Zhou Yu's Overtime Day
Zhou Yu's story begins in a time and space completely different from the present.
She is a "civilization experiencer" from a distant galaxy; in Earth's parlance, she is an "interstellar traveler."
She travels among interstellar civilizations, quietly integrating herself as a local, and recording the unique cultures and daily lives of those planets through firsthand experience.
She once shared a spiritual feast with billions of beings at the "Consciousness Resonance Festival" on the Quark Planet, experiencing the wonder of the fusion of consciousness; she also transformed into a "Logic Repairman" in the Silicon Civilization, spending three months debugging those digital life forms as intricate as nebulae.
For her, this kind of life is both an adventure and a source of joy in exploring the unknown.
The next destination is Earth—Spacetime Quadrant G-734, 21st century, East Asia, a new employee.
A hint of relief flashed in her eyes when she saw her destination. After all, in her view, although there were local wars on Earth, the world was generally at peace, and the basic living conditions in East Asia were quite good.
Compared to alien civilizations that require a mental link, or extreme environments where one must fight lava creatures, this is practically a vacation.
She had even sketched out a relaxed picture in her mind: a simple nine-to-five job, occasionally having a cup of coffee, experiencing the ordinary yet heartwarming daily life of earthlings.
Zhou Yu activated his faster-than-light travel ship, its hull flashing through the interstellar space, piercing the darkness of the universe.
She skillfully passed through the dimensional membrane, disguising herself as a young body that had just graduated from university and entered a company, and setting her appearance as an ordinary East Asian girl with short, neat hair and bright eyes, named "Zhou Yu".
With a touch of curiosity about alien cultures and anticipation for new challenges, Zhou Yu took a deep breath in front of the glass doors of the company building, pushed them open, and prepared to embark on this simple Earth adventure.
Clearly, she severely underestimated the difficulty level of the game "Earth Online" in the East Asian workplace setting.
Zhou Yu works for an IT consulting firm with a modern and minimalist office environment. Employees are engrossed in typing on their keyboards in their cubicles, and the air is filled with the smell of coffee and anxiety.
Her direct supervisor, Director Li, was a middle-aged man with a refined appearance and a kind smile.
That's how it appears on the surface.
"Xiao Zhou, your idea is good, but it's not quite perfect. Look at Xiao Wang, he can stay up for three nights in a row for a single detail. Here's what you'd like: combine the strengths of these ideas and give me a new version tomorrow."
As it was nearing the end of the workday, Director Li adjusted his glasses, picked up his thermos, took a sip, and then spoke.
"This plan has been approved in two group discussions, and the data has also verified it..."
Before Zhou Yu could finish speaking, Director Li waved his hand, interrupting her: "Hey, young man, don't be so quick to defend yourself. Listening to other people's opinions will do you good."
A few days later, the project's profit distribution was announced, and Zhou Yu's name was completely ignored.
"Xiao Zhou, young people shouldn't always think about money. Accumulating experience is more important than anything else. I'm giving you a chance, understand?"
What impressed Zhou Yu the most was a piece of "advice" from Director Li:
“I’m criticizing you so that you can grow up quickly. Young people shouldn’t always have a long face and get angry so easily.”
After she uploaded it to her home planet's database, the sentence quickly went viral and was even included in the Earth edition of "A Guide to Workplace Survival in Various Galaxyes".
There exists a typical type of middle-aged person on Earth who can completely crush someone with just the phrase, "I'm doing this for your own good." Local creatures jokingly refer to them as "PUA masters" or "dad-like."
Zhou Yu recorded this observation as a conclusion in the guide.
As a super alien capable of disassembling an interstellar warship engine with her bare hands and possessing genetically optimized physical functions, Zhou Yu considers herself to be knowledgeable and possessing exceptional mental fortitude. She has performed extreme drifts at the edge of black holes, chatted amiably with the Zerg Queen, and even danced with lava creatures on planets with extremely high temperatures and pressures.
However, at this moment, Zhou Yu looked down at the plan she had spent a whole week preparing and realized that she was being overwhelmed by these "mental attacks" in the workplace on Earth.
