AUS Chapter 63: The First Step to Finding Liu Jiang

First of all, I don’t think this could possibly be so dramatic.

A girl who had a crush on me back in school—why would she appear on the packaging of a can in the future, and an emergency ration can at that?

The only possibility is that, without my knowledge, she went into show business and became the spokesperson for an emergency food brand.

Is that… reasonable?

I was shocked by my own ability to think so divergently and imaginatively at a time like this.

But that’s how the human brain works. The more critical the moment, the more unimportant details it dredges up. I crouched by the can, my memories running on multiple tracks, shifting erratically from past to present.

Amidst the chaotic memories, I stood the can up and slammed it flat on the counter.

The effect was superb.

The crisp sound cut through all the jumbled recollections, and my mind returned to a state of calm. Looking at the half-scraped label, I slowly realized that the character “溫” (Wēn) didn’t necessarily have to mean “Winnie.”

Warmth (溫暖), sustenance (溫飽), gentle (溫和), refined (溫文爾雅), reviewing the old to learn the new (溫故知新)—it’s a good character, and it forms good words. I shouldn’t jump to such bizarre conclusions.

I shouldn’t.

After putting the can down, the active thoughts in my head transformed into a numb sort of tranquility.

My eyes stared blankly at one spot as my hands moved to put the can back. Then I knelt down again, picked up the scattered cans, and put them back one by one.

I could have easily carried several at once, or just left them where they were, pushing them aside to a place where they wouldn’t be in the way.

The repetitive motion felt like an act of penance. After the last can was in place, I squatted down again. Compared to the scattered thoughts from just a moment ago, I now had only one.

—Why did everything turn out like this?

When my life was at its smoothest, I never believed that fate was unchangeable.

Back then, I was loved, I had a job, I had my parents’ business to support me. Soon, I would have accumulated assets, gradually grown old, and become a boring middle-aged man whose life was filled with nothing but the boisterous laughter of the wealthy.

Who knew the future would be like this?

Liu Jiang, whom I could barely bring myself to look back at back then, had now become my lifeline, the only thing supporting my existence. Isn’t that laughable?

I shifted from a squat to my knees, smoothing the wrinkles on the carpet. After staring into the empty darkness for a moment, I stood up straight and dusted off my knees.

Then let it be laughable.

Let my clumsy, stumbling journey be my confession of guilt. Just let me see Liu Jiang in the end.

As long as I can see him.

I had completely lost the desire to catch up on sleep. At eight in the morning, I swallowed my now-cold breakfast and began to head into a new round of the simulation.

Before entering the As Usual Plan, however, I did a little preparation. Specifically, I turned on the company’s network, entered the server in offline mode, and copied some key decision-making frameworks and source codes.

Not for any other reason, but to prepare for my interview.

Damn it, maybe I should be trying to find the winning lottery numbers instead.

I’m getting sidetracked. Business first.

I shut down the computer and connected the printer to a power source. I didn’t expect the thing to still work. After the sound of rollers turning, I smelled fresh ink.

Although I hadn’t worked for a year, picking it back up wasn’t difficult. Thanks to the good habits I developed as a student, this bit of information wasn’t hard to remember.

Problem solved. I returned to the office, the simulation helmet powered on, and I plunged into darkness.

When I last exited the plan, I was standing in front of Liu Jiang’s rented apartment. When I opened my eyes again, the elevator dinged, having arrived.

I instinctively glanced towards his apartment. He didn’t come out. I wasn’t sure what kind of expression he wore as he remained in his room.

Guilt.

I pulled my gaze away from his door and stepped into the elevator. I looked down and opened my phone to check the route.

I decided not to go back to school first.

Going straight to a net cafe to print a resume and then walking into the company’s front desk to ask if they were hiring—that was a bit difficult for someone who wasn’t exactly an extrovert. I decided to take the next best option and see if the company had an early recruitment drive.

As luck would have it, they were indeed hiring interns.

Alright, let’s do this, I told myself.

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At three o’clock the next afternoon, I was standing downstairs from my future company.

The feeling was surreal. Having grown so used to seeing the ruins surrounding the company building, I had almost started to think it had always been that way. Now, standing in the middle of a CBD surrounded by human civilization, I stopped and looked around for a long time.

Winter arrived late in the capital, and the surrounding greenery was still vibrant. The weather today was average, with the characteristic gloom of early winter, but the pedestrians around me were all bright and fashionable, their conversations exuding the unique freedom of a big city.

