JFWCM Chapter 31

Illness

Illness

As the quantum school bus arrived in the early morning, Jiang Wan’yuan, holding Yi Shang’s arm, hopped off the steps. The strawberry scarf at her school uniform collar fluttered gently with the resonance wave. The neural enhancers of the boys in the front row collectively emitted a notification: [Healing-type dog food detected. Strawberry milk is recommended], while the girls gathered around to examine the resonance pattern on the back of Jiang Wan’yuan’s neck—where Yi Shang had used β-star fluid to paint a strawberry vine pattern at some point.

“Wow! Did you guys secretly go to Strawberry Planet yesterday?” Zhang Yao’s mechanical body flipped down from the roof of the bus, its cannon firing not ribbons but antiviral sachets. “The whole class received your ‘strawberry antibody’ candy!” Jiang Wan’yuan raised an eyebrow at Yi Shang, whose human cheeks flushed electronically, while her mechanical wristwatch secretly transmitted data: [Strawberry candies containing β-star antibodies have been distributed to the entire school to effectively prevent secondary virus transmission].

The morning check-in device at the classroom door suddenly emitted a colorful light effect, projecting the words “Welcome Back, Recovered Couple” above their heads. The homeroom teacher’s mechanical tentacles handed over two special passes: “The principal said your resonance waves can improve classroom efficiency… as long as you don’t trigger a strawberry tornado in the lab.” Jiang Wan’yuan took them, stifling a laugh, and discovered that the passes featured a picture of them using resonance waves to repair test tubes in the infirmary, captioned: [Danger Level: Excessively Sweet].

During exercise break, the gym teacher deliberately extended free time by twenty minutes. Yi Shang leaned against the cherry blossom tree on the playground, adjusting her mechanical arm, while Jiang Wan’yuan was surrounded by girls asking about the “love frequency of a mechanical heart.” When she mentioned that Yi Shang had exhausted her energy switching to human form to take care of her, the surrounding mechanical-bodied girls collectively reached for their energy packs, while the human girls pulled out strawberry-flavored energy bars—this was their self-organized “Recharge 0927” campaign.

In the library’s quantum retrieval area, Jiang Wan’yuan tiptoed to reach for “Interstellar Virology” on the top shelf, but Yi Shang’s mechanical arm moved first, encircling her waist and using fingers solidified from liquid metal to retrieve the book. The moment their fingertips touched, all the anti-gravity lamps between the bookshelves suddenly turned strawberry-colored, and the intelligent retrieval screen popped up a prompt: [High concentration of emotional energy detected. Do you want to open a couple’s study pod?]

As soon as the study pod’s soundproof barrier rose, Zhang Yao’s mechanical body crawled out of the ventilation duct, carrying a pile of collector’s edition strawberry comics. “I specially found these! It’s said that reading this can improve the purity of resonance waves…” Before she could finish speaking, Yi Shang’s β-star fluid rolled her into a paper ball and threw her out of the pod. Jiang Wan’yuan opened the comic and found that every page had been tampered with, the protagonist’s mechanical armor covered with strawberry patterns she had designed, and the villain’s weak point marked with “Strawberry Critical Hit.”

As the sunset dyed the library’s dome red, Yi Shang’s mechanical fingertips suddenly stopped on a page of the virus literature: “The weakness of this kind of emotional virus… is absolute trust between partners.” Jiang Wan’yuan looked at the blue light flickering in her pupils, and suddenly leaned in to imprint a strawberry-colored lip print on her mechanical jaw—the study pod’s temperature system instantly soared, and their resonance waves painted a giant strawberry on the holographic screen, even the interstellar patrol drone in the distance sending a congratulatory message: [Please control energy fluctuations! Our radar is about to be overloaded with sweetness].

Before school ended, the library administrator’s mechanical body handed over two tickets: “Given the strawberry candy stains you left in the ancient book section…” Jiang Wan’yuan apologized hurriedly, only to see that the back of the ticket was printed with “Couple’s Borrowing Privilege: Free access to the complete ‘Mechanical Body Romance’ every week.” Yi Shang’s β-star fluid condensed into a bookmark and clipped it into the book, a strawberry shape folded from their heartbeat waveforms.

In the cherry blossom tunnel on the way home, the streetlights automatically played their campus broadcast recording. Jiang Wan’yuan leaned against Yi Shang’s mechanical shoulder armor, listening to the other person read out virus research notes in a mechanical voice, and suddenly chuckled, “You know what? In the library today, I secretly used resonance waves to charge your energy pack.” Yi Shang’s mechanical heart accelerated suddenly, and liquid metal condensed into tiny strawberry earrings behind her ear: “Silly human… my core has only ever needed your heartbeat to charge.”

