NFM Chapter 47

Happy times always pass quickly, and by comparison, exam week doesn’t feel very long either. After the final “Marxist Philosophy” exam, all the end-of-term exams for Room 301 were finally over, and the long-awaited summer vacation arrived.

Once the final scores were released, Lu Jin and Shao Wei packed their bags and returned to their hometowns, enjoying the carefree life of being fed and housed by their parents, living a life that was great except for not being able to stay up all night playing games. The top student Tan Xiruo stayed on campus, beginning his 9-to-9, seven-days-a-week lab assistant life, preparing for his future PhD studies abroad after graduation.

As for Lin Huai, the representative figure of being homeless but still having an allowance, he chose to stay on campus during the summer vacation, immersing himself in the library from 9 AM to 11 PM, reading journals and magazines. After two months of teaching at Minghua High School, Lin Huai, through his diligent study and the good impression he made by sitting in the front row, managed to score an 85, defeating 70% of his grade. This was indeed a cause for celebration, upholding the high IQ quality expected of an infinite flow protagonist.

In mid-June, Lin Huai received invitations from two different people.

The first call came from Chen Shu, who hadn’t made an appearance in a while. Over the phone, he once again, in his non-standard Mandarin, expressed his desire to have a face-to-face friendly discussion with Lin Huai about collaborating on haunted house designs. After receiving Lin Huai’s preliminary agreement, he took a taxi to the school that very afternoon.

In a corner of the campus café, Chen Shu, wearing a mask, muttered, “This situation is like this…”

He told Lin Huai that in the domestic haunted house design industry, there’s a haunted house design competition held every six months (Lin Huai’s comment: “The world is full of wonders…”), which selects the best haunted house of the year. In the competition two months ago, his masterpiece “St. Maria Charity Institute” lost by ten votes to another designer’s work, “Alice’s Wonderland.”

For Chen Shu, who had never lost since his debut and was on the verge of a triple crown, this was unacceptable. After some investigation, he discovered the man behind the designer who had always lost to him—a newcomer named Chu. Beyond that, he couldn’t find any more detailed information about this person.

“My goal is to reclaim my championship in the next competition,” Chen Shu said after two hours of conversation, his words finally sounding like standard broadcast Mandarin in Lin Huai’s ears. “Can you join my team?”

Lin Huai hesitated, glancing at his phone. Chen Shu added, “The salary is negotiable.”

He threw out a number, but Lin Huai didn’t respond. Chen Shu thought for a moment and said, “Transportation and meal expenses are reimbursable.”

Still no response. He then added, “After the haunted house is built, we’ll split the profits.”

‘This guy doesn’t seem very bright…’ Lin Huai thought, stroking his chin. ‘If I wait a bit longer, I might squeeze out even more money…’

He then said, “I’ll need some time to think it over. I’ll give you an answer the day after tomorrow.”

After setting the next meeting time, Lin Huai returned to his dorm, tidied up a bit, and arrived at the rehearsal room at 7 PM sharp.

Apart from the fall semester from September to January and the spring semester from March to June, the university also had a summer mini-semester throughout July, offering a variety of elective courses to help students struggling with personalized credits. In addition to official courses, various student clubs also offered interest classes during this period, including the drama club’s acting class, which Lin Huai participated in.

Today’s class was on line training. After the class, as usual, everyone sat in the rehearsal room chatting. As they talked, Qin Jiang, sitting next to Lin Huai, sighed.

Qin Jiang, a senior from the Chinese department, had helped Lin Huai a lot when he first arrived. Naturally, he asked her what was wrong and learned the reason for her distress.

Since April, Qin Jiang had been interning at a magazine, working as an editor, responsible for collecting manuscripts from various writers every month. Now, with the submission deadline approaching, she had to leave the city temporarily. Her colleagues were swamped, and she was worried about how to hand over her work.

Considering all the help she’d given him, Lin Huai felt he owed her a favor and asked, “How many writers do you still need to chase for their manuscripts?”

Qin Jiang counted and said, “Three more. Two live in the city, and one lives in the suburbs.”

The suburban one was quite close to the school. Lin Huai took on the task of helping. Qin Jiang was very grateful, treating him to a meal and introducing the details of the three writers to him.

“…These three are notorious for either delaying or submitting right at the deadline,” Qin Jiang explained one by one. “This one, Lian Jiang, cuts off all internet and power at the deadline, locking himself in. You’ll need to go to his place to chase him. He lives on the first floor; if necessary, you can climb through the window. His neighbors know this and won’t report you to the authorities…”

Lin Huai: “Senior, what kind of dangerous job did you take?”

“This one, He Yulou, loves to lie. Sometimes he says he’s traveling abroad and needs to postpone submission due to time differences, but he’s actually just playing Ubisoft games at home. When I first joined, he told me he was a woman, suffering from menstrual cramps, delaying his first month’s submission. The second month, he said he was in the delivery room giving birth. The third month, he said he was having twins and needed to give birth again… Anyway, don’t believe anything he says. Just cut off his internet and knock on his door… Cutting his internet is simple. First step… Second step… Third step… If all else fails, pull his power switch. Without air conditioning, he’ll come out when it gets hot, and then you…”

Lin Huai: “I feel like you’re committing a crime.”