This was a feeling I missed.

But there was another reason I was looking around. I had lied to Liu Jiang.

Last night, after rushing to finish my portfolio and resume, I contacted the professor who had mentored me in the competition to see if he had any connections to the company’s HR department.

Good news: he had contacts. A former student of his was in management.

Bad news: just as I hung up with my professor, a message from Liu Jiang came in.

In the past, whenever we argued, Liu Jiang was always the first to apologize. The silent treatment, stalemates—Liu Jiang was always the one to break them.

I wasn’t intentionally giving him the cold shoulder this time. I had meant to send him a quick message, but I got busy with the phone call and forgot.

I took a deep breath, emotionally preparing myself, then opened the chat.

He had only sent me a sticker, which roughly meant “I miss you.”

All the confrontational feelings I had braced myself for were swept away in an instant. Facing the blinking sticker, I ran my hands through my messy hair a few times and chose to give him a call.

When the call connected, his voice was a bit nasal. He explained that he had just gotten out of the shower and sneezed a few times, but I didn’t think that was it.

I told him I’d go to his place tomorrow after I finished my business.

I then fabricated a more specific lie, saying I had to submit some documentation for a previous competition, which would be done by tomorrow afternoon. Then I would come see him, and we could have dinner together.

He asked, “You’re coming to find me?”

I replied, “Yes.”

He asked again, “You don’t need me to pick you up?”

I was a little exasperated. 

“It’s not that far, and it’s not like I don’t know the way.”

We both fell silent. A warmth centered in my chest spread outwards. I felt like we had probably made up.

He was the first to break the silence. Different from his earlier words, his tone was slightly hesitant. 

“Can you… not go to work?”

Unlike last time, he didn’t offer any further explanation for his question. He just waited for my response.

I was standing on the school’s athletic field. The weather was a bit cold, and night had already fallen, but aimless university students loved to choose times like these to wander the paths and talk, so I wasn’t alone. In fact, I was standing in the middle of a lively scene.

I answered him, “Alright, I won’t look for a job.”

There had been some faint rustling sounds on his end, as if he were fiddling with the knobs on a mixer. After hearing my agreement, the sounds stopped, followed by his pleasantly surprised voice.

“Really?” His tone was eager, as if he hadn’t expected me to agree so quickly.

“Yeah, really,” I replied.

It’s just placating someone, right? Anyone can do that.

“Then let’s go on a date this weekend,” he planned enthusiastically. 

“Do you want to go to the park, or go shopping? A band I know has a live show at night, we can go see it if you want…”

I listened to him plan, my mind elsewhere.

I had lied to him. The guilt was definitely there, but I couldn’t help it. I had to do this.

When the scheduled interview time arrived, I stepped into the company building. Before the admin staff member leading the way could even begin her introduction, I was already striding towards the elevators, even having to wait a few steps for her.

She was a bit surprised and hurried to catch up, making slightly awkward small talk. 

“Been here before?”

More like, I will be here in the future.

I made up a random excuse to brush her off. The elevator arrived at the designated floor.

I was actually a little nervous.

Although I had spent nearly five years at this company, including my time stationed here after the apocalypse, people always tend to think of the worst-case scenarios even when they should be in complete control. For instance, right now, I was thinking about what to do if I failed the interview.

But things went much more smoothly than I had imagined. After laying out my five-year career plan, just as it had happened in reality, the joy on the supervisor’s face was hard to conceal.

Soon, he asked me, “Do you have any questions for me?”

I didn’t respond with any of the classic interviewee questions. Instead, I made an unusual choice.

I asked him, “Could I borrow a company computer? I’d like to give a practical demonstration of my vision for future projects.”

The supervisor looked quite surprised, but he agreed, telling me to wait in the conference room while he personally went to the IT department to get a spare machine.

As he stood up and his figure disappeared around the corner of the glass door, I immediately stood up as well. Feigning a casual stretch of my back, I slipped into a monitoring blind spot and sat down in the chair he had just vacated.

I opened his computer, entered the universal company unlock password, and then inserted the USB drive I had prepared in advance.

Did anyone really think that my decision to come for an interview meant I was planning to be a good nine-to-five intern and slowly work my way closer to the company’s secrets?

No, that wasn’t it. On day one, I was going to copy the source code located in the shared documents—especially the parts I couldn’t access or find after the apocalypse.

—Like the very first item: the code related to the Attendant.

I’ll start with him.