This floor seemed a little uneven, huh

May 7, X023, 11:53, Student Dining Hall, First-Floor Cafeteria.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang followed some students and obediently lined up in front of a Meal Window.

The Student Dining Hall's Meal Windows were straight ahead from the entrance. They resembled the huge panes of transparent glass at a hospital pharmacy, with a gap at the bottom for meal trays to pass through.

Each window had a conspicuous number on its glass, consisting of a red circle and a numeral. From left to right, they were 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Meal Window No. 1 and Meal Window No. 5 stood in the two corners of the Student Dining Hall. The lighting was dim there, but their lines were the longest.

Lin Yi looked around curiously, then realized that the First-Floor Cafeteria had no Meal Windows numbered 6 through 9.

"Meal Window No. 6 and Meal Window No. 9 are upstairs," Wei Liang explained, seemingly seeing what Lin Yi was wondering.

"Oh." Lin Yi nodded in acknowledgment.

He and Wei Liang had joined the line at Meal Window No. 3. This line ran roughly down the middle of the Cafeteria, where the light was brightest, offering a full sense of security.

After his brief reply, Lin Yi glanced at the long, snaking line, then lowered his head and shut his mouth.

After what had just happened, he understood that the Student Dining Hall contained another source of danger not recorded in the Cafeteria Rules-the environment.

Or rather, the lighting.

The Cafeteria Rules clearly stated:

[The lights in the Student Dining Hall Area remain on twenty-four hours a day. Do not enter areas without illumination.

Stay away from the Cafeteria's dark places.

If the lights in the Student Dining Hall begin flickering, leave the Cafeteria through the [Student Passage] immediately! Right away! At any cost!

Unlike a classroom, a Cafeteria with its lights out has no safe areas!]

It had been spelled out clearly, yet he had still nearly fallen into danger. If Wei Liang had not snapped him out of it, he would already have sunk into that incomprehensible abyss.

He had also discovered that the gap between reality and imagination really was as vast as that between heaven and earth.

Only after entering the Cafeteria in person could you understand what its rules actually meant.

And sometimes, by the time you understood a rule through firsthand experience, it might already be too late.

Yet expecting to understand the rules simply by reading them was far too absurd.

In this Cafeteria-or at least in the Student Dining Hall as it currently was-the lighting conditions meant that, despite it being daytime, the illumination was already about as weak as at dusk.

Dim light filled the entire dining hall. On one side, light and shadow slanted across the room like twilight; on the other, there was simply no light at all, as though it were a pitch-black blind spot.

Only the Incandescent Lights struggled to shine, illuminating the Cafeteria, but even their light gradually faded from the center toward the edges.

At the outermost edges, places with sunlight remained bright, while those without could only retreat into shadow.

This environment reminded Lin Yi of a place-the Corridor in the Teaching Building.

The same Incandescent Lights...

The same shadows...

The same "flickering lights" mentioned in the rules...

Everything was so similar.

But the difference between the Cafeteria and the Teaching Building was that the Cafeteria's shadows were far too deep.

If the unlit spaces in the Teaching Building were merely little corners, then the unlit space in the Cafeteria was an enormous area.

And as the sunlight shifted, that area moved.

At noon, the shadows covered the smallest area. By evening, they might engulf both Meal Window No. 1 and Meal Window No. 5.

Lin Yi's eyelids twitched slightly.

Once it's past 20:00, the Cafeteria will probably have only that small patch illuminated by the lights left...

[Stay away from the Cafeteria's dark places. Do not enter places without illumination!]

The subject of "do not enter"... isn't just "people." It also includes... "attention"!

Fuck... so I can't even give it a glance!

That's way too strict!

And...

Although the Cafeteria keeps its Incandescent Lights on twenty-four hours a day, there are still uncontrollable factors like "flickering lights" or even "the lights going out"!

A Cafeteria with its lights out...

[Unlike a classroom, a Cafeteria with its lights out has no safe areas!]

Lin Yi shuddered involuntarily and hurriedly suppressed his thoughts, not daring to think any further along those lines.

