The Battle Platform

"Here it is."

Kang Ming seemed to notice that Tang Yao was interested, so he turned his phone around and explained, "It's basically a platform for playing card and board games. It has the usual ones, like Dou Dizhu, but there's a special game from my hometown that most platforms don't have. I don't know if you've played it before. We call it Qiang Qi.

"As for the rules... You probably aren't interested in the details. Anyway, I made the platform for this game in the first place. It was just for my friends to play around with, but one of them seemed to find it fun, so he promoted it back home. Quite a few people started playing. Recently, there've been some problems, so he complained to me."

"..."

Tang Yao's interest became even more obvious. She looked over the game platform on his phone. It was a little rough around the edges, but it had everything it needed. The art could use work, but everything else was there—even its own virtual currency.

She thought for a moment, then asked, "These tokens... Do you have to buy them?"

Kang Ming shook his head. "No. It just seemed boring if winning and losing didn't make any difference. At first, everyone who registered got ten thousand, but I stopped giving them out later. I don't know what my friend did, anyway. I haven't really been involved."

Tang Yao looked at the tokens in the top-left corner of the screen, then suddenly said, "Let me guess. After your friend promoted it, registrations shot up, and new users kept signing up every so often, with the numbers continuing to climb? Also, your friend asked you to give him control over distributing the coins, right? And he told you not to give coins to new users?"

Kang Ming looked startled. "How did you know?"

"I suggest you shut this platform down as soon as possible."

Tang Yao didn't answer. Instead, she said seriously, "If you don't want to go to jail, your so-called friend has probably turned the platform you made into a gambling site."

"Gambling...? Huh? No, what the hell?"

Kang Ming was shocked at first, but after looking at his phone and then at Tang Yao's serious expression, he slowly caught on. "You mean..."

"Yeah. Looks like your friend has become a big-time bookmaker."

Tang Yao looked Kang Ming up and down, taking in his unremarkable appearance, and couldn't help admiring him. "I have to say, you're pretty carefree. You made some no-name gaming platform and didn't bother to check up on anything."

"Give me a moment..."

Kang Ming had clearly panicked. He shot to his feet and hurried outside.

Tang Yao thought it over carefully. She didn't rush off, but instead continued tidying up the tail.

More than ten minutes later.

Kang Ming came back, looking dazed.

Tang Yao tilted her head slightly and asked, "How did it go?"

"I confronted my friend. He denied it at first, then said we could make money together..."

Kang Ming swallowed. "I just shut down the platform's servers. I'm trying to decide whether to call the police."

"Up to you."

Tang Yao replied, "But I'd personally suggest you stop dealing with that so-called friend. Otherwise, you'll regret it sooner or later."

"I've already deleted his contact! I never thought he'd... Forget it. Thank you so much!"

Kang Ming nodded in agreement, then thanked her again with great sincerity. To be honest, by then, his entire back was soaked with cold sweat.

He'd been even more nervous than when he'd just watched Tang Yao clash with the editor-in-chief.

If Tang Yao hadn't warned him, his friend might have kept growing the operation, and Kang Ming could have ended up an accomplice without even realizing it.

He would've definitely been singing the Prison Blues by then.

That was close.

Way too close.

At the thought, Kang Ming looked at Tang Yao with renewed gratitude.

Tang Yao's gaze shifted to his face. After roughly confirming his attitude toward online gambling, she nodded and changed the subject. "You don't need to thank me. I only mentioned it in passing... By the way, did you make the entire platform yourself?"

"Yeah. I was bored at home before, so I made it to get some practice. A few friends helped out, of course."

"What about the servers?"

"The servers... Have you heard of distributed computing systems?"

Kang Ming hesitated before replying, "They have another name: cloud computing."

"..."

Tang Yao slowly stopped what she was doing and turned toward him.

Seeing her expression, Kang Ming seemed to think she didn't understand. He looked a little embarrassed and said, "I know the concept is pretty new. There are already established cloud service providers overseas, and companies here are working on it too. To be honest... One of my relatives is in charge of the largest cloud computing team in the country. They've already built the on-site clusters and systems, and can currently allocate five thousand servers. They've reached the bare minimum.

"It's still a work in progress, and it's still in the testing phase, but the cloud is up and running. The departments within the company don't want to be guinea pigs because there are too many bugs... So they decided to offer services to outside users for testing. The servers for that gaming platform were rented from them."

Tang Yao was silent for a moment. "The company your relative works for wouldn't happen to be..."

"Yeah, Changli, one of the biggest internet companies right now."

"Wait, with your background, why are you working as some comic editor?"

Tang Yao looked him up and down, then fell silent for a moment. "What did you study in college?"

"Software Engineering... Mainly because that relative of mine won't pull strings for me. And I'm interested in games, but I can't get in."

Kang Ming looked embarrassed. "I took too much time off, and single-player mobile games are mostly one-and-done purchases, while online games keep breaking revenue records. So I made a mobile game platform, but it couldn't impress any of the HR people. There are just too many talented people..."

"...You really are something."

Tang Yao trailed off, then turned her chair all the way around and looked Kang Ming up and down. "Why don't you come work with me?"

"Huh?"

Kang Ming looked at Tang Yao, who was seriously telling him to work with her. After a moment, he bent forward slightly. "There really will be a lot I need you to teach me in the future."

"I don't mean comics."

