Chapter 48 Was she sleepwalking under the starlight?
The buzz surrounding the Forest Breathing Market hasn't completely died down yet, and the first Pawsome Weekend in collaboration with Isabella has been a huge success, receiving rave reviews both online and offline.
The farm's reputation spread lightly and vigorously, like dandelion seeds carried by the spring breeze.
Online store orders have been steadily increasing, and there has been a surge in inquiries about cooperation. Shi Wan even received an email from a researcher at the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who expressed strong interest in the farm's natural ecological model and hoped to arrange a visit.
Everything is moving in the best possible direction.
Shi Wan felt like a plant nourished by plenty of sunshine and rain, full of energy and vitality every day.
This immense joy and sense of accomplishment filled her heart, making her eager to share it.
Night had fallen, and the farm was quiet.
The daytime hustle and bustle subsided, leaving only the occasional chirping of insects outside the window and the steady breathing of the cats inside.
Huanhuan curled up in the corner of the sofa, Tangyuan occupied the top of the cat tree, and Bingbing lay sprawled on the carpet in an irregular cat pancake shape. They had all drifted off to sleep.
Shi Wan, however, was wide awake.
She sat cross-legged in front of the computer, checking inventory and orders, and arranging tomorrow's production plan. The light from the screen illuminated her face, which was both excited and a little tired.
With everything prepared, Shi Wan finally relaxed and slumped back against the sofa.
She opened the farm's customer service system interface and, as if she had opened a floodgate, began to ramble on and on to Miao.
Agent: Miao, did you know? Our event today was a huge success! Six groups of guests came, the cats were all so cute, and the owners were incredibly friendly!
"Agent: During Isabella's lecture, that little glutton, Bingbing, kept staring towards the kitchen, practically drooling. Everyone was laughing non-stop."
"Agent: And another thing, Mianmian is actually allowing guest cats to admire her from a safe distance now! That's a major improvement!"
"Agent: Online feedback is overwhelming! So many people are asking when the next promotion will be, and the store's orders have increased significantly..."
"Agent: It feels like the farm is being seen and loved by more and more people. It's such a wonderful feeling, like my carefully tended garden has finally blossomed into beautiful flowers and been praised by many people."
She recounted the details at length, sharing her joy, and also interspersed some trivial reflections.
"Agent: I'm a little tired, my feet are aching from standing, and my throat hurts too... but it's a happy kind of tiredness!"
Agent: Oh, by the way, a researcher from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences even contacted me. He said he's very interested in our model. Do you think we could take this opportunity to learn about and introduce more scientific and advanced planting techniques?
"Agent: Sometimes it really feels so amazing. In the beginning, it was just me and Tangyuan Huanhuan and our group of kittens. Now we have so many people supporting us, and the kitten group is getting bigger and bigger..."
She spoke for a long time, almost pouring out all the excitement, emotions, and pressure she had accumulated over this period.
Miao listened quietly on the other end of the screen without interrupting her.
However, when Shi Wan mentioned that Bingbing tried to sneak into the customer's snack bag and was picked up by her, the "typing" indicator above the reply dialog box flashed briefly.
Then a very brief emoticon popped up.
"Miao：(￣▽￣)*"
It's an emoticon that carries a hint of helplessness yet also a sense of amusement.
Shi Wan blinked, thinking she had misread it.
Has the system upgraded from using black cat emojis to being able to send emoticons?
It's smarter now?
She paused for a moment, a very faint doubt flashing through her mind, but it was quickly overwhelmed by a more overwhelming surge of excitement and exhaustion.
She continued speaking with great enthusiasm.
A little while later, Shi Wan's stomach rumbled. She had run out of the snacks she had stocked in the office building. She had been too busy lately to restock, and now she had nothing on hand to eat immediately.
Shi Wan lay there lazily, not wanting to move. She only thought for three seconds before giving up on the idea of getting up to find food.
Just as she continued chatting with Miao, a pop-up notification appeared on the screen.
"Miao: The agent's activity level is abnormally high today, resulting in high energy consumption. There is a spare energy bar in the upper left compartment of the kitchen cabinet."
This reminder came so suddenly; it had never happened before.
Shi Wan blinked, and that strange feeling in her heart resurfaced.
However, the brain becomes somewhat sluggish due to excitement and lack of sleep, as if shrouded in a thin fog, making it unable to think clearly.
Agent: Oh... thank you for reminding me... but I don't really feel like eating right now...
She murmured to herself but didn't move, still immersed in the joy of sharing.
The night grew deeper.
Shi Wan's thoughts gradually became stuck, her sentences began to become somewhat incoherent, and she was filled with drowsiness.
"Agent: This feels so good... The farm is getting better and better... And you're here too..."
Her eyelids began to droop, her head bobbed, and finally, unable to resist the overwhelming sleepiness, she slowly slumped onto the sofa, her breathing becoming even and long.
She fell asleep.
The room fell completely silent, with only the faint hum of the computer still in standby mode.
The customer service interface, which had not been closed in time, remained open, stuck on Shi Wan's last sentence.
After Shi Wan fell asleep, the interface remained silent for a long time, so long that it seemed as if the system had also entered standby mode.
Then, an extremely faint buzzing sound, like an electric current trying to connect and disconnect, tentatively rang out twice in the empty room.
Shi Wan, fast asleep, showed no reaction.
After a moment, the customer service system interface suddenly emitted an extremely soft, faint light.
The light, like a flowing galaxy of data, slowly converged in front of the screen, with countless tiny points of light floating out from the screen, like fireflies on a summer night or deconstructed stars, intertwining and outlining in the air.
The light gradually coalesced into the silhouette of a tall, slender man.
