Estelle hadn't seen Sera in a long time.
Arriving at the high-end restaurant she had chosen, it was just past dusk and not yet their busiest hour. Sera raised her arm from the booth to wave at Estelle, who paused and walked over.
"You're getting married soon, and you still come to places like this?"
Sera, wearing a diamond ring on her middle finger, slowly sipped a strong drink. "Yeah, I'm getting married soon. If I don't come more often now, there won't be any chances later."
The diamond sparkled in the dim surroundings, and Estelle smiled. Sera lifted an eyelid and suddenly said, "At four o'clock, there's a gray butterfly."
"Don't worry about it." Estelle sat down calmly. "If it wants to follow, let it follow."
Sera frowned. "Who is trying to watch you?"
"I don't know. Anyway, it can't be Aiden, right?"
"That's true," Sera said, raising an eyebrow and gesturing for her to look. "If it were his drone, there wouldn't be a need for him to show up at the same time."
Estelle turned her head at these words. In the semi-transparent frosted glass private room, Aiden and a few men were drinking and laughing.
Besides the men, there were some women of suitable age dressed provocatively in the room. The door opened briefly and then closed again, leaving Estelle no time to see their faces clearly. Sera glanced at her and explained, "Those are some of the top executives in the industry. Aiden plans to bid for the government contract for AI robots, so he's hosting this event tonight and entertaining them with your company's THG."
Estelle fell silent for a moment and said, "Stella Technology has nothing to do with me anymore."
"Hmm, I know," Sera said. "So let's just drink."
As her lips touched the wine glass, Estelle suddenly remembered that she had once told Crescent that she had no family or friends. When she said those words, it seemed she had forgotten about Sera.
But they really hadn't been in touch for many years. In that sense, what she said wasn't wrong.
Sera was Estelle's junior. In the year they graduated, the international situation was tense, and a world war seemed imminent.
In the days of constant warfare, they went to different countries to study and take refuge. When they met again six years later, the war was nearly over, with only a few internal conflicts remaining.
In the era of economic recovery, Aiden took over Stella Technology and developed service robots. At the same time, Sera's boyfriend, Calvin Leslie, also founded a technology company that focused on developing household robots.
The two leading tech companies were in fierce competition. Estelle and Sera were the chief AI engineers at their respective companies. They both had heavy research tasks and were very busy. Additionally, due to concerns about corporate confidentiality and the need to avoid suspicion, they gradually lost contact.
Many years passed without them realizing.
"What did you think about what I told you?" Sera asked suddenly. "Coming to Siren Technology to help me write bio-emotional units shouldn't be a problem, right? Since you've already resigned, it's not like I'm poaching you maliciously."
Estelle shook her head in refusal. "Writing bio-emotional units is too exhausting. I've already written 8,000 for THG; I don't want to write any more."
Sera looked at her for a while, appearing helpless.
"Don't you understand? I didn't really want the emotional units. I wanted to work with you."
Estelle was taken aback, and after a moment, she relented. "Okay... except for the emotional units, I can consider other things."
"Great," Sera's eyes lit up. "Calvin plans to develop AI pets and should be setting up an AI pet duck project team soon. The lead engineer hasn't been determined yet. But—wouldn't it be a waste of talent for you, a national first-class AI engineer, to work on something as trivial as a duck?"
"It's all AI programming, there's no difference. But why a duck?"
"Who knows him?" Sera said. "Do you feel the same way? When we talk about pets, they're usually cats or dogs, but he actually wants to make a duck. However, AI pet dogs did appear quite early in the industry. Although the programming back then couldn't compare to what we have now, perhaps he doesn't want to follow others. You know Calvin, he's just peculiar and independent."
Estelle laughed. "Alright. Calvin has a good business sense, so listening to him is probably right."
Suddenly, she saw a police car stop outside the night restaurant, and officers entered with sniffer dogs. Estelle looked over and saw the dogs sniffing around between the tables and chairs. Sera, unsurprised, said, "Recently, there's been a proliferation of banned drugs in the city, and a new drug called Red Water has become popular. The incidence rate is too high, and the police haven't been able to find any clues, so they conduct routine searches every evening to prevent the drugs from circulating."
"Red Water?"
"Yes. It's said to be a female aphrodisiac, and it's very potent, which is why restaurants are the main targets for searches."
Estelle furrowed her brows. Sera looked out the window, and the miniature drone that had been there earlier was nowhere to be seen.
Estelle asked, "Since that's the case, why come to a restaurant?"
"What are you afraid of? Those are toys for the upper class, and they have nothing to do with us." Sera looked up at the private room and whispered, "Like Aiden and Soren..."
Estelle was startled. "Do you think Red Water is made by Soren?"
"Everyone would think so," Sera said. "Selling arms during wartime, smuggling banned drugs during peacetime, which one of these isn't something he'd do? But he really has connections everywhere. He deals in black market activities behind the scenes, yet always appears as a successful and charming entrepreneur. Over the years, how many people have reported him, but he just goes to the police station for a cup of tea and comes out."
Estelle fell silent. After a while, Sera murmured, "How quickly people change. Sometimes when I dream, I still see him standing on the stage at school, speaking as an outstanding student representative."
The police continued their search, finding nothing unusual, and passed by Estelle.
A waiter carrying a tray accidentally bumped into Estelle's glass as he passed by the police. The glass wobbled, and as Estelle reached out to steady it, Sera's phone rang. It was a call from Calvin, urging her to come home early.
Estelle rested her cheek in her hand and met her gaze, noticing Sera's displeased expression. Sera soon hung up the call, sighing and curling the corner of her mouth. "Forget it, I can't argue with him."
"With things being so dangerous recently, and you still coming to the restaurant, Calvin must be worried about you." Estelle smiled gently, showing understanding. "Go back quickly. I'll finish my drink and go home too."
Sera looked at the remaining drink in her glass. "There's not much left. I'll wait for you."
"No need. I want to sit here a little longer." Estelle said. "You go ahead."
As Sera got up to leave, Aiden's private room also opened, and there were shadows of bodies swaying, with laughter and panting mixed in the background noise.
Estelle withdrew her gaze and took a slow sip of her drink, the spicy liquid seeming to have a hint of fragrance. She was lost in thought, not paying attention.
Two minutes later, Estelle silently gripped the glass tightly.
There was something in that drink.
