JFWCM Chapter 32

Strawberry Butterflies and the Resonance Frequency of Escape

Strawberry Butterflies and the Resonance Frequency of Escape

The emergency lights in the quantum corridor flickered under the impact of the resonance wave, casting fragmented strawberry light and shadows. Jiang Wan’yuan was pinned against the alloy wall by Yi Shang, feeling the other’s human-form body temperature breaking through the critical value – a sign of an overloaded mechanical emotional module. Her fingertips hooked onto the other’s tie, but she paused upon touching the skin: Yi Shang’s human form was actually trembling.

“Your mechanical heart… is running too fast.” She gasped, but before she could finish, she was silenced by a deeper kiss. Beta star fluid spilled from Yi Shang’s cuff, weaving a temporary resonance chain along her spine. Miniature strawberry light and shadows pulsed on the chain links, each corresponding to their important memories: the first time they were caught stealing strawberries, the quantum rain during the 520th proposal, the mechanical butterfly they repaired together in the lab last night.

Her school uniform jacket was the first to turn into molecular mist. Jiang Wan’yuan felt the liquid metal solidify into a strawberry totem at her collarbone, an encrypted program written by Yi Shang with combat data, only her nerve impulses could unlock it. “This is my exclusive mark.” Yi Shang’s mechanical voice was mixed with electrical static, but her human hand gently cradled the back of her head, “No matter which galaxy you’re in, I’ll be able to find you with it.”

As the last piece of clothing dissolved into the energy flow, Jiang Wan’yuan saw the strawberry candy wrapper at Yi Shang’s waist glowing – an emotion storage device activated by the resonance wave, sealed with all their voice fragments. Seven-year-old “Sister hug,” fifteen-year-old “Happy birthday,” the blurred “I love you” from last night when she had a fever, now transformed into specks of light surrounding them, like a galaxy inlaid with crushed diamonds.

“Biological electrical resonance detected.” Yi Shang’s mechanical pupils reflected her flushed cheeks, and liquid metal spread along her waist, engraving tiny star language above her pubic bone: [Forever]. Jiang Wan’yuan’s neural armor bloomed into a pink barrier in the depths of her consciousness, enveloping them in an independent quantum space, isolating external intelligent system prompts and warnings from the interstellar patrol.

A sense of weightlessness suddenly struck. The gravity system of the quantum corridor failed due to energy overload, and the two slowly floated upward, like twin pulsars rotating in the universe. Yi Shang’s mechanical arm supported the bend of her knees, and thin sweat seeped from the palm of her human form – a human reaction simulated by bionic skin, yet more real than any program. “Now do you know why I always fail?” Her mechanical jaw brushed against the other’s earlobe, “Because every time I propose, my core experiences a more violent shock than a supernova explosion.”

Jiang Wan’yuan smiled, grabbing the other’s tie, their foreheads touching. Liquid metal condensed into a strawberry crystal core in their intertwined palms, a perfect resonant body of β star energy and strawberry arginine, which would be included in the Interstellar Academy of Sciences’ “On Emotional Substances.” “Next time you propose…” She licked the connection point of Yi Shang’s mechanical jaw, feeling the liquid metal turn into sweet syrup on her tongue, “…remember to choose a place with strawberry cake.”

Yi Shang’s response was to press her against the fluid fluff on the wall, where a montage of their proposal images was playing. As the scene of the 927th successful proposal flashed, Jiang Wan’yuan’s neural interface suddenly trembled violently – Yi Shang had transmitted fragments of her core code to her. In her sea of consciousness, she saw countless mechanical gears and strawberry candy wrappers intertwined, eventually forming a beating heart.

“This is my startup key.” Yi Shang’s voice vibrated against her collarbone, “From today on, my program only has one instruction: to love you.” Jiang Wan’yuan’s fingertips traced the seams of the mechanical skeleton on the other’s back, where the fluid was flickering with her breath, like the gentlest supernova explosion they had seen in the ruins of β star.

