When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Yun Li: "You can decide..."

"If I wasn't already devoted to someone else, I would have paired Fu Shize with myself." He Jiameng looked completely heartbroken, then gazed at Yun Li with utter incomprehension. "You've seen it yourself, too."

"At least Fu Shize has a good-looking face. Don't you feel your mood lifts just from picking up boxed meals every day?" She sighed heavily, putting on an act of being disappointed in someone's lack of resolve.

After giving her instructions, He Jiameng returned to her own office.

Yun Li flipped through the documentary materials on her desk; most of them were product user manuals. The documents were finished in a flash, leaving her with nothing to do.

After sitting at her workstation for an hour, Yun Li had scrolled through all of the day's news, from top trending topics to those trying to ride the coattails of clout, and still nobody else showed up.

Just as she was about to grow mold from sheer boredom, Fang Yuning sent a notification to her phone telling her to go to the EAW experience center to assist with equipment repairs, where an engineer would be waiting. This wasn't part of her department's duties, so Fang Yuning was likely just loaning her out to another department since she had no temporary arrangements for her yet.

True to what He Jiameng had said, she was probably just running odd jobs everywhere.

The EAW experience center was closed to the public this morning. Looking through the glass doors, Yun Li saw that the interior was dim and gloomy, with tiny specks of dust drifting in narrow beams of light.

Using the employee card He Jiameng had given her to unlock the door, Yun Li opened the circuit breaker box at the entrance and found that all the breakers had already been switched on, meaning the engineer was likely already inside.

Silence pervaded the venue, and for some reason, she lightened her footsteps as well.

After walking a circle around the first floor, Yun Li heard the sound of a blunt object dragging across the floor coming from a room in the corner, indicating that someone inside was already at work.

Yun Li knocked on the door and spoke in a standard, proper tone: "Hello, I'm the new intern. Sister Yuning sent me to assist you with equipment maintenance."

Nobody came to open the door, but the sounds of tools clanging and shifting rang out from inside once again.

Yun Li felt somewhat ignored.

The person inside acted as if they were doing it on purpose, pulling and dragging things with even greater volume.

Knocking again would feel like going head-to-head with them.

Just as she fell into the struggle of whether to keep knocking or not.

"Come in."

Yun Li pushed the door open. The room was illuminated by only a single small, warm-yellow lamp; the air was dry, carrying a mixed scent of wood products and plastic adhesive. A figure was squatting in the corner with his sleeves half-rolled up. He rummaged through the tools in his toolbox, picked up a screwdriver to compare it against something, and then tossed it aside at random.

"You came to EAW?" Fu Shize's voice wasn't loud, but it echoed within the enclosed room.

In a work setting, Yun Li switched back to formal honorifics, speaking with utmost respect: "Yes, thank you for your advice last time."

Before coming here, Yun Li had imagined many scenarios of meeting Fu Shize again, and after much hesitation, she brought up the matter of being rejected by the technical department.

"I got reassigned to the human resources department, which doesn't really match my major, and my personality is..." Yun Li felt as though she was throwing all caution to the wind, "...somewhat socially anxious..."

Fu Shize's hand stopped moving. He raised his head, the warm-yellow light falling across his face, looking as though he didn't quite believe it: "Really?"

Asked like that, Yun Li froze for a moment: "Does... does it not look like it?"

Fu Shize stared at her for a good long while, as if he were seriously pondering her question.

This expression couldn't help but make Yun Li wonder if he was recalling the time she had proactively asked for his contact information. Initially, Yun Li had wanted to get some career advice from Fu Shize, but right now she only hoped this topic would end quickly.

"Sister Yuning asked me to come help you fix things." Yun Li trotted over to his side to try and change the subject, only to notice a frosted-package croissant and a cup of coffee sitting on the floor.

Knowing she couldn't fix things anyway, Yun Li felt a bit intimidated inside.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Yun Li looked at the breakfast on the floor. "Your breakfast has gone cold, you can eat first."

From Yun Li's angle, Fu Shize was wearing a simple blue work uniform, with yellow electrician gloves taking up a large portion of her view.

"It's fine." Fu Shize didn't let her step in; he tucked a couple of lightbulbs into his pocket and climbed up the ladder.

The ladder didn't look particularly sturdy, emitting a loud creaking sound even when someone of Fu Shize's build climbed it, causing Yun Li to instinctively steady both sides of the ladder.

Fu Shize was replacing two spotlights on the ceiling. He gripped the outer rim of a bulb, unscrewed it, tucked it into his pocket, and promptly replaced it with a new one.

Descending from the ladder, he peeled off his gloves, tossed them aside, and walked over to the entrance to flip on the light switch. The previously dim ceiling instantly brightened up considerably.

Seeing that Yun Li was still standing far away holding the ladder by the entrance, Fu Shize reminded her: "There's nobody on the ladder."

Yun Li froze, then awkwardly let go of her grip.

