Meal Window No. 10

The moment Wei Liang spoke, Lin Yi felt a rush of air shoot to the top of his head.

His mind went blank for a moment. Then, almost reflexively, he lashed out with a lightning-fast kick.

Thud!

A dull sound rang out. Lin Yi felt as though he had kicked an old quilt soaked in water. The heavy, solid recoil pushed his dining chair back some distance, slamming it into the people gathered around him.

The impact forced the crowd apart a little. Through the chair back, Lin Yi felt something like striking wood wrapped in strips of cloth.

"Fuck! What the hell are these things?!" he cursed under his breath, though whether he meant the thing he had kicked by his feet or the people around him was unclear.

"I don't fucking know either!!" Wei Liang's voice shook, his limbs trembling uncontrollably. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...!!!"

He felt the blood rush to his head, sweeping away his reason. His mind held no thoughts, only the rapid stomping of something close to muscle memory as he stamped again and again on the unidentified creature licking his right foot.

"It's out! It's out!" Wei Liang was both shocked and delighted, caught between misery and joy, tears almost spilling from his eyes. "Lao Lin, Lao Lin, what do we do now?!"

"Run! Put your trays at the tray return! Then leave through the Student Passage!!" Lin Yi snatched up his tray. "Remember the classroom?! Don't look at them! Ignore them!! Follow me! Quick! Quick, quick, quick!!"

Lin Yi sprang from his chair, grabbed his tray, lowered his head, and ran. To keep from dropping the tray, he gripped it in his hand and used his body and shoulders as an ice axe, trying to break through the crowd.

But those people stood there like ice sculptures and blocks of stone, forming an impenetrable wall.

Lin Yi slammed into them and bounced back, then slammed into them again and bounced back again. Several attempts achieved nothing.

"Fuck... why are they so hard?!" Lin Yi rubbed where he felt sore and numb, his bewildered face a picture of bewilderment.

"Are you practicing fucking Kun boxing?!" Wei Liang caught on late but moved first. "Move aside! Let me!"

He mustered all his strength and drove out a right front kick, aiming straight at the seam between two people in the human wall!

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish...

As Wei Liang kicked, a gap suddenly opened in the steel-like wall-not because his kick had worked, but because everyone's gaze was drawn to the tomato sauce on his shoe at that instant, making them turn their bodies slightly!

"Here's our chance! Lao Lin, charge with me!" Wei Liang grabbed his tray and held it over his head, unleashing an unprecedented burst of force as he rammed into the crowd like a bull!

"Holy shit! Go, go, go, go, go...!" Lin Yi hurried after him, copying Wei Liang by hoisting his tray over his head and following close on his heels!

"Ora, ora, oralalala-"

Roaring over and over, Wei Liang led Lin Yi in a remarkably skillful, savage charge through the crowd, like lion dancers holding up an empty frame.

"Glug, glug, glug...!"

Lin Yi could clearly sense the crowd closing in, while he and Wei Liang were like two people trapped deep inside a glacial gorge about to collapse.

If they failed to escape before the ice walls on either side closed together, what awaited them might be more than simply being crushed into meat patties!

As the crowd pressed in, Lin Yi felt something strange through the contact.

"Their bodies... they're cold and stiff!"

Like wood that had soaked in water for a long time, then been wrapped in a quilt and taken out!

There was none of the feel of human flesh!

Instead, they felt more like corpses growing rigid!

That discovery alone sent goose bumps erupting all over Lin Yi's body, and intense fear swept over him like a tide!

Driven by that emotion, his adrenaline levels skyrocketed, and an unprecedented burst of strength flooded his body!

"Huff! Huff! Huff..."

Lin Yi's breathing grew heavy.

His eyes began to turn bloodshot.

His body hunched slightly, like a beast gathering itself to pounce.

"Huff! Huff... hrr! Hrr, hrr, hrr... hyah-"

A low, beastlike sound emerged from his faintly working throat.

Bang!!

He stamped hard against the floor, the muscles in his legs standing out in perfect definition. The tremendous burst of force launched him like a cannonball!

He slammed into Wei Liang, driving him forward along with him!

"Ow, my poor back~~~~ lalalalala (involuntarily encrypted communication: Lao Lin, Lao Lin, Lao...) slow down, slow down, slow down, owwwww~~~~" Wei Liang let his tongue loll as he let out a piercing scream, all but rolling his eyes back.

