Pure emotion error - Chapter 3
Chapter 3 A Wet Kiss
The warmth of his palm seeped through the cotton shirt onto Lin Yiqiao’s arm. Feeling too hot, Lin Yiqiao gently pulled away, and Yan Lu released her.
“Making friends is troublesome,” Lin Yiqiao frowned, “and I don’t have time.”
Yan Lu asked, “Why don’t you have time?”
Lin Yiqiao said, “Because I have to take care of Maugham, Camus, Márquez, and Zweig.”
Yan Lu tried to understand this sentence using Lin Yiqiao’s perspective: “Are you studying literature?”
“No,” Lin Yiqiao shook her head, explaining, “They are the Atlantic jellyfish I keep.”
Then Lin Yiqiao spent seven minutes explaining to Yan Lu the characteristics and habits of Atlantic jellyfish, as well as how to raise them.
“The salinity of the seawater must be strictly controlled…” “Temperature and pH levels are crucial; the water must be changed regularly, and they must be fed with newly hatched brine shrimp larvae.” Lin Yiqiao always had a lot to say about her area of interest. “Their predatory abilities are weak, so you have to use a dropper to squeeze the brine shrimp towards your tentacles, being careful not to injure them, and wearing spiked gloves because they are poisonous.”
But Yan Lu seemed a little too interested in the jellyfish. As Lin Yiqiao spoke, he unconsciously leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on Lin Yiqiao’s face, a focused, almost burning gaze carrying an emotion Lin Yiqiao couldn’t decipher.
Yan Lu’s presence was thus drawn closer. Although there was no physical contact, the very presence carried a powerful pressure. Lin Yiqiao admitted that Yan Lu smelled wonderful, like a forest after the rain, but this gaze and posture made Lin Yiqiao feel scrutinized and invaded.
Due to her unusual neurological traits, Lin Yiqiao’s senses were already overly sensitive, and this close pressure made her heart race and feel breathless.
“You’re too close to me,” Lin Yiqiao said, raising his hand to push Yan Lu away from his chest. “You’re making me very uncomfortable.”
Yan Lu immediately stepped back and apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Lin Yiqiao hummed in agreement. “Don’t get so close to me next time.”
Yan Lu said, “Okay.” He didn’t seem to realize they had been even closer before.
Lin Yiqiao continued talking about his jellyfish: “But of the four of them, Marcus is the best at hunting; it always eats the most.”
Yan Lu seemed to really like the jellyfish and asked, “Can I come to your house to see them?”
Lin Yiqiao shook his head and refused. “No.”
“Because Marcus and the others are shy?”
Lin Yiqiao looked at Yan Lu with surprise, thinking he had said something incredibly illogical. “Jellyfish don’t even have brains, how could they be shy?”
Lin Yiqiao said, “I just don’t want you to come to my house.”
The two got out of the car and went into the restaurant, where the seating and menu had already been arranged. It turns out that Yan Lu had already made arrangements with the restaurant when he sent the message in the underground parking garage.
The location was a small, undisturbed, well-ventilated private room. The dishes were all Lin Yiqiao’s favorites, and the colors were only black, green, red, and white—no yellow.
“I don’t eat food that’s not clearly identifiable, I don’t eat food with thick broth, I don’t eat spicy food, I don’t eat food that’s too hot, and I don’t eat food with small bones or thorns.” Yan Lu knew Lin Yiqiao’s preferences like the back of his hand. He paused slightly, a hint of probing in his voice, “Do you still have these requirements for food now?”
Lin Yiqiao said, “Yes.”
Yan Lu sighed, patiently guiding her question, “See, after all these years, I still remember what you like. What kind of person do you think I am?”
Lin Yiqiao said, “You have a very good memory.”
Yan Lu: …
Yan Lu filled a small bowl halfway with rice for Lin Yiqiao, pushing it towards him and saying, “Eat.”
The food at this restaurant suited Lin Yiqiao’s taste perfectly. After finishing half a bowl of rice, he asked for another half, but he noticed that Yan Lu hadn’t eaten much.
“Why aren’t you eating? Do you think it’s not good?” Lin Yiqiao asked.
“I’m a little tired,” Yan Lu said. “I just had a long flight.”
“Did you like the food?” Lin Yiqiao asked again.
Yan Lu could only answer directly, “It was good, but I’m a little tired, so I didn’t have much of an appetite and couldn’t eat much.”
Lin Yiqiao was satisfied with this clear and concise answer, and he didn’t ask any further questions.
After the meal, Yan Lu drove Lin Yiqiao back to her company, parking the car at the elevator entrance on the basement level so that Lin Yiqiao could take the elevator directly up.
“I’m not going back to the office,” Yan Lu said. “You can go up by yourself.”
Lin Yiqiao saw how tired he looked. According to social etiquette, she should say something, but Lin Yiqiao didn’t know how to express concern. After searching her mind for a while, she finally said, “You’ve worked hard.”
