He doesn't seem so bad.

Late at night, only a desk lamp was lit in Fang Chi's room. Reference materials for the physics competition were spread all over the table, but he couldn't concentrate. Images from the daytime kept flashing in his mind: Xing Jiayan's clumsy figure leaning on his cane, the fine sweat on his forehead, and the fleeting sense of defeat in his eyes when he said "I'm dragging the team down."

And then there was that thoughtless, offhand remark I made: "You've never been a burden."

Thinking of this, Fang Chi's ears burned. He scratched his hair in frustration, trying to banish these distracting thoughts, and his gaze fell on the light blue thermos in the corner.

As if possessed, he opened his laptop and logged into the forum called "Observatory." That world belonging to "Chaos" seemed to be the only place where he could catch his breath at this moment.

He opened the chat window with "Yan".

His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time as he edited and revised, finally sending a seemingly ordinary greeting.

Chaos: Good evening. How have you been lately...?

He didn't expect the other party to reply almost instantly.

Yan: It's alright. There was a minor accident, but it's nothing serious.

Fang Chi's heart skipped a beat. A minor accident? He almost immediately thought of Xing Jiayan's injured ankle.

Chaos: Accident? How serious is it? He asked instinctively, then realized he was overreacting and quickly added, "Uh, I mean, as a netizen, I just wanted to express my concern."

On the other end of the network, Xing Jiayan looked at the evasive questioning on the screen and a slight smile appeared on his lips. He leaned against the headboard, his injured foot elevated, his laptop resting on his lap.

Yan: Thank you for your concern. It's not serious, I just need to rest for a while and my mobility is a bit limited.

Chaos: That's good... It's really troublesome to be unable to move around easily. He thought of Xing Jiayan using crutches, and his fingers unconsciously tapped on the keyboard. My deskmate also came to the group discussion today using crutches, which looked quite awkward.

He positioned himself as an "observer," as if he were talking about a third party who had nothing to do with him.

Yan: Oh? He insisted on going even though he was injured? Xing Jiayan played along with his "performance," her tone carrying appropriate surprise.

Chaos: Hmm. Pretty...stubborn. He could have rested, but he insisted on coming. And he actually told me he was afraid of holding me back. Fang Chi couldn't help but recount the events of the day, with a hint of indignation on Chaos's behalf that he himself didn't realize.

Yan: Then he... must care a lot about this group with you, or, you must care a lot about your opinion. "Yan" replied from the other end of the network, her tone calm, yet like a pebble thrown into Fang Chi's heart.

Fang Chi was stunned. Did he care about...his opinion?

Chaos: Maybe. But he doesn't need to think that way at all. His theoretical foundation is solid, and even if he's temporarily immobile, his brain isn't injured. Besides… Fang paused, as if making some kind of decision, before continuing to type. And today I realized that without him beside me with that annoying, all-knowing look, I'm not as motivated to solve problems. It's really weird.

After sending this almost candid message, Fang Chi felt his face flush. He had actually admitted to an online friend his... dependence on that "arch-nemesis"?

Xing Jiayan's gaze softened as he read the words. He could imagine Fang Chi's awkward yet resigned expression as he typed them.

Yan: It sounds like your relationship has improved quite a bit? At least, you've started to acknowledge his abilities.

Chaos: Who, who approved of him?! Fang Chi retorted immediately, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, stating that he was merely stating the facts objectively! And his words were still so infuriating!

Yan: (chuckles) Okay, objective facts. So, my objective Chaos friend, regarding that gauge field problem we discussed last time, my injured "friend" has offered some new ideas. Would you like to hear them?

Chaos: Of course! Tell me quickly! Fang Chi's attention was immediately drawn, and his body unconsciously leaned forward.

So the two of them once again immersed themselves in their familiar academic discussion. Only this time, the atmosphere was somewhat different from before.

