The Eve of Sea God Fate

Three days before the Sea God Fate, the atmosphere at the Shrek Academy had already begun to change.

Two rows of lantern frames were erected on Sea God Lake, stretching from the island in the center of the lake all the way to the viewing platform on the outer lake.

There are fewer school uniforms hanging in the corridor of the Work-Study Student Dormitory, and more lantern samples are displayed. Every evening, Xu Xiaoyan runs around with her newly made lantern face, asking everyone she meets which color looks best.

Xie Xie followed behind her, carrying a pile of bamboo ribs and silk paper in his arms.

Tang Wulin has been going out much more often these past few days.

Sometimes they go to the city to buy ingredients. He said that Sea God Fate wanted to hold a small pre-event gathering in the Work-Study Student Dormitory that day, Xie Xie was the first to raise both hands in agreement. Xu Xiaoyan had already started making a list.

But Yun Jingheng knew that every time Tang Wulin returned from "buying ingredients," he would detour to the Sea God Pavilion to sit for a while, and the content of their conversation was mostly unrelated to the ingredients.

Xu Lizhi invited him out again, this time to the same barbecue restaurant near the East Gate.

This time he went, Xu Lizhi ordered a table full of meat. The two ate until midnight, chatting about everything under the sun, from the braised pork recipe in the cafeteria to the training intensity in the Inner Court, from who would succeed in the Sea God Fate competition to where they wanted to go after graduation.

Xu Lizhi smiled throughout, just like always, except that he said something at the end that Tang Wulin thought about for a long time after he got back.

"Wulin, do you think it's possible for people to want to walk the same path, but end up on opposite sides?"

Tang Wulin was taking the last sip of his drink when he heard this and choked.

He wiped his mouth and said that depends on who chose that path.

Xu Lizhi smiled and didn't continue the topic.

When Tang Wulin relayed this conversation to Yun Jingheng, the two remained silent for a long time.

"Is he testing me, or saying goodbye?" Tang Wulin asked.

"Could it be that our initial judgment was wrong? I don't recall ever hearing of a food-type Evil Soul Master before?"

"And even if it does, would it actually be lethal?"

Yun Jingheng did not answer.

He leaned against the windowsill, his fingers unconsciously tapping the side of his glass. Most of the ice in his cold drink had melted, making a soft, sloshing sound as it swirled in the glass.

Outside the window Star Pavilion was slowly drifting over Sea God Lake, with a few lights shining on its body, flickering in the night.

Two days ago, Ye Xinglan's Inner Court skip-grade assessment entered its final round at the Sea God Fate.

Yun Jingheng did not go to the training ground.

He simply stood at the end of the corridor on the second floor of the Sea God Pavilion in the evening, gazing into the distance towards the training ground.

The setting sun dyed the entire training ground a dark red. Ye Xinglan's figure moved swiftly through the field, and the light of the Stargod Sword trailed golden arcs in the twilight, each one brighter than the last.

Yuanen Yehui stood beside him, holding a training ground usage registration form that she had just retrieved from the general archives. She had brought it out during her spare time using contribution points.

"Xu Lizhi last registered to use the training ground three days ago,"

Yuanen Yehui's voice was very low. There was no one else in the corridor, and the lanterns on the Sea God Lake were not lit yet. Only the wind blew from the maple forest, making her voice sound sometimes near and sometimes far.

"The reason given for registration was to replenish the training ground's supply station with nutritional meals, but I went to the supply station to verify, and no one delivered anything that day."

She paused, then pulled out a registration form.

"And this, the dormitory entry and exit records show that he registered to go out at night for three days, with the reason being 'to go to the cafeteria to prepare breakfast for the next day.' But on the cafeteria's schedule, there was no mention of him being on duty for those days."

Yun Jingheng took the registration forms and scanned them from beginning to end.

Each form bore Xu Lizhi's signature, his handwriting neat and tidy, identical to the signatures on the tasting reports he submitted to the Academic Affairs Office and the food requisition forms he submitted to the Logistics Department.

A person who is meticulous to the point of being obsessive will even lie in perfect order.

