Student Dining Hall

Lin Yi stood on the highest step at the end of the Student Passage, facing the passage densely studded with incandescent lights like stars. His eye sockets contracted and pulsed rhythmically as though breathing, while his blazing eyes focused emptily on some unknown place.

At that moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind, and countless pieces of information seemed to scroll through his eyes.

Moss favored shade and moisture. Its growing environment needed to remain damp and dark.

If the thick fog and rainy nights in the remote mountains alone had created the conditions for moss to grow, then there was no way the area outside the passage would have none...

As things stood, within the Cafeteria grounds, only the Student Passage and Basement Level One had moss, while the flat ground between them had nothing!

Lin Yi thought of the village where he had lived as a child.

The steps and stone paving along the river had been covered in moss because of the changing water levels during the rainy season, but the areas above the waterline had been dry and free of moss.

Comparing those steps with the Student Passage would explain why the moss in the passage grew all the way to the end of the steps...

It was because the Student Passage was frequently flooded.

Why was there none outside the Student Passage?

Because the water rose from Basement Level One.

But there was no moss on the floor of Basement Level One either. Only its walls had moss...

That was because...

The water did not exist!

"So... either some kind of dripping-wet creature climbed straight from Basement Level One, across the floor tiles, and into the passage!"

"Or... some nonexistent water regularly floods the Student Passage and Basement Level One... like the tides!"

Both theories were utterly insane, especially the second!

As for the first... considering that he had already encountered some creature bearing an indescribable horror in the thick fog yesterday, it was not impossible to accept that it might give off large amounts of water.

And there was not just one, but a whole group. They hid in the thick fog, roaming at night, their motives and purposes unknown...

"Is it something from the remote mountains? Or something else..."

Lin Yi thought of the Security Guard.

From his first and only encounter with the Security Guard, he remembered that the guard had not just been wrapped in an iron chain. He had also held a baseball bat that looked as though it had been molded from plaster.

No, rather than a baseball bat, it had been a spiked club shaped like one.

"Wait! Wait?! That baseball bat..."

The scene of his first encounter with the Security Guard flashed through Lin Yi's mind, along with the plaster baseball bat in the guard's hand...

"That baseball bat wasn't metal. In essence, it should be... some kind of sculpture!"

"A sculpture shaped like a spiked baseball bat!!"

"No, no, no... the Student Rules say all sculptures on campus are busts and are kept in the Art Building... so what the Security Guard was holding was just a simple plaster object. It doesn't fall under 'sculptures.'"

Lin Yi realized he was overthinking. His thoughts were not just excessive but disorganized. These things that flashed into his mind like sudden inspirations lacked logic or any coherent organization. They were more speculation and imagination than anything, without enough substance to serve as a reference.

He took a deep breath.

"There's still the second theory..."

"A body of... nonexistent water."

It flooded the Student Passage like a tide, then receded, then surged back again. Under the repeated washing of the water, moss had spread throughout the passage.

It was an utterly irrational theory!

Yet it was the only answer Lin Yi could think of based on his current surroundings.

His reasoning was not groundless. Precisely because, during last night's thick fog, he had twice looked at the fog spreading up the Teaching Building's steps and envisioned the building as a ship lost in a fog-shrouded deep sea beneath the moon.

He had seemed to hear waves and the distant singing of sea demons...

He, too, had felt that those were visual and auditory hallucinations, mere illusions.

But the strangely growing moss seemed to remind him that, if his visions were real, then the Cafeteria, like the Teaching Building, was being washed by some kind of waves at certain moments...

Lin Yi tried his hardest to recall looking at the steps below the Corridor when he left the classroom. Unfortunately, all his attention had been on the white powder, and he had never noticed whether there was moss on the steps.

But even if he had seen moss then, without the Cafeteria's bizarre distribution of it, he would not have thought much of it.

Now, however, things were different. If he returned to the classroom and found moss on the Corridor steps, that would provide at least a shred of evidence for this almost absurd theory.

Especially since-when the Security Guard dragged that creature off the lectern with his chain and it tumbled down the steps, there was no way the surrounding steps and ground could have escaped without a single mark!

But if... they had fallen into water, then everything seemed to make sense!

At this thought, he even lost interest in eating. If he had not eaten only half a roll of biscuits in nearly twelve hours, he really would have wanted to return to the Teaching Building right now and see whether there was moss on those steps!

"Lao Lin! Lao Lin! Are you okay?" A hand waved before Lin Yi's eyes like a windshield wiper.

