Pebbles and moss

"Throw them! Throw them now!" Lin Yi roared, hurling the shoe in his hand into the trash can with all his might.

Beside him, Wei Liang also managed to throw his sneakers.

"Plop! Plop!"

Both sneakers dropped into the trash can.

"I'm letting go! Keep yourselves steady!" Xu Shunkang shouted as he slowly eased off his strength.

Lin Yi and Wei Liang took the opportunity to steady themselves, backing out of the Staff Passage one step at a time until they finally escaped the worst-hit area engulfed by the sound waves.

Only after retreating all the way up the slope, near the Notice Board in front of the Cafeteria, did Lin Yi and Wei Liang slump to the ground in exhaustion.

"Th... thank you!" the two panted.

Looking at Xu Shunkang standing in the sunlight with the Baseball Bat on his back, they felt a reverence akin to gazing up at a god.

Xu Shunkang waved a hand and let out a long breath, then scolded them with some irritation. "Honestly, you two. You even dragged your feet over throwing something away."

"If I hadn't anticipated what you were going to do, wouldn't you have been done for?"

"You could predict even that?" Lin Yi was astonished. He still remembered Xu Shunkang holding the Cafeteria entrance single-handedly just a short while ago.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he had rushed over to save them.

"Not only did he predict it, he even went out of his way to rush over and save us. Love you for that..." Wei Liang chimed in.

Xu Shunkang raised his eyebrows slightly, looking down at the two bedraggled fellows, one with a single bare foot and the other with both feet bare.

"Do I need a reason to save someone? I wanted to, so I came."

Xu Shunkang smiled, hitched up his trouser legs as he crouched, and sat down on the steps beside Lin Yi and Wei Liang.

"Speaking of which, how did you predict we'd be at the Staff Passage?" Lin Yi asked curiously.

Xu Shunkang pointed at his bare foot.

"Your shoe got something on it that shouldn't have been there, so of course you'd go throw it in the trash. Do you even need to ask?"

"But... you haven't read the cafeteria rules. How did you know...?"

"Hold it, hold it!" Xu Shunkang shook his head with a chuckle. "Who told you I hadn't read them?"

"Before I became an Athlete Student, I was just like you."

"It's just that I don't need to follow the cafeteria rules anymore."

Xu Shunkang drew the Baseball Bat from his back and lightly hefted it in his hand.

His gaze was earnest, like an ancient swordsman polishing his beloved blade.

"You don't need to follow them anymore?" Lin Yi's heart jolted, and he grew thoughtful.

"Even so... thank you for saving us."

"Enough thanks. My ears will get calluses from hearing it so much." Xu Shunkang picked at his ear.

Lin Yi couldn't help asking again, "But... since the cafeteria rules say to throw anything stained with tomato sauce into the nearest trash can, why put the trash can so far away?"

Xu Shunkang shrugged. "You'll have to ask the Cafeteria staff about that."

Lin Yi fell silent for a moment, then said, "The Staff Passage... is too dangerous."

Xu Shunkang shook his head and asked, "Why else do you think the cafeteria rules are so strict about opening hours?"

Lin Yi froze. "You mean... what just happened is one of the dangers you'd encounter if you stayed in the Cafeteria past closing time?"

"So the Cafeteria's opening hours don't actually refer to the building itself, but the whole Cafeteria area?"

"But... isn't it only..."

He lowered his head to check his watch.

13:08.

"It's only 13:08. Why would there be danger?"

Xu Shunkang countered, "The lights can still go out when you're in a classroom that's supposedly lit all night after 18:00, can't they?"

"Besides, don't the cafeteria rules also say not to go to the Staff Passage under normal circumstances?"

"But... the trash can is over there?" Lin Yi indicated that he hadn't wanted to go there at all.

Xu Shunkang nodded. "The trash can is over there, but let me take a wild guess. You didn't throw the trash away immediately. For some reason, you lingered at the entrance to the Staff Passage with it for a while, then heard those sound waves. Right?"

When Lin Yi said nothing, Xu Shunkang knew he had guessed correctly.

"Oh, right, let me take another wild guess... did you notice that the tomato sauce on the stained area had vanished and turned into plaster powder like this?"

Xu Shunkang raised his Baseball Bat, which was covered in plaster powder.