Just then, the crowd suddenly burst apart with a bang!

Lin Yi and Wei Liang abruptly felt their bodies lighten. That iron-barrel pressure vanished in an instant!

"What?!"

Startled, Lin Yi suddenly noticed the light around them brighten.

His vision, previously darkened by the surrounding crowd, brightened all at once as well!

"Did we... break through?!"

Lin Yi's shock turned to delight, but before he could catch his breath, an icy chill slithered up his spine.

The aftereffects of that burst of latent strength had yet to fade. He seemed still able to sense the crowd's stares clearly, their gazes radiating naked, intense greed, desire, and madness.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish...

Figure after figure mechanically turned, locking their gazes on Lin Yi. Then, with stiff steps, they began chasing him and Wei Liang.

They were not fast at all, even somewhat stiff and slow, like walking corpses.

But with enough of them, even walking corpses could become a zombie siege.

"Liangzi, put your tray away! Then leave through the Student Passage immediately!" Lin Yi shouted. "Don't look back, not even if I call you! Just keep charging ahead! Run! Liangzi! Run!"

"I know! I know! Watch your own fucking back!" Holding his tray in one hand and supporting his aching lower back with the other, Wei Liang stumbled toward the Plate Return Area.

The Plate Return Area lay in the direction of the Student Dining Hall's entrance. With all three points now in a straight line, he could clearly see the dining hall doors!

Warm sunlight spilled over the Student Dining Hall's exit. For a hazy moment, Wei Liang felt the wonderful sensation of running beneath the setting sun.

Only his running partner was not a long-legged girl wearing a tennis visor, a sexy little red tank top, denim hot pants, and white sneakers, but Lin Yi, the guy stabbing him in the back with a tray.

That shove from Lao Lin definitely had a touch of settling personal scores on the job! He remembered how often he had teased Lin Yi about kidney deficiency. Despicable. Absolutely despicable!

Wei Liang kept diverting his attention.

Soon, he reached the Plate Return Area.

The Plate Return Area was a huge metal rack equipped with a food waste bin. Beside it stood a Cafeteria employee dressed in a white chef's uniform and a blue apron.

Seeing Wei Liang rushing over in a panic, the employee in the blue apron hurried forward to take his tray.

Wei Liang instinctively moved to hand it over.

"Liangzi! Don't trust him! The Cafeteria Rules! The fucking Cafeteria Rules!"

Lin Yi's roar rang out behind him, thick with urgency, like a basin of hot water poured over his head!

"Holy fucking shit!" Wei Liang jolted violently. His arm shuddered, and he froze in the middle of handing over the tray.

His heart clenched, and he understood instantly.

The Cafeteria Rules said:

[Dump any unfinished food directly into the waste bin. Taking food away is prohibited. If an employee asks whether you need your food packed up, or accuses you of wasting food, ignore them. Remember, no Cafeteria employees will ever appear in the Student Dining Hall area.]

True, the Cafeteria Rules only mentioned employees asking about packing food and employees accusing you of wasting it, but there was still that last sentence: no Cafeteria employees would ever appear in the Student Dining Hall area!

So there was clearly something very wrong with this chef!

The instant he recalled that rule, Wei Liang broke into a cold sweat. "Fuck... did I almost fall for it?!"

Interrupted by the warning, the chef in the blue apron froze too.

But his stillness was clearly not that of a normal person. It was like a robot suddenly losing power and shutting down.

Then he shifted his gaze slightly, tilting his head to look at Lin Yi, his eyes calm and seemingly devoid of any emotion.

Wei Liang reached the Plate Return Area, put his tray and chopsticks down separately, then charged toward the Student Dining Hall's doors without looking back.

Lin Yi was behind him. After putting down his tray, he immediately made to follow Wei Liang out of the Student Dining Hall.

But just then, a pleasantly surprised voice suddenly rang out behind him:

"Lao Lin!"

It was Kuai Hongji's voice, carrying surprise and the joy of a reunion after a long separation.

Lin Yi froze, instinctively about to turn his head.

But he immediately realized something, shuddered, and charged toward the Student Dining Hall's entrance without looking back.

