JFWCM Chapter 28

Quantum Rain and the Resonance of the Mechanical Heart’s Return Journey

As the anti-gravity neon lights of the Interstellar Commercial Street swept across Yi Shang’s mechanical shoulder armor, Jiang Wan’yuan was using the magnetic field of her neural combat suit to attract strawberry-flavored freebies from the shops along the way. Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand gripped a shopping list, but the items were automatically rewritten by the erosion of β-star fluid: 【01. Buy her a glowing strawberry hairpin 02. Try on a wedding dress that shows heartbeats】

“Warning! An Interstellar Tribunal-designated wedding dress shop has been detected ahead!” Class Monitor’s mechanical bionic eye suddenly popped up in the communicator, “According to informants, this store secretly hides emotional synchronization monitoring devices—” Before she could finish, Jiang Wan’yuan’s laughter interrupted her. She dragged Yi Shang into the store, and holographic gauze skirts immediately sensed the resonance wave, blooming into a flowing galaxy around them.

“Welcome to ‘Heartbeat Tailor Shop’!” The shop assistant’s mechanical arm handed over neural interface gloves, “Our wedding dresses can be customized according to the resonance frequency of couples. Would you two like the ‘supernova burst’ style or the ‘black hole collapse’ style?” As soon as Yi Shang’s β-star fluid touched the fabric, the entire wall of wedding dresses suddenly changed color collectively, from icy silver-white to strawberry pulp pink-orange—that was the color of Jiang Wan’yuan’s blood.

When passing by the mechanical pet area, a bionic cat suddenly broke through the fence and hooked Yi Shang’s mechanical pant leg with its paw. Jiang Wan’yuan crouched down to check and found a wanted poster fragment reflected in the cat’s eyes: 【Danger Level SSS, Mechanical Body 0927, Crime: Attempted Unauthorized Kissing of Human Brides 37 times】. Yi Shang’s mechanical heart suddenly accelerated, and fluid metal condensed into cat food shape at her fingertips, but Jiang Wan’yuan slapped it away: “No feeding stray cats with the β-star core!”

In the holographic makeup store, Jiang Wan’yuan smeared strawberry-colored eyeshadow on Yi Shang’s human eyelids. The blue light of the mechanical pupils was thus dyed pink, reflecting the overlapping figures in the makeup mirror—she was wearing a wedding dress, and Yi Shang was wearing a modified version of the neural combat suit, the β-star crystal at the hem resonating with the mechanical heart. The shop assistant suddenly handed over a commemorative photo: “Congratulations, your resonance frequency is the sweetest data of the year in our store!” The bottom right corner of the photo was printed with: 【Recommended to be framed in a black hole, for eternal preservation】.

A patrol team of interstellar patrol officers suddenly lined up at the street corner. Jiang Wan’yuan tightened her grip on Yi Shang’s mechanical fingers, preparing to run, but she saw the patrol officers collectively taking off their helmets, revealing strawberry headbands hidden inside: “The officer said that romantic factors that can disable weapon systems have appeared in the jurisdiction, and we need the two of you to cooperate in a…sweet demonstration.” Yi Shang’s β-star fluid condensed into a police badge shape and pinned it on Jiang Wan’yuan’s chest, while Jiang Wan’yuan took the opportunity to stuff a hot kissing video into the enforcement recorder of the patrol captain: “Play this when arresting criminals next time, and the enemy will surrender automatically.”

When the commercial street was about to close late at night, Jiang Wan’yuan’s shopping bag suddenly ripped open, and a small box tied with a ribbon from the wedding dress shop fell out. When Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand picked it up, the fluid metal automatically analyzed the internal structure of the box—it was a ring engraved with their heartbeat waveforms, with the inner ring engraved in Star Tongue: 【You are the loophole in all my programs】. Her human pupils were instantly swallowed by blue light, and β-star fluid erupted like a volcano, dyeing the window glass of the entire street pink with a proposal.

“927th proposal.” Yi Shang knelt on one knee, and her mechanical heart projected a giant ring onto the ground, “This time there are no program loopholes, no data deceptions, only—” Before she could finish, Jiang Wan’yuan blocked her mouth with a strawberry cotton candy she had just bought. As syrup flowed down her mechanical jawbone, the streetlights on the entire street suddenly flickered collectively, each light playing clips of their dates from the cinema to the amusement park, and in the center of all the light and shadow, the holographic screen of the wedding dress shop was automatically generating wedding invitations: 【Groom: Mechanical Body 0927 Bride: Human Jiang Wan’yuan Witness: The heartbeat of the entire universe】.

