Saturday arrived, ushering in a grey Oxford morning that perfectly matched Lin Xiaoyang's trepidation. The "virtual team reunion" loomed like a scheduled stress test he couldn't opt out of. He and Qinghe had prepared a shared digital workspace, optimized their internet connections, and even run a pre-call audio check—a level of preparation typically reserved for corporate board meetings, not friendly chats.
"Remember," Qinghe said, positioning her laptop to show a neutral, bookcase-filled background, "their primary objective is data collection and narrative satisfaction. Our objective is system validation and social maintenance. We control the data we share. We participate in but do not internalize the dramatic framing."
"So, deflect, don't engage," Xiaoyang summarized, adjusting his own camera.
"Selectively engage. Provide enough satisfying output to fulfill their social algorithms, but maintain our local processing integrity." She gave him a look. "And do not let Tang Youyou persuade you to perform any on-camera energy cleansing. The electromagnetic interference is negligible and the ritual is inefficient."
At the appointed hour, the video conference window bloomed into chaotic life.
The first to appear was Chen Yuexi, her backdrop a vibrant explosion of indie game concept art and fairy lights. "Connection established! The party gathers across the realms!" she declared, her voice tinny through the speakers.
Next was Su Yuning, her image sharp and clear against the minimalist, monitor-lit backdrop of what was unmistakably a Silicon Valley home office. "Audio-visual synchronization confirmed. Latency acceptable. I am recording this session for later analysis, with your implied consent."
Finally, Tang Youyou's feed flickered on. She was sitting cross-legged in a room filled with plants and soft fabrics, a gentle haze of incense smoke visible. "The digital circle is cast," she said serenely. "The energy streams are converging. A little choppy over the Pacific, but the intention is clear."
For a moment, they just looked at each other—four faces in four boxes, a living graph of their dispersed lives. The sight sent a pang of something through Xiaoyang's chest, a mix of nostalgia and sheer wonder at the improbable network they formed.
"Alright, enough staring!" Yuexi clapped her hands. "Status reports! Full debrief! Start with you two—the Oxford node. We detected a major system disturbance last week. The gossip channels were vague but ominous. What was the failure mode?"
Xiaoyang and Qinghe exchanged a glance. They had agreed on a controlled disclosure.
"We experienced a concurrent fault state," Qinghe began, her tone analytical. "External stressors overloaded both our emotional processing units, leading to a protocol mismatch and a temporary connection termination."
"A fight!" Yuexi translated, her eyes wide. "You had a fight! Over what? Was it the rain? The constant drizzle here is enough to make anyone snappish."
"It was a resource contention issue under load," Xiaoyang clarified, using their shared language. "We've since patched in a 'Fault State Handshake' protocol to prevent future catastrophic crashes."
"Fascinating," Su Yuning interjected, her fingers already flying across a secondary keyboard. "A bilateral fault scenario. Most romantic models assume at least one partner maintains stability to act as an anchor. Your experience suggests a need for distributed emotional load-balancing. I am adding this to my dataset."
"The disruption in your shared energy field was palpable," Tang Youyou said softly, her gaze gentle but knowing. "But I see it's been repaired. The cords are re-weaved, stronger at the mended places. You both did the work."
It was unnerving, as always, how quickly they cut to the core. The dramatist, the logician, and the mystic, each diagnosing the problem in their unique dialect.
"Now," Yuexi leaned forward, a mischievous glint in her eye. "For the main event! Yuning, you said you had a tool for them?"
"Correct." Su Yuning shared her screen. A sleek, minimalist web application appeared, titled "Relational Optimization & Sustainability Engine (R.O.S.E.) - Beta." "I developed this in my spare time. It is a logic-based framework for modeling relationship health. Input parameters include communication frequency, conflict resolution time, shared goal alignment, and individually reported stress levels. It outputs a sustainability score and highlights potential vulnerability vectors."
Xiaoyang stared. She had built them a relationship dashboard. Of course she had.
"This is… incredibly invasive," he managed.
"It is optional," Yuning said matter-of-factly. "But you would be ideal beta testers. Your relationship is highly documented and operates on explicit protocols, reducing data noise. Your recent 'crash' provides a valuable stress-test data point."