Yan Lu smiled—the biggest smile Lin Yiqiao had seen on his face all day. He said, “It has been quite tiring, so do you want to be friends with me?”
Lin Yiqiao still felt that making friends was too troublesome, and raising jellyfish was also too troublesome. She had already done one troublesome thing; she couldn’t do another at the same time.
“No,” Lin Yiqiao replied.
Because of a good meal, Lin Yiqiao was in a good mood when she returned to her workstation.
Her work efficiency was high all afternoon. At 5:50, Lin Yiqiao prepared to pack up and leave.
At this moment, Cai Dong, who hadn’t spoken to Lin Yiqiao all afternoon, called her over.
“Genius,” Cai Dong slammed an analysis report on the table, speaking sternly to Lin Yiqiao, “When you chose this alloy material, did you evaluate its temperature changes and thermoelectric effects during continuous movement?”
Lin Yiqiao honestly replied, “No.”
Cai Dong snorted, frowning at him. “Never worked on a mind-control project before?”
Lin Yiqiao again honestly replied, “No.”
“This microvolt-level thermoelectric noise isn’t usually a problem, but our machine is controlled by brainwave signals. If this noise couples with the movement rhythm, it can easily be misinterpreted as a valid neural command.” Cai Dong tapped the report several times with his right index finger. “No matter how well the force transmission is done, if the brain can’t control the legs, it’s all for nothing! Take this back and study it to see how to solve it. If you can’t solve it, your plan is scrapped!”
Lin Yiqiao had indeed only considered mechanical performance when optimizing the plan, without considering that the thermoelectric effect might affect the acquisition of bioelectric signals. But if the plan was scrapped, all his recent work would be for nothing.
He didn’t speak, picked up the report, and slowly strolled back to his workstation, flipping through it.
After reviewing the data, Lin Yiqiao went to the neuroscience lab.
To analyze the impact of thermoelectric noise, he needed to know the baseline noise level currently collected by the EE satellite and the noise tolerance threshold of the BCI decoder. Only the neuroscience lab had this data.
It was already past closing time, but one researcher was still in the lab. Lin Yiqiao explained his purpose, and the researcher looked troubled, saying, “Our internal test data is highly confidential; it requires authorization from our CEO, Mr. Yan, to access it.”
The title “Mr. Yan” was completely unfamiliar to Lin Yiqiao. He asked confirmingly, “You mean Mr. Yan Lu?”
“Yes.” The researcher found Lin Yiqiao’s behavior strange; he glanced at Lin Yiqiao a few more times as he left.
Fifteen kilometers away from the office building was an art lounge where Mr. Yan Lu and some friends were having a small gathering.
The lounge was located on the top floor of a commercial complex, overlooking the city skyline. The setting sun cast a warm golden glow over the entire space.
In a corner of the lounge, Yan Lu sank into a comfortable armchair, his transparent half-rimmed glasses perched on his high-bridged nose, outlining the slightly upturned lines of his eyes. He had just spent the entire afternoon catching up on sleep and was now refreshed enough to participate in “The Brain.”
“Congratulations, fifty million US dollars,” Lin Wan swirled her glass at Yan Lu, “You’re a big star in the tech world now. Investing in your angel round was the best decision of my career.”
Yan Lu also raised his glass in acknowledgment: “It’s mainly because our team is amazing.”
Lin Wan took a sip, gently placed her glass on the low table, picked up a sea salt lemon candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. Just as she was about to speak, Zhu Chizhou cupped her face and gave her a wet kiss, snatching the candy away.
Lin Wan blushed, pushed the person away, and said, “We’re outside, with so many people around, are you crazy?”
Yan Lu couldn’t bear to watch and wanted to splash his iced sparkling water on his childhood friend’s face: “Zhu Chizhou, you’re like a dog!”
Zhu Chizhou grinned and leaned close to Lin Wan’s ear, whispering in a voice far louder than a whisper, “There’s someone here who’s desperately seeking something, guess who it is.”
Lin Wan looked at Yan Lu with feigned surprise and said, “Really? I can’t guess.”
Yan Lu picked up a candy and accurately hit Zhu Chizhou on the head.
On the table, the phone screen flashed; it was a message notification from the company’s internal communication software.
Yan Lu picked it up and unlocked it, seeing a cartoon jellyfish head lying down, with a round head and round eyes.
Sender: Lin Yiqiao, Mechanical Engineering Group
[Team Leader Cai just pointed out that there’s a problem with my knee joint design. The selected material will generate thermoelectric noise during dynamic operation, which may interfere with EE signal acquisition and decoding.] Please authorize me with the actual noise margin, signal characteristics, and historical data of relevant interference tests for the EEG system within three minutes; otherwise, you will bear the consequences.
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Have you learned Lin Yiqiao’s effective communication principles? ()