CH 1

In the darkness, the thunder failed to wake many from their dreams.

Under the endless wind and rain, Nanwu Airport was peaceful as a mountain and bright as the sun. It seemed to be a giant box, containing the daytime that had already gone off work.

It was just past two in the morning, but the number of people had not decreased.

Tourists and travelers went by Yun Li, who was standing still and checking her phone from time to time; one after another. [1]Yun (云）means cloud, and Li (厘) means centi, as in the unit of measurement (one thousandth)

This was Yun Li’s second time to Nanwu.

Her last time here was this Spring when she came to attend Nanwu Institute of Technology’s postgraduate retest. And this time, it was because she received the invitation from EAW Virtual Reality Experience Center.

EAW was Yousheng Technology’s first VR Experience Center, which was planned to open at the end of next month.

Some time ago, they did a trial opening, and the results were not as good as expected. So they invited more bloggers and social media influencers to come and help promote their business before the official launch.

Yun Li was one of them.

Through email, Yun Li got in touch with Miss He.

The plane ticket, accommodation, and food were all taken care of by the company, and Miss He also informed her that she would arrange for someone to pick her up after she arrived. 

But the weather changed unexpectedly, and Yun Li’s flight was delayed by three hours.

After learning her new arrival time, Miss He once again said that she would arrange for another person to come to pick her up. And after Yun Li got off the plane and asked her, she said that the driver had already left and that she just had to patiently wait for a little.

Until now, however, the driver still had not appeared. And Ms. He had still not responded. 

In three minutes, Yun Li would have waited for an hour.

Yun Li leaned on her suitcase and typed a message with an ugly face. After she finished, she went back and read it over again completely.

Good.

No curse words.

Explained how it’s her fault.

Passive aggressiveness is used.

But even so, she stared at the screen for a while and still didn’t press the send button.

Sigh.

It sounds kinda mean.

As she was wondering how to make it nicer, her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, “–Hello?”

Looking over, Yun Li saw a stranger looking at him.

The person looked thin and handsome, like a college student who haven’t graduated yet. It seemed that he wasn’t very good at doing these kinds of things, as he said shyly, “Did you come here for vacation or?”

He was already the sixth person who tried to strike up a conversation with her.

Without exception, the previous five all asked her whether she wanted to ride their car or a hotel room.

So Yun Li automatically filled the rest of his words in her head and waved her hand, “No thanks…”

The man paused, “Huh?”

“I’m waiting for someone, and I don’t need a room.”

The two looked at each other awkwardly.

A few seconds later, the man scratched his hair, “Um.”

He gave a gentle cough, “I just wanted to ask, can I add you on WeChat?”

“……”

Yun Li was dumbfounded.

The man’s voice was clear, but now it was a bit quieter, “Can I?”

“Uh,” realizing that she had mistaken him, Yun Li was rather embarrassed, “…Okay.”

“Thank you,” said the man as he took out his phone. He smiled, “Should I scan you?”[1]For those who aren’t aware of how WeChat works, it’s a Chinese messaging and social media app where you can scan each other’s QR code to add each other as friends.

Yun Li nodded and tapped her screen. The long text that she had just composed was shown. She immediately clicked out of it and opened the QR code for him to scan.

The man bent down and scanned the code while he introduced himself politely, “I’m Fu Zhengchu, if you have time later we can…”

The friend request appeared.

As she took a look at his profile picture, Yun Li felt that something was off. A guess rose in her head.

Sure enough.

The next second, his username showed up.

–Bar and Chill Inn

“……”

Is this how far solicitors have gone nowadays?

Yet Fu Zhengchu didn’t realize that he had used the wrong account at all. His expression still had a “yes, I did it!” look. Immediately after, he asked with care, “Are you going to EAW after?”

Yun Li looked at him.

“That VR Experience Center?”

Yun Li became alert, “How did you know?”

“I accidentally saw your chat window just now and noticed the person’s alias. Sorry, I didn’t mean it,” said Fu Zhengchu, “And this center opened near my school, so I took a guess.”

Miss He’s alias on Yun Li’s phone was just EAW but did not mention anything about VR Experience Center.

So his explanation was rather convincing.

She nodded again.

“But why are you here at this time? I don’t think it’s open yet, you’ll have to wait a month,” said Fu Zhengchu.

All his information was correct, and Yun Li didn’t know how to reply. All she could honestly say was, “Uh, I was invited.”

“Invited?” Fu Zhengchu didn’t seem to understand, but he didn’t keep asking either, “So you’re waiting for them to come to pick you up?”

“Mm.”

“I noticed that you’ve been waiting for a while,” after hesitating, Fu Zhengchu did not give up after her indifferent words and expression and kept going, “Where are you going? Maybe I can give you a ride?”

Hearing this, Yun Li’s alertness rose again. She shook her head, “No, thank you.”

“It’s okay, this matter has something to do with me.”

Yun Li asked puzzledly, ”Mm?”

“Oh,” Fu Zhengchu realized he didn’t explain yet, and said briefly, “Because my brother founded EAW.”

Yun Li: “……”

Yeah right, why don’t you just tell me that you’re the CEO instead?

–

After a second of silence, Yun Li considered it. This person’s series of actions seemed very strange.

Bunch of lies, and randomly asked her to go with him. He seemed to be part of some criminal organization that targeted single women. With this thought in mind, she gradually grew anxious.

Even considering the fact that it was in public, it was late at night and she didn’t know this place well.

