One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

As evening fell, the setting sun bathed the campus in a warm golden glow.

Nie Lingfeng walked out of the food street with a satisfied expression, still holding the last unfinished grilled sausage in his hand. He had spent the afternoon, under the pretext of "getting familiar with the area since I'm new here," trying almost every famous stall on the food street: sweet and sour grilled cold noodles, crispy and fragrant fried skewers, steaming hot and spicy hot pot, stinky tofu that smelled pungent but tasted delicious, and chewy and fresh takoyaki... Every flavor was assaulting his taste buds, which had been dulled for ten years, making him sincerely exclaim: The food culture that combines modern industrial civilization with the wisdom of the common people is truly wonderful!

After filling his stomach, he followed the campus map and strolled to the back hill of the school. There was a quaint little pavilion there, situated on a high slope with an excellent view. It overlooked most of the teaching and living areas of the campus and could also see the city lights in the distance.

Nie Lingfeng sat down on the stone bench in the pavilion, adjusted his posture to make himself more comfortable. Then, he began... to wait.

What are we waiting for?

He was waiting for that "famous scene" that he knew all too well but had never witnessed in person.

As dusk settled, the last rays of sunset disappeared behind the horizon. Streetlights illuminated the campus one by one, outlining the roads and buildings. The campus at night, devoid of the daytime hustle and bustle, was filled with a tranquil serenity.

Sudden--

A slightly dim, yet still clearly discernible golden light streaked across the sky above the northwest corner of the campus like a shooting star, standing out conspicuously against the backdrop of the night.

Nie Lingfeng's eyes lit up, and he immediately sat up straight on the stone bench. He quickly took out the old-fashioned mobile phone issued by the company, with its poor resolution, adjusted the angle, and pointed the camera at the direction where the light streaked across the sky.

The golden light swayed and seemed somewhat unstable, but it was moving quite fast, "drifting" towards the dormitory area.

As the distance closed, with the help of the streetlights and moonlight, Nie Lingfeng finally saw clearly.

It's Zhang Chulan.

It really is Zhang Chulan!

His current state was nothing short of "classic": he was only wearing a white tank top that was clearly a size too small and stretched taut, and a pair of matching tight shorts, barely covering his vital parts. His exposed skin was radiating an uneven, sometimes bright, sometimes dim golden light, the result of a hastily cast golden light spell that he had lost control of for some reason (such as shame, anger, or panic)!

He was running wildly in the open space between the dormitory buildings!

As it ran, it kept glancing back in fear, seemingly shouting something.

Behind him, three or four school security guards in dark blue uniforms, carrying powerful flashlights, were panting as they chased after him, shouting through a megaphone:

"Hey student! Stop right there! Don't run away!"

"Put your clothes on! What kind of appearance is this?!"

"Tell your teacher if you have any difficulties! Don't do anything rash!"

The beam of the flashlight swayed back and forth on Zhang Chulan's glittering, tight-fitting buttocks, creating a scene full of absurd humor.

Nie Lingfeng held up his phone, trying hard to suppress his laughter; his hands were trembling slightly. He had recorded the most crucial few seconds—Zhang Chulan, shimmering with gold, fleeing for his life, with security guards hot on his heels, beams of light swaying wildly. Although the phone's image quality was poor, and even more blurry in the night, the golden light, the tight-fitting clothes, the frantic running posture, the classic chase… the atmosphere was perfectly captured.

"Walking with birds under the moon..." Nie Lingfeng murmured to himself, finally unable to hold back, clutching his stomach and chuckling until tears almost streamed down his face. "Living up to his reputation, living up to his reputation... Zhang Chulan, I have a 'high-definition' (relatively speaking) version of your embarrassing past..."

Having recorded enough footage to "commemorate" the moment, Nie Lingfeng contentedly put away the antique phone, wiped away the tears of laughter, and then slowly got up, dusted himself off, and strolled back to his dormitory.

Room 307, Building 3, Songyuan.

When Nie Lingfeng pushed open the dormitory door, there were already three people inside.

On the lower bunk to the left of the door, a tall, thin boy with slightly messy hair and black-rimmed glasses was wearing headphones, intently staring at his laptop screen. His hands flew across the keyboard as he hissed, "Top lane! Top laner teleported! Support, ward! Jungler, come counter-gank!"

