Then her eyes gradually narrowed, leaving only a sliver of golden light beneath her bangs.
She seemed to sense something unusual and slowly tightened her grip on the club covered in a plaster-like substance.
"Creak..."
The cloth strips tightened under the force, making a teeth-grinding sound.
She lifted the club and strode toward Lin Yi, step by step, on her long, shapely legs.
Her actions immediately drew the attention of the Athlete Students around them, and Xu Shunkang naturally noticed too.
Watching Sports Department Girl draw closer and closer to Lin Yi, Xu Shunkang was secretly startled. He wanted to say something, but when he saw the club clenched in her hand, he quietly shut his mouth.
He looked Lin Yi up and down, worry and confusion appearing in his eyes. He could not understand how Lin Yi had suddenly attracted her attention.
Lin Yi felt an immense pressure too. Although she was only a girl with a build similar to his, he had the feeling that even ten of him would be no match for one of her hands...
As she drew closer, he steeled himself... then edged half a step back.
"Stop."
The cool, forceful word landed behind Lin Yi, cutting off his retreat.
Clang!
The club stood upright beside him, and Sports Department Girl stopped in front of him.
Their eyes met.
Lin Yi instantly got a clear look at her face.
It was a well-defined face, like creamy white jade, yet even the finest craftsman in the world could not have carved such delicate, exquisite features.
Her appearance was completely different from the resolute, martial air she exuded, yet the two blended together with extraordinary harmony. There was a delicate beauty amid her dashing bearing, as though she were a goddess of war standing beneath the sun.
Merely standing before Lin Yi, her posture and movements already conveyed a sense of explosive power poised to erupt.
Wait! Her eyes?!
Her presence was so overwhelming that only now, when their eyes met, did Lin Yi realize that her eyes... were golden too!
He had seen the Security Guard's golden pupils and the Head Teacher's dark gold eyes, but Sports Department Girl's golden eyes gave him yet another feeling.
The gold in those eyes resembled the first light of dawn, golden without being dazzling, restrained and reserved. Anyone who saw them would feel no resistance, only an incomparable sense of reassurance.
But Lin Yi also suddenly noticed that some of her bangs clung to her forehead. There seemed to be dust on her face and faint scratches on her neck, as though she had just been through an intense training march amid wind, frost, and dust.
Soon, less than a head's length remained between her and Lin Yi.
Suddenly, she leaned forward slightly and, beneath the astonished gazes of the onlookers, slowly moved closer to him.
Her nostrils fluttered slightly as she carefully sniffed his scent.
The intimate, suggestive scene made Lin Yi's breathing quicken instinctively, but it also kept him from making any rash moves.
Finally, she seemed to confirm something, and only then did the golden flames in her eyes slowly die out.
Her eyes became clear as autumn waters once more.
A thought instinctively rose in Lin Yi's mind: if Wei Liang, who insisted she wore colored contacts, were here to see this amazing sight, he would definitely have a couple of cheeky remarks to make.
But he was not Wei Liang, and his words were not cheeky enough.
He could only rub his nose and say, awkwardly and rather impolitely, "Uh... h-hello."
Sports Department Girl slowly straightened and looked at him calmly. Her thin lips parted. "Come swimming with me."
"Huh?" Lin Yi froze, his mouth falling open.
Holy shit, that came out of nowhere...
But Sports Department Girl said nothing else. With that, she picked up her club, turned, and headed toward the Swimming Hall.
Seeing Lin Yi still standing there in a daze, Xu Shunkang hurried over and slapped him hard on the shoulder. "Holy shit, Boss invited you to swim! Hurry up! What are you standing around for?"
"Huh?"
"Huh, my ass! Get moving!" He signaled with his eyes, then glanced at the clock on the Gymnasium wall. "You've only got a little over half an hour left in this class. Hurry up! Don't keep Boss waiting until she gets impatient!"
He raised a foot, making as if to kick Lin Yi in the backside.
"Huh? Oh, right, right..." Lin Yi nodded blankly, located Sports Department Girl, and hurried after her.
As he watched Lin Yi hastily chase after her, the joking expression slowly disappeared from Xu Shunkang's face, and his eyes gradually narrowed.
A golden gleam flashed through his pitch-black eyes, but quickly died away.
