The most fundamental principle by which Lin Xiaoyang lived his life was: "Unnecessary action is the original sin of wasted life."
This philosophy, which he dubbed the "Energy-Saving Principle," governed everything he did. Why take the stairs when the elevator was right there? Why raise his hand to answer a question the professor hadn't directly asked him? Why engage in lengthy, meandering small talk that served no concrete purpose? It was all a drain on his precious, finite daily energy reserves.
His current project, the culmination of his Energy-Saving Principle, was his graduation design: a mobile app tentatively named "EfficientHeart." The concept was simple—users would input their preferences, habits, and desired relationship outcomes, and the app would use algorithms to suggest the most "energy-efficient" path to a harmonious romance, minimizing drama, misunderstanding, and emotional exhaustion. It was, in his mind, a masterpiece of social engineering.
Which was why his current situation felt like a cosmic joke.
He was sitting in the campus cafe, "The Roasted Bean," where he worked part-time. The air smelled of coffee grounds and anxiety. Across from him, three distinct, equally potent sources of "energy drain" had, through a series of events his principle deemed highly unfortunate, converged.
First, there was Su Yuning. She was his classmate from the Computer Science department, known campus-wide as the "Ice Queen of Code." With her waterfall of straight black hair and a gaze that could freeze a overheating CPU, she was the embodiment of cold, hard logic. She was currently reviewing a complex block of code on his laptop screen, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"Lin Xiaoyang," she said, her voice as crisp and emotionless as a text-to-speech program. "Your use of this recursive function here is inefficient. It increases the time complexity by a factor of O(n log n). A simple iterative loop would be 37.4% more optimal."
Xiaoyang sighed internally. See? This is why I didn't want to work on the group project here. Direct criticism. It requires a response. Energy expenditure. Outwardly, he managed a nod. "I'll refactor it. Thanks, Su Yuning."
Her presence was Signal One: The Logical Overload. She treated human interaction like a code review, and he was never sure if he'd pass compilation.
The second source of drain was Chen Yuexi, his senior at the cafe, though they were the same age. With her bouncing short hair and a smile that seemed to be powered by its own miniature sun, she was the polar opposite of Su Yuning. She was currently wiping down a nearby table, but her entire attention was focused on their booth.
"Ah! The cold, beautiful genius points out the flaws in the hard-working but slightly clumsy protagonist's work!" she declared, striking a dramatic pose with her cleaning rag. "This is a classic trope! The 'Tsundere's Blunt Care' route has been activated! Xiaoyang, your next line should be, 'I see... thank you for your guidance, Su Yuning. I still have much to learn from you.'"
This was Signal Two: The Theatrical Delusion. Chen Yuexi viewed life through the lens of anime and romantic dramas, constantly assigning roles and scripting scenes. Interacting with her was exhausting because it required navigating her ever-shifting narrative landscapes.
Before Xiaoyang could even attempt to formulate an energy-conserving response, the cafe door chimed with an obnoxiously cheerful jingle.
"Xiaoyang Gege~!"
Signal Three had arrived.
This was Tang Youyou, his high school junior who now studied at a different university in the same city. She was a whirlwind of pastel colors and twin tails, bouncing over to their table with uncontainable energy.
"Xiaoyang Gege! Look! I brought you this!" she chirped, placing a small, strangely shaped green crystal on the table. "My tarot cards said today's luck direction was southwest, and my horoscope said Gemini's—that's you!—lucky item was a frog! This is a frog-shaped fluorite! It enhances clarity and, more importantly, the probability of a positive encounter!"
She beamed at him, completely ignoring the other two girls. This was The Mystic Assault. Tang Youyou's entire existence was governed by astrology, tarot, and various forms of divination. Her "random" encounters with him were always meticulously planned based on celestial alignments.
Xiaoyang felt a headache brewing. Three girls. Three completely different, equally taxing modes of interaction. His Energy-Saving Principle was screaming in alarm.
