Campus Shadow Game: Eclipsing Touch

The early autumn morning light was crisp, slanting into the classroom and illuminating the new desks, chairs, and polished floor. Chalk dust mingled with the scent of fresh book ink in the air. At the podium, homeroom teacher Ms. Li spoke with the vigor of a new semester.

"Students, welcome our new classmate—Su Rui!" Ms. Li led the applause.

The girl who entered from the doorway stood straight and tall, her blue-and-white school uniform immaculate, a simple black backpack slung over her shoulders. Her dark brown short hair was neatly styled, the ends curling inward slightly and accentuating her fair face. Her amber eyes were calm, carrying an appraisal beyond her years as they swept across the classroom, landing precisely on Xiang Yi and lingering for a moment.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Su Rui." Her voice was clear and bright, every word distinct. Her smile was perfectly measured. "I hope we can improve together." She gave a slight bow.

(Warehouse hideout)

Under the dim emergency lights, the smell of disinfectant and medicinal herbs was choking. Guiguzi floated in the center of the warehouse, the golden mist around him thinner and dimmer than usual, flickering as he struggled to maintain a fragile Cognitive Interference field. Before him was a complex light screen made of countless shifting runes, projecting the classroom scene. The runes flowed like a waterfall, coldly analyzing:

Target: Su Rui

Heartbeat: 62 (steady), body temperature: 36.5 (normal), pupils almost unchanged...

Anomaly: Weak electromagnetic waves in school uniform lining (monitoring/tracker, S.H.I.E.L.D. "Nestling Type III").

Behavioral pattern: Agent disguise (teenage template)—perfect.

Energy field: Weak anomalous fluctuations detected (frequency δ-7), with a 0.03% match to a secondary spectral band of "Dimensional Shackles" (the Ancient One)...

Mozi remote access: δ-7 fluctuation peak! Match rate jumped to 0.08%!

Threat assessment: Class C (observation infiltration, possible risk of "Shackles" probe).

Beside the light screen, another set of runes displayed Lanling King's vital signs: the values had been pulled back from the line of death and were steadily stabilizing, at the cost of the Lord exhausting himself completely last night.

"'Nestling' is in position! Anomalous energy fluctuation δ-7 detected, correlation to the Shackles rising! Value confirmed! Monitoring activated; her behavioral pattern is far too professional." Guiguzi's ethereal voice rang directly in Xiang Yi's mind, grave with concern. "My Lord, the Cognitive Interference field is being maintained at Class B, consumption increased by 15%, covering a five-meter radius around you. Mozi emphasizes: we must lock onto this fluctuation!"

(Classroom)

"Su Rui, you can sit beside Xiang Yi," Ms. Li said.

"Okay, thank you, Ms. Li." Su Rui walked over, every step seeming measured with a ruler. She pulled out her chair and hung up her backpack. The adjustment buckle on the black backpack strap—an inconspicuous metal piece—revealed a far sturdier structure and military-grade clasp under Guiguzi's magnified light screen.

"Hi, Xiang Yi. Please take care of me from now on." Su Rui turned her head, wearing the flawless smile of a new classmate. Her amber eyes were crystal-clear, yet they resembled two miniature scanners.

(δ-7 locked on! Mozi, send the data over! Guiguzi, focus on interfering with her instinctive suspicion of me! How's Lanling King?)

"Lanling King's vital signs have stabilized, but his core hypothermia and mental exhaustion will last at least three days. The danger remains. Mozi has received the δ-7 data stream," Guiguzi immediately replied.

"Mm, hello, Su Rui." Xiang Yi returned a shy, weak smile, his gaze holding just the right amount of confusion and barely noticeable fatigue. He shifted his workbook aside, his fingertips cold from the dull ache caused by mental exhaustion. (The performance begins. Step one: appear harmless. The cost of last night's overexertion still clings to me.)

Math class.

