Qi Yan came in second place, with the first place going to a student from the School of Literature. Initially, no one paid much attention to the unassuming boy, but in the last five laps, he and Qi Yan were neck and neck, having completely pulled ahead of the remaining competitors. Qi Yan was tall and had long legs, giving him a long stride and a steady rhythm that was pleasing to the eye. The other student was a full head shorter than Qi Yan, putting him at a disadvantage in stride length, but he excelled in frequency, running with a unique kind of determination.
Song Fei gripped his phone, but his eyes barely left the track for the rest of the race. He could tell that Qi Yan had given it his all, but ultimately he still trailed behind by three steps as he crossed the finish line. The announcement congratulated the School of Humanities for first place and the School of Life Sciences for second place, and also named the athletes, but Song Fei barely listened; all his attention was focused on Qi Yan.
The man was bent over, leaning on his knees, panting heavily. Song Fei knew he was utterly exhausted; his final sprint was a test of his limits. If it were him, Song Fei thought, he'd probably just collapse on the ground, sprawled out, and ignore everyone. But this was Qi Yan, who always had to maintain his image. Song Fei wondered if this almost obsessive self-discipline was innate or cultivated.
The finish line was near Song Fei's group's area. If Qi Yan had looked over at that moment, he would definitely have made eye contact with Song Fei. Moreover, with Song Fei and the others all dressed in white robes, it would have been difficult not to spot them. However, from beginning to end, Qi Yan kept his back to them and didn't look over even once until he left.
Despite the complaints, Song Fei still felt sorry for him. With this guy's personality, not getting first place was equivalent to failure, and second place or last place didn't matter. Thinking about it that way, looking at that lonely figure again, she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.
The sports meet lasted for two days. On the afternoon of the second day, the students from the Department of Physical Education, who had been busy with many key positions such as event organization, refereeing, and scorekeeping, finally transformed into unsung heroes—the exhibition match began.
Normally, there's no harm without comparison, but when the gap between two things is too vast, even if you remove the weaker one, the stronger one will still leave you speechless. It's almost like a gust of wind, whooshing past you in an instant, leaving no time to see the figures; you can only use your naked eyes to follow the dust kicked up behind the athletes.
Finally, the 440 students concluded that everyone has their own expertise, so let's stick to practicing Tai Chi.
As the sports meet came to a close, the weather gradually turned cooler. Some of the less cold-hardy broad-leaved trees on campus began to turn yellow, and occasionally a few leaves drifted down with the wind onto the still proud and upright pines and cypresses. The golden leaves paired with the dark green pine needles created a unique beauty.
Song Fei resumed his usual routine—attending required classes, skipping electives, watching new anime, and scrolling through his phone. But after a week, he felt something was off. Previously, Wang Qingyuan was always either studying or doing exercises in the dorm, Xiang Yang was usually on his phone with his girlfriend, and Ren Zhe was rarely seen except in class, always either flirting with female students. But lately, room 440 was packed every day, and apart from Song Fei with his laptop, the other three were all hunched over their desks, their diligence evident even from their backs.bookshelf
There were no classes that afternoon, and Song Fei slept until evening. What should have been a beautiful time ended tragically with her "waking up in a strange and terrifying silence." The reason for this description is that this silence was not pure stillness, but rather 99% silence plus 1% subtle low-decibel sound. This low-decibel sound was a combination of the occasional rustling of turning pages and the scratching of pen on paper, which, against the backdrop of 99% silence, was particularly "exhilarating."
As Song Fei sat up on the upper bunk, the setting sun shone brightly. Room 440 was bathed in a warm and soft halo, along with the bewildered student on the upper bunk and the three diligent students at the lower desk. At that moment, the silhouettes of her roommates, bent over their work, perfectly overlapped with those of her ex-boyfriend, giving the weathered Song a chilling feeling of "escaping one danger only to fall into another."
"Ahem," Song Fei cleared his throat and asked cautiously, "Um, may I interrupt you two for a moment?"