These words, full of logical traps, were like a cross-dimensional attack, forcefully compressing her consciousness into the form of a lower-dimensional being.
She didn't understand why, even though she had done 99% of things right, she was being completely negated because of that 1% flaw.
Why do we not receive the rewards we deserve for our labor, and are instead expected to be grateful?
What puzzled her even more was that the people around her seemed to take this injustice for granted, and very few people even resisted it.
In terms of experience, the journey was a success, as she encountered two unfamiliar and complex human emotions for the first time: "feeling wronged" and "self-doubt".
But these emotions surged like a tide, leaving her feeling powerless like never before.
Zhou Yu noticed that another young man named Ge Ouchen joined the company at the same time. He was tall and slender, and wore the company's "casual formal wear," but it always seemed a little ill-fitting, as if the clothes couldn't hide the rough edges of his personality that hadn't been smoothed out by society.
He didn't talk much, and his face often wore an indifferent expression, as if he had no interest in anything around him.
But no one can ignore Ge Ouchen's talent.
He can write core code in just one afternoon that would take veteran employees a week to complete, clean, efficient, logically sound, and almost impeccable.
As a result, he became the person that Director Li paid special attention to, and Zhou Yu still hasn't figured out the "cause and effect" behind this.
Even though "cause and effect" was her greatest weapon for traveling through the stars, it lost its effectiveness in this matter.
"Xiao Ge, your code is indeed good, but the structure is a bit lacking in sophistication. Optimize it a bit more to make it better meet my expectations."
Whenever Director Li gives her feedback, her tone is always condescending and critical… or to use her newly acquired Earth dialect:
"Find fault".
Unlike Zhou Yu, Ge Ouchen seemed completely unaffected.
He nodded silently, did not argue with Director Li, and returned to his seat to get busy.
It wasn't until later that Zhou Yu realized his modifications were just for show; he hadn't actually changed a single letter.
Although he was as taciturn as Zhou Yu, he was more like an invisible wall, making it impossible for Director Li's verbal attacks to find a foothold.
So Zhou Yu included him in a biological sample and secretly began to observe him, trying to understand why this Earthling could be so calm, even composed.
The final straw that broke Zhou Yu's back was another project proposal that she had rushed to finish in three Earth days.
This project was her painstaking work, combining market data, user research, and innovative design. She even specially adjusted the font and layout to make it more in line with the aesthetics of people around the world.
However, at the project review meeting, Director Li criticized it as utterly worthless.
"This proposal is problematic from beginning to end. The logic is unclear, and even the punctuation is not used rigorously enough."
Director Li held her documents, flipping through them page by page, his tone laced with disdain.
"Are you trying to make your proposal a laughing stock for the client? If you don't want to work here anymore, then get out!"
Zhou Yu stood in the center of the conference room, feeling uncomfortable under the gazes of her colleagues.
She tried to argue, but ultimately couldn't utter a single word.
After the meeting, she fled the meeting room as if she were escaping, hiding in the back stairwell of the company, hugging her knees.
A tear slid down her cheek, and she actually cried.
Tears blurred her vision. As an interstellar traveler who had faced the most dangerous environments in the universe, she felt wronged and powerless because of her workplace on Earth.
Just then, a pair of clean black leather shoes stopped in front of her.
Zhou Yu looked up and saw Ge Ouchen.
He stood there, his expression as indifferent as ever, with a hint of bewilderment in his eyes.
He was clearly not good at handling such situations. After the two stared at each other for several seconds, he took out a slightly steaming cup of "bubble tea" from behind his back and handed it to her.
"Consuming a little sugar can help improve negative moods."
Zhou Yu looked at the cup of milk tea. She had seen it before, but had never tasted it. After all, her way of getting nutrition was completely different from that of earthlings.
But she still took the milk tea, inserted the straw, and tentatively took a sip.
The caramel aroma of brown sugar, the rich flavor of milk, the chewy and soft texture of pearls... these unfamiliar flavors bloomed in her mouth, like a warm current, instantly dispelling the gloom in her heart.
