Sculpture Fragments

Lin Yi stepped onto the platform. Before he reached the noticeboard, he suddenly noticed some white powder and fragments on the floor nearby.

Huh? What's this? Puzzled, Lin Yi reached down and picked up a fragment.

It was thin and brittle, like a flake of shredded coconut. Together with the white powder, it easily brought broken chalk to mind.

He looked up at the chalk tray beneath the blackboard.

There was no chalk in it.

He looked at the lectern.

There was no chalk box on it.

There's no chalk anywhere in the classroom... He frowned inwardly. So where did this come from? The head teacher didn't seem to notice it during roll call, either.

Just then, Wei Liang's startled cry exploded beside Lin Yi's ear. "Holy shit, th-this... isn't this a fucking plaster fragment?!"

Wei Liang stared fixedly at the fragment in Lin Yi's hand, jumping high like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on.

Then he noticed the white powder beside Lin Yi's feet. He circled it several times, exclaiming "Holy shit!" over and over, the fear in his eyes growing steadily stronger.

Startled by Wei Liang's reaction, Lin Yi had no attention to spare for the white fragment. He hurriedly calmed Wei Liang down, then asked, "What's wrong, Liangzi? What did you find?"

With a trembling hand, Wei Liang pointed at the white fragment Lin Yi was holding. "Lao Lin, that thing in your hand is a plaster fragment!"

"I recognize it now." Lin Yi bent it gently, and the plaster fragment broke with a snap.

Lin Yi tossed the fragments away and dusted off his hands. Looking at Wei Liang's terrified expression, he asked in confusion, "But this seems like perfectly ordinary plaster... I don't see anything wrong with it."

Wei Liang took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, then said, "You're right, Lao Lin. But if there are plaster fragments here, that means someone brought something containing plaster into the classroom and left these fragments and powder behind..."

"So tell me... what on campus has anything to do with plaster?"

After a moment's thought, Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted, and he blurted out, "Sculptures?!"

The instant the word "sculptures" left his mouth, a violent storm of thoughts erupted in his mind. The plaster was fragments of a sculpture, but there hadn't been any sculptures in the classroom yesterday. That meant...

"After the classroom closed yesterday, someone moved a sculpture inside?!"

Memories of the previous night surged uncontrollably, and the broken clues began piecing themselves together...

"After the lights went out, the classroom door opened..."

"Then the fog outside the Teaching Building entered the classroom, and those students who weren't right started moving one after another..."

"So the thing on the platform was actually a sculpture. Later, when the security guard passed by, he dragged it out of the classroom with iron chains and fought that unidentified creature that had carried it inside?"

"This fragment... fell off when the iron chains struck the sculpture!"

"Why did the security guard pass the classroom without coming inside?"

"And what was going on with the sculpture?"

Lin Yi began thinking instinctively, his brain whirring madly like a motor and gradually starting to overload.

"Wait, wait!!!"

"The Student Rules said all sculptures were kept in the Art Building!"

"But... neither the Teaching Building Rules nor the campus map attached to the rules marked the Art Building's location!"

Lin Yi became the center of thought, his thoughts growing increasingly chaotic.

Something beyond comprehension seemed to be silently intruding into the realm of his awareness...

The terrifying storm of thoughts seemed ready to destroy everything. Lin Yi stood rooted to the spot as though petrified, and even the temperature around him seemed to drop.

The white powder on the floor tiles beside the platform began trembling slightly...

Click-creak!

Just as Lin Yi sank deep into that storm, seemingly about to be swallowed by the chaotic fragments of thought, someone opened the classroom door from outside.

The classroom door opened, and warm sunlight poured through the doorway, crashing over Lin Yi.

Mired deep in that quagmire, Lin Yi suddenly felt a hazy white light descend from the void and envelop him completely.

A warmth and comfort he hadn't felt since following the Blue Bus into the Mountainous Region returned to him.

"So warm..."

Lin Yi instinctively stopped thinking, and the terrifying storm of thoughts gradually subsided.

He slowly drew back from his thoughts, hearing a voice calling to him as though from far away.

