Security Guard

"Shit!" Cold sweat broke out across Lin Yi's back. "Liangzi, what are they?"

Wei Liang stammered, trembling, "I-I don't know either... It wasn't this creepy last time I came. Why don't we run? While we're still at the School Gate..."

Lin Yi glanced at the lamppost and reminded him bitterly, "But Liangzi, we're nowhere near the School Gate anymore..."

Wei Liang went pale. He pressed his lips together and leaned against the streetlamp in silence.

"Hey... you guys walked pretty fast." Just then, a voice sounded beside Lin Yi's ear.

Four figures passed through the dense fog and walked up to them in the dim light.

They were Lin Yi's roommates. Dragging their luggage and carrying backpacks, they walked unhurriedly up to him through the curtain of light cast by the streetlamp.

Lin Yi looked at them in surprise. "Young Master Tian, how did you get here?"

"We walked. What, did you think we flew?" A contemptuous expression appeared on Mao Feiyang's thin, dark face.

Mao Feiyang wanted to say more, but Tian Bufan interrupted him. "We saw the light come on and followed the road over. Are you two all right? Why do you look so shaken?"

"We nearly weren't." Lin Yi asked, "Didn't you notice anything strange on the way here?"

"It'd be strange if there wasn't anything strange. Would a school without any problems pay people thirty thousand for a seven-day trial?" Mao Feiyang sneered. "Do you think the school has more money than sense?"

The gaunt Kuai Hongji gave a sinister sneer. "Exactly. Thirty thousand for seven days would be enough to buy Mao's life."

"Stop yapping. This place is really pissing me off. I can't stand another second here!" Wei Shan clenched his fists, his burly frame taut like an aggressive bear itching to tear something apart.

"I should've brought my Baseball Bat!" His breathing was heavy, and he radiated intense hostility toward the figures in the fog.

"All right, we just got here. Don't get so worked up, Wei Sang." Tian Bufan gently rested a hand on Wei Shan's shoulder. Only then did Wei Shan's heavy breathing ease somewhat.

Tian Bufan closed his eyes and raised his head, taking a deep breath. The dense fog entered his nostrils before he exhaled it through his mouth.

He slowly opened his eyes, a trace of calm excitement in them.

"This really is a place worth exploring. Much more interesting than just reading the rules."

His roommates' conversation did nothing to ease Lin Yi's fear of their surroundings. He looked around, his eyes full of worry.

As night fell, the fog would only grow thicker. The "domain" initially formed by the light was being steadily eroded by the fog. Before long, they too would be swallowed up.

The Female Teachers, who exuded an eerie air in every way, were also slowly approaching them with the Student Cadres.

Beneath the thick fog, something else also seemed to be approaching while doing its utmost to conceal its form. It was not fast, but its oppressive presence was overwhelming.

Wei Shan seemed to sense it, and his breathing grew heavy again.

His eyes were bloodshot, like a wild beast that might go berserk at any moment.

"Don't be afraid. We're all here." Lin Yi held Wei Shan's other shoulder.

As Wei Shan's roommate, he knew that Wei Shan was irritable and claustrophobic. The dense fog was like a black box, steadily pressing down on Wei Shan's emotions, threatening to send him berserk at any moment after the extreme oppression.

"Heh heh, Wei Sang's finally going crazy!" Kuai Hongji said coldly.

"You sneaky bastard, believe me, you'll be the first one I tear apart!" Wei Shan let out low, huffing growls as he stared at Kuai Hongji with bloodshot eyes.

"Enough! Kuai Kuai, Wei Sang, this isn't the time to bicker." Suppressing his discomfort, Lin Yi lowered his voice.

"Heh heh." Kuai Hongji twitched the corners of his mouth, ignoring Wei Shan's threat.

"I'm scared to death right now, Lin. What are we going to do?" Wei Liang asked fearfully, his back pressed tight against the streetlamp.

Lin Yi looked in the direction Tian Bufan and the others had come from. After a moment's thought, he mused, "If we go back along this road, could we reach the School Gate and leave?"

Though the fog was thick, they could faintly make out a streetlamp standing a short distance away like a lighthouse.

The streetlamp cast a clear yellow light that twisted toward them like a length of cloth, extending all the way to the streetlamp at their feet.

Wei Liang's eyes lit up as though he had found a lifeline.

"What, you want to leave already?" Mao Feiyang asked.

Lin Yi shook his head. He had not expected to encounter something so bizarre as soon as he arrived at S City University. Beside him, Wei Liang's face had darkened so much beneath his baseball cap that it was impossible to make out.

