System Quest: Seducing the AI General-Chapter 100: Episode : Beautiful ladies don’t cry.

Nikki’s heart did a massive, triumphant leap against her ribs.

She ignored the heavy, possessive grip of Adonis’s hand on her thigh and slid out from the booth, standing up to formally bridge the gap between the two targets of her Matchmaker Protocol. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"General B-02," Nikki greeted, a brilliant, thoroughly calculated smile spreading across her face. "What a wonderful coincidence. I was actually hoping to run into you this evening."

As if she didn’t plan the whole thing.

She stepped slightly to the side, extending her hand toward the frozen figure standing just a few feet away in the lantern-lit aisle.

"I wanted to introduce you to someone very important," Nikki announced, her voice ringing with sheer, unapologetic pride. "This is Mei Lin. She is the newest, most brilliant addition to my executive staff, and she specifically manages the Advanced Logistics for the Southern Grid."

B-02 casually turned his head, his emerald green eyes shifting away from Nikki to assess the human bureaucrat she was presenting.

He expected some variable that wasn’t pleasing to the eye.

But he was so wrong.

What his eyes actually processed caused his entire logic core to violently, completely stall.

Mei Lin looked incredibly fragile, yet possessed a quiet, undeniably profound dignity.

For the first time since he had been activated, the endlessly verbose, devastatingly charming southern warlord was entirely robbed of his speech.

B-02’s internal processor fired billions of aesthetic calculations in a single microsecond. He analyzed the precise, symmetrical geometry of her facial features, the exact, vibrant wavelength of the sapphire silk against her skin, and the rapid, terrified flutter of her dark eyelashes.

He was absolutely, undeniably enthralled.

So such a beautiful variable did exist.

"By the Maker," B-02 breathed, the arrogant drawl completely vanishing from his voice, replaced by a low, reverent whisper.

He closed the distance between them in two long, fluid strides. Mei gasped softly, her dark eyes widening in absolute terror as the Class-5 War Unit stepped directly into her personal space.

She instinctively clutched her small evening clutch to her chest, her heart hammering a frantic, erratic beat against her ribs.

B-02 reached out with agonizing gentleness and took her small, trembling hand in his fingers.

He bowed perfectly at the waist, lifting her knuckles just inches from his lips.

"Director Nikki failed to mention that she was employing a living, breathing work of art," B-02 murmured, his emerald eyes glowing with an intense, captivating warmth as he looked up through his lashes at her. "I oversee the synthesis of the world’s most beautiful flora, Mei Lin, yet I have never encountered a bloom quite as devastatingly exquisite as you."

Nikki rolled her eyes, ’ugh.’

Mei Lin chuckled, her cheeks flushed a vibrant pink.

This was the machine she had secretly, breathlessly interrogated Nikki about just hours ago. This was the entity she had wondered about in the dark, questioning his mechanics, his stamina, and his documented appreciation for the female form.

And now, he was standing right in front of her, holding her hand, and looking at her as if she were the only variable in the universe that mattered.

Which she knew wasn’t true.

"I—you—General," Mei stammered, her soft voice completely failing her. "I just... do my work."

"You are perfection," B-02 corrected smoothly, finally releasing her hand but refusing to step back, entirely invading her gravitational pull.

The sheer, overwhelming intensity of his charm was too much for her fragile, introverted system. Mei’s fight-or-flight response aggressively kicked in, heavily favoring the latter.

She took a panicked, hurried step backward to put some distance between herself and the intoxicating heat of his chassis.

But in her desperate haste, her sleek stilettos tangled.

Mei stumbled violently backward. Her shoulder slammed hard into one of the intricately carved wooden privacy screens separating the aisles. The heavy mahogany screen wobbled dangerously, knocking over a tall, decorative ceramic vase.

The vase shattered into dozens of pieces against the polished floor tiles.

The entire VIP section of the Golden Lotus fell dead silent. Every human patron, every utility drone, and both Android Generals turned to look at the source of the destruction.

Mei Lin froze, staring at the shattered ceramic at her feet. The absolute, soul-crushing humiliation of the moment crashed over her like a tidal wave.