"An amphibian-themed mineral," Su Yuning stated, looking at the crystal with clinical interest. "Its molecular structure has no known properties that would influence probability, unless thrown with sufficient force to alter someone's trajectory."
"Ah! The mysterious transfer student presents a magical token to the oblivious hero!" Chen Yuexi whispered loudly, her eyes sparkling. "But the cold childhood friend is already by his side! A classic triangle formation!"
"Um, thanks, Youyou," Xiaoyang said, the most non-committal and energy-efficient response he could muster. He picked up the frog crystal. It was mildly warm from her grip. If I don't accept it, she'll pout, ask why, and the explanation will take at least ten minutes. Accepting it costs me two words. Optimal choice.
His internal monologue, however, was anything but efficient. Why here? Why now? Is this a stress test for my app? Su Yuning's critique is technically correct but socially abrasive. Chen Yuexi's commentary is factually incorrect and mentally draining. Tang Youyou's gift is logically unsound but emotionally... well, it's still troublesome. The energy required to maintain a neutral facade in this crossfire is immense. My internal CPU usage just spiked to 95%.
"Senior Yuexi," he said, turning to the dramaturge. "Isn't your shift almost over?" A gentle nudge. Perhaps I can reduce the variables.
"Ah! Trying to send me away to create a one-on-one scenario with one of the other heroines?" Chen Yuexi wagged a finger, a knowing grin on her face. "A bold strategy! But as your loyal 'wingman' character, I must observe all flag-triggering events!"
"No strategic dismissal is necessary," Su Yuning said, closing his laptop. "The code review is complete. My analysis indicates a 92.7% probability that your app's core architecture will function as intended once the inefficiency is corrected." She stood up, giving a slight, formal nod. "I will take my leave. My own project requires compilation."
And with that, Signal One extinguished itself with beautiful, logical efficiency. Xiaoyang felt a wave of relief. One down.
But as Su Yuning walked away, Chen Yuexi gasped. "The cold beauty leaves first, creating a sense of lingering mystery and unfinished business! Masterful!"
Tang Youyou, meanwhile, was staring at her phone, her face pale. "Oh no... my real-time aura scanner just turned a murky yellow-green! That indicates... unresolved tension and hidden rivals!" She looked up at Xiaoyang with wide, worried eyes. "Xiaoyang Gege, you must carry this fluorite at all times today! The celestial currents are treacherous!"
Xiaoyang took a slow sip from his ever-present thermos of warm water. Hydration was key to maintaining bodily efficiency.
This was his life. A constant battle against unnecessary energy expenditure, fought on multiple, bizarre fronts. Su Yuning with her probability matrices, Chen Yuexi with her narrative tropes, Tang Youyou with her celestial guidance.
He thought of the fourth tab always open on his browser—the alumni page for his high school. Sometimes, he'd scroll through it, his eyes lingering on a particular name: Shen Qinghe. His high school deskmate. Their interactions had been... simple. Quiet. They shared notes, sometimes sat in comfortable silence, and she had a way of remembering small, insignificant details about him, like how he preferred his pen to be positioned on the desk. It had felt... efficient. In a warm, non-draining way.
But she was in a different city now. A low-priority background process in the operating system of his life.
He looked at the frog crystal in his hand, at Chen Yuexi's dramatics, and at the empty seat where Su Yuning had been.
My EfficientHeart app, he thought with a profound sense of irony, is supposed to help people avoid this exact kind of chaotic, multi-variable, high-energy social scenario.
He opened his personal notebook app, a digital journal for his project ideas.
Observation Log, Entry #1: Initial field testing of social environment reveals critical flaw in "EfficientHeart" premise. Real-world romantic variables are... illogical, theatrical, and mystical. They do not conform to efficient algorithms. Current environment energy consumption: Catastrophic.
He closed the app. The path to a truly energy-efficient life seemed longer and more fraught than ever. And he had a sinking feeling that his graduation project was about to become deeply, personally, and exhaustingly intertwined with the very chaos it was meant to solve.