Editor and Proofreader: Rinrin

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“I haven’t seen you in the past few days” Wang Ye said, abruptly ending his ongoing game and stuffing his phone into his pocket.

Lin Wu thought it would just be a casual greeting, but it seemed like Wang Ye was in the mood for a serious chat, so he replied, “Oh, I didn’t come out. I stayed in the dorm.”

Wang Ye seemed surprised: “You were able to sleep?”

“No” Lin Wu felt a bit down about this topic, “I’m wide awake.”

Wang Ye frowned in confusion: “Then why stay in the dorm?”

Lin Wu explained, “I didn’t want to disturb my roommates by coming out at midnight, and besides, if I don’t adjust my biological clock back, what will I do in class later?”

“You’re overthinking it” Wang Ye said, sounding tired just from listening.

The students who had been watching the commotion began to return, and the corridor started to become crowded and noisy again.

—

Su Xiao hadn’t returned, so Lin Wu simply walked over to Wang Ye’s side to chat conveniently. After all, it was a long night, and having someone to talk to was better than staring blankly at nothing: “What do you mean by thinking too much? You come out every night without affecting your roommates?”

As he finished speaking, he found himself in front of Wang Ye, who hadn’t responded yet. A male voice floated over from beside Wang Ye: “It’s fine, not too much of an impact.”

Lin Wu jumped in surprise, realizing that there was another boy standing next to Wang Ye.

The student was slightly taller than Lin Wu but shorter than Wang Ye, probably around 187 centimeters. He had single eyelids, but his eyes weren’t small; perhaps due to the thin eyelids, they looked quite pretty, with the outer corners slightly upturned. He looked clean-cut, sunny, and handsome.

“Who are you…?” Lin Wu confirmed he didn’t know this person.

Yuan Sixue didn’t want to disrupt their chat so abruptly, but he was afraid that if he didn’t speak up, he would truly become just a passerby: “I’m Yuan Sixue, one of the roommates you were just concerned about.”

Lin Wu hadn’t expected Wang Ye to have a friend like this, someone who smiled at everyone. He thought they would all be more like Jiang Tan: “I’m Lin Wu, from the Environmental Engineering department.”

This just goes to show, comparisons can be quite intimidating.

After several meetings, Lin Wu had gradually felt that Wang Ye wasn’t so fierce. But standing side by side with Yuan Sixue—

Their hairstyles: one was a wild buzz cut, and the other a school prince-style short haircut.

Their clothing: one dressed in black as dark as the night itself, even his sneakers were in dark colors, while the other wore a white T-shirt with a light-colored shirt over it, looking fresh and energetic.

Their demeanor: one seemed ready to get into a fight at any moment, while the other had a warm, gentle smile.

Under the same roof, the contrast was striking.

“What are you staring at?” Wang Ye didn’t understand the back-and-forth glances between Lin Wu and Yuan Sixue, but his instincts told him that if there was a positive and a negative in that look, he definitely wasn’t the positive one.

Lin Wu wanted to retort, “What’s it to you?”

“No, I was just wondering what kind of animal you two might awaken as.” ‘Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut!’

Wang Ye was very interested in this topic and asked Lin Wu directly: “What kind of animal are you?”

Lin Wu: “…”

The question wasn’t particularly problematic, but it felt so awkward!

“Let’s not stand here chatting; it’s tiring.” Yuan Sixue led them to some empty seats nearby.

“I suspect I might awaken as a wolf” Lin Wu said as he sat down, “but there’s no way to confirm that.”

“A wolf…” Wang Ye thought for a moment, then nodded, “That’s pretty good.”

Although Lin Wu completely couldn’t understand what Wang Ye was thinking during those few seconds, it was always nice to receive a positive evaluation about the direction of awakening, which made him more enthusiastic about the conversation: “What about you two?”

Yuan Sixue replied: “We can only confirm that we’re nocturnal animals for now; the rest isn’t clear.”

Lin Wu: “Unclear? No other changes in your bodies?”

Lin Wu had his doubts, but Wang Ye was more curious about him: “How do you know you’re a wolf?”

“Can you please be specific?” Lin Wu was fed up, “It’s not ‘I am a wolf,’ it’s ‘the direction of my awakening might be a wolf.’”

Wang Ye: “Aren’t those the same thing?”

Lin Wu: “…”

Wang Ye: “…”

Lin Wu: “Wang Ye.”

Wang Ye: “?”

Lin Wu: “Has anyone ever told you that you’re asking for a beating?”

Wang Ye: “In high school, I used to knock down eight of those kinds of people in a day.”

