Editor and Proofreader: Rinrin

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The rain continued for two full days.

Lin Wu sat in class, propping his head up with his hand, staring out the window in a daze.

The constant sound of rain seemed to become the background music for the entire world, monotonous to the point of boredom, also making people drowsy.

“Lin Wu, Lin Wu?”

His drifting thoughts were suddenly pulled back by a voice beside him.

Lin Wu snapped awake, only to realize class had ended, and many classmates were packing their things and leaving the classroom.

The one calling him was the class monitor, Deng Chacha, who had already walked over to his desk with her backpack: “The PPT for you?”

Lin Wu didn’t react immediately: “What?”

“The group project” Deng Chacha tilted her head to look at him, her neat ponytail swaying, “Aren’t you the one who always does the PPT?”

Deng Chacha’s words did not imply she was pushing the task onto Lin Wu. In fact, she could easily do the PPT herself, but Lin Wu’s enthusiasm for PPT production was well-known throughout the Environmental Engineering class.

From freshman year until now, whenever there was a group project, regardless of who he was grouped with, Lin Wu would actively take on the task of creating the final PPT. His presentations were always exquisite and didn’t overshadow the content, often achieving a win-win effect of highlighting key points while providing a visual delight.

There was even one occasion where a teacher sighed complexly, saying, “Your project content is a bit wasted on this PPT.”

“Oh right, the group project” Lin Wu finally remembered, with the class monitor’s reminder. “I’ll do the PPT, no problem.”

The PPT was settled, but Deng Chacha still felt something was off with Lin Wu: “Have you been staying up late recently?”

Lin Wu responded, “Huh?”

“You’ve seemed really drowsy in class these past few days.” As someone who always sat in the front row with him, Deng Chacha had never seen Lin Wu like this.

Lin Wu had indeed been unable to sleep at night lately, feeling drowsy during the day, and could only awkwardly scratch his head: “Maybe there’s a bit of pressure.”

Deng Chacha paused in her response, choosing not to ask further.

Everyone knew what had been happening recently.

Just as the class monitor left, the three friends from the back row approached.

“With the world about to turn into an animal kingdom, we still have to do assignments” Li Junchi sighed dramatically. “We’re really in a tough spot.”

“Because mutations won’t kill people” Ren Feiyu, after so many days, had settled into a resigned mindset, “but not submitting the group assignment could definitely get you killed.”

The teacher for this course was their Environmental Engineering department head, Mr. Huang, who had extremely strict requirements. A small mistake could lead to a failing grade at the end of the term, earning him the nickname “Old Huang, a no-survivor expedition” among senior students.

Their next class was in another building. After packing his bag, Lin Wu walked out with his friends.

Since they left the classroom late, there weren’t many people left in the corridor. Li Junchi and Ren Feiyu continued to discuss the group project, as they had been assigned to the same group and were both feeling bleak about their prospects.

Although the two were animatedly discussing “who is the biggest slacker among us” Lin Wu couldn’t shake the feeling that today was oddly quiet. He turned his head to look at Xia Yang beside him and finally figured out what was off.

This guy had been unusually quiet today.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Wu nudged him with his elbow. “You look like you’ve lost your soul?”

Xia Yang turned to him, looking unusually downcast, his voice muffled: “Lin Wu, I might also…”

Lin Wu paused in his steps.

“For the past couple of days, I’ve felt particularly light and always want to move. Sometimes, during class, I suddenly feel like jumping up, as if there were springs attached to my backside” Xia Yang started pouring out his feelings and couldn’t stop, “And drinking water too, you know I’m always chattering away, needing to drink to moisten my throat, but I didn’t drink a single sip of water yesterday from morning till night, and I didn’t even feel thirsty…”

—

Lin Wu listened, his heart growing heavier.

Although every word out of Xia Yang’s mouth was “maybe” or “I feel,” after so many days, they all understood that once you start feeling like something is off, it’s serious.

After Xia Yang finished speaking, he noticed that Li Junchi and Ren Feiyu were also looking at him, clearly having heard everything.

Li Junchi was fine, but Ren Feiyu…

Xia Yang rolled his eyes and lightly knocked his head: “What kind of expression is that? I’m mutating, not dying.”

Ren Feiyu, feeling wronged, covered his head, but didn’t forget to analyze: “Light and wanting to jump high—what kind of animal could that be…”

Li Junchi said, “If you want to jump, then it must be a kangaroo.”

Lin Wu shook his head: “Kangaroos are strength-based; a full-grown kangaroo can knock down a strong man with one punch.”

Li Junchi immediately realized: “Then it can’t be Xia Yang, given his small build.”

“Exactly” Lin Wu agreed.

“If he’s not thirsty all the time” Ren Feiyu tentatively guessed, “could he be a desert animal?”

Li Junchi responded, “A camel? But camels don’t jump, and their hardworking nature doesn’t really match Xia Yang, does it?”

“There aren’t many desert animals” Lin Wu quickly scanned his mental database, “besides camels, the common ones are lizards, scorpions, rattlesnakes…”

Xia Yang exclaimed, “Can’t you pick something good for me!”

He understood how Ren Feiyu felt when he had been “group bullied” not long ago.

As they spoke, the four had already walked out of the teaching building.

The rain had unknowingly lightened, turning into a fine drizzle, barely moistening their faces and leaving only faint traces on their bodies.

