral Mo Si of the Federation's First Legion.
The man stood beneath the two flags. He had a tall, slender build, easily one-ninety-five. Even standing before Changbei and Qiudao, who were 180, he was incredibly imposing.
He wore a dark green military uniform, devoid of any decoration. But the simple attire couldn't conceal his commanding presence, making him seem like a sharp blade in the dead of night. "Changbei, Qiudao, have you completed this afternoon's basic training?"
"Reporting, Admiral, we've completed it!" they replied in unison.
Mo Si checked the training records. The two had indeed completed their basic tasks exceptionally well, so—
"Since you completed your tasks, why do you look so scared?"
'...' As if you yourself don't know the reason!
"So, what were you two just doing?"
"Well..." When the Admiral wasn't around, Changbei was a confident chatterbox, but now that he'd appeared, Changbei found himself inexplicably tongue-tied.
It was the composed Qiudao who stepped forward to explain, "Admiral, we were just watching a food livestream."
"Watching a livestream?" he repeated, his tone unreadable.
Changbei was quick to declare that he would never watch a livestream at the garrison again.
"That's not necessary. You can watch. After your training is complete, I permit you to do anything that doesn't violate Federation law to find some peace of mind."
"But do be more mindful of your movements next time." From a distance, Mo Si had seen his two adjutants all tangled up—one blushing, the other chasing and trying to placate him with a smile. It led him to assume, "I thought you were under too much stress and had gotten together."
Changbei: ???
Qiudao: !!!
They glanced at each other, a look of mutual disdain appearing on their faces, and said in unison, "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, the two refused to even walk side-by-side. They kept their distance, one walking in front of the other, as they watched the livestream and chatted.
"Gods, Qiudao, did you see? The people who were tasting while we were gone have already rated this Jiang Jiujiu." Changbei was stunned after seeing the ratings, then he grew smug. "As I expected, the masses share my opinion. All positive reviews. Meat truly is the most delicious food in the world."
"You're so conceited."
"But it's the truth!"
"By the way, 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 tasted the fried Bibi Meatballs, ninety-five percent had already submitted their reviews.
The less-than-observant folks with the Beast Gene read the reviews and were just happy to find so many kindred spirits with similar tastes. They happily went off to their own little circles to discuss this absolute treasure, Jiang Jiujiu.
Only one passing "streamer detective" figured out what was really going on.
'Huh? Who is this streamer? How does she have so many fans after only streaming for two days? Is this some commercially-run alt account?'
'Wait a minute, are these virtual tasting scores for real? An average of 5.0? (With 5.0 being a perfect score.)'
But after clicking on the Star Network profiles of a few of the reviewers, the detective let out a stunned "Holy shit."