The Boundary Between Safety and Danger

Lin Yi nodded. He had noticed this as soon as the head teacher entered the classroom, and for some reason, he had also sensed a chilling aura from her that made him subconsciously uncomfortable.

For a moment, he could not tell whether that feeling came from the head teacher or was an illusion caused by the fog that had flooded in when she opened the classroom door...

In short, the head teacher who had pushed open the classroom door and entered at 7:40 felt very wrong to him.

But it was only a feeling that something was wrong.

She still wore the acrylic name badge edged with a stamped thorn blossom design on her chest. It still bore the designation "Head Teacher-B2-039," and there was nothing wrong with her behavior, so he had not thought much of it.

But when the head teacher turned around, her eyes suddenly turned golden.

Those eyes looked far too much like the security guard's, as though molten, scalding gold had been poured into their sockets, their brilliance carrying an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Although the security guard had shown Lin Yi no hostility whatsoever at the time, Lin Yi had still felt an indescribable shudder.

But the head teacher's were different... The first impression her golden eyes gave him was evil.

It was a feeling he could not explain. Lin Yi did not know what grounds he had for that conclusion, but just as people would instinctively back away from a python in the wild, he felt the same way when facing the head teacher.

"How do you think her stockings got torn?" Lin Yi asked unconsciously.

Countless dirty images flashed through Wei Liang's mind at once, and his eyes nearly curved upward into crescents. "Hehehehe... I think, well... hey, Lao Lin, what do you think?"

But Lin Yi was actually muttering to himself, with no intention of asking Wei Liang. He continued mumbling, "Did she tear her stockings when she sprained her ankle, and it hurt too much for her to change them?"

"But do girls change their stockings often? Do they absolutely have to?"

"Even if she didn't change them, she shouldn't have worn them to bed, right?"

Wei Liang's ears practically pricked up as he listened. A subtle change came over the look he gave Lin Yi, and he could not resist giving him a thumbs-up. "You really haven't let that habit of thinking things through go to waste!"

He glanced at the hentai manga, filled with emotion. As they say, the master opens the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. Lao Lin's already getting the hang of it!

At this rate, why worry about getting through seven days safely?

Just as Wei Liang was about to offer a brief discussion of his theory on the relative dialectical relationship between women and stockings, Lin Yi shook his head again and murmured:

"No, that's not right..."

"It doesn't look like she sprained her ankle... She probably injured her waist, which indirectly affected her mobility and made it look a little like a sprain."

"But why was she hiding it so no one would notice?"

Lin Yi lightly tapped his temple, considering the question.

He was completely unaware that someone had come up beside him, reached out... and taken the unfinished half-roll of biscuits from his hand.

"You're going to think yourself to death one day." A mocking voice rang out. Xie Huayang opened his mouth, tossed in a biscuit, and crunched away.

Lin Yi pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at Xie Huayang. "You're not entirely right. Thinking about some questions won't cause any trouble."

Xie Huayang froze, the biscuit at his mouth coming to a halt. Somewhat surprised by Lin Yi's discovery, he asked, "From the sound of it, you seem to have discovered some remarkable 'rule'?"

Seeing Xie Huayang react like that only confirmed Lin Yi's guess. "So that really is how it works, right?"

"As long as you don't think about those contradictory questions, you won't encounter danger. It's fine to think normally about some things." He watched Xie Huayang's eyes, looking for his reaction.

Xie Huayang's eyes slowly narrowed.

They stared at each other for several seconds. Just as the atmosphere grew somewhat frozen, Xie Huayang's brow suddenly relaxed.

"Interesting... rather interesting." He wore an ambiguous smile, his thoughts unknown.

"All right, I have to tell you... your discovery is correct."

"But the boundary between safety and danger gets blurry when you're thinking about things. If you accidentally cross the line, you're done for. So how are you going to make sure you don't cross it?"

Lin Yi shook his head slightly. "I haven't considered that question yet."

"You..." Xie Huayang dropped his mocking expression and rubbed his temples before saying, "Although I don't much like people who think they're clever, having someone like you turn up in this dull, tedious life is still rather interesting."

"Let me give you a few pointers."

