Lian Xin joined the Frost Cloud workshop and moved into our apartment as a matter of course. Since she would be sharing a room with Beiming Xue, a second bed had already been ordered. The girls were small and the room was big, so they shouldn"t have any problem staying together in one place.
Lian Xin had also thrown our original plans for the follow-up quest to Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower into disarray, however. The quest could only accommodate five players, so someone had to, go no matter what.
"Count me out this time. It"s far more scientific to have 2 MTs, 2 DPS and 1 healer anyway," He Yi said when I talked about this.
Lian Xin didn"t like this. "No way, I"m not going to replace you, boss. I"ll go grind with Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng. I need to improve my relations.h.i.+p with our guild members anyway."
"It"s fine," He Yi said with a smile. "I won"t be available since I and the directors of Suzhou Raincube have to travel to Shanghai headquarters and meet up with Blue Star for a cooperative meeting today. It"s about expanding the game. And even if I go, a 5-man party doesn"t really need 3 MTs. Your magic will be far more useful than my Defense."
"I don"t wanna!" Lian Xin complained with a pout. "There"s no way I"m working together with that violent woman Lin Yixin, not to mention that she almost PKed me at Poplar Valley and tried to take Lu Chen away from you, boss!"
Not sure how to deal with this, He Yi looked to me for help.
So I walked over and wrapped my arms around He Yi"s shoulders, saying, "What do you mean, Lian Xin? I"m right here with Eve and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, aren"t I?"
Lian Xin refused to budge. "It"s no use. I can see right through you."
"Fine then. Today, I"ll skip the main quest and attend that meeting with Eve instead!"
"You…"
He Yi faced toward me. "Are you sure about this?"
I nodded with a smile. "Of course. Don"t you want me to spend more time with you?"
"I do…" A small smile crossed He Yi"s lips. "Alright then. You"ll come with me to the meeting today and continue the follow-up quest tomorrow. I"m not budging on the party composition though. If you still feel uncomfortable with this arrangement, then bring back a piece of equipment for me as compensation, preferably an Immortal-grade one. Is everyone okay with this?"
Not even Lian Xin had anything to say after this. She was still pouting, but she acquiesced and said, "Fine. If you"re really okay with this, then I won"t say anything anymore."
Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Aiyo, this is just the first day, and Lian Xin has already helped Eve to score one over Lin Yixin! Aren"t you happy, Eve?"
He Yi blushed. "What do you mean? You make it sound like Beauty Lin and I are fighting each other or something."
"Really? Are you really going to pretend you aren"t glad about this?" Murong Mingyue raised her eyebrow menacingly.
He Yi looked down to hide her face. "Fine, just a little…"
Unsure how to respond to this, I grabbed the car keys of the Lamborghini and said, "Come on, I"ll be your driver for the day, Sister Eve. I promise you won"t find a more rea.s.suring driver than me."
He Yi nodded with a smile. "Okay, we"ll depart after we finish breakfast. The Suzhou branch has four directors, and they"ll be taking our company"s car to our destination. We"ll meet up with them first and depart together!"
"Mn."
……
Lian Xin was wearing a beige-colored mini dress. She hesitated for a moment before starting, "Boss, big brother Lu Chen, I want to talk to you both about something."
"Of course. What is it?"
"I haven"t told my mom that I came back to the country, so I"m planning to travel home to Changzhou during the afternoon and eat dinner with her. I"ll be back after that."
"No problem. You definitely should spend some time with your family," I said.
He Yi added, "In fact, why don"t you take Mingyue and Beiming with you? Tell auntie I say hi when you meet her, and don"t forget to buy some gifts before you go home, okay? You can"t forget about these things!"
Beiming Xue smiled. "Okay! I guess we"ll be leaving the workshop too then! Lunch and dinner, here we come!"
"See you all at night, then!"
Murong Mingyue: "Yes, yes. Bye, Felicia!"
Me: "Well s.h.i.+t, adieu to you too!"
He Yi: "..."
……
After that intermission, we barely had a break for the whole day. First, we traveled to Shanghai, ate a quick meal at the canteen, and made way for Blue Star"s headquarters for the IT meeting.
At the large meeting room, the projector was displaying a video of Heavenblessed on the projector screen. A group of veteran programmers were talking about the info displayed on it.
A middle-aged man with a work badge identifying him as the director of Blue Star"s technology department let out a cough before starting, "The technology regarding VR gaming is near perfect, but there are still some flaws regarding the ray tracing when a character is not stationary. Moreover, we received reports complaining that there is a significant delay in movement when a player is simultaneously being attacked. Unfortunately, we were so busy dealing with everything that we neglected to update this part of the algorithm. The example code you"re seeing on the screen right now was developed by the Americans, but they had delayed sharing it with us time and time again. It"s obvious what they"re plotting. They want us to research and develop this incredibly complex latency-reducing interpolation algorithm ourselves."
A beautiful female supervisor echoed in agreement. "Yeah, we spent two whole months trying to solve this problem, but we barely made any headway at all. Our best programmer almost drove himself insane, but unfortunately, he hasn"t succeeded in completing this task. If this continues, our players" reaction time will always be slower than the players from other countries by 0.07 seconds. It"s a tiny difference, but it"s a difference nonetheless."
The Blue Star technology director continued, "Eve, we"re asking for your help because you"re our technical support. President Ling Xue herself gave her word that she"ll pen her signature on the East China technological architecture agreement if you can solve this!"
He Yi"s eyes lit up. "Really? Are you sure?"
"Our promises are absolute!"
I gave He Yi a nudge and asked, "How much is that architecture agreement worth, He Yi?"
