Monsters and the Supernatural

"Sorry, I woke you up."

Under bed number four, Gao Jun was packing up his tools and equipment. Seeing Su Yuan poke her head out, he gave her an apologetic smile.

Su Yuan waved her hand, pulled out her phone, and checked the time. It was four in the afternoon. She suddenly felt something hot and painful pressing against her waist. Reaching down, she discovered that the jade had ended up underneath her.

The jade had absorbed plenty of heat and felt smooth and warm in her hand. She casually tossed it toward the edge of the bed and looked down, only to find that Ji Yehao had arrived at some point as well. His light-blue suitcase sat beside his chair, still unpacked, while he held a physical copy of a novel borrowed from an outside bookstore.

Hmm, from this angle, Su Yuan suddenly realized that this guy was indeed rather handsome—almost as handsome as herself. But why did someone this handsome still not have a girlfriend? It really was baffling.

"When did you guys get here?" Su Yuan climbed down from her bed, tore open a box of biscuits, and asked while eating.

"I got here at two. Gao Jun arrived half an hour ago." Ji Yehao glanced at Gao Jun, who was rummaging through his toolbox, then immediately returned his attention to his novel.

Su Yuan nodded. She and Ji Yehao were fellow townspeople, both from Haizhou City. They had attended different high schools, though. Su Yuan had gone to Haizhou No. 1 Middle School, while Ji Yehao had attended Second Middle School.

After that, no one spoke. The only sounds in the dorm were Gao Jun's thumping as he organized his things and Su Yuan crunching biscuits.

More than ten minutes later, Gao Jun finally finished. Wiping the sweat from his face, he walked behind Su Yuan and rested one hand on the back of her chair. Seeing a thick book open before her, its tadpole-like symbols radiated an air of lofty indifference.

Surprised, he said, "You're actually in the mood to study Advanced Mathematics..." Su Yuan had always been too lazy to touch textbooks in the dorm. Then a gloating smile appeared on his face. "Could it be... you failed last semester?"

Obviously struck where it hurt, Su Yuan slammed the Calculus textbook in her hand shut onto the desk and turned around coldly. "Shut up! Do you think everyone's like you? Advanced Mathematics is hard!"

"It's not that bad..." Gao Jun sheepishly pulled back his hand after being glared at. Seeing the smug look still lingering in his eyes, Su Yuan became even more annoyed.

"You really failed?" Gao Jun asked awkwardly.

"I did."

She had performed badly on last semester's Calculus exam and had barely scraped the passing line. Her Advanced Mathematics teacher had generously given her a ticket to the makeup exam. Su Yuan only regretted not building a better relationship with the Math Lady.

Gao Jun pursed his lips and wisely stopped talking. Without his chatter, things immediately felt quieter. Spreading open her notebook, where she had carefully copied down theorems from the book as well as formulas for differentiation and integration, Su Yuan lowered her head and began working through problems.

Calculus itself was not particularly difficult. It was just a mathematical tool. But perhaps because she had never truly understood it deeply, she always made little mistakes here and there when calculating. After an entire summer vacation, she had forgotten almost everything she had learned before. Su Yuan wanted to cry, but she only had herself to blame.

The makeup exam was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, leaving Su Yuan only one day to cram. Perhaps the summer vacation had enlightened her somewhat. When she picked up Calculus again, she initially felt as though she had completely forgotten everything from last semester. But after looking more closely, she miraculously found that she understood much of it. The effect was even more profound than during the final exam period.

This greatly boosted Su Yuan's confidence. She then completely immersed herself in the exercises, her pen constantly scratching across her notebook and leaving trails behind.

By the time the sky outside had darkened, the three of them went out for dinner together. Afterward, Su Yuan resumed her intense studying until nearly nine o'clock.

"By the way, the internet still isn't working, right?" Ji Yehao, who had been sitting as still as an old monk in meditation since dinner, finally finished the borrowed novel. He prepared to go online and catch up on new chapters, only to find that he could not connect.

Without turning around, Su Yuan said while holding her pen, "It wasn't working when I got here yesterday. The software was probably blocked by the telecom company."

"No wonder I haven't heard those animals in the dorm next door howling like ghosts and wolves!" Ji Yehao said belatedly. World of Warcraft was extremely popular at the time, and the neighboring dorm was full of groups playing it. Whenever they ran dungeons, the commotion was earth-shaking and could penetrate even closed doors.

