Chapter 23: A Distant "Commission"

"So... junior," Lu Xingyu's voice was like a stone cast into a stagnant pool, sending ripples through Xu Yuan’s already chaotic thoughts. "What on earth... did you do to my otherworldly roommate?"

Xu Yuan’s mind went blank.

She stared blankly at the delicate-featured young man before her, with his gold-rimmed glasses and an expression of "thirst for knowledge." Then, she looked down at the heavy, worn-out computer bag in her arms, feeling as if all of this were an absurd dream from which she could not wake.

What had she done?

She, too, wanted to know what she had done.

She had driven him into a corner, laid bare his most painful scars, confronted him with the harshest of words, and even—like a madwoman—snatched the notebook he cherished above all else in front of everyone.

Yet, he had sent his roommate to bring her his entire "world."

"I..." Xu Yuan opened her mouth, but not a single word came out.

"Don't be nervous!" Seeing her on the verge of tears, Lu Xingyu waved his hands, pushed up his glasses, and offered an apologetic smile. "I don't mean anything by it; I'm just... purely curious."

He stepped closer and lowered his voice, as if sharing a earth-shattering secret. "You don't know what the atmosphere in our dorm was like tonight; it was colder than a Siberian chill! When Jiang Yi returned, he was like a walking freezer. He didn't say a word and locked himself on the balcony for three hours, letting the cold wind hit him. We all thought he was going to transcend into immortality, but the first thing he did when he came back inside was take out his precious computer bag and tell me to bring it to you."

Lu Xingyu’s face was filled with undisguised shock and gossip.

"Do you have any idea how outrageous this is? This bag is his life! We’ve been his roommates for two years, and he wouldn't even let us touch it! And now, he just... gives it to you like this?" He scanned Xu Yuan up and down, his eyes filled with awe for an unknown creature. "Junior, tell me the truth, did you... put a hex on him?"

Xu Yuan’s face alternated between red and white under his barrage of questions, but her heart felt as if it had been struck hard and unreasonably by something.

It was sour, scorching, and carried a faint, imperceptible sweetness.

"Did he... say anything else?" she asked, her voice hoarse as she hugged the computer bag that still held his body heat.

"He did." Lu Xingyu nodded, mimicking Jiang Yi’s cold, emotionless tone to perfection. "He said, 'I can't handle the Fengqi competition alone.'"

"He also said," Lu Xingyu paused, as if recalling, "'Starting tomorrow, the third floor of the library is up to you.'"

*Up to... me?*

These four words were like four fine needles, pricking into Xu Yuan’s heart—gently, yet with pinpoint precision.

She finally understood.

He hadn't surrendered, nor had he compromised.

He was simply responding to her crazy "condition" in his own awkward, uniquely stubborn way.

He wasn't going to the library anymore.

But he needed her to be his eyes and hands in that place.

This was a silent, distant "commission."

And it was a fragile, secret covenant that only the two of them understood.

"So... junior," Lu Xingyu spoke up cautiously after seeing her silent for a long time. "Jiang Yi is just a man with a sharp tongue but a soft heart; he cares too much about his pride and suffers for it. He seems to be in a particularly bad mood today. If... I mean, if you two had an argument, please be patient with him. He’s actually... not as bad as you think."

After saying this, he waved his hands, as if afraid he had said too much. "Oops, I was just rambling, don't take it to heart! The delivery is done, I'm heading off! Goodbye, junior!"

Lu Xingyu vanished like a gust of wind, appearing and disappearing just as quickly.

He left Xu Yuan standing alone, clutching the heavy computer bag under the dim streetlamp, which stretched her shadow long and short by turns.

"Xu Yuan! What are you standing there for? Has your soul been snatched away?"

Lin Feifei’s roar drifted down from the dormitory balcony, pulling her abruptly from her chaotic thoughts.

...

Back in the dorm, Lin Feifei immediately pressed Xu Yuan into a chair and began an interrogation.

"Speak! Who was that guy in glasses? Jiang Yi’s roommate? Why did he come? What’s in this bag? A bomb?"

Xu Yuan looked at her friend’s face, which was plastered with "tell me all the gossip," and felt physically and mentally exhausted.

