Chapter 3: Omens of Loss of Control

4 a.m.

The entire dormitory—and indeed the whole world—was enveloped in the deepest darkness and silence.

Yet, Xu Yuan felt no sleepiness.

She curled up under the blanket, her body trembling slightly from lingering fear, her eyes fixed intently on the ceiling, as if she could discern a bloodied hole piercing through the blackness above.

In her mind, the fleeting yet vividly clear dream replayed incessantly—

A KTV private room bathed in neon lights, an overwhelming suffocating pressure, the piercing sound of shattering glass, and Jiang Yi’s voice filled with self-destructive madness.

Unlike the grand and tragic dream of reefs and the sea she had before, this one was laden with concrete, worldly danger.

The noisy music, pungent smell of alcohol, and shattered glass sounded like countless cold needles piercing her brain, leaving her restless. What was this? A coincidence—or some sort of warning?

A profound confusion and worry entwined around her heart like creeping vines. She could no longer deceive herself with the notion of “what one thinks by day appears in dreams by night.”

The suffocating sensation brought by that dream was too real, igniting an absurd yet intense intuition within her—that if she did nothing, the boy, that solitary reef, might truly be shattered by a sudden storm.

She had no idea what she could do, much less what she should do. Yet one thought grew uncontrollably fierce: she must find him. Not to interfere, not to change anything, but simply... to see with her own eyes that he was safe. Once this thought surfaced, it could not be suppressed.

Suddenly, Xu Yuan sat up in bed. In the dim light of her phone screen, she hurriedly changed clothes. Not daring to make a sound, she tiptoed down from the bed, skipping even washing up, grabbed her backpack, and dashed out of the dormitory.

At 5 a.m., the campus was deserted, the street lamps casting a hazy yellow glow through the mist.

As she ran, her mind raced wildly.

Where would Jiang Yi be?

The library was still closed. His home no longer existed. With his solitary nature, he surely wouldn’t be in the dormitory.

The only possibility was his workplace!

She recalled a post on the campus forum mentioning that Jiang Yi worked night shifts at a 24-hour convenience store near the school to earn living expenses.

Without hesitation, she turned sharply and sprinted toward the school’s west gate.

...

The glass door of the “7-Eleven” was pushed open, the bell hanging on the door jingling crisply.

Leaning against the doorframe, Xu Yuan gasped for breath, her eyes scanning the entire store like a radar.

Behind the counter, a sleepy clerk lifted his head lazily and asked, “Welcome. What can I get you?”

Not Jiang Yi.

Her heart sank instantly.

“Excuse me…” She approached the counter, struggling to steady her breathing, her voice betraying a subtle urgency even she hadn’t noticed. “Is there a student from Binhai University working here? Named Jiang Yi?”

“Jiang Yi?” The clerk yawned, seemingly recalling. “Oh, you mean that handsome guy? He quit last week, said he found a better-paying job.”

Quit?

A better-paying job?

A buzzing silence filled Xu Yuan’s mind; everything went blank.

The only lead she had was severed.

Binhai City was so vast—where else could she possibly find him?

A crushing, powerless panic gripped her heart. She felt like someone standing on the edge of a cliff, helplessly watching the one she wanted to protect take step after step toward the abyss she had long foreseen, while she could do nothing.

“Do you know where he went?” she asked, clinging to the last shred of hope.

“How would I know?” The clerk waved dismissively, annoyed. “We’re not close.”

Xu Yuan stumbled out of the convenience store, the sky beginning to brighten, pedestrians slowly appearing on the street.

Like a headless fly, she wandered aimlessly near the school, her thoughts a chaotic mess.

She took out her phone and opened Jiang Yi’s number—one he had left when they signed the agreement yesterday.

Should she call him?

What excuse could she give?

“Hey, I dreamed you’d be in danger today; where are you?”

He would surely block her on the spot, erasing her from his world forever.

Just as she was about to break down in tears, her phone vibrated—a WeChat message from her best friend Lin Feifei.

[Lin Feifei: Yuan Yuan! Help! I haven’t finished my macroeconomics homework, and it’s due today! Please help me with this question!]

Attached was a photo of a question about the “IS-LM model.”

Xu Yuan stared at the question, and a frantic, almost desperate thought suddenly sprang into her mind.

Jiang Yi!

He was a genius! A master of all subjects!

A question of this level was surely a piece of cake for him!

That was a reason!

An awkward one, but at least it gave her a legitimate pretext to find him and hold him there!

Clutching this last straw, Xu Yuan immediately dialed Jiang Yi’s number.

The phone rang for a long time. Just as she thought it would hang up automatically, it was finally answered.

“Hello.”

His usual cold, detached voice came through, tinged with the hoarseness unique to early morning.

“Jiang Yi! It’s me, Xu Yuan!” Her heart nearly leapt into her throat; her words poured out rapidly like machine-gun fire. “Where are you? I have a really important academic question to ask! It’s urgent! It’s a matter of life and death for our competition!”

She deliberately exaggerated the severity, even invoking their competition’s fate.

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.

