When Chen Hao woke up, it was already daylight. He rolled over, his arm hitting the bed, and he cried out in pain. His first thought wasn't brushing his teeth or washing his face, but rather the lighting fixture research they'd agreed to start at six o'clock the day before.

He scratched his head, sat up, and found that Nana was not in the room.

This is unusual. Usually, she would either wait for him at the door or go to the carpentry workshop beforehand. This time, there wasn't a trace of her.

He slipped on his shoes and went out, walking towards the storage area. He passed the restaurant and glanced at it—the chair cushions were still there, the bowls had been cleared away, and a leaf had fallen from the potted plant in the corner, which was leaning against the soil.

"Where is he?" he muttered, pushing open the door to the storage area.

Nana was squatting on the ground, with three rows of stones in front of her, scanning them back and forth with a small device. Hearing the noise, she looked up: "You're late."

"I'm late?" Chen Hao rolled his eyes. "I've already gotten up, okay! You robots can't impose human schedules on others."

"The original plan was to start the light source test at six o'clock," she said, putting the instrument aside. "It's already seven-one-nine o'clock."

“I’m not an alarm clock.” He walked over, plopped down, and picked up a stone. “This is the glowing one? It looks just like an ordinary stone.”

“No significant difference in appearance before activation.” She took back the stone and gently tapped another one next to it. The two stones touched, instantly emitting a pale blue halo.

Chen Hao shrank back: "Holy crap! It's really bright!"

"This is a cold light response excited by low-frequency resonance," she said. "The brightness remains stable and the energy consumption is extremely low."

"What did you say?" He scratched his head. "Can we stop using jargon? We're chatting, not giving a lecture."

"They're brighter when they're all together," she put it another way.

"Oh." He nodded. "You should have said so earlier."

He reached for another row of orange-red stones, and as soon as he touched them, the light changed, turning from blue to yellow, with a touch of red.

“This is different,” he said.

“Correct.” Nana took it. “This type of mineral has high brightness when used alone, but the duration is short, making it suitable for short-term lighting. Blue-toned minerals have a longer lifespan, but the light is cooler. Which one you need depends on the application.”

"The desk lamp should be soft, not glaring," Chen Hao thought for a moment. "The wall lamp can be brighter, but it has to be stable, otherwise it will blind me in the middle of the night."

"The requirements have been recorded." She began to categorize them: "Blue and white combination for table lamps, orange and red combination for the main material of wall lamps."

“Okay.” He sat against the wall. “Then you take your time, I’ll rest for a bit.”

“This is not break time.” She handed him a box. “Help me sort them out. Pick out the ones with surface cracks, as they will affect the luminous efficiency.”

"Still have to work?" he sighed. "I always said it would be great if we could hire someone in the future, even a mute would do, at least they could move things."

“There are no recruitment requirements at the moment,” she said. “You are the only collaborating member.”

"So I've become free labor," he complained, but still took the box and examined each piece.

When he turned to the third piece, he noticed that one of them had green edges and a yellow glow in the middle, as if something was flowing inside.

“This is strange.” He held it up. “Everyone else glows evenly, but this one is like… it breathes.”

Nana took it, scanned it for a few seconds, and the optical lens flashed twice.

“A novel combination reaction,” she said. “It could be a superposition effect produced by two symbiotic mineral structures at specific frequencies.”

"Translate, translate."

"Try putting it together with the pale yellow mineral next to it."

Chen Hao did as instructed. As soon as the two stones approached, before they even touched, the light began to rise. Once they were pressed together, the entire area suddenly brightened, clearer than ever before, even revealing the dust in the corners of the walls.

"Holy crap!" he exclaimed, leaning back. "This brightness could illuminate the entire playground!"

"The measured brightness has increased by 280 percentage points," she said. "The light uniformity has reached over 85%, which meets the standards for comfortable lighting."

“Isn’t this natural LED?” he laughed. “If we could mass-produce it, we’d be rich. Why would we need to build a restaurant?”

“It cannot be mass-produced,” she said. “This type of ore is rare and requires precise matching of wavelength and contact angle.”

