As the fireworks display drew to its close, the group collectively prepared to log off. Their wristbands vibrated, transmitting the itinerary and arrangements for the following day.
An offline gathering, with the location set on Shadow Star and the proceedings slated to commence tomorrow at seven in the evening. Mutual contact prior to that deadline was strictly prohibited.
It made complete sense. Shadow Star stood as the most industrially developed entertainment hub in the galaxy, and the production crew’s primary headquarters happened to be located right there.
Transport shuttle tickets to the destination alongside the post-arrival accommodations had already been pre-arranged, with schedules staggered precisely to prevent any possibility of two individuals bumping into each other prematurely.
A thoroughly cautious protocol.
The production crew would assign code numbers ranging from one through six to the six participants, distributed via a blind draw. Nobody would know their own designated number, nor would they know whose number they had drawn. Under such conditions, successfully mutual selections would proceed to an offline date whose itinerary was pre-programmed by the production crew; otherwise, all participants failing to secure a mutual match would be tossed into a group date.
If zero mutual pairings occurred across the board, the draw would be repeated until at least a single pair materialized.
Xu Qingnan privately suspected the production crew of rigging the system behind the scenes.
After all, the six of them had somehow managed a 100% successful match rate on the very first draw.
Logging off while it was still the dead of night, Xu Qingnan returned to his apartment. The surrounding space plunged into instant silence, the air still lingering with the faint trace of cigarette smoke from his pre-login habit.
An aroma that irresistibly dragged Xu Qingnan’s thoughts back toward Shen Jiacheng, who was currently residing right across the hall.
Rising from his seat, he triggered the apartment’s air-filtration system, before logging into the official portal of the residential security system. Topping up his account by ten thousand star coins, he booked a comprehensive hardware and software upgrade scheduled for seven o’clock the following morning, which would deploy an automated droid team to execute a complete security overhaul.
This time, the perimeter would extend to encompass his private courtyard, erecting a specialized light-barrier wall designed to allow clear visibility outward while rendering the interior completely opaque from the outside.
A man like Shen Jiacheng was capable of executing any conceivable extremity.
Having dispatched those operational tasks, Xu Qingnan checked the clock: half-past two in the morning. Yet finding himself wide awake, he strode straight into his home studio, dredged up the bidding document from the Dream Painting forum, and dove headfirst into work.
After all, having just splashed a substantial sum of credits, insomnia was a natural consequence.
As morning light filtered through the windows, a knocking rap echoed against the front door, causing Xu Qingnan’s nerves to tighten involuntarily.
Fortunately, it was merely the scheduled droid upgrade team.
The droids operated with blistering efficiency, wrapping up the complete system overhaul within thirty minutes. Just as Tang Yu arrived to pick him up, Xu Qingnan was standing right by the threshold, tapping out a glowing five-star review for the droids on his screen.
Tang Yu deduced with zero effort that a positive-review rebate campaign must have been involved.
The rebate amount had to be sizable, too; otherwise, his cousin wouldn’t be standing there meticulously typing out a full two-sentence evaluation.
His optical brain chimed with the cheerful jingle of star credits depositing into his account upon submission of the review. Sending the droids off, Xu Qingnan finally turned his attention to Tang Yu.
“Morning, cousin,” Tang Yu waved cheerfully, stepping inside the doorway. “What prompted a sudden security upgrade? I couldn’t even see your courtyard from outside just now.”
With a weary, drained expression, Xu Qingnan turned to walk back inside. “New tenant moved in across the hall.”
“Even so, there’s no need to go this far with defenses,” Tang Yu pointed out. “Besides, they’re just neighbors.”
“It’s Shen Jiacheng.”
The instant that single name brushed across Tang Yu’s ears, his scalp prickled in a reflexive stress response. “Defenses entirely justified.”
“Do me a favor and run a check on him,” walking over to take a seat on the sofa, Xu Qingnan emptied the cigarette ashes from the coffee table ashtray straight into the waste bin. “What he’s been up to recently, his financial sources, his current profession dig as deep as you possibly can.”
Nodding in immediate assent, Tang Yu replied, “Got it, cousin, leave it to me.”
Three years had elapsed, and Tang Yu was no longer the helpless Beta who lacked the capacity to render any assistance or even manage a glimpse of his cousin.
Glancing sideways into the open drawer of the coffee table, Tang Yu caught sight of something familiar an ingrained reflex instilled by his mother’s endless nagging whenever he visited. Every single trip required him to conduct a routine inventory check on Xu Qingnan’s smoking habits.
The cigarette pack, which had been completely full a couple of days prior, had visibly lost several sticks.
Noticing the dark, bruised circles lingering beneath Xu Qingnan’s eyes, Tang Yu asked with careful hesitation, “Cousin, you’re not still…”
Before the sentence could even finish, Xu Qingnan cut him off: “I am not.”