At that moment, she understood why Earthlings loved this cheap drink so much—despite its complex ingredients and limited nutritional value, it brought them pure joy.
She looked up and saw Ge Ouchen still standing there, hands in his pockets. Seeing that Zhou Yu didn't respond, he nodded slightly and turned to leave.
This cup of milk tea became the beginning of their friendship.
From that day on, Zhou Yu began to approach this "male sample from Earth" intentionally or unintentionally.
She would ask him to help debug the program using vague excuses like "there's a problem"; she would also invite him to go to the convenience store downstairs with her during lunch break, and enthusiastically try all kinds of snacks, such as spicy strips or potato chips.
Although the success rate of the invitations was less than 10%, Zhou Yu was still happy to do it.
She suddenly became like a curious child, eagerly exploring every inch of life on Earth. And Ge Ouchen, though still quiet, had lowered his guard around his "colleague."
Because whenever she tried to provoke him by recounting alien sightings disguised as "science fiction stories," he would listen quietly, his gaze wandering at certain exaggerated passages, as if reminiscing about a past memory, a barely perceptible smile subtly appearing on his lips.
For the first time on Earth, her heart pounded because of this aloof young man, even though she herself didn't possess such a human organ.
Zhou Yu felt that this scene might be the beginning of an "office romance" as described in Earth's romance novels.
She began to imagine that if she were not an interstellar traveler, but a real Earth girl, perhaps she would have the courage to confess her feelings to him.
Unfortunately, fate always seems to have a way of giving her a hard time.
Zhou Yu returned to the company because she forgot to take a set of data with her. The night was deep and the building was empty, with only a few emergency lights emitting a faint glow.
After retrieving the data, she was about to leave when she saw Ge Ouchen at the entrance of the company's office building.
He stood there alone, his back to the moonlight, making a phone call.
The night wind ruffled the hem of his shirt, making his always ramrod straight back look somewhat desolate and lonely.
His voice carried a weariness and helplessness that Zhou Yu had never heard before.
"...I'm not complaining, I just...feel a little tired."
His voice was broken and intermittent, as if he was suppressing some kind of emotion.
"I'm sorry, I know you're having a hard time too. I just... sometimes I feel like the distance between us is growing further and further."
"I think about you every day, I miss you so much."
"But, separated by a screen, it feels like... I'm about to lose the ability to hug you."
Zhou Yu stood behind the pillar, holding her breath.
She could tell that the person on the other end of the phone was a girl he loved deeply, and who was also suffering greatly from that love.
She didn't know who the girl was, but from Ge Ouchen's tone, she could sense that the girl was extremely important to him and caused him unforgettable pain.
The phone call ended in an argument.
After hanging up the phone, Ge Ouchen stood there, as if his soul had been ripped out, and silently lit a cigarette.
The moonlight shone on his face, revealing faint traces of tears.
Zhou Yu hid in the shadows, watching his sorrowful back. In that moment, she felt as if she understood the emotions of all people on Earth.
She wanted to go up to him and comfort him as he had comforted her, but what could she say?
"Don't be sad?" That's such a pale answer.
"It will get better?" That's too dismissive.
When faced with the most basic human pain of "love," this "advanced civilized being" couldn't even utter a decent word of comfort.
She left earlier than expected, but little did she know that this brief stay would become the most profound memory of her interstellar journey.
She experienced grievances and self-doubt, and also felt a subtle flutter of emotion. All these feelings ended without a trace, leaving only endless regret.
Later, the Space Administration forwarded a mission from the Time and Space Administration: to return to a specific period and correct a key point in the reality distortion triggered by the special object "Ge Ouchen".
Zhou Yu signed up without hesitation.
What about stabilizing emotions, what about a great mission...
She just wanted to go back to Earth, back to the cause that caused Ge Ouchen so much pain, and to repay the favor of that cup of milk tea in a dignified manner.
Let's also take a look at the girl who caused him so much pain, and even shook the fundamental laws of the universe, to see what kind of person she really is.
"He's a crybaby," Zhou Yu muttered to herself as she sat on the bench.
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