“Then let’s use the restaurant first.” He sat cross-legged. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter if the other places are dark. At least we can see if there are any bugs in the food when we eat.”

"It is recommended to prioritize coverage of the main passageway and the operating area."

"Whatever you say." He stretched. "But what should we call this combination? We can't keep saying 'that breathing stone and the little yellow tile' every time, can we?"

“Marked as ‘Optimal Light Source Combination A1’.”

"That's too mechanical." He shook his head. "How about calling him 'Brother Liang'? It sounds more reliable."

"The naming does not affect the functionality."

"You're so unromantic," he said, pursing his lips. "But Liang-ge sounds nice, so I'll call you that from now on."

She didn't argue and continued sorting through the remaining ore.

Chen Hao lay on the ground and helped her separate the different types of stones into boxes. One group was blue and white, another was orange and red, and a few special stones with green veins were mixed in and placed in a small box.

“These aren’t enough.” He counted, “Two desk lamps are enough, and we can only fit a maximum of four wall lamps. That’s all we can fit.”

“Resources are limited,” she said. “I suggest using them in a concentrated manner and then looking for alternatives or supplements later.”

“Let’s install the restaurant first,” he decided. “We can do whatever we want with the rest of the place.”

“Another option,” she said, taking out a support model. “We can use Liang Ge as the core light source, surrounded by a ring of low-consumption minerals to form a ring of supplementary lighting and extend the overall lighting time.”

"You're quite good at budgeting." He nodded. "Okay, let's do it this way. If we're frugal, it'll last longer."

The two packed the sorted ore into three sealed boxes and labeled them.

The first one says: For desk lamps only.

Second: Main materials for wall lamps.

The third: backup combination.

"Brother Liang, you're here." Chen Hao put the breathing stone into the third box and closed the lid.

“The next step is the manufacturing of the light fixture,” she said. “It requires a bracket, a fixing structure, and a secure enclosure.”

“The tools in the woodworking shop are still usable.” He stood up and stretched his arms and legs. “I’ll start assembling tomorrow and try to get it done within three days.”

"If efficiency is maintained, the basic installation is expected to be completed within 48 hours."

“You’re always more optimistic than me,” he smiled. “But this time I’m a little excited too. Finally, I won’t have to be able to tell if the pickled vegetables are spoiled when I eat.”

He walked to the door and glanced back at the table piled high with ore.

"Who left these stones before?"

"No relevant record found in the database."

“True.” He shrugged. “I guess the person who threw it here never even used it, otherwise why would they hoard it without using it?”

He stepped out the door, his steps lighter.

Nana followed behind, carrying three boxes in her arms.

Back in the small storeroom next to the woodworking shop, they cleared a space on the material rack and put the boxes on it.

“The location is set,” she said. “We can start processing the bracket tomorrow.”

"Okay." He wiped his hands. "Right now, I just want to go back and lie down. Carrying stones is more tiring than moving logs."

"Your physical exertion is not excessive."

“That’s your algorithm.” He rolled his eyes. “I feel like it’s about to fall apart.”

He turned to leave, but suddenly stopped.

"By the way, is Brother Liang really not going to suddenly explode?"

“There is no risk of explosion,” she said. “The energy release is stable, with no backlog.”

"What if one day it doesn't want to light up anymore?"

"Activity can be restored by replacing the contact surface."

"Sounds like a phone reboot," he muttered. "Okay, as long as the lights don't go out in the middle of the night."

He took one last look at the boxes on the shelf, making sure the labels were facing outwards and clearly visible.

"That's settled then, see you tomorrow."

He lifted his foot to leave.

Nana suddenly spoke up: "You forgot about this."

He turned around, and she was holding a small, unlabeled stone that was faintly glowing green.

"Isn't this part of Brother Liang's work?" he frowned.

“These are fragments that fell off during the separation,” she said. “They weren’t registered in the database.”

He took it and touched the surface.

It was cold, but there was a strange vibration, as if something was moving inside.

He stared at the light and blinked.

The light flashed, paused for two seconds, and then lit up again, the rhythm like a heartbeat.