Lin Yi brought his attention back and saw Wei Liang's panic-stricken face.

"Liangzi, what's wrong? Why are you so panicked?"

Seeing Lin Yi come back to his senses, Wei Liang sighed in relief, then said scornfully, "What's going on here? Why are you turning this around on me?"

"I'm panicked because of you!"

"What was wrong with you just now? Running up and down those steps like a lunatic? You made me run back and forth after you. I'm freaking exhausted!"

At his words, Lin Yi could not help lowering his eyes and staring distractedly at the Student Passage again, as though something else had occurred to him...

But this time, before he could start thinking, Wei Liang grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously.

"Hey, hey, hey! We're having a serious conversation! Why are you spacing out again?" Wei Liang's voice reached Lin Yi with a trace of annoyance.

Lin Yi hurriedly collected himself and said, "Liangzi, I found something in the Student Passage..."

"Something unclean?!" Wei Liang blurted out instinctively. "Holy crap, I knew there was a reason it felt so creepy in there!"

He jumped three feet into the air and abruptly went into full theatrical mode, striking the original Ultraman's Specium Ray pose. He blasted left and fired right, as nimble as the boss of Flower Fruit Mountain.

"Do you really have to be this dramatic?!" Wei Liang's antics dispelled much of the eerie atmosphere clinging to Lin Yi. Covering his face helplessly, he said, speechless, "There's moss in the Student Passage!"

"Pfft..." Wei Liang waved a hand. "We're deep in the mountains. Isn't moss perfectly normal?"

"But..."

"Oh, stop jumping at shadows!" Wei Liang pushed Lin Yi toward the Cafeteria. "Time to eat, time to eat! Why think so much? Is the moss going to turn into some monster and jump out to kill people?"

"Hey, hey, hey..." Unable to resist Wei Liang's strength, Lin Yi entered the Cafeteria.

"Moss?" Wei Liang glanced back at the Student Passage thoughtfully, then suddenly shuddered. "Hey, Lao Lin, I just remembered something!"

"What?" Lin Yi asked.

Wei Liang hesitated, then said, "I slipped in the Dormitory before."

Lin Yi: "..."

"Seriously... how on earth did that come to mind?"

Wei Liang added, "I remembered stepping on moss on the Dormitory steps last time and slipping."

Lin Yi suddenly froze.

But Wei Liang hurried to reassure him. "Don't look like that. What I'm saying is, there's lots of moss on this campus. Don't overthink it! As long as you don't run around outside the Dormitory during Abnormal Weather, you'll be fine!"

But Lin Yi's gaze flickered, his thoughts surging.

His first reaction was...

Fuck... there's moss on the Dormitory steps too?!

His "perspective" was completely different from Wei Liang's. The moss Wei Liang took for granted presented a huge problem in his eyes!

But... Liangzi slipped on moss, and he's still fine...

Should I really "not overthink it"?

Not thinking might be a safe approach, but he kept feeling that there was a flaw in it.

He was even a little worried about Wei Liang.

Some things did not seem avoidable simply by "not knowing" about them.

Like... the thick fog.

In a daze, he followed Wei Liang through the air curtain at the Cafeteria entrance and into the Student Dining Hall on the first floor.

The cool air blowing from the air curtain roused Lin Yi. He hurriedly pulled himself together and first checked his watch.

11:45.

Only then did he spare some attention to examine the Student Dining Hall.

May 7, X023, 11:45, S City University Cafeteria, first floor.

Lin Yi stood at the Cafeteria entrance, examining the Student Dining Hall.

The Student Dining Hall covered roughly several hundred square meters. Two tray-return stations stood symmetrically on either side of the entrance, followed by a large expanse of neatly matched blue plastic dining chairs.

After a quick look around, Lin Yi noticed that there seemed to be a problem with the Student Dining Hall's natural lighting. Perhaps the Cafeteria's location itself was the problem, leaving it with no direct light at all.

The only source of natural light was over by the Student Passage.

Thus, even though it was noon, the dining hall looked rather dim.

Even the numerous incandescent lights arranged like stars across the ceiling could only illuminate small areas.

Lin Yi looked to his left. Row upon row of incandescent lights converged like fading, narrowing dotted lines, extending into a pitch-black space.

So close, yet so far.

He had the eerie illusion that he was gazing into an abyss, as though a moment's carelessness would send him plunging headfirst into it.

Lin Yi's body suddenly swayed back and forth.

A sudden sensation of his center of gravity shifting enveloped him. He felt top-heavy, with an intense premonition that he was about to fall into that darkness.

