Night’s Nomenclature

During the break between classes, Wang Yun, Bai Waner, Hu Xiaoniu, and Zhang Tianzhen met up in the hallways again.

Every student that walked past them wore the school uniform, but because they haven't got their uniforms, they still wore their own, making them very noticeable in the crowd.

However, all the classmates that walked passed them kept a good distance.

It was the same reason as to why no one would choose to sit with a very beautiful lady on the bus unless there were no more seats left.

Hu Xiaoniu took a quick glance at his gold Daytona watch. They still had 8 minutes before the start of the next class. He said in a low voice, "In your class, has there been anyone special?"

Bai Waner looked at Wang Yun and said, "Nothing much, there's just a boy who changed seats to sit next to Wang Yun.“

”Hey," Wang Yun tapped Bai Waner's arm, "Don't say it like that. What if that wasn't what he meant?"

"You know it the best yourself," said Bai Waner in a warm tone.

Hu Xiaoniu suddenly asked, "Are you sure that he didn't switch seats because he guessed that you two are time travelers?"

In fact, he knew quite well that normal boys wouldn't take the initiative to switch seats next to a girl he liked on the first day.

So, Hu Xiaoniu felt a little suspicious.

Bai Waner and Wang Yun looked at each other, "It can't be."

"You need to understand that this is Luo City we are in right now. It's one of the 19 cities that had the most time travelers. It won't be surprising for one of our classmates to be a time traveler," Hu Xiaoniu analyzed, "You need to be more careful. What if he could understand what we are saying? If so, we would be in big trouble."

"He shouldn't be able to," said Wang Yun, "We were talking before class, and he didn't stop working on his problem set."

"How about this," said Hu Xiaoniu, "You two go observe if he had the tendency to look at his arm. Do you know what I mean? People who just got a time that appeared on their arm couldn't resist the temptation to not look every once in a while. This habit could only be eliminated after getting used to it over a long period of time.

Wang Yun thought about it and said, "Alright, I'll keep an eye on that."

After the next class, the four of them gathered again in the hallway.

"How about it?" asked Hu Xiaoniu.

Wang Yun shook her head, "During the 45 minutes, he didn't even look down at his arm once, even when he was just staring into the blank having nothing to do."

Hu Xiaoniu relaxed a little, but Zhang Tianzhen asked, "Might it be that he guessed that we would be observing him, so he didn't look down at his arm on purpose?"

Hu Xiaoniu said, "Let's assume that he's not a time traveler for now. Normal teenagers won't be that patient and careful. If he is like what you just said, then that would be terrifying."

Zhang Tianzhen said, "Then, it must be that he started liking Wang Yun."

"What about your class? Any progress?" asked Wang Yun.

"Nope." Hu Xiaojiu shook his head, "Liu Dezhu is just so good at pretending. I think we might need to spend more time with him and build a good relationship."

"Should we just start with Jiang Xue?" asked Zhang Tianzhen, "That way, at least we can start to learn a little about City 18 before we arrive when we go back."

"I guess that's our only hope for now, but it seems that she and her daughter aren't that easy to deal with," said Bai Waner, "Hold up, I remembered that the girl said Brother Qing Chen the other day. It must be the Qing Chen who sits next to us. The two of them must be very close."

"So, why not start with Qing Chen?" asked Zhang Tianzhen.

"Good idea. Let's use Qing Chen to meet Jiang Xue." Wang Yun nodded.

…

After the second class, Qing Chen was looking down at his phone, searching for as much information as he could about time travelers.

Just as he was focusing on an article, he heard, "Qing Chen, Nan Gengchen, here you go. We got some water for you."

Nan Gengchen turned and saw a bottle of water that came straight from the fridge. It even had water droplets around the edges.

Perhaps because of the water, her hand looked even white than before.

Many classmates glanced toward them, thinking how did Qing Chen and Nan Gengchen get to know the new classmates so well already.

The girls even bought them water!

Nan Gengchen said hesitantly, "Is this… for me?"

Bai Waner smiled and said, "Of course."

"Thank you!" Nan Gengchen was excited.

Qing Chen, on the other hand, was still looking at his phone as if none of this had anything to do with him.

He was looking at the news: The police successfully destroyed an illegal human trafficking base and rescued at least 12 time travelers who were identified online.

Among them was a famous influencer.

It was reported that the criminals kidnapped the victims to a deserted factory in a remote area and used various inhumane methods to obtain information on the time travelers' identity in the Inner World.

The criminals then forced the victims to bring medication back from the Inner World and threatened to kill their family members if they didn't.

At the scene of the crime, law enforcement officers seized a large number of drugs from around the world, most of which were generic drugs.

The two genetic drugs found at the scene could not only improve physical fitness but could also treat genetic diseases, including hereditary congenital deafness and hereditary congenital heart disease.

Currently, law enforcement had arrested 4 suspects, there were still 9 at large. According to the arrested suspects' confession, the 9 at large were all-time travelers.

This was such stunning news.

At first, most people thought that these illegal activities mostly occurred in foreign countries, but now, it started happening close to their homes too.

People probably would think twice now before revealing their identity as a time traveler.

Every time traveler must stay hidden to be safe.

It was like everyone was hiding in a dark forest. 1Dark forest is a metaphor from a famous sci-fi novel written by Liu Cixin, “The Dark Forest". The novel is the second book in "The Three-Body Problem" series, and it describes a reason why planet Earth might be in a "dark forest" situation, where everyone desired to survive, and no one knew when the next danger might come.

”Qing Chen?" After waiting for a long time and not getting a response, she asked again.

Qing Chen returned to his senses and said, "Thank you. You don't have to be so nice next time."

"We are neighbors, right? We'll see each other often in the future." Wang Yun smiled as she sat down.

The classmates in the room were all shocked upon hearing this. What is going on? Qing Chen is these two girls’ neighbors?

Qing Chen sat quietly in his seat and immediately knew what she was trying to do.

He ignored other classmates' admiring looks.

He started to understand Wang Yun and Bai Waner's personalities.

Under elite education, these people had seen the world prematurely and had plans of their own.

However, these people never experienced real suffering. They had been learning from the adults in large cities, but have not been tested by society.

So, a few hours ago, she was still ignoring him, and now, she was trying to be friends with him. This would not work anywhere.

Wang Yun smiled, "What are you reading? You didn't even hear me the first time."

As she said that, the girl bent over to look at his phone, and when she got closer, the inexplicable smell of perfume poured into Qing Chen’s nose.

She seemed to have done it intentionally.

But when the girl saw the news on his phone, her body froze.

• 1Dark forest is a metaphor from a famous sci-fi novel written by Liu Cixin, “The Dark Forest". The novel is the second book in "The Three-Body Problem" series, and it describes a reason why planet Earth might be in a "dark forest" situation, where everyone desired to survive, and no one knew when the next danger might come.