The voice sounded urgent. "Lao Lin... Lao Lin... Lao Lin..."

As it grew louder, he felt someone shaking him.

He pulled back from his thoughts and slowly opened his eyes. His blurred vision cleared, revealing Wei Liang's anxious face.

Wei Liang was gripping both his shoulders, shaking him with all his strength.

Seeing him wake, Wei Liang let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Lao Lin, you finally fucking woke up. Any longer and I was going to resort to extreme measures."

Lin Yi suddenly realized something and immediately checked his watch.

8:13.

"8:13? I zoned out for half an hour?!" He stared at Wei Liang in shock.

Still panting, Wei Liang repeatedly waved his hands. "Not that long, not that long. Twenty minutes at most. At first, when I saw you standing still, I thought you were thinking. Only later did I realize you'd frozen there like you were possessed!"

"Lao Lin, did you think of something weird again? But hold on. Before you tell me, are you sure it's something I can know?"

Lin Yi paused, hesitated, then sighed helplessly. "Forget it, then. But... weren't you the one who brought up the sculptures?"

"I mentioned sculptures, but I know very little about them!" Wei Liang said quickly. "I know they're connected to art students, and art students... rumor has it they're a seriously sinister bunch!"

At the mention of art students, Wei Liang couldn't hide the fear on his face.

Remembering Wei Liang's reaction upon seeing the female teacher, Lin Yi immediately asked, "Liangzi, what's wrong with art students?"

Wei Liang pondered for a long time before finally saying in a grave voice, "I don't know. The last time I came here, I never encountered any art students, but I heard my roommates back then talking about things related to them..."

"Something about the Library, and a Sculpture Experience Class, stuff like that..."

"I didn't pay attention at first, but later... my roommates started staying out all night, one after another. In the end, I never saw them again, even by the time I left."

"I know very little. All I know is that they seem to have their own 'rules,' and they're very different from ours..."

Lin Yi gradually fell silent.

Wei Liang hadn't told him any of this before.

He glanced at the plaster fragments and powder on the floor, suddenly discovering that the white plaster powder had actually hardened into fragments under the sunlight.

"Huh? This powder can harden?" He crouched down and touched it curiously, then rubbed his fingertips together, only to discover that not a trace of white had stuck to them.

"Those aren't ordinary plaster fragments." An indifferent voice sounded behind him.

Lin Yi looked back in surprise and discovered that Xu Shunkang had appeared in the classroom doorway at some point, his hand resting on the door handle.

He was the one who had opened the door.

He simply hadn't spoken until now.

"Didn't expect to see you two again. A couple of lucky bastards." There was a teasing note in Xu Shunkang's voice. Then he looked at Lin Yi and said, "But you still don't listen to advice, same as always."

"Luck favors fools. You'd better not be too clever here."

As he spoke, he handed Lin Yi and Wei Liang a roll of biscuits each.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang looked surprised.

"What? I might not like you much, but I predicted I'd see you, so I brought you something to eat," Xu Shunkang said. "Look at you two with your kidney deficiency. One glance tells me you had a rough night, huh?"

"That's how abnormal weather is, especially..." Xu Shunkang narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam passing through them. "Under last night's circumstances."

"Go on, eat."

Though Xu Shunkang had a sharp tongue, he seemed fairly kindhearted.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang accepted the biscuits and began eating slowly.

Soon, Xie Huayang appeared in the classroom doorway.

"Fatty, where are the biscuits I asked you to bring? Hurry up, I'm starving!" The moment he appeared, Xie Huayang held out his hand to Xu Shunkang for the biscuits.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang, who had just eaten two biscuits each, stiffened and couldn't help looking at Xu Shunkang.

The corner of Xu Shunkang's mouth twitched. He hurriedly slapped his forehead. "Oh, damn, I forgot to buy yours!"

"Forgot, my ass! Did you give my biscuits to them?" Smelling the biscuits, Xie Huayang pointed at Lin Yi and Wei Liang, his brows drawing together into deep furrows.

