Chapter 1 Welcome Party (I)
The curtains were parted.
The golden morning light quietly passed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, turning into a path of light that stretched all the way from the sofa to the foot of the bed.
I didn't have time to close the window last night, or rather, no one remembered to close it. At this moment, the chirping of birds outside was clearly coming in through the window.
There was only bird song, no human voice.
It seemed that no one had gotten up yet and the whole mountain was still immersed in sleep.
The man was actually awake and standing in front of the window.
There were a few fresh scratches on his back from last night, and his black hair was messy. He opened the curtains and looked out the window quietly, tilting his head slightly, wondering what he was thinking about. His back was tall and silent, with a subtle sense of strangeness.
It only took Mu Yu one second to go from being drowsy to waking up with a start, his heart beating faster, and his breathing becoming disordered.
When the figure turned around, he immediately closed his eyes, heat climbed up his cheeks, and his breathing rhythm became slow after some deliberate adjustment.
The footsteps were light on the carpet.
The man walked to the head of the bed.
Mu Yu felt the bed beside him sink.
The warm breath approaching him made him feel uneasy.
A kiss was placed on his forehead, followed by a soft laugh in his ear.
"woke up?"
*
Mu Yu woke up.
The smell of pickled cabbage instant noodles wafted through the dormitory. My roommate was slurping the noodles while playing a horror movie. The heroine's shrill scream was so shocking that it was like a hammer that shattered his beautiful dream.
He groped for his cell phone next to his pillow, picked it up and saw that it was already 4:30 in the afternoon.
I opened WeChat listlessly, and in the pinned dialog box, the chat history was still stuck from more than half a month ago.
More than half a month ago, he posted: "Lian University is about to start school [cute][heart][dog spinning]"
Mu Yu seldom talks nonsense, but this sentence was absolutely so awkward that one could tell at a glance that it was nonsense just for the sake of making conversation, so he completely understood Lu Zhongnian's silence.
On August 20, their high school class organized the last reunion before the start of freshman year.
That night, he slept with the boy he had been secretly in love with for three years.
What happened specifically can perhaps be described by the four words "drunk and promiscuous". Based on Mu Yu's very limited knowledge as a virgin, he felt that night was wonderful.
Especially the good morning kiss Lu Zhongnian gave him the next morning - yes, the dream just now was not just a dream - Mu Yu felt it was super sweet.
…Then from that day on, he lost contact with Lu Chongnian.
Is it because of this news?
There were ten days of plenty of time between the night of the class reunion and the start of school. Mu Yu himself didn't know how his clever brain could come up with such a boring greeting.
...But no matter what, it's impossible to remain silent for 19 whole days without any response!
Even if he just sent him an emoji, a period, or even a question mark - Mu Yu could still rely on his ancestral thick skin to continue the conversation.
He turned over, face down and slammed the pillow hard a few times, letting out a meaningless whimper. He wished time could go back and start all over again. He would just say, "Classmate Lu Chongnian, I want to date you, just tell me if it's okay with you." No matter whether the answer in the end was "yes," "no," or "...", at least he would die with a clear conscience.
The roommate on the opposite bed finished his last mouthful of instant noodles while watching a horror movie. When he heard the noise, he smiled without even turning his head and said, "What's up? Are you crazy after waking up?"
Mu Yu was silent for a moment, took a deep breath, and asked, "...Do you think that if a person is willing to sleep with another person, does that mean they like him or her?"
Suddenly, three sharp eyes shot over from below.
"What do you mean by 'sleep'...?"
"...an intense verb."
In the dormitory, there was a lot of "bang" sounds.
The boss didn't even watch the movie, pressed the pause button and asked obscenely, "How intense is it?"
The second one looked gossipy: "Who did you fight with so fiercely?"
The third child was jealous: "It's only been less than a month since the start of school, and you're so quick?!"
The fourth child, Mu Yu: "Save the child, don't talk about anything else."
The eldest brother: "No, you slept with someone without even knowing if they liked you? Are you so avant-garde, fourth brother?"
He looked up and down at Mu Yu who was lying on the upper bunk, with a look of “I can’t tell” written all over his face.
Mu Yugang put on glasses. The plain black-framed glasses made his baby face look very immature. His eyebrows and eyes were delicate and beautiful, giving people a clean feeling. His bookish air and high college entrance examination scores that were enough to make the school call and invite him to enroll made it difficult to associate him with the word "out of the ordinary".
Ask anyone what their first impression of Mu Yu is, and the answer is just one word: well-behaved.
Two words: well-behaved and pure.
And at this moment, this well-behaved and innocent person actually said that he slept with someone.
I don’t know whether people like him or not.
The boss's eyes suddenly showed pity.
He looked Mu Yu up and down again - this time he looked at Mu Yu's figure.
