The Contaminated Source: The Baby
Yu Xing chuckled. Indeed, it was wrong of him to appear in the girls' dormitory in the middle of the night. Not to mention the mutated red-armband students, even normal girls would be frightened if they saw him.
However, one word used by Qu Xuanqing coincided with his own thoughts.
"Six months ago, a virus," he murmured. The speed of its spread certainly resembled that of a virus.
"Yes, besides the red-armband students who were already undergoing transformation, the part of them that could still control themselves was also affected, becoming somewhat strange, such as their eyes turning red, their teeth becoming sharp, or a certain part of their body becoming deformed, but not to a particularly serious degree."
Qu Xuanqing spoke of these matters as if she were researching an academic report. She even added, "I obtained this information from two normal roommates. Their sources of information are the same as most students', so it's normal for them to be wrong. I can't guarantee the accuracy of the information."
"It's alright, it's already very good. Zhao Mou and Wen Qinghuai might be able to find out about these things from the male students, but it certainly won't be as detailed as what they've heard from the female students." Yu Xing's lips curled up as she confirmed with Qu Xuanqing, "So, have any other collective characteristics emerged among the students affected in the past six months?"
Qu Xuanqing lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment, "That's right, they've completely turned into monsters and are extremely afraid of light. They can't even stand the dim, gray light of Dead Silent Island during the day, so they only appear at night."
"The locks on the dormitory windows were only added in the last six months, to prevent the monsters in the building from escaping at night... My personal guess is that it's also to prevent some kind of pollution source from spreading out."
"The female dorm supervisor never came to check? Aren't there room checks in the girls' dorms?"
"So these mutated monsters only appear after the female dorm supervisor has finished her room check. Their fear of the female dorm supervisor hasn't lessened because of their physical changes; on the contrary... I seem to sense that this roommate in the red armband is always the most nervous during the supervisor's rounds." Qu Xuanqing pointed with her chin to the spider legs lying on the ground. "She probably knows what she's become and often uses it to scare people, enjoying seeing others panic when she gets close."
"But she's always very well-behaved during dorm checks, listening to everything the dorm supervisor says. I suspect the dorm supervisor is partly responsible for how they've become like this."
"In a sense, perhaps that is indeed the case." Yu Xing told her about the idea of the plague that they had discussed in the boys' dormitory, and also provided the scene he had just seen outside the duty room as supporting evidence.
"So it turns out the dorm supervisor had a mouse under her skirt. Every time I heard her walking around checking rooms, I thought it was some kind of mutation causing the leg sound effect." Qu Xuanqing twitched her lips, clearly not having a pleasant memory of checking rooms.
"If the virus spreading is to be related to the dormitory manager, the only thing I can think of is the plague," Yu Xing, having unknowingly sat down on a chair in the common area of Qu Xuanqing's dormitory, letting the chair support her weight. "For ordinary people, the Black Death causes illness, but if the corrupted Red Armband members are infected again, perhaps the effect will be different."
"Even if their situation has nothing to do with the Black Death caused by the plague, I can still assume that there is something undiscovered in the dormitory building that has the characteristics of the plague brought by the female dorm supervisor, capable of rapidly spreading a negative virus."
"I agree with that. Assuming this contamination is indeed a virus, and the virus's origin is with the female dorm supervisor, then the respectful attitude of these infected people towards female dorm supervisor would be explained." Qu Xuanqing observed Yu Xing's state discreetly for a while, then slowly walked behind Yu Xing. "But the men's dormitory doesn't have this situation, and the windows aren't locked. If this task is about finding something, it should be in the women's dormitory, right?"
"But the men's dorms are guarded by a lot of rats. There might be two different things in the men's and women's dorms that the female dorm supervisor needs to guard. Once we find them, the task will probably be 80% complete," Yu Xing pondered silently.
It sounds simple, but upon closer examination, there are many aspects where the motive is unclear. For example, if the female official could truly control the virus, why the differential treatment?
Alternatively, if it's something important, just keep the aluminum-plastic pipe with you. For example, you can put it in the duty room, and no one can take it away—unless they have the ability to confront her directly.
The "root cause of the virus" must be something that the female dorm supervisor couldn't remove or control, yet it had some connection to her.
Could it be... a baby?
Isn't the female dorm supervisor always very concerned about babies? She even makes felted wool and wooden carvings look like babies.
If...
Yu Xing suddenly thought of a possibility: if the baby the female dorm supervisor cared about was currently inside the belly of someone in the girls' dormitory, wouldn't everything make sense?
The reason why only the girls' dormitory experienced the anomaly is that the boys' dormitory does not have the conditions for nurturing a baby. If the baby is in the mother's womb, it is something that the female dorm supervisor cannot take away or control. Furthermore, because of the relationship between the baby and the female dorm supervisor, the red-armband students who were mutated by the pollution emitted by the baby will subconsciously fear the original "mother" of the virus.
However, if female students who attend classes regularly are pregnant, it will definitely be discovered. If they can secretly carry a baby for half a year, the person who is the vessel for the baby that the female dorm supervisor is so eager for is probably a red armband-wearing student who doesn't need to attend classes.
Once the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't suppress it. Yu Xing even had a guess about what was hidden in the boys' dormitory. He turned to Qu Xuanqing and smiled, "Why are you standing behind me? I'm going to take another look up and down the stairs later. Do you want to come with me?"
"No, leave this to me." Qu Xuanqing stretched out her hand, demonstrating what she was supposed to do behind him. She placed her hand on Yu Xing's shoulder and gently squeezed it. "I can tell at a glance that your condition is declining, just like I saw you when I was a child."
"Ouch, be gentle." Even though it was a gentle massage, Yu Xing still shuddered in pain. "The negative impact of the role makes me thirty times more sensitive to pain..."
Qu Xuanqing: "..."
She used as little force as possible.
"You should take a break for now. Exploring the environment isn't your forte; leave that to the professionals." Her tone was gentle, but firm. "As for you, I suggest you go back and rest as soon as possible. Even if your physical condition is irreversible, you don't need to waste your life force here. At least make sure you don't run out of life before leaving the school instance, okay?"