Xie Huayang walked up beside him, glanced at Sports Department Girl and Lin Yi, and sneered. "Something went wrong with that guy after all. Just like Big Head."
Xu Shunkang clenched his teeth, the muscles in his cheeks tightening slightly. He thought seriously for a moment before asking, "Did you see what was wrong with him?"
"No," Xie Huayang said. "If even you couldn't see it, how could I? Out of all of us, maybe only Boss noticed."
Xu Shunkang said nothing.
Xie Huayang continued, "I warned him not to let his thoughts run wild. Maybe something happened last night that neither of us knows about."
"You seem to think pretty highly of him. Is it because he reminds you of Big Head?"
He glanced at Xu Shunkang.
Xu Shunkang remained silent.
Xie Huayang shook his head helplessly and let out a long sigh.
"Haah-"
He looked resigned. "If... I mean if he's suffered some kind of 'contamination' that neither of us can sense, do you think he'll make it out of the Swimming Hall alive?"
Xu Shunkang stood where he was, his jaw muscles taut and his fists gradually clenching.
"All right, all right, I was joking. Don't take it to heart." Xie Huayang quickly changed the subject and patted his shoulder. "Come on, let's shower, then go up to the second floor for some training."
"After fighting those things for so long, I feel like I'm almost becoming one of them..."
He swung the Baseball Bat in his hand, and every joint in his body seemed to crackle.
May 7, X023, 14:53, first floor of the Gymnasium.
Sensing Lin Yi rapidly approaching from behind, Sports Department Girl slowed her pace a little.
"When did you enroll?" she asked mildly, looking ahead.
Knowing she was speaking to him, Lin Yi hurriedly answered, "Yesterday... yesterday evening, around 17:50..."
Sports Department Girl's steps paused slightly.
"You remember that precisely?"
"Uh... I'm in the habit of checking my watch." Lin Yi scratched the back of his head.
"A good habit," she said. "But sometimes, having too clear a concept of time can also limit your cognition... especially when you're traveling through fog."
Lin Yi's heart trembled. He was just about to ask, "How did you know?" when her voice reached him from ahead again.
"Stop."
She had told him to stop again.
He looked at her in confusion.
She casually indicated with her eyes. "The Women’s Changing Room is ahead. Yours is opposite."
Before they knew it, they had reached the entrance to the Swimming Hall area. They were standing right outside the Women's Locker Room.
With that, she headed into the Women's Locker Room, but as she lifted the curtain, she seemed to remember something. Turning her head back toward Lin Yi, she warned, "Unless it's absolutely necessary, I'll break your legs if you dare come in."
Before her words had finished ringing out, she had entered the Women's Locker Room.
"Unless it's absolutely necessary"? Lin Yi's first reaction was, So I can actually go into the Women’s Changing Room?
Normally, that was something a pervert would do without a second thought, but he suddenly realized that this was the Gymnasium-S City University's Gymnasium.
If things reached the point she called "absolutely necessary," just... how terrifying would that be?
He shuddered, tore his gaze away from the curtain of the Women's Locker Room, and entered the Men's Locker Room.
Right... she just said, "Having too clear a concept of time can also limit your cognition"?
And she specifically mentioned fog!
He immediately thought of many journeys whose distances did not match the time they took.
For instance, walking the distance to the next streetlamp in thick fog had taken over ten minutes;
For instance, going down one flight of stairs had also taken over ten minutes;
And, for instance, the time and distance from Group B Class 2 to the restroom seemed completely different on the return trip...
So thinking about time affects "cognition"?
As these thoughts surfaced in his mind, he had already rounded the corner and entered the Changing Room.
The floor of the Men's Locker Room consisted of conventional square tiles covered with water-permeable Non-Slip Floor Mat. White square tiles also covered the surrounding walls. The room was not particularly large, but Wardrobes lined the walls.
Beside the Wardrobe area, one side led to the Shower Area, and the other to the Pool Area.
The rushing sound of water and steam spilled out of the Shower Area along the tiles, but dissipated completely after only a short distance. Looking from the changing room, the steam in the Shower Area seemed to reach about ankle height.
There were not many people in the changing room. Apart from a few people showering, everyone was in the Pool Area.