"I'm not leaving, but perhaps we can get Liangzi out."

"You're dreaming." Tian Bufan bluntly dashed his hopes. "As soon as we got off the bus and entered the School Gate, we discovered that the gate had disappeared."

"Disappeared how? Into thin air?"

Tian Bufan said gravely, "The fog covered the School Gate, and then it disappeared. But... I had this strange feeling. The gate hadn't disappeared. It had been pulled away."

"Can you understand that feeling?"

"The gate was clearly right in front of you, but when you tried to walk over, that tiny stretch of road stretched out like rubber. No matter how far you walked, you couldn't reach it."

"It was clearly only a step away, yet it felt as distant as another world."

Lin Yi frowned in disbelief. "I felt that just now too."

Tian Bufan said, "So even if we want to leave, we'll have to follow the rules to get out... We have to accept the rules first and become people within them."

"Just like playing a survival game. Use every rule you can to protect yourself, then survive until you clear it."

"But we don't need to clear it. We just need to... understand the rules, then leave at a suitable time."

Tian Bufan's eyes gleamed like those of an excellent player.

Among the members of Dormitory 4016, Tian Bufan had a particularly adventurous spirit. He had wanted to visit S City University for a long time.

Lin Yi looked at the churning fog around his feet as the rules in the Student Rules began scrolling through his mind one by one.

Although they had not completed enrollment or received their Student IDs, the Student Rules were the only rules they could follow.

"Some of the rules might be useful. For instance, don't look back. Or..."

"If we keep following the streetlamps in descending numerical order, we'll encounter a Security Guard."

"If we follow the Security Guard, we can reach a building on the Map... like the Teaching Building closest to us."

Lin Yi looked at Tian Bufan. "Young Master Tian, you must have checked that lamppost. What number was it?"

"'Teaching Building-025.'"

"Huh? There's no number 24?" The streetlamp beside Lin Yi was "Teaching Building-023." "We need to find a streetlamp numbered lower than 23, or..."

"In fog like this, who knows whether going in to look for a streetlamp would just be looking for death?" Kuai Hongji said bluntly.

"I can go in!" Wei Shan said in a low, throaty voice.

"Don't do anything stupid." Lin Yi frowned, and the restless Wei Shan actually calmed down at once. "Or we can wait here for a Security Guard, then follow him to the Teaching Building."

"Are you sure we wouldn't just be waiting to die?" Mao Feiyang asked. "We don't have Student IDs. Would a Security Guard help us?"

"It's the only method mentioned in the rules," Lin Yi said. "Do you have a better idea?"

"I'll think of one," Mao Feiyang insisted stubbornly.

"Then we'll wait here and see which comes first: your idea or the Security Guard."

Mao Feiyang curled his lips.

Tian Bufan settled the matter. "That's decided, then. We'll wait here for a Security Guard. In the meantime, everyone should use this streetlamp as a reference point. Don't lose your bearings."

As he spoke, he rested his hand on the streetlamp.

Lin Yi looked at Wei Liang.

Wei Liang was now crouching on the ground with his back against the streetlamp, clutching the Student Rules to his chest like a priest gripping a Bible and drawing hissing breaths of cold air.

"Liangzi, are you all right?"

Wei Liang shivered. "Last time I came, I saw the Security Guards once from a distance. They... were very strange. And apparently, they don't have a very good reputation at the school."

"But their reputation doesn't matter anymore... What matters is that we're in the mountains right now. Once the fog thickens, it's bound to rain tonight!"

"We have to reach the Teaching Building or the Dormitory before it rains. They say the Campus is especially eerie on rainy days!"

Lin Yi narrowed his eyes at the drifting fog. Layer upon layer pressed down like mountains, making it hard to breathe.

The thick fog grew wildly around their feet like vines. They tightened their circle, keeping as close to the streetlamp as possible.

The cramped space formed by the streetlamp's curtain of light was filled with heavy breathing.

Dark shadows darted through the fog. They could not tell whether they were fog or something else, but they could clearly hear the scraping sound of stone rubbing against the ground and feel the malicious gazes coming from deep within the mist.

It was as though a group of unknown creatures had set their sights on them.

Lin Yi lowered his head to glance at his wrist.

18:21.

Only eighteen minutes had passed, yet it felt so long.

Suddenly, Lin Yi narrowed his eyes. He felt as though some strange calling was mixed into the rolling fog, a lilting sound like an opera performer singing, but it drifted unpredictably, like echoes in an empty valley.