Xiang Yi clearly "felt" that invisible, probing gaze clinging to him. Su Rui's attention in class was impeccable and her notes were tidy, but Xiang Yi knew that at least seventy percent of her attention was like an invisible probe, trying to pierce his disguise. An intangible pressure followed—not physical, but more like a mental "scan"—aggravating the buzzing headache already caused by his overexertion. His temples throbbed violently. He forced his muscles to relax, imitating the small movements of a real twelve-year-old boy: leaning forward slightly at interesting material, unconsciously biting his pen and frowning at difficult problems. Every act drained what little energy he had left, as though he were walking on thin ice.

At the podium, Mr. Zhang, the math teacher, smiled as he wrote an advanced problem: Given triangle ABC, AB = AC, and ∠BAC = 80°. Point D lies on BC, with ∠BAD = 30° and ∠DCA = 20°. Find ∠ADC.

The classroom fell quiet. Su Rui's gaze instantly focused on Xiang Yi's face like a searchlight, and the pressure of her mental scan suddenly intensified.

Xiang Yi looked at the blackboard, his brows habitually furrowed, a pencil spinning between his fingers and confusion in his eyes. A few seconds later, he seemed to suddenly grasp the key point, his eyes lighting up—only for a wave of dizziness to interrupt him. He instinctively touched his forehead, his face seeming even paler. A boyish excitement at solving a puzzle appeared on his face, but it was quickly buried beneath the fatigue he was forcing himself to endure. He hesitated, then raised his hand uncertainly. "Mr. Zhang... I... think... I might have an idea?" His voice was weak and tentative.

(The bait is out. Activate the "math potential" persona. Guiguzi, watch her physiological response closely! The cost is mounting...)

"Target 'Nestling's' pupils expanded slightly by 0.5%, her heartbeat accelerated for three beats, and her attention has peaked. Mental scan intensity increased by 20%," Guiguzi reported coldly and precisely.

"Oh? Xiang Yi, tell us about it?" Mr. Zhang sounded surprised and encouraging.

Xiang Yi stood and walked to the blackboard. His steps carried the unsteadiness of someone recovering from illness. When he picked up the chalk, his fingertips turned white from the effort—real weakness, and the best prop he could have right now. He took a deep breath, suppressed the roiling headache, and wrote on the blackboard:

> Let ∠ADC = x°

> ∵ AB = AC, ∠BAC = 80°

> ∴ ∠ABC = ∠ACB = (180° - 80°)/2 = 50° (He wrote this step a little quickly, but his hand was steady.)

> ∠BAD = 30°, so ∠CAD = 80° - 30° = 50°

> (When writing "50°," the chalk tip seemed to slip from the tremor in his fingers, leaving a tiny scratch.)

> ∠DCA = 20°, so ∠ACD = 50° - 20° = 30°

> (He paused for half a second as though confirming it before writing "30°.")

> In △ADC: x° + 30° + 50° = 180° (He wrote slowly, his breathing slightly hurried.)

> ∴ x° = 100°

> (After writing the final number, he seemed to have exhausted all his strength. He breathed faintly, his face pale enough to seem translucent.)

The steps were clear and the solution correct, but the process carried obvious signs of forced concentration and a slight, almost imperceptible stumble. Soft gasps sounded around the classroom. Surprise filled Mr. Zhang's eyes. "Very good! Your reasoning is clear!" He deliberately glanced at that tiny scratch, making it feel even more genuine.

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Su Rui's eyes before being replaced by deeper scrutiny. She stared at Xiang Yi's frighteningly pale profile, observing the fierce, minute tremors in his fingers when he set down the chalk, watching his unsteady steps as he returned to his seat, as though he might collapse at any moment...

"You're amazing, Xiang Yi," Su Rui praised at just the right time. Her smile was sweet, carrying the perfect amount of admiration. "Can you teach me? I was still thinking about drawing an auxiliary line..." She lowered her voice and naturally leaned a little closer. "But you look so pale. Does solving problems like this take a lot out of you? You seem really tired." Her probing was a fine needle wrapped in honey.

(A more subtle probe... Guiguzi, strengthen the interference! Lanling King... hold on...)

"Target 'Nestling's' question matches the composite model of 'concern-probing.' Mental scan intensity remains high," Guiguzi reported.

