The silence in the lab post-bento was a different entity. It was no longer just the absence of sound, but a thick, tangible thing, charged with the unsaid. Su Yuning's diagnosis of an "emotional race condition" echoed in Xiaoyang's mind. She had looked at the tangled mess of his social life and seen a programming error. The terrifying part was, she wasn't wrong.
He spent the rest of the debugging session in a state of heightened self-awareness, as if his own brain were being profiled by a performance monitor. Every glance, every hesitation, every minute shift in attention felt like a potential resource leak. Yuning, for her part, had reverted to pure efficiency mode, her focus absolute. The 15.3-minute social interlude might as well have been a scheduled garbage collection process.
When they finally compiled a successful, optimized build of the core module, it was past 7:00 PM. Yuning closed her laptop with a definitive click.
"The joint debugging session is complete. Projected efficiency gain: 41.8%. Outcome: Satisfactory." She stood, gathering her things with her usual robotic precision. She paused, her hand on her bag, and looked at him. "The 'firewall' proposal remains a valid recommendation for auxiliary system stability. Consider it."
And with that, she was gone, leaving Xiaoyang alone in the humming lab with the ghost of a bear-faced rice ball and a head full of conflicting code.
The next day, he decided to take her advice. Not the full, draconian firewall, but a simple, energy-conserving rule: Avoid the cafe on days following a high-energy expenditure.
It was a sound plan. A logical plan. A Su Yuning-approved plan.
Which was why, at 3:00 PM, he found himself taking a ridiculously circuitous route across campus to avoid passing anywhere near The Roasted Bean. His internal justification was that he needed the extra steps to meet his daily movement goal—a classic example of rebranding an avoidance tactic as a wellness strategy.
He was skulking behind the geology building, congratulating himself on his operational security, when his phone rang. The caller ID made his blood run cold: Dramaturge Queen (Yuexi).
He let it go to voicemail. A minute later, a text bubble popped up.
Dramaturge Queen (Yuexi): [3:02 PM] RADAR DETECTED! The hero is attempting the 'Avoidance Arc'! A classic but cowardly maneuver!
Xiaoyang froze, his head swiveling. How? How did she know?
He ducked behind a large, decorative rock, his heart pounding. Remain calm. She's bluffing. This is a classic tactical feint.
Dramaturge Queen (Yuexi): [3:03 PM] Current coordinates: vicinity of the igneous rock sample, west of the Geology Department. The rock's camouflage properties are insufficient to hide a protagonist's shimmering aura!
He yelped and scrambled away from the rock. This was impossible. He peered around the corner of the building. There, about a hundred meters away, standing on the steps of the library, was Chen Yuexi. She wasn't even looking in his direction. She was sipping from a juice box and staring at her phone.
Then he saw it. Tucked into the band of her stylish hat was a small, familiar-looking green crystal. The frog fluorite.
Tang Youyou. She must have provided Yuexi with some kind of… tracking charm. Or worse, a real-time aura GPS. He was being hunted using a combination of theatrical drive and mystical intelligence.
His phone buzzed again, this time with a different signature.
Stargazer Youyou: [3:04 PM] Xiaoyang Gege! The air elementals are whispering that you're trying to hide! Your energy signature is spiking with evasion frequencies! Remember the bracelet! Assert your personal space! (◕‿◕)☆
It was a coordinated attack. He was caught in a pincer movement between the Dramaturge and the Mystic. His "Avoidance Arc" was being narratively and celestially dismantled in real-time.
Defeated, he trudged out from his hiding spot and began walking towards the library—and towards Chen Yuexi. There was no point in running. The energy cost of evasion had already exceeded the cost of capitulation.
Chen Yuexi spotted him immediately, a triumphant grin spreading across her face. She pocketed her phone and the fluorite. "Aha! The 'Reluctant Approach'! The hero, knowing he is defeated, surrenders to the inevitable plot progression!"
"Yuexi," he sighed, reaching the base of the steps. "How?"
"A true director always has her sources," she said, tapping the side of her nose. "And a little birdie—a very specific, astrology-loving birdie—told me you might be feeling… drained. And when a hero is drained, he needs a refreshing side-quest!"
"I don't need a side-quest. I need a system shutdown and a full recharge," he mumbled.
"Nonsense! What you need is a change of perspective! And I have the perfect mission!" Her eyes sparkled with manic inspiration. "We're going to the art building! There's a new sculpture garden installation!"