"There are even stranger ones,"

Yuanen Yehui pulled out a piece of paper from the bottom. "The cafeteria helps with the record-keeping. This is a sign-in sheet handwritten by the cafeteria lady. Xu Lizhi signed in three to four times a week from the end of August to the beginning of September, then dropped to once a week starting in mid-September, and has had zero sign-ins in the last ten days."

"But at the same time, his nighttime outings actually increased."

He reduced his public appearances while increasing his covert operations.

Yun Jingheng returned the registration form to Yuanen Yehui, leaned against the railing of the corridor, and looked at the row of newly erected lantern frames on the opposite bank of the lake.

The lanterns on the shelf were not yet lit; in the twilight, they were just a row of silent outlines, like a flock of silent birds perched by the lake.

He remained silent for a while before speaking.

"The signatures on these registration forms are exactly the same as those on the previous funding applications and tasting reports. It's still the same person, but the things he's doing are things he could never have done before."

His voice was soft, but Yuanen Yehui heard it clearly. "Either someone forced him, or someone gave him a condition he couldn't refuse."

Yuanen Yehui was silent for a moment. "If it's really as we imagine, is there any way for him to turn back?"

Yun Jingheng did not answer.

The wind on the lake suddenly picked up, causing the unlit lantern stands to sway gently, the bamboo ribs clattering together with a soft, clattering sound.

The sun finally sank below the horizon of Sea God Lake, and darkness fell.

Yuanen Yehui carefully put away the registration form and turned to leave.

He walked a few steps and then paused, without looking back.

Her voice came from the other end of the corridor, steady and firm. "Regardless of whether there's any room for maneuver, we will be attentive on the day of the Sea God Fate."

Yun Jingheng did not reply.

"What did those people from the Sea God Pavilion say?"

Gu Yuena walked over quietly from the other side.

"They... said I was being too sensitive."

The day before the Sea God Fate, everything was undergoing final preparations.

All the lanterns were hung up. Looking out from the windows of the Sea God Pavilion, two winding ribbons of light stretched from the lake surface all the way to the outer lake viewing platform, as if someone had pulled the Milky Way down from the sky and laid it on the water.

Xu Xiaoyan and Xie Xie were helping to remove the lifting ropes of the lanterns on the island in the middle of the lake. While pulling the rope, Xie Xie complained that his arms were so sore that he could not lift them. Xu Xiaoyan squatted on the edge of the floating platform and hung the last pink lantern on the bamboo frame, asking him if it looked good.

Xie Xie glanced at the lantern, then at her profile, which was slightly illuminated by the light. "Isn't pink a bit tacky?"

Xu Xiaoyan smiled and turned the lamp back towards him.

"That's called romance, you idiot."

Xie Xie nearly dropped the rope from his hand, and his face turned red at a visible speed.

Yuanen Yehui stood on a more distant floating platform, expressionless as he carried a bundle of spare bamboo ribs to the designated spot. As he passed Xie Xie, he didn't stop, only to say, "If the rope were even an inch looser, all these lanterns would fall into the lake."

Xie Xie hurriedly tightened the rope again, Xu Xiaoyan's laughter echoed across the lake, carried far away by the wind.

Ye Xinglan's Inner Court assessments are all over.

The announcement that she had officially become an Inner Court student was posted at the entrance of the Academic Affairs Office. Her name was listed in the same row as the top batch of Inner Court freshmen this year.

However, she actually spent more time on the training field than before the assessment; she was doing extra training.

When Yun Jingheng passed by the training ground in the afternoon, he saw her practicing on the stakes; the sword light of the Stargod Sword was as dense as a net.

Gu Yuena stood by the dormitory window, tidying up the unidentified spiritual plant on the windowsill.

Her long, silver hair wasn't tied up yet, lying loosely over her shoulders, gleaming with a cool, white sheen in the morning light.

She lowered her head and sniffed a newly blooming Xiao Bai from the spiritual plant. Her lips twitched, whether in a smile or as if she were thinking of something, it was hard to tell.

Then she picked up a hair tie, quickly tied her hair into a ponytail, and went out to find Xu Xiaoyan to get the lantern she had made.

Tang Wulin ran into Xu Lizhi again in the cafeteria.

This is the last time before the Sea God Fate.

Xu Lizhi stood behind the stove, wearing a faded apron, stirring a pot of braised pork.