A warning bell trembled faintly in Xiang Yi's heart, but his face appropriately showed the fatigue and weakness of someone who felt understood. "Mm... a little... maybe... I haven't fully recovered yet..." His voice gradually faded, accompanied by a perfectly timed cough. Yet the price he had paid last night to stabilize Lanling King's near-fatal injuries by forcibly breaking through the Dimensional Shackles' normal suppression of mental recovery now erupted like a lit fuse beneath Su Rui's invisible mental pressure and his sustained high-intensity performance!

A suffocatingly sharp pain stabbed into the depths of his temples without warning! His vision instantly went black! Piercing tinnitus drove through his eardrums like steel needles! Warm liquid surged uncontrollably from his nostrils! Through the agony, Xiang Yi seemed to "see" the translucent pale-gold network of Shackles set by the Ancient One deep within his consciousness ripple from the violent fluctuation in his mental core! Even more terrifying, a strand of viscous, icy purple-black energy carrying an ominous devouring sensation seeped wildly from a damaged point in that rippling network like a living thing writhing in an abyss! It greedily coiled around his already fragile mental core, bringing needle-like pain and the weakness of his soul being gradually torn away wherever it passed!

(It hurts!... The Shackles... moved! Is this the backlash from forcing myself past my limits?! It's eating away at my essence?! Guiguzi! Lock onto this fluctuation! Record this purple-black energy as a priority! Send it to Mozi! This price can't be paid for nothing!)

"Emergency alert from Mozi's terminal: extremely high-entropy backlash energy detected! Marked as 'Eclipsing Touch'! Priority MAX! Forced analysis initiated! Warning: this energy possesses persistent corrosive and essence-contaminating properties. Immediate mental isolation required!" Guiguzi's voice rang through Xiang Yi's consciousness with unprecedented gravity.

"Xiang Yi? What's wrong?" Su Rui's voice immediately rang out, full of concern—but beneath it, her vigilance had tightened in an instant, almost tangibly.

"Nothing... nothing..." Xiang Yi's voice was muffled, thick with a nasal tone and undisguisable agony and near-collapse weakness. "An old problem... a little dizzy..." He suddenly lowered his head, his right hand lightning-fast as it clamped over his nose, and a severely suppressed groan escaped him. He could feel the warm blood quickly soaking his palm and seeping through his fingers. He dared not look up, hurriedly fumbling through his backpack with his other hand for tissues, his movements clumsy and miserable.

"Oh my! He has a nosebleed!" a girl beside him cried out.

Mr. Zhang hurried over. "Xiang Yi? Feeling unwell again? Hurry to the infirmary!"

"N-no need, Mr. Zhang..." Xiang Yi raised his head, his face pale as paper. A tissue pressed to his nose was rapidly staining red, while his eyes held the exhaustion of someone frail and ill, forced stubbornness, and helpless panic. His voice was as weak as a dying flame in the wind. "I'm just... a little dizzy. I'll be fine after resting... really..." He could feel that strand of Eclipsing Touch coldly winding around his consciousness, bringing waves of dizziness and nausea.

Su Rui watched him, and within her amber eyes, that data-stream-like analysis seemed to briefly freeze. The agony that had distorted the boy's face in that instant, his unfeigned panic as blood poured from his nose, the instinctive tremors caused by muscular loss of control... it was all too real! She handed him a clean tissue, her voice gentle. "Here, use this." Yet her gaze scanned every subtle reaction from Xiang Yi like the most precise instrument.

"Th-thank you." Xiang Yi took the tissue in a weak voice, the fingers covering his nose trembling violently. Yet deep inside, he was coldly clear-headed. This sudden collapse, the genuine pain and rippling Shackles, along with the terrifying new Eclipsing Touch that symbolized the overdraw of his essence, were the most perfect and irrefutable proof of his "frail boy" persona—and resources he had to exploit to the fullest.

(Warehouse hideout)

The instant Su Rui sat down, the image on the light screen stabbed painfully into the eyes of the person on the sickbed who had only just regained a trace of consciousness.