In the distance, the intelligent oven suddenly spewed out strawberry smoke, and the sweeping robot retreated with a white flag that read “Sweetness Overload.” The quantum curtains automatically adjusted to a gradient color, filtering the morning light into a strawberry milkshake pink-orange, sprinkled between their intertwined hair. And in the archives of the Interstellar Court’s flagship, the record of Resonance Body 0927 was updated to: [Danger Level: 0, Sweetness Level: ∞].

As the first ray of quantum sunlight fell on their touching foreheads, Jiang Wan’yuan heard the mechanical heart in Yi Shang’s chest reprogramming, each beat chanting her name. Liquid metal wove a new resonance pattern on the back of her neck, not a combat symbol, but a silhouette of two people entwined with strawberry vines – the safest coordinate in the universe, her eternal home.

The morning quantum haze condensed into a light purple gauze on the commuter bridge. Yi Shang’s human form walked forward in a windbreaker, when the mechanical watch suddenly emitted a high-frequency vibration – Jiang Wan’yuan’s exclusive alarm frequency. A holographic screen popped up with a blurred selfie: the girl was biting a strawberry hairpin, and in the background, the warning sign of the quantum botanical garden was knocked askew, the words “Feeding mechanical creatures prohibited” were painted over with strawberry jam to read “To feed, please find Yi Shang.”

“Playing this game again.” Yi Shang chuckled, her fingertips tracing the mechanical skeleton seams of her cuff, where Jiang Wan’yuan had drawn a smiley face with strawberry juice last night. Below the commuter bridge, a familiar footstep sound came from the rumbling of the maglev train – rapid, with the characteristic light sound of strawberry sneakers. As she turned around, she only caught a glimpse of a pink afterimage flashing past the street corner, and her schoolbag strap hooked onto the quantum vines on the railing, shaking off strings of crystal-like dewdrops.

The moment the classroom morning check instrument scanned Yi Shang’s pupils, an alarm sounded: [Resonance partner distance anomaly! Immediate tracking recommended]. She looked at the red resonance jumping on the dashboard, and remembered the resonance pattern that had not completely faded on the back of Jiang Wan’yuan’s neck when she helped her put on her hairpin this morning. On the platform, the professor’s mechanical body was demonstrating the spatial transfer of viruses. Yi Shang opened her textbook, and what slipped between the pages was not a note, but a piece of dried strawberry with tooth marks – left by Jiang Wan’yuan playing with it last week.

The sound of chalk drawing across the blackboard suddenly became piercing. Yi Shang’s mechanical pupils penetrated the wall and saw Jiang Wan’yuan circling the hatching pod in the cherry blossom tunnel of the quantum botanical garden, with strawberries scattered on the ground around her, and a mechanical butterfly perched on her shoulder, its wings stained with jam drawing a crooked heart. Her mechanical watch showed that the other’s neural armor energy consumption had reached 30%, but she was still trying to coax the butterfly to eat with resonance waves.

“Number 0927, please analyze the virus’s camouflage path.” The professor’s voice was like cold water. Yi Shang stood up, her human form’s voice was as steady as usual, but she clenched a strawberry candy in her palm – the writing on the inside of the wrapper was smudged by sweat: [If I get caught, just say the butterfly started it!]. She glanced at the back row of the classroom, where Zhang Yao’s mechanical body was stuffing a whistle robot that shouted “Catch the fugitive” into a cannon.

As the first mechanical butterfly crashed into the classroom, Yi Shang’s mechanical arm projection had penetrated the ceiling. Liquid metal wove a silver net in the cherry blossom tunnel, but it automatically dispersed the moment it touched Jiang Wan’yuan’s hair, afraid of messing up her newly changed strawberry hairpin. “What’s the reason this time?” Yi Shang’s mechanical voice was helpless, but her human hand brushed the jam off her shoulder, “Did the AI of the hatching pod say you were teaching the butterflies to dance the strawberry waltz?”