When he had initially brought Tang Yu to live with him, it had been a dual decision driven by Tang Yu’s own fervent desire to leave and the fact that Shen Jiacheng had mailed a cache of photographs straight to his aunt’s doorstep.
To insulate his aunt from ongoing harassment, Xu Qingnan had arranged a relocation for her while taking Tang Yu under his own wing.
By the time Tang Yu arrived at his doorstep three years ago, the fallout between himself and Shen Jiacheng was already drawing to its messy close. Tang Yu remained largely in the dark regarding the specifics, knowing at most that his cousin shared an unresolved, sticky entanglement with an ex-boyfriend who refused to stay in the rearview mirror.
Unwilling to burden anyone else with his personal baggage, Xu Qingnan smoothly pivoted the topic. “How many days are we staying on Shadow Star this time?”
Sensing Xu Qingnan’s clear aversion to dwelling on the subject, Tang Yu cooperated by seamlessly transitioning along with the flow. “Tonight is the scheduled dating event, commercials are slated for filming on the second day, and after spending one final night, we head right back.”
The transit distance from Silver Frost Star to Shadow Star was far from negligible, requiring a two-hour space-flight. Shadow Star itself served as the crown jewel of the central star district, universally recognized as the most economically prosperous planet across the system.
Given that unexpected complications frequently plagued offline commercial shoots, the production crew mandated that every participant be housed in close proximity to the working staff to maintain total operational control. The moment Xu Qingnan and Tang Yu stepped foot inside their assigned suite, Xu Qingnan executed a perfunctory wash-up and collapsed straight onto the bed to catch up on lost sleep.
He slumbered straight through until six o’clock in the evening, when Tang Yu roused him from sleep.
Standing before the bathroom mirror, Xu Qingnan rinsed his mouth with a mouthful of water, gargled, and spat the fluid down the basin, all while listening to Tang Yu’s rapid-fire list of instructions: “…No exchanging contact information, no disclosing true residential addresses, you can mention your current temporary location, but exposing your actual profession and secondary gender is strictly prohibited. Hidden cameras will be everywhere though designed as invisible lenses to ensure you remain uninhibited, you must never forget their presence. Absolutely zero transactions of any kind monetary, romantic, or authority-based especially romance.”
Wherever Xu Qingnan walked, Tang Yu trailed closely behind like a chattering shadow.
“Especially you, Xu-ge, you must engrave this into your memory: the inhibitor patches and blocker sprays we provide are strictly military-grade. If you happen to catch the scent of any foreign pheromones, it means someone is actively attempting to seduce you. You cannot remain completely unresponsive, as that will give away your Beta status; nor can you allow yourself to be carried away by passion into a casual agreement, as that violates our program’s core family-friendly values.”
“…” Finally hitting his breaking point, Xu Qingnan shot Tang Yu a cold, sidelong glare through a frown. “Your matchmaking show actually has values?”
“We are a respectable matchmaking program!” Reacting like someone whose sacred calling had been blasphemed, Tang Yu rallied with the fervor of a zealot, mustering uncharacteristic courage to grab hold of Xu Qingnan’s arm while brandishing a canister of blocker spray. Launching into a furious flurry, he doused him from head to toe, front and back, until his cousin practically radiated an overwhelming aura of simulated cedarwood.
It was, after all, a strict mandate from the production crew; since Xu Qingnan stood as the sole Beta amongst the cast, failing to pickle him thoroughly in blocker spray ran a catastrophic risk of blowing his cover.
Coughing twice against the chemical fog, Xu Qingnan offered zero resistance, simply pivoting his head to draw in a lungful of unpolluted air. “If it’s such a respectable program, why’d they dress me like this?”
“Respectable programs must balance solemnity with entertainment,” having exhausted an entire can of spray, Tang Yu holed the canister, stepped back to appraise Xu Qingnan, and declared, “Besides, what’s wrong with this outfit?”
A proper button-down shirt, proper slacks, proper leather shoes merely embellished with a few tasteful, subtle structural accents.
At precisely six-forty, Xu Qingnan boarded the transport shuttle and departed on schedule.
He had no prior inkling whether his assignment would land him in a one-on-one pairing or a group date. Stepping out upon arrival, the vehicle deposited him directly in front of a private boutique cinema.
Right at the threshold, an envelope containing his mission card was handed over, outlining the objective he was required to complete prior to the date’s conclusion:
Sensors have been affixed across various coordinates of your partner’s attire. Every single physical contact logged against any sensor yields 1 point, provided the action remains subtle enough not to rouse direct suspicion from your partner. Accumulate a cumulative total of 10 points before the date concludes to clear the objective.
Helpful hints to improve your scoring probability include:
Sitting together on the same sofa bench;
Sharing a single bucket of popcorn;
Opting for a horror feature;
Assisting your partner in adjusting their clothing details;
Feigning exhaustion to lean your head against their shoulder;
And so forth.
Xu Qingnan: “…”
What an exceptionally respectable program indeed.