She didn't answer, simply pulling the zipper of the computer bag open.

Inside lay Jiang Yi’s sleek, metal-cased laptop, a charger, a mouse, and... a hardcover, A4-sized notebook.

It was the very same notebook that had been splashed with coffee by Li Wenfeng in the library.

Lin Feifei leaned in, and upon seeing the contents, her expression became even more dramatic than if she had seen a ghost.

"He... he gave you his computer?" Her voice cracked. "He gave you his bread and butter?!"

For a programmer, the significance of a computer went without saying.

"Xu Yuan," Lin Feifei said with unprecedented seriousness, pointing at the bag, "you two absolutely have something going on."

Xu Yuan did not refute this.

Because even she didn't know what to call it.

She reached out and took the hardcover notebook out.

The cover was blank. Because it had been soaked in water, the edges of the pages were uneven and slightly curled.

As if drawn by some unseen force, she opened the first page.

On the clean paper, which carried a faint scent of ink, were two lines of thin, sharp, and incredibly familiar handwriting.

The first line was a URL and a complex password consisting of numbers and letters.

The second line read:

[Before the library closes on Monday, copy the electronic versions of these books.]

Below it was a long list of over a dozen professional books. Each one was a cutting-edge and arduous monograph in the field of computer science.

Xu Yuan looked at the list, at his familiar, emotionless, and commanding tone, and the heavy stone that had been hanging in her heart finally, slowly, settled.

He had not been defeated.

He had simply chosen another way to keep fighting.

And she was the only sword he had extended.

"My god..." Lin Feifei, who had seen the contents, exclaimed, "Is this guy treating you like his human USB drive? There are so many books, it’ll take you until the Year of the Monkey to find them all!"

"It's fine." Xu Yuan shook her head, a hint of relief—a smile she didn't even realize she was wearing—appearing on her face. "I'm strong."

With that, she ignored Lin Feifei’s chatter, carefully closed the notebook, and put it back in the bag.

That night was the most peaceful sleep Xu Yuan had had in days.

No dreams.

No cold seawater, no burning flames.

Outside the window, all was calm.

...

The next day was Monday.

It was also the last day before the third floor of the library closed.

Xu Yuan woke up early. Skipping her morning general education class, she headed straight to the library with the heavy computer bag on her back.

She navigated the familiar path to the corner by the window on the third floor, where she and Jiang Yi had made their first "contract."

The sunlight streamed through the massive glass windows, bathing the empty tables and chairs in bright warmth.

Xu Yuan placed the bag on the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

This was the first time she had sat in this spot—a place that belonged to "them"—all by herself.

The air seemed to still linger with his crisp, clean scent.

She opened Jiang Yi’s computer, entered the complex password, and began searching the library’s electronic database for the books on the list, one by one.

The workload was even greater than she had imagined.

Most of the books were foreign originals, and many lacked electronic versions, requiring her to use a professional scanner to scan them page by page, manually.

Xu Yuan did not complain.

She simply focused, like the most loyal and rigorous soldier, meticulously executing the distant "commission" he had issued.

Time flew by amidst the "rustle" of turning pages and the "hum" of the scanner.

When the midday sun reached its peak, she finally finished scanning the last book on the list.

She rubbed her sore eyes and let out a long breath.

Mission accomplished.

She was just about to pack the files and send them to Jiang Yi’s email when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of his hardcover notebook lying on the table.

Whether it was her imagination or not, she felt as if something was tucked between the pages.

A small, pink corner peeked out from the gap.

Xu Yuan’s heart skipped a beat.

Driven by impulse, she reached out and took the notebook.

She took a deep breath, as if about to uncover a major secret, and slowly opened the notebook to where the little pink corner had appeared.

An old candy wrapper, its edges slightly yellowed, lay quietly against the cold pages filled with complex code.

It was a strawberry milk candy wrapper.

And beneath that wrapper, written in a handwriting style completely different from his usual sharp script—a style that was almost childish, stroke by careful stroke—was a tiny, barely legible line of text.

[8 years old. Rain. A very noisy, little fool.]