Chapter 15: Himuro Nagi
March 24, 2024, evening, Ting’an University Spiritual Academy.
The dorm elevator looked old, not like designs from recent years.
A minty scent lingered inside, as if a heavily perfumed passenger had just left.
Xueqiu stayed silent, watching the floor indicator shift from “1” to “6.”
Even when the doors opened, she didn’t ask another question.
Rationally, every inch of ground she now tread was no longer part of the real world.
Xia Yin called this place “Youdu.”
If “You” meant ghost, was this like the underworld?
Xueqiu still couldn’t believe it.
Yet everything felt so real—except for the starless sky.
Will I stay here forever?
As they stepped out, two female students in dark blue uniforms approached.
They ignored Xueqiu and Xia Yin, slipping into the elevator one after the other.
Girls?
Xueqiu froze.
She’d assumed this was a male dorm.
But it couldn’t be a female dorm either—those girls hadn’t reacted to Xia Yin’s presence.
“Dorms here are usually doubles. Space is tight, so no male-female separation yet,” Xia Yin said, catching her hesitation and smirking playfully.
“But don’t get any ideas. Male-female cohabitation is strictly banned. It’s written clear as day in the rules…”
“Truth is, this school barely takes in new students each year, and there aren’t many dorm buildings. Who knows how old this one is—ten, maybe twenty years? It was like this when I enrolled.”
“Are we… breaking the rules then?” Xueqiu asked.
“Breaking rules? Nah, you were a regular high school guy before! Oh, and you’ll probably ask, ‘Why did I turn out like this?’ Don’t ask me—I don’t know. Ask Professor Chen.”
“Professor Chen?” Xueqiu followed Xia Yin down the hall, recalling the name mentioned more than once.
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to find him yourself. I’ll take you tomorrow to meet an old guy named Chen Qiyun,” Xia Yin said, stopping at room “620.”
“Weird, I swear I locked the door…”
He pushed the handle, and Xueqiu, curious about what a Youdu dorm would look like, was hit by a strong mint scent.
Inside, she saw two beds—one high, one low.
The low one was bare, piled with books.
Two computer desks sat near the door: one empty, the other with a laptop.
On the ergonomic chair facing it…
Someone was sitting.
A boy with silver-gray hair, his face cold and sharp, sat with a book in one hand and a phone to his ear.
“I understand. He’s back. That’s all for now.”
He hung up, turning to Xia Yin.
When his gray eyes glanced at Xueqiu, a flicker of surprise passed through them.
“Hey, Bing Shi, your Contract’s got nothing to do with lockpicking, right? So how’d you sneak in?” Xia Yin asked, tossing his backpack onto the empty desk and striding over, hands on the boy’s shoulders, almost pinning him down.
“Door wasn’t locked,” the boy said flatly. “Computer wasn’t off either.”
Xueqiu glanced at the book-strewn desk.
The gray laptop displayed the Covenant launcher, its wallpaper—partly obscured—showing a reclining anime girl with white hair and cat ears.
“Hiss… Seriously? I must’ve left in a rush…” Xia Yin said.
“No, wait—what’s that got to do with you barging into my dorm? Since when does the aloof Bing Shi Nagi come to welcome freshmen?”
Xia Yin hurried to close the launcher and shut the laptop.
“I’m here to retrieve files. When a freshman arrives doesn’t concern me,” Bing Shi Nagi said, standing, expressionless.
“Files?” Xia Yin looked confused.
“File SS20210516, codenamed ‘Death of Qingtan.’ You borrowed it from the library with S-level clearance without approval,” Bing Shi Nagi said, each word deliberate.
Xia Yin froze for a second, like a kid caught lying, then quickly recovered.
He stepped to the empty desk, pulling a manila envelope from a drawer.
“Why so uptight? I just skipped a reporting step. It’s not like leaving campus, needing triple approval.”
He tossed the envelope to Bing Shi Nagi. “Here, take it… But I’m curious. Isn’t the library crew usually useless? Why the rush to get this back?”
“Chang Yi is scanning all paper books for archiving. Your file was the only one missing,” Bing Shi Nagi replied after checking it.
“Fine, fine,” Xia Yin shrugged, then shifted gears.
“So, you’re here and not gonna say hi to our new classmate? Should I pull off her hood? You won’t believe what she looks like!”
Bing Shi Nagi ignored him, taking the envelope and heading for the half-open door.
His visit seemed solely to retrieve the file.
“Just now, the team you bet on lost their last BO3 to the Americas team. They’re out,” Bing Shi Nagi said, closing the door behind him.
“Is he your friend, Senior?” Xueqiu asked timidly once the boy was gone.
“Friend? Just a stone-faced jerk. We were both freshmen back then. Now I’m a sophomore, and he’s already graduated. Also, stop calling me Senior, okay?”
Xia Yin pulled out his phone.
Seconds later, the spark in his dead-fish eyes vanished.
“Damn, only 5 points for two maps…”
Xueqiu scanned the room.
The dorm wasn’t small.
Besides beds, desks, a balcony, and a private bathroom, it had a simple kitchen.
The fridge and other furniture were there, but clearly, Xia Yin didn’t cook.
Where pots and pans should’ve been, stacks of books sat instead.
Xia Yin seemed like someone who lived buried in books.
Yet, from Carlos and his own words, he’d been stuck in his sophomore year for three years.
“You can sleep here tonight. Not like you’ve got anywhere else,” Xia Yin said.
When Xueqiu snapped back to reality, he’d cleared the empty bed, moving piles of books off it.
He didn’t seem like a bad person.
To Xueqiu, Xia Yin was an optimistic, helpful senior—despite those persistent dead-fish eyes.
“Senior, your phone’s ringing,” Xueqiu said, handing him the vibrating phone on the desk.
She glimpsed the contact name: just “Su.”
Xia Yin took it, casually hitting the answer button.
“Student council? Me? Why’s Ou Ziyun bugging me instead of Carlos? I’m not her boyfriend, and I’m not even in the council!”
Noticing Xueqiu nearby, Xia Yin lowered his voice.
“The freshman? Yeah, she’s with me, but… ugh, it’s hard to explain right now. How about this, Su Xi, tell Ou Ziyun to wait till Professor Chen evaluates her before recruiting, okay?”