Oats and Walnuts

The first‌​​‌⁠‌⁠⁠‌​‍‍‍‌⁠‌‍​‌⁠‌⁠⁠‍ light of dawn pierced through the window, shining into a pair of sleepy golden eyes.

An Yu yawned, glanced at the sealed metal door, and continued to lean against the windowsill, scrolling through his social feed.

Zhu Tao had posted a plant care guide with over a dozen pictures: “From utter despair to a renaissance of ideals, it’s time to get serious about working for the Seed Museum. Good luck to all the lovely little seeds!”

Right below it was a picture Tang Feng had casually taken of a half-eaten cheese and ham potato pie: “Caught a bit of the glory from the corner.”

Zhu Tao replied: “You should clearly be thanking me!!”

An Yu glanced at the lunch box on the windowsill, which held the cheese pie that had just come out of the oven an hour ago.

He continued to scroll down.

Chao Wu had posted a selfie early in the morning. She wore a pair of studded hotpants that An Yu didn’t understand and held an electric guitar. Her rose-red hair, already spilling out of the frame, was barely tied into two bunches on either side, looking as if it would burst the fragile scrunchies at any second.

—Chao Wu: “Only the Commander can tie my hair up properly (fist emoji) (melancholy emoji).”

The first person to like it was her commander, Shen Yang, who added a comment: “I’ll tie it for you whenever I’m free. Don’t mess with it on your own, be good.”

An Yu read that comment several times, unable to stop clicking his tongue in amazement in his mind.

He had come to realize that among the entire Spire’s higher-ups, only his commander was stern and unsmiling, even resorting to life-threatening warnings from time to time. Besides his commander, Mr. Flame on the 198th floor was also quite intimidating.

Ling Qiu was truly a master of worldly wisdom; he had warned him early on that the more powerful a person was, the harder they were to serve.

Just as he was recalling the sturdy man with arms covered in black rose tattoos, he came across Jin Xuyan’s post.

From what he remembered, Jin Xuyan rarely posted anything. This time, it was just a short line of text: “Mission complete. The new subject’s performance in his first battle was acceptable. He didn’t desert.”

Sleepy had commented: “Lumen must be a valiant and reliable teammate on the battlefield.”

An Yu had to rack his brain for a good while before he could match the codename “Sleepy” with the woman he had seen sitting next to Flame at the Spire meeting.

He had almost forgotten what she looked like, only remembering she was a water lily-type aberration with long, wavy, silver-white hair and a crisp, cold demeanor.

Billy had gossiped with him before that Sleepy had also been a soldier before her distortion, but unlike the orthodox Commander Feng, she had been a mysterious mercenary who might not have always been on the right side of things.

An Yu hesitated for a moment, then sent Billy a message: “Lumen already has a mission with Flame?”

After sending it, he continued scrolling through his feed as if completing a task.

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An Yu had only heard from Billy last night that before his distortion, Codex had been a young master from a wealthy family. But for some unknown reason, his parents had kept him hidden away, and his only hobby growing up had been reading, making him a veritable walking library.

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Codex replied: “Okay.”

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Was Codex male or female?

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An Yu replied with a simple “Oh.”

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Billy: “Don’t play dumb. But it seems he’s not very receptive to this whole setup. According to reliable intel, he’s very difficult to tame and has suffered a great deal. It’s said that because of his constant insolence, Flame is even planning to install something in him… Man, I don’t know if he’s better off on a field mission or staying in the Spire.”

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The mechanical door across from him suddenly beeped as it unlocked electronically. An Yu immediately put his terminal away, temporarily pushing Billy’s intel to the back of his mind.

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As the last door slowly opened, a flicker of astonishment crossed his numb, dark eyes.

“Commander.”

An Yu stood right in front of him. Behind him, outside the window, the sun had just begun to tremble above the city’s skyline, making the pair of golden eyes before the window appear even more clear and bright.

He took two quick steps toward Qin Zhilu, hesitated for a moment, then clumsily opened his arms and gently embraced him, standing on his toes to whisper comfortingly in his ear, “Are you alright?”

This was the third time he had hugged Qin Zhilu, and this time, Qin Zhilu was no longer so stiff.

He just seemed to react a bit slowly and looked down at the fluffy white hair, his gaze then falling upon the windowsill—where there was a large bento box, covered in a pattern of small black octopuses.

“Where did you buy this?” Qin Zhilu frowned slightly. “The design is very childish.”

An Yu released him, turned to look at the bento box, and mumbled, “You don’t like it? It cost 279 points.”

Qin Zhilu didn’t answer, but a faint smile gradually spread in his dark eyes. After a long moment, he said slowly, “You’ve spent too much.”

An Yu opened his mouth, then silently swallowed the words, <em>’It was your money.’</em>

Yesterday, someone from Black Tower had delivered the Commander’s new terminal and asked An Yu to check if it was working correctly. An Yu had fiddled with it for a while and discovered that although he didn’t have permission to view messages, he did have permission to spend money. So, after browsing for a long time, he ordered this bento box.

After placing the order, he saw a “20% off the second item” promotion, so he had casually, and quite incidentally, bought one for himself as well.

After buying the bento box, he discovered there were matching chopsticks, which came with a 30% discount if purchased together.

After buying the chopsticks, the system automatically recommended a matching kettle from the same series, which was half-price if ordered within five minutes, so he had also…

“Why are you spacing out?” Qin Zhilu glanced at him quizzically and held out his hand. “Where’s my pie?”

“Oh!” An Yu quickly turned, picked up the bento box, and lifted the lid. “It’s baked. Zhu Tao said it was a great success.”

Inside the box was a single round pie, only about the size of his palm. The mashed potatoes and cheese were whipped into a pure, creamy white, and the crust was a light, caramel-colored shortbread.

The ham and cheese potato pie was the pastry Zhu Tao most often made for high-level parties. Qin Zhilu had eaten it many times and could recall the taste with just a single glance.

But he didn’t say much. He picked up the pie and took a bite as he started walking out.

The dense cheese sauce melted in his mouth, but his steps suddenly halted. He looked down at the filling in surprise.

The slices of ham from his memory were gone. In their place were small, crisp yet chewy granules that instantly added a rich complexity to the texture.

It was crushed oats and walnuts.