Tang Yao's eyes lit up, but she didn't continue. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head. "Traditional Print Media is too difficult. I'll tell you once I've made up my mind."

With that,

she dropped the finished storyboard instruction document to one side, stood up, and hurried out, thinking about something as she went.

Kang Ming watched the girl, her face full of thought, and felt a little envious.

She was younger than him, but for some reason, she always gave him a sense of security.

It was strange.

Tang Yao finally got Teacher Shao's original manuscript back.

Perhaps her new identity, or her appearance, had some effect. Teacher Shao had felt too embarrassed to put it off any longer and had managed to finish it, more or less.

Tang Yao knew exactly why.

She didn't deny that her new identity had two sides: one that worked in her favor and another that was an enormous pain.

But there was no way she could finish the storyboard instruction document that morning. By the time she hurried back to the company, it was already past twelve.

She left Teacher Shao's manuscript behind, picked up the folder she'd brought in that morning, and walked out of the editing room to the break area on the eleventh floor.

As soon as she entered the break area,

Tang Yao spotted Li Xue. She was sitting in a corner, holding a lunchbox in one hand and chopsticks in the other, eating in small, ladylike bites.

There were plenty of people in the break area, but she was still the most eye-catching one.

"Over here."

Nearby,

hearing footsteps,

Li Xue looked up slightly. When she saw Tang Yao, her eyes lit up. She set her lunchbox down a little, shifted her long, snowy-white legs—straight and held neatly together—to the side, making room beside her, and immediately beckoned Tang Yao over.

...Not wearing black stockings. What a shame.

Tang Yao looked over the elegant, beautiful older woman, then pointed to the vending machine. She turned and bought two buns and a bottle of drink before coming over to sit beside Li Xue.

"Why are you eating this again?"

Li Xue shifted over once more, then looked at the buns in Tang Yao's hand with a helpless expression. "Are you sure you won't end up malnourished like this?"

"Miss Li, people aren't as fragile as you think. As long as you get enough calories, you're definitely not going to die!"

As Tang Yao spoke, she tore open the bun wrapper and continued with a straight face, "And how could an overworked wage slave live as carefully as you do? You cook for yourself and even bring it to work. Just thinking about it makes me tired..."

Li Xue glanced at the lunchbox in her hands. "I'm so sorry I have all this time to cook."

"Exactly. You need to understand that you're the odd one out."

"You're the odd one out!"

Li Xue rolled her eyes at Tang Yao, then gently brushed a strand of hair away from her temple with the hand holding her chopsticks. "If you don't want to cook, why not go downstairs to eat? You could even order delivery. I could make you something, too. You turn me down, then eat bread every day. Do you really think being young makes you invincible?"

"As long as I'm not hungry, it's fine."

Tang Yao took a bite of her bun, her cheeks puffing out as she mumbled, "Besides, I'd feel bad asking you to bring me food."

So cute.

Li Xue smiled at the girl with her cheeks puffed up, then picked up a rib from her lunchbox and held it out. "You'd feel bad, huh? Then I'll force-feed you... Open up. Ah."

"..."

Tang Yao paused, swallowed the bite of bun in her mouth, and said, "Hm?"

Li Xue held out the rib. "Do you not like it?"

Tang Yao looked at the glossy, golden-brown rib and hesitated. "It's not that I don't like it..."

"Then eat it."

Li Xue shoved it straight into Tang Yao's mouth.

Mm... Sweet and sour.

Delicious.

Tang Yao's cheeks puffed up again, and all her lingering hesitation instantly vanished.

Li Xue asked happily, "Is it good?"

Tang Yao nodded, offering a simple verdict. "Delicious."

"Then have some rice, too."

Li Xue picked up a mouthful of rice and held it out.

"Wait, I bought buns, too..."

"Buns won't go bad."

"I guess that's true..."

"There's an egg, too."

"Wait, isn't this your lunchbox? Why are you feeding all of it to me?"

"Don't worry about that."

"..."

In the end,

most of the food in Li Xue's lunchbox ended up in Tang Yao's mouth. At first, Tang Yao had felt a little embarrassed.

But the more Li Xue fed her, the more she focused on how delicious everything was.

Nearby,

Li Xue watched the pretty girl sit up straight, cheeks puffed out again, calling everything delicious. She scooted closer and held out another rib.

Even though she hadn't eaten much herself, she felt full.

After all, something wonderful was right beside her.

To be honest, not everyone had that girlish quality. Plenty of people could be at that age and still not give others that impression.

But there were also people who could be past that age and still have an overwhelming sense of girlishness.

The girl in front of her was one of them. More importantly, she'd kept that girlish quality and all that cuteness while still being worldly. She wasn't naive, acting as though she didn't understand anything.

Whether in her interactions with others or the way she handled things, she was quite... mature.

After all, dealing with a completely naive, innocent girl would honestly be exhausting. Li Xue wasn't sure she could handle it.

This girl was just right.

To be honest,

Li Xue couldn't understand why, despite knowing each other for barely more than a week, she felt as though she were spending time with an old friend.

Was it chemistry? Their personalities? Or were they simply a good fit?

It didn't matter much.

Even now, whenever Li Xue thought of their first meeting, when Tang Yao had pressed her chest against the keyboard's space bar and asked why the keyboard had broken, she still found it amusing.

It really had been adorable.