Lanling King suddenly opened his eyes! His deep purple pupils constricted sharply in the darkness, focusing on the unfamiliar girl sitting so close to his Lord on the light screen. Guiguzi's cold report entered his muddled consciousness in sync: "...S.H.I.E.L.D. agent... codename Nestling... monitoring activated... Shackles-related fluctuation δ-7 detected... My Lord is actively making contact... subjected to high-intensity mental scanning... backlash erupting! Eclipsing Touch activated!..."

"My Lord... is... in danger!" A hoarse, broken voice squeezed from his cracked lips, carrying bone-deep terror and killing intent! Lanling King struggled desperately to prop himself up, but his broken ribs and the wound beneath his shoulder blade sent tearing pain through him. Cold sweat instantly soaked his bandages. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Xiang Yi's pale figure and the glaring nosebleed on the light screen!

Warning: abnormal adrenaline secretion in the wounded! Risk of wound tearing: 85%! Blinding red warning runes flashed wildly along the edge of the light screen!

"Lie down!" A cold voice crashed down like an iron hammer. A Ke had appeared beside the bed at some point, one hand gripping Lanling King's uninjured shoulder like an iron clamp and forcing him back onto the bed. Her gaze was colder than ice as it swept over Su Rui's figure on the screen before falling on Lanling King's face, twisted by pain and rage. "Your life was dragged back by the Lord at the cost of triggering the Shackles' backlash! Every drop of blood you waste now, every pointless bit of exertion, is trampling on what the Lord gave for you! Want to die? Wait until your life is no longer bought with the Lord's life!" Her voice suppressed a cold fury, every word like a poisoned ice spike precisely piercing the core of Lanling King's prideful loyalty.

Lanling King was struck as if by lightning. His body abruptly stiffened, and the unwillingness and fury churning in his deep purple eyes were instantly swallowed by overwhelming pain and immense shame. The Lord was enduring that horrifying backlash... and he... He clenched his only movable left hand, his nails digging deeply into his palm until blood seeped out, yet he felt none of it. Only bone-chilling despair spread through him. (My Lord... I... am unworthy...) He gasped violently, his teeth clenched tight as blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Yet his body seemed to have had every bone pulled from it, collapsing completely onto the bed. He stopped struggling, his deep purple pupils fixed upon the light screen, filled only with endless agony and self-loathing.

Guiguzi's voice rang out again, carrying ancient, cold calculation. "My Lord, Nestling's probe and the Shackles fluctuations, along with Eclipsing Touch energy data, have been fully recorded. Her cognitive model has noticeably wavered. Preliminary assessment: she is incorporating your 'weakness' and 'sudden pathological response' into her core logical model. Old Scar operation initiated."

At the same time, new rune streams operated at high speed in one corner of the light screen:

Target database: Third Municipal People's Hospital—patient records

Target record: Xiang Yi

Modification operation: Add medical history entry

Entry content: Episodic stress-induced epistaxis (first recorded: last night, 22:17)

Associated event: Post-traumatic stress reaction (Kunlun Mountains incident)

Operation status: In progress... Trace coverage: "Weaving plausible dust" (injecting Level 3 redundant junk-data stream)... Firewall trace detection encountered (S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 2)... Countermeasure "Cicada Molt" initiated (simulating civilian web-crawler traffic)... Interference successful... Completion: 98%

"Old Scar alteration complete, trace coverage successful. Risk level: low, expected to be treated as network noise. Relevant data packets and Eclipsing Touch parameters have been synchronized to Mozi's terminal." Guiguzi's ethereal voice carried a trace of barely perceptible weary rasp. His gaze swept over an empty makeshift bed in the corner, where a faint energy trace remained, carrying the fresh scent of grass and plants. In the gap after the high-intensity operation, the instincts of the chief strategist continued turning. "Xiao Yu's life-field energy neutralized 17% of the toxins in Lanling King's body... its frequency characteristics..." His gaze passed over the alarming purple-black energy spectrum of Eclipsing Touch on the light screen. "If its frequency phase were directionally shifted... could it form a localized canceling field?..." He immediately sent an encrypted order to Mozi's terminal. "Mozi, urgently analyze these samples: δ-7 Shackles fluctuation data + Xiao Yu's life-field spectrum + Eclipsing Touch backlash energy spectrum. Objective: construct an Eclipsing Touch countermeasure model and assess the feasibility and risks of shifting Xiao Yu's energy phase."

