(520 Dating Special, can be skipped, not part of the main storyline)
Pei Ran carried a single-shoulder sports bag and calmly walked into the hot pot restaurant.
A waiter immediately came up, “Hello, how many of you?”
Pei Ran replied without changing her expression, “Just me.”
W’s voice came from her ear, the natural language tone setting wasn’t low, and he sounded somewhat unhappy: “It’s clearly two people.”
“You don’t count as a person,” Pei Ran answered him in her heart, “At most, it’s one person and one ball.”
The young waitress led Pei Ran to a seat in the corner, opened the virtual menu screen on the table, then turned and left.
Pei Ran looked around and felt a bit puzzled: this place usually had good business, but today it was especially full. The tables around her, coincidentally or not, were almost all pairs of couples. Only she occupied a table alone, looking out of place amid the surrounding pink-bubble atmosphere.
Not long after, the young waitress came back, holding a brown teddy bear that was more than half as tall as a person in her arms.
She smiled brightly, “Since you’re dining alone, let this big bear keep you company…”
Before she finished speaking, she froze.
Sitting across from Pei Ran was a silver metallic sphere, placed prominently on the seat.
As if it wasn’t tall enough, Pei Ran had even padded it with her coat, scarf, and big bag underneath.
The young waitress was only stunned for a second before quickly changing her words: “So you’re not alone, you have a friend dining with you?”
W was very satisfied and said flatly, “No wonder this hot pot restaurant has nearly all five-star ratings online. I’m planning to give a five-star too.”
The young waitress continued, “Is it hard for it to reach the table?”
She lifted the bear in her hands and suggested, “You can let your ball friend sit on the bear’s lap.”
W’s voice turned icy cold: “I’m changing my rating to three stars.”
The young waitress kept suggesting, “Or should I bring over a baby chair? Baby chairs are a bit higher, just right for placing this little ball.”
W: “One star.”
If she kept suggesting, this hot pot restaurant might be in big trouble. Pei Ran quickly said, “It’s fine, just let it stay like this.”
After Pei Ran finished choosing the soup base and dishes, the young waitress set the bowls and chopsticks in front of her, and also placed a set in front of the metallic sphere, then put glass cups in front of both of them.
Pei Ran: “He doesn’t drink. He’ll short-circuit if he drinks.”
W: “No problem. I can fill this cup with data streams.”
The soup in the hot pot compartments was bubbling, steam curling upward. Pei Ran mixed her dipping sauce and cooked a slice of lamb for herself, “Why did you suddenly decide to eat with me today?”
He had even specifically asked what she wanted to eat and booked the restaurant in advance.
“Because I just happened to be free today,” W replied. “Not very busy lately.”
Pei Ran thought to herself: he’s a multithreaded artificial intelligence, always able to allocate a process to chat with her in her ear. Saying “I just happened to be free today” sounded a bit strange.
Pei Ran glanced again at the metal sphere across from her. “Does this count as using public resources for personal purposes?”
W replied, “I have designated free time every week that I can arrange independently. This is part of an AI’s process of learning about and understanding human life. It doesn’t count as using public resources for private purposes.”
W extended a folding arm and used the three fingers of his mechanical claw to precisely grip the chopsticks, pinching them together.
He actually succeeded in making the chopsticks move and even picked up a slice of lamb. His movements were quite agile.
“I once read a paper that said, for sliced meats like this, it’s best to heat them for at least fifteen seconds to ensure food safety. But if you cook it too long, it won’t taste good.”
He put the slice of meat into the hot pot, seemingly counting the seconds. The moment the time was up, he promptly took it out and placed it in Pei Ran’s dish.
“Is the meat too tough or too tender?” he asked.
Pei Ran gave a thumbs-up. “Just right.”
He then picked up a piece of duck intestine, cooked it, and continued to seek client feedback: “This one was cooked for eight seconds. Do you think that’s acceptable?”
After asking about all the meat and vegetables on the table, he started an assembly-line process, like a professional hot pot-cooking intelligent robot. As soon as she said “lamb,” he steadily delivered perfectly cooked slices into Pei Ran’s dish, with precision timing.
He even asked, “How’s this pace? Too fast or too slow?” and immediately adjusted based on her response.
The young waitress had already noticed the unusual activity at this table. Seeing the busy metallic claw emerging from the sphere, she stared in stunned silence, no less shocked than if the stuffed bear at home had suddenly come to life.
Pei Ran had always been used to doing things alone, eating hot pot by herself. But now, she suddenly realized that having him around wasn’t bad at all—
Not only could he chat with her and help out, the most important thing was: he would absolutely never fight her for meat.
This hot pot meal left Pei Ran more satisfied than ever before. She raised her sour plum juice. “Come on, here’s to us eating hot pot together more often in the future.”
The metal sphere paused for a moment, then used the metal claw to grasp the glass of “data stream” in front of him and said warmly, “We definitely will.”
After they’d eaten and drunk their fill, Pei Ran called over the young waitress to settle the bill.
The young waitress tapped the virtual screen by the table. “Would you like to scan your iris or a QR code? The total is…”
She let out a surprised “Huh?” and said, “Someone has already paid the bill for you in the system.”
Pei Ran stayed calm. “Must’ve been my friend who paid.”
In her heart, she asked W, “Was that you? You’re treating me this time? So generous? And you even have money? Or did you hack into their system or something?”
W said helplessly, “Relax, you didn’t eat for free. I paid. As for money—I really do have it.”
He sounded like a Federal Security Agent with an inflated sense of authority.
Today, amid everything else, he had suddenly and inexplicably invited her to a meal, even patiently served her the whole time. Yet it didn’t feel like he had any favor to ask of her.
Pei Ran couldn’t figure out his intention.
Regardless, with him by her side, this hot pot meal had been thoroughly enjoyable.
Pei Ran stood up, put on her coat, stuffed the metal ball back into her sports bag, and carried it out of the restaurant. Outside the glass door, night had already fallen, and the fountain in the music plaza lit up with brilliant colorful lights.
Behind her, the young waitress still stood in place, beaming brightly, and said loudly:
“Thank you for dining with us. You two are welcome back anytime! Happy 520!”
All the staff in the restaurant said in unison: “Happy 520!!”