The words were addressed to all three people, but Wang Qingyuan remained perfectly still, while Xiang Yang and Ren Zhe looked up enthusiastically.
"What's wrong?"
"What are you doing?"
Song Fei was pleased that at least her roommates still had a clear understanding of their own roles.
"Now it's my turn to ask you two, are you possessed or bewitched, studying so hard as if you want to ascend to heaven?"
Ren Zhe gave Xiang Yang a look, signaling him to speak.
The latter nodded, looked up at him, and earnestly advised, "Brother, even last-minute preparation can be effective."
Song Fei seemed to see the exam questions on the other table radiating a dazzling, seven-colored glow.
"The problem is, didn't you both pass the CET-4?!" These words were heartbreaking, but Song Fei couldn't care less. He had to defend the dignity of "the only iron-blooded true man in 440 who disdains passing the CET-4."
The two roommates looked at each other in bewilderment at this remark, and finally agreed in unison: "Yes, that's why we're studying for the CET-6."
Now it was Song Fei's turn to be dumbfounded. He wondered if he was hallucinating: "You two are going to take the CET-6? Yangzi, didn't you say that after you passed the CET-4 you would never touch an English book again in your life? You didn't even touch it in your required courses! Ren Zhe, didn't you say that the whole world should popularize Chinese?"
Xiang Yang put down his pen, as if reminiscing about his carefree youth, his eyes distant and dreamy. After a moment, the dreaminess dissipated, leaving only desolation. He looked at Song Fei and sighed softly, "Young man, you don't understand. There's a kind of hard work that your wife thinks you should do."
Song Fei swallowed hard, suddenly wanting to give Xiang a comforting hug.
"And what about you? You don't have a wife yet, do you?" Xiangyang's helplessness was understandable, but Ren Zhe's hard work was completely unreasonable.
Ren Zhe tossed his flowing hair and said, "Dude, haven't you seen reality yet? You only have less than three years left to use your grades to pick up girls. If you don't work hard when you're young, you'll regret it when you're old!"
Song Fei swallowed again, finally realizing that his desire to go back to sleep was indeed a grave offense.
"I'm going downstairs to get some water, does anyone want to take some?" Song Fei jumped out of bed, deciding to go to the water room to calm herself down.
Wang Qingyuan: "No need."
Ren Zhe: "I just finished playing at noon."
Xiangyang: "I'll go there later and grab a bite at the cafeteria."
Once you enter university, it's like entering a deep sea; from then on, academic underachievers are just strangers. Even fetching water no longer requires him to do it himself; Song Fei was overcome with sorrow.
Since their electric kettle was confiscated and they were publicly criticized by their advisor, Song Fei and his dormmates have been behaving themselves, carrying their thermos flasks downstairs to fetch water. Song Fei planned to eat first, then fetch water, so he placed his emerald green thermos flask among the sea of flasks in front of the water room, cleverly positioning it under the windowsill. Firstly, the location was easy to remember, and secondly, the window had railings, allowing him to securely lock the thermos flask to the railing with his bicycle lock.
Fire prevention, theft prevention, and loss prevention of kettles—what a painful lesson to learn.
The cafeteria was deserted at five o'clock, with not even all the dishes yet, let alone students. At a glance, there were only a few heads, and the rest were rows of empty plastic stools. Song Fei went straight to the first window, got some white rice first, and then moved to the second window. Sure enough, the new dishes were already eagerly displayed.
"You're here quite early today." The auntie who serves food in this area all knows Song Fei. There are students who dare to try new dishes, but very few who come to challenge themselves regularly. Over time, she has become reluctant to use her "wrist-shaking" skill when serving food.
"Hmm, no classes." Song Fei smiled sweetly, but his attention was entirely on the dishes. The red and white new dishes evoked fond memories of practicing Tai Chi fan, but even with his vast experience with food, he was still a little unsure. "Auntie, what is this today?"
"Watermelon stir-fried with rice cakes".
"Okay, I'll have a Mapo Tofu."
