Monday arrived with the sort of ordinary rhythm people rarely appreciated until it was gone.
The university was busier than usual. Final examinations were only a few weeks away, and even the students who had spent an entire semester convincing themselves there was still plenty of time were beginning to realize they had lied to themselves.
The library had become difficult to find seats in before nine in the morning. Study rooms were fully booked.
Even the usually noisy corridors outside the lecture halls had quietened down. Conversations still happened, but they revolved around formulas, assignments and lecturers instead of games or weekend plans.
Walking across campus now meant hearing the same questions every few minutes.
"Did you finish Professor Wang's revision paper?"
"Can you send me yesterday's notes?"
"How many chapters are actually examinable?"
For most students, June meant pressure. For two particular sophomores... It meant absolutely nothing.
"...They're at it again."
"Who's getting first place this semester?"
"Yè Yī."
"No, Qiū Huà Bǐ."
"No, Yè Yī."
"No, Qiū Huà Bǐ."
A girl standing outside the School of Engineering sighed dramatically as she looked toward the notice board. Fresh mid-semester rankings had just been posted.
The crowd around it wasn't particularly large. Nobody was surprised anymore.
Someone farther back stretched his neck.
"Who got first?"
Another student answered before even looking.
"Yè Yī or Qiū Huà Bǐ."
"Which one?"
"Does it matter?"
The first student thought about it.
"...Not really."
A ripple of resigned laughter spread through the crowd.
Ever since those two had enrolled the previous year, the competition for first place had become strangely peaceful.
Not because everyone had improved, rather everyone else had silently accepted reality.
First place belonged to one of those two. The only mystery left was which one. The battle everyone else fought now was for third.
Inside the lecture theatre, Professor Li adjusted his glasses before beginning the morning class.
"Before we continue today's lecture," he said, placing his notes on the podium, "I want to remind everyone that your final examination is closer than you think."
A collective groan echoed through the room.
Professor Li smiled.
"Good. That means you're listening."
He tapped the whiteboard with his marker.
"This semester separates students who merely attend lectures from students who actually understand engineering. Memorizing formulas won't save you."
Near the back window, Qiū Huà Bǐ rested his chin against one hand. He wasn't asleep.. for once.
His laptop sat open, although half of the screen displayed lecture notes while the other half contained lines of code he'd been debugging between explanations.
Beside the opposite window, Yè Yī quietly copied another equation into his notebook.
Neither of them looked remotely stressed.
Professor Li noticed.
"As for certain students..."
The entire class instinctively turned.
"...I'd appreciate it if you two stopped making the rest of the class feel insecure."
Qiū Huà Bǐ slowly looked up.
"...Us?"
Professor Li smiled.
"Yes, you."
The classroom laughed.
Even Yè Yī paused writing nly for a second.. Then he returned to his notes as though nothing had happened.
Campus life continued exactly as it always had.
At least on the surface.
The Historical Sciences Club held the exhibition it had advertised. The translated first-edition reproductions of James Clerk Maxwell's scientific papers were genuine after all, attracting professors from three departments and far more students than the organizers had expected.
At almost the same time, the promotional event hosted by NEXUS DYNAMICS turned out to be completely legitimate as well.
Qiū Huà Bǐ had won. Nobody knew how. Least of all Qiū Huà Bǐ himself. The company representative smiled as she handed over the prize.
"Congratulations."
He stared at the enormous box.
"...Is this really one laptop?"
"It is."
"Why is it the size of a refrigerator?"
The representative laughed.
"You'll understand once you open it."
He did. Three displays unfolded from the main chassis with a satisfying mechanical click.
The students watching nearby collectively fell silent.
Qiū Huà Bǐ blinked once.
"...I feel like this thing costs more than my tuition."
Back at the ancestral residence, Chūn Lěng Fēng circled the laptop twice before crouching beside it.
He stared at it for nearly ten minutes, then poked one of the folded displays.
"...Why does it have three heads?"
"It's three screens."
"It multiplied."
Qiū Huà Bǐ didn't even look up.
"It unfolds."
"Same thing."
Yè Yī walked past carrying groceries. He glanced at the machine once.
"...Useful?"
"I honestly don't know yet."
Chūn Lěng Fēng frowned.
"Then why did they make three?"
"So I can work faster."
"Can you?"
"...Not the point."
Qiū Huà Bǐ rubbed his forehead.
"I'll explain computers after exams."
"Oh."
He accepted that answer surprisingly quickly. Then wandered into the kitchen.
"...Is there food?"
"There will be."
"When?"
"When I finish cooking."
"How long?"
Yè Yī silently reached for another onion. From the courtyard came Violet's calm voice.
"About thirty minutes."
"Okay."
Satisfied, Chūn Lěng Fēng disappeared again.
Qiū Huà Bǐ watched him leave before turning toward Yè Yī.
"...He's adjusted disturbingly fast."
"He follows food."
"I've noticed."
Across the city, however, one person hadn't slept properly in almost a week.
Lú Zhèngyáng felt like he was dying. But not physically.. mentally. Every day for a whole week.
Lú Zhèngyáng sat alone in the campus café, his untouched coffee growing cold beside him. Dark circles had appeared beneath his eyes.
Every time the entrance door opened, his heart skipped.
Every time he saw Yè Yī or Qiū Huà Bǐ walking across campus, the same thought struck him.