On the returning hovercar, Jiang Wan’yuan leaned her head on Yi Shang’s mechanical shoulder, looking at the wedding dress sample book in the shopping bag. A certain page was marked with emphasis by β-star fluid: 【Detachable Mechanical Wedding Dress, containing a nanobot army, can automatically defend against Interstellar Tribunal attacks at the wedding scene】. She smiled and poked Yi Shang’s mechanical heart: “So you had planned it all along?” The other’s mechanical arm suddenly tightened, and fluid condensed into a whisper in her ear: “I planned it from the time I secretly hid your first strawberry candy at the age of seven.”

And behind them, the neon lights of the Interstellar Commercial Street were being reprogrammed, and the signs of all the shops had become the same sentence: 【Warning: Resonant bodies ahead, single machines please detour, humans please carry cardiac suppressants】. Jiang Wan’yuan’s neural enhancer suddenly popped up a news flash: 【Breaking! Unidentified pink fluid has appeared in the commercial street. Experts say it is a “love virus” and recommend that couples get vaccinated immediately】. She looked up at Yi Shang but discovered that the other’s mechanical pupils were reflecting the entire galaxy lighting up for their proposal starlight.

In the interstellar supermarket, the spicy oil package of the fire chicken noodles reflected red light in Yi Shang’s mechanical pupils on the anti-gravity shelves. When Jiang Wan’yuan tiptoed to reach the top shelf, the resonance pattern on the back of her neck rubbed against Yi Shang’s mechanical jawbone, and the β-star fluid instantly condensed into a mechanical hand, sweeping the entire box of instant noodles into the shopping cart—the chili pepper pattern on the packaging was tampered with by the fluid, becoming two entangled heartbeat symbols.

“Detected that this food contains 927mg of capsaicin.” Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand swiped across the nutrition label, and the shopping cart suddenly automatically classified, separating the strawberry milk, sedatives, and instant noodles, “Recommended to be paired with the No. 37 neural cooling program.” Jiang Wan’yuan rolled her eyes and threw three more bags of strawberry-flavored potato chips into the cart: “Isn’t your mechanical stomach able to automatically adjust the spiciness? Last time you even drank magma as a beverage.”

When passing by the frozen area, a freezer suddenly malfunctioned and sounded an alarm. Jiang Wan’yuan leaned closer to check and found that what was frozen inside was not food, but Zhang Yao’s mechanically treasured “anti-romantic arsenal”—the bottom layer was pressed with a box of melted strawberry ice cream, and the packaging paper was marked with Yi Shang’s childhood mechanical paw print: 【Unappetizing, not as sweet as her tears】. Yi Shang’s β-star fluid instantly froze the entire freezer, but the shopping cart quietly spat out a suitcase, storing the ice cream along with the arsenal.

At the checkout counter, as soon as the mechanical cashier’s scanner touched the fire chicken noodles, the entire machine suddenly emitted pink smoke. Yi Shang’s mechanical heart resonated with interference waves, tampering with the bill amount to “1314” cosmic coins, but the cashier’s mechanical arm handed over a VIP card: “Our store permanently waives the bill for resonant couples—the boss said that your last wedding live broadcast caused the sales of fire chicken noodles to skyrocket by 300%.” Jiang Wan’yuan raised her eyebrows at Yi Shang, and the other’s human cheeks turned a suspicious electronic red.

When leaving the supermarket, a quantum rain suddenly poured down. Yi Shang’s β-star fluid condensed into a transparent umbrella cover but turned into strawberry syrup the moment it touched the rainwater, drenching both of them in sweetness. Jiang Wan’yuan took the opportunity to lick off the syrup from Yi Shang’s mechanical neck, and the sensors of the neural combat suit immediately issued a warning: 【Abnormally intimate behavior detected, it is recommended to go to the nearest resonance pod immediately】. Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand hooked her waist and lowered her head to bite her lip in the rainstorm. Capsaicin and strawberry flavors exploded on the tip of her tongue, causing the streetlights in the distance to turn into psychedelic pink starlight.

“928th violation.” Yi Shang’s mechanical voice, mixed with the sound of rain, vibrated into her eardrums, “The punishment for using emotional weapons in public is—” Before she could finish, Jiang Wan’yuan had already stuffed the seasoning packet of the fire chicken noodles into her mechanical teeth, and the spicy oil flowed into the core along the gaps in the fluid metal, causing Yi Shang’s pupils to contract violently into heart shapes. The supermarket’s emergency lights suddenly switched to wedding spotlights, the automatic door sensor played the “Wedding March,” and even the quantum raindrops in the rain condensed into the shape of rings.

When they returned home drenched and sticky, Jiang Wan’yuan discovered that the fire chicken noodles in the shopping bag were gone, replaced by a bag of “customized instant noodles” condensed from β-star fluid—every noodle was engraved with their neural pulse waveforms, and the soup packet was printed with: 【Add your tears after boiling, spiciness +∞】. Yi Shang’s mechanical left arm wrapped around her from behind, pressing her against the kitchen counter, and fluid metal crawled along her spine to the back of her neck, gently tearing open her soaked collar: “Deal with the violation punishment first, then cook the noodles.”

