江城大学,302 号演讲厅.
教室里原本喧闹嘈杂,突然间却出现了一片诡异的寂静.
在靠近门口的角落里,方圆两米内空无一人.三张空桌子围成一圈,中间坐着一个人.他像一座纹丝不动的黑色铁塔一样坐在阴影里,散发着一种令人胆寒的低沉气息,仿佛在呐喊:离我远点.
陆晨.
他身高两米,身材魁梧.他身上穿着一件黑色连帽衫——是从廉价购物网站上买的仿冒品——已经褪色起球,但脖子上却挂着一副崭新的红色降噪耳机.
那抹鲜艳的红色与笼罩着他的灰暗,贫瘠的空气形成了强烈的冲突.他下意识地护着耳机,动作小心翼翼,仿佛那是他唯一的生命器官,比生命本身还要珍贵.
他双手紧紧地抱在下巴下,脊背僵硬,目光低垂,盯着桌上的一本高等数学教科书.
他五官棱角分明,英俊无可否认,但他散发出的气息却令人感到压抑.那是一种食物链顶端生物的绝对冷漠——一种掠食者的傲慢.
这时,一个迟到的女孩匆匆从后门进来.慌乱中,她的背包带不小心扫过了陆晨的桌角.
铛.
清脆的声音在死一般的角落里显得格外刺耳.
陆辰缓缓抬起头.由于身高被严密压制,即便坐着,他也几乎和站着的女孩平视.
实际上,陆辰的内心世界正在崩塌.
糟了!我挡路了吗?我应该道歉吗?
他喉咙发紧,发不出任何声音...患有严重社交焦虑症的陆辰,大脑瞬间一片空白.为了掩饰内心的恐慌,他不知该看向何处,只好强行与她的目光对视.他紧张得眉头紧锁,脖子上的青筋暴起.
但在女孩眼中,景象却截然不同:沉睡的雄狮已被唤醒.
那人缓缓抬起头,动作缓慢而刻意.他的眼睛漆黑如墨,毫无一丝情绪波动,面部肌肉紧绷,如同拉满的弓弦,随时准备扣动.那目光中没有一丝愤怒,只有一种冷漠疏离,仿佛能看穿生死.他看向的,仿佛只是一只随时可以碾死的蚂蚁.
女孩感觉像是被人狠狠掐住了心脏,冷汗浸透了她的后背.哽在喉咙里的道歉变成了哽咽的颤抖:
"对不起!!"
她甚至不敢转身离开他.她僵硬地一步一步后退,最后像一只受惊的兔子一样跳进了前排的人群中.
即使坐下后,她仍然浑身发抖."吓死我了...那一瞬间,我感觉他好像在考虑怎么处理我的尸体..."
Back in the corner, Lu Chen maintained his "deep" pose, chin resting on his hands, while his inner voice screamed.
Why did she run? Am I that scary?! Should I have smiled just now?
He sighed in despair, trying to bury his head lower, using the math book to hide his damn "villain face."
Just then, a wave of intense dizziness hit him.
Lu Chen's abdomen let out a suppressed, yet thunderous sound—
Gu——Lu——
The sound carried the tremor of a beast's low growl.
Hungry.
Lu Chen's face went pale, cold sweat beading on his forehead. What the hell? I ate twenty steamed buns before leaving the house! How did I digest them so fast?!
Extreme hunger corroded his stomach lining like strong acid, twisting his senses. In Lu Chen's slightly dilated, green-glinting pupils, the students moving in front of him were no longer classmates, but walking, steaming bone-in steaks.
Every cell in his blood was screaming a single word: EAT.
A few boys nearby, who had turned to laugh at the noise, collided straight with those eyes.
Their smiles froze. The ringleader choked out a strange gurgle, swallowing his teasing words whole.
No one dared to speak. No one even dared to breathe deeply. They turned around stiffly, staring at the blackboard, communicating frantically with only their peripheral vision.
Holy shit... I just laughed, that's all. Is he going to kill me?
Was that his stomach growling?
Don't look back! Whatever you do, don't look back! I have a feeling if you turn around, you're marked!
Meanwhile, the creator of this terror, Lu Chen, was gripping the corner of his desk. His knuckles were white from the force, leaving deep finger indentations in the solid wood. He was fighting a fierce internal war.
So hungry... skip class and go to the cafeteria? No, Professor Li's math class accounts for 30% of the grade. For the scholarship, for the meal ticket, I must endure.
For Lu Chen, a scholarship was a meal ticket. It was life. To survive, he had to endure!
Lu Chen closed his eyes and swallowed desperately. For others, this class might be a lullaby; for him, it was a life-or-death test of will against hunger.
...
Ring-ring-ring——
The moment the bell rang, for Lu Chen, it was like a pardon for a death row prisoner.
Zero-point-one seconds after Professor Li said "Dismissed," he practically launched himself.
BOOM!
He moved so fast that the wind pressure flipped the pages of the student's book in front of him. Before the startled classmates could even react, Lu Chen had vanished out the back door like a bolt of black lightning, carrying an aura of absolute finality.
Someone asked, trembling, "Lu... Brother Lu was in such a hurry... is he going to ambush someone?"
"Looks like someone is about to have very bad luck..."
...
Jiang University, First Cafeteria. It was peak lunch hour, voices buzzing, the smell of hot food filling every corner.