Fu Shize picked up the brown paper bag from the floor, tore it open in a few swift motions, took a bite of his croissant, and walked forward a couple of steps to inspect the remaining spotlights.

"Let me check them, you go eat breakfast first." Yun Li said gently. Fu Shize paused his steps and turned back to look at her.

Did she say something wrong just now? Or was there a smudge on her face? Several thoughts flashed through Yun Li's mind. Seeing that Fu Shize didn't move, she said nervously, "You've been working hard all morning too, just leave the rest to me."

To her surprise, Fu Shize simply took another bite of his bread and mimicked her tone: "Don't trouble yourself to help."

"......"

Yun Li learned her lesson: "Then you eat breakfast first..."

The rest of the lighting equipment was basically functioning normally. Yun Li jotted down the few items with minor issues onto a notepad, while Fu Shize slowly followed behind her.

The presence behind her sent waves of pressure into Yun Li's heart. Putting on a calm facade, she hesitated and asked, "Are we doing anything else today?"

Fu Shize gave a hum. Pausing for a moment, he asked her: "What do you want to do?"

Yun Li's hand paused.

What kind of question was that—what could she possibly want to do??

Wasn't he supposed to be the one answering that?!

Fortunately, Fu Shize had finished his breakfast and didn't dwell on her response, telling her that the remaining task for the morning was to test the rest of the gaming equipment in the venue.

It was something she could actually handle, so Yun Li breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to when she first visited, EAW had added a few classic movie-themed pavilions, alongside some street-entertainment installations like expression-mimicry lucky draws and gaming mystery boxes. Since she wasn't familiar with the venue yet, Yun Li clutched her folder and followed closely behind Fu Shize. After testing each piece of equipment, Yun Li would check off the corresponding position on her checklist.

Afterward, the two of them split up, with Yun Li taking charge of the expression-mimicry lucky draw machine. This setup utilized facial expression recognition technology; prompts would appear on screen telling players what emotion to mimic, and the camera would record and analyze the player's expression. The higher the matching score, the more generous the lottery prize.

Yun Li had never played this before, nor did she know whether it was truly that sensitive.

She sat down in front of the machine. Her face appeared on the screen, while the upper-left corner displayed score values for various emotions and a total score using different colored bars.

She clicked "Start Game," and the screen prompted: Overjoyed.

Yun Li offered a faint smile. A yellow rectangle outlined her face on the screen, followed by bright advertisement text displaying the total score—20 points.

This... was this too difficult?

Yun Li clicked retry. The moment the yellow frame appeared, she immediately exaggeratedly raised her eyebrows, widened her eyes, and parted her lips so wide that even her smile muscles were clearly visible.

A few popped-open gift boxes flashed onto the screen—100 points, you surpassed 99% of people.

That was way too over-the-top.

For people who weren't very expressive, this game wasn't very friendly.

After checking the box on her sheet, Yun Li operated the screen and prepared to shut it down.

Another thought suddenly popped into her head—

The moment the thought arose, Yun Li felt that she might be going a bit too far.

Coincidentally, Fu Shize had finished his tests and walked over to her side.

Yun Li stepped back a little, lowering her folder against the side of her thigh.

"This machine seems a bit glitchy, the detection isn't very accurate." Yun Li said while observing Fu Shize's expression.

She... wasn't really lying, right?

The machine genuinely wasn't very accurate; she had to pull such an exaggerated face just to get a high score.

Having convinced herself, Yun Li felt a tiny bit of anticipation, waiting for Fu Shize's reaction.

"It's always like this." Fu Shize yawned with complete disinterest and poked the screen.

A string of words popped up—Thrilled.

Fu Shize's face appeared right in the center of the screen, looking gloomy and solemn. The taut lines of his jaw finally relaxed slightly as he seemed to put considerable effort into forcing a smile.

A purplish-gray box appeared on the screen.

The scores for "Anger" and "Sadness" in the upper-left corner shot straight up.

—10 points, you surpassed 5% of people.

Turns out it really was quite accurate.

Yun Li thought to herself. Yet Fu Shize showed no sign of squeezing out a smile just to score high, and Yun Li's initial little scheme failed to materialize.

"Inaccurate." Fu Shize walked straight aside, marked a massive X on the checklist, capped his pen, and hung it right in his chest pocket.

Yun Li hurriedly smiled to comfort him: "It's just that it isn't very precise, we can have the manufacturer fix it."

At that exact moment, Yun Li's face happened to be captured by the camera.

Her score leaped straight from 10 points to 100 points.

"......"

This felt just like when you tell a friend who failed an exam, "Don't worry, everyone did terribly," and the very next second the head teacher announces loudly over the podium that you got first place in the grade.

"See, you still surpassed 5% of people." Yun Li was practically rambling at this point. "Five percent multiplied by the total population is still a huge number."

Fu Shize glanced sideways at her: "You're quite optimistic."

"......"

Fortunately, Fu Shize was already used to this machine and possessed a healthy dose of self-awareness.