Setting down her pen, Su Yuan glanced at him. "Boss, can you not be such a newbie? It was so obvious, and you only noticed now?"

Ji Yehao frowned and calmly closed his laptop. Then he gave Gao Jun an order. "Fatty, I'm giving you one night to write new software. I'll go without today. I'll wait for your good news."

Su Yuan happily chimed in from the side. In her view, no one was more suitable for this kind of grunt work than Gao Jun. Gao Jun's face immediately darkened, and he said in shock, "One night? Boss, even an old workhorse isn't that diligent! Besides, why should I write this software?"

"The capable should do more work." Ji Yehao elegantly flicked his fingers. Su Yuan hurriedly said, "Don't look at me. Do I look like someone who can write programs?"

If you could write programs, pigs would climb trees.

Gao Jun shot her a disdainful look and made one last stand. "No. I've never written this kind of software before. I can't do it."

"Aren't you a tech nerd? How can you not know how to do this?" Ji Yehao raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Everyone has their own specialty, got it?"

Ji Yehao sighed. "Then it looks like none of us can get online."

"Fine, I surrender. I do know a little programming, but I'll need at least a week."

"A week? By then, the day lilies will be cold!" Su Yuan raised a serious protest before Ji Yehao could. She did not need the internet much today or tomorrow because of her makeup exam, but once it was over, the internet would become her spiritual sustenance.

Gao Jun curled his lips. "Three days at the fastest!" Then he suddenly reacted and glared at her. "Su Yuan, why aren't you studying your Calculus? You're in deep trouble, yet you still have time to join Ye Hao in making a fuss. Are you planning to retake the course again next year?"

Su Yuan snapped her textbook shut, gathered a pen, several books, and the notebook containing her key notes, then headed outside. At the door, she waved her fist and declared heroically, "I'm going to the all-night classroom. If I don't conquer Math Lady tonight, I swear I won't stop!!"

Ji Yehao gave her an approving look. "May you succeed at once!"

"Thanks for the blessing!" With that, Su Yuan tucked the stack of things under her arm and left the dorm.

Binhe University of Science and Technology's all-night classrooms were, as the name suggested, study rooms open to students overnight. Usually, during finals or the days before makeup exams, getting a seat in these classrooms was as difficult as getting one in the library.

After stopping by a supermarket to buy a canned coffee, Su Yuan walked for more than ten minutes before reaching the classroom. As expected, it was already full. Men and women had gathered there, so she could only find a seat in a corner near the back door.

She spread open her textbook. Listening to the sounds of pages turning around her and pens scratching across notebooks, she felt the scholarly atmosphere deeply infect her. Sitting upright, Su Yuan also began studying diligently.

The night was peaceful and quiet, yet the all-night classroom was bustling with life.

Several central air-conditioning vents blew cold air with a soft roar. From the distant sports field came the chants of freshmen undergoing military training, sometimes loud and sometimes faint. Gradually, even the chanting disappeared. The night training had probably ended...

In such a studious atmosphere, Su Yuan unknowingly reached the final page of her textbook. She yawned, and finally unable to resist her drowsiness, lay down on the desk for a short nap.

She did not know how long had passed when her head slipped from her folded arms and hit the hard desk. She took out her phone and checked the time. It was already one-thirty in the morning.

The surroundings had become empty. Only a few students remained, still studying diligently.

"Huh? My head hurts!" Waking from her nap, Su Yuan found her head terribly dizzy and swollen. She rubbed her forehead and yawned sleepily. Studying all night is so exhausting. I definitely won't do this again next time.

Her lower abdomen felt bloated, and her body urged her to use the bathroom. There was a restroom more than thirty meters outside the classroom. She quietly slipped out through the back door, reached the restroom, identified the men's room, and walked inside.

The restroom light had broken at some point, leaving the interior completely dark, as deep and shadowy as the landscaped grove nearby. The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, brute force, disorder, or spirits, but unfortunately Su Yuan had not reached that level. At this moment, strange thoughts surfaced in her mind—according to ghost stories, hallways and restrooms were the places where trouble was most likely to happen.

"Damn it, the more I think about it, the creepier it gets!" Perhaps it was only psychological, but the restroom seemed unusually quiet. Occasionally, she could hear the sound of water dripping onto the ground, amplified a hundredfold. She nervously looked around, her scalp tingling for no reason as goosebumps rose all over her body.

"Amitabha, may the Buddhas protect me!"

For some reason, she had the feeling that something was not quite right.

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