Chapter 2

“Gua-jie: I checked the reference image. I think using the concept of ‘night gown’ is too basic. Didn’t the operations team say during the meeting this afternoon that we’re under heavy pressure due to sales? The Valerius birthday single gacha event is very important. Consider that—make the clothing more elaborate…”

Mu Ning suppressed her urge to scold and replied, “Gua-jie, it’s like this. All the male lead birthdays are actually part of a set of cards. If we only focus on Valerius’ birthday card to make it more fancy, the fans supporting the other four male leads will surely complain about unfair treatment.”

“Gua-jie: Create one version according to my request first. Keep both versions for now. I’ll discuss it with the operations team tomorrow before deciding which to use.”

“Mu Ning: Okay.”

Mu Ning frantically filled in the expected salary on her resume, took a sip of coffee, copied the requirements document into a new sheet, and started her daily overtime work.

She worked until ten o’clock, sent the document to Gua-jie, who said she would provide feedback later.

Mu Ning didn’t want to wait any longer. She packed her things and left.

Passing through the now quiet courtyard of the park, she yawned deeply.

Turning into a convenience store, she wanted to buy something to reward herself but had no appetite, so she left empty-handed.

On WeChat, Mengmeng asked for a meal. As Mu Ning slowly walked down the steps at the park entrance, she typed a reply.

After a back-and-forth, they arranged a meeting time.

At the moment she turned off the screen, she heard footsteps behind her.

The next moment, a cool, sugar-free lemon water sound said, “Hello.”

Mu Ning stopped instantly and turned around in surprise.

The dim street lights glow faintly, and a man in a black T-shirt enters the view with a slow shot in the style of a film noir scene.

Mu Ning quietly grips the strap of his canvas bag, his breathing becoming slower and deeper: “…Hello.”

“Do you remember me?” X says, stepping down two stairs and standing at the same level as her, “Your charger…”

“I remember.”

“Sorry, there was something urgent that day, so I had to return to the office. I couldn’t find you at the store, and I didn’t want to leave it with the staff—so I had to take it away first.” X explains. “After handling things, I went again, but still didn’t see you.”

“Ah… sorry, sorry. I had something urgent, so I went back to my apartment. I thought you wouldn’t leave for a while… When I came back, it happened that you were already at the office.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Hmm… yes, there was something.” Mu Ning cannot smile naturally, and his breathing seems to have a problem, becoming uneven in depth.

X is much taller than her, so when he speaks, his head is lowered. At such close distance, his beautiful face exerts a significant visual impact.

“So, the charger…” Mu Ning speaks up.

“It’s in the office. If it’s convenient, wait for me a moment—I’ll go get it for you.”

After all, her daily job is to come up with exciting stories for girls, even though she has zero practical experience. Yet, among all the theoretical knowledge, she quickly finds the best solution for the current situation:

Of course, she cannot agree to his request. Otherwise, this encounter would probably be the last time.

“Sorry, I saw on the surveillance video that the cat spilled the water bowl in the morning, so he didn’t drink water all day. I need to rush back to feed him…” Her heart beats too fast—hopefully the other person doesn’t hear it. “Which office building are you in?”

“Building F.”

“I’m in Building C. It’s not far. Is it okay if I give you a time tomorrow to meet up?”

“Sure.”

“Then…” Her voice seems blocked by her heartbeat and she can’t speak.

Mu Ning paused briefly, cleared his throat and tried to speak again.

X said, “Let’s add each other on WeChat then.”

The glowing screens of both phones emitted dim white light, like small portals leading to different universes.

Mu Ning scanned the QR code on X’s phone, and a friend verification screen appeared on the screen.

The WeChat name is “JX,” and the profile picture is a watercolor painting of a hybrid creature—a large dog with eagle wings and claws.

Very coincidentally, she knew who this profile picture was.

Even more coincidentally, if she guessed correctly, JX is the initial of his name. His real name was actually “X.”

Mu Ning sent a friend request and said, “…I like it too.”

“Hmm?” X lowered his head again.

“The Last Guardian.”

His profile picture is a character from that game—a large eagle with a dog body and face, and wings and claws like a raven.

X nodded and said, “Yes. It’s a good game.”

Mu Ning already noticed. Although he was polite, his tone was more indifferent.

Just liking the same game wasn’t enough to get close to him.

But it was enough.

The current achievements are enough to keep her excited until three o’clock this night, unable to sleep.

“Well then, I won’t delay you anymore,” Mu Ning said with a smile, pointing toward the apartment. “I need to go back.”

X nodded.

The two stopped talking, stepping down the last step. Mu Ning headed east, while X went to the west side of the road.

When they reached the next street light, Mu Ning turned around briefly under a sense of dizziness.

The man with a black backpack on his shoulders had already walked far away. His dark silhouette, illuminated by the amber light, resembled a frame drawn from a dream.

After getting home, she washed up and prepared for bed.

Mu Ning lay down on the bed, curious, and opened X’s profile to check his social media.

The cover of X’s social media was default, and no profile status was set. Fortunately, the posts weren’t blank.

He didn’t set a time limit, but posted rarely—once every six months or a year—with fewer than ten posts total. It was easy to scroll to the end.

These statuses included everything:通关 screenshots from games, photos of mountains and skies from trips, collections of cats and dogs…

It seemed he only posted occasionally because he remembered the existence of social media.

At the end of the scroll, his first status post was from six years ago.

It appeared to be a team-building event—about ten people taking photos on the grass. He stood third from the left, wearing the same black T-shirt, taller than everyone, thin, with a slightly relaxed appearance.

Mu Ning saved the photo and shared it with Mengmeng.

“Mengmeng: Which celebrity or unscripted student photo do I not know about?”

“morning: Photos of X”

“Mengmeng: …… the most handsome one?”