Fang Chihui discovered that the ideas proposed by "Yan" often cleverly connected the bottlenecks he and Xing Jiayan encountered during their daytime discussions, like an invisible bridge connecting their offline seminars and online exchanges.

Xing Jiayan will guide "Chaos" step by step toward the core of the problem, while subtly refining and elevating the "detours" that Fang Chi has shown in reality, which were flashes of inspiration but not perfected.

One of them, hidden behind the identity of "Chaos," inadvertently reveals subtle observations and complex feelings about his deskmate in real life; the other, wearing the mask of "Yan," patiently guides and, through the words of his "injured friend," conveys problem-solving methods and affirmations that only the two of them understand.

The moonlight streamed gently through the window.

After clicking to send a "sudden realization" exclamation, Fang Chi looked at the long chat history with Yan, full of sparks of thought. The irritability and inexplicable heartache that had arisen during the day because of Xing Jiayan's injury seemed to be soothed by this spiritual resonance.

Before shutting down his computer, he looked at Yan's last message: "It's late, the wounded should rest, you should go to sleep early too." He hesitated for a moment before replying:

Chaos: Okay. You too... get some rest.

On both ends of the network, the two closed their laptops almost simultaneously.

Fang Chi lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The sea of ​​his heart called "Chaos," because of "Yan's" presence, was no longer just a chaotic whirlpool, but instead rippled with a strange, warm peace. He began to think that having such an online friend... wasn't so bad after all.

Meanwhile, Xing Jiayan gently placed her laptop on the bedside table, her gaze sweeping over her injured ankle. Thinking back to "Chaos's" awkward words of concern earlier, she chuckled softly.

————

The physics competition was drawing ever closer, hanging heavy in everyone's hearts like a dark cloud pressing down on a sweltering summer day. Even the people playing around in the corridors had dwindled, and the air was filled with the smell of chalk dust and ink from exam papers.

Fang Chi and Xing Jiayan remained the same as always, spending every night in the seminar room without fail.

Xing Jiayan's foot was a little better, and he had switched from using crutches under his arm to a cane. He still walked with an uneven gait, but at least he could carry his schoolbag by himself. Fang Chi would still walk on his outside, following half a step behind him when going upstairs, like some kind of unspoken ritual.

“This is not right.” Xing Jiayan tapped the whiteboard with the end of his pen, pointing to the equation Fang Chi had just written down. “The boundary conditions are wrong. On the conductor surface, the tangential component of the electric field is continuous, but you substituted it for the normal component.”

Fang Chi squinted at it, said nothing, grabbed the eraser, deftly wiped away the line, and rewrote it. His movements were swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

He didn't know when it started, but he had lost his temper at Xing Jiayan's straightforward corrections. He even became somewhat dependent on them. This guy had such a sharp eye; he could always pinpoint the weakest link in his thinking at a glance, saving him a lot of time going in circles.

Xing Jiayan has changed too. He used to look down on Fang Chi's roundabout "unorthodox methods," thinking they were a waste of time. But now, especially when tackling those challenging competition problems, he finds himself often pulled by a sudden thought from Fang Chi, and his vision suddenly clears. Those seemingly unrelated associations often tear through the iron curtain of conventional thinking, letting in a different kind of light.

They still argue. They'll raise their voices and argue until their faces are red, sometimes loud enough for the neighbors to hear. But the atmosphere is different now. Before, it was like two sharp needles clashing, determined to fight to the death; now it's more like two flints striking each other, sparking light to illuminate the dark corners they haven't seen before.

That night, they were stumped by a problem.

The question was bizarrely tricky, straddling the blurred line between classical physics and the quantum world, clearly beyond the scope of the curriculum. The two tried every possible approach, piling up a small stack of draft paper in the corner, but they were still stuck on the last hurdle, unable to overcome it no matter what.

Fang Chi tossed the pen onto the table, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his throbbing temples.

"How about... we just forget about it?" His voice was a little hoarse. "This question is way too advanced for the curriculum."