"Then that little head of yours started wondering whether you'd gotten tomato sauce or plaster powder on you. After all that dithering, you ended up in that situation?"

"How did you...?" Lin Yi stared at Xu Shunkang, dumbfounded. He had gotten everything right.

Xu Shunkang waved a hand and slowly delivered his answer. "Seen it all before."

"Uh..."

"So... lingering outside the Staff Passage too long can put you in danger too?"

"That's right."

Lin Yi asked in surprise, "You actually answered directly?"

Xu Shunkang pointed at the Sun high overhead. "The sky is clear and spotless. What's there to fear? You, on the other hand, had better watch yourself once that time passes. Don't let your thoughts wander over the line, then blame me for not warning you when something happens."

"Uh... okay. Thanks for the warning."

"So the right thing to do would have been to throw away the trash and immediately leave the Staff Passage without looking back?"

Xu Shunkang nodded. "Yes. And if you're confident in your shooting skills, I'd suggest throwing it from a distance, as long as you can make sure it lands in the trash can."

"But if you miss, things will get very awkward... you wouldn't want to hear that sound again just to pick something up, would you?"

"I understand," Lin Yi said.

"Good, as long as you understand. All right, I've rested enough. I'll be off." With that, Xu Shunkang grabbed his Baseball Bat and stood.

"Oh, right..." Something suddenly occurred to him. He turned his face halfway toward Lin Yi and Wei Liang and reminded them, "Don't forget to attend PE this afternoon."

"PE!" Lin Yi hurriedly looked down at his watch.

13:10.

He remembered that PE was from 14:30 to 15:30.

"Xu... senior!" Lin Yi called.

Xu Shunkang turned around. "What is it?"

"Could we go to the Gymnasium with you now, then wait outside until PE starts before going in?"

Xu Shunkang thought for a moment before answering, "You could... but I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why?" Lin Yi asked, puzzled.

Xu Shunkang glanced at the Baseball Bat in his hand, then grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Because... that road isn't easy to travel right now."

"Just go back to the classroom for your midday rest, then arrive fifteen minutes early. Don't be too early or too late."

"That particular? But the Class Schedule doesn't seem to say all that..." Lin Yi silently took note.

Judging by experience, Xu Shunkang's advice was sound.

"See you this afternoon." Xu Shunkang left them with a jaunty view of his back as he walked away with the Baseball Bat over his shoulder.

"Athlete Students are so cool!" Wei Liang couldn't help exclaiming as he watched Xu Shunkang leave.

"He is pretty cool," Lin Yi agreed with a nod.

His thoughts gradually returned, and he couldn't help muttering, "Speaking of which... shouldn't there be staff in the Staff Passage? Why would there be such strange sounds?"

Without thinking, Wei Liang said, "Wife cakes don't necessarily have wives in them either."

That left Lin Yi speechless.

But once his mind quieted, the soles of his feet felt that faint pulsing again.

The vibrations coming from the Staff Passage.

"No... that's not right! The source doesn't seem to be the Staff Passage!" Sensing something, Lin Yi turned his gaze toward the Cafeteria's Basement Level One.

From his vantage point, the Staff Passage split in two, leading to the back of the First-Floor Cafeteria and Basement Level One respectively.

And those abnormal sounds clearly came from the Cafeteria's Basement Level One.

But from outside, the Cafeteria's Basement Level One appeared sealed off, and the Staff Passage was the only visible passage connected to it!

"So that means... the Cafeteria has excellent soundproofing."

Because the terrifying commotion coming from Basement Level One produced sound waves that were unbearable to him and Wei Liang even as they stood at the Staff Passage entrance...

The rule concerning the Cafeteria's Basement Level One surfaced in his mind:

[At no time should you pay attention to unusual sounds coming from the Cafeteria's Basement Level One, even if you hear your name being called.

You are forbidden from entering any area inside the Cafeteria other than the Student Dining Hall Area, especially the Cafeteria's Basement Level One.]

There weren't many rules about it, just one, but it occupied an entire entry in the cafeteria rules.

"Do not pay attention," "forbidden from entering"...

But come on, there's no need to forbid anyone from going there, is there? That earthquake-like commotion would be enough to scare anyone off!

Lin Yi muttered inwardly in exasperation.

Suddenly, he felt the light falling on him dim a little.