She didn’t want to express her anxiety, so she used a random excuse as she wanted to leave the area. 

Fu Zhengchu seemed to have also realized that not only did he seem like he’s boasting, it also made him look suspicious. He quickly tried to explain, but it wasn’t of much use. The more he said, the more sketchy he sounded, and so he could only after the failed attempt.

Out of caution, Yun Li didn’t stay much longer..

After taking several turns in the airport, she finally relaxed a little after she was sure that the man didn’t follow her. 

Due to what happened, Yun Li didn’t want to stay much longer, and she opened her phone again.

The screen still showed the chat window.

Miss He still hadn’t replied. Because the impulse from the anger had faded, she sighed and deleted what she was about to send.

Rather than waiting in place and doing nothing, she decided to try to think of a solution herself. She scrolled up the chat history, found the name of the hotel, and searched its location on the map.

It was near Nanwu Institute of Technology.

Before she could think more, Miss He, who disappeared a while ago, finally replied.

Perhaps it was because of the dozen or so messages that she sent earlier, Miss He kept apologizing, saying that she accidentally fell asleep and didn’t see the message that the driver sent saying he couldn’t make it. She also said that she has already arranged for someone else to come pick her up.

It was a member of the EAW staff, who happened to be nearby.

This time Miss He was very clear.

Not only did she send the license plate, but she also promised that he would arrive within ten minutes.

Although she had been waiting for so long already, her problem was finally solved.

She was not in the mood to continue blaming her, so Yun Li just sent an “okay”, and walked outside. After coming out did she feel the dampness and coolness.

……

Five minutes later.

Yun Li’s phone rang; it was an anonymous call from Nanwu. Seeing this, she reflexively hung up. But the second she hung up, she realized that it was probably someone from EAW.

She looked at the missed call and didn’t dare to call back.

But she was also afraid that the other party would grow impatient.

After hesitating.

She bit her knuckles and called back.

Beep.

With just one ring, the call was picked up.

But nothing was said.

Yun Li took the initiative to explain, “Sorry, I accidentally  hung up.” Now knowing how to call the other party, she asked, “Are you from EAW?”

A few seconds later.

The man gave an “mm”. His voice was cold and sounded tired as if a phantom illusion. His voice was without any emotion as if it was capable of taking one’s soul. “Come out, cross the road, and you will see a parking lot–”

Yun Li paused him, “Wait what?”

The man stopped and explained, “You can’t park at the exit.”

“Ohoh, okay,” said Yun Li, “I’ll come over now.”

“Did you bring an umbrella?” asked the man.

Yun Li took a glance at her back subconsciously, “Yes.”

“Meet me at the entrance of the parking lot.”

With that, the call ended.

The whole conversation lasted no more than a minute

Yun Li pulled out her umbrella with confusion.

Following the man’s instructions, the second Yun Li got to the parking lot, she saw a car coming over. After comparing it with the license plate Miss He had sent over, she confirmed that it was the correct car. From the passenger side, she bent down and politely asked,  “Hello, can you please open the trunk?”

Trees beside the parking lot blocked some of the street lights, causing the light to be fragmented as it shined below.

Inside the car, Yun Li could only see his sickly white jaw.

The man turned his head and seemed to glance towards her. He didn’t say anything as he wore his hat and coat and got out of the car.

Yun Li was stunned and quickly said, “Um, it’s okay… I can do…”

Her voice was soft, and the loud rain seemed to have swallowed it. The man acted as if he didn’t hear. He came up to her and took the suitcase from her. She could only swallow the rest of her words back and say instead, “… thank you.”

The raindrops landed on the floor one after another in the city.

Yun Li studied these unfamiliar surroundings. As she looked around, she suddenly stopped, with her eyes towards the sky. Even in such weather, she saw a rare sight: the moon through the rain.

The man lifted the trunk, which made him lift his head slightly. The dim lights shone on his face.

It seemed as if time was forced to slow down. His appearance gradually grew clear.

Yun Li held her breath for a few seconds.

The man’s eye sockets were deep, his thin lips were closed tightly, and his expression seemed distant. His hair and eyelashes had water on them, and he looked tired, but still had an offensive aggressiveness on him.

So handsome that it made it impossible to look away.

But also as if he had thorns, making people not dare to approach.

After seeing him lift the suitcase, Yun Li recovered from her daze. She got closer and covered him with her umbrella.  

The umbrella wasn’t too big, and it was hard to contain two people without them being close. Yun Li was a little embarrassed to be so close, so she stood at a safe distance and allowed part of herself to be caught in the rain.

There were, unexpectedly, many things in the trunk.

The man piled some loose items onto the side and barely shoved the suitcase in. Then, he noticed Yun Li on the side.

He was very tall. In his dark thin coat, his face didn’t have any expression, bringing some sense of oppression. At this moment, he seemed offended. He looked up, staring at her with his ink-black pupils.

Yun Li swallowed hard and was a bit nervous.

Then.

Yun Li saw the man raise his hand, and come towards her.

She froze in place.

In such circumstances, Yun Li still noticed that the man’s slender fingers were wet with water. His hand went past her’s and rose. Then slowly, he touched the black shaft and pushed gently.

The shaft went past her hair, then her ear, then to her neck.

Yun Li’s full body was covered by the umbrella again.

The process took no more than a few seconds.

Then, the man turned around and closed the trunk. The sound was dull and was drowned in the crisp sound of rain. With that, two words arose from his mouth.

“No need.”