'They're alive.'
It should have been a comforting thought. Instead, it made his stomach twist.
The memory kept replaying in his head. He could still remember standing beside Huáng Nián Qīng after everything had already been arranged.
At the time, something had suddenly felt wrong. Too many details didn't make sense. Too many questions had gone unanswered.
So he had finally asked the one question that mattered.
"...Why are you helping me?"
Huáng Nián Qīng hadn't answered immediately.
She had simply looked toward the university gate where students came and went without noticing either of them.
Then she smiled.. not warmly, not cruelly either..
Just... calmly.
"To make them disappear."
Just four words and nothing more....
At first, he hadn't understood.
'Disappear? Did she mean transferring schools? Expulsion? Ruining their reputation?'
But the longer he thought about the way she'd said it... the less innocent those words sounded.
Because normal people didn't say things like that.
Normal people said:
"I want to beat them."
"I want revenge."
"I want them expelled."
Not—
"Make them disappear."
That sounded criminal.
Very criminal.
The problem was—
By the time he'd realized something was wrong—
Events had already started moving.
And he'd been too afraid to say anything.
He had wanted to ask another question. He hadn't. Something in her eyes had told him not to.
So for the past week—
He'd been waiting.
Waiting for 'disaster'... 'police'.. 'news headlines'.
Waiting for 'something'.
'Anything'.
Now, every morning when he saw Yè Yī sitting quietly in class or Qiū Huà Bǐ arguing with a lecturer over a programming algorithm, relief washed over him so strongly it almost made him dizzy.
One afternoon, he rounded a corner outside the engineering building. Qiū Huà Bǐ happened to be walking the other way. Their eyes met. Lú Zhèngyáng quickly look away with a guilty expression on his face. He walked away. Qiū Huà Bǐ watched him leave confused.
Yè Yī was equally confused.
Because he had just encountered Lú Zhèngyáng earlier. And the guy had looked at him like he'd returned from the dead.
Yè Yī wasn't sure what that meant. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Lú Zhèngyáng couldn't take it anymore.
During lunch— He sat alone beneath a tree trying not to panic.
Then suddenly— someone sat beside him. Lú Zhèngyáng jumped.
It was Qiū Huà Bǐ.
"..."
"..."
Qiū Huà Bǐ blinked.
"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"
Lú Zhèngyáng almost screamed. Because the person he thought might have disappeared forever— was sitting right next to him eating noodles like a normal student.
"...You're alive."
Qiū Huà Bǐ lowered his chopsticks.
"...Should I be worried that you sound surprised?"
"NO."
"That was very loud."
Lú Zhèngyáng immediately lowered his voice.
"Sorry."
Qiū Huà Bǐ narrowed his eyes. Something was definitely wrong.
Lú Zhèngyáng froze.
Qiū Huà Bǐ frowned.
"...Senior?"
The word finally snapped him back to reality.
"...You're... fine?"
Qiū Huà Bǐ looked genuinely confused.
"I wasn't aware I wasn't supposed to be."
"...No, that's not what I meant."
"...Then what did you mean?"
Lú Zhèngyáng opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
He couldn't exactly ask, 'Have you been kidnapped by a mysterious organization yet?'
Qiū Huà Bǐ studied him for another moment before shrugging.
"...Get some sleep."
Then he walked away.
Lú Zhèngyáng stood there for nearly a minute. Finally, he buried his face in both hands.
"...What have I gotten myself involved in?"
That evening, the ancestral residence was unusually peaceful.
Books covered the dining table. Revision notes lay scattered between bowls of food.
For the first time in weeks, the greatest threat facing the house wasn't ET.
It was final examinations... and..
A Very Large Mouth.
The household budget had become noticeably 'worse'.... Because there was now ANOTHER mouth to feed.
Yè Yī was beginning to understand why parents worried about grocery expenses.
Across the table— Chūn Lěng Fēng reached for another serving.
Yè Yī sighed. Qiū Huà Bǐ watched in despair.
The quartet sat around the table. Well... three sat.
Chūn Lěng Fēng was halfway standing because he'd already reached for more food.
Qiū Huà Bǐ brought it up first.
"Lú Zhèngyáng has been acting weird."
"Define weird."
"He looked relieved I wasn't dead."
Silence.
Yè Yī looked up.
"He did the same thing to me."
Qiū Huà Bǐ pointed immediately.
"See?"
Chūn Lěng Fēng swallowed a mouthful of food.
"Maybe he likes you."
"..."
"..."
"No."
"Okay."
Violet continued eating. Not saying a word. Because unlike everyone else— She already knew exactly why Lú Zhèngyáng was panicking.
The image of Huáng Nián Qīng calmly saying "make them disappear" floated through her memory.
Lú Zhèngyáng had misunderstood spectacularly because ET's plans had never been simple murder.
No.
They had wanted something much worse.
Yè Yī would have been studied, questioned, tested, dissected for answers... endlessly.
Qiū Huà Bǐ would've been turned into a living machine. Always working, building, creating.... forever.
Neither outcome had been pleasant.
Violet took another bite of food and decided not to explain. Some truths weren't useful. Not yet.
And for the hundredth time that week— The food budget suffered another casualty.
And somewhere, beyond the quiet rhythm of ordinary student life, Huáng Nián Qīng was already preparing her next move.
The calm had returned.
But only because both sides were waiting.