"You're right." Mountain Man nodded. "If we head to the Dormitory Building now, we can't take the elevators. Best-case scenario, we stay in the first-floor hallway and wait for the elevators to open. If our luck is any worse, we'll have to wait under a streetlamp..."
"But..."
"What if I can take the stairs up to my dorm?"
"The... the stairs?" The Experience Student froze, his head buzzing-not because he was deeply shocked, but because he vaguely remembered a rule about taking the stairs. Unfortunately, his memory wasn't quite good enough for him to recite it.
"I'm off." Mountain Man patted his shoulder. "Good luck, kid. Fortune favors fools... provided you're foolish enough."
He forced a Homelander-like smile, waved, and pulled open the classroom door.
"Whoosh-"
The thick fog outside immediately seeped through the gap and surged inside, then rapidly dissipated under the light, as though Mountain Man had opened not a door, but a zero-degree freshness-preserving refrigerator.
Mountain Man left the classroom with his bags and bundles, pulling the door shut behind him.
With the bang of the closing door, Mountain Man was gone from the classroom entirely.
The corridor lights cast his shadow onto the slightly damp window glass. His retreating silhouette showed that he descended the steps in just a few strides.
Lin Yi stared silently at the classroom door.
The section of the Dormitory Building's rules concerning the stairs slowly surfaced in his mind:
[The Dormitory Building is equipped with numerous elevators for students' use. You may use them freely between 6:00-7:40 and 21:00-22:00.
Do not attempt to understand how the elevators operate...
Note: Dormitories below the tenth floor may be accessed by stairs in emergencies. However, our school still discourages use of the stairwells in the Dormitory Building.
...]
"'In emergencies,' 'still discourages'..." Lin