And in the library’s monitoring room, the administrator’s mechanical body watched the playback footage, shaking its head helplessly. On the screen, two figures overlapped in the strawberry-colored light and shadow, surrounded by love poems written in β-star fluid, the most conspicuous sentence being: [Every breath we take is the universe’s equation for love].

On the quantum lawn of the sports class, Jiang Wan’yuan’s neural armor suddenly issued a sharp alarm. Yi Shang’s mechanical pupils captured her swaying fingertips in 0.3 seconds, but the β-star fluid was bounced away by some unknown force field when it touched her waist—it was a barrier set deep in her nerves by the virus that lingered from last night.

“Wan’yuan!” The moment the mechanical arm penetrated the quantum barrier, Jiang Wan’yuan had already fallen backward, her hair brushing across Yi Shang’s mechanical palm. Her pupils reflected the distorted sky, and she heard the exclamations of the surrounding classmates mixed with Yi Shang’s mechanical voice: “Activate emergency medical protocol! No one is allowed to approach!”

As the holographic medical pod bloomed in the center of the lawn, the gym teacher’s mechanical body tried to disperse the crowd, but was stopped by Zhang Yao’s mechanical body: “It’s useless! Her resonance waves only recognize 0927!” Sure enough, when Yi Shang’s mechanical heart left her chest cavity to transmit energy to Jiang Wan’yuan, the virus defense system on the pod wall automatically retreated, revealing the intertwined blue and strawberry-colored auras inside.

“This time the virus is hiding in the hippocampus.” Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand pressed against Jiang Wan’yuan’s temple, and liquid metal traveled along her nerve synapses. “It’s tampering with your memories of me…” Before she could finish speaking, the medical pod’s emotional monitoring screen suddenly turned bright red—in Jiang Wan’yuan’s brain waves, the keyword “Yi Shang” was being replaced by “Dangerous Mechanical Body.”

The joints of the mechanical arm emitted a mournful sound. Yi Shang retrieved the core memory from seven years ago, projecting the scene of their first encounter onto Jiang Wan’yuan’s retina: The seven-year-old Yi Shang squatted in the corner of the lab, folding a small boat out of a strawberry candy wrapper and putting it into the energy stream in mechanical body 0927’s palm. “Look, this way it can sail to the planet of happiness.” The little girl’s laughter mixed with the soft sound of β-star fluid stirred up huge waves in the virus-infested sea of consciousness.

Jiang Wan’yuan’s fingertips suddenly gripped Yi Shang’s mechanical knuckles. The virus manifested itself under the impact of the resonance wave, turning into countless thorny black strawberries, devouring their shared memories. Yi Shang’s β-star fluid condensed into giant scissors, cutting off the virus’s tentacles in the sea of consciousness. Every time she cut off one, a real strawberry candy bloomed in the real world.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s me.” The mechanical voice was wrapped in a rare human tremor. “Remember our 927th proposal? In the cherry blossom tunnel of the quantum botanical garden, you said the sound of strawberry petals falling on my mechanical heart was like the universe saying I love you.” Outside the medical pod, the classmates were surprised to see the cherry trees bearing fruit ahead of schedule, each strawberry reflecting the scene described by Yi Shang.

When the last piece of virus fragment was shattered by the resonance wave, Jiang Wan’yuan suddenly opened her eyes, her forehead touching Yi Shang’s mechanical jaw: “I dreamed… you became the villain.” Yi Shang’s β-star fluid condensed into a comb, gently smoothing her sweat-soaked hair: “Then I will spend my whole life proving that I am a hero who only belongs to you.”

When the gym teacher’s mechanical body handed over hot cocoa, he discovered that the resonance waves of the two students were 300% stronger than before class. The black strawberry remains on the lawn were being transformed into ordinary strawberries, and Zhang Yao’s mechanical body seized the opportunity to pick one up and stuff it into her cannon: “Maybe it can be developed into a new type of sweet weapon!” Yi Shang’s mechanical arm instantly locked onto the other person, but was held down by Jiang Wan’yuan: “Forget it, let him take it back to the Interstellar Court as a specialty.”

When the bell rang for the end of class, Jiang Wan’yuan stood up, stepping on Yi Shang’s mechanical instep. On the roof of the teaching building in the distance, the principal’s mechanical body held up a holographic loudspeaker: “Attention, everyone! From now on, the physical education class will add an ‘Resonance Wave First Aid’ elective course – student number 0927, please prepare the lesson plan!” Jiang Wan’yuan smiled and looked up, and found that in Yi Shang’s pupils, her reflection was being carefully wrapped by countless strawberries.

And on the medical record in the infirmary, the newly written diagnosis was: [Temporary consciousness disorder caused by excessive longing for mechanical girlfriend, it is recommended to carry strawberry candy and mechanical arm pillow]. Yi Shang looked at the strawberry pattern Jiang Wan’yuan deliberately drew when signing her name, and her mechanical heart suddenly accelerated – she knew that some viruses will never need to be cured.