Chapter 19: How Did One Ring Fall Off?

On the 70th day of living together, Lin Xia discovered that one ring was missing.

When she came out of her bedroom that morning, she saw Yin Qi in the kitchen getting a cup.

Sunlight slanted through the window, landing perfectly on the hand she had extended.

Lin Xia glanced over out of habit.

Then her footsteps paused.

She walked into the kitchen and stood beside Yin Qi.

“Hold out your hands.”

“What for?”

Yin Qi set down the cup, turned around, and held out both hands.

Lin Xia started counting from the left hand.

When she finished, she looked up.

“There’s only nine.”

“Ah… right.”

Yin Qi froze briefly.

But she quickly withdrew her hands and replied in her usual calm tone.

“One fell off last night.”

‘…How? When? I didn’t even notice it myself…’

“It fell off?”

Lin Xia repeated.

“How does something like that just fall off?”

“Maybe it got loose.”

Yin Qi shrugged.

“It’s on my bed. I didn’t lose it.”

“Loose…”

Lin Xia looked at her.

“That’s a Meme suppression device, not an ordinary ring. How could it possibly become loose?”

“I don’t know.”

Yin Qi spread her hands.

“When I woke up this morning, it wasn’t on my finger anymore. I was too lazy to put it back on, so I left it on the bed.”

Lin Xia stared at her for several seconds.

Without asking anything else, she turned and headed directly toward Yin Qi’s bedroom.

‘Hey! How can you just walk in there?!’

Fortunately, Lin Xia really did find the ring on the bed.

She brought it back, slipped it back onto Yin Qi’s finger, and gave it a tug.

“Why did you hide it inside the blanket?”

“…To cover it up?”

“…This thing is linked directly to the branch office’s monitoring equipment. I have to report this.”

“Oh. Alright.”

“Are you absolutely sure you didn’t take it off yourself?”

“No.”

Yin Qi shook her head.

“When I woke up, it just wasn’t on my hand anymore.”

“…Fine.”

Lin Xia wrote up a report:

“Suppression device suspected of malfunction. Suppressor assigned to the left little finger detached through non-natural means. Device has now been reinstalled. Recommend investigation by the technical team.”

Then she submitted it.

Afterward, she simply sat there staring at the screen without moving.

The technical team’s response arrived that afternoon.

Their conclusion was that all data remained normal.

Suppression intensity was functioning properly.

The ring material showed no damage.

Cause of detachment unknown.

Recommendation: perform regular inspections.

After reading the report, Lin Xia went to find Yin Qi and informed her of the results.

“Unknown cause,” she said.

“Even the technical team couldn’t figure anything out.”

“Then I guess it’s genuinely an unknown cause.”

Yin Qi scrolled through her phone.

“So there’s no problem now, right?”

“No problem.”

Lin Xia paused.

Then she spoke again.

“Plastic Heart, is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

Yin Qi raised her eyes and glanced at her.

“No.”

Then she smiled slightly.

“Why?”

“No reason.”

Lin Xia shook her head.

“Just asking.”

“Okay.”

Lin Xia remained standing there for several more seconds before turning around and returning to the table.

She opened her memo app and created a new entry:

“Cause of ring detachment unknown. Technical team found no issues. Suspicious.”

After writing that sentence, she stared at it while rubbing her chin.

Eventually, she deleted the word “Suspicious.”

***

Lin Xia made dinner that evening.

She cooked too much rice, resulting in both her and Yin Qi eating until they were overly full.

While cleaning the table, Yin Qi stacked the bowls and carried them into the kitchen.

Lin Xia followed behind to wash dishes.

The two worked quietly side by side without saying anything.

Halfway through washing dishes, Lin Xia suddenly spoke.

“You know, the ring’s design is specifically tailored to interact with Meme energy.”

“In theory, it shouldn’t be possible for it to simply slip off because it became loose.”

The kitchen fell silent for a moment.

“Really?”

Yin Qi placed a bowl onto the drying rack.

“Then maybe there’s some kind of margin of error. Every Meme is different, after all. I happen to be a little special.”

“Mm.”

Lin Xia nodded.

“That’s true.”

Water rushed noisily from the faucet.

After rinsing the final bowl clean, Lin Xia placed it into the rack, shut off the water, and dried her hands.

When she turned around, she saw Yin Qi leaning against a nearby cabinet.

Her head was lowered as she stared at the ring on her hand.

“You’ve been wearing those constantly.”

Lin Xia looked at her.

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

“I don’t feel anything.”

Yin Qi shook her head.

“I’m used to it.”

“…Makes sense.”

Lin Xia calculated briefly.

“You’ve been wearing them for more than two months now.”

“Yeah.”

Yin Qi looked up at her.

“What about it?”

“Nothing.”

Lin Xia turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Yin Qi followed her.

The two sat together on the couch.

“Plastic Heart.”

Lin Xia spoke first.

“Mm?”

“Nothing. Just asking something random…”

Lin Xia hesitated.

“Do you regret coming here?”

Yin Qi turned her head toward her.

“Regret what?”

“Being captured by us.”

Lin Xia looked down.

“Wearing those rings. Being watched by me every day.”

“If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t be able to stand it.”

“So you can’t stand it anymore now?”

“I meant you.”

Lin Xia immediately corrected.

“Can you stand it?”

“What’s gotten into you?”

Yin Qi leaned back against the sofa.

“I don’t feel anything. I don’t regret it.”

“…Why?”

“Because…”

Yin Qi lowered her head and looked at the rings on her hand again.

“This place is pretty interesting.”

Lin Xia heard those words.

She didn’t respond.

She didn’t ask any follow-up questions either.

She simply lowered her head and stared at her phone.

But she didn’t absorb a single word of the novel displayed on the screen.

Outside the window, the city streets were bathed in orange light.

The rings on Yin Qi’s hand reflected the glow.

Lin Xia felt like she should probably say something more.

But after thinking for a long time, she couldn’t come up with anything to say.

‘Forget it. I won’t say anything.’