“As for the last one…” When it came to this person, even Qin Jiang’s calm face twitched. “He…”

“Is he even more bizarre than the first two?” Lin Huai tentatively asked.

“Rather than bizarre… it’s more like…” Qin Jiang carefully chose her words. “He seems very gentlemanly and normal, but don’t be fooled by his appearance.”

“He…”

“He claims to be a scientific researcher and insists on calling his monthly submissions ‘academic papers.’ Besides, he tirelessly tries to submit his ghost stories under the science fiction or popular science category,” Qin Jiang slowly explained. “But this person… if you can get on his wavelength, you’ll find him easy to get along with. If not, he’s probably the most difficult of the three.”

“So what’s the reason he needs to be chased?”

“He claims to be conducting a great scientific research that the world doesn’t understand, using the excuse that ‘Bruno was burned at the stake by the church too.’ He says he’s busy developing something like ‘Three-Body’ and has no time to write…” Qin Jiang said in a dreamy voice. “Anyway, you’ll understand when you get there.”

Lin Huai: …

‘A very bad premonition… I feel like I’m going to meet an unreasonable lunatic,’ he weakly thought. ‘But even lunatics are afraid of being beaten or haunted, right? If all else fails, I’ll crawl out of his TV to chase him for the manuscript…’

“So,” Lin Huai asked, “what’s the pen name of the last person?”

Qin Jiang said, “Tian Shu. As in the North Star, one of the Big Dipper.”

The next day, Senior Qin left like a true hero, flying west and leaving Lin Huai with her final legacy, systematically planning his manuscript-chasing route.

‘The hottest time of the day is noon,’ Lin Huai thought as he scribbled on the city map. ‘The temperature is highest at noon, and according to Senior’s evidence, suspect number two, He Yulou, is most afraid of heat, so cutting off his power at noon is the most effective. As for his lies, I won’t even bother listening.’

‘…So it’s settled. Day one, find Lian Jiang. Day two, find He Yulou. Day three, find… uh, Tian Shu. And then be his wall breaker.’

After finalizing his plan, Lin Huai began his mission the next day.

Suspect number one, Lian Jiang, was surprisingly easy to catch. Lin Huai didn’t even need to climb through the window. Arriving at his door at midnight, making a few phone calls with breathy voices, knocking on the door at a specific frequency, and floating by the window was enough to scare Lian Jiang out of his house in extreme fear, where he was promptly arrested by temporary editor Lin Huai.

Suspect number two, He Yulou, was more troublesome than Lin Huai imagined. When he finally got through on the phone, the voice on the other end was weak: “…Sorry, I can’t submit this week. Something unexpected happened… Yesterday, I went out drinking with some book friends, and then I got anally assaulted. I’m now hospitalized…”

Lin Huai: … This guy really goes all out to delay his submission.

“You used this excuse three months ago,” Lin Huai coldly said, flipping through Senior Qin’s notes.

There was a pause, then He Yulou said, “Because the payment per word is getting lower and lower, I had to go out cross-dressing and selling my body to make a living. I’ve been arrested by the police…”

“You used this excuse six months ago.”

Another pause, then He Yulou said, “Because I went out cross-dressing and selling my body, my girlfriend castrated me. I’m now hospitalized…”

“You used this excuse five months ago… How colorful are the lives of these procrastinating authors?” Lin Huai angrily said at He’s door.

He Yulou: “Oh, then I have no more excuses. I’m just not submitting. If you’re so capable, climb out of the TV and beat me up. Heehee.”

With that, He Yulou hung up, leaving Lin Huai outside with a dark expression.

‘Since he asked for it…’ Lin Huai flexed his wrist. ‘Then he’s left me no choice…’

He Yulou lived on the eighteenth floor. When he bought the apartment, he chose the top floor for its great view and the rooftop garden. Late at night, he sat by the window, playing games and humming, thinking about how the new proxy editor was left speechless today, smugly swinging his legs.

“Just won’t give you the manuscript, la la la la la~” After voicing the thoughts of many authors, he continued to focus on the computer screen.

Then, there was a knock on the window.

“Excuse me,” a young man’s voice said, “is this the eighteenth floor?”

“You’ve got the wrong person,” He Yulou said without turning around.

“Sorry, wrong place.”

The person was quite polite and soon left. He Yulou continued playing, but he felt the air conditioning behind him getting colder. He reached back to scratch his back but suddenly thought of a horrifying fact—

He lived on the eighteenth floor, the top floor. Why would someone be knocking on the window outside?

As he pondered this, the computer screen started flickering with static. A window appeared on the screen with a heavy atmosphere.

‘Do you want to know the true meaning of life? Do you want to truly… live?’

‘[Yes] [Yes]’

He couldn’t control his arm, as if an invisible force was pulling him to click “Yes.” Just as he felt like he was falling into an icy abyss, a cold voice whispered in his ear:

“If you want to know, then go write the manuscript for me.”

“…Senior Qin, I’ve got both manuscripts. I’ll send them to your email tonight,” Lin Huai said over the phone, tallying the manuscripts like a medieval estate owner. “No problem, there’s one more. I’ll get it tomorrow…”

With that, he opened Gaode Map and located the villa where “Tian Shu” lived.