Lin Wu looked up; the thick clouds that had loomed for two days were gradually dispersing, and at the end of the sky, a hint of brightness was slowly emerging.

He suddenly felt a sense of openness, as the weight on his heart began to lift.

Retracting his gaze, Lin Wu returned to the three still researching desert animals, casually asking, “What do you think, if someone suddenly runs faster than before, what animal characteristics could that be?”

Caught up in the discussion, Li Junchi immediately replied, “That’s too broad; there are animals that can run everywhere.”

“Then let’s add… endurance?” Lin Wu elaborated, “It’s like running long distances doesn’t tire him out as much as before.”

“Speed + endurance” Li Junchi summarized, “That fits many animals: horses, donkeys, mules, antelopes… rabbits too, because if they can’t run, how can they escape their predators?”

Ren Feiyu added, “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a herbivore. The documentary we watched yesterday mentioned wolves and hyenas; they have good endurance too, which is essential for catching prey.”

— The study atmosphere in dorm 333 had been quite intense lately, often watching various educational documentaries about animals together.

“If he not only can run but also has better teeth?” As they still couldn’t come to a conclusion, Lin Wu provided new information.

Xia Yang squinted at him, filled with suspicion… no, almost certainty: “Stop with the ‘what ifs,’ my brother, just say you’re asking for yourself!”

Lin Wu stubbornly held his gaze for three seconds: “Fine, you win.”

Ren Feiyu’s eyes widened: “Lin Wu? You too…”

Li Junchi was even more confused: “Wait, what’s going on?”

Out of four people in the dorm, three had mutated—what was this? Were they trying to isolate him? That couldn’t happen!

Li Junchi said, “Actually, I didn’t mention it to you guys, but I’ve been feeling really strange these past few days too, like I just want to gallop around. How can I describe it? It’s like, ‘A rider in the dust^[1]adventure, the concubine smiles^[2]beauty; the iron horse^[3]progress and icy river^[4]challenge come into my dreams—’”

Xia Yang asked, “Are those two lines from a poem?”

Li Junchi replied, “You should first contemplate your peach blossoms a thousand feet deep, with dragonflies resting on top…^[5]a peaceful and serene atmosphere”

By the time they reached the classroom for the next session, the 333 dorm’s seminar yielded no significant results.

As usual, Lin Wu took a seat in the front row.

After much consideration, Xia Yang still paused next to Lin Wu before heading to the back of the classroom, offering a frank suggestion: “If you really can’t think of an animal with speed and endurance, why not change the conditions?”

Lin Wu looked up in confusion: “Huh?”

Xia Yang patted his shoulder: “Think of animals that love to sing at night.”

Lin Wu quickly understood, then was stunned: “Am I singing at night?”

“The frequency and strangeness of your repertoire break all imagination” Xia Yang said, each word serious.

In late September, more and more classmates were showing abnormal physical symptoms. Although the severity was low, and very few exhibited symptoms like those in the news—suddenly gasping for breath or staying underwater for half an hour—the forum was flooded with posts about “mutations,” filled with topics like—

**Subject**: “I think I might have mutated…”

**Subject**: “It’s over, I feel like a pig…”

**Subject**: “I can’t figure out what I am, but I’m definitely mutated.”

**Subject**: “My dad, mom, and sister have all mutated. I’m tired; let’s just end it.”

That night, the relevant authorities announced, via a live news broadcast, the most significant research progress since the outbreak of physical anomalies: China successfully confirmed the world’s first case of a mutant with activated genes associated with animal traits!

“…We successfully extracted the activated gene fragments from the mutant, and after detailed testing and comparison, we confirmed that the direction of the mutation aligns with that of the Asian black bear…”

The four, gathered around the tablet to watch the live broadcast, fell silent upon hearing the final result.

Though everyone had been discussing “animal traits” for days, the notion of “mutation = animalization” had not been officially stamped; it was still framed in terms like “observed” and “commonly existing.”

People tend to harbor a sense of hope; after all, no one wants to live their life just to suddenly be told they must learn to coexist with a strange, newly activated part of their animal instincts.

But today, all hope had vanished.

In a way, that was fine.

It was like the second shoe finally dropped, allowing those below to feel reassured.

The next day, the school held its second general assembly, but having learned from the first experience, they didn’t inconvenience anyone with an outdoor meeting. Instead, they changed it to a video conference.

—

On the screen, the old principal looked a bit more haggard than at the beginning of the month, but he still sternly and patiently emphasized again and again—

“Although we have confirmed that it is a physical transformation with animal traits, everyone still needs to maintain a calm mindset…”

“We have many teachers who have already adapted to their physical abnormalities and continue to shine in their teaching positions, just like before; students can certainly do the same…”

“Physical abnormalities will not affect health, and I hope everyone can keep a calm mindset and focus on their studies…”

“Maintain a calm mindset…”

“Stay calm…”

After a meeting like this, Lin Wu and the others felt like they were almost brainwashed by the words “stay calm.”

During afternoon gym class that day, Xia Yang casually jumped up to one and a half meters during warm-ups, almost kicking the gym teacher in the process.

…How the hell are we supposed to stay calm?!

On the last day of September, this global phenomenon of rampant physical transformation, which had been spreading rapidly for nearly a month, finally received an official international name—

Animality-awakening, abbreviated as A-A.

In Chinese, it’s called: Wildness Awakening.