He then turned his gaze to the front, only to see that the first batch of passengers who had gotten off the bus had already disappeared into the mist following some of the student cadres, leaving only that female teacher and a few students still calling out to them.
Lin Yi looked at the female teacher's chest, a badge was conspicuously pinned there, but just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief and walk over, his entire body suddenly shuddered violently.
He quickly caught up to Wei Liang, seizing his hand, "Liangzi, wait a minute! Don't go over there!"
Wei Liang was jolted, turning his head in confusion, "What's the matter?"
Lin Yi leaned in, whispering in a low voice, "Don't go over there, she doesn't have a badge!"
"Ah?" Wei Liang was startled.
"Look carefully, that badge... it looks like it's drawn on paper!" Lin Yi's voice dropped even lower, "Didn't you visit before, can you tell if that badge is real or fake?"
Wei Liang hastily composed himself, carefully eyeing the female teacher before quickly averting his gaze, shivering, he instinctively moved behind Lin Yi, "Fuck! It really is a fake! Exceedingly fake! What the hell is going on?!"
"Wait! Teacher, student, teacher, student..." Wei Liang's thoughts whirled rapidly, his eyeballs spinning frantically, "Damn, are they the legendary art teacher and art students?!"
"The student code! The student code!" Wei Liang muttered, the urgent and dangerous atmosphere pressing down like the smell of garlic, making Lin Yi feel its intensity as well.
Wei Liang urgently said, "Streetlights! Right, Old Lin, find the streetlights!"
No sooner had he spoken than Lin Yi felt a rush of cool air through the fog, which partly dissipated to reveal a pitch-black streetlight pole not far away.
When Wei Liang saw this seemingly beckoning streetlight pole, his apical bone surged with coldness, his body starting to tremble faintly, he turned to seize Lin Yi's wrist, his voice trembling, "Old Lin, don't be fooled! Look for a lighted streetlight!"
His voice was extremely deep, "I remember now! In abnormal weather, the only thing trustworthy is the streetlight that is on!"
At this moment, some students around them noticed the odd behavior of Lin Yi and Wei Liang, and the female teacher began to hurry them, "Students, come over quickly! There is not much time left!"
The female teacher's calm voice, at this moment, seemed particularly grating, like a devilish noise prodding at Lin Yi and Wei Liang.
Other passengers also started chirping, telling Lin Yi and the others to come over and not waste everyone's time.
Wei Liang was anxious, but dared not show any abnormality.
At the critical moment, Lin Yi had an idea, raising his voice, "Teacher, wait a moment, we still have a roommate on the bus, we'll go call them!"
"You... tsk! Go quickly and come back quickly!" There was a hint of impatience in the teacher's voice.
"Okay teacher!" Lin Yi quickly tugged at Wei Liang's sleeve, and the two hurried toward the bus by the school entrance.
But after only a few steps, there was a "rustling" sound behind them, like the sound of a stone rubbing against the ground.
Something hidden in the mist was approaching them, not fast, but enough to inflict a strong sense of oppression on them.
At that moment, the female teacher's urging voice came from behind them, "Too slow! Walk faster!"
The voice was somewhat stiff, yet it carried an undeniable force.
"If you can't make it, turn back."
Lin Yi and Wei Liang felt a chill running up and down their spines, shuddering uncontrollably.
'Don't look back! Don't look back! Never look back!' Lin Yi's mind abruptly conjured the contents of the student code.
The student code, Article 3: At any time, if you hear footsteps or voices calling from behind you, no matter how close the footsteps or how urgent the voices, please do not turn back; once you reach the light of a streetlight or get inside a building, the footsteps will vanish.
'As long as we don't look back, we should be safe in theory!'
However, they had traveled only a few meters after getting off the bus, and when Lin Yi had looked back earlier, the bus was faintly visible not far away, but now as they turned to retrace their steps, they couldn't find any sign of the bus at all!