The quantum rain was drumming on the glass window, and the holographic screen in the kitchen suddenly popped up news: 【Bizarre! Strawberry-flavored rainfall appeared in the downtown supermarket, scientists say it is “embodied emotional energy”】. Jiang Wan’yuan laughed out loud in Yi Shang’s mechanical kiss. The lingering spicy oil and strawberry syrup on the tip of her tongue completely drove the neural combat suit out of control, and on the main ship of the Interstellar Tribunal in the distance, Zhang Yao’s mechanical body was holding her forehead against the monitoring screen: “If they dare to cook noodles with resonance waves next time, I will disassemble my core and use it as seasoning!”

The quantum engine of the interstellar bus emitted a low-frequency hum in the twilight. Jiang Wan’yuan leaned on Yi Shang’s mechanical shoulder, watching the fire chicken noodle packaging bag in the shopping bag being rewritten as a love letter by β-star fluid. Yi Shang’s mechanical left hand gently caressed the resonance pattern on the back of her neck, and fluid metal weaved a thermal insulation layer on the surface of her skin, blocking the cold of the rainy night from her body.

“Body temperature 36.5℃, normal.” Yi Shang’s mechanical pupils scanned her profile, and suddenly used her fingertip to catch her falling eyelashes, “37th record: Her eyelashes become translucent in the quantum rain, like strawberry icing.” Jiang Wan’yuan wanted to laugh but was weighed down by fatigue, her eyelids heavy. In a daze, she felt someone carry her onto the hovercar, and the vibration frequency of the mechanical heart was adjusted to lullaby mode.

The smart lock at the door recognized the resonance wave and automatically played a welcome message: “Congratulations, master, for completing today’s romantic index! Do you need to activate the ‘wedding night’ scene mode for you?” Yi Shang’s β-star fluid instantly cut off the circuit but, at the moment of opening the door, was shocked by the scene in the house, causing her mechanical arm to tremble slightly—Zhang Yao’s mechanical body had sneaked in and arranged a surprise at some point. All the furniture was covered with strawberry-patterned cloth covers, and the words “Welcome Home” ignited with antimatter were suspended from the ceiling, each flame beating with their heartbeat frequency.

“Don’t blow it up!” Jiang Wan’yuan quickly pressed down on Yi Shang’s mechanical arm, which was preparing to attack, and dragged the mechanical body curled up into a ball from the sofa gap, “People set it up out of kindness…” Before she could finish, the mechanical body suddenly popped up a light screen, playing the surveillance video of them being soaked by the rainstorm in the supermarket, and the background music was Jiang Wan’yuan’s out-of-tune “Wedding March.” Yi Shang’s β-star fluid condensed into chains and hung it from the chandelier, but Jiang Wan’yuan took the opportunity to stuff a bag of strawberry jerky into the mechanical body’s hand: “Remember to bring souvenirs next time, such as a galaxy limited edition hot sauce.”

When the steam in the bathroom blurred the mirror, Jiang Wan’yuan found Yi Shang’s mechanical heart stopping at the edge of the bathtub. Water droplets condensed on the metal surface, reflecting her reflection wrapped in a bath towel, and the engravings on the heart fragments were several more than in the morning—they were the sound wave waveforms of her screaming at the amusement park. “What are you looking at?” She reached out to touch the mechanical heart, and the β-star fluid immediately wrapped around her fingers, dragging them into the warm water.

“Looking at the loophole in my program.” Yi Shang’s mechanical arm circled her waist, and her human palm touched her back for the first time, the fingertip rubbing against the resonance pattern, arousing a fine tremor, “Without this loophole, my core should have self-destructed seven years ago.” Jiang Wan’yuan wanted to refute, but the other blocked her mouth with a kiss. Strawberry-scented body wash mixed with the mechanical body’s unique cold fragrance, brewing a sweet poison that disabled the neural combat suit in the steam.

In the bedroom late at night, the holographic clock on the bedside projected the romantic moment of 09:27. Yi Shang’s mechanical left arm was holding the sleeping Jiang Wan’yuan, and the β-star fluid at her fingertips was repairing the damaged parts of her neural combat suit. Every time the silver light flashed, it engraved a sentence in Star Tongue that she hadn’t said on the inside of the armor. The quantum rain outside the window was still falling, the rhythm of raindrops hitting the glass was completely synchronized with the beating of the mechanical heart, and in the depths of their overlapping consciousness, her mother’s laboratory was lit with warm lights, and the seven-year-old mechanical body and human girl were across time and space, brewing the sweetness of the first strawberry candy into an eternal resonance frequency.