Hobby

The movie ended.

The dumbbell in Luo Di's hand was already slick with sweat.

He showed no intention of resting, immediately swapping his shoes for a pair of running sneakers to begin his nightly run.

[20:00]

The brightness on the streets still approached that of daytime, all thanks to the high-density streetlights and the permanent luminous panels affixed to every building's surface.

Additionally, every street was staffed with round-the-clock rotating "sanitation workers," all equipped with glowing devices, primarily patrolling corners prone to missed light and performing regular streetlight maintenance.

Luo Di put on his headphones, his playlist filled entirely with BGM from genre films, and started his night run around the park not far from home.

Pace: "three minutes thirty seconds."

Yet barely after starting, he felt a gust of wind behind him.

Another runner caught up, one whose height and build were both a full tier above Luo Di's.

They brushed past each other without any exchange, yet a slight twitch flickered at the corner of the mouth.

The two were actually long-acquainted running partners, having met on the park track half a year ago. Luo Di couldn't keep up with the other's pace, but it never affected his mindset.

Three hours later, at the park restroom, Luo Di stood before the sink, wringing the sweat from his shirt.

When he looked up, the reflection showed a sallow young face, short straight black hair soaked with sweat, looking slightly older than a high school student, as if somewhat malnourished.

Just then—whoosh!

A lump of something suddenly flew in from the public restroom entrance.

Luo Di's reaction speed was astonishing; he raised his hand in an instant and caught the flying object steadily.

A bottle of vitamin drink.

The runner he'd encountered earlier followed into the restroom, squeezing in beside Luo Di at the sink, using a towel he carried to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Despite the high pace, his breathing was nearly inaudible.

"Thank you."

Luo Di gulped down the nutrition drink with German labels on it. This new type of energy drink was quite expensive, hard for a high school student like him to afford.

The mirror reflected a blond man, his handsome and mature facial area dotted with a few stubble remnants, clearly not of the same nationality as Luo Di.

Yet what came out of his mouth was Mandarin with a slight accent: "Moving up next year?"

"Yes."

"A pity. If you were moving up this year, I could directly take you on. Your perseverance and physical level have already reached the company's recruitment average line.

Next year will be a different situation; we'll talk then."

As he spoke, the blond man reached out and squeezed Luo Di's arm, nodding up and down, quite satisfied.

"By the way—given your conditions, you should be able to conduct 'Social Practice' early.

I happen to have a slot here. Interested? If you finish it early, you'll only need to focus on physical and mental training next year, and you can avoid the possibility of a 'practice accident' before moving up."

Luo Di was somewhat surprised. Such a valuable practice opportunity had appeared twice in one day.

"I already have an appointment. I'll probably start practice in about a week."

"Oh? No wonder. A fine young man like you is bound to be a key training target at school. Can you reveal the practice direction? Which category?

School arrangements should be relatively conservative."

"Not sure."

The blond man wanted to push further, but felt he might be overstepping, so he just reached out and patted Luo Di's shoulder.

"By the way—take this."

A moderately thick egg-white business card was handed in front of Luo Di, Roman script displaying personal information.

Though the two had known each other for half a year, the other party, due to work reasons, had never exchanged contact information.

[Frederick. Luo Fei]

Contact number: LOFI-██████

"If you encounter unexpected danger during practice, call this number. I'll come immediately. Of course, you can also call if you run into any special situations in daily life.

But only for [danger]."

The word "danger," Luo Fei emphasized specifically in Russian.

"Thank you."

Though the two usually only communicated about running, Luo Di was well aware that Luo Fei's identity was far from ordinary. Crossing paths with someone like him could be a great help for his future advancement.

"See you tomorrow night."

Luo Fei left.

Luo Di continued to study the rather tasteful business card, but unfortunately it bore no company-related information—only a name and phone number.

Tonight's conversation had him looking forward to the upcoming "Social Practice" with even greater anticipation.

Practices were divided into several different types, each with varying levels of difficulty.

If he could earn a stamp for a high-difficulty practice on his personal file, his chances of directly entering the "Company" upon graduation would increase significantly. In Luo Di's view, an outstanding talent like the class monitor would surely not pick an easy practice project.

By the time he returned home, it was already midnight. The city streets were still ablaze with lights, maintaining the same brightness as during the day.

Back at home, Luo Di went through his usual routine—checking every curved corner of the house to ensure the long-lasting lamps were functioning properly, and feeding the Corner Parrot hanging on the balcony before climbing into his personal bed.

Sleep time also required the lights to stay on.

It wasn't just Luo Di.

Everyone living here was the same; they had long grown accustomed to falling asleep under bright light. Darkness, on the other hand, made them uncomfortable, Unable to Sleep.

[One week later]

Luo Di wasn't particularly fond of the concept of holidays. Aside from grocery shopping and night runs, he spent all his time at home doing things he enjoyed. Besides watching discs, he also set aside some time for drawing.

He liked and was skilled at sketching character designs from movies.

Occasionally, when inspiration struck, he would even design a character fitting the style of a B-movie, with a particular focus on mask designs. Luo Di hoped that one day he could wear a mask from his sketchbook to events like comic conventions or Halloween.

At the moment, he was staring at a mask design taped to the left side of his desk—his own creation and his most satisfying one so far. He planned to have it custom-made at a leather shop once he successfully graduated.

Just as he was lost in admiration of the mask sketch, Buzz~ The vibration on his wrist pulled his thoughts back to reality. This was also the first call he had received since National Foundation Day.

The moment he slid the green answer button, the voice on the other end practically burst through.

"Luo Di! Tomorrow is practice day. You need to come out today—we're meeting up early to buy some things we'll need for the practice."

"What do we need to buy?"

"Of course! My practice area is located in the Outskirts, so we need to prepare a lot of stuff in advance."

"Class monitor, can you give me a rough idea of what's needed? If I have them at home, I won't need to buy."

"Hey~ Don't worry about it. Since I'm asking you guys for help, I'll cover all the practice-related expenses. Just pick whatever you want, and make sure it's the best.

The only thing you need to contribute is your body~ After all, you're the only one in class who beat me in physical education scores.

If we get through this practice smoothly, my family might even give you a nice bonus."

"Oh."

"One hour. Meet at Terminal Supermarket."

Three chapters today, two chapters every day after that. This new book will be a fairly fresh attempt—a fusion of [Yellow Sign] and [Horror], two of A-Fei's signature styles. It's sure to satisfy everyone.