It has to be said that although Mu Yu's figure is not the muscular type of a macho man, but rather thin, the thinness is just right. Apart from his nerdy black-framed glasses, when he leans lazily against the wall, he looks like a pretty boy, and is very popular with some girls.
So his pity quickly turned into some kind of comfort, and he said with certainty: "Although it doesn't necessarily mean that the other person likes you, but since he slept with you, it definitely means that he is greedy for your body!"
Mu Yu: “…”
He recalled the whole incident that night, his face kept changing, and he struggled to speak: "We have known each other for a long time..."
It wasn't the first time we met. It wasn't possible that we had been high school classmates for three years and suddenly became attracted to her that night...
"How do you know that I haven't been secretly coveting it for a long time?" The boss laughed when he saw Mu Yu standing there in a daze. "Are you so cowardly? Can't you just ask directly?"
"That's right. If you don't dare, I'll ask for you!"
"Come on, give us the phone..."
Mu Yu pushed down the three heads that were crowding in front of his bed like playing whack-a-mole, gritted his teeth and thought, yes, why be so cowardly, I've already slept enough, what could be more exciting than having my ass developed?
As a second best option, if Lu Chongnian really just wanted his body for the time being...
Mu Yu secretly glanced under his collar, looking conflicted.
If I can get what I want, then it’s not impossible… ?
*
The cafeteria was very crowded at five in the evening.
Mu Yu and the second and third brothers got their meals and sat down to eat them quickly. At about six o'clock, the school theater was going to hold a welcome party, and they were called by the counselor to go and watch it.
The second brother said, "Have you watched the welcome parties of previous Polytechnics? There are videos on Station C, they are quite good."
The third child said listlessly: "Our school's welcome party is famous, right? Isn't it said that there are many people from other schools coming to watch it every year? There are not enough seats, why do we freshmen need to fill the seats..."
Mu Yu was browsing his phone and eating his meal at the same time, and did not participate in the topic. The two of them chatted about this and that, and the topic soon changed 180 degrees.
"Hey, I heard that there's a super handsome guy in Lianda University. He's very good-looking. He must be the new school hunk. He's like a celebrity and people are watching him wherever he goes. I think he's from the law school."
Mu Yu immediately pricked up his ears.
Law school?
He asked, pretending to be gossipy: "What's your name?"
The second brother shook his head: "I don't know. I just glanced at it once or twice on the Xinlian University City Forum."
On the phone, three friends are chatting in a small group.
Mu Yu just circled Hong Yang and asked him if he wanted to come to the welcome party.
Their high school alma mater is Xinlian No. 1 High School, which is the top-ranked school in Xinlian City. Most of the students in their class, or their grade, went to very good universities, and many of them came to Xinlian University Town.
Xinlian University Town is well-known throughout the country. There are a total of seven universities here, known as Xinlian F7. Among them, six key universities are ranked among the top in the country, and one technical college is also well-known in the industry and has produced several famous chefs.
Mu Yu and his good friend Ye Sui are at Xinlian University of Technology, while Hong Yang is at Communication University of China, which is just five subway stops away from them.
One minute ago.
Mu Yu: "@Hong Yang, will you come later? Bird Brother will bring the cosplay club to the stage. I heard there will be magic and crosstalk and so on."
Hong Yang: "Awesome, your school has so many artistic talents. It's worthy of being a place that produced great magicians. Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle while playing basketball in physical education class today, and I don't want to walk [bye]"
Mu Yu: "What about you @叶随"
Ye Sui: "Go."
Ye Sui: "The counselor's mission must always be completed (."
Mu Yu: “.”
Mu Yu hesitated.
"By the way, I remember that Lu Zhongnian seemed to be studying mathematics at Lotus University, right?"
After typing the words, he stared at them for a while and then deleted them.
That's such an abrupt question.
Of course, it is also possible that he was just guilty.
Mu Yu turned off his phone and let out a breath.
…
After watching a movie in the dormitory, the eldest brother hurried out to meet them at the cafeteria entrance. The four of them arrived at the Polytechnic Theater at 5:50.
At the end of mid-September, this southern city was still very hot, especially in the evening. Thick rain clouds accumulated in the sky, the air pressure was very low, it was hot and stuffy, and you could smell the unique scent of grass before a rainstorm.
The light outside quickly dimmed, making the lights in the theater gradually pale.
The central air conditioning was on very high setting. As soon as I walked in, the chill that hit me in the face gave me goose bumps all over my body.
The etiquette officer smiled and guided Mu Yu at the door. Mu Yu saw that on the wall opposite the main entrance of the theater, there was a bronze relief with four large characters written in a flamboyant style - "Xinlian Theater".
Xinlian Theater is the largest and most famous theater among the seven colleges in Xinlian University Town.
Many artistic talents were born here, and many professional theater troupes have performed here.
It’s a very grand stage.
The League Secretary announced in the group that the School of Information and Electronic Engineering is located in Area C.