“I’m in the East District computer lab.”

“Great! Don’t move! I’m coming right away!”

Without hesitation, Xu Yuan hung up and dashed toward the East District computer lab.

...

The East District computer lab was in the basement of the Computer Science building, perpetually deprived of sunlight, filled with the cold, metallic scent of electronic equipment.

When Xu Yuan found Jiang Yi, he was seated at a computer in the farthest corner, the screen covered with dense lines of code. He seemed to have been awake all night; faint dark circles under his eyes but his expression remained frighteningly focused.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up, his dark eyes cold and irritated at the intrusion.

“What is it?”

“This!” Xu Yuan pulled up the photo of the question Lin Feifei had sent and placed it before him, panting as she began her clumsy performance. “The underlying logic of our project requires an economic model, this one! But I don’t understand it at all, so I want to ask you!”

She nervously watched his expression as she spoke.

Jiang Yi’s gaze lingered on the macroeconomics question for less than three seconds before slowly lifting to meet Xu Yuan’s flushed face, reddened from running and embarrassment.

His eyes were calm.

Yet beneath that calm surface, Xu Yuan detected an unmistakable, icy mockery.

“A journalism interactive project’s underlying logic is the IS-LM model of macroeconomics?” He suddenly spoke, his voice low but sharp as a surgical blade, cutting through her flimsy lie. “Xu Yuan, are you insulting my intelligence—or your own major?”

Xu Yuan’s heart sank.

It was over.

She had forgotten he was a genius. Such a transparent, cross-disciplinary lie was nothing but self-humiliation before him.

“I…” She opened her mouth, her mind racing to find a more plausible excuse to cover up.

But Jiang Yi gave her no chance.

He stood, grabbed the coat draped over his chair, and began to walk past her toward the exit.

“I have other things to do. For your ‘academic question,’ go ask your advisor,” his tone was as cold as ice.

“Don’t go!”

Seeing him about to leave, Xu Yuan, driven by instinct, suddenly reached out and grasped his wrist tightly.

Jiang Yi’s body stiffened instantly.

He looked down at the slender, pale hand gripping his wrist so tightly that the knuckles had turned white, frowning deeply.

A strange warmth radiated from their skin touching, like a sudden burn, and he instinctively wanted to shake her off.

“Let go.” His voice was now laced with suppressed anger.

“I won’t!” Xu Yuan risked everything, gripping tighter. “You’re not going anywhere today! You have to stay where I can see you!”

She spoke hurriedly, almost blurting it out.

Immediately, regret washed over her.

She sounded like an irrational, possessive lunatic.

Sure enough, Jiang Yi’s expression darkened so deeply it seemed to drip with menace.

He turned, his dark eyes now carrying a look of extreme danger Xu Yuan had never seen before—a wild, aggressive glare a beast displays when its territory is forcibly invaded.

“Xu Yuan,” he said slowly, voice low and terrifying, “I’ll say this one last time: let go. Don’t force me.”

As the tension between them thickened, nearly solidifying into a tangible force in the lab, a flippant voice suddenly came from the doorway.

“Well, if it isn’t the top scholar Jiang! So early in the morning, already wrestling with your junior? Quite the enthusiasm!”

Xu Yuan shuddered, whipping her head toward the door.

There leaned Zhang Wei, the blond lackey of Li Wenfeng whom she had seen at the library, smirking maliciously. Behind him stood two other boys who clearly meant trouble.

Xu Yuan’s pupils constricted sharply.

It was him!

The noisy, chaotic background from her dream now overlapped with reality!

Zhang Wei hadn’t noticed the terror etched on Xu Yuan’s face. His gaze locked solely on Jiang Yi.

He swaggered over, scrutinizing Jiang Yi up and down, then his eyes settled on the hand gripping Jiang Yi’s wrist. He clicked his tongue mockingly.

“Well, well, Jiang Yi. Just a few days and you’ve already snagged a new girl? Forgotten your ex who ran off with someone else?”

He leaned closer, lowering his voice to a volume only the three of them could hear, filled with malice.

“Li said he won’t hold the library incident against you. Tonight at ‘Royal Dynasty KTV,’ he’s throwing a little gathering. You’re supposed to come, make amends, have a few drinks, and that’ll be the end of it. You better show face.”

“Royal Dynasty KTV!”

Those five words thundered in Xu Yuan’s mind with explosive force!

Dream and reality fused seamlessly in this instant!

Danger was not impending.

It had already begun!

A chilling coldness shot from Xu Yuan’s feet to the crown of her head. Her hand gripping Jiang Yi’s wrist trembled uncontrollably with fear.

At the mention of “Royal Dynasty KTV” and “Li,” the ice-like mask on Jiang Yi’s face finally cracked.

He slowly turned his head, those deep, bottomless eyes filled with disgust and wariness, now gazing with an indescribably complex scrutiny at the pale, trembling girl clutching him tightly.

Why was she here?

Why had she used such a poor excuse to cling to him?

Why—upon hearing the name of the KTV—did she reveal a look of terror as if she had foreseen everything?