"Shit!" Lin Yi cursed under his breath, using every ounce of strength to force his center of gravity backward.

Then his head truly felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds, dragging his body stumbling backward through the air curtain and plastic door curtain at the Cafeteria entrance before he landed on his backside on the ground.

Behind him, the incandescent lights in the Student Passage cast a gentle glow, dispelling the icy chill that had spread from deep within him throughout his body and shattering the terrifying sensation of being devoured by that pitch-black abyss.

Lin Yi panted violently, his forehead covered in sweat.

A gust blew in from the Student Passage, and he felt an icy chill across his back-it was already soaked in cold sweat.

"Lao Lin... Lao Lin... holy... crap..." A panicked, urgent voice sounded beside Lin Yi's ear.

The voice seemed to drift over from somewhere extremely far away.

He tore his gaze from the depths of the Cafeteria and saw Wei Liang's face gradually growing larger.

He saw Wei Liang's mouth moving, but could only vaguely hear fragmented sounds.

"Lao Lin... Lao Lin..."

"Lao Lin! Lao Lin!"

As his attention returned, the voice beside his ear suddenly became full and clear.

Only then did he feel that the picture and audio were in sync...

"Lao Lin, are you okay?" Wei Liang grabbed his hand anxiously, trying hard to pull him off the ground.

With Wei Liang's help, Lin Yi stood back up, then gasped for breath. "Liangzi, I..."

Wei Liang waved repeatedly, cutting him off. "And you still say you don't have kidney deficiency? Missing one meal has you so hungry you're dizzy? Also, why the fuck... are you so heavy!"

"I..." Lin Yi glanced at the time on his watch.

11:49.

He wanted to say more, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of the dining hall corner that had been pitch-black moments earlier, and froze.

What dark corner was there in the Student Dining Hall?

Within reach of the incandescent lights, there was only a dimly lit wall, covered in tiles shaped much like the reliefs in the Teaching Building. There was nothing else.

"Just now..."

He was a little confused.

He had clearly seen a bottomless black abyss just now. How had it... become normal again?

"What exactly is... over there?"

Just as that question arose, an unfamiliar yet familiar weariness he had not felt for a long time suddenly spread from the depths of his heart!

As his perceptions fell into disarray, the abyss spread through his heart!

An indescribable terror enveloped him again in an extremely short span of time!

"Fuck!" Lin Yi abruptly realized something, but he no longer had any way to reverse the direction of his thoughts!

Terror crept upon him, chilling his entire body!

Smack!

At that critical moment, a hand landed heavily on his shoulder.

As though waking from a nightmare, Lin Yi jerked violently, then closed and opened his eyes to find himself standing before the plastic door curtain at the Cafeteria entrance.

"How did I never notice how frail you are?" Wei Liang's helpless sigh reached him. "I always thought Kuai Kuai had the most yin energy out of you guys. Turns out you're the weakest one. You're not up to much, young man!"

For once, Lin Yi said nothing. There was only one thought in his mind-

I fucking let my guard down!

It's not that I can think freely during the day. I can only think freely in the sunlight! Where there's no sunlight, I can't think about anything that crosses the line!

Xu Shunkang had been completely right. To think, he had to go into the sunlight, yet he had carelessly confused "a sunny day" with "being in the sunlight"!

Although daylight illuminated the Student Dining Hall, it was fundamentally different from the concept of "being in the sunlight"!

Lin Yi had figured this out the instant that indescribable terror enveloped him, but if Wei Liang had not woken him, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

He looked at Wei Liang.

Some disheveled hair poked out beneath Wei Liang's baseball cap. After staying up all night "cultivating immortality," he now looked thoroughly lethargic.

Even so, his lethargy was still full of sunshine.

He

lowered his head and checked his watch.

11:50.

Less than a minute has passed since then? Lin Yi's heart jolted, but this time he restrained the urge to think about that question.

He shook his head and hurried after him. "Hey, Liangzi, wait for me! I'm coming!"

Just as Lin Yi chased after Wei Liang, someone slowly emerged from a shadowy corner in the spot he had been looking toward.

It was a Chef wearing a green apron. His stiff body slowly turned like a marionette, and then his gaze settled on Lin Yi.

He lifted his feet and slowly walked toward Lin Yi...

In light of everyone's enthusiastic feedback, as an excellent author, I certainly won't rigidly cap the update at 4,000 characters. So I've included a little more in this chapter, and then... ended it on another cliffhanger.