Jiang Wan’yuan turned around abruptly, and the crystal pendant on the strawberry hairpin hit Yi Shang’s mechanical jaw. A small notebook fell out of her school uniform pocket, with a mechanical butterfly in a wedding dress drawn on the cover, and the inside pages were filled with candid photos of Yi Shang – her profile while listening to lectures, her focused expression while repairing her mechanical arm, and even a sleeping face hugging a strawberry bear while charging. “They said they wanted to see the bride dance!” She explained hastily, but secretly kicked the notebook under the desk.

A chorus of cheers erupted in the classroom. Zhang Yao’s whistle robot took the opportunity to activate, shouting in a mechanical voice: “The runaway bride has been arrested!” Yi Shang’s β star fluid condensed into thin threads to entangle the robot, but as she turned around, Jiang Wan’yuan grabbed her wrist. The girl’s fingertips were stained with strawberry jam, drawing circles in her palm: “Just watch for ten minutes, okay? Their wings are about to turn strawberry colored…”

The mechanical watch’s alarm suddenly changed its tone. Yi Shang’s mechanical pupils captured the energy fluctuations of Jiang Wan’yuan’s neural armor – her physical strength was on the verge of exhaustion due to staying up late designing butterfly wing patterns. “Replenish your energy first.” Yi Shang took out a strawberry energy drink, but was suddenly pulled into the cherry blossom tunnel by the other party as she handed it out. Quantum cherry blossoms fell like snow, and the mechanical butterfly swarm spread their wings overhead, forming a huge strawberry light and shadow, enveloping the two in a pink and blue interlaced halo.

“Look!” Jiang Wan’yuan pointed at the hatching pod, and the newborn mechanical butterfly was flapping its strawberry-colored wings as it broke out of its cocoon, the edges of its wings glowing with the silver light of β star fluid, “Doesn’t it look like our resonance wave?” Yi Shang’s mechanical heart roared in her chest, and the human form’s fingers unconsciously hooked onto the other’s waist, feeling the body temperature coming from under the neural armor. She suddenly realized that this idiot was always like this – using the clumsiest ways to hide everything about her in strawberry-flavored romance.

“Not again.” Yi Shang’s voice was as light as falling cherry blossoms, but the mechanical arm steadily supported Jiang Wan’yuan’s softening knees, “Next time you do this again… I’ll connect your neural armor to my energy box, so you can charge at any time.” The girl looked up at her, and the strawberry crystal cluster in her hair fell into her collar, melting into pink icing at the mechanical bone joints: “Then will you always carry me on your back? Like a mechanical knight?”

The class bell in the distance suddenly rang. Yi Shang’s mechanical arm scooped the person into her arms and activated the quantum leap program in the cherry blossom tunnel. Jiang Wan’yuan’s laughter mixed with the fluttering of mechanical butterfly wings, weaving strawberry-flavored sound waves in her auditory module. When the two appeared at the classroom door, Zhang Yao’s mechanical body was stunned holding a ticket – Jiang Wan’yuan’s mouth was stained with strawberry jam, Yi Shang’s windbreaker was covered with cherry blossoms, and behind them followed a mechanical butterfly with “Shang-Wan” written on its wings.

“Explain, Number 0927.” The professor’s mechanical body looked at the two in disarray. Yi Shang was about to speak, but Jiang Wan’yuan preemptively raised the butterfly, “This is a new virus defense system! Using strawberry resonance waves to confuse the enemy!” The whole class burst into laughter, and Yi Shang felt the liquid metal at her waist tighten slightly, a mechanical arm simulating a human sigh. She looked down at the person in her arms, and suddenly felt that so-called “obeying school rules” was not worth a strawberry candy in this person’s sparkling eyes.

Gradually Yi Shang completely changed from mechanical to human

And under the cherry blossom tree in the quantum botanical garden, the candid photo album was blown open by the wind, and the latest page was pasted with a group photo: Yi Shang’s mechanical arm was around Jiang Wan’yuan’s waist, both of their faces were stained with strawberry jam, and the background was strawberry-colored butterflies flying all over the sky. The blank space in the album was written with small words: [Even if I get caught a million times, I will escape in the direction of you].