Lin Wu: “…”

Wang Ye: “?”

Lin Wu: “No problem; I’m a wolf.”

For the rest of the time, Lin Wu acted like a group leader for a project, patiently explaining his physical changes and the logic behind determining the direction of awakening to the two underachievers.

Wang Ye zoned out after hearing a third of it, and when Lin Wu said, “mainly careful observation and detailed analysis,” he was completely blank.

Lin Wu had seen many underachievers, but Wang Ye was truly the pinnacle of them all.

In contrast, Yuan Sixue was quite reassuring.

“If we’re talking like this, I also have some clues about myself” he said leisurely, “my motor skills have also improved, my teeth have become better like yours, and it seems like I’ve even unlocked a climbing skill recently.”

Lin Wu: “Climbing trees?”

Yuan Sixue: “Yeah, during a night outing last night, a very cute male classmate asked me to help him get a balloon that was hanging in a tree.”

“…” Useless embellishments + inexplicably subtle plot = a bit confused. Lin Wu decided to skip that part and directly ask the main point, “So you easily climbed the tree?”

Yuan Sixue: “Very easily.”

“If your teeth are good, you’re probably a carnivorous or omnivorous animal, and being nocturnal, with climbing abilities…” Lin Wu quickly sifted through the animal encyclopedia knowledge he had crammed in over the past few days. Suddenly, he asked Yuan Sixue, “How’s your jumping ability? When jumping down from a height, do you feel lighter than before?”

Yuan Sixue tilted his head: “Why do you ask that?”

“This is purely my own speculation,” Lin Wu declared first before continuing, “I feel that your attributes resemble those of a feline animal.”

Lin Wu didn’t forget that there was still another person present, so he turned to Wang Ye and asked, “What do you think?”

Wang Ye had only heard the beginning and the end, with the middle filled with silence. But when the teacher asked, his long-acquired, underachiever-style ability to adapt immediately kicked in: “I think what he said is correct.”

Lin Wu: “… That analysis just now was mine!”

Yuan Sixue had been frustrated by Wang Ye countless times since their freshman year. Now that he had seen it all, he calmly watched Wang Ye cause trouble for other classmates.

While observing, he felt a bit sorry for Lin Wu because Wang Ye had matured now. Unlike what Ge Liang had said about him fighting everyone in high school, most of the time, he only targeted 509.

Now, congratulations to Lin Wu for becoming “one of them.”

After wrapping up Yuan Sixue’s awakening speculation, Lin Wu began to tackle Wang Ye.

Although Wang Ye was uncooperative in every way, Lin Wu had a stubborn temper. The more Wang Ye seemed disinterested, the more Lin Wu wanted to analyze his awakening direction. His determination was similar to tackling a tough problem, so he persistently encouraged Wang Ye’s thinking: “Think carefully again; is there really no significant change besides being nocturnal?”

—

Wang Ye was most annoyed by overthinking in his life: “No.”

Lin Wu asked, “Has your athletic ability improved?”

Wang Ye replied, “I could climb rooftops before.”

Lin Wu continued, “Has your bite gotten better?”

Wang Ye said, “I could crush bones before.”

Lin Wu inquired, “What about climbing trees?”

Wang Ye boasted, “I can climb faster than Yuan Sixue now.”

Yuan Sixue chimed in, “Uh, I can confirm that.”

Lin Wu was left speechless.

‘Is this a normal human trait? This is more like a rampaging beast!’

As they chatted late into the night, they unexpectedly found that it had already turned into morning. The three of them went to the cafeteria for breakfast, with Lin Wu buying four portions and Wang Ye and Yuan Sixue getting five.

Lin Wu was a bit puzzled.

Then he noticed that the cafeteria lady, without Wang Ye saying anything, combined two egg pancakes into one bag and handed it to him, her smile overflowing with warmth compared to how she treated other students.

Lin Wu secretly sought help from Yuan Sixue with a confused look.

Yuan Sixue whispered, “If you buy double portions of egg pancakes every morning for a semester, you’ll get this treatment too.”

Lin Wu replied, “… that’s quite persistent.”

Yuan Sixue laughed, “That’s just how he is; once he sets his mind on something, not even a hundred horses could pull him back.”

On their way back to the dorm, Lin Wu realized they were all in the same building. Yuan Sixue mentioned they lived in room 509 and invited Lin Wu to visit anytime.

In room 333, Ren Feiyu and Li Junchi were awake, while Xia Yang was still sound asleep without a care.

Lin Wu placed the pancakes on Xia Yang’s desk, then gave the other two breakfasts to Ren Feiyu and Li Junchi before heading to wash up.

After washing his face and brushing his teeth, Lin Wu felt refreshed, completely unaware of the all-nighter.

When Xia Yang finally woke up, the whole dorm gathered around for breakfast, and Lin Wu shared the events of their late-night outing with his friends.

The three listened, stunned.

Xia Yang exclaimed, “What? It turned into a night market? And dancing?”

Li Junchi added, “So what does the school mean by that? Are they encouraging night outings?”

“Not really encouraging,” Lin Wu pondered, “It’s probably because there were too many people, and they couldn’t control it, so they decided to manage it officially—it’s better to manage than to block.”

“But it’s fine during the holidays, what about when classes start?” Ren Feiyu said, scratching his head in frustration. “You guys are going out at night and sleeping during the day—how will you attend classes?”

Xia Yang took a big bite of his pancake and mumbled with his cheeks full, “Split into day classes and night classes?”

“Then we’ll be separated,” Ren Feiyu said as he put down his breakfast, losing his appetite. “I don’t want to be separated…”

Li Junchi was exasperated: “You’re worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet, and you’re already making yourself upset?”

In dorm 509.

As soon as they entered, Yuan Sixue couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked Wang Ye, “How did you guys meet?”

This kind of question seemed inappropriate in front of Lin Wu since they weren’t that familiar yet; it felt overly nosy.

But behind closed doors, he could casually inquire with Wang Ye.

Jiang Tan was wearing headphones and listening to the morning news, while Ge Liang, a bystander, immediately leaned in and asked, “Who are you talking about? Who do you know?”

Yuan Sixue quickly explained the incident of “Wang Ye’s friend appearing in the midnight corridor,” emphasizing the “surprise” and “friend.”

Ge Liang was even more astonished because he understood better than Yuan Sixue how sparse Wang Ye’s social circle was.

“On that foggy day, he was sitting on the wall and just happened to see me,” Wang Ye revealed, wanting to get it over with to avoid future annoyance.

Ge Liang said, “Foggy day? The day you got confessed to?”

Yuan Sixue asked, “Does ‘sitting on the wall’ mean… you were a full-on spectator?”

Wang Ye replied, “Yeah.”

Yuan Sixue’s voice rose slightly: “Did he also hear you say, ‘I don’t like people’?”

Wang Ye looked at him, puzzled: “What’s wrong with that?”

“Of course, there is,” Yuan Sixue wanted to conduct a deep interview with Lin Wu, “Someone who hears you say ‘I don’t like people’ and doesn’t think you’re a lunatic but still manages to be friends with you—what kind of self-sacrificing spirit is that…”

If someone else said that, Wang Ye would have kicked them out already, but since it was his own group, he could only endure it with a broad mind.

“Oh right,” Wang Ye remembered something else, “Jiang Tan saved someone who drowned, and it was also from their dorm. That day I went to the school hospital to visit Jiang Tan; it was him who accompanied the one who drowned.”

The mention of “drowning” caught Jiang Tan’s attention; the volume on his headphones wasn’t loud enough to completely block out the outside noise.

The three didn’t notice Jiang Tan and continued chatting.

“You got confessed to, Lin Wu met you, Jiang Tan saved someone from drowning, and coincidentally that person is from Lin Wu’s dorm, and then you both went to the school hospital to visit…” Ge Liang sighed dramatically, “Shouldn’t this kind of plot be given to a girl? What’s the use of it for a male classmate!”

Wang Ye shot him a glare: “Get lost.”

“Liangzi^[1]adding Zi at the end of a name shows being respectful, scholar, or courtesy, you haven’t finished,” Yuan Sixue added, “Foggy encounter, hospital encounter, night outing encounter—that’s fate cubed.”

Wang Ye couldn’t hold back anymore and kicked out again, unable to resist: “Can you say something useful?”

Using his agile skills, Yuan Sixue dodged half of the kick and then brushed off the half shoe print that didn’t dodge: “Besides fate, what else do you want me to say?”

Wang Ye replied, “Talk about Lin Wu.”

Yuan Sixue said, “He’s pretty good, quick-witted, and lively—so cute.”

Wang Ye asked, “Don’t you think he has issues?”

Yuan Sixue inquired, “What issues does he have?”

Wang Ye sighed, “Ever since I met him, I haven’t been able to successfully pet a cat.”

Yuan Sixue: “…”

Ge Liang: “…”

Jiang Tan took off his Bluetooth earphones: “You weren’t very successful before either.”