Against the Algorithm

Chapter 54: Given, Not Owed

The YQCB base was calm.

For once.

Scrim schedules had been finalized, Ai Jia was reviewing new rotations with one of the analysts, and Kun Hyeok was half-asleep on the lounge couch with one arm covering his eyes and the other dangling off the side in complete protest of anything productive.

Then came the knock at the door.

Not just a knock.

A thud.

A deep, echoing thunk-thunk that came with the unmistakable rumble of low-idling engines just outside the gate.

Kun Hyeok groaned. "If that's a marketing drop again, I swear I'm going to hide in the ceiling."

But one of the assistants was already answering it.

Thirty seconds later—

"Uh... Jinyang-jie? Ai Jia-ge?"

Both turned.

The assistant blinked rapidly, holding up a clipboard with trembling hands. "There are, um... delivery crews outside. With vehicles."

"Vehicles?" Ai Jia lifted his head from the data screen slowly, brows pulling together.

"They said they're for you two," the assistant squeaked. "One black and silver. One candy apple red."

"What?!" Kun Hyeok sat up so fast his hair went sideways.

Outside, the base's parking courtyard buzzed with low reverent awe from the delivery teams as two covered transports opened their sides with practiced ceremony. Hydraulic ramps unfolded. Velvet ropes were pulled aside.

And then—

There they were.

A sleek, black-and-silver Audi PB18 E-Tron, polished to perfection, its angles gleaming like a ship meant for speed and silence, the kind of car that made statements just by existing.

And beside it—

A candy-apple red 1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS Project XP-64, curved like vintage muscle, absolutely absurd in all the best ways, sunlight glinting off its chrome with the kind of confidence only old legends carried.

Silence.

Utter silence from the entire team now gathered at the windows.

Kun Hyeok pressed a hand to the glass. "...That's real. That's actually here. I thought that model didn't exist anymore."

Ai Jia was already outside, slow, careful steps, his expression unreadable—until he reached the Audi, and found the envelope taped to the driver's side mirror. His name.

Neat handwriting.

I thought this looked like something you'd understand. Something with lines worth chasing.

Thank you. For watching over me.

—Yao

He blinked once.

Then again.

Then opened the door and looked inside like someone had just handed him the bridge controls to a spaceship.

Meanwhile, the Corvette—

"OH MY GOD—" Jinyang burst from the doorway in slippers and a sweatshirt with her hair still in a claw clip and a facial mask half rubbed off on one cheek. She sprinted across the courtyard, screamed once into the sky, and dropped to her knees in front of the Corvette like a woman witnessing a miracle. "YOU ACTUAL ANGEL!" she shrieked at the car. "YOU BEAUTIFUL DEVIL-GIRL—YAO, I'M GOING TO MARRY YOU."