"Damn!" Lin Yi broke out in a cold sweat, "Liangzi, what are they?"
Wei Liang trembled, "I, I don't know either... It wasn't this creepy last time. Should we run? While we're still at the school gate..."
Lin Yi glanced at the lamp post and bitterly reminded, "But Liangzi, we've been away from the school gate for a while now..."
Wei Liang turned pale, his lips pursed as he leaned silently against the streetlight.
"Hey... you guys move really fast." Just then, a voice rang out near Lin Yi's ear.
Four figures traversed the thick mist, approaching them under the dim streetlight.
They were Lin Yi's roommates, dragging their luggage and carrying backpacks, deliberately walking over to Lin Yi under the light cast by the streetlight.
Lin Yi looked at them in surprise, "Young Master Tian, how did you get here?"
"Walked, of course. You think we flew here?" Mao Feiyang said with contempt on his thin, dark face.
Mao Feiyang wanted to say more, but Tian Bufan interrupted, "We saw the light come on and just followed the road over here. Are you guys alright, you seem quite shaken?"
"It was a close call." Lin Yi asked, "Didn't you find it strange on your way here?"
"Strange is normal. Would a school without any issues offer a week-long experience for thirty thousand?" Mao Feiyang scoffed, "Do you think the school authorities are stupid and loaded with cash?"
The lean Kuai Hongji sneered sinisterly, "Exactly, for thirty thousand, it's enough to buy Maozi's life."
"Stop your crap, I can't stand this place for a moment longer!" Wei Shan clenched his fists; his burly figure tensed like a bear ready to rip something apart.
"I should have brought my baseball bat!" His breathing was heavy, hostility radiating towards the figures in the mist.
"Calm down, it's our first time here, don't be so aggressive, Wei Sang," Tian Bufan said gently, resting his hand on Wei Shan's shoulder, soothing his heavy breathing slightly.
Tian Bufan closed his eyes and raised his head, taking a deep breath with the mist entering his nostrils and then exhaling.
He slowly opened his eyes, a calm excitement in his gaze.
"Truly a place worth exploring, much more interesting than just reading the rules."
The roommates' conversation did not alleviate Lin Yi's fear of the surrounding environment; he looked around, filled with anxiety.
As the night fell, the mist was getting denser; the "domain" initially set by the street lights was gradually being eroded by the mist, and soon they too would be swallowed by it.
The eerily atmospheric female teachers with their student leaders were also slowly closing in on them.
Under the mist, something seemed to be hiding its figure while approaching them, not fast but oppressively close.
Wei Shan seemed to sense it too; his breathing grew heavier again.
His eyes reddened as if he was a wild beast about to lose control.
"Don't be afraid, we are all here," Lin Yi said, placing his hand on Wei Shan's other shoulder.
As Wei Shan's roommate, he knew that Wei Shan was quick to anger and suffered from claustrophobia, and this fog was pressing on his mood just like a black box, potentially causing him to explode in extreme suppression.
"Heh heh, Wei Sang is about to snap!" Kuai Hongji said coldly.
"Yin Bi, believe it or not, I'll be the first to tear you apart!" Wei Shan growled lowly from his throat, staring at Kuai Hongji with bloodshot eyes.
"Enough! Kuai Kuai, Wei Sang, now's not the time to quarrel," Lin Yi suppressed his discomfort and spoke in a lowered voice.
"Heh heh," Kuai Hongji tugged at the corner of his mouth, ignoring Wei Shan's threat.
"I'm terrified now, Old Lin, what should we do?" Wei Liang said, his back pressed against the streetlight in fear.
Lin Yi looked in the direction Tian Bufan and the others had come from, pondering for a moment before murmuring, "If we follow this road back, can we reach the school gate and leave?"
Although the mist was dense, a streetlight not far off stood like a lighthouse, its yellow light twisted like fabric, stretching all the way to the streetlight at their feet.
Wei Liang's eyes brightened as if he had found a lifesaving straw.
"What, thinking of leaving now?" Mao Feiyang remarked.
Lin Yi shook his head, not expecting to encounter such weird events just after arriving at S City University. Wei Liang's face under his cap had darkened beyond recognition.
"I won't go, but maybe we can let Liangzi leave."
"You wish," Tian Bufan bluntly splashed cold water, "As soon as we got off the bus inside the school, we found the school gate had disappeared."
"What kind of disappearance? Vanished into thin air?"
Tian Bufan spoke seriously, "The mist covered the school gate, and then it disappeared. But... I have a strange feeling that the gate wasn't just gone, but pulled away."
"Can you understand that feeling?"
"The gate is right in front of you, but when you try to walk towards it, that tiny bit of road stretches like rubber, and no matter how you walk, you can't reach the gate."
"It's only one step away, yet it seems like a distance of a whole world."
Lin Yi couldn't believe it, furrowing his brows, "I had that feeling just now."
Tian Bufan spoke, "So even if we want to leave, we need to abide by the rules to do so... First we have to accept the rules, become part of the rules."
"It's like playing a survival game, using every rule you can to protect yourself and then survive to make it through."