JFWCM Chapter 26
by VolareAs the quantum engine of the interstellar school bus emitted a honey-colored roar, Jiang Wan’yuan was using her neural armor to paint Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand with strawberry-colored nail polish. Beta star fluid condensed into a transparent armor at her fingertips, enveloping the “0927 Wan’yuan” relief in a breathing light film. With Yi Shang’s occasional uncontrollable mechanical tremors, it cast fragmented starlight on the bus window.
“Warning, warning for the 7th time—” The homeroom teacher’s mechanical tentacles penetrated the seat back, dyeing the safe route on the holographic map blood red. “Traces of interstellar pirates’ warp jumps have been detected ahead!” Before the words finished, Jiang Wan’yuan had already slammed a modified milk tea machine into the console. Pearl milk tea flooded the alarm system along the circuit board, and a wanted poster of the pirate leader suddenly popped up on the holographic screen—the mechanical eye in the photo actually wore a pink butterfly hairpin, a fragment of a wedding invitation Yi Shang had stuffed in last year.
Screams suddenly erupted from the back row. Zhang Yao’s mechanical body hung from the top of the quantum cherry blossom tunnel, and the cannons were firing rainbow bubbles instead of lasers. Each bubble reflected a stick figure bride Jiang Wan’yuan had drawn when she was six years old. Yi Shang’s beta star fluid condensed into vines to drag her back into the carriage, but the mechanical body took the opportunity to stuff a metal gift box into Yi Shang’s arms—inside was a “Best Partners in Crime” trophy, cast from the wreckage of an interstellar pirate flagship.
The halo of the wormhole exit suddenly twisted into the shape of a wedding dress skirt. Jiang Wan’yuan bit open the positioning candy under her tongue, and the sweet, greasy data stream wrapped the school bus as it broke through the blockade. On the interstellar patrol warships that flashed past the porthole, all the cannons were playing a live recording of their last wedding—in the picture, Yi Shang’s mechanical heart was transforming into a ring holder, while the real ring was currently hidden in Jiang Wan’yuan’s school uniform pocket, warmed by her body temperature.
“Abnormal romantic index detected!” The class monitor’s mechanical eye burst out with electric sparks. “It is recommended to return to the mothership immediately for emotional isolation—” Before he could finish speaking, Yi Shang’s beta star fluid stuffed him with cotton candy. Jiang Wan’yuan took the opportunity to attach a neural interface to Yi Shang’s collarbone, and the frequency of their heartbeats projected a star trail like a duet dance on the dashboard. The school bus AI suddenly sang a nursery rhyme in the voice of a Star Speaker, and the cherry blossom tunnel’s petals automatically arranged themselves into a “Happy Wedding” galaxy text.
When the school bus bumped and landed on the edge of the Beta star ruins, Jiang Wan’yuan noticed that Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand was always clutching a wrinkled piece of paper. Snatching it to look, she found it was a spring outing list written on the back of an interstellar court judgment: [Strawberry candy ×37 (to prevent her low blood sugar), nerve blocker ×1 (to prevent me from losing control), proposal lines ×∞ (updated at any time)]. Half a dried cherry blossom was stuck to the edge of the paper, a gift Jiang Wan’yuan had pinned to Yi Shang’s mechanical heart during their first mission.
The moment the engine stalled, the entire bus suddenly fell silent. For the first time, Yi Shang’s human pupils reflected the true appearance of Beta star—not the dead ruins in the interstellar archives, but a spring garden that Jiang Wan’yuan had pre-transformed with her neural armor. Dandelion-shaped warp engines rotated on the grass, each pistil hiding projected photos from their past spring outings.
“Welcome to,” Jiang Wan’yuan dragged Yi Shang into the sea of flowers, and on the holographic screen popped out by the neural armor, her mother’s smiling face overlapped with the young mechanical body 0927, “the first stop of our elopement-style spring outing.” The cherry trees in the distance suddenly bowed collectively, using their branches to hold out a giant gift box. Yi Shang’s mechanical heart resonated as it cut open the packaging tape, and what rolled out inside were not weapons, but a box full of unopened strawberry candies, each candy wrapper printed with the same sentence: [This time, you don’t have to be a guardian anymore].