(Mozi Terminal · Virtual Space)

A cold mechanical voice said, "Command received. Analysis initiated... Eclipsing Touch energy entropy has exceeded threshold! Contamination confirmed! Xiao Yu life-field spectrum imported... Phase-shift simulation calculations in progress... Warning: theoretical model predicts that inducing a phase shift in Xiao Yu's energy to neutralize Eclipsing Touch will cause abnormal acceleration of her cellular metabolism. Theoretical aging rate: +0.5% per operation. Risk level: high. Necessity and operational threshold require strict assessment."

The dismissal bell finally rang.

Xiang Yi packed his backpack slowly and laboriously, his every movement revealing deep exhaustion. Su Rui also organized her books, neither hurried nor slow.

The two walked out of the classroom one after the other, merging into the noisy crowd. The setting sun stretched their shadows long.

"Xiang Yi, which direction is your home?" Su Rui naturally walked to Xiang Yi's side, her smile still flawless.

"East... East District." Xiang Yi sounded listless.

"What a coincidence. I live near there too." Su Rui's smile deepened. "Can we walk together from now on? I just transferred here, so I'm not very familiar with the roads." Her gaze spread over Xiang Yi like a spiderweb.

Xiang Yi had just begun to nod when the crowd surged toward the stairwell, bringing unavoidable jostling. At the moment Su Rui seemed to be bumped by someone behind her and leaned forward slightly—

Ding!

A crisp metallic clink rang out.

A small silver object slipped from her slightly open school-uniform collar and landed at Xiang Yi's feet.

It was a keychain. It had a simple metallic design stamped with the emblem of an eagle spreading its wings around a star—S.H.I.E.L.D.'s insignia!

It lay coldly at Xiang Yi's feet like a silent provocation.

Xiang Yi's heart sank sharply, and cold calculation instantly replaced every emotion. (Showing her hand to pressure me? A low-level psychological tactic... perfect for exploitation.) Lanling King's unconscious murmur from last night—"My Lord... danger..." —echoed in his mind like an alarm. A Ke's cold rebuke in the warehouse, Guiguzi's weary but steady light screen, the blood Ming Shiyin coughed up during divination, and that strand of icy, bone-piercing Eclipsing Touch wrapped around his mental core... Those images intertwined into an icy current, making him calm to the extreme.

He forcibly suppressed every surging emotion and swiftly changed his expression into one of surprise and innocent curiosity. His eyes fell on the emblem. "Huh? Su Rui, you dropped something?" He bent down, his movements slowed by frailty, and carefully picked up the cold emblem. The instant his fingers touched the back of the badge—not the logo side—he used the hair-thin tip of a fingernail, trained rigorously by Lanling King, to make an extremely subtle scratch along an inconspicuous edge. Only then did he examine the front like an ordinary boy, his eyes full of novelty. "What a cool keychain! Is that an eagle?" As though it were truly just an ordinary souvenir.

(Warehouse hideout · Light screen flickers)

My Lord's operation: minor microscopic damage to target emblem structure. Marking complete. Target Nestling's visual focus did not detect the anomaly.

Su Rui glanced down, her face showing the perfectly appropriate "surprise" and "annoyance." "Ah, thank you." She naturally took the emblem back, her fingertips seeming to unconsciously brush the back before she tucked it into her collar. Her tone was casual. "It's just a souvenir an uncle gave me. Nothing special. So, shall we walk together from now on?" Her eyes remained fixed on Xiang Yi's face.

"Oh... okay." Xiang Yi withdrew his gaze, putting on a slightly shy smile laden with deep exhaustion once more, and nodded. As though that emblem carrying a threat of death had truly been nothing more than an insignificant "souvenir."