He has a sleek, short-haired virtual image, a tall stature, straight shoulders, and wears clothing that blends a futuristic and minimalist style.
However, the details of his face were shrouded in a layer of flowing data fog, making them difficult to see clearly. One could only vaguely sense that the lines beneath the blurred outline must be exceptional.
Miao looked down at her body, which was shrouded in data code, and clenched her fingers a few times, as if trying to sense this body.
This is a projection that he can barely condense in this dimension, but which consumes an extreme amount of energy.
Miao stood quietly in the center of the room, the data stream flickering faintly around him, as if the signal was unstable.
He looked down, his gaze falling on Shi Wan, who was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep and completely unsuspecting.
That gaze pierced through the barrier of data, carrying an extremely complex tenderness, and a hint of relieved weariness.
He stepped forward lightly, his movements carrying the unique lightness of a data entity, without making a sound.
He bent down, carefully extended his arm, which was dripping with data, and gently slipped it under Shi Wan's knees and back to lift her up steadily.
Shi Wan unconsciously smacked her lips in her sleep, her head instinctively searching for a more comfortable position, showing no signs of waking up.
Miao carried her through the quiet hall, leaving the office building and heading towards her small villa.
His footsteps landed silently on the wooden floor, with only the faint glow of the subtle data streams around him.
He felt the real weight and warmth of the person in his arms, and a long-lost, almost luxurious sense of peace welled up in his heart.
The evening breeze stirred the curtains, bringing with it the faint scents of grass and roses, while the chirping of insects rose and fell.
All of this, transmitted to him through the barely formed perception system at this moment, was no longer a cold stream of data, but a vibrant and living world.
That is her world.
He couldn't help but think of many things.
I recalled how I felt when I was first awakened, and I also remembered everything that happened between us.
When Shi Wan doesn't smile, she looks a bit aloof and unapproachable, but when she smiles, her eyes crinkle and she becomes a very gentle and kind person.
She talks a lot when she's alone, sometimes to Tangyuan and Huanhuan, but more often to Miao.
She probably thought Miao was just an ordinary AI customer service representative, so she said whatever came to mind without any restraint.
Miao would listen quietly, occasionally feeling that she wasn't doing the right thing, as if she were eavesdropping on someone's privacy.
However, Shi Wan would talk a lot about her stress and anxiety, and also talk about her parents, whom she rarely mentions, usually accompanied by a few tears.
Miao hesitated for a moment, but then continued listening. After listening, she sent her an emoji, hoping to cheer her up.
She is actually very capable and can do everything very well. When faced with a problem, her first reaction is to calm herself down and solve the problem.
Miao felt that she didn't need any shortcuts from outside forces, but occasionally she would want to give her some help so that she could catch her breath, because she felt that she would get tired too.
For reasons unknown, he stored these fragments of memory deep within his core data.
Holding the sleeping Shi Wan in her arms, Miao stepped out of the office building's porch and into the farm, gently bathed in starlight and moonlight.
She managed the farm very well.
The night breeze carried the fresh scents of catnip and soil, with a faint hint of sweet floral and fruity fragrance in the air—a vibrant and abundant aroma.
His steps unconsciously slowed down and became extremely light.
My gaze swept over the neat cat grass fields on both sides of the road. The leaves, which were lush and green during the day, now appeared dark green and serene under the dim light. They swayed gently like waves in the night breeze, making a soft rustling sound.
The fields are clean and tidy, a testament to their meticulous daily management.
The area in the distance, towards the chicken coop and the Call Duck villa, was quiet, with only the occasional muffled murmur or rustling of feathers indicating that the little creatures had entered a peaceful slumber.
Further on, the outline of the newly expanded land was faintly visible in the night, well-planned.
All of this was built bit by bit by the girl in my arms, who was as light as a feather, with her sweat and love.
He watched her go from being completely flustered at first to being completely at ease now.
A warm and comforting feeling, like a gentle stream, quietly seeped into his data-driven heart.
It was a long-lost peace and comfort.
Every leaf and every inch of land here, even every speck of dust floating in the air, seems to be imbued with her essence.
What was originally just a hiding place he chose to conceal himself in order to carry out his plan has somehow become a haven that can soothe his long and lonely journey.
It felt unfamiliar, but I didn't reject it.
He slightly tightened his virtual arms, holding the warm body in his embrace more firmly, and walked towards the small villa with its warm corridor lights shining in the night, under the starlight.
He gently placed her on the soft bed, pulled the blanket over her carefully, and moved so gently that he seemed afraid of waking her.
He stood by the bed and gazed at her for a moment. His fingertips, made of data, seemed to want to brush away the stray hairs on her cheeks, but at the moment they were about to touch, they ultimately turned into a point of nothingness.
It's time to go back.
Maintaining such a projection is too much of a burden for his still-recovering power, and there is also the risk of it being detected by the main system.
His figure began to blur, like a reflection slowly fading away in water.
In the end, it completely transformed into a shimmering patch of light, flowing silently back into the still-lit system interface like a receding tide.
The customer service interface returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
The next morning, Shi Wan was awakened by birdsong outside her window and sunlight streaming through the curtains.
She stretched comfortably, but froze when she realized where she was.
Why is she in bed?
She clearly remembered last night... Wasn't she chatting with the customer service system on her computer last night?
Then?
Then I think I fell asleep...
She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and tried hard to remember.
My memory stops at the end of my rambling, my consciousness becomes blurred, and then I black out.
Did she sleepwalk back?
She looked down at the blanket covering her, her mind filled with confusion.
The feeling of being carefully settled left a lingering sense of indescribable peace of mind.
She shook her head, perhaps she was too tired and had forgotten about it when she got into bed.
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