The eerie feeling, mixed with the mist, overwhelmed Lin Yi, and he suddenly realized the fog and the brick pattern on the ground below had disoriented them; they had turned around, but it was highly likely they weren't heading toward the school entrance at all!
"We're lost..." Lin Yi clenched his fist, biting his teeth in frustration.
Wei Liang also belatedly realized this, breaking out in a cold sweat on his forehead.
"Damn, once bitten, twice shy, a third time sprinkled with cumin and served up for dinner, if only I hadn't come back!" Wei Liang's expression was extremely ugly, they hadn't found the streetlight, the bus was gone, and now they were truly screwed!
Yet Lin Yi suddenly spotted something, his voice heavy, "Liangzi, there's another pole ahead!"
Wei Liang's face was downcast as he said, "But Old Lin, it's not lit up!"
Lin Yi pushed up his sleeves, and the hands of his old quartz watch were laboriously moving, "It's five fifty-eight PM now. The campus lights turn on at six o'clock. In two more minutes, if that light comes on, we'll head over!"
"What if it doesn't light up?" Wei Liang asked in a panic, but Lin Yi had already lowered his head to closely examine the ground beneath his feet.
"I don't know either... so we'd better pray it's real."
Wei Liang's lips were trembling, and his emotions were a mix of calm and fear. Out of instinct he said, "Then then then what do we do now?"
In this extremely dangerous situation, Lin Yi calmly squatted down and touched a cobblestone on the ground, "Liangzi, do you remember Student Code Article 7?"
Student Code Article 7: If you cannot find a numbered lamppost immediately, please bow your head and focus on the ground beneath your feet, to find any reference that assures you are still on the path.
"Don't worry about whatever's behind us, just follow the rules, and we should be safe," Lin Yi spoke solemnly, "Two more minutes... no, 1 minute and 34 seconds left! We can take a chance! What do you think?"
"At a time like this whatever you think then let's just do that, I'm all in with you!" Wei Liang could clearly feel something beckoning him from behind.
The best-case scenario was that it was really just the Art Teacher calling him.
'Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick...'
The scraping sound of the quartz watch hands and Lin Yi's increasingly treasured breath were distinctly audible in the mist.
Lin Yi's heart was thumping wildly, stuck in his throat. He could feel a subtle distortion emerging from the ground beneath his feet, as the texture of the cobblestone started to resemble python scales...
In the flowing mist, it seemed as if eyes were watching them...
From behind.
From all directions.
'17:59:57...17:59:58...17:59:59...'
Lin Yi gritted his teeth, his gaze piercing the mist like a sword, staring straight at the lamppost ahead.
'18:00:00!'
Time was up!
"Pop..."
The traditional incandescent bulb in the lamppost lit up with the power on, and the orange-yellow curtain of light dispersed the mist like a pair of invisible hands pushing away the ominous atmosphere.
Both of them ran for it, charging towards the lamppost.
Beneath the light, their shadows elongated behind them, reaching into the depths of the heavy fog.
The intense fog from all directions surged, and the restless scraping sounds became increasingly agitated; the Art Teacher let out a reluctant growl, like a beast rolling its throat.
When they reached the lamppost, Lin Yi immediately looked at it.
"Teaching Building-023"
"Inside the Teaching Building area..."
He collapsed, his back against the lamppost, gasping for air.
But before he could catch his breath, Wei Liang's trembling voice rang out in horror.
"Lin Lin Lin Lin Yi! You... You better look!"
Wei Liang's eyes were fixedly staring ahead, where the Art Teacher and a few Art Students stood in the thick fog not far away, their gaze as venomous as that of snakes on them, their blurry figures appearing and disappearing in the dim light.
Even through the thick mist, Lin Yi could see their pallid faces, waxy and yellow as if they were sculptures.
And those passengers who had been gathered around the Art Teacher had long since vanished.
May 6, X023, 18:03.
Under the lamppost of Teaching Building-023 at S City University.
Outside the range of the yellow incandescent light, heads swarmed in the whirlpool-like mist, and dark figures hidden in the darkness stared at them like statues.