The two walked side by side out of the school building and merged into the crowd beneath the golden sunset. Su Rui chatted and laughed, skillfully guiding the conversation. Xiang Yi played the role of a quiet, weak, slightly slow-reacting ordinary classmate, responding now and then in a feeble voice.

Behind them, beyond an inconspicuous window of the school building, the light screen made of minute golden runes gradually dissipated. The final stream of runes displayed:

Operation status: Complete. Trace coverage: 100%

(Warehouse hideout)

The light screen went completely dark. Guiguzi's floating figure swayed slightly; maintaining three simultaneous operations—high-intensity surveillance, the Cognitive Interference field, and remote medical-record alteration—had drained him enormously. "Nestling's active contact confirmed, and her demonstrative behavior has been recorded. Preliminary probing concluded. My Lord's response was perfect. Initial Cognitive Interference successful; the trait of 'weakness' has entered her core logic. Shackles and Eclipsing Touch data have been sent." His voice was clearly weary and hoarse.

In the shadows of the corner, A Ke's figure had completely disappeared, leaving only a faint chill mixed with the scent of medicinal herbs and fresh blood. She needed to confirm the safety of the "nest," and... assess whether the immediate cost and subsequent chain reaction of eliminating Nestling were within acceptable limits.

Lanling King lay on the crude "sickbed," the frenzied flames gone from his deep purple eyes in the darkness, leaving only bottomless pain and self-loathing. He could feel every word in Guiguzi's report, while A Ke's line—"trampling on what the Lord gave for you"—was branded into his soul. The Lord was facing a venomous snake's watch alone, dancing at the edge of life and death, even triggering such horrifying backlash! And he was not only unable to become a shield, but could not even manage to lie still—he had nearly become a burden again! He clenched his only movable left hand, his nails digging deeply into his palm until blood seeped out, yet he felt none of it. Only bone-chilling despair spread through him.

(Somewhere in the city, safehouse)

Su Rui sat at a simple desk and opened an encrypted miniature computer. The cold light of the screen reflected her still-calm face. She typed quickly:

Observation log: Target Xiang Yi—Day 1

Behavioral summary: Normal in the morning, socially introverted. Displayed above-average problem-solving potential during math class (clear reasoning, but the process involved obvious energy expenditure and minor errors). Sudden severe headache and epistaxis during break (suspected triggers: intensive mental exertion + weak constitution + stress response). Symptoms were genuinely severe, and his reaction matched the characteristics of a frail boy. Struggles with academic exertion.

**Preliminary assessment: Target's constitution is abnormally weak (key trait, incorporated into physiological monitoring priority). Intelligence shows potential (performance unstable due to limited energy). Social behavior ordinary, no abnormal maturity observed. Sudden epistaxis requires a long-term physiological baseline model (in progress).

Conclusion: Threat assessment—low (provisional).

Recommended additions:

Maintain basic surveillance (Level 1).

Increase physiological data collection to three times daily (anonymous medical-record access request submitted, pending approval).

Knowledge scan priority: Math/physics book-borrowing records → Stark Industries public financial-report access traces → anomalous encrypted traffic (threshold ≥ S.H.I.E.L.D. Standard Level 7).

Apply to activate the "Nightingale Protocol" (Level 2 clearance): access the target household's IoT devices (smart desk lamp/air conditioner) and collect ambient acoustic waves and residual electromagnetic signals in real time.

Agent: Nestling. Report complete.

The report was sent. Su Rui closed the computer and looked toward the deepening dusk beyond the window, her amber eyes regaining the absolute focus she wore while carrying out a mission. A suspicious target requiring close monitoring? The preliminary assessment pointed to a low threat, but standardized, highly invasive surveillance procedures still had to proceed as planned.

The setting sun sank beyond the edge of the city. Xiang Yi's shadow stretched long and twisted, like the cold, writhing purple-black Eclipsing Touch coiled around his mental core, silently weaving an invisible net that bound him tightly to the deepening, undercurrent-churning twilight behind him.