As I squatted on the curb to remove the screws from the rear tire of my electric bike, my phone popped up the reminder "Your account balance is less than 10 yuan" for the Nth time. The wind at 3 a.m. blew the smoke from the barbecue stall into my collar, and the "Hummingbird Run" logo on my T-shirt had long been soaked into a map by sweat stains - this was my 137th day delivering food, and the 8th time I received a bad review from a customer.
"Ding——"
The phone screen suddenly exploded with a golden light. I thought it was an early morning hallucination until those golden bullets poured out from the lock screen like a waterfall:
[The host's dopamine concentration is detected to be 70% lower than the human average, and the love assistance system 1.0 is activated]
[Newbie gift package has been issued: mind reading bullet (beginner) × 3 times, love talk skill book (entry level) × 1]
[Current task: Before 12 noon tomorrow, successfully make 3 humans have "heart value + 10" emotional fluctuations]
I hurriedly pressed the power button, but the screen suddenly became transparent, and I could see the girl standing at the door of the convenience store across the street - it was Kailan who lived in Building 3 of Sunshine Community. We were in the same department but different classes in college. She now works the night shift at the convenience store every night.
At this moment, she was applying lipstick in front of the glass door, and my retina was suddenly filled with colorful bullets:
[Kai Lan's heartbeat value: 5 (initial value)]
[Inner thoughts: This maple leaf red looks old-fashioned, I have to ask Brother Chen to buy me the new YSL gold bar tomorrow]
I shook my head violently, and when I looked again, the bullets were gone. The electric bike was still leaning on the side of the road, and the rear tire was completely flattened. I suddenly remembered that I helped Kai Lan move a package last week. She said "Thank you, classmate" at that time, and her eyelashes cast a small fan-like shadow under her eyes.
The next day at noon, I delivered an order to Yangguang Community, and the elevator was full of office workers in suits and ties. I stared at the button for the 23rd floor in a daze, and the phone in my trouser pocket suddenly vibrated, and the lock screen interface appeared with golden bullets again:
[Warning! There is an abnormal heartbeat target within 5 meters ahead]
The elevator opened on the 18th floor, and a woman in a Chanel suit squeezed in with a laptop computer. The smell of perfume overwhelmed the fish-flavored pork shreds in my incubator. My temples were throbbing, and my retina suddenly covered with dense small words:
[Su Qing's heartbeat value: 20 (hostile state)]
[Inner thoughts: Why is this delivery man always staring at me? He did the same thing in the underground garage last week. Is he a pervert? ]
I hurriedly looked down at my work badge, only to find that two buttons on my chest had broken at some point, revealing my tanned collarbone. When the elevator reached the 23rd floor, I almost ran out. I heard a woman muttering to a colleague behind me: "Are all deliverymen so unkempt now?"
The third order was for a pregnant woman in 201, Building 7. When she opened the door, she held her waist and gasped: "Please help me move the express delivery in the living room. My husband is on a business trip..." Before she finished speaking, she suddenly covered her mouth and her eyes widened.
I just bent down to lift the carton, and the barrage exploded on my retina:
[Wang Mengmeng's heartbeat value: 35 (grateful state)]
[Inner OS: Oh my god, the muscle lines on his waist are so obvious, stronger than my husband who has been working out for half a year]
I almost dropped the carton on the ground, and the back of my neck was hot. When I finished moving the express and was about to leave, the pregnant woman suddenly took out a fruit candy from her pocket and stuffed it into my pocket: "Thank you, young man, this is for the baby in my belly." The candy wrapper reflected a rainbow in the sun, and I heard the system prompt sound ding-dong in my mind:
[Congratulations to the host for getting the heartbeat value ×20, current progress 2/3]
When I changed shifts in the evening, I squatted at the station and ate steamed buns, and my phone suddenly received a text message from an unfamiliar number: "What you see in the convenience store should not be something that humans can see." My fingers trembled, and the steamed bun crumbs fell on the work clothes. When I wanted to reply, the other party had blocked me.
At ten o'clock in the evening, I met Kailan again in the convenience store. She was restocking the shelves, and her back in a white sweater reminded me of the window seat she always sat in the university cafeteria. I stared at the whorls on the top of her hair, and the bullet screen slowly appeared on my retina:
[Kai Lan's heartbeat value: 10 (confused state)]
[Inner OS: Why is he dressed so neatly today? His work clothes were washed white, but he insisted on wearing a tie, like a peacock ready to spread its tail]
I touched the crooked tie on my neck - it was a second-hand item picked up from the station locker, and the original owner was Brother Zhang who resigned last month. Just as I was about to speak, two black shadows suddenly flashed outside the glass of the convenience store. They were wearing black suits and sunglasses, and they looked exactly like the two security guards I saw in the community during the day.
Kai Lan suddenly pointed behind me and exclaimed: "Your electric bike!"
When I turned around, I saw that my broken electric bike was emitting green smoke, and the battery part made a buzzing sound of electricity. Looking back, the men in black suits were already standing at the door of the convenience store. One of them raised his hand and made a "hush" gesture to me, with a strange red light reflected on his sunglasses.
The system prompt sound suddenly became sharp:
[Abnormal energy reaction detected! Activate emergency protection mechanism]
My eyes went dark, and when I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a pile of cardboard boxes in the storage room. Kailan was patting my face: "Why did you suddenly faint?" The silver bracelet on her wrist hurt my cheek, but the barrage on my retina made my hair stand on end:
[Kailan's heartbeat value: 15 (worried state)]
[Inner OS: I have to delete the system data in his phone quickly. Brother Chen said that those who expose him must..."
Her voice suddenly became blurred, and I heard myself asking: "Who is Brother Chen? " Kailan retracted her hand suddenly, and her pupils reflected the door of the storage room behind me - I don't know when it opened a crack, and the tip of the leather shoes of the man in the black suit was stuck in the crack of the door, and the heel was stained with the same burnt marks as my electric bike.
The phone vibrated in the trouser pocket, and this time the system barrage was blood red:
[Warning! The host has been located by the "system cleaner"]
[Emergency task: Make Kailan's heartbeat value exceed 50 within 24 hours, otherwise the memory will be formatted]
The fluorescent lights of the convenience store were buzzing above her head, and Kailan's eyelashes began to cast a small fan-like shadow again, but this time I noticed that there was a panic in her eyes that I had never seen before. The metal stick picked up when the electric bike had a flat tire was still at the bottom of the incubator, and it was now hot like a piece of charcoal - it fell out of the cardboard box of the pregnant woman when I helped her move the express yesterday. The strange symbol engraved on the stick was exactly the same as the golden frame of the system barrage.