Xiaoyang felt a profound sense of dread. "Why?"
"Because! The cold, logical beauty Su Yuning exists in a world of code and numbers! To truly understand your rival—nay, your foil!—you must immerse yourself in the world of emotion, abstraction, and beauty! This is 'Character Development 101'! We're expanding your emotional range stat!"
This was worse than he could have imagined. It wasn't just an energy drain; it was an enforced, guided tour of an energy drain.
Twenty minutes later, he found himself standing amidst a series of twisted metal and abstract stone structures. Chen Yuexi was buzzing around him, providing a running commentary.
"Look at this one!" she exclaimed, pointing to a jagged hunk of bronze. "The raw, untamed passion! The fury! Can you feel it, Xiaoyang? This is the opposite of a 'recursive function'!"
"I feel… like it could have used a few more iterations in the design phase," he said honestly. "The structural integrity seems questionable."
"You're analyzing it! Stop analyzing!" she cried, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the next piece—a smooth, white marble sphere. "This! This is serenity! This is… a perfect, compiled program with zero errors! No, wait, that's too logical." She shook her head. "This is… a peaceful silence after a satisfying meal!"
Xiaoyang looked at the sphere. It was… fine. It was a rock. A very round, very expensive-looking rock. He tried to feel serenity. Instead, he calculated the manufacturing process required to achieve such a perfect spherical shape. The energy cost must have been astronomical.
He was so lost in his thoughts about lathes and polishing compounds that he didn't notice a familiar, slender figure until they were almost face-to-face.
Su Yuning was standing before a complex sculpture made of interwoven, glowing optical fibers, her head tilted. In her hand was a small notebook. She was, apparently, data-gathering.
Chen Yuexi froze, her grip on Xiaoyang's arm tightening. "The rival appears on the field of battle!" she hissed, her voice a mixture of terror and glee. "This is an unscripted encounter! Improv mode, activate!"
Su Yuning looked up. Her gaze swept over the scene: Chen Yuexi clinging to Xiaoyang's arm, both of them standing in front of the serene marble sphere. Her expression did not change, but her eyes seemed to perform a rapid series of micro-calculations.
"Lin Xiaoyang. Chen Yuexi," she greeted, her tone neutral.
"Su Yuning!" Chen Yuexi recovered first, striking a pose. "We are… expanding our horizons! Soaking in the… the abstract!"
"I see," Yuning said. Her eyes flicked to the marble sphere. "A perfect sphere. The most efficient shape for containing a given volume, minimizing surface area. Aesthetically and mathematically optimal." She then looked directly at Chen Yuexi's hand, which was still on Xiaoyang's arm. "Your current positioning, however, is suboptimal for locomotion or task efficiency."
Chen Yuexi yanked her hand back as if shocked. "I-it was for dramatic emphasis!"
"Understood." Su Yuning made a note in her little book. " 'Dramatic emphasis' as a justification for kinesthetic inefficiency. Data logged." She then looked at Xiaoyang. "Your presence here is an outlier. Your schedule indicated a high probability of dormitory-based recharging."
Xiaoyang felt like a bug in a simulation that had just been spotted. "I was… undergoing forced character development," he said, the despair evident in his voice.
Su Yuning considered this. "A software update to handle new social variables. A logical, if reactive, measure." She closed her notebook. "The optical fiber piece has a data transmission rate of approximately 1.2 gigabits per second, disguised as art. It is the most efficient object here. Analysis complete."
With a final, unreadable glance at the two of them, she turned and walked away, her footsteps precise and echo-less on the paved path.
Chen Yuexi deflated like a punctured balloon. "She… she rated the art based on internet speed." She looked at Xiaoyang, her dramatic confidence shattered. "I can't compete with that. How do you create a compelling narrative arc against someone who refuses to read the script?"
Xiaoyang looked from the retreating form of the logical iceberg to the defeated theatrical director beside him. He had tried to build a firewall. It had been immediately breached. He had tried to avoid the conflict. He had been tracked down and dragged into it.
He pulled the "Shackle-Breaking" bracelet from his pocket. It looked pathetically inadequate.
He was learning a brutal lesson. In a system populated by variables like Chen Yuexi and Su Yuning, there was no such thing as energy conservation. There was only energy transfer, energy loss, and the slow, inexorable drain of being perceived, analyzed, and narratively incorporated.
His quest for a low-power life was, itself, becoming the central, high-energy plot of someone else's story.