Just then, he suddenly heard a series of loud crashes and clatters from somewhere inside the Student Dining Hall, like someone stumbling into a room full of metal racks and accidentally knocking them all over.

Lin Yi had no intention of paying attention to that noise, nor did he dare to, but its source happened to appear right in front of him!

As time passed, the areas lit by sunlight inside the Cafeteria had shifted. At some unknown point, a patch of unlit space had appeared beside the Student Dining Hall's entrance.

And within that unlit area, there was actually a long, snaking queue!

Lin Yi wanted nothing to do with what was happening there, but the scene was right in his field of vision. So he saw that dark area, saw that snaking queue, saw... a window.

Meal Window No. 10.

Hidden in the darkened area, Meal Window No. 10 likewise had a long queue standing in the shadows before it...

The eerie feeling was like encountering a procession of ghost soldiers in broad daylight!

And Meal Window No. 10 was actually in a place like this?

How had he missed it earlier?!

"What the...?!" Lin Yi's pupils contracted sharply. As he ran, he suddenly felt as though he had inhaled a breath of wind from an arctic ice field, an indescribable chill filling his organs.

At that moment, it was as though someone had stuffed his lungs full of ice, nearly suffocating him!

And he saw the source of the strange noise!

A chef wearing a green apron was struggling out through Meal Window No. 10!

The window's glass left him very little space, yet he forced his way out through it.

Every hair on Lin Yi's head stood on end. What chilled him even more was that, faced with the Green Apron Chef's bizarre, incomprehensible behavior, none of the students queuing before Window 10 showed the slightest reaction!

At that moment, a rule instantly came to mind:

[After finishing your meal, please place your tray at the return station before leaving. If you hear unusual noises from Window 10 as you leave, immediately hold your Student ID in your hand, locate the [Student Passage], and leave at once.

When leaving, if you notice an employee in a green apron watching you, and he begins moving rapidly toward you, decide whether to head for the [Student Passage] or the Convenience Store based on your current position.

Before entering the [Student Passage] or reaching the Convenience Store, do not stop, do not look back, and do not respond to his calls, even if you feel he is about to catch you.]

What I should do in this situation is... hold my Student ID in my hand, then rush straight to the Student Passage or the Convenience Store!

Liangzi's already had enough time to escape! What about me, what about me, what about me?!

The Student Passage!

The Convenience Store!!

In that moment of crisis, his thoughts began racing at a terrifying speed.

The Student Passage is outside the dining hall!

As for the Convenience Store...?

He instinctively started looking around, but immediately crushed the thought.

Only starting to look for the Convenience Store now?! Finding death would be faster than finding the Convenience Store!

And as for the Convenience Store...

Unless the Convenience Store is in the opposite direction from the Green Apron Chef, wouldn't I be running right into his fucking face?!

Besides, the Convenience Store had several rules of its own, and he had no time to think them through!

So he made a simple calculation in an extremely short time and discovered that he could reach the Student Dining Hall's doors before the Green Apron Chef!

But the Green Apron Chef is much farther from the exit than I am, so he's much faster than me...

To escape the Cafeteria area, he had to account for more than leaving the Student Dining Hall. He had to make it all the way through the Student Passage.

If he catches me inside the Student Passage, won't I be doomed?!

He took it as a given that the chef in the green apron had a killing mechanism, and that he had already triggered it!

No, no! That's not how the killing mechanism works!

"Do not stop, do not look back, and do not respond to his calls, even if you feel he is about to catch you"!

So if the Cafeteria Rules are correct, even if the chef in the green apron catches up, I won't be in danger as long as I don't turn around or respond to him!

Maybe he can't even catch me at all?!

Like... the "Achilles paradox"?!

Could it be... the chef in the green apron is a restriction, and the real danger is those people who surrounded me earlier?!

Even as he calculated, his body was already charging toward the Cafeteria doors.

Go! Lin Yi roared inwardly, pushing his speed to the limit and shooting forward like an arrow!

"Classmate..." The Green Apron Chef's eerie voice drifted over from Meal Window No. 10. In the darkened area devoid of light, he flitted along like a ghost.

As Lin Yi began sprinting, his speed soared as well. If this continued, he was certain to meet Lin Yi at the Student Dining Hall's doors!

Thanks to reader "Drunken Lantern Riddles, the Night Is Still Young" for the tip!!