"Seeking a thrill, right? Understandable," Chen Yuan said with a shrug.

"So you're saying you've seen it happen?"

"Not me. Why would I hang around the back of the mountain at night with nothing better to do? My roommate told me all this."

Chen Yuan wasn't lying. It was all from Liu Nan.

Liu Nan had a bit of a mischievous streak. He loved to mess with couples when they were getting intimate. At night, he'd either go to the athletic field or the back of the mountain, flashlight in hand, acting like he was on patrol.

As soon as he got back to the dorm, he'd start rambling on and on. His usual openers were "Hey, let me tell you," or "Dude, I just saw the funniest thing," followed by a whole lot of nonsense.

Over time, everyone's ears had just about grown calluses from listening to him.

"What's so thrilling about that...? It's all gloomy and outdoors. Don't they feel uncomfortable with how dirty it is?"

Jiangg Ning couldn't wrap her head around it, no matter how she thought about it.

"Maybe that uncomfortable feeling is exactly what they're after. Perhaps that's where the fun lies."

"You seem pretty experienced." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"What experience? I heard it from my roommate, too."

"Sounds like your roommates aren't very innocent. Be careful they don't corrupt you..."

Muttering back and forth, the two of them reached a small stream paved with pebbles. Even though she was wearing boots, Jiangg Ning subconsciously hiked up her pant leg, revealing a fair calf as she stepped across.

A few bird calls echoed through the desolate woods, along with the sound of rustling branches.

This stream, which could be dammed with just a few stones, was surprisingly the source of the school's Youth Lake. In the depths of winter, when the stream froze over, gurgling water would continue to flow beneath the ice into the lake. To survive, some young freshwater groupers and gobies would follow the current down the mountain and into the lake.

They would find a crevice in the rocks by the shore to take shelter from the severe cold.

Because Landa University's heating system had pipes that wound along the lakeshore, this small amount of warmth provided the fry with the space they needed to survive.

Even tiny fish, several times smaller than a finger, had their own lives to live. To say nothing of these vibrant eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds, just starting their own journeys. Where were they supposed to swim? For now, such worries were a distant concern. All that remained were peals of laughter that effortlessly dispersed the mist, whether it was on the horizon or right in front of them.

"I hear voices. Is it that way?" Jiangg Ning stopped in front of a sign. It read: "Protect the Water Source. No Trampling." She pointed west. Bathed in the warm sunlight, her whole body seemed to glow.

"Yeah, let's go over together."

Chen Yuan took a few steps forward, but Jiangg Ning didn't move from behind him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping and turning around.

Jiangg Ning looked a little bashful, wringing her hands with her head slightly lowered.

"I'm about to meet your friends..."

"Yeah."

"As your girlfriend."

Jiangg Ning took a deep breath, silently giving herself a pep talk.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said.

Then she took the initiative and grasped Chen Yuan's hand.

In that instant, he was struck by a peculiar feeling. It wasn't that their relationship had taken another substantial step forward or anything like that; it was his perception of Jiangg Ning that had changed.

In a process as still as a silent world, it was as if Jiangg Ning had suddenly shrunk, reverting to how she might have been at seventeen or eighteen. Her tone and expression radiated a girlish quality, like a little turtle emerging from its shell.

She was no different from any other teenage girl in love.

Just as nervous, just as timid.

Just as likely to lower her gaze, while pretending to be calm and looking around.

'Is she like one of the little fish in the stream, dodging stones and debris? Warily looking this way and that, lost in the rushing current, puffing her cheeks and pressing her tail against the rock wall to withstand each impact. Then, when she's gathered enough strength, she'll suddenly blow a few small round bubbles and dart away like a shuttle of water, swimming off into the distance.'

'She's so cute.'

Chen Yuan suddenly thought. He furrowed his brow in a half-smile, and his own feet seemed to get stuck to the ground.

"Are you coming or not?"

Jiangg Ning's brow furrowed in turn, her cheeks puffed out in a pout.

...

"How many times do I have to tell you? Just grab the small sticks! They burn fast and are good for getting the fire started. Are you stupid, hauling a tree trunk this thick over here?"

"This kind burns longer."

"Longer my ass! They sent over all this smokeless coal. What's it for if not to burn? Are you saving it for dinner?!"

Liu Nan chewed Quan Yafeng out so badly he didn't know which way was up.

After a long moment, he just said, "Oh," put down the half-man-high log, and went back into the woods to search again.

"I don't know if he's stupid, but he's definitely strong," Wei Zhen remarked as he set up a table, clapping his hands together before getting ready to assemble the grill.

"He's not usually this dumb. That girl's got him all flustered."

"Don't talk, the girl's here!"

Just as he spoke, Li Bing emerged from the woods nearby, her hands clutching a large bundle of small, broken sticks.

This firewood was so dry and hard you couldn't squeeze a drop of moisture from it. It was obvious at a glance that it was perfect kindling.

"Great. He's not even as competent as she is."

Liu Nan sighed, took the firewood, and piled it on the ground.

It's no wonder the two of them were grumbling. Quan Yafeng's skin was thinner than a soup dumpling's wrapper. They had told him to go find firewood with Li Bing, deliberately trying to set them up.

But who would have thought? Li Bing went east, and without a second thought, Quan Yafeng plunged into the woods to the west.

He even claimed that dividing the labor like that was more efficient.

Oh, this kid was just brilliant! So emotionally intelligent, such a team player.

Liu Nan wanted to punch him right then and there. What a hopeless case.

"Come give me a hand. I can't seem to set this up by myself."

"Didn't they show you how? It's just three steps."

"Really? I feel like just setting up the legs is four steps."

The group was bustling with activity, working noisily.

Then, very suddenly, a figure walked over from the stream. With light steps, she arrived next to the unassembled barbecue grill and stood still.

Li Bing was the first to notice her and quickly stood up straight.

"Jiangg."

She greeted her politely with a slight bow.

Jiangg Ning nodded back, though her expression was unusually shy.

"Where the hell is that kid Chen Yuan? Maybe we should ask him to check the steps on Green Bubble..."

"What teacher?"

Wei Zhen, who was squatting on the ground, looked up in confusion.

He froze for half a second before scrambling to his feet, his hands letting go instinctively.

"Hello, Jiangg!"

"Hey!? You're holding the grill legs! It's gonna fall on me...!"

With a loud CLANG, Liu Nan fell and landed on his butt.

"Dammit, Wei Zhen, what the hell are you doing?"

Liu Nan was rubbing his sore rear, but when he saw the figure standing before him, the young man scrambled to his feet in an instant!

A look of terror crossed his face, but he didn't forget to dust the mud off his pants.

Liu Nan quickly jabbed Wei Zhen. "Why didn't you give me a heads-up..." he hissed in a low voice.