When they entered the theater, there were already quite a few people sitting in the audience seats, and the school's Arts and Literature Department, who were in charge of the welcome party, were busy on the stage doing the final inspection.
The four of them randomly found seats in the middle row and sat down. There was a pink A4 paper program on each seat.
Mu Yu took a quick look and secretly sighed that the welcome party at the University of Science and Technology was so varied that it could be watched as the Spring Festival Gala.
After sighing, he opened Lu Zhongnian's WeChat chat box and began to think about how to organize another greeting after nineteen days.
"Are you free this weekend? Would you like to meet up and talk?"
Is this too serious? It seems to make people feel very stressed. Delete it.
"Are you there?"
Very good, this is nonsense, delete it.
"Student Lu Chongnian, I want to date you, just tell me if it's okay."
Hahahaha, it's nice to imagine, but the reality is I can't do anything at all, delete it!!
Mu Yu gradually fell into a frenzy, and his three roommates beside him made faces and watched secretly.
Time passed minute by minute, and at six o'clock, the lights in the venue dimmed and the host came on stage to give an opening speech.
The principal of Xinlian Polytechnic is named Dou. He is 42 years old, devoted to academics, has made numerous achievements, and is still unmarried. He is handsome, steady and elegant.
As soon as he came on stage, he was greeted with warm and adoring applause from the audience.
Mu Yu was distracted while listening to Principal Dou's welcome speech to the new students. His eyes dropped and he looked at his mobile phone screen again.
He was silent for a long time and typed the next line.
"Lu Zhongnian, I want to see you."
The index finger hovered over the "Send" button for a long time.
Suddenly, the text above the chat box changed to “The other party is typing.”
Mu Yu's breathing quickened and his heart beat faster.
Soon, two messages appeared on the screen one after another.
Lu Zhongnian: "I am now at your school's welcome party."
Lu Zhongnian: "Are you there?"
Mu Yu opened his eyes wide.
Next to him, the second brother lowered his voice and said, "Hey, my friend said the new school hunk from Lian University is here too. Is that him over there? He's so tall."
Mu Yu suddenly raised his head, turned his head in the direction the Second Brother was looking, and looked to their right rear.
The last row of the C section audience seats.
I don’t know if they were students from other schools who came to watch the performance. There were no seats, and there were several figures standing there, one of whom was particularly tall.
The light in the venue was too dim, it was pitch black and I couldn’t see the faces clearly.
Mu Yu was stunned. Just as he was about to stand up, the program list on his legs slipped down and floated to the ground, making a "dong" sound.
He quickly bent down to pick up the program list. The phone detected the approach of his face and the screen automatically lit up, with a faint light illuminating the back of the program list.
Mu Yu was stunned.
There were three very strange lines of words on the back of the program.
1. From now on, don’t let people around you notice your abnormality.
2. Please find the monster generator as soon as possible and destroy it.
3. If you cannot complete the task within one hour, please be mentally prepared... to face death.
……What's this?
Did the Arts Department print it wrong? Or is it a hidden interactive program?
Mu Yu was a little absent-minded. He glanced at his phone again, wanting to reply to Lu Zhongnian's message, and subconsciously turned the program list back to the front.
This time, he was completely stunned.
At some point, the program content on the front had disappeared.
Instead, there are five other strange rules, lying across the center of a blank A4 paper.
Xinlian Theater Usage Rules:
1. After entering the Xinlian Theater, please set your phone to vibrate or silent mode and turn off the flash. Do not use a flashlight.
2. Please respect the performers and do not make loud noises or move around after the performance begins.
3. Smoking is prohibited in Xinlian Theater, and opening of food or drinks with peculiar smell is prohibited.
4. You can always applaud the performance. Five rounds of applause, please.
5. During non-performance periods, all students can perform on stage.
Mu Yu paused for a full five seconds, feeling it was ridiculous, he reached out to the side and took the program from Lao Er's lap.
The second child's inexplicable voice came from the side: "What?"
Mu Yu put the two programs together: "Our two programs are different."
The second brother's program lists tonight's performances as usual.
Mu Yu was very sure that the program in his hand had the same content before, but now it had changed, with strange rules on both sides.
"What?"
"Program!" Mu Yu flipped through his own program, feeling incredible, "What's going on? The magic show hasn't started yet..."
"What's the difference?"
"?" Mu Yu opened his mouth and wanted to ask, "Have you seen it? What's the difference?", but stopped suddenly.
He didn't say anything, and everything around him became quiet.
On the stage, the host was still speaking enthusiastically, but since some point, the entire theater, with a circular auditorium that accommodated nearly 3,000 students, seemed to have suddenly become so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Mu Yu's breathing was very light.
He turned his head slowly, bit by bit.
The light in the venue was too dim.
It was so dark that even the people nearby turned into a blurry shadow.
The shadow lowered his head, as if glancing downward, and made a sound from his throat:
"What happened to your program?"
For a moment, Mu Yu felt horrified.
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