Where else has it appeared?
Shen Jingqi thought absentmindedly.
His head felt a bit feverish again.
Shen Jingqi shook his head.
Stop thinking. Stop thinking.
It will appear eventually.
Shen Jingqi understood his condition and knew it was best not to strain his brain unless absolutely necessary.
Especially when outside.
The place he was in now was wide, but there were hardly any people around.
He didn't expect that if he really fainted, anyone would notice and come to his rescue, etc.
Shen Jingqi stomped his foot.
In the winter outdoors, if you stand too long, your feet become stiff and cold.
He quickly alternated his feet on the spot, then started walking along the lakeside.
By the time Shen Jingqi reached the tower, he had walked a full circle around the lake.
He began to walk along an unfamiliar path, moving away from the lake.
On both sides were tall and sturdy trees, their trunks painted white, with signs hanging on them.
Some of them were already over a hundred years old.
Shen Jingqi could see that there were information tags at the top of the trees, too.
Thus, he met, one by one, with plane trees, Chinese scholar trees, junipers, arborvitaes, and oil pines of various ages and temperaments.
There were also a few perched figures on the branches, and from their information tags, Shen Jingqi knew they were goldfinches and silver-throated long-tailed tits.
There were hardly any people along the way, and even the footprints on the road were scarce.
Shen Jingqi walked through, not knowing what lay ahead, when he suddenly saw a courtyard.
He didn't know if it was a residential area for staff or a research unit of some college.
Shen Jingqi walked up to the courtyard and saw an elderly female figure appear from inside.
Her hair was gray, she wore a dark Tang suit, and donned old-fashioned glasses, her gaze was cold and severe, scrutinizing Shen Jingqi.
An information tag flickered above the old woman's head.
[Professor of Shen University Opera House, lost son for 23 years.]
Shen Jingqi couldn't help but feel the blood in his body clump.
The cells within him trembled uncontrollably, and a rush of cold surged up.
Inexplicably, on the old woman, Shen Jingqi sensed the world's most extreme anger, hatred, and numbness.
Shen Jingqi backed up a few steps.
The old woman continued to stare at Shen Jingqi and intended to walk towards him.
The gate of the courtyard was tightly locked, but, Shen Jingqi felt as if the old woman could walk through the gate at any time and confront him.
Shen Jingqi's chest tightened.
He quietly clenched his fist, paused for a moment, then turned around and left.
There was no sound behind him.
But Shen Jingqi felt a kind of overwhelming pressure.
He sensed that the old woman hadn't followed him, and there was no sound from the gate, yet he didn't stop at all, continuing to walk quickly forward.
That place, in itself, felt uncomfortable.
Until there were sparse human figures in front, Shen Jingqi slowed his pace.
After walking a few steps, that cold feeling suddenly disappeared.
That person just now, how strange!
The whole place was so strange.
Why had he never known there was such a place before?
Shen Jingqi turned around again and saw that the courtyard was now empty.
The old woman might have gone inside.
Shen Jingqi felt a moment of trance.
It was as if the tension just now was all an illusion.
Shen University is considered a very safe place.
Even by the lake, there are security patrols at night.
This is originally a place for learning and seeking knowledge, already a pure land far from worldly troubles.
Shen Jingqi felt puzzled by his own senses.
He didn't know why he had such a big reaction to seeing the old woman just now.
A few people nearby seemed to be a couple, holding hands and chatting happily with each other.
Watching them made the world feel happy, simple, joyful, and peaceful.
Walking through that path felt like two different worlds of experience.
No, it was that courtyard and the surrounding Shen University that felt like two different worlds of experience.
Perhaps, for Wang Zhichen, his experience with the biology building and that girl might have similar feelings too.
Shen Jingqi looked up.
It was almost evening now, the sun had begun to set.
The glow of the sunset spread across the distant hills.
With each step, the ground beneath began to harden, with a gelatinous, fixed feeling.
Shen Jingqi took a deep breath, feeling like he stored the nodes he passed through in his brain and linked them together.
His gaze swept across the front.
Not far ahead, was a small garden.
Inside were flower beds, a large patch of grass, with various neat square bricks laid in the middle.
He had already left the lake's boundary.
The crowd had grown dense here once again.
Some were driving, some riding motorcycles, and others riding bicycles.
Of course, there were also many hurried pedestrians.
This place had almost no defined intersections.
People from all directions were coming and going, weaving through here.
You could say it came from all directions.
Shen Jingqi, after waiting for a motorcycle that appeared out of nowhere and drove fast, quickly walked onto the path in the middle of the grass.
Unlike other places, there was still a lot of snow on the grass.
It looked very clean, without a trace of black.
This place seemed not as cold.
Scattered among the lawn were a few large trees.
In the entire campus, there was only one ginkgo tree at the west gate, it was indeed rare.
The other types of trees were numerous.
But, with the cold winter, most of the trees had shed their leaves, leaving just the trunks to embrace the snowflakes.
The leaves piled at the base of the trunks, storing nutrients for the next year.
Endlessly cycling, life continues. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NovᴇlFire(.)nᴇt
Shen Jingqi thought of what Lin Shuwang and Liang Hong said, that compared to people, they prefer to interact with nature, liking animals and plants. Perhaps, that's the different feeling between them.
Trees indeed give off a peaceful, calm feeling.
Shen Jingqi looked at these few trees and smiled gently.
Continuing forward, the winding path pointed to another area.
With bouts of laughter, Shen Jingqi saw a few college students holding snowballs, engaged in a snowball fight.
Snowballs hit people or dropped to the ground, softly shattering.
The boys who were hit brushed off the snowflakes, then bent down, carefully but quickly picked up a handful of snow, and as they squeezed it tight, aimed and threw it.
With cries of surprise, the battle grew fiercer.
Shen Jingqi scanned the area.
In the center of the lawn, there was still a small snowman.
The snowman's body had sticks inserted for arms, draped with a colorful bag, giving it an inexplicable sense of fashion.
The snowman's eyes were made of stones, appearing very lively and bright.
As Shen Jingqi looked, an information tag appeared on the snowman's head.