He looked up at the sky. A large bank of clouds had emerged from beyond the mountains at some point and was moving slowly, about to obscure the Sun.

It was just an ordinary cloud, but the thought of the great shadow about to fall made Lin Yi spring to his feet.

After what had happened at the Cafeteria, Lin Yi had now developed a certain wariness of dark areas.

"Liangzi, rested enough? Let's go too!" Lin Yi took out the cafeteria rules and placed them back beneath the Notice Board beside him.

"Okay!" Wei Liang did the same.

The two left together.

The instant they passed the Notice Board in front of the Cafeteria, Lin Yi experienced that strange sensation from the beginning again.

It was as if an enormous, invisible glass dome covered the entire Cafeteria, with the Notice Board planted in front of it.

When they passed the Notice Board on their way in, they entered the area represented by the Cafeteria.

When they passed the Notice Board on their way out, they returned to another area.

This area suspended among the buildings could perhaps be called...

"The Campus?"

For some inexplicable reason, that name surfaced in Lin Yi's mind.

Following the Map through an area filled with streetlamp poles bearing jumbled numbers, Lin Yi and Wei Liang gradually made their way toward the Teaching Building.

Suddenly, Lin Yi happened to notice the pebble paving again, along with the white powder filling the gaps between the stones.

"This is...?!"

He remembered seeing this white powder on the way from the Teaching Building to the Cafeteria that morning, but he hadn't paid it much attention then.

Now, however, he knew that this white powder was very likely transformed tomato sauce...

The realization instantly filled him with intense discomfort.

Fuck... I've been walking on a path covered in tomato sauce all along?!

His legs felt stiff. The cold seemed to turn into invisible tentacles that emerged from the gaps in Pebble Road and clung to his legs, sending chills through his stiff limbs.

As the clouds obscured the Sun, gusts of chilling wind swept in from the planted strips surrounding Pebble Road.

He seemed to feel countless greedy gazes brimming with malice, as though a group of wrong-feeling classmates were hiding in the bushes, spying on him.

He felt almost unable to move, as if he were trapped in an ice cellar.

Gradually, he felt the mixture of ice and water in the cellar rise around him, a suffocating sensation threatening to engulf him.

But this time was different. Just as he began struggling to breathe, his whole body shuddered violently...

"Haaah-" He sucked in a sharp breath, like an air pump trying to draw all the surrounding air into his body at once.

Then he began panting heavily.

By the time he came to his senses, a layer of cold sweat had soaked his back.

His eyes were somewhat unfocused as he stared at Pebble Road beneath his feet.

The pebbles were still pebbles, but the white powder continued to give him a strong sense of nauseating discomfort.

He looked down at his watch.

13:20.

The Cafeteria has closed. The thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He shivered and quickened his pace toward the Teaching Building.

Wei Liang gave Lin Yi's retreating back a puzzled look, then glanced at the pebble path.

"Huh?" He frowned, looking at the spot where Lin Yi had stopped to gasp for breath.

This was a pebble path, so naturally, there were several pebbles where Lin Yi had stood.

Normal pebbles were oval, but he saw several that were twisted out of shape.

They looked like gummy candies lined up together and given a slight tug.

"Strange," he muttered, but he paid it little mind and caught up with Lin Yi.

The Teaching Building was just ahead. Although the light was poor, in daylight like this, the four-story structure of Teaching Building 3 was still clearly visible.

After catching up, Wei Liang found Lin Yi standing motionless as a log in front of the Teaching Building's steps.

"Lao Lin, what's wrong now?" Wei Liang went over and patted Lin Yi's shoulder.

He jerked his hand back.

"Holy shit! You're so cold, like a block of ice!"

He hurriedly looked at Lin Yi and found him staring at the steps in front of their classroom, his face deathly pale and his eyes wide. Whatever terrifying thing he had thought of had left him streaming with cold sweat.

Wei Liang faintly heard Lin Yi muttering as if in a dream:

"Moss..."

"How could...?"

"There really is moss..."

Thank you to reader "Full Moon and Clear Radiance" for the Alliance Leader donation!!

Thank you to readers "ADINGO," "Reader20200809213802296," and "Reader20220801190130768" for your donations!!

(PS: No matter how I wrote this chapter, I wasn't satisfied. I deleted it several times and wrote from 0:00 until 4:00... I hope you like it.)