He shook his head, and the sound immediately vanished. But a moment later, it slowly sounded beside his ears again...

This time, it sounded more like someone calling his name.

Lin Yi felt agitated, itching to rush into the fog.

Wei Shan lowered his body, low, huffing growls rising from his throat like a wild beast about to go berserk.

Just then, the dense fog in the distance suddenly began churning violently, as though someone were striding through sand and silt on the seabed, breaking open a Field.

A faint yellow light flickered within the Field.

"Rustle, rustle..."

More hurried scraping sounds came from the dense fog. The creatures within seemed to have encountered their natural predator and began retreating like an ebbing tide.

The fog dispersed a little. Lin Yi turned to look and saw a figure as imposing as an iron tower moving unhurriedly through it, like a giant mechanical warrior breaking through the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Once the figure drew a little closer, Lin Yi saw that it was a burly man in a black overcoat.

The man held an old Kerosene Lamp in his left hand. The curtain of light it cast spread out and cleaved through the fog like a sharp blade.

In his right hand, he held a white Baseball Bat that looked as though it had been molded from plaster. A dark red, viscous substance mixed with white powder seemed to cling to its tip.

"It's a Security Guard!" Wei Liang said, both frightened and excited.

"It really is a Security Guard..." Lin Yi looked at the guard curiously.

But just as he looked over, the Security Guard abruptly turned his head, meeting his gaze with a pair of golden eyes.

Beneath the dense fog, the Security Guard's golden eyes shone like the sun. Scalding molten gold seemed to flow deep within them, and the stinging pain made Lin Yi immediately turn his head away.

"Clank, clank, clank..." Like a heavy tank, the Security Guard reached the streetlamp and stepped into its curtain of light.

The Security Guard was over two meters tall and looked as though he could reach up and pull down the streetlamp. He gazed down at Lin Yi and the others, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.

At nearly one meter ninety, Wei Shan's sturdy build already put him among the taller ordinary people, yet he still looked like a child before the Security Guard.

He gave low, huffing growls, watching the Kerosene Lamp in the Security Guard's hand warily, but still displayed intense hostility toward him.

The Security Guard bent down and sniffed lightly in front of Lin Yi. Then, without a word, he turned and stepped out of the light into the dense fog.

Seeing the fog about to swallow the Security Guard's figure, Lin Yi hauled Wei Liang to his feet and urgently shouted in a low voice, "Quick, follow the Security Guard!"

May 6, X023, 18:33.

In S City University's Teaching Building area, dense fog filled the Campus like clumps of cotton as Lin Yi and the others followed the Security Guard through it.

Lin Yi surveyed their surroundings warily. At intervals, he could see a lit streetlamp not far away, but the Security Guard did not enter the Fields formed by their light.

Lin Yi noticed that although the old Kerosene Lamp in the Security Guard's hand was not bright, it cast a curtain of light just like the streetlamps.

They were like an icebreaker, cutting through wind and waves under their captain's guidance.

Suddenly, Lin Yi noticed something. He lowered his head and looked toward the source of the clanking, only then discovering that the Security Guard actually wore shackles around his waist, with a thick, long iron chain attached to their end.

Part of the chain dragged along the ground, while another part... was held in someone's hand!

Lin Yi's pupils abruptly dilated. An icy sensation suddenly shot up his spine to the crown of his head. Following his gaze, another figure could be seen within the fog!

It was a Cafeteria worker wearing a white chef's uniform with a blue Apron hanging in front. He carried a meal box in one hand and gripped the iron chain in the other, and that chain...

"Wait...!!"

Lin Yi followed the chain back with his eyes and saw more Chefs following behind that Chef, one after another disappearing into the thick fog like a long dragon.

Each carried a meal box in one hand and held the iron chain in the other, like pagans walking through the long night with oil lamps before the Middle Ages.

Everyone maintained perfectly synchronized steps, slowly advancing under the Security Guard's lead, seemingly completely unaware of Lin Yi and the others.

Lin Yi suddenly realized that this was a complete procession, and they were the intruders!

Just as that thought occurred to him, a voice suddenly sounded from the fog beside him:

"Student, have you had dinner?"

A Chef let go of the iron chain and walked toward them with his meal box.

"This is our Cafeteria's bestselling dish, Tomato Meat Sauce Pasta. You can try it for free."

The Chef wore a smile that was clearly normal yet somehow felt wrong, as though it had been molded through precise calculations.

Lin Yi felt deeply uncomfortable, his heart full of resistance. He blinked hard and suddenly noticed that a dark green Apron hung in front of this Chef's chest.