To the ravenous Lu Chen, this scent was a supreme faith that made his very soul tremble.
He headed straight for the "Charity Support Window" in the far corner. To lower his presence, Lu Chen deliberately pulled up his hoodie and hunched his shoulders. But to everyone else, the visual was drastically different.
A two-meter-tall giant in black stood silently in the queue, radiating a cold, "keep away" gloom.
The already sparse line automatically split open the moment he approached—like Moses parting the Red Sea.
A few sports students who were cutting line and horsing around looked back at the black figure, instantly went quiet as winter cicadas, and silently pulled back their extended legs, thoughtfully clearing a path.
Lu Chen couldn't spare the energy to say thanks; he had to save every ounce of strength, even for opening his mouth.
He walked to the window. His massive shadow instantly engulfed the entire serving counter, blocking all overhead light.
The server was a new lady who had just started today. She was humming a tune, ready to wipe the table, when suddenly the sky went dark. She looked up and met a pair of bloodshot, sunken black eyes.
That gaze was glowing green with panic.
"Holy—!"
Lu Chen took a deep breath, his Adam's apple rolling with difficulty.
"Auntie..."
Due to nervousness and lack of use, his low, raspy voice sounded exactly like he was demanding a ransom.
"I want forty steamed buns. Twenty eggs. And one serving of... free vegetable soup. I'll eat twenty buns here, pack twenty to go."
"O-Okay..." The lady's voice was tight, but her movements were surprisingly fast.
She frantically grabbed two of the largest plastic bags, stuffing buns in as if fearing that a one-second delay would enrage the "beast" before her. Even when ladling the soup, her hand shook so much that she accidentally dumped half a ladle of minced meat into what was supposed to be dishwater-quality free soup.
In less than a minute, a small mountain of white steamed buns, along with a large basin of soup, was pushed to the window.
Lu Chen looked at the unexpected joy of minced meat, and his tense facial muscles finally relaxed a little. Though to others, it looked more like a satisfied, sinister sneer.
He picked up the heavy stainless steel tray and turned toward the darkest dead corner of the cafeteria.
Watching the terrifying back retreat, the new lady's legs went soft. She held onto the counter to stand, asking the senior employee next to her in a trembling voice, "Sister Wang... scared me to death... who was that giant? Is he a gangster? The way he looked at me, it was like he wanted to eat me..."
The veteran, Sister Wang, wiped her hands calmly, peeked at Lu Chen's huddled figure in the corner, and sighed.
"Don't be scared. That's Lu Chen from the Mathematics Department."
"Math Department?" The new lady's eyes went wide. "He looks like that and studies math? I thought he was here to collect a debt..."
"You can't judge a book by its cover," Sister Wang whispered while expertly clearing the cutting board. "As long as he doesn't get so hungry he mistakes us for buns... never mind, get back to work. Don't ask, you'll live longer."
When the new lady looked at the corner again, the fear in her eyes hadn't dissipated; it had only grown thicker.
...
In the corner. Facing the wall, back to the crowd—this was Lu Chen's safe zone.
He grabbed a bun. No need to chew; he swallowed it in two or three bites. No braised pork, no chicken legs, just cheap carbohydrates, boiled eggs, and free soup. But for Lu Chen, this was fuel to sustain life.
As the food entered his stomach, the pain searing his stomach lining finally began to recede, replaced by a warm current flowing through his veins to his limbs. His muscles, previously coiled tight like steel cables, finally began to relax.
Lu Chen looked at the crushed bun in his hand, then at his own calloused, overly large palm, and sighed helplessly.
This body was like a curse. Because of this damn metabolic rate, he couldn't save any money. His monthly pension was entirely swallowed by this mouth.
Gulp.
Swallowing the last egg, Lu Chen drank the last drop of soup, not sparing even the seaweed dregs at the bottom of the bowl.
Finally alive again.
Lu Chen stood up, walked to the card machine at the cafeteria entrance, and tapped his meal card. He needed to check how many days he could last.
Beep.
The screen lit up, flashing a line of piercing green light:
[Balance: 48.50 Yuan]
Lu Chen's pupils constricted violently. The faint happiness of being full vanished instantly.
There was still a whole week left in the month. 48 yuan and 50 cents. Based on his mandatory daily "fuel" consumption, this money would last until tomorrow night at most.
Lu Chen stared at the number, his knuckles turning white from the grip.
A sensation more terrifying than hunger crept into his heart—Poverty.
If he didn't get money, he would run out of food by the day after tomorrow. Once the food stopped, the terrifying "furnace" inside him would start to backlash, burning his fat, his muscles, and even... his sanity.
No way out.
Lu Chen gritted his teeth internally, recalling the announcement he saw on the academic system yesterday.
[Federal Special Talent Full Scholarship]
Amount: 20,000 Yuan.
As long as he secured this huge sum, he could fill this damn deficit next semester and even achieve his ultimate dream of "adding a chicken leg to every meal."
但在此之前,他必须先跨越一道障碍.传闻负责审核这项奖学金的人是学生会主席,人称"铁腕法官"——顾舍.
由于上个月的军事训练,他的个人档案中被严重怀疑有"暴力倾向".
陆晨深吸一口气,拉起连帽衫的帽子遮住脸,大步走出了食堂.
无论对手多么强大,为了保住鸡腿,他都要全力以赴.