"Think of it as a check-engine light for your hearts!" Yuexi added cheerfully.
"I will run a preliminary analysis based on observed and reported data," Yuning continued, undeterred. She began clicking. "Parameters: Geographic distance – high strain. Communication protocol sophistication – high mitigation. Recent major conflict – yes, but with successful repair protocol implemented. Shared intellectual projects – low at present, a potential vulnerability. Recommended action: Initiate a small, collaborative project unrelated to primary stressors to reactivate positive feedback loops."
Qinghe was nodding slowly, her analytical mind clearly engaged. "The suggestion has merit. A shared, low-stakes project could serve as a neutral bonding activity. Our current interactions are either logistical or meta-analytical. A third category is lacking."
"See? Useful!" Yuexi beamed. "Now, Youyou! Your turn!"
Tang Youyou smiled and held up a small, intricately woven bracelet. "This is charged with stability and clear-communication energy. I can't send it through the screen, of course. But the act of making it for you both holds the intention. When you are next together physically, I will give it to you. For now, simply knowing it exists adds a thread to your tapestry."
It was absurd. It was beautiful. Xiaoyang felt a lump in his throat. Here was Su Yuning offering them a spreadsheet for their hearts, and Tang Youyou offering a blessed talisman. Both, in their own ways, were trying to help.
The conversation spiraled out from there, becoming a catching-up session that was as chaotic and wonderful as he remembered. Yuexi detailed the dramas of the indie game awards circuit. Yuning dissected the political landscape of her AI research lab. Youyou described the healing retreats she was helping to run in Sedona. They were no longer just the "EfficientHeart team." They were a game director, an AI ethicist, a spiritual guide, a literature quant, and a… whatever he was becoming. A distributed systems engineer for his own life.
As the call neared its end, Yuexi grew uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. "You know," she said, her voice losing its performative edge, "I was really worried. When I felt that… blip in the force last week. But seeing you now, with your 'handshake protocols' and your relationship dashboards… you're not just okay. You're building something… shockproof. It's kind of amazing to watch."
"The network remains robust," Su Yuning stated. "The Oxford-London link experienced turbulence but has recalibrated with improved error handling. This is a positive indicator for overall network resilience."
"The circle holds," Tang Youyou whispered, her eyes closing briefly in what looked like contentment.
After the final goodbyes and promised follow-ups, the screen went dark, leaving Xiaoyang and Qinghe in their separate Oxford spaces, connected only by their still-open private video link.
The silence was different. It was full of the echoes of their friends' voices, of shared history and divergent paths, all somehow still converging in this digital space.
"They are… a significant positive externalities," Qinghe said finally, her voice soft.
"They're our friends," Xiaoyang said, the simple word feeling profoundly right.
"Yes. That is the more efficient term." She was quiet for a moment. "Su Yuning's suggestion. A collaborative project. Do you have any local optimizations you are working on that could use a second processor?"
He thought about it. An idea, half-formed and previously shelved due to lack of time, surfaced. "Actually… I've been toying with a tiny, personal app. Not for profit. Just a tool to help me visualize where my time and energy actually go each week. To see if my personal 'resource allocation' matches my stated priorities. It's messy. Very alpha."
A spark of interest lit Qinghe's eyes. "A self-quantification tool for non-financial resources. With a focus on alignment between expenditure and values. That intersects with my research on stated intent versus measurable output in historical correspondence." She leaned forward. "I could design the data visualization schema. And provide historical case studies as… inspirational test data."
A slow smile spread across Xiaoyang's face. It was a perfect idea. Small. Shared. For them. A way to use their combined skills not to manage a crisis or bridge a distance, but simply to create something together, for the joy of the process.
"Then we have a project," he said.
The network had done more than just ping them. It had delivered a software update, an energetic blessing, a dramatic reassurance, and the seed of a new, shared purpose. The distributed system wasn't just stable. It was actively supportive, each node contributing its unique, bizarre, and essential signal to the whole.
As he looked at Qinghe's intent face already sketching ideas on a digital notepad, Lin Xiaoyang understood. The "noise" he had once feared wasn't interference. It was the sound of his system running at full, glorious, interconnected capacity.