—Song Fei likes to try new things, but he's not stupid.
Halfway through his meal, the cafeteria started to get crowded. There was still at least half an hour until peak time, so Song Fei didn't pay much attention and continued eating. Until someone sat down opposite him.
Song Fei's first reaction was to frown. She looked up and wanted to say that there were plenty of seats over there, so why did she have to squeeze in with me? But when she saw Qi Yan's face, she choked instantly. Luckily, she was eating tofu instead of meat, so she managed to swallow it down.
"What a coincidence." Qi Yan smiled, still the same friendly and united person she always was.
Song Fei glanced at the red and white dish on his plate and couldn't help but ask, "Did you ask what this dish was before you hit it?"
Qi Yan replied without hesitation, "No need to ask, it's obvious at a glance: watermelon stir-fried with rice cakes."
Song Fei was speechless, only filled with admiration.
Okay, I won't go into how you figured it out. The problem is: "You didn't have such heavy tastes before..." I remember when we were together, every time I made a new dish, it would leave the other speechless and looking up at the sky.
Qi Yan paused for a moment, then lowered her head and began to eat: "It's good to change things up sometimes."
Song Fei couldn't see his expression clearly, but she felt that the atmosphere between the two of them was a little strange, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Fortunately, this unbearable tension was quickly dispelled by the other person's "it's hard to explain" expression.
Song Fei suppressed a laugh: "Come on, brave warrior, give me your feedback after you've tasted it."
Qi Yan spat out the rice cake and, for the first time ever, uttered a single word: "Damn."
The dish that drove the model student to swear was ultimately given to the leftovers cart, with Qi Yan even managing to scrape off a third of Song Fei's Mapo Tofu. Even if the cafeteria lady hadn't skimped on the portions, it was still hard to imagine sharing like that. Besides, the two of them sharing one dish just felt a bit off. Eventually, Song Fei couldn't take it anymore and went to get another serving of Kung Pao Chicken. But Qi Yan didn't stand on ceremony at all, and started poking at the chicken with his chopsticks.
Song Fei was furious: "Which one are you going to eat?!"
Qi Yan's face, still covered in rice grains, was full of blank innocence: "Can't we eat together...?"
Song Fei was at a loss. After thinking it over, it seemed that the only answer he could give was, "There's nothing that can't be done..."
Qi Yan smiled again, and with a grain of rice at the corner of her mouth, her appearance miraculously improved by several notches.
Song Fei was almost blinded by his brilliance, so she simply stopped looking at him and lowered her head to eat her rice.
Actually, when Qi Yan isn't arguing with him, he's quite nice, just like now—handsome yet soft and cute, dashing yet adorable. It just so happens that back then, he even fantasized about being on top of her… Never mind, let bygones be bygones; life is already full of ups and downs.
"By the way, don't go out these next few days if you don't have to." Qi Yan suddenly put down her chopsticks, all traces of her soft and cute demeanor gone, replaced by her usual imperative sentence.
Song Fei instinctively wanted to contradict her: "It's none of your business."
Qi Yan frowned, clearly trying hard to remain calm: "Did you know that a classmate from the archaeology department died?"
Song Fei was shocked: "Really dead? Didn't they say he was missing? Some even said he dropped out of school."
Qi Yan was defeated by him: "You live on the same floor as him, how can you be so easily fooled? Is your head filled with tofu or mush!"
Neither option pleased Song.
But Qi Yanshuang felt better. He found that trying to win people over with love was too tiring, so he preferred to retort: "He really died, and he was dismembered. When he was found, he only had half a leg left. His identity was confirmed by DNA testing."
Song Fei remained skeptical: "You're making it sound like you saw it with your own eyes."
"I overheard the discussion when the department head was discussing it."
Song Fei remained silent. Qi Yan never beat around the bush, but he also never made alarmist claims. He thought of that photo again, and looking at the Mapo Tofu and Kung Pao Chicken, he completely lost his appetite.