Xing Jiayan didn't reply, staring at the challenging problem on the whiteboard, his lips pressed into a straight line. After a while, he picked up his phone from the table, quickly swiped the screen a few times, and then silently pushed the phone in front of Fang Chi.

The screen displays an open document titled "A Brief Analysis of Electromagnetic Responses at the Classical and Quantum Boundaries".

Fang Chi's eyelids twitched.

“A friend sent it,” Xing Jiayan’s voice sounded flat, but his gaze seemed to casually sweep over Fang Chi’s face. “It’s information from an outside lab, it might be useful.”

Fang Chi's heart sank, then immediately jumped back up. That tone, that manner… it was all too familiar. It was exactly the same way "Yan" on the forum had shoved the materials into his hands.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and he forced himself to fix his gaze on the screen, reading it word by word. As he read, it was as if a thin mist was being parted before his eyes.

"Got it!" He grabbed his pen, darted to the whiteboard, and with a swift, clear thought process, the rest flowed effortlessly. When the final answer was clearly displayed on the whiteboard, both of them breathed a sigh of relief, their tense shoulders relaxing.

A feeling of accomplishment and excitement silently permeated the room filled with the smell of formulas.

Fang Chi turned his head and looked at Xing Jiayan, who was packing her things, and couldn't help but ask, "Your friend... is pretty impressive."

Xing Jiayan paused almost imperceptibly as he zipped up his backpack, without looking up. "Hmm, his idea is quite...unique."

Fang Chi felt his heart skip a beat again.

The bell rang, signaling the end of evening self-study. As usual, Fang Chi helped Xing Jiayan carry her seemingly light backpack, and the two walked out of the seminar room one after the other.

The cold moonlight cast their shadows on the ground, making them long, sometimes separate, sometimes overlapping.

"The competition," Fang Chi stared at the steps ahead, then suddenly asked, "Are you confident?"

Xing Jiayan leaned on his cane, his steps slow but steady: "I'll do my best."

"Mm," Fang Chi responded. After silently walking down a few steps, he added in a low voice, "Don't strain your legs too much."

“It’s alright,” Xing Jiayan interrupted him, her tone calm but carrying an undeniable air, “You write with your hands.”

Fang Chi then said no more.

Fang Chi handed Xing Jiayan the schoolbag when he arrived at her building.

"See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Xing Jiayan took the schoolbag, turned around, leaned on his cane, and stepped into the bright lights of the building.

Fang Chi stood there for a few seconds before turning around and walking back.

Back at his place, he habitually turned on his computer and clicked on the forum icon with the starry sky background.

Chaos: Are you there? We took down a tough nut today, thanks to the inside information that my deskmate and one of his "friends" got.

Yan: (Replying quickly) We cooperated quite well.

Chaos: Hmm... He doesn't seem so annoying anymore. And, he seems... less disdainful of my twisted logic and fallacies now.

Yan: (Pauses) Maybe he never actually despised anyone, he just doesn't know how to speak like a human being. Some people are just used to pointing their thorns at others.

Fang Chi stared at the line of text, somewhat lost in thought.

Chaos: Maybe... By the way, the physics competition is just around the corner.

Yan: Nervous?

Chaos: Somewhat. But more than that, I just want to give it a try. I want to see how far we can get after these two months of hard work.

Yan: Then go. Trust yourself, and... trust your teammates too.

Chaos: Thanks. You too... keep it up!

Yan: Yes, I will.

After shutting down the computer, Fang Chi walked to the window. There weren't many stars in the night sky, just a few scattered about, their light flickering.

His mind flashed through the densely packed derivations on the whiteboard, Xing Jiayan's slightly furrowed brows as he stared at the questions, his straight back despite leaning on his cane, and Yan's unwavering calmness and support on the other end of the network.

This physics competition is no longer just about a report card or a guaranteed admission spot.