He collected himself and followed behind Wei Liang, his gaze fixed on Wei Liang's heels as he silently shuffled forward with the line.

Suddenly, a flat voice with a questioning note sounded beside his ear:

"Classmate, are you in line?"

Lin Yi froze briefly, then heard several more calls of "Classmate."

After confirming that the other person probably really was addressing him, he shifted his gaze from Wei Liang's heels and slowly followed the Student Dining Hall's patterned gray-green floor tiles toward the source of the voice.

But the instant he turned his neck slightly, a pair of legs in black shoes and white trousers burst into the corner of his vision.

As his field of vision widened with the turn, the hem of a dark green apron appeared...

His pupils contracted violently. An intense sense of danger surged from his heart and swept over him like a storm.

Rule 10 of the Cafeteria Rules instantly surfaced in his mind:

[While lining up to purchase food or eating, do not respond to any attempts at communication initiated by strangers around you. If you have a companion, focus your attention on communicating with them and ignore all unusual occurrences around you.]

FUCK!!! An enormous FUCK sprang into Lin Yi's mind, then started dancing on his forehead atop its strokes.

Fortunately, after a whole night of "back-and-forth" with students who were not quite right, Lin Yi was no longer the same as before.

Although his physical strength was already somewhat depleted, at that moment, he somehow squeezed strength out of somewhere and forcibly tensed his body.

Like a robot suddenly stripped of a movement command, he forcibly froze in place.

It was as though someone had forcibly pressed pause.

Theoretically... he had not yet responded to the other party's "attempt at communication."

Gulp...

Lin Yi kept his body rigid, his throat shifting slightly as he swallowed with difficulty.

Though a sleepless night and the earlier scares had left him utterly exhausted, under the lash of that intense sense of danger, his brain began roaring into motion again like a tractor gone haywire, chugging out black smoke...

Cafeteria Rules! Teaching Building Rules! Shit! The Teaching Building Rules are useless right now!

What other fucking rules were there?! The noticeboard? Student Rules? Yes, yes, yes! Student Rules!

Student Rules!

Rules erupted through his mind like a gusher!

Soon, besides the earlier rule, he locked onto two more. One came from the Student Rules:

[The Cafeteria currently has only nine Meal Windows open. The employees inside every window wear blue aprons. If an employee wearing a green apron recommends the latest dishes to you, especially Tomato Meat Sauce Noodles, ignore him. Remember, the Cafeteria has no tomato sauce. Be wary of any food that uses tomato sauce as a condiment.]

The other came from the Cafeteria Rules:

[Cafeteria employees wear a standard uniform consisting of a white chef's outfit and a blue apron, along with a name badge.

All Cafeteria employees remain within the Staff Activity Area and inside the Meal Windows. They will not appear in the Student Dining Hall Area. If you discover an employee in the dining hall area, ignore him.]

Without time to consider the connections between the rules, Lin Yi first applied them to his present situation and made an initial, provisional emergency assessment.

He had no time left!

Because according to the Cafeteria Rules, Cafeteria employees would never enter the Student Dining Hall Area!

And there were no! Fucking! Chefs! Wearing! Green! Aprons! In! The! Cafeteria!

Even green aprons themselves did not exist!

Every employee in the Cafeteria is a Blue Apron Chef, and they all stay inside Meal Windows 1 through 9!

So what... is this fucker in the green apron?

The instant that thought surfaced, he shattered the impulse to think with a hammer blow of mental storm.

Thinking about this fucker right in front of him was itself the biggest fucking problem!

Don't think about him!

Don't look at him!

Don't...

"Classmate."

A voice sounded without warning, and a face thrust into Lin Yi's vision.

The face was as pale as if coated in a thick layer of foundation. Its brows and eyes curved, and it wore a standard smile that looked as though it had been molded only after precise calculation.

May 7, X023, 12:02.

In the Student Dining Hall of the First-Floor Cafeteria, amid the long, snaking line at Meal Window No. 3, the Green Apron Chef lay rigid as a plank on the floor, craning his neck to put his face directly in Lin Yi's line of sight.