On the lower bunk by the window, a slightly chubby boy with a round face was slurping up a steaming bowl of braised beef noodles, while a workbook of linear algebra lay open on the table in front of him. He was clearly multitasking.

The upper bunk at the far end, by the window, was completely covered by a high quilt, with only a few strands of messy black hair peeking out from the edge. Although his face was not visible, Nie Lingfeng knew that it must be Zhang Chulan, who had just experienced a "social death" and a "double blow to his body and mind" and needed to be quiet at this moment.

Nie Lingfeng gave a gentle, friendly smile, befitting a "new roommate," and placed his backpack on his empty bed—which happened to be Zhang Chulan's lower bunk.

"Hello everyone, I'm the new transfer student, Nie Lingfeng." He greeted everyone in a clear and natural voice. "We'll be roommates from now on, please take care of me."

Hearing the sound, the tall, thin guy playing the game quickly paused the game, took off one earphone, and turned around. When he saw Nie Lingfeng's face, he was clearly stunned for a moment, then pushed up his glasses and smiled somewhat awkwardly: "Oh! You're the one that's been circulating on the forum... uh, new classmate! Welcome, welcome! My name is Li Ming, and I'm also in Computer Science Class 3." He obviously wanted to say "very handsome transfer student," but felt that saying that on their first meeting would be a bit abrupt, so he changed his words at the last minute.

The fat guy eating instant noodles also looked up, his mouth still full of noodles, and raised his hand to gesture indistinctly: "Wang Qiang, classmate! Brother, I've heard so much about you! Everyone in the class group chat has been talking about you today. You really are... uh, you live up to your reputation!" He swallowed his food, chuckled, and was quite enthusiastic.

Nie Lingfeng smiled and pulled a large bag of mixed snacks—potato chips, biscuits, beef jerky, chocolate, cola, and so on—from his seemingly ordinary backpack (actually, he reached inside and took it out of his Qiankun bag). This was something Xu Si had insisted on giving him, euphemistically calling it "dormitory diplomatic strategic supplies."

"Since it's our first meeting, I brought some snacks. Please don't be shy." He first gave Li Ming and Wang Qiang each a bag of potato chips and a bottle of cola.

Then, he took the same portion and walked to Zhang Chulan's bedside, gently placing the snacks on the desk beside his bed. "Zhang Chulan, this is for you."

The tightly wrapped blanket moved almost imperceptibly.

Seeing this, Li Ming lowered his voice and said to Nie Lingfeng, "Brother Nie, don't mind him. He... he's just like that. His personality is a bit... well, withdrawn. He doesn't talk to us much usually, he's mysterious, and he often goes somewhere at night and then just falls asleep as soon as he gets back."

Wang Qiang nodded and added in a low voice, "Yeah, they seem to be from a different world than us. But they don't seem to have any bad intentions, they're just weird."

Upon hearing this, Nie Lingfeng gently shook his head, his tone gentle yet carrying a convincing sincerity: "There's nothing strange about it. Everyone has their own personality, their own story, their own...secrets. Some people are like the sun, enjoying excitement and making friends; others are like the moon, accustomed to quiet and staying in their own world. It's all normal, just different choices."

He paused, his gaze seemingly unintentionally sweeping over Zhang Chulan, who was wrapped tightly in the blanket. His voice softened further, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly:

"Don't look at people who are different from you with strange eyes. After all... who doesn't have some secrets they don't want others to know?"

This sentence, though light and airy, seems to carry a certain weight.

The figure inside the blanket froze for a moment.

Li Ming and Wang Qiang exchanged a glance, feeling that Nie Lingfeng's words made a lot of sense and were quite pleasing to the eye, but they also vaguely felt that there was another meaning behind his words, though they couldn't quite put their finger on it.

"Um... Brother Nie," Li Ming had already upgraded his way of addressing Nie Lingfeng, "How about we go to an internet cafe outside of school tonight for some games? We're one short, want to join us? A few of our classmates are here."

"Not today, thank you." Nie Lingfeng smiled apologetically, pointing to his unopened luggage. "I just moved in, I still need to unpack and get familiar with the place. You guys go ahead and have fun."

"Okay, we'll be going now! Call us if you need anything!" Li Ming and Wang Qiang didn't insist. They packed their things, put their arms around each other, and left the dormitory.