He Yi lowered her voice and whispered into my ears, "At a conservative estimate, our net profit will be 500 million RMB! Blue Star"s technological prowess isn"t up to snuff, so it"s up to us to save the day!"
After saying that, she turned around and said to two of the four directors of Suzhou Raincube who attended the meeting, "Pelo, Leo, I leave this problem to you both. I expect you to come up with a flawless solution in five hours, understand?"
The two young directors nodded in unison. "No worries, president! We"ll get it done!"
"Alright, I"m going to head out and take a breather. Call me when the solution is ready!"
"Yes, ma"am!"
After giving out the instructions, He Yi held my arm and smiled at me. "Come on, let"s hang out for a bit."
After we walked out of the meeting room, I asked, "Where do you want to go?"
"How about Xujiahui? Spring is near, and I feel like buying some clothes for myself, Lian Xin, Beiming and Mingyue. Even you need to get some new clothes for yourself."
"Alright then, let"s go!"
The Lamborghini"s engine roared. It wasn"t long before we arrived at Xujiahui.
At a street corner, we saw a woman with heavy makeup swaying her big b.u.t.t and beckoning a Cayenne to come to her. After she got into the car, she glanced outside and happened to catch sight of our Lamborghini. She immediately pursed her lips and criticized in a disdainful tone, "Hmph, a Gallardo with a Suzhou license plate? I bet you the driver is fatty with s.h.i.+t for brains!"
Immediately displeased, He Yi grabbed the handbrake and said to me, "Slow the car and move closer to that Cayenne. That little mistress needs a lesson in humility!"
I obeyed and moved closer to the Cayenne. Then, I lowered the car window and shot the woman a toothy smile, catching her off-guard. I was dressed casually, and my eyes were a bit reddened from burning the midnight oil, but overall I still looked the handsome, sunny lad I was.
The woman s.h.i.+vered a little but said nothing.
The driver of the Cayenne, however, was a 40 years old middle-aged man. At first, he didn"t react when he glanced at me. Then he saw He Yi, and his eyes bulged in disbelief, and his saliva nearly dripped down the corner of his mouth. After that, he kept glancing back and forth between me and He Yi as if he couldn"t believe that a babe like her would deign to keep me company.
He Yi saw this, so she grabbed my hand, placed it on her own thigh and shot the middle-aged man an arrogant smile.
I caressed my beautiful guild leader"s smooth thigh for a bit before stepping down on the gas and rus.h.i.+ng into the car park like the wind. The poor driver could only stare at our backs in shock.
He Yi couldn"t stop laughing for a time. I was rather enjoying the small victory myself. Who would"ve thought that a "friendly" duel between rich people was this fun?
……
After we went to Metro City, He Yi bought an insurmountable amount of clothes and left only after my entire body was covered in handbags. The Lamborghini could barely fit all the things she bought.
It was at this moment He Yi"s phone rang—
"Yes, Leo? Is the solution ready?" He Yi asked.
I could hear Leo"s voice clearly. "Er… sorry, Pelo and I attempted to decipher the program a dozen of times, but we just couldn"t find a suitable solution. The American programmer who designed this must be a top professional. The nestings are so confusing that they almost read like a trap…"
He Yi fell silent for a moment. Then, she chided them a little and said, "Very well, both of you are getting your salaries halved next month. Now wait there until I return. I"ll solve this problem myself!"
"Yes, please come back as soon as you can, Eve. The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from Blue Star are close to jeering at us…"
"Got it!"
……
After we rushed back to Blue Star"s headquarters, He Yi strode into the meeting room, sat down on a sofa, and slammed her notebook loudly on the table. Then, she ordered, "Transfer all the data to my computer now."
"Yes, ma"am!"
A few minutes later, He Yi began typing away on the keyboard with incredible speed and practice. The clatter of keyboard keys and the characters appearing non-stop on her display dazzled everyone"s eyes.
I watched He Yi quietly as I sat beside her. I couldn"t help but admire the way she looked when she was working seriously. Her eyes looked as brilliant as the stars, her face was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with calm confidence, her lips opened and closed indiscernibly as she worked, and the coffee-colored uniform covering her chest rose and sank slowly as well.
Behind us, the Blue Star veteran programmers and Raincube directors were watching her work as well. Their breaths were held unconsciously, and their eyes were bulging like a cow"s.
……
Almost three hours later, He Yi gave her notebook a push, copied her program into a USB device and said, "My friends, I have compiled the solution you requested. You may now commit it and begin debugging. Once you are done, please contact President Ling Xue and tell her that she may sign the contract now!"
The Blue Star programmers copied the solution into their APIs and tinkered with the solution for about half an hour or so. At the end of the inspection, they stared at the display in disbelief and muttered to themselves, "Heavens, did… Did she really solve a problem we spent three months solving to no avail in three hours? Why am I even still alive…"
The technology directors of Blue Star looked like they were about to drown in shame before He Yi.
Their leader even murmured to himself, "Incredible. The legendary girl genius of GGS is actually real. I can"t believe that a genius like this actually exists…"
……
A while later, the algorithm officially pa.s.sed inspection, and Ling Xue showed up personally to sign the agreement. It was an amazing success!
After turning down Blue Star"s celebratory feast kindly, He Yi and I went to a nearby Hunan restaurant to eat dinner. We didn"t mind what we ate as long as it filled our bellies.
……
It was past 9 pm by the time we returned to Suzhou. Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue had already returned from their trip to Lian Xin"s home. I gave Lin Yixin a call and set a time. Finally, after such a long delay, we were resuming the follow-up quest of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower!