Chapter 557: Chapter 2: Campus? Space?
"The North Campus probably doesn’t require a card to enter or exit, it’s fine without a permit. Back when I was at Sacred Heart Middle School, I always lost my student ID, and got Xuerou to remember my name several times," Xiao Xian chuckled at her own past embarrassing moments, unable to stop laughing at herself.
"Oh, it can only be that way. South Campus is stricter with entry and exit because it has a research base," Yu Gang reasoned, thinking it made sense since after all, it’s just a school. Setting everything up like an important national department and constantly swiping cards is also troublesome.
After processing the access pass for the South Campus at the administration building, Xiao Xian and Yu Gang left. As soon as they left, the staff at the school affairs office began to discuss.
"Is that female student from the North Campus? It’s really rare these days to have two such young female students come at once."
"You really can’t tell by looking, she seems like a quite normal kid, very delicate and pretty."
"People from the North Campus, as soon as they leave their campus, they all seem normal, but when they’re inside..."
"Hey, don’t say anymore. Right, wasn’t that Yu Gang, Director Yu just now? Why didn’t we stop him, letting him also go to the North Campus?"
Although it had been over a decade since he left school, Yu Gang still led Xiao Xian through the South Campus based on his past memories.
Yu Gang had specifically intended to prove that what he had said before was no exaggeration, so he took Xiao Xian around the campus with an explanatory tour guide’s tone, and only after they reached the North Gate leading to the North Campus did their journey of pleasant scenery come to an end.
If Yu Gang hadn’t repeatedly confirmed their location, Xiao Xian would never have believed that the ground she was standing on still belonged to Huake Institute.
"Is this a city gate?" Xiao Xian pointed at the "gate" in front of her.
"It looks like it’s supposed to be. The design of this gate... resembles the famous An Ding Gate, but the depth of entrance is much deeper, I guess it’s about 30 meters," Yu Gang was also flabbergasted by this abruptly appearing "city gate."
The buildings inside the Huake Institute included Tang-style replicas, Ming and Qing architecture imitations, and high-rise buildings with vermilion towers are also very common. It’s just that the entrance to the North Campus is an ancient-style gatehouse. The thick wooden door, approximately 30 meters high, is adjacent to a grey brick wall as high as the walls of the Forbidden City.
The wall’s rough estimate is 10 meters high, topped with about 50 centimeters of parapets, with a total height of nearly eleven meters, shielding the North Campus from the prying eyes of outsiders.
Yu Gang walked up to the "school gate" and knocked on the outer layer of metal with his finger; there was no trace of a wooden door, and the sound was muffled, revealing that the door was made entirely of metal. Looking further up on the right side of the door, there was a machine resembling a bank card swiper.
"Uncle Yu, do we need to swipe a card here too? But I didn’t receive the access card for the North Campus," Xiao Xian looked at the metal door which, apart from the card swiper, was bare without even a doorbell or peephole.
Glancing at the more than ten-meter-high wall, she definitely couldn’t shout at the top of her voice at the door, "Is anybody in there?"
Yu Gang also hadn’t anticipated that the structure of the North Campus would be so bizarre. He thought for a moment that he still needed to go back to the South Campus to inquire, maybe find a teacher or someone to notify the people inside to let Xiao Xian in.
"Xiao Xian, Uncle Yu really didn’t know that the North Campus was so special. After walking for most of the day, you must be tired too. You wait here at the campus entrance, and Uncle Yu will go to the administration office to find someone and clarify what exactly is going on," Uncle Yu was the one who had recommended Xiao Xian to join the Reverse Genius Class, and now faced with such a bizarre situation, he needed to understand what was really happening with the campus where the Reverse Genius Class was located.
This campus, which seemed like an ancient city, shouldn’t be worse than going to prison for the kids who enter.
Xiao Xian verbally agreed, waiting for Yu Gang to leave before she started acting on her own. She first walked around the city wall, looking for some way or passage to get in.
Just now, when she entered the South Campus, Xiao Xian had marveled that the Huake Institute’s campus was much larger than Sacred Heart Middle School’s middle and high school divisions combined. Now, after walking around the North Campus, she found that the North Campus seemed even bigger.
Xiao Xian left Yu Gang behind and used the Cloud Ascension Technique. Her speed was not slow at all. In half an hour, she covered a good ten-plus kilometers and still hadn’t reached the end of the North Campus walls.
The city walls’ layered gray bricks dazzled the eyes, making one feel as if they could walk their entire lifetime without reaching the end.
"I can’t keep walking, there must be something strange about the North Campus," Xiao Xian stopped, looking up at the blue skies with the sunlight turning the gray walls white.
According to Xiao Xian’s thinking, if there’s a front gate, there should be a back gate. If the front gate is not approachable, taking the back door should always be possible, right?
There’s always a way under the heavens. Under the dazzling sunlight, at the end of the city wall, a "door" truly appeared.
As mentioned earlier, the gate next to the main entrance was very sturdy and made completely out of metal.
Compared to that grand main entrance, the "door" Xiao Xian found seemed quite mini. It was thirty centimeters high and several tens centimeters wide. It looked like a dog hole from every angle, and appropriately, there was a clump of dog tail grass growing next to it.
Next to the dog hole, there was also a piece of paper that read: "Students of the Junior Reverse Genius Class enter from here."
"Students of the Junior Reverse Genius Class" seemed to refer to those who had just arrived to register, like Xiao Xian.
Xiao Xian understood now; it seemed that there were not only one class within Huake Institute’s Reverse Genius Class but there was also a clear hierarchy between the classes.
"It’s a good thing Uncle Yu went back. If he had seen this gate, I suppose his fond memories of his alma mater would have been shattered," Xiao Xian shook her head, beginning to doubt what life in the Reverse Genius Class at Huake Institute would be like.
Inside the high walls, two strong female students dressed in black practice uniforms were waiting behind the main gate.
"I say, why is there no movement outside? I heard two students were coming to register today. Lan Ya has asked around and said they are both girls. To prevent the new juniors from being undisciplined, we ought to give them a little initiation," said the girl standing on the right. She was very short, only one meter thirty-four, and if it weren’t for her voice, one might have thought she was just a primary school student.
The girl standing on the left was quite the opposite; she was tall and thin, with a long horse face and a pair of green bean eyes staring at the iron door made of chromium-manganese steel.
Compared to the neat appearance of the door outside, the inside of the main gate was already smashed with many fist indentations.
"Humph, we’ll wait here until it gets dark. If no one comes in, they probably sneaked in through the dog hole. These students from the Basic Class always think they’re so amazing when they first come in. It’s good to take down a peg or two. No more talking; I don’t think anyone can come in through the main gate, let’s go check out the dog hole." The two discussed, blissfully unaware that at this very moment, at the two ends of the school wall, both the South End and the North End,
two new female students were spitting fiercely at the two specially made dog doors. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian () to cast your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, your support is my greatest motivation.)