“morning: Yeses”

“Mengmeng: !!!”

“Mengmeng: That makes sense.”

“morning: Hahahaahaha”

“Mengmeng: How did you get the photo?”

“morning: I added it to his WeChat — just laughing.”

“Mengmeng: !!”

Mengmeng wasn’t satisfied with just reading about it and immediately called via voice message, asking for details.

About ten minutes later, after they finished talking, Mu Ning felt energized like too much caffeine.

Unable to sleep, she read every post on X’s social media from start to finish.

It wasn’t clear whether X had good privacy or simply didn’t want to share; none of the posts revealed any personal information—age, school, job—everything was unknown.

The good news was that there was no sign of a girlfriend either.

Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out outright, as some people simply don’t like to show off their relationships.

He was truly unknown.

A complex equation waiting for a final answer.

–

The next day at work, Gua-jie submitted a bunch of tedious requests that had to be done anyway.

Mu Ning was overwhelmed with changes and occasionally checked his WeChat.

The conversation ended at 10 a.m.

“morning: Is 12 p.m. at Building F the right time to meet?”

“X: Yes, it’s fine.”

Mu Ning didn’t fall asleep until 2 a.m., trying to figure out how many two characters JX might be.

Jiang, Ji, Jiang, Jiang, Jin, Jing, Ju, Jian, Jiao…

Surnames starting with J are mostly these.

As for X… there are too many characters, making it impossible to define a clear range.

Finally, at 11:40, Mu Ning went to the bathroom to freshen up and picked up his work card before going downstairs.

During lunch break, the elevator is crowded—Mu Ning waited two times before finally getting out.

She hadn’t reached Building F yet, but from afar, she saw a figure standing at the door.

Wearing a black T-shirt that seemed to serve as a visual anchor, his skin looked almost sunned under sunlight.

He kept his head down, holding a phone in his right hand, fingers slowly swiping the screen. Based on the speed, he wasn’t browsing social media—instead, he was reading a long article.

In his other hand, he held a black paper bag, likely containing the charger she had lost for a long time.

Mu Ning took a deep breath and walked calmly toward him over the last few steps.

“Hello.”

X raised his head when he heard the voice.

As Mu Ning stood in front of him, he handed her the bag and said, “Your charger. Thank you.”

Mu Ning took it and peeked inside—besides the charger, there was a triangular cake.

“This is…”

“A thank you.” X paused slightly and added, “Also a apology.”

Mu Ning smiled and said, “No problem. You’re welcome.”

Her fingers tightened around the bag’s rope.

The awkwardness between strangers left them in brief silence.

Normally, people would say a few polite words to say goodbye, then later delete him from their contact list.

Mu Ning took a quiet breath, knowing full well he couldn’t simply end the meeting as usual.

The awkwardness grew into an unignorable tension during the prolonged silence.

Seeing X, she hesitated before speaking, trying to figure out what to say.

Mu Ning spoke first, cutting off his words: “It seems ‘Echoes of Ruins’ is a game developed by your company, right?”

X lowered his head and followed her gaze.

Her eyes landed on his work ID, which had a dark blue strap bearing the logo of Lingjing Interactive Entertainment.

“Yes. It was made by Echo Studio.”

“I really liked the ending of ‘Echoes of Ruins’.”

“Which ending do you like?”

“The hidden ending.”

X paused briefly, then looked up at her: “Did you get it by following the guide?”

“No. I booked it before the public launch, bought it right after it came out, and spent two long nights trying to complete it over the weekend. There were no guides online at that time.”

“How did you get the hidden ending?”

“I really liked the character Nova, so I talked to him the most. Surprisingly, it triggered the clue to the secret room. So I’m happy that Nova survived in the secret room.”

X’s gaze remained on her face for a long time, but he said nothing.

So long that she felt her limbs stiffen and her expression freeze.

X spoke again: “Have you eaten lunch?”

“Not yet… I’m about to go.”

“If you don’t mind, let’s start Chapter 3 together.”

Any person with a secret crush would probably assume there was something wrong with their hearing or understanding when hearing such an invitation.

Mu Ning froze momentarily, then looked up at X.

He was also looking at her, waiting for her response.

“……Ah. Good.” Mu Ning replied.

Being knocked unconscious by a pie falling from the sky—is that what she felt at this moment?

X nodded and turned toward the park entrance, asking, “What do you usually eat?”

“All the nearby restaurants are pretty much the same; you can eat whatever you want,” Mu Ning said. “Do you have any dietary restrictions?”

“I’m not very fond of spicy food.”

“How about chicken rice?”

“That one next to Yoshinoya?”

“Right.” Mu Ning smiled. “The taste is okay, right?”

X nodded.

There were many local eateries, enough to satisfy the workers in the park. With time running short, no one wanted to wait in line, so they quickly switched to another restaurant when it was full.

Fast-food restaurants turnover quickly, and when they arrived, a table became available.

The waiter cleaned the table, and the two sat face to face, scanning QR codes to order.

There was a glass water pitcher on the table. Mu Ning poured water from two black pottery cups and handed one to X.

He took it and thanked her.

Then he gave her a look with dark brown eyes, took a sip, and said, “You said you like Nova. Can you explain why?”

Echoes of Ruins is a pixel-style puzzle game released on Steam. The puzzle difficulty is moderate, and the story is interesting.

Nova is a somewhat annoying character among all the NPCs. At the beginning, not only does she damage a key item for players, but she also often ignores instructions and speaks in a confusing way.

Mu Ning speculated that X might also enjoy this game, or perhaps he was involved in some part of the development of Echoes of Ruins.

“Perhaps due to the sensitivity of narrative planning, I had reached about one-third of the story when I gradually realized that his true personality isn’t what he appears to be.”