Yongan City, Wenchang Residential Complex.
Darkness and silence filled the row after row of tall buildings in the complex. Among the rows of windows, only one still dimly and hazily flickered with a faint light.
The chime of three in the morning had just tolled, its lingering echoes swirling through the room, interweaving with the clatter of mechanical keyboard keystrokes.
The desk was a mess. Tissues and takeout containers were piled into a black trash bin, the edges of the trash bag caving into the bin, covered in grease stains and unidentifiable liquids.
Ou Yichen's glasses lenses were bleached white by the glow of the computer screen. He continuously scrolled through pages, flipping through posts and news about "anomalies," "Impure Cat Demon," "Red Moon," and "meteorite" across major forums—even fiction novels caught his eye as he scanned.
By now, just over a week had passed since Wang Miaoyin had vanished from his life.
After that night when the Secret Keepers surrounded and captured Wang Miaoyin, many people had their memories erased by the Secret-Keeping Bureau. And Ou Yichen, who had been deep in sleep when the battle erupted, naturally had no idea what had happened.
But he still remembered her—that devastatingly alluring, soul-stirring woman in red.
From their first encounter in the desolate outskirts, to the week of interaction that followed, to the discovery that Wang Miaoyin was suspected to be the true culprit of the South District serial murder cases—when he awoke, he still remembered it all.
Including... that fragrant, lingering, soft and sweet kiss...
Without a doubt, Wang Miaoyin was a seductress, a witch. In disappearing, she had stolen away his very heart and soul, leaving behind an indelible impression. Whenever he closed his eyes, he would dream of that beautiful, bewitching face.
He couldn't bear this torment, so he searched for related information every day, paid attention to official announcements, and would even go out at night searching for traces of that graceful figure in red. Each time he'd stay out on the streets for at least two hours.
How he desperately wished that woman could once again break into his life and rescue him from his dull and mundane existence.
Though tedium and mediocrity were the truth of most human lives, when a woman of such extreme beauty—so beautiful she seemed to belong to a different world from him—had barged into his boring life, everything could no longer return to how it was before.
He could not resign himself. Once one had possessed a dreamlike mirage, one could no longer look directly upon the truth of life.
Perhaps... perhaps in the future he would slowly forget her.
Perhaps he would, eroded by time, gradually accept reality. But at least, not now.
Ding-ding.
Suddenly, the phone on the desk chimed.
He picked it up and saw it was a push notification in the notification bar.
But strangely, the notification didn't show which app it came from. It only had a title and a paragraph of text. The title read three characters: "Source Code."
And more peculiarly, the text below:
[Tap to obtain the code. Seize the opportunity to change your life. Fulfill your wishes. Become a believer of the great deity.]
Ou Yichen muttered in confusion: "What the heck is this? Some RPG mobile game?"
"I'm not in the mood to play games right now. And your ad copy isn't the least bit appealing."
Saying this, he swiped left and deleted the notification, assuming it was something pushed by the app store—maybe a bug or something was why the push source wasn't displayed.
"Ah... it's getting late. Might as well sleep."
After browsing online posts about anomalies for a while longer, Ou Yichen yawned, turned off the computer, flung himself onto the bed, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.
As expected, he dreamed of Wang Miaoyin again. This time it was a scene of the two of them alone in a hotel room—dim lighting, swirling red wine, fragrant breath brushing against his face...
"Yichen..." She tenderly called his name, a pair of snow-smooth, lotus-root arms encircling his neck.
Vaguely, he knew this wasn't real, but that didn't stop him from feeling happy and expectant just to have this dream.
In the dream, just as it reached the critical moment,
Ou Yichen was about to kiss those moist, luscious red lips when suddenly everything went black before his eyes, as if the lights in the hotel room had dimmed. Not only that, even the moonlight outside the window was swallowed by darkness.
So the pleasant dream ends just like that...
He couldn't help thinking of a classic question: why do erotic dreams always cut off right at the critical moment? The answer below went:
Because the CPU lacks the critical source material to render it...
At that moment, he suddenly found it very strange—because even though he was clearly dreaming, his thoughts were growing clearer and clearer, and he could even mock himself. It was as if he were truly situated within the dream, yet watching coldly from the sidelines like an outsider.
After who knows how long, the next day he groggily awoke, and then tragically discovered an embarrassing matter...
When climbing a mountain, one's passion fills the mountain; when viewing the sea, one's intent overflows into the sea.
Even more tragic was that he was going to be late!
In the blink of an eye, it was past 6 p.m. He was walking home alone after work, unable to stop recalling last night's beautiful dream.
"Ah."
Another inexplicable sigh. He himself didn't know what it was for. For the dream? Or for that woman?
Ding-ding!
Just then, the familiar phone alert rang. Ou Yichen opened his phone and saw it was yet again that inexplicable notification in the notification bar with no identifiable source.
[Love Chat Source Code:
Are you nearby too? Want to find someone to chat with? No need to add friends, you can chat directly. Come here, I'm also here.]
Seeing this line of text, Ou Yichen's face immediately stiffened, his expression strange: "..."
Resolutely swiped it away!
But at night, the notification appeared again!
[True Love Source Code:
I'm in the South District. Single. Looking for a local to chat with. I don't mind salary or height. Where are you?]
Ou Yichen's fists clenched just looking at it.
Good lord, this rogue app's push notifications are getting more and more targeted?!
This is going too far...
Ou Yichen was just about to swipe it away directly when he suddenly paused.
It wasn't, of course, because he was tempted... rather, he'd decided to set this unknown-source notification to "Block notifications."
Success.
Now he should no longer be harassed by this rogue app.
At the same time, he also downloaded an antivirus app and gave his phone a checkup, but it didn't detect any viruses.
"Seems my recent browsing history got harvested by big data. Wonder which company's pulling this rotten stunt." He curled his lips somewhat helplessly.
On the third day of receiving that strange notification,
still on his way home from work, just when he thought he was far, far away from that strange rogue notification, something unexpected happened.
A coworker who normally had no more than a nodding acquaintance with him proactively sent him a message. The content read:
[Yichen, I've noticed you've been absent-minded at work lately and often late. Are you under too much pressure? Here, let me recommend a really fun mobile game. You should relax properly.]