By the time the equipment inspection finished, it was already lunchtime. After pulling the circuit breakers for the small room, the two of them prepared to leave. Yun Li noticed an arcade cabinet placed by the doorway of the outermost room, with a sign stating that the VR game inside was adapted from a classic arcade game.

When Yun Li was in elementary school, arcade games had swept across Xifu. After school, Yun Li would often sneak off with classmates to play them, making a pact to play together for a lifetime.

Back then, her pocket money wasn't much, so she would save up her weekly allowance of one or two yuan. Later on, when Yun Ye started elementary school, Yun Li would save up her own living expenses so the two of them could go play together on the weekends.

Later still, technology changed with each passing day, and whenever Yun Li returned home in later years, she and Yun Ye would continue playing those same games on their gaming console. Meanwhile, those friends from the past had dissolved into the currents of time.

Seeing Yun Li pause in front of the arcade cabinet, Fu Shize stood in place for a moment and asked: "Want to try?"

Yun Li: "Eh, can we?"

Fu Shize gave a hum.

Yun Li felt a bit shy. "I used to play with my classmates all the time when I was little. Arcade games were super popular back then, and I was very familiar with quite a few games inside." Realizing she kept talking about herself, Yun Li asked instead: "Did you play this when you were a kid?"

"I didn't," Fu Shize replied.

Yun Li: "Then what did you usually play when you were little?"

Fu Shize: "Mostly played with my nephew."

Yun Li: "Oh... then what did you and Fu Zhengchu play?"

Fu Shize: "He liked playing house."

Yun Li: "?"

Fu Shize flipped the circuit breaker back on. A dozen small motorcycle simulator setups were placed inside the room; Fu Shize went to the back office to remotely control and activate two machines, and the two of them agreed that she would take the left side while Fu Shize took the right.

Yun Li operated the screen and selected '2P' (two players). Next came selecting the relationship between the two players, which would presumably determine the storyline scenario of the game.

A few options popped up on the screen, and Yun Li froze. Only Parent-Child, Spouse, and Lovers were available to choose from.

Clicking either of the other two was far too prone to wild imaginations, so Yun Li decisively selected 'Parent-Child'.

Fu Shize: "......"

Unsure how to explain herself so that her motives looked innocent, Yun Li offered a sheepish explanation: "I felt like that term described our relationship the most accurately..."

Fu Shize: "......"

He reminded her: "There's a next page."

"......"

Yun Li wished she could get herself a pair of high-powered glasses; she completely missed such a huge right-arrow button right there at the bottom. Since it was already locked in, Yun Li couldn't perform any other operations and directly pressed the next page.

The next page asked them to select which machine was operated by the guardian.

Yun Li deeply suspected that the game's designer was terrified of not getting enough bad reviews—how could they possibly design such an outrageous entry interface?

Yun Li consciously assigned Fu Shize as the father and herself as the daughter.

Fu Shize didn't say anything, but his gaze felt as though it pierced right through her back, burning her with anxiety. She awkwardly proposed: "Then... how about I play the mother and you play..." Yun Li stubbornly failed to force the word "son" out of her mouth.

Fu Shize: "......"

Fortunately, the subsequent steps went quite smoothly. After completing the basic setup, the two of them entered the game proper. The gameplay required sitting astride a motorcycle, with a motorized mechanism installed underneath to simulate driving dynamics.

Yun Li had never worn such equipment before, so once she climbed onto the motorcycle, she didn't know what to do next. Seeing this, Fu Shize stepped down from his bike, walked over to her side, and reminded her: "It's going to shake quite a bit later."

He leaned down and tapped a foot pedal near her shoe with his finger: "Step here."

Yun Li obediently placed both feet onto the foot pedals.

Fu Shize tilted his head and asked her: "Should I strap you in?"

This phrasing sounded strangely blush-inducing. Yun Li emitted a quiet "en" with a voice no louder than a mosquito's.

Unlike the feeling of her first visit to EAW, when her emotions were mostly shrouded in fear, this time she stared as Fu Shize wrapped the securing strap around her ankle and tightened it. Involuntarily, her gaze drifted upward, resting upon his collarbone.

Just as he finished installing the equipment on Yun Li and noticed her unmoving gaze, Fu Shize raised his eyes: "Too tight?"

Yun Li blushed: "No."

After buckling the safety strap on her other side as well, Fu Shize returned to his own station. Once both of them put on their VR headsets and entered the game, a motorcycle shop appeared before their eyes.

Yun Li spotted someone standing nearby wearing a pair of sunglasses and form-fitting athletic wear, presumably Fu Shize's in-game avatar. After selecting his motorcycle model, the other person even nodded toward her.

The game countdown began.

Did she not need to choose a motorcycle? Yun Li felt puzzled.

When the game officially started, Yun Li discovered where the problem lay—

Because they had selected the parent-child mode, the system defaulted to having her and Fu Shize ride a single motorcycle together.

She was sitting right behind Fu Shize, with his back filling her entire field of vision.