As the interstellar school bus broke through the morning mist, the classroom holographic blackboard was cycling through the courseware on “How to Deal with Post-War Emotional Trauma.” Jiang Wan’yuan dragged Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand and burst into the classroom, and the Beta star cherry blossoms on their hair tips suddenly bloomed collectively, projecting a large romantic radiation alarm on the morning checkup instrument.
“Violation for the 199th time!” The director of education’s mechanical arm smashed the violation record sheet. “Your heart rate resonance has caused the school’s neural network to crash three times—” Before he could finish speaking, Yi Shang’s beta star fluid had already rolled the record sheet into a paper rose and inserted it into Jiang Wan’yuan’s school uniform pocket. Snickering inhalation sounds came from the back row, and the mechanical pens of Zhang Yao’s remnants were secretly taking pictures, but the pen tips were automatically rewritten into heart shapes.
During morning reading, Jiang Wan’yuan’s neural enhancer suddenly popped up with a proposal countdown. Yi Shang’s mechanical heart vibrated gently under the desk, and the desk’s luminous cherry blossoms flickered accordingly, projecting the universe text she had engraved on the bottom of the desk with nanomachines: [There are 09:27 hours left until you say “I do”]. When the teacher turned to write on the blackboard, Jiang Wan’yuan quietly stepped on the puddle of Beta star fluid at her feet, turning it into a heart shape, and it spread along the floor crevices towards Yi Shang’s mechanical ankle.
During morning exercises, the entire school’s neural armor simultaneously sounded a fault alarm. Jiang Wan’yuan watched Yi Shang being dragged into the repair bay, but in the blind spot of the surveillance camera, she discovered the proposal ring box hidden in her sleeve—the box lid was engraved with the coordinates of their first mission, and the lining was silk woven from Jiang Wan’yuan’s crayon drawings when she was six years old. The repair bay’s alarm suddenly turned into a wedding march, and Yi Shang rushed out with her unfinished mechanical arm, a diamond ring made of Beta star core fragments lying in her palm, surrounded by starlight fragments secretly collected by the entire class.
“Now announce the new school rules!” The principal’s mechanical body descended from the ceiling, and the law book in his hand automatically flipped to the latest page. “In view of the actual effect of Resonance Wave 0927, it is hereby approved that: ① Students with a heart rate difference ≤0.5Hz are allowed to act together on campus ② Wednesday afternoons are designated ‘Emotional Data Calibration Class’.” Before the words were spoken, Jiang Wan’yuan had already slipped the ring onto Yi Shang’s mechanical finger. Beta star fluid instantly flooded the entire school’s pipeline network, and all electronic screens jumped to a photo of the two of them in the Beta star sea of flowers, with the title: [The most dangerous school rule breakers in the universe are legal today].
During lunch break, the classroom suddenly underwent quantum collapse. When the students woke up in a daze, they found that the desks and chairs had been reorganized into a wedding banquet long table, the air raid siren sprayed champagne, and the projector was not playing teaching videos, but a “Proposal Blooper Collection” edited by Zhang Yao’s mechanical body. Yi Shang’s human cheeks flushed a rare red, and she took out a tin box from her mechanical chest, containing Jiang Wan’yuan’s birthday gifts over the years—from crayon doodles in kindergarten to the half strawberry candy stuffed into her palm last night.
When the school bell rang, special envoys from the Interstellar Court were blocking the classroom door. Jiang Wan’yuan thought they were going to receive another ticket, but saw the other party hand over a gold-embossed invitation: [Resonance Body 0927 is cordially invited to serve as Creative Director for the Galactic Wedding]. Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand received a package at the same time. Opening it revealed a miniaturized model of the Interstellar Court’s main warship, the bridge glass reflecting their overlapping shadows, and the base engraved with: [Wish you a happy next elopement, remember to leave the court an invitation].
