58 So-called Catastrophe (1/2)

One hour before, at eight in the morning, Ye Qingxuan arrived on time to the classroom he had been tested in.

Today was the first day of school. According to the tradition of the Royal Academy of Music, the first class was there, no matter what school one was a part of. In the past, the principal would speak and encourage everyone to study hard. But this year, no one was anticipating such a terrifying experience, especially because the principal was not even present!

But when the principal entered, everyone was dragged into the hallucination.

Now the hallucination was finally gone. At the podium, the teacher carefully lifted the vinyl record from the stereo and placed it back into the box.

”Wow, it’s the rarely seen record alchemy equipment. Can’t believe I could get cool stuff by listening to first-year classes.” Beside Ye Qingxuan, someone said while hitting his thigh, ”The visual and audio effects are impressive. It was worth it to get up early this morning.”

Ye Qingxuan slowly looked over to see Charles happily munching on an apple. There was a pile of fruit skins by his feet. Beside him, the fruit basket had been taken over by Bai Xi, guarded in her arms.

He glanced at Bai Xi, but was glared at instead. Sighing, he said, ”Brother, it’s fine to come listen to lower classes. But is it good to eat like this?”

”Can’t I eat while watching a record?” Charles glanced over in confusion. ”You tell me after I already finish a bucket of popcorn? Do you want some?”

”I’m okay…” Ye Qingxuan’s lips twitched, and he smartly decided not to say anything else.

He and Bai Xi had been living inside the of the academy ever since the entrance exam two days ago. Because they were both in the School of History, their dorms were together.

It was not just their dorm, but all of the classrooms, offices, student dorms, and teacher dorms of the School of History were all in the same two-story building.

They were in the corner of the campus. It was a building that was easily missed unless one was actually looking for it.

When Ye Qingxuan first saw the little building, he felt a chill.

”This house had to be over two-hundred years old, right?” he had thought.

The speckled walls were covered in ivy, and there was a pile of fallen leaves before the door. A stray cat glared at him from the roof. Countless details recreated an atmosphere that only existed in horror stories.

”Could normal people live here?”

All of the buildings in the Royal Academy of Music were arranged strangely—strange to the point that those who lived there for five years could still get lost.

The entire place was like a giant maze!

When Ye Qingxuan found out that he had to memorize a map just to buy breakfast, he felt hopeless…

Usually, a warm-hearted senior would come to the rescue in this situation. But the problem was that this warm-hearted senior was not reliable at all!

In only two days, Ye Qingxuan became well acquainted with Charles’ ability to get lost.

They could be walking down a straight and open path, then in the blink of an eye, Charles would be gone! And then he would reappear somewhere weird…

Not only did he get himself lost, but he also dragged other people with him.

Once, Ye Qingxuan followed him to the cafeteria and then somehow ended up in downtown Avalon. Then he realized why the professor had told him again and again never to let Charles lead…

--

They had only known each other for two days, but it had been a busy time for that senior!

In two days, he had been found by debtors four times, and chased six times. The night before, and earlier this morning, he had been slapped by two random girls in public. Those two pretty girls did not even say anything before he started crying and ran away covering his face…What did he even do?

”Yezi, you suddenly look like you’re in pain.” Beside him, Charles moved closer in concern. ”Do you have hemorrhoids? Ah, that’s bad. You have to discover it and get it treated early. Should we go to the doctor’s after class? It’s okay, I’m really familiar with them. If I take you there, the doctors can give you a discount…”

”…No, it’s okay.” With twitching muscles, Ye Qingxuan forced a smile.

”Oh, that’s good.” Charles produced a durian out of nowhere. ”You want some?”

”…” Ye Qingxuan looked away. The durian smell made him want to sob.

”Oh, right, some people from your row keep looking over here. Are they that hungry?” Charles sighed. ”If they want fruit, then they can just come over. It’s bad to skip breakfast…”

Ye Qingxuan glanced at his row and saw some elite boys looking at him with disdain. The leader was a red-haired youth. He had been the first one to be accepted.

Edmund-something?

Beside him, Banner seemed to not be awake yet. He lowered his head and stared at his fingers, his feline eyes interested. No one knew what he was thinking about.

Sensing Ye Qingxuan’s gaze, their expressions turned to disgust. They threw him a glance and looked away.

”What’s wrong?” Bai Xi followed his eyes. ”Spacing out?”

”Nothing.” Ye Qingxuan looked away. ”Some psychos want to eat bananas.”

--

”Alright, you all seem to have recovered.” At the podium, the professor looked down as he finished organizing things. ”Here, I have some smelling salt. The girls who are pretending to be dizzy can take some. That student over there, you don’t have to get so excited about CPR. She’s pretending, can’t you tell? And that student eating, where did you get all that?”

The professor looked in Charles’ direction, his expression turning stern. ”I’m talking about you, the student in the second row. I noticed you awhile ago. Do you know the rules about eating during my class?”

”Uh…” Charles froze. Awkwardly, he clutched the banana he had just peeled. Thinking for a bit, he carefully took it to the podium. ”Would you like some?”