385: Chapter 385 will do; let's sign a four-year contract first.

The next morning.

It wasn't even six o'clock yet at the Qinglan Training Camp base, but people were already moving around in the hallways.

Anxiety is indeed contagious.

With the nation's top minds crammed into the same area, and Professor Liu Zuoqing's words—"I want to see your bones in seven days"—weighing on them, the entire dormitory building hadn't truly been quiet since midnight.

A muffled sound leaked from under the door of Room 306, followed immediately by Chen Jiahao's signature wail—

"Someone save me!!!"

Movement came from Dan Yi next door, followed by an even deeper silence.

That kind of silence was more oppressive than Chen Jiahao's howling.

In Room 305, Zhang Yiyu and his roommate were arguing about something in hushed voices.

Through the thin wall, only a few scattered words could be heard,

"Cost of survival," "Cognitive boundaries."

Those were the nails Lin Que had driven home yesterday.

Dormitory 303.

Xu Changge woke up at exactly six o'clock.

The first thing he did upon opening his eyes was glance at the opposite bed—it was empty.

The quilt was folded neatly, and there wasn't a single wrinkle on the pillow.

The sound of running water came from the washroom.

Xu Changge rolled out of bed and sat up, reaching for his glasses on the nightstand and putting them on.

He glanced at Lin Que's desk:

It was clean, with no open literature or half-written drafts,

Even the notebook used for taking notes in class yesterday wasn't on the desk.

The only extra item was a jar of pickled garlic brought from Jiangcheng in the corner of the desk, its lid tightly sealed.

Xu Changge retracted his gaze and began organizing the seven or eight theoretical books on his own desk, their edges already curling.

Five minutes later, Lin Que emerged from the washroom.

His hair was half-dry, he had changed into a gray casual outfit, and he was wearing the same sneakers he had arrived in yesterday.

He looked refreshed, with no trace of an all-nighter in his eyes.

Xu Changge's finger paused on a page.

"This early?"

Xu Changge asked.

Lin Que pulled a black backpack from under the bed and stuffed a phone charging cable and a mobile hard drive inside.

His movements were efficient and without hesitation; he had clearly planned what to bring in advance.

"Going out for a bit."

Xu Changge didn't press further.

He watched Lin Que shoulder the bag, pull open the dorm door, and walk out without looking back.

The moment the door closed, Chen Jiahao's second round of wailing drifted over from the hallway, mostly cut off by the wooden door.

Xu Changge looked down at the open copy of "Introduction to Narratology" in front of him, his thumb rubbing the spine of the book, not turning a page for a long time.

He thought of the look on Lin Que's face last night while searching for rental information on his phone.

Xu Changge closed the book and unscrewed the lid of the thermos on his desk.

Forget it. Some answers can't be rushed.

—

When Lin Que went downstairs, the entire dormitory building was filled with a stifling sense of a pre-exam sprint.

A boy was squatting in front of the public bookshelf at the corner of the second floor, clutching three books but staring blankly at the ceiling.

The sound of rushing water came from the public laundry room on the third floor; someone was likely using cold water to splash their face and wake up.

Lin Que pushed open the glass door of the ground floor lobby and ran right into Tang He.

Tang He had just walked over from the direction of the girls' dormitory building, sporting dark circles under her eyes and clutching a stack of manuscript papers.

She was muttering to herself as she walked.

She had been heading for the vending machine in the corner of the lobby.

Black coffee—tastes terrible, but it works.

Then she saw Lin Que.

In his gray casual outfit and carrying a backpack—though the bag was flat, likely containing only a few personal items.

There were no dark circles on his face, his eyes were clear, and his pace was light.

His entire state of being was on a completely different wavelength from anyone else in the building.

Tang He's footsteps faltered.

"Lin Que? You're..."

Her gaze moved from Lin Que's face to the bag on his back, then back to his face.

At a time when everyone was desperate to split one minute into two, this national champion looked like he was heading out for a stroll.

Lin Que didn't stop, tilting his head slightly as he passed her.

"Going out for some air, to find some inspiration."

With that, he walked toward the main entrance.

Tang He opened her mouth, the words "find some inspiration" stuck in her throat, unable to go up or down.

She stood there, watching Lin Que walk to the base's main gate.

She knew that old security guard; he usually checked entry and exit registrations more strictly than a College Entrance Examination proctor.

The day before yesterday, when Wei Yiming wanted to go out to buy a power bank,

Old Man Li had blocked him at the gate and interrogated him for five minutes, ultimately refusing to let him pass.

As Lin Que reached the gate, Old Man Li poked his head out of the duty room window.

The two said something—the specifics were inaudible—and then Old Man Li nodded, swiped a card, and let him through.

The "beep" of the gate arm rising was exceptionally clear in the empty lobby.

Tang He gripped the discarded drafts in her hand even tighter.

The sound of the paper crumpling was faint, but she heard it clearly.

She wasn't stupid.

For Lin Que to walk out of the heavily guarded base so brazenly, there was only one possibility: he had received special permission to live off-campus.

And such a privilege meant Professor Liu Zuoqing himself had given the nod.

Tang He turned to look at the stack of manuscript papers in her hand, filled with writing and crossings-out.

The first line of the first page had been changed four times; the ink was so layered that what was originally written was no longer legible.

