Chapter 18

The overly realistic scene instinctively made Yun Li retreat, her hand slipping from the motorcycle’s handlebar. The audio system of her VR glasses, installed within the frames, played a cute alert, “Little one, hold on tight to the handlebars to hug daddy, okay?”

“…”

Even though she knew it was all virtual, the visual realism in the VR world still made Yun Li resist the urge to actively embrace Fu Shizhe.

But the more she cared, the more these ordinary things seemed to take on special meaning.

In no more than two seconds, the motorcycle started moving. Fu Shizhe rode through the woods, shooting at monsters that popped up, a tribute to that classic arcade game. The simulation effect of the motion device was so convincing that Yun Li closed her eyes in fright during several flips.

When Yun Li came to her senses, she realized that at some point she had gripped the handlebars tightly again, her slender arms encircling Fu Shizhe’s waist in the game.

Yun Li felt a fine sweat on her forehead. Virtual reality technology was limited and couldn’t provide real tactile feedback. However, even with just the visual embrace, Yun Li felt her heart leap into her throat.

Fu Shizhe kept his gaze straight ahead, seemingly completely unaware of her presence. Yun Li was about to retract her hand but stopped, pressing her fingertips against her sweaty palm. She took a deep breath, spread her fingers, and saw herself hugging the figure in front again.

Sneaking a hug… seemed to be okay…

The destination was the edge of a canyon. She saw Fu Shizhe dismount the motorcycle. The character in the game wore a helmet and sunglasses, with some scrapes on his cheeks.

He reached out both hands to her.

Yun Li held her breath, watching as Fu Shizhe’s hands slid under her arms, lifting her off the bike and setting her on the ground.

During the short journey spanning mountains and rivers, Yun Li looked at her tiny palms and mustered the courage to reach for his hand.

In her line of sight, he gently took her hand as well.

Fu Shizhe had already taken off his VR glasses, his left glove vibrating slightly. He turned to look at Yun Li, who took a moment before slowly removing her VR glasses as if she was still coming back to reality.

After a few seconds of silence, the system began to announce the safety precautions for exiting. Fu Shizhe was the first to unfasten his gear and walked over to Yun Li.

Yun Li’s eyes darted away, “This mode seems pretty special.”

Fu Shizhe bent down to untie her safety rope, seemingly unaffected by the same game, and asked her, “What’s special about it?”

“This parent-child mode seems to avoid teaching children driving and shooting actions…”

Fu Shizhe paused for a moment, “You didn’t shoot just now?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t ride the bike either?”

“Yes…”

Fu Shizhe looked slightly puzzled, “Didn’t get into the game?”

“…”

Yun Li hung her head, feeling incredibly guilty, “In parent-child mode, the child can’t operate, can only enjoy the scenery all the way.”

Fu Shizhe glanced at her, “Was it nice?”

Yun Li nodded.

Without asking, Yun Li could infer from their conversation that Fu Shizhe was completely unaware that she was sitting behind him.

That made sense – he wouldn’t have played the parent-child mode before.

Unable to tell if she felt relieved or disappointed, Yun Li felt she had already gained a lot today. Blessed by technology, just as the arcade games of the past had brought her excitement, where she experienced a completely different world.

But she wished it were real.

After shutting down the equipment, they returned to the office.

Holding a folder in her arms, Yun Li whispered a “Thank you for your guidance” to Fu Shizhe and then turned to run away.

There were already three or four people sitting in the office. Yun Li suddenly felt nervous, lightening her steps as she returned to her seat, fortunately not drawing anyone’s attention.

Deng Chuqi was delivering materials nearby and asked her to meet at the coffee shop on the first floor of Haitian Commerce. Yun Li packed up her things and sent a message to He Jiameng saying she wouldn’t be having lunch at the office.

Deng Chuqi: “So, you spent the morning playing games.”

Yun Li replied discontentedly, “It’s still work.”

Deng Chuqi said, “But it’s the kind of game you have to pay to play.”

Deng Chuqi took a sip of coffee and asked, “Did Xiaxia’s Uncle take good care of you? Though looking at his icy demeanor, he doesn’t seem like the caring type.”

“Self-reliant,” Yun Li glanced at her.

Not wanting Deng Chuqi to interpret her words as Fu Shizhe being ‘useless’, Yun Li carefully phrased her response: “Xiaxia’s Uncle has been quite nice to me. The other day when he visited our school, he took Fu Zhengchu and me to a soccer game.”

Yun Li didn’t mention any other details.

“You went to see a soccer game together? Do you even understand soccer?” Deng Chuqi suddenly remembered something and slapped the table, “I remember now, you participated in that robot soccer competition, right? You should be quite clear about the rules.”

Yun Li shook her head: “In that competition, you just needed to score a goal, even a basketball would count as a win.”

The robot soccer match Deng Chuqi mentioned happened when Yun Li was in her second year of high school. They both attended the best high school in XiFu, which was known for activities that enhanced students’ overall abilities.

That was Yun Li’s first awareness of the Science Festival.

Barely making it into this high school, Yun Li felt suffocated by her classmates’ excellence. The monthly public display of exam rankings was particularly torturous. Several times, holding that ten-centimeter-long grade slip, which the teacher was unaware of, felt like a night filled with gunpowder.

She didn’t want to go home.

