"But whenever I sense you, or hear your call, the ashes inside me become active."
"Last night, when I heard your call, the ashes inside me felt as if they'd been ignited... so I was certain you were calling me."
"Then... I don't know what happened either. In a daze, or as if I couldn't control myself, I followed that feeling and left the Gymnasium."
"Well..." Lin Yi rubbed his chin, frowning and narrowing his eyes in confusion. "But I was sleeping in the Dormitory Building last night! Hmm... roughly when did you hear me calling? No, no, when you heard it doesn't seem to matter. What matters is that I never called you at all!"
Li Huiyuan looked troubled too. "I don't know what happened either. But when I heard you calling, it must have been nearly midnight, or maybe after midnight... I remember lots of classmates were asleep by then. I dozed for a while, but I was too unsettled to get to sleep."
"When I heard your voice, I thought I was dreaming or hearing things, but then that voice grew clearer and clearer, and the ashes inside me grew hotter and hotter..."
Lin Yi hadn't expected Athlete Students to be able to sleep in the Gymnasium, but on reflection, it made sense. If they didn't return to the Dormitory, they would certainly need to catch up on sleep, so a designated sleeping area for Athlete Students in the Gymnasium was perfectly reasonable.
But he had absolutely no interest in studying any of that now. With utter certainty, he said, "Midnight... I was definitely asleep then."
He always entered the dream punctually, a few seconds before midnight.
After a pause, Lin Yi asked, "Then do you remember roughly what the voice calling you said?"
Li Huiyuan nodded,