Chapter 271: They Asked for Your Dorm Number, Not Your Website

During morning roll call, Cai Xiaoqing noticed two boarding students were absent.

She got up from her seat and asked their roommate.

"Where are Yang Qiming and Huang Cailang?"

The roommate looked bewildered and shook their heads.

"We don't know."

Cai Xiaoqing frowned and went to ask Lin Dong.

"Do you know where they went?"

Lin Dong shook his head. "I moved dorms last week. When I came to class, I saw their dorm room still hadn't emptied out—they probably overslept."

Chen Yunyun turned her head and couldn't help speaking up.

"I heard someone say Dorm 5 got caught for staying out past curfew."

The school enforces strict rules on boarding students, checking them half the week—either for coming back late or for leaving dorm after curfew.

It's a winter tradition: 6:35 a. m.

Boys' and girls' dorms alike: if you can't get up, you're stuck in line, waiting to register your name and class.

The worst part? Get caught on the spot and you stand there until the morning reading bell rings. Skip the classroom and it's truancy; show up and you're marked late.

The school admins always have clever tricks for dealing with students.

"Even if they got caught, they should've arrived by now," Cai Xiaoqing said, glancing at her watch—nearly ten minutes into morning reading.

Hearing this, Yu Zhiyi beside her couldn't help turning around.

"Maybe the downstairs area is also catching latecomers, so they went for breakfast."

"Hey, that's actually possible," Lin Dong chimed in. "The school admins are just cruel—blocking one side while catching the other, double-dipping."

"The student union is just as bad—they love picking on us," Chen Yunyun added. "Last winter, one of them locked the dorm iron gate."

"The dorm supervisor had gone out, and the keys were with them. They refused to open it no matter what, and we were stuck until morning reading started."

"Yeah, me and Yunyun got our names recorded twice!" Wang Yuhe fumed. Back then, she'd been too soft—she should've yelled back.

Sun Zhicheng sat in his seat, focused intently on morning reading—appearing absorbed, but actually listening to their conversation, his inner itch unbearable.

He really wanted to join in, say a few things freely.

But—he couldn't.

Lin Dong had repeatedly asked him if he'd given up, and he'd chosen to say no. Even if he felt he'd lost something, he still held on.

He wanted a new life. He wanted to become strong.

Lin Dong's advice: don't speak to Chen Yunyun for a week, don't pay attention to her at all. Stay utterly calm, and slowly you'll grow stronger.

Sun Zhicheng believed it—but now he realized: it was incredibly hard.

You can't defy your heart, yet reason kept him at a distance. In just a few minutes, it felt like years to Sun Zhicheng.

But he remembered Lin Dong's words: this was only hard in the first few days. Once you pushed through the week, it'd just be nothing.

The filter would fade. His focus would return to himself.

Cai Xiaoqing left—she wasn't here to listen to their chatter.

Two students were missing; the student union would come soon to check attendance. Checking names didn't matter—but she feared something had happened to Yang Qiming and Huang Cailang.

Halfway through morning self-study, they still hadn't arrived.

Cai Xiaoqing grew restless. After thinking, she walked up to the podium.

"Quiet down—I want to ask if anyone knows..."

"I don't get it—why are you always saying 'finished'?" Yang Qiming stood up from the ground, shivering violently in the cold wind.

"Damn, it's freezing."

"It's just the key dropped downstairs—no big deal."

Hearing this, Huang Cailang, huddled and wrapped in his coat in the corner, looked up.

"Brother Yang, come squat with us."

"No need. I'll check the situation again." Yang Qiming sneezed twice, snuffled, and gazed at the golden morning light.

"Ah, the sun—the sun's out, it'll warm up."

Huang Cailang opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again.

Before nine a. m., the sun gives no warmth, especially today—it's not even strong. More likely they'd freeze to death than get warmed by it.

But Yang Qiming was an optimistic guy. He said:

"Cailang, don't worry. When the discipline committee notices we're missing, they'll send our roommates to look for us. Then we'll be saved."

Hearing this, Huang Cailang felt a bit more confident.

"Brother, really?"

Yang Qiming laughed loudly, stood in his underwear, and raised a thumb into the wind.