Yun Li would stand dazed, holding that piece of paper, two blocks from home.

Over a distance of five meters, she’d repeatedly kick the same stone from one side to the other.

Until the night grew so deep that she had to return.

The announcement of the Science Festival coincided with the end of the monthly exams. As expected, Yun YongChang did not approve of her participating in this ‘meaningless’ event.

In Yun YongChang’s eyes, academic performance was everything.

Attending a prestigious university was the only way for ordinary people to change their fate.

He pinned this hope on both his children.

“Look at yourself, look at these results. With these grades, you’re still thinking about joining all that nonsense,” Yun YongChang tore the slip into pieces and threw it in the trash.

The light paper, when torn, felt so heavy that Yun Li couldn’t breathe.

That day, right before the registration deadline, Yun Li remembered a video that had gone viral over a year ago.

As if possessed, Yun Li signed up for the robot soccer competition. Each team had to build a robot under a coach’s guidance.

The school invited top students from XiFu Sci-Tech University to mentor them, and each team’s captain was a student from XiFu Sci-Tech University.

Nearly sixty teams participated.

Yun Li’s team spent three weeks assembling their six robots. The official match was 5v5, requiring a spare robot.

Initially, their captain remotely wrote code from XiFu Sci-Tech University, coming to the school later to help assemble the robots.

Only a few days remained before the competition.

The captain asked them to find a surface with more friction to get accustomed to the robots’ operation.

That weekend, the plastic track on the field was still damp with morning dew.

Yun Li found a corner and placed the robot on the ground. It wasn’t pretty—a dark grey boxy torso with two round yellow eyes and a white head.

Ugly, but functional.

Yun Li manipulated the joystick on the controller, but the robot was sluggish, often requiring a few seconds of pushing in one direction before it would slowly crawl.

Yun Li spent the whole day trying to get the robot to move a stone, to no avail. As the midday sun began to peek out, she bought a bread roll from the snack bar and returned to the field.

Staring at the foolish robot, Yun Li morosely nibbled on the bread.

Feeling sad, she flicked the robot’s head and complained, “Why are you so dumb?”

Later, she glumly watched the robot inch closer to a stone half a meter away. Squatting on the ground, she carefully followed behind it.

The hot north wind hit her face like a tide. Looking down, Yun Li caught a glimpse of a pair of canvas shoes from the corner of her eye.

She looked up to see a tall, thin boy who seemed vaguely familiar, with brown eyes and soft features. Yun Li was momentarily mesmerized.

“Sorry to disturb you,” the boy said with a smile. “It’s just that my friend and I were passing by— he’s a bit shy and didn’t come over.”

He gestured towards the stands, where a lone boy sat amidst the vast blue seats.

The boy was looking at them, but Yun Li could only make out his pale complexion, not his features.

Yun Li stood up.

“We’ve been here all day and saw you playing with this robot.”

Feeling shy in front of a stranger, Yun Li instinctively replied, “I’m not playing, I’m training it!”

The boy paused, then laughed.

Embarrassed, Yun Li asked, “Why are you laughing?”

Instead of answering, the boy crouched down to examine her robot: “This robot is quite cute. Did you build it yourself?”

Yun Li didn’t respond, watching him warily, afraid he might accidentally damage her precious robot.

As he bent forward, a pass slid out of his pocket, encased in a transparent holder. Yun Li recognized it as the special pass issued by the school to students from XiFu Sci-Tech University.

He was the captain of another team.

Yun Li didn’t know how to react.

Seeing Yun Li staring at his pass, the boy thought she was curious and picked it up to show her briefly.

The photo on the ID was a picture of Ultraman.

“…”

The photo obscured his name, revealing only the character “Yuan.”

At that time, Yun Li hadn’t had much interaction with men of his age and found him both gentle and rebellious. She shrank back a step, watching him.

The boy picked up a small stone, stood up, and threw it into the grass, tracing an arc before the stone disappeared. He then pulled out a small soccer ball from his pocket, decorated with a doodled smiley face, and placed it in front of her robot, asking, “Do you think this fits?”

Yun Li looked skeptical.

The boy took a step back and suggested, “Try again.”

Yun Li manipulated the joystick, and the robot, which had been acting foolishly all morning, moved forward two steps. When it came time to push the soccer ball, it suddenly jammed again.

The boy’s expression turned somewhat awkward as he offered, “Shall I give it a try?”

After much internal debate, Yun Li handed the controller over to him.

On that mild afternoon, the boy patiently explained how to control the robot and the direction of the ball.

Once she managed to move the soccer ball with the robot, Yun Li showed the first smile since they met.

“I have to go; my friend is waiting for me.” The boy’s soft features blended into the light. Yun Li picked up the small soccer ball and looked up to find the boy already running off, a word starting with “U” faintly visible on his back.

Yun Li’s eyes widened.

“Wait—”

The call died on her lips as she stood there watching them leave.

At some point, the person who had been sitting quietly in the stands had also reached the entrance of the playground. They were about the same height, wearing similar jackets, and the letters on their backs were completely indiscernible.

Yun Li never got a clear look at the other person’s face.

Such a brief encounter was forgotten by Yun Li in the shadows of the light. She then devoted herself entirely to her robot. In the competition, although she didn’t rank highly, Yun Li won her first small trophy.

She placed the small soccer ball next to the trophy on the bookshelf in her room.