A notice at the entrance to the changing room read:
[Please change into swimwear before swimming. Swimwear is provided in the Wardrobes.]
[Swipe your Student ID to open a locker. You may only wear the swimwear obtained by swiping your own Student ID.]
[Please rinse your body after swimming. Do not wash your hair unless necessary.]
[Before leaving, place all used swimwear in the Swimsuit Return.]
The notice was simple and perfectly normal, but Lin Yi discovered an additional note beneath it:
[If your head feels uncomfortable, you may close your eyes to wash your hair inside the Gymnasium. However, if you do so, please inform an Athlete Student beforehand to ensure he is beside you. While washing your hair, do not open your eyes, no matter what unusual things you sense. Tell yourself that you are washing your hair in the Shower Area. After you have finished washing and drying your hair, confirm the situation with the Athlete Student before opening your eyes.]
[Washing your hair with your eyes open while wearing swimming goggles is prohibited.]
After reading it, Lin Yi suddenly felt that it was not normal after all.
But the part about showering seemed somewhat similar to what the Student Rules mentioned, though with a few changes on that basis.
Just as he instinctively paused to consider it, Sports Department Girl's forceful voice urged him on from the passage between the Men's Locker Room and the swimming area. "Are you dressed yet?"
Lin Yi jumped. It was the first time anyone had hurried him to change. He quickly jogged toward the Wardrobes, calling, "Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm changing, I'm changing!"
He noticed several Wardrobes standing half-open, with swimwear neatly arranged inside. But remembering the notice, he still swiped his Student ID to open another wardrobe.
The Wardrobe had two compartments, one holding slippers and the other swimwear.
The men's swimwear in S City University's Gymnasium consisted of standard black swim trunks with blue and white stripes. Along with the trunks came a pair of swimming goggles, a swim cap, a waterproof card holder with an elastic strap, and several towels.
Lin Yi quickly changed into the swimwear, then slipped his Student ID into the waterproof card holder and put it around his wrist.
Once he had done all that, he shut the locker door.
Clack!
As it closed, either the vibration or the draft disturbed a nearby Wardrobe.
That Wardrobe apparently had not been shut properly, and its door sprang open at the disturbance.
Without Lin Yi even needing to look, everything inside the locker came into his view.
It was completely empty.
The swimwear, slippers, and towels had all been taken, and there were no discarded clothes either.
At a glance, Lin Yi understood that someone who had finished swimming and left must have accidentally failed to shut it properly.
But just then, he suddenly noticed a white note stuck to the inside of that Wardrobe's door...
The note contained only six Chinese characters, so the instant he saw it, he also made out what it said.
On one line were four large, clear characters:
[Do not swim!]
Then came two characters whose strokes grew increasingly distorted and rough:
[Run!!!]
The final stroke of "run" trailed beyond the edge of the note. Each of the three exclamation marks had been pressed harder than the last, as if the writer wanted to punch through the steel plate.
Do not swim, run?!
Holy shit!
Having just changed into his swimwear, Lin Yi felt his scalp prickle and goosebumps rise all over his body.
Although the changing room had no heating, hot steam constantly rose from the Shower Area, so it was not cold at all. Yet at that moment, he distinctly felt a terrifying chill.
At the same time, Sports Department Girl's somewhat impatient voice came from the swimming area:
"Are you done yet? Do I have to come change you myself?"
"Yeah, I'm done, I'm done!" Lin Yi hurriedly said. But when he turned around, he saw that Sports Department Girl had already strode briskly over from the swimming area.
She had changed into a dark blue, white-striped one-piece swimsuit that covered her stomach and had high-cut legs. Yet the simpler this standard athletic swimsuit was, the more effortlessly it outlined her nearly perfect figure.
Droplets clung to her body from passing through the curtain of water at the entrance to the swimming area. She wore no slippers, standing barefoot on the Non-Slip Floor Mat.
Under Lin Yi's astonished gaze, she walked straight up to him.
For some reason, merely meeting her level gaze made Lin Yi feel as if he were already half a head shorter than her.
Late, late! Sorry, sorry! I got a little stuck writing yesterday, and things have inexplicably gotten busy again lately. If there's ever a full twenty-four hours without an update, I'll let everyone in the group know I'm taking a day off, rather than posting a separate leave notice-...
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