"Of course it's true."

Huang Cailang couldn't hold it anymore. "Brother, why are you still holding it up?"

Yang Qiming looked down—and froze.

"Don't mention it. It's frozen."

After speaking, Yang Qiming felt utterly humiliated; it was supposed to be a cool moment, but damn it, at least it was just his own buddy, so it didn't matter.

He immediately found a corner to shelter from the wind, continuing to hold his ground five meters away from Huang Cailang.

Suddenly, a loud gurgle sounded.

Yang Qiming looked up, following the noise.

Yang Qiming raised his head and looked toward the sound.

Huang Cailang was clutching his stomach, his face bitter.

"Bro, I'm hungry."

"Sigh, hold on a bit longer, someone will be here soon." Yang Qiming felt a little guilty—after all, the key had been lost from his hand. "I'll treat you to breakfast later."

Hearing that, Huang Cailang immediately cheered up again.

"Thanks, bro."

Another ten minutes passed, and the two of them, being blown by the cold wind, finally heard a sound.

"Where?"

"51-something, I forgot the web address." Jiang Nian said.

"Who's asking you for the web address! Which dorm 51-something?" Cai Xiaoqing was utterly speechless, urging him on, "Walk faster, we'll take one look and then leave."

On the dormitory stairs, Cai Xiaoqing quickened her pace.

She looked up, saw the "5F" marking come into view, and couldn't help but knit her brows tightly.

"The dorm manager said there couldn't possibly be anyone in the dorms. Do you think they might be hiding somewhere eating breakfast?"

Originally Cai Xiaoqing had planned to have someone go check the dorms, but downstairs they were still catching latecomers. It was hard just to leave the Gao San building, so she simply went up herself.

As for Jiang Nian, he was purely there for the excitement.

No one knew how he'd slipped out, sprinting toward the cafeteria. On the way, he was caught by Cai Xiaoqing, who happened to be heading to the cafeteria to look around.

The wall-climbing king had been netted, and could only redeem himself by meritorious service.

"Definitely not there, hasn't the cafeteria already been checked?" Jiang Nian said slowly, sipping soy milk, "No one on the road either, they must be in the dorm."

"What if they're not in the dorm?" Cai Xiaoqing asked.

Jiang Nian let out an "oh-ho," "Then we're done for."

Cai Xiaoqing was speechless, and charged up to the fifth floor in the lead.

This was her first time entering a boys' dormitory, and the smell was a bit strange. Not exactly stinky, not exactly fragrant—kind of like a mixture of various odors.

The corridor was dimly lit, bright at both ends and dim in the middle.

A gust of cool wind blew past, and Cai Xiaoqing couldn't help but shrink her frame. The air carried a rusty water smell, and the tip of her tongue had already begun to turn sour.

Thud thud thud, the corridor held only the footsteps of the two.

The rooftop.

Both Huang Cailang and Yang Qiming were dumbfounded—why had the disciplinary committee come in person? They both lowered their heads and glanced at the only piece of fabric on their bodies.

The two fell silent. How the hell were they going to face anyone like this?

"Oh no! Bro!" Huang Cailang suddenly shouted, staring at Yang Qiming in horror, "The disciplinary committee and Jiang Nian are here, and they don't have our dorm key."

Hearing that, Yang Qiming's face instantly went pale.

Damn, he'd forgotten the key had been lost by him, dropped from the rooftop to the back of the dorm building.

At the time, he'd only meant to take a look at the trench to see if the grade-level leadership had surrounded the back of the dorm building—if not, they could loop around from the first floor and escape.

Who would have thought a gust of wind would blow past, Yang Qiming would get a startle, and the silver backup key in his hand would be tossed off the building.

Recommended book: "Ghostly Dao Myths"

This is a world where ghosts and myths intertwine, with countless ghosts and gods derived from the familiar mythological allusions.

The Heart-Splitting Star Lord hanging upside down in midair, the Water-Dividing General wandering the deep sea, the Jiazi Grand Duke of Jupiter seated atop the clouds…

Who could have imagined that the end of mortal cultivation would actually be one ghost-god after another.