His movements remained skillful; the sugar was caramelized to perfection, and the meat chunks tumbled in the pan, each one coated in a glistening sauce.

Tang Wulin leaned against the food counter, and the two chatted through the semi-open kitchen window, talking about the same old topics.

Which barbecue restaurant has the most authentic dipping sauce? Why is the braised pork in the cafeteria never quite caramelized? Should I bring some snacks to the audience at the Sea God Fate so I don't get hungry?

Xu Lizhi stirred the pot while laughing, saying that he might not be in the audience on the day of the Sea God Fate event, as the logistics team was very busy delivering tea and snacks to the guests observing on the floating platform in the inner lake.

Tang Wulin asked him if he would still have time to watch the excitement, Xu Lizhi thought for a moment and said he would always have time to take a look.

Then he put down the spatula, scooped a piece of braised pork into a small dish, and handed it to Tang Wulin to try.

Tang Wulin took a bite and said it tasted better than ever before.

Xu Lizhi smiled happily, his eyes narrowed into slits, his round face filled with a harmless and honest expression.

When Tang Wulin told Yun Jingheng about this conversation, the two of them remained silent for a long time.

Outside the window, rows of lanterns on the Sea God Lake lit up one after another; tomorrow is the Sea God Fate.

The night before Sea God Fate.

All lanterns have been tested and all preparations are complete.

The light strip on Sea God Lake shone quietly in the night, with a few lanterns occasionally turning gently in the night breeze, their colorful paintings casting flowing reflections on the lake.

Xie Xie and Xu Xiaoyan were exhausted after a long day. After receiving the promised contribution points, they went back to sleep. Yuanen Yehui was organizing the last few pages of the registration form in his room, while Tang Wulin was marinating the meat for tomorrow's dinner party in the small kitchen of the Work-Study Student Dormitory.

Ye Xinglan was still at the training ground. She said the sunset was particularly beautiful today and she wanted to practice her sword a little longer.

When Yun Jingheng returned to the Sea God Pavilion, the corridor was already empty.

He pushed open the door to his room, filed the last set of meeting minutes for the day into a file folder, and then habitually walked to the Star Pavilion terminal to conduct his final pre-sleep inspection of the defense system.

The monitoring interface of the Star Pavilion glowed with a faint blue light, and the main screen scrolled with real-time status data from all parts of the academy: the Sea God Pavilion, the Inner Court, the Outer Court, the Sea God Lake, the Training Ground, and the Dining Hall. Rows of green normal status indicators lit up quietly, just like any ordinary night.

Then he noticed a yellow notification in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Red indicates an alarm, while yellow is just a reminder.

Yellow usually indicates that the system has detected something it does not recognize, but which is not necessarily harmful, and requires human judgment.

He clicked on the notification, and a list popped up, recording the unidentified Soul Power fluctuations scanned by the Star Pavilion in the past three hours; the number was not large.

He glanced at the list and casually added a note, "Due to the increase in visitors during the Sea God Fate event, the system's identification database has not been updated, which is a normal error. We will manually update the identification database and rescan tomorrow."

He then left the terminal in standby mode and got up to pour himself a glass of water.

He stood by the window, holding his cup, and took a sip.

The lanterns on Sea God Lake are still lit, two rows of lights winding quietly in the night, like the pulse of the night.

At this time tomorrow, the lake will be filled with young faces, and lanterns will float one by one towards their desired destination. Some will successfully confess their love, some will fail, some will cry, and some will laugh.

He put down the cup, walked to the bedside, and poured himself down.

Moonlight streamed in through the window, falling on his closed eyes and on the darkened screen of the terminal.

After he closed his eyes, the terminal suddenly lit up automatically.

The numbers on the screen began to jump, but the identification database, Yun Jingheng, did not update because it had finally discovered the common characteristics of those unidentified Soul Power fluctuations.

Those fluctuations are not random; they are distributed throughout the academy, from the Outer Court to the Inner Court, from the training ground to the canteen. Each has its own independent source, but each maintains a faint resonance at a certain frequency.

After comparing all databases, the system provides the most accurate prediction.

The numbers on the screen suddenly jumped up.

Then came red warning boxes, one, two, three, popping up in layers, each line repeating the same sentence: High concentration of evil Soul Power detected.