CH 9

The process of enrolment was much easier than he thought.

In the Academic Affairs Office, all he did was review his application for deferment and his original admission notice before filling out simple forms and handing them to the teacher in charge.

It took less than half an hour.

“Alright, Mr Lu, you can go to the department over there to report.”

“Thank you.”

As he was stuffing the documents in his bag, he overheard whispers from the office behind him.

“Let me guess. He’s another student who took an extended leave from school. That’s like the 5th one this week..”

“Yeah. It’s getting worrying.”

Excuse me’ Yibei thought as he pretended to drop his papers so he could listen to the gossip. He couldn’t believe they were talking behind his back.

“Remember that student from last year? When the police broke into his dorm, his room was full of garbage, and he slept with mice! Mice, I tell you! And they found-“

“Enough about that. I just ate! Anyways…”

Yibei couldn’t hear the rest of their conversations, so he crept closer.

“This must be because of the Sun. All these strange diseases popping up… don’t you think it’s strange?”

So, they think I have that Night Disease… Yibei thought as he pouted. ‘I’ll have them know I was in a car accident! Bet; they won’t have anything to say if I tell them that.’

During his stay at the hospital, he vividly remembered rumours of a strange disease called Night Sickness.

Night Sickness does not refer to a single disease but is a general term for strange diseases that modern medicine cannot explain.

Since there is no definite cause, there would be no definite cure.

Before he was discharged from the hospital, he overheard a nurse saying that there were over 200,000 people diagnosed with Night Sickness, and it was increasing daily.

“Night Sickness. Right. Remember when everyone on the Internet said that the End of the World was coming? Within ten to fifteen years, there will be no more daylight.”

“Shh! If the director hears us, we’re done for!”

Lu Yibei sighed as their gossip stopped, and he left the office and headed towards the Chinese Language Department.

In a polytechnic university, choosing to major in Chinese seems weird. However, this was his father’s last wish before he died. Since he had a good relationship with his father, it feels weird to not honour his wishes.

His father wrote online novels, and at the time, writing novels was a dead-end career.

Only those incredibly successful writers made a living.

His monthly income was barely enough to support both of them.

In a creative aspect, he thought that his father had excellent writing but lacked creativity.

Nobody wants to read a generic story.

‘In my opinion, he should’ve written something out of the box. Perhaps someone who was forced to be a Magical Girl.’

When Lu Yibei entered elementary school, his father had to make a choice between his dream and his son, so he chose the son.

He learnt how to cook and how to make traditional Sichuan cuisine. After several years, he made enough to open his own restaurant.

Yibei thought that his father had given up on his dream, but before dying, his father begged him to learn ancient Chinese.

Yibei thought of following in his father’s footsteps to become a chef and run his own restaurant.

It’s just that…

‘Forget it. I have to honour his wishes. Doesn’t hurt to take an extra course.’

Lu Yibei sighed as he stepped in front of the Faculty of Arts: ‘Even if I major in Chinese, it doesn’t mean I can’t become an excellent chef in the future.’

‘Right? If I learn good Chinese, I can exaggerate the names of my dishes and give them an appropriate price!’

‘Volcanic Snow (tomatoes and sugar), Dark Clouds Cover the Moon (seaweed and egg drop soup), My Ex-Boyfriend (chopped cucumbers)…’

Noon. In a corner of the campus playground

The scorching sun hung overhead, passing through the dense cherry blossom branches.

Under the old trees were fluttering leaves, and a girl in a light-blue camisole sat on a stone platform, shaking her legs that were hugged by khaki shorts. A slight smile was on her face as she broke some of her sandwiches to give to a stray cat.

“Were you abandoned? Not to worry, I’ll be studying here soon. Whenever I’m free, I’ll look for you.”

“Meow!”

“Food is precious,” the girl said, petting the cat as it ate the sandwich. “Don’t let it go to waste, now.”

“Meow!”

“Otherwise, I’ll crush your balls.”

“Meow…?!”

After feeding the cat the sandwich, she leaned over to gather up the crumbs before sprinkling them over an ant colony. After she stretched, she took out a ballpoint pen.

The ballpoint pen was worn out, with a few cracks on its plastic case.

After she took the pen out, the surrounding air became gloomy and cold.

The stray cat immediately stopped eating, and its fur stood on its back.

Even the ant colony seemed afraid as they ran around in an unorganised manner.

‘System.’

‘Mistress. I am here.’

Shaking the ballpoint pen, she asked, “Is this the vessel of the pen fairy in this school? How many points can I exchange this for?”

‘Calculating… This ballpoint pen contains Level C energy fluctuations, which can be exchanged for 20 points. Do you want to exchange it?’

‘Yes!’ she responded immediately. The ballpoint pen started to distort the space around it, like a TV with poor signals. It gradually faded in and out of reality before disappearing.

’20 points. Can I roll now?’

‘Yes, mistress. The roulette wheel is spinning; please wait a moment.’

‘Ding!’ the system sounded. ‘You have received a 300-yuan campus card! Ding! You have received a 500-yuan campus card!’

“Yes!” She cheered. “I don’t have to worry about food this month! I can buy myself some snacks too!”

‘Congratulations, mistress. Do you want to collect your rewards now?’

Yes, please, she thought politely. ‘By the way, that Lu Yibei… he’s not a real witch yet, right? Since he’s human, I can’t exactly kill him now, can I?’

‘He will ultimately destroy the world. Killing him while he’s still weak will be the best choice.’

‘My job is to protect every human being. If I kill a human being, wouldn’t that mean I’m going against protocol?’

‘Mistress.’

‘Shut up! Just tell me when he’s about to become a witch! When he’s halfway done, I’ll chop his head off. There. Is that better?’

‘I’m afraid I can’t do that.’

‘What the hell…’ The girl sighed helplessly. He could transform at any time, but she can’t follow him around all the time. She still had her own things to do.

‘System?’

‘Yes, mistress.’

‘You’re really useless.’

On the other side of the playground was the Faculty of Arts.

Lu Yibei walked to his dormitory behind an enthusiastic senior. He listened to his ramblings absent-mindedly.

Under the scorching sun, the entire playground seemed coated with a layer of gold. His vision blurred when the sun’s reflection hit his eyes, but in a trance, he could see a figure with loose long hair wearing a white dress. She was being stalked by a huge, hazy figure that was distorted and deformed, exuding a dark aura.

That figure leapt from the ground and opened its maw as it devoured the female ghost, sinking into the ground.

Lu Yibei froze and rubbed his eyes, but all he saw was a girl cheering alone. He recognised her as the girl he bumped into but decided not to delve into it.

He made a mental note not to involve himself in anything related to her.

“Junior, you there?

“My bad.”

The senior followed Lu Yibei’s gaze and saw the girl cheering on the playground: “Oh, I see. I understand, really! Who doesn’t want their university love story?”

“Riiiight. How old are you again, senior?”

“That’s not important.”

“Have you found love yet?”

“Oh! My boyfriend and I share a dorm together. We’re really happy!”

Lu Yibei didn’t want to continue the campus tour anymore.