After chatting with Sapphire, going out for dinner, then heading back to the dorm to play games for a bit and taking a shower, it was already half past nine at night.
Looking at his streak of green—with only the occasional red for outstanding results—Lu Ren stood up, stretched his body, and decided to go to bed by eleven tonight.
After all, once he finished those two classes with the Professor tomorrow, his vacation would begin.
Why bother playing games until half past midnight?
If he ended up dozing off in class because he didn’t get a full eight hours of sleep and couldn’t absorb any of the content, he’d have to spend at least another three hours afterward catching up on what he missed.
Comparing the two, staying up late was simply not worth it.
“Hmm…?”
After loosening up his slightly stiff body, Lu Ren suddenly noticed that the dorm was unusually quiet tonight, with not even the slightest sound of keyboard tapping or rapid mouse clicking.
Lu Ren had thought Xu Wenxing must be watching some interesting video, which was why there was none of the usual commotion.
But when he turned to look, Xu Wenxing was actually wearing headphones and reading a book?
“Rustle…”
Even though Xu Wenxing’s page-turning movements were small and the sound was barely audible,
that plain sound, to Lu Ren, was as sharp and jarring as a needle.
Something was off! Seriously off—almost suspiciously so!
Had Xu Wenxing been drugged or something? Reading a book in the dorm?
No way, really?
Curious, Lu Ren edged over to Xu Wenxing’s side, tiptoed, and tried to peek at the text on the page.
“…If a Monster suddenly appears near a residential area, please refer to the following case studies to notify nearby residents for effective evacuation.”
“Case study as follows…”
This was… the written exam for the Monster Response Department’s recruitment?
He was actually studying seriously.
Lu Ren looked at the engrossed Xu Wenxing and fell silent for a few minutes before picking up his dorm key and heading out for a late-night snack.
Forget it. Since Xu Wenxing was determined to study, he’d just leave him alone.
Hope he picked things up quickly and got into the A City Monster Response Department soon, so he could become Lu Ren’s exclusive logistics guy.
With that thought, Lu Ren wandered outside for a bit, grabbed something to eat, and then returned to the dorm to play more games.
By the time the games were done, it was already 10:49 p.m.
Lu Ren shut down his computer, drank a cup of warm water, and went to bed early, planning to be well-rested for class tomorrow.
Not long after getting into bed, Lu Ren saw Xu Wenxing get up, turn off the room light, and turn on the desk lamp, continuing to focus on his book.
He’s really working hard…
With that in mind, Lu Ren drifted into sleep.
……
When Lu Ren woke from his dreams, the dorm was so dark he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face, let alone know where he was.
“Haah…”
Sitting up on his bed, Lu Ren shook his head, yawned, and felt a bit surprised.
He prided himself on being a good sleeper—never disturbed by the slightest noise or the occasional chirping from outside.
He either slept until he woke naturally, or until some serious noise or direct sunlight forced him up.
Waking up in the middle of the night for no reason just wasn’t his thing.
“Forget it, I’ll just go to the bathroom and get back to sleep.”
Lu Ren rubbed his eyes, climbed down from the bed using his memory of the room’s layout, and headed to the bathroom to take care of things.
But when he reached the balcony, he suddenly realized that outside was pitch black too, with not a single light.
The school always left the streetlights outside the dorms on at night—why were they off tonight?
Even if they wanted to save on electricity, wasn’t this taking it too far? How much power could a single light use?
Leaving a light on for a month still wouldn’t come close to half the electricity used by a factory running for a single day.
Muttering to himself, Lu Ren walked into the bathroom.
He’d intended to finish quickly, but as soon as he approached, he heard a strange sound.
“Drip, drip, drip…”
It sounded like water was leaking from the ceiling.
But Lu Ren remembered very clearly—A City Third University’s dorms were top-notch; he’d never seen any upperclassmen complain on the forums that the dorms were like POW camps.
The most he’d seen were complaints about the high water bills, or not being able to take long showers because a few extra minutes could cost several more yuan.
“Drip, drip, drip…”
While Lu Ren stood there hesitating in the bathroom, the dripping sound grew steadily clearer.
Wait…
Was that dripping sound… moving?
Once Lu Ren noticed, he instinctively sniffed the air.
He and Xu Wenxing cleaned the dorm every weekend, so under normal circumstances, there shouldn’t be any major odors anywhere.
But this time, aside from the usual faint smell of standing water, there was also a strong, putrid stench in the bathroom air.
It was nothing like the smell of sweat after exercise, nor like the pungent pickled bamboo shoots in snail noodles.
This odor was more acrid and overwhelming—Lu Ren instinctively pulled up his collar to cover his nose and mouth, using his clothes to block out the smell and stop himself from retching on the spot.
It was the most disgusting stench he’d ever encountered.
If he had to describe it, it was as if…
Some creature had died and been left soaking in water, giving off that kind of reek.
“Drip…”
Without realizing it, the dripping sound was getting closer and closer to Lu Ren.
If the earlier, sharp sound could have been dismissed as his imagination, now it felt like the dripping was right in front of him.
If Lu Ren stood there for another ten seconds, that mysterious water drop would fall directly onto his head.
“Drip…”
Hearing the sound again, Lu Ren’s eyelid began to twitch violently.
Something’s not right!
His instincts screamed that if any part of his body came into contact with that inexplicable droplet, something completely unforeseen would happen.
He didn’t know what might occur, but he wasn’t about to gamble on his chances of survival.
Lu Ren instinctively took two steps back, exiting the bathroom.
As soon as he stepped out, the strange dripping sound vanished instantly.
Just as he was about to sigh in relief, a new sound came from outside the dorm door.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
Someone was pacing back and forth outside the dorm.
Who could be out there so late?
Lu Ren was puzzled, thinking at first that maybe it was one of the guys who had gone out with his girlfriend and was just getting back now.
But as he realized the footsteps lingered outside the door, he unconsciously listened more closely.
That’s when Lu Ren realized things weren’t as simple as he thought.
“Creak… creak… creak…”
Besides the footsteps, there was also a faint, almost imperceptible noise he’d missed before.
It sounded strange—both sharp and irritating.
Almost as if…
Someone was scratching the dorm door with their fingernails?