Qi Yan, unaware of Song Fei's psychological trauma, continued, "That incident happened again at the entrance of the University of Science and Technology the day before yesterday. I have a feeling that things aren't very peaceful in our university town lately, so you should try to go out less."
Song Fei asked in confusion, "What does the University of Science and Technology have to do with this?"
Qi Yan raised an eyebrow: "The one who bites faces, you don't know him?"
"Wait, wait a minute," Song Fei felt a chill run down her spine, "What the hell? Say it again?"
"He's biting my face," Qi Yan repeated clearly, understanding his needs perfectly, "The video's gone viral on Weibo, didn't you see it?"
Song Fei shook his head blankly. There are 10,000 trending topics on Weibo every day. He usually receives 9,999 of them, but he can't guarantee that he won't miss the only one that is relevant.
Without saying a word, Qi Yan took out his phone, opened Weibo, and found the video that hadn't been completely deleted yet, and told him to watch it himself.
There was no Wi-Fi in the cafeteria, and Song Fei felt a pang of regret at the thought of the massive data usage, even though it was the other person's. However, he quickly forgot about it. The video was shaky and blurry, but one person could be vaguely seen on top of another, seemingly kissing, though it could also be interpreted as a physical act, if one ignored the screams of the person being "kissed" and the exclamations of the person filming.
The video was only a dozen seconds long and ended abruptly.
Song Fei clicked on the comments below, and the top comment was a revelation that the man who bit the face was shot dead by the police who arrived at the scene, but the victim suddenly stood up and attacked the police. The police had no choice but to shoot him dead as well. Later, the injured police officer was taken away by an ambulance.
"Is it true or false?" Song Fei asked, pointing at the leaked information.
Qi Yan honestly shook his head: "I don't know."
Song Fei continued reading. Most people suspected that both the attacker and the victim were under the influence of drugs. In the hallucinations of the drugs, one attacked the other first, and the victim, after gaining freedom, also began to be driven by hallucinations and went on a rampage. Someone even posted a link to a similar case abroad, where a drug addict attacked a homeless man, also biting his face. The drug addict was eventually shot dead, and the homeless man was seriously injured. However, a considerable number of people were also making a fuss, saying this was straight out of a zombie movie; being bitten and still able to get up and attack meant the victim was definitely infected. Some enthusiastic netizens even added several videos from China, claiming they were street shots collected online from all over the country, seemingly depicting a biohazard outbreak. The videos showed shaky camera work, with pedestrians being attacked at varying distances and resolutions, appearing to be the work of different people, different phones, and different locations. Finally, these netizens concluded that with earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear explosions already occurring, it was time for "2012" to play out.
Song Fei doesn't believe in the apocalypse. When they said the Earth would end in 1999, his parents were inseparable, and he, at two years old, was healthy and thriving. But when they said the end of the world would come in 2012, he naively believed it, and his carefree attitude resulted in him getting the worst grade in his final exams and a beating from his father. Now, he adheres to the scientific outlook on development and strives to build a harmonious society.
But the heinous crime was obvious, and two of them were found in one meal. The University of Science and Technology was right next to the University of Foreign Languages, very close to them. The thought of such a thing happening right next to them sent chills down Song Fei's spine for no reason.
Having lost their appetite, Song Fei and Qi Yan hastily handed over their plates and quickly left the cafeteria.
The cafeteria is next to the water room, the water room is next to the supermarket, and the dormitory is located further in from the supermarket. These four elements make up the entire living area.
"I'll get some water, you can go back first." Song Fei didn't know what else to talk about with Qi Yan, so she simply parted ways on the spot.
Unexpectedly, Qi Yan tilted his head and said, "What a coincidence, I'm also fetching water."
Song Fei scoffed at his empty hands: "Fine, go ahead and hit me with your hands."
Qi Yan pointed to the door of the water room: "I put my kettle over there."
Song Fei had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the bastard followed him to the window, where he saw a bright pink companion next to his tightly chained green thermos.