"Bang." The dormitory door slammed shut.

Only Nie Lingfeng and Zhang Chulan, who was wrapped in a blanket on the upper bunk, remained in the room.

It was so quiet that you could hear the sound of a basketball being dribbled and faint noise from the basketball court in the distance outside the window.

About five minutes later.

The blanket finally began to move noticeably. It was slowly lifted, and Zhang Chulan sat up. His hair was disheveled, his glasses were askew on his nose, his face was pale, and his eyes were filled with exhaustion, lingering fear, and a deep sense of vigilance and inquiry. He silently watched Nie Lingfeng's back as he tidied the wardrobe for several seconds.

Then, he silently got out of bed, walked to the desk, picked up the bag of snacks that Nie Lingfeng had left there, tore open the packaging, took out a potato chip, put it in his mouth, and chewed mechanically.

"My name is Zhang Chulan." He finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse, dry from staying up all night and emotional turmoil. "Maybe... I'm a little unsociable, and sometimes I do... strange things."

He paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully, then looked up at Nie Lingfeng with a complex expression, and said in a low voice, "But... thank you for the snacks. And... what you said earlier."

Nie Lingfeng turned around, his face still bearing that gentle, harmless smile: "You're welcome. We'll be roommates from now on, so helping each other is only right."

Zhang Chulan nodded, saying nothing more. He picked up another potato chip and ate it silently, his eyes occasionally glancing at Nie Lingfeng and the long, thin object carefully wrapped in thick gray cloth by his bedside.

Nie Lingfeng didn't mind and continued packing his things. He hung the long, cloth-wrapped object—the Snow Drinking Blade—on the wall hook above his bed. Although it was tightly wrapped, the unique, chilling aura emanating from the blade, originating from millennia of cold, still seeped out, causing the air temperature around it to drop noticeably by a few degrees.

Zhang Chulan sneezed again, rubbed his nose, and couldn't help but ask, "What's that thing you're hanging there...? Why does it feel so cold? It's like a portable air conditioner."

"A family heirloom knife," Nie Lingfeng replied casually, his tone relaxed. "It's been around for a long time, so it's a bit special. It has its own chill, which makes it quite cool in the summer."

"...Oh." Zhang Chulan responded without pressing further. He himself harbored a huge secret and was burdened with numerous troubles; he truly had neither the right nor the standing to delve into the "special" aspects of others.

The two were busy with their own things, and the only sound in the dormitory was the rustling of their belongings.

Late at night.

Nie Lingfeng lay on his lower bunk, his hands behind his head, listening to the faint sounds of Zhang Chulan tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, coming from the upper bunk. A slight smile appeared on his lips.

The connection has been made.

Although it started in a somewhat dramatic way, at least he successfully entered Zhang Chulan's daily life as a "roommate." Next, he needs to patiently observe, provide covert protection when necessary, and be wary of any unknown forces that might be lurking on campus and eyeing Zhang Chulan (or rather, the Qi Source Flow).

This campus life, integrated into the "storyline," has officially begun.

but……

Nie Lingfeng turned over, facing the wall, feeling the soft mattress beneath him (compared to the stone slabs of Lingyun Cave), and recalled the various flavors of the food street during the day, feeling quite happy.

University life seems... quite interesting.

At least here there is 24-hour hot water, a warm bed, Wi-Fi (although his old-fashioned phone can't use it), and a food street that he lingers in.

He closed his eyes contentedly and quickly fell asleep.

On the upper bunk, Zhang Chulan stared wide-eyed at the blurry light and shadow on the ceiling in the darkness.

Everything that happened today replayed in my mind like a revolving lantern: the terrifying experience at my grandfather's grave, Feng Baobao's inhuman strength and strange demands, the near-death moment of running wildly under the moon, and this new roommate, Nie Lingfeng, who seemed gentle and harmless but always made him feel somewhat unfathomable...

The peaceful life that had been carefully hidden for many years seemed to have been completely disrupted by an invisible hand.

He had a clear premonition: those days of pretending to be ordinary and unknown were probably... truly gone forever.

Outside the window, the moonlight, like water, flowed quietly through the silent campus.

Inside the dormitory building, the lights gradually went out.

The seemingly peaceful and serene university night conceals a quietly surging undercurrent and the intertwined destinies that are about to converge.