"The Convenience Store only has one kind of biscuit. Don't tell me they happened to go to the Cafeteria, happened to skip breakfast, happened to buy a roll each, and then happened to bring them back to eat just when I happened to see them!"

Xu Shunkang put on a smile. "Actually... that's exactly the coincidence that happened."

"Fine, fine, fine. So that's how you're playing it! I'll remember this!" Xie Huayang snorted, stopped wasting words on Xu Shunkang, and found a seat.

Looking at the rather embarrassed Xu Shunkang, Lin Yi suddenly understood:

What brilliant prediction? He'd just put on a thoroughly convincing performance after the fact.

Xu Shunkang probably never thought we'd actually make it through that night...

"By the way, the class schedule's been updated." Having eaten his food, Lin Yi felt obliged to return the favor and pointed at the class schedule to remind Xie Huayang.

"The schedule's meaningless," Xie Huayang said irritably. "It's all the same to us."

Rebuffed, Lin Yi said nothing more and walked with Wei Liang toward the noticeboard beside the blackboard.

All the while, they did their best to hide their biscuit-eating behind their bodies...

Seeing these two doing that, the corner of Xie Huayang's eye twitched, but he said nothing more.

Reaching the noticeboard, Lin Yi looked at the class schedule.

S City University's class schedule was much like his own university's. There weren't many classes, but it clearly listed three PE classes.

These three PE classes fell on the afternoons of May 7, May 9, and May 11, all from 14:30 to 15:30.

There were also notes beside the words "PE class" on the schedule:

[PE class will be canceled in the event of rain.]

[All students must arrive at the Gymnasium before class begins. Please plan your time accordingly.]

"Looks perfectly normal." Lin Yi rubbed his chin and muttered to himself, "Three PE classes a week, an hour each..."

"Basically, after lunch, you rest a bit, then head to the Gymnasium for class. Once class ends, you can go straight to the Cafeteria for dinner."

"More or less half a day, rounding it off."

Beside Lin Yi, Wei Liang smacked his lips and said with a grin, "PE class is good stuff!"

Lin Yi asked curiously, "Oh? How so?"

Wei Liang chuckled. "There's definitely a reason!"

"You can meet athlete students?"

"That's not all," Wei Liang said. He pursed his lips and gestured with his eyes toward Xu Shunkang and Xie Huayang, muttering, "Didn't you just meet athlete students? You can meet them in regular classes, too."

Puzzled, Lin Yi asked, "Then what's special about PE? Is there something else?"

Wei Liang leaned toward his ear and said with a wicked grin, "In PE class... there are girls!"

He waggled his eyebrows, his face alight with excitement.

Lin Yi gave him a sidelong look that said he'd thought too highly of him, suddenly beginning to question the substance of his earlier remark about "reading comics for seven days and attending PE class."

"That's... it?" he asked disdainfully.

"Huh? You said 'that's it'?" Wei Liang sneered, then added with an obnoxious air, "There's Swimming Class and Gymnastics Class."

Lin Yi's brows twitched, and a gleam flashed in his eyes.

"You fucker... if you'd said that sooner, I wouldn't have been sleepy!"

Wei Liang poked him in the lower back and grinned. "What, no more kidney deficiency?"

"When have I ever had kidney deficiency? How dare you spread rumors like that?" Lin Yi's eyes widened, his temper flaring as he made to smack Wei Liang over the head.

Wei Liang hurriedly covered his head. "You could barely stand earlier. How was that not kidney deficiency?"

Speechless, Lin Yi said, "That was because I saw the head teacher! Didn't you see her eyes?"

"Those were colored contacts," Wei Liang said offhandedly, frantically numbing himself with a dose of mental self-victory.

Lin Yi froze for a moment, but immediately understood what Wei Liang meant. To keep Wei Liang from thinking about the issue, he quickly ended the topic.

He still decided to shoulder the pressure himself and preserve a patch of untainted ground for Wei Liang.

But Wei Liang seemed to remember something and muttered, "I thought you were going to say that pair of ripped stockings shook your self-control! Speaking of which, I don't know if you noticed, but she seemed to have sprained her ankle..."