"If you really want to think things through without crossing the line, go think in the sunlight."

"In the sunlight?" Lin Yi paused, then immediately caught on and pressed, "Are the strange things on campus connected to sunlight?"

"Not directly," Xie Huayang said, rejecting the idea. "But clear skies are a kind of weather too, understand?"

"When the weather's bright and sunny, the campus is very safe."

Lin Yi asked again, "Can you only judge whether the campus is safe or dangerous by the weather?"

"That's part of the basis, sure, but there are other reasons too. For example..." Xie Huayang tugged at his sportswear. "We're more active during the day."

"The athlete students?" Lin Yi asked tentatively. "Why?"

"Because during the day..." Xu Shunkang came down and looked at Lin Yi, grinning with confidence. "This is our home turf!"

Lin Yi opened his mouth, wanting to ask more, but Xie Huayang waved him off. "All right, all right, you're asking a few too many questions. Let me tell you, you can only think about everything I've just told you during the day. Once night comes..."

"Unless you're back in the dormitory, just thinking too much can easily take you over the line. You know the consequences. Heh."

Xu Shunkang patted Lin Yi's shoulder. "That said, we'd still rather you didn't think too much."

"As far as I know, this campus has buried far too many secrets since it was established. The university authorities probably don't want anyone investigating either, unless..."

"Unless what?" Wei Liang leaned in and asked cautiously.

"Why the hell are you joining in too?" Xie Huayang glared at him, then put on a solemn expression and lowered his voice threateningly:

"Unless... you don't want to leave."

"Holy shit!" Wei Liang jumped. "What the hell do you mean, don't want to leave?"

Xu Shunkang spread his hands. "Exactly what it sounds like. You're 'not leaving.'"

"Then... if you don't leave, what about the experience bonus?" Wei Liang asked furtively.

"The experience bonus?" Xu Shunkang paused, a trace of confusion in his eyes. It took him a long time to dig the information about the "experience bonus" out of his memory before he said speechlessly, "Twenty-five thousand for seven days? An extra three thousand a day after seven days, with no upper limit... is that what you mean?"

"That's not right. Isn't it thirty thousand for seven days?" Wei Liang said.

"Huh? Thirty thousand for seven days? It's already gone up by five thousand?" Xie Huayang paused.

Wei Liang said speechlessly, "What? Hasn't it always been thirty thousand?"

Xie Huayang muttered, "Fuck," then said seriously, "The experience bonus is always there. But if you don't leave within the allotted time and end up stuck here, what good will the money do you?"

Lin Yi asked in confusion, "If we don't leave after seven days, will the university detain us?"

"Detain you? Hahahaha..." As though he had heard a joke, Xie Huayang could not help laughing. "Take my advice. Leave now, while there's still time!"

Xu Shunkang added earnestly, "Leave right now. While you haven't been... ahem, while you haven't run into any other problems yet, there's still time to follow the security guard to the university gate and get on the school bus."

Lin Yi shook his head. "But I still have roommates."

"Your roommates..." Recalling what Lin Yi had said yesterday, Xie Huayang dealt him a merciless blow. "Nothing you can do. They can only hope for the best, especially the one you said got separated from you yesterday."

Lin Yi lowered his head and stared at the floor, his brow tightly furrowed.

"Look after yourself!" Xu Shunkang patted his shoulder, then made to return to his seat.

But just then, he suddenly noticed something, and his gaze abruptly hardened. "Fuck, we've got a problem!"

He rushed to the lectern and crouched down, looking at the sculpture fragments scattered across the floor and the powder that had already undergone shadow transformation, intense hostility filling his eyes.

His throat shifted slightly as he spoke in a low voice. "A sculpture appeared in the classroom last night!"

"Shit!" Xie Huayang also rushed to the lectern, picked up a sculpture fragment, and held it beneath his nose to sniff it. "The purity's low. It probably only started transforming recently. No wonder neither of us noticed at first!"

"Wait, let's talk outside!" Xu Shunkang gestured toward Lin Yi and Wei Liang with his eyes, signaling Xie Huayang not to speak in front of outsiders.

The two left the classroom one after the other and went out into the covered corridor.