She suddenly felt like she didn't want to buy that black coffee anymore.

On the other side of the lobby, Zhang Yiyu emerged from the stairwell carrying a thermos, just in time to watch Lin Que disappear outside the main gate.

Zhang Yiyu's hand stopped halfway through screwing on the thermos lid.

After returning to the dorm last night, he had spent two hours flipping through sociology literature,

Trying to find a single argument to refute Lin Que, but he hadn't found one.

Now, this person didn't even deign to participate in "writing while locked in a cage with everyone else."

Zhang Yiyu tightened the thermos lid and turned to go back upstairs.

He walked quickly, his sneakers making sharp, rapid sounds against the stairs.

In Beijing in September, the 7:00 AM sunlight already felt heavy.

Lin Que exited the academy gates without stopping at the nearby breakfast stalls.

He smelled the mundane aroma of deep-fried dough sticks and soy milk, and he was indeed a bit hungry, but there was more pressing business today.

Ten minutes later, the ride-hail car stopped in front of an office building in Haidian District.

The building wasn't new, but it was well-maintained.

The lobby had dark gray stone flooring, and two uniformed property staff sat at the front desk.

The people entering and leaving were mostly dressed in suits, walking briskly with phones pressed to their ears.

When Lin Que pushed through the glass revolving door, the young girl at the front desk glanced up at him.

Her gaze lingered on his sneakers for an extra half-second before she looked back down to organize her documents.

The agent responsible for the viewing was named Wang, a man in his early thirties who had been in the Beijing real estate circle for nearly eight years.

He could estimate a client's worth within three seconds.

The one before him, in unbranded casual clothes and with a southern accent, was clearly a student.

In his mind, Wang gave the probability of closing this deal a low score.

But he was a professional.

Since the client was here, he'd go through the motions.

"Young man, you're the one who made the appointment online to see the apartment, right?"

Wang approached with a standard smile and a moderate level of enthusiasm.

Lin Que nodded.

"The location of this building is unbeatable; you'll see when we get up there.

The security is also among the best in Haidian, with 24-hour personnel on duty.

Come on, I'll take you up to see the actual layout first."

The two entered the elevator.

Wang swiped his card and pressed the button for the 28th floor, and the cabin began to rise.

Standing next to Lin Que, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the young man didn't pull out his phone to scroll through short videos, nor did he look around at the elevator's decor.

He just stood there quietly, his eyes fixed on the numbers jumping on the floor display.

Twenty-eighth floor.

The doors opened.

Wang entered the code and pushed open the door.

The selling point of this large studio was the floor-to-ceiling window.

From the height of the 28th floor, half of the Beijing skyline was spread out behind the glass,

With the distant clusters of office buildings gleaming with a cool metallic luster in the morning light.

But after Lin Que entered, he didn't look toward the window at all.

He walked a circle along the interior walls of the room.

He didn't walk fast, but every step had a purpose.

When he passed the bedroom area, he rapped his knuckles against the wall twice,

"Thump, thump,"

And listened for a second.

Then he walked to the partition wall between the living room and the bedroom and knocked twice more.

Wang stood at the entrance, watching the young man inspect the apartment by knocking on the walls; his expression gradually shifted from a professional smile to confusion.

"Young man, are you checking... the soundproofing?"

Lin Que didn't answer; he had finished his circuit and stopped in the middle of the living room.

He surveyed the entire space, roughly arranging the layout in his mind—where the desk would go, where the equipment would go.

"Network," Lin Que said.

"Can I avoid using the building's public line and pull in an independent dedicated line for myself?"

Wang was stunned.

In all his years in this business, he could basically anticipate the questions tenants would ask.

How utilities were calculated, if the property fee included a parking space, if pets were allowed,

If the neighbors were young people who might be noisy...

He had standard answers for all of those.

But a request for an "independent dedicated network line" was a first from a student who looked like he wasn't even twenty yet.

This wasn't something ordinary people worried about.

Ordinary people couldn't even be bothered to figure out the difference between public Wi-Fi and independent broadband.

Wang took another look at Lin Que.

He still had on those unbranded clothes and that young face that didn't look like anything special.

But the action of knocking on the walls to check soundproofing, the reaction of ignoring all the decor upon entering, and now this demand for a dedicated line—

When these three things were put together, Wang's professional intuition began to correct his initial judgment.

"This..." Wang weighed his words.

"We can coordinate with the property management to pull in a separate dedicated line; technically, it's not a problem.

It's just that the cost will be extra and isn't included in the rent."

Lin Que nodded, not asking for details on the cost.

Wang rubbed his hands together, his tone softening a bit,

Like he was giving a well-meaning reminder to a younger brother who had just arrived in Beijing.

"Brother, I have to be honest with you.

Given the location and quality of this apartment, the rent is indeed not very friendly.

Our rule here is one month's deposit and six months' rent upfront. Combined with the property fees and the extra expense for the dedicated line, the one-time payment is quite a large sum."

Wang paused, observing Lin Que's expression. There was no change.

He added another sentence:

"If you feel the budget here is a bit high, I have a few other listings two subway stops to the north. The price-performance ratio is much better, and the environment is quite..."

"No need."

Lin Que pulled his phone from his pocket, and the screen lit up.

"This unit will do. Let's sign for four years first."

...