Lin Yi had been looking down at the floor tiles, but this Green Apron Chef had actually forced his face in front of him, compelling them to make eye contact!

Holy... shit?!

Lin Yi's already contracted pupils shrank straight down to pinpoints!

How could he possibly have imagined that this guy would pull off such an inhuman maneuver!

Come on! There are students lining up everywhere! How the fuck did you squeeze into a gap and lie down?!

Their eyes met, and an utterly freezing chill arose from deep within his organs, then crashed back and forth through his body.

He felt as though even the light around him had dimmed considerably...

Not only had this guy appeared before him, but... he was lying right inside his shadow!

"Classmate, the Cafeteria recently introduced a Discount Meal. Every New Student has one opportunity to enjoy the Cafeteria's latest dish-Tomato Meat Sauce Pasta-for free. Would you like to try it?"

The Green Apron Chef spoke. His gentle, standardized smile brought Lin Yi no comfort whatsoever; instead, it felt as unbearable as countless bugs crawling over his body.

Lin Yi's face instantly went deathly pale. An indescribable fear exploded in his mind, and his body began trembling involuntarily, his limbs stiff and icy.

At that moment, one final thought remained in his mind:

Ignore him!

Absolutely! Absolutely! Ignore him!

Act as though he doesn't exist!

He emptied his attention, so that although he was still staring directly into the Green Apron Chef's eyes, his own gaze gradually went blank.

This was a widely circulated secret technique that few could actually put into practice, one Lin Yi had mastered without a teacher while zoning out in math class.

Its greatest sophistication lay in creating the illusion that he was staring at the writing on the board in deep thought, while his mind had actually wandered far away.

That was exactly what he did now.

Sure enough...

Under extreme circumstances, once he did this, it proved far more effective than thinking about beautiful legs in black stockings!

Time remained locked in that stalemate...

A fine sheen of sweat gradually appeared on Lin Yi's forehead. He suddenly realized that, powerful though his secret technique was, his eyes could still grow sore, while the other guy... didn't seem to fucking blink at all!

Fuck... how do I let him know I'm not paying any attention to him whatsoever?

Just as Lin Yi began losing ground and felt he was about to become utterly exhausted, Wei Liang's urging came from farther up the line:

"Lao Lin, what are you doing? Hurry up and move! You've left such a huge gap that everyone behind you is getting impatient!"

"Oh, come on, don't tell me your legs have gone weak?"

Wei Liang rushed helplessly over to Lin Yi, grabbed his hand, and dragged him toward the front of the line.

My savior's here... Lin Yi's eyes remained vacant, but his heart soared with joy.

Immediately afterward, he saw a foot appear out of nowhere and step on the Green Apron Chef's face, stamping out the look in his eyes like a cigarette butt...

Lin Yi froze, only to hear Wei Liang's voice continue beside his ear...

"Whoa, shit, watch your step, Lao Lin. This floor seems a little uneven, huh..."

In that instant, Lin Yi pulled his gaze away like drawing a blade. His vacant eyes refocused, and he followed Wei Liang, keeping close to the people ahead.

While he had been staring into the Green Apron Chef's eyes, the line ahead of Lin Yi had moved forward a little. Wei Liang noticed that Lin Yi had not followed, so he turned back to call him.

It also seemed that, because there were so many people in line, Wei Liang had not seen the Green Apron Chef.

Watching Wei Liang lead Lin Yi away, the Green Apron Chef's expression did not change at all.

He slowly climbed up from the floor tiles, his unnervingly white face still wearing the same curved brows and eyes and standardized smile.

The difference was that it now bore a shoe print.

He slowly turned his stiff, puppetlike body, his gaze gradually shifting from Lin Yi to Wei Liang.

He stared at the foot Wei Liang had stepped on his face with.

At some point, a drop of dark red, viscous substance had stuck to the sole of Wei Liang's shoe.

It looked like tomato sauce.