Era of Mist

He walked toward the very back of the dormitory area, passing several rows of buildings. The view suddenly opened up—no, it suddenly became dilapidated. If the previous buildings were from the Middle Ages, then the ones past them had instantly become ancient. The living conditions took a nosedive, and the less said about the campus environment, the better.

He took a sniff. Even standing outside with the night wind blowing, he could smell a soul-stealing stench. A quick glance revealed that every few streetlights along the main road, one or two would be out. Others flickered on and off like something out of a horror movie.

And this wasn’t even the end of the line.

Zheng Kaoming’s group continued walking deeper in.

After passing row after row of ancient buildings, what appeared before Shi Tiexin were several structures that looked positively primordial. The red brick walls were completely exposed. The small, three-story buildings seemed to be swaying precariously in the wind and rain. From the outside, he could see the old buildings still had wooden window frames and doors. Some windows wouldn’t close properly, and they would CREAK in the evening breeze. It was the very personification of the word "miserable."

One of Shi Tiexin’s consciousnesses couldn’t help but be overcome with sorrow, sinking into a state of immense grief.

But Shi Tiexin himself showed no reaction, simply following them to the very last row of buildings.

The hallway was narrow, cramped, and pitch-black. Zheng Kaoming clapped his hands—nothing happened. With a sour expression, he stomped his foot hard again. The forceful BANG BANG of his stomps echoed, and finally, the voice-activated sensor light flickered on. But it seemed the school couldn’t be bothered to install any decent lights here. The wattage was low, the brightness was dim, and it cast a murky, yellow glow over everything.

Carrying his bundle, he walked all the way up to the third floor, the top floor of this primordial building. Standing in the stairwell, Shi Tiexin looked up to see a hole leading straight to the roof hanging right above his head. The opening didn’t even have a cover. A chilling wind whistled in, making one shiver uncontrollably.

He continued to follow Zheng Kaoming inside, where the smell in the corridor was even stronger. Shi Tiexin looked straight ahead, but he could still see everything clearly. There weren’t even any sheet-metal doors here; they were all old, wooden ones.

If he listened closely, he could hear a RUSTLING sound coming from somewhere in the hallway. Clearly, someone was still wandering about. ’Students loitering in the dorms during evening self-study hours... they must all be remarkable, wind-chasing youths,’ he thought sarcastically.

Zheng Kaoming led Shi Tiexin to a room and stopped. The door was right across from the public restroom. Furthermore, the restroom’s water supply wasn’t very good; the accumulated contents couldn’t be flushed away quickly, and the resulting smell was nauseating.

He shot a sideways glance at Shi Tiexin. Seeing that there was still not a flicker of emotion on his face, Zheng Kaoming said nothing and pulled out a key, inserting it into a lock that couldn’t possibly be any older.

He turned it. The door didn’t open.

He turned it again. It still didn’t open.

The Wind Disciplinary Committee was usually in charge of patrolling the dorms. One of the students, obviously more familiar with the place, quickly stepped up to take over the difficult task of opening the door. He twisted the key, turned the handle, and then lifted it forcefully at a subtle angle. With a loud CLUNK, the door finally opened.

"This will be your dorm from now on," Zheng Kaoming said, pushing the door open and walking in. With a CLICK, he switched on the room’s light.

Unexpectedly, there was a loud CRASH from inside. A figure tumbled down from a bunk bed—a shirtless male student. Like a startled bird, the student quickly hid something, then snapped his head up. His expression instantly turned to one of horror.

"Di-Di-Director..."

That large, square head was far too distinctive. The student instantly understood his situation. His face went pale, and he began to tremble all over.

Zheng Kaoming looked the student up and down, his expression hardening. He thrust out a hand, palm open. "Give it here."

The student feigned ignorance. "Give... Director Zheng, give you what?"

"The cigarettes!"

"Haha... Director Zheng, you must be... must be joking. What cigarettes...?" The student’s eyes darted about as he forced a smile. Seeing this, Shi Tiexin was a little speechless. He was standing at the door, bathed in the heady aroma of the restroom, yet he could still clearly smell the smoke on the kid. If he could fool Director Zheng with this act, that would be truly bizarre.

’Wait, how do I know that’s the smell of cigarettes? I shouldn’t have ever encountered such an old-fashioned thing...’

While Shi Tiexin was lost in his confusion, Zheng Kaoming’s face darkened, his expression turning grim. "Are you going to hand them over, or should I search you? If I have to get my hands dirty..."

"I get it! I get it! I was wrong, Director Zheng!" The student tremblingly took out half a pack of cigarettes, which included a half-smoked one, and placed them all in Zheng Kaoming’s hand.

Zheng Kaoming didn’t even look at them, simply keeping his hand stretched out stiffly.

"Th-that’s... that’s all..."

Zheng Kaoming’s eyes were fixed on the student’s face like nails. He bit out each word through his teeth, "Zhou Nan, you little brat. Don’t make me do this the hard way."

"I— This—!" The student named Zhou Nan was at a complete loss. He stared blankly at Zheng Kaoming before finally, in dejection, pulling out a whole, unopened pack from another spot.

Old Zheng’s hand remained as steady as a rock.

Zhou Nan stared at the outstretched hand, his expression shifting through a storm of emotions before finally settling into one of utter devastation. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out five entire cartons from under his bed and handed them all over. Only then did Zheng Kaoming finally retract his hand. Without a glance at the seething Zhou Nan huddled to the side, Zheng Kaoming patted the top bunk of the steel-frame bed closest to the door—and the restroom—without turning around. "This is your bunk."

The three students from the Wind Disciplinary Committee filed in, dropped Shi Tiexin’s things on the floor, and left without another word. Zheng Kaoming took one last, careful look at Shi Tiexin. He noticed that the boy hadn’t made a sound. His face showed no resentment, no sense of being wronged, and certainly no panic or dissatisfaction. He didn’t even have that feigned indifference, that deliberate show of rebellious nonchalance common in young men. None of it.

But it was impossible to say the boy was simply dazed or slow-witted. Not to mention that anyone who could become a First Guard Champion Scholar was a prodigy. And just looking at him now, his face and eyes were not empty or vacant. Deep in his expression, in the depths of his eyes, there seemed to be something, but Zheng Kaoming couldn’t see through it or put a finger on it.

’This Shi Tiexin...’ Zheng Kaoming left the dormitory, left the dorm area, and after parting ways with the three Wind Disciplinary Committee students, headed straight for the administration building. But even as he walked with his usual blustering haste, his mind was preoccupied with Shi Tiexin the entire way.

Just as he stepped into the lobby of the administration building, Zheng Kaoming suddenly stopped. He finally understood what it was in Shi Tiexin’s expression, in his eyes.

It was calm. Nothing but calm—as solid as a mountain, as vast as the sea. It was as if everything he had encountered today was nothing more than a cool breeze brushing a mountain ridge, or the bright moon shining on a great river. It could not shake that will of steel in the slightest.