"Mr. Han Dong?"
"Do you know me? Iâm rushing to the next class. If thereâs something you need, can it wait until after class?"
Although Han Dong felt this strange woman with âalbinismâ seemed out of place, even at odds with the environment.
But he was in a hurry to get to class, having already delayed quite a bit with last-minute preparations. Hesitating any longer might truly make him late... He hurried towards the classroom as fast as he could.
Han Dong completely ignored the abnormal state of the teaching building,
and as he brushed past a rather sturdy fellow student, he accidentally burst the personâs swollen cyst... The splattering scene was far from beautiful.
The student quickly apologized to Han Dong, then lay on the ground, licking up all the liquid that sprayed out from the cyst.
To Han Dong, this scene looked just like accidentally knocking over a studentâs bubble tea.
The student was quite polite, taking out some tissues to clean up the spilled tea.
...
Mary watched Han Dongâs back, about to call out to him and state her purpose for being there.
But as she tried to speak, her mind grew muddled, covered by layers of dense fog... She had forgotten many things, even the details about herself and the Black Tower.
All she knew was that she came here to find someone called the âYellow Robe Kingâ.
"My memory has become so blurry,
if I can find that Yellow Robe, maybe I can fully understand... Iâd better follow Mr. Han Dong; if I remember his name, he must be important.
Perhaps he can provide clues about the âYellow Robe Kingâ."
Being a World Investigator, Mary trusted her instincts and immediately followed.
The class bell rang at that moment.
Han Dong had already stepped into the tiered classroom and walked onto the podium... Mary could only circle to the back row, silently auditing the class, intending to inquire about the details after it ended.
"Today, weâll continue with the explanation of [The Viscera]. Please open your books to page 153."
Mary curiously observed the bloodstained classroom, watching these students whose bodies varied in degree of alienation.
"Open the book? It seems like none of these students brought books."
Yet, when Han Dong requested them to "open the book," all the students performed the same terrifying action.
They inserted their fingers along the midline of their bodies, plunging into their chests.
Crack ~ The crisp sound of bone and flesh tearing spread through the classroom. The students had fully opened their chest cavities and continued to slice open their bellies, exposing their internal organs for the lesson.
For Han Dong, that sound was as normal as the sound of flipping pages.
During the course,
following Han Dongâs lecture, these students would touch corresponding organ positions,
inject some unknown, strange liquids,
or directly exhume an organ to cultivate, proliferate on the desktop, and reinsert the newly acquired pathological, alien organ back into the body.
As an audit, Mary would naturally not participate in such bizarre activities.
Yet as the class continued, Mary vaguely felt something amiss with her body...
The words coming from Han Dong, sounding normal, were actually like viruses burrowing into her brain, even with her ears covered, she could still clearly hear the whispers.
Mary even felt her internal organs began moving uncontrollably.
Yue ~ a wave of dry heaving
Mary couldnât hold it any longer.
With five minutes left in class, she left early, desperately rushing to the nearest womenâs restroom... finding the last open stall, she began vomiting violently into the toilet.
She vomited out three incomplete pieces of lung tissue, two kidneys, and half a heart.
These organs were not originally part of Mary; they grew during the lesson... vomiting them out was actually good.
The hyperplastic organs were all black and foul-smelling, uneasily squirming in the toilet, trying to crawl back out.
Mary quickly pressed the âflushâ button.
Unexpectedly, flush didnât occur; instead, several tentacles emerged from deep within the toilet, dragging the organs in while strange chewing sounds echoed.
When she, feeling rather weak, pushed open the stall door to leave the restroom, it was just class dismissal time.
A large number of female students quickly flooded into the restroom,
most with conditions like hers, vomiting excess organs directly or standing at the washbasins, performing cuts to clear their bodies of superfluous organs.
Due to the limited size of the restroom,
those unable to find a stall or basin had to partner up, bodies pressed together,
mutually removing each otherâs excess internals, some biting directly, others slicing and separating with nails... for some reason, the scene filled Mary with excitement.
At that moment, a quite attractive black girl approached her, pressing close.
If not for a task at hand, Mary might have stayed here to satisfy herself; after all, she couldnât remember who she was and simply followed instinct.
"No, I must find the Yellow Robe King."
Rooted in her heart, the task drove her out of the restroom.
While she searched for Han Dongâs whereabouts... a hand gently laid on her shoulder.
"It seems youâve been looking for me, stranger."
The touch, coupled with the whisper in her ear,
caused a shiver throughout Maryâs body, feeling her organs churning once more.
Han Dong stood beside her, just having left the tiered classroom, was the owner of the hand on her shoulder.
In Han Dongâs eyes, the school was normal... it was her presence, the stranger, that brought a sense of discord, a touch of unreality to the campus.
During the class, Han Dong would inadvertently glance toward her, this woman with severe albinism, impacting his teaching efficiency.
Thus, after class, he decided to get some clarity.
"What do you need from me?"
Mary could only voice the sole thing she remembered, "Do you know who the âYellow Robe Kingâ is?"
If Han Dong truly returned to his teaching state,
such a bizarre name wouldnât appear within the university, and as a university instructor, Han Dong wouldnât encounter such a peculiar term.
However... when this albinism-afflicted woman uttered the term, it was not unfamiliar to Han Dong; it even felt like a strong electric current passed through his brain.
Pain aside, it even triggered vague, fragmented memories.
As if a strip of yellow silk passed before his eyes, but when he tried to look closely, it vanished.
"So familiar, yet I canât recall at all... You came to Florence University just to ask this peculiar term?"
Mary quickly responded, "Yes, I donât even know why I came here... I only remember âYellow Robe King,â my heart urging me to find this mysterious being.
Furthermore,
I donât know where this place is, nor recognize any students here, but upon seeing you, your name suddenly appeared in my mind."
"Hmm... it seems the term âYellow Robe Kingâ existed in my mind too.
Letâs check Fodaâs library ~ maybe we can find answers there."
Han Dong didnât consider her a lunatic, because deep within, he too yearned to find the answer related to the âYellow Robe Kingâ... so they set off to the library together.