Watching their silhouettes through the window glass, Lin Yi could easily imagine their heated discussion.

Wei Liang tugged at Lin Yi's clothes.

Lin Yi turned to find Wei Liang grinning as he offered him a few biscuits. "Xie Huayang didn't take mine. I saved you some. Hehehe."

Lin Yi appealed wordlessly to the heavens, then asked, "Aren't you afraid of knowing too much? Why do I get the feeling you were eavesdropping the whole time?"

Wei Liang hurriedly shook his head and said with complete seriousness, "I didn't hear anything... really."

Thinking of all the outrageous tricks Wei Liang had displayed along the way, Lin Yi could only say helplessly, "As long as you believe it yourself."

Wei Liang ducked his head and laughed awkwardly. "Hehehe... how are you planning to get through this morning's classes? Read comics, or... novels?"

Lin Yi answered without hesitation, "Let's get some sun."

Wei Liang froze, but immediately understood what Lin Yi had in mind.

"Some sun... sure, let's get some sun." As he spoke, Wei Liang made to leave the classroom.

"Liangzi, wait!" Lin Yi said. "Don't leave the classroom! Let's go sit in the sun by the windows."

Although the campus classes were all mere formalities, "attending class" was itself a formality.

They could not leave the classroom during class.

Not even during the day.

May 7, X023, 9:43.

Group B Class 2, the row beside the windows.

Golden-yellow sunlight spilled in through the windows. Lin Yi and Wei Liang sat reading in the sun, its warmth gradually dispelling the chill they had accumulated overnight and leaving them feeling pleasantly warm.

While Wei Liang went to the bookshelves to find comics, Lin Yi hesitated, then reached into his pocket and took out two folded slips of paper.

One was a note he had torn off a pad. It read:

[Thinking about confusing things causes fatigue. Fatigue makes you sleepy. Sleepiness attracts classmates (apparently the dormitory is somewhere you can sleep. Think about more questions after returning to the dormitory. For now, just keep notes.)]

Lin Yi looked at what he had written on the paper, then thought of what Xu Shunkang and Xie Huayang had said and folded it up again.

He now had an answer to the question recorded on this slip.

Thinking on campus roughly falls into two categories. One is thinking about normal situations...

The other is thinking about those "inexplicable" things, including but not limited to the issue of the streetlamps in the fog, and...

He snapped his fingers.

Wait...

He unfolded the slip again, then recalled yesterday's events and wrote down some questions on the back, questions he would briefly consider during the day.

"Just jot down a few questions:"

"1. The strange conditions on campus seem related to the weather and time of day, and change with the time of day."

"What is currently known is that the campus is safe in clear weather (in sunlight) (source: the athlete students; accuracy not yet verified)..."

He underlined the words in parentheses several times, then continued writing:

"The campus is strange and very dangerous during abnormal weather (currently known to include rain and fog)."

"The streetlamps come on in foggy weather, but their spacing is strange. Some are very close together, others very far apart..."

"When walking toward the streetlamps, there will be calls, footsteps, and a rustling sound behind you (never turn around during abnormal weather (after writing this sentence, Lin Yi emphatically added another set of underlines))..."

"The reasons for the above are currently unknown."

At this point, Lin Yi straightened his back and rubbed his chin, organizing in his mind what he would write for the second point.

As he thought, he twirled his pen, then unconsciously cast a casual glance out the window.

Suddenly, his pupils trembled violently.

Since S City University had been built in a mountainous region, many of its buildings followed the contours of the mountains, and Building B of the teaching complex was no exception.

Along one side of Building B ran a corridor, at the end of which was a neatly maintained wooded belt.

And there in the wooded belt, he unmistakably saw... a sculpture.

It was an incomplete sculpture. Using exaggerated artistry, its creator had carved wide-open eyes and a gaping mouth, depicting a terrifying expression full of fear through a struggling, distorted face.

A single glance seemed enough to convey an intense sense of horror and suffocation through the sculpture.

Lin Yi's pupils had already widened with terror, because the sculpture looked exactly like someone he remembered!

The missing boy who had been killed by classmates last night-Little Genius!