That night, Sang Ru unusually dreamed of the future Zhou Tingzhao again. Just from his presence, she could distinguish him.

Perhaps because she had been teased excessively during the day without true satisfaction, the feeling of being filled by him in her dream remained clear and vivid even after waking.

In those images, he entered her from the front. She embraced his back, crying for him to enter her, randomly saying things like What did being sixteen matter, Why wouldn’t he give it to her. Zhou Tingzhao seemed to pause, not understanding, but was quickly drawn into the passion by her persistence.

After waking up and washing her face, Sang Ru stared at herself in the mirror for a while. She splashed more water on her face, which might as well have had four large characters written on it: Sexually Frustrated.

Zhou Tingzhao was indeed stubbornly infuriating, refusing to break that barrier and merge with her. Yet she couldn’t truly be angry with him.

Zhou Tingzhao was too gentle. Just thinking of his whispers from that time made her heart soften.

From his perspective, she was indeed sixteen, and he seventeen—an age where they couldn’t fully bear the consequences. To completely possess each other was undoubtedly extravagant, even if she had walked ten years ahead of him.

The original plan was to sleep with him, which was half-accomplished. But human emotions can’t be hidden—Sang Ru was almost certain that Zhou Tingzhao had already entered her hunting territory.

–

After the weekend, the test scores came out quickly on Monday, catching everyone who had relaxed for two days off guard.

Sang Ru listed all her subject scores on draft paper. After careful consideration, although the results weren’t as good as she had imagined, they were better than the previous time when she had dropped ten places. She could temporarily breathe a sigh of relief.

Yet in Zhou Tingzhao’s eyes, it was a different story.

As soon as the rankings were announced, his first instinct was to look for hers—seventh, down from second place.

Now her expression looked serious. She pressed her lips together without saying a word, seemingly calculating scores on her paper.

Zhou Tingzhao was somewhat worried. After all, this must be important to her. It wouldn’t be right to speak rashly, especially since he hadn’t been able to truly please her the day before yesterday…

Even though Zhou Tingzhao ranked first, he wasn’t in a particularly cheerful mood. After thinking for a moment, he searched through piles of papers to find a few clean, nice sheets of blank paper.

–

By the time evening self-study ended, it was already late. When Sang Ru reached the entrance of her building, she remembered that she had left the test papers that required a parent’s signature in the classroom. She had no choice but to drop her things at home and dutifully return.

Senior year students already had the latest dismissal time, and now the campus was empty with hardly anyone around.

The wind rose at night. The old iron door at the entrance of the corridor was open, swinging slightly in the breeze. Sang Ru wrapped her school uniform jacket tightly and went up to the third floor. The classroom door wasn’t locked, and the test papers were in the pile of books on the desk, easy to find. So Sang Ru entered without turning on the lights, finding them by the moonlight from outside.

Closing the door, the corridor was still relatively bright, but the stairwell had little light, with only the emergency exit sign emitting a faint glow. It was somewhat eerie. Sang Ru quickened her pace, but when she reached the first floor, she discovered that the iron door at the entrance was locked.

This door had been removed after the campus renovation, but now it was still in its old form—two iron gates that were locked after school. This was probably to prevent people from sneaking into classrooms or passing through to the buildings behind.

Guards would come for a final check every day. Perhaps because she hadn’t turned on the lights, they had checked this area, assumed no one was there, and locked it.

She hadn’t thought this was inappropriate before, until she was locked inside, realizing what an odd design it was.

Sang Ru knocked on the iron door bars, asking “Is anyone there?” several times, but received no response. Only the streetlights outside cast flickering shadows of tree branches.

Ahead was an endless, indistinct darkness; behind was space. As the night wind blew again, Sang Ru felt a chill all over and immediately turned to run up to the second floor.

The security office was too far away; even if she shouted, they probably wouldn’t hear. Sang Ru hadn’t brought any communication devices and could only try to see if anyone was passing by below. However, there were no figures in sight. After gathering herself for a moment, she called out, “Is anyone there?”

Again, several shouts went unanswered.

Despite Sang Ru’s usually fearless demeanor, in this situation, she couldn’t help but feel a chill in her heart. The classrooms, full of vitality during the day, now seemed like domains inhabited by many unknown beings. She clutched her test papers tightly and ran back to the third-floor classroom. Only after sitting back in her familiar seat did her heartbeat begin to calm. The seat beside her was unusually empty; Zhou Tingzhao wasn’t here.

How nice it would be if he were here…

Sang Ru tightened her arms around herself. Even at the moment she returned here, she didn’t feel as helpless and alone as she did now.

However, the most important thing now was to be discovered by someone. Sang Ru took several deep breaths until she calmed down, still deciding to return to the balcony to see if anyone was passing by.

She waited with anticipation, only able to see the distant, brightly lit areas.

After waiting for a long time, she became somewhat resigned. In the worst case, she would simply spend the night here.

The wind was blowing vigorously. Sang Ru’s eyes felt dry from the wind, gradually becoming drowsy. The dim street lights blurred into small black dots, and then small black dots seemed to be coated with light, approaching.

Sang Ru instantly became alert, opening her eyes wide to look down at the figure not far away.

One thing was certain: someone was coming from the direction of the wind.

–