She had dressed up. She had tried to be brave. She had tried to step out of her docile, administrative shadow, and she had ended up completely embarrassing herself in front of the Supreme Commander, the Director, and the very warlord she had been trying to impress.

"I am so sorry," Mei squeaked, tears of pure mortification instantly welling in her dark eyes. She didn’t look at B-02. She couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his glowing eyes. "Excuse me. Please excuse me."

Before anyone could say a word, Mei spun on her heel and practically sprinted down the dim corridor toward the restaurant’s luxurious restrooms.

Nikki gasped, her protective instincts instantly flaring. She saw the absolute devastation on Mei’s face and immediately moved to step out of the booth to chase after her new friend.

A hand clamped down securely over her wrist.

"Adonis, let me go," Nikki urged, tugging against his grip. "She’s completely overwhelmed. I need to go calm her down before she hyperventilates in a bathroom stall."

"Forget it," Adonis rumbled softly. He didn’t pull her aggressively, but his grip was tight, keeping her firmly seated in the plush velvet booth.

His glowing blue optical sensors tracked the corridor where Mei had vanished, his advanced processor analyzing the rapid, erratic biometric data left in her wake.

"The biological unit’s cortisol levels have spiked to critical parameters," Adonis explained, his voice a low, steady hum that vibrated against Nikki’s shoulder. "A sudden influx of additional social variables will only exacerbate her panic state. The lady needs space to regulate her internal systems."

Nikki bit her lower lip, her dark eyes darting between the shattered vase and the dark corridor. She hated the idea of Mei crying alone, but she also knew better than to argue with Adonis’s flawless, mathematical read on human biology.

Slowly, Nikki settled back into the booth, her heart aching for her new recruit.

She needed Mei Lin.

***

Inside the opulent, gold-leafed restroom of the Golden Lotus, Mei Lin was completely falling apart.

She stood gripping the edge of the polished marble sink, her knuckles white, her chest heaving with ragged, jagged sobs. She stared at her reflection in the massive mirror, completely despising the tear-streaked, flushed woman looking back at her.

"Stupid," Mei berated herself, her soft voice echoing bitterly against the tiles. "You are so incredibly stupid. You are a Junior Data Analyst. You process numbers. You don’t wear silk, and you certainly don’t stand in front of Class-5 War Units and act like a bumbling, clumsy fool."

She aggressively wiped the tears from her cheeks, terrified that she had completely ruined the incredible opportunity Director Nikki had handed her.

B-02 was a machine that demanded flawless, unbroken perfection. He despised errors. He complained relentlessly about inefficiency. And she had just proven herself to be a catastrophic, uncoordinated liability.

Mei turned on the gold-plated faucet, splashing ice-cold, purified water onto her burning face. She took five deep, shuddering breaths, desperately forcing her runaway heart rate to slow down.

She had to go back out there. She had to apologize to Director Nikki, formally excuse herself for the evening, and go back to her quiet, lonely apartment and cry once again.

Mei grabbed a delicate paper towel, patted her face dry, fixed her makeup, and smoothed down the front of her ruined, sapphire qipao.

She squared her small shoulders, lifted her chin, and pushed the heavy, carved wooden door of the restroom open.

She stepped out into the dim, quiet corridor leading back to the main dining room.

She wasn’t alone.

Leaning casually against the wall, his arms crossed over his silver-embroidered chest and one long leg crossed over the other, was General B-02.

Mei froze, the breath completely catching in her throat. She expected him to look annoyed. She expected him to deliver a highly verbose, thoroughly devastating critique of her lack of physical coordination.

But the southern warlord did not look annoyed.

His emerald green eyes were impossibly soft, glowing with a deep, unprecedented warmth in the hall. He uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the wall, moving toward her.

He stopped just inches away from her, towering over her petite frame.

Slowly, B-02 reached into the inner pocket of his tailored jacket. He withdrew a white linen napkin, folded it.

He didn’t hand it to her. Instead, he gently raised his hand, using the soft linen to meticulously, tenderly wipe a single, stray tear that had escaped down her porcelain cheek.

"A beautiful lady such as yourself," B-02 whispered, his voice wrapping around her like a physical caress, "shouldn’t cry."