"You fucking did that on purpose, didn't you?" It was a question, but Song Fei was almost certain, after all, no one else in the whole school had used a bicycle chain to lock a kettle!
Qi Yan shook her head seriously: "I put it here first. Didn't you see it when you locked the pot? I even locked it next to me on purpose because you recognized it as mine."
Song Fei paused, then fell silent.
Qi Yan's water bottle was a school bestseller; you could find over a hundred identical ones within a ten-meter radius. Unlike most students, he didn't leave his own unique mark on the bottle; his bright pink water bottle was so clean, serene, and graceful. Song Fei honestly couldn't remember if Qi Yan was even there when he locked the bottle.school supplies
Well, whether it's true or not, it's just getting some water together, it'll only take half a minute.
In the blink of an eye, two male classmates with a complicated relationship, carrying heavy thermos flasks, walked out of the water room.
Song Fei couldn't wait to break up with him on the spot for the second time: "I'm going to the supermarket to buy some things, you go back first."
Qi Yan tilted her head: "What a coincidence, I'm also buying something."
Damn it, using the same excuse twice is one thing, but at least try to vary your word choice and sentence structure! Can't you put a little more effort into it?!
Song Fei swore that if he said he wouldn't buy it and went back to the dorm, this guy would definitely follow him.
It's definitely gone mad.
Qi Yan rarely acts out, but when he does, it's enough to give Song Fei a hard time. Past experience tells him that the best way to deal with it is to let him act out.
The supermarket at Song Fei's university was originally called "Happy Sheep." It was run by the school itself and had a large area, but the goods were neither complete nor new, and even the displays were still in the style of more than ten years ago, making it unappealing to buy anything, and it was on the verge of closing down. Later, the school gritted its teeth and attracted investment from outside, and "Happy Sheep" was quickly transformed into "Fenduoduo." The interior was completely renovated, and it was now on par with large international supermarket chains, and business began to boom.
As usual, Song Fei locked the kettle next to the handrail of the stairs at the supermarket entrance before entering the supermarket.
Qi Yan watched him lock the chain again and felt a pang of sympathy for the little green bottle: "You've already written so much, you don't need to lock it anymore."
Unlike Qi Yan's smooth teapot, Song Fei's thermos had twelve bold black characters written on it with a marker: "Curse Vortex Inside the Teapot, Whoever Steals It Will Fail His Exam!"
Song Fei shook his head, feeling that Qi Yan was still too naive: "There are many proletarian fighters in our school who do not engage in feudal superstition. Intimidation is useless against them; the only way is to lock them up."
Qi Yan shrugged, too lazy to listen to his fallacies.
Ten minutes later, the two returned laden with their spoils. Song Fei's haul mainly consisted of instant noodles, drinks, and sunflower seeds, while Qi Yan's was much simpler—an ice cream.
Song Fei didn't even want to complain about him anymore: "Big brother, it's getting colder today."
Qi Yan chuckled and took a bite, almost deliberately. He was in a great mood, sweeter than ice cream. It seemed that occasionally leaving the library early was... uh, wait a minute.
Song Fei looked at Qi Yan's suddenly darkened face with a puzzled expression, and then followed his gaze to the handrail of the supermarket stairs—Little Green was fine, but Little Pink was nowhere to be found.
Song Fei burst into laughter, utterly gloating: "Serves you right for showing off without marking it, hahaha, hurry up and eat another bite of ice cream to cool down, hahahahahaha..."
Qi Yan stood there, no longer in the mood to eat ice cream.
Song Fei proudly swung his keys, showing off as he hummed a little tune as he unlocked the car: "See? From now on, learn anything from your brother, and I'll make sure you don't... Hey?" Picking up the kettle, Song Fei realized something was wrong. He quickly put the kettle down, opened the lid, and sure enough, it was empty. The hot water he had just poured had vanished.
"Damn, they even steal two cents' worth of water!!!"
Qi Yan put the ice cream back into her mouth and found it incredibly sweet again.