The white space.

Two figures — one person, one sphere — stood before a certain cube.

Work had diminished greatly of late, and the Inspectors had found themselves with quite a bit of leisure time. By chance, they noticed that a long-since-closed game instance had a player logged in — and out of curiosity, they watched a little longer than necessary.

The comic-style figure looked at the unfolding scene inside the cube and muttered in a strange tone: “It gave her a pair of shoes.”

The sphere said: “Just a token gesture~ It’s not a game item, so there’s no need to worry about it affecting game balance.”

The comic-style figure hesitated. “Are you sure it won’t? It’s just a pair of shoes, but the attitude it showed was clearly… off…”

The sphere shook impatiently. “Oh, come on~ The system never set any rules for us about attitudes — besides, don’t you also have a soft spot for certain players? It’s totally normal!”

The comic-style figure quickly protested: “That’s completely different! Even if I have a soft spot for them, I’ve never given anyone anything…”

“Haven’t you given plenty?” The sphere cried out. “You didn’t just give her shoes — you gave away 214 items of luxury formalwear! 349 pieces of jewelry! 102 sets of gold and silver tableware! 78 weapons! And she walked off with a good number of velvet blankets and pillows too, didn’t she?!”

The comic-style figure was at a loss for words: “……”

The sphere continued watching the situation inside the cube, then muttered to itself: “It seems to really think highly of her, doesn’t it… Maybe… should I give her something too?”

The comic-style figure: “……”

……

Bai Youwei, having left the game, was now on her way back.

A light drizzle fell, carrying the chill of autumn.

It was a good thing she had shoes now, otherwise she’d be splashing through mud puddles on the way back. Come to think of it, the gift this time around — even if it wasn’t a game item — was at least practical.

After walking for five or six minutes, a vehicle came barreling down the road ahead of her.

She recognized it — Shen Mo’s SUV. But now, through the misty curtain of rain, she couldn’t make out whether the man in the driver’s seat was actually him…

The car was moving fast and aggressive. Bai Youwei stepped to the side — but couldn’t avoid getting a skirt-full of muddy splashes anyway.

Bai Youwei: “……”

If the person who got out of that car wasn’t Shen Mo, she was going to make them pay for this.

The car door opened fast, and Shen Mo stepped out, grabbing her hand immediately, his brow furrowed. “Where did you go?”

Bai Youwei hesitated, not sure where to begin.

In that moment, Shen Mo noticed her filthy, mud-spattered skirt. His frown deepened. “What happened to you?”

She shot back without thinking: “What do you think?”

Shen Mo: “……”

Two seconds of silence. He pulled her toward the car, got her inside, shut the door, then walked around the hood back to the driver’s seat —

The car door slammed shut.

In the small, enclosed space, all Bai Youwei had before her was the back-and-forth squeak of the windshield wipers.

She remembered something very important, and immediately turned to ask Shen Mo: “How did you not even react?!”

When he saw her walk away from the wheelchair on her own two legs, shouldn’t he have been stunned?!

Shen Mo fished some tissues from the car’s glove compartment and wiped the rain from her face, then dabbed at the mud on her skirt — his voice even, but tinged with a faint helplessness: “I watched the surveillance footage nearly eight hundred times.”

Bai Youwei understood.

With power and internet service restored to the city, the traffic surveillance cameras were of course back in operation. No wonder he’d found her so quickly.

Still not quite satisfied, Bai Youwei pressed on: “What did you feel when you watched it for the first time?”

Shen Mo set down the dirtied tissues, crumpled them up casually, then pulled out a few more and kept wiping.

“Taller than I’d imagined,” he answered.

Bai Youwei: “……”

What an utterly unromantic answer.

“And…” Shen Mo paused in what his hands were doing. He looked up, meeting her eyes. “Not as happy as I’d imagined.”

Bai Youwei was struck still.

Shen Mo leaned a little closer and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, then let out a low sigh: “From the wheelchair, I couldn’t always see your face… I always had the sense you might run off at any moment… So I was uneasy.”

—