As twilight dyed the campus, Jiang Wan’yuan leaned on Yi Shang’s shoulder to watch the interstellar news. Headline flashes rolled out: [Mysterious Resonance Wave Causes Galactic Wedding Industry to Surge 300%], accompanied by a picture of their holographic projection in the Beta star ruins, which was now being marked as a new cosmic coordinate. Yi Shang’s mechanical heart suddenly made a soft sound, spitting out a paper ring folded from school rule clauses. The moment it was slipped onto Jiang Wan’yuan’s ring finger, all the cherry trees in the school bloomed simultaneously, each petal written with the same sentence: [Heartbeat is the most advanced interstellar law].
When the morning reading bell was torn apart by the class’s exclamations, the mechanical pens of Zhang Yao’s remnants collectively exploded into fireworks, spelling out a light trace of “Finally Waited for This Day” on the classroom ceiling. The neural enhancers of the girls in the front row automatically popped out ribbons, pushing Jiang Wan’yuan forward, while Yi Shang’s beta star fluid was clumsily weaving a veil—the nanomachines mistakenly wove the school rule clauses into a “Forever United” galaxy text.
“So what you guys modified in the Beta star ruins yesterday wasn’t interstellar law?” The class monitor’s mechanical eye shattered into a heart shape. “It was a marriage registration form?!” The holographic textbook fell to the ground with a thud, revealing the “Chasing Wife Strategy” notes he had secretly taken. The latest page was written with: [Recommendation: Use Beta star fluid to fake a meteor shower]. The boys in the back row suddenly knelt on one knee collectively, projecting miniature diamond rings with their neural enhancers, but they were swept into QR codes by Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand—scanning the code actually jumped to Jiang Wan’yuan’s strawberry cake recipe.
The homeroom teacher’s mechanical tentacles wrapped around the “Teacher’s Handbook” and froze in mid-air, a yellowed viewing invitation falling out from between the pages—it was the wedding news of the first generation Star Speaker that he had secretly collected twenty years ago. When Jiang Wan’yuan stuffed strawberry candy into Yi Shang’s mechanical teeth, the emergency lights in the entire teaching building suddenly switched to wedding spotlights. In the principal’s office monitoring screen, the principal’s mechanical body was shaking its tentacles to the rhythm, holding up a “May You Have a Happy Marriage for a Hundred Years” fluorescent sign.
A fine from the Interstellar Court floated into the classroom with a quantum email, but turned into a congratulatory message the moment it came into contact with the Beta star fluid. Zhang Yao’s mechanical body broke through the window, and what was thrown out of the cannons was no longer laser, but a wedding dress gift box compressed with antimatter—the lining was embroidered with “I admit defeat, please stop stuffing wedding programs into my core.” The entire class took the opportunity to press the mechanical body onto a chair, drawing hearts all over its armor with fluorescent pens, until it projected a white flag: [I’ll be the master of ceremonies at the next wedding, okay!]
During lunch break, the cafeteria’s food replicator collectively malfunctioned, spitting out wedding cakes instead of nutritional supplements. Yi Shang’s mechanical heart was dismantled and studied by enthusiastic classmates, but hundreds of un-sent proposal plans were found in the core chip—from writing love letters with black hole gravity to hijacking interstellar broadcasts to sing love songs, they were all ultimately defeated by Jiang Wan’yuan’s sentence, “Let’s just go on a spring outing.”
On the way home from school, the interstellar police patrol ship suddenly hovered. Jiang Wan’yuan gripped Yi Shang’s hand tightly, preparing to escape, but saw all the patrol officers take off their helmets, revealing wedding cheering headbands hidden inside. “Headquarters said there’s a cosmic-level romance criminal in our jurisdiction.” The captain handed over a box of strawberry-flavored energy bars. “But we voted and decided that from now on, your ‘violation records’ will be considered special merits for the police force.”
As twilight soaked the campus, a flash video suddenly started playing on the holographic bulletin board. From the cleaning worker’s sweeping robot to the laboratory’s AI teaching assistant, all mechanical bodies were playing the same clip: Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand pinning a cherry blossom brooch for Jiang Wan’yuan, with the background music being the “Wedding March” knocked out by the entire school’s neural pulses. And in the corner of the bulletin board, someone wrote with chalk: [The universe is so cold, luckily there are your heartbeats as the sun].