The main gates of Xinhai University of Science and Technology (XUST) were an architectural marvel of glass and reinforced steel, designed to look like a launching pad aimed directly at the sky. Under normal circumstances, Lin Feng would have been marvelling at the sheer prestige of the campus, but as he stood in the middle of the crowded orientation plaza, he felt like a ticking time bomb.
Beside him, Zhao Yan was wearing a thick, oversized hoodie despite the sweltering Xinhai morning. He was sweating profusely, his face a shade of crimson that didn't match the excitement of the other freshmen. Every few seconds, the air around him would shimmer with heat, like a desert road at noon.
"If you don't stop radiating like a space heater, the campus security is going to think you're a walking fire hazard," Lin Feng whispered, adjusting his own windbreaker to hide the metallic band pulsing on his wrist.
"I can't... control it," Zhao Yan hissed, his voice strained. "It feels like my blood is made of liquid magnesium. If I sit still for too long, I'm going to melt the pavement."
The five of them had made a silent pact on North Peak: blend in, survive orientation, and don't let anyone—especially the University's sophisticated surveillance system—see the Sync-Bands. But as they entered the Grand Lecture Hall for the opening ceremony, the task felt impossible. The room was a massive amphitheater designed for five hundred students, and the air conditioning was struggling against the humid crowd.
Mu Han sat two rows ahead in the Marine Biology section, her back as straight as a ruler. To the casual observer, she looked perfectly composed, but Lin Feng noticed the way her water bottle was beginning to frost over. The moisture in the air was being pulled toward her in a slow, invisible spiral, creating a localized pocket of freezing mist that was making her neighbors shiver.
"Is the AC on 'Arctic' mode today?" a girl next to Mu Han asked, rubbing her arms.
"I hadn't noticed," Mu Han replied, her voice clipped and cold, a thin layer of frost literally forming on her eyelashes.
Then there was Chen Shi. She sat in the Civil Engineering block, looking stoic, but the way she gripped the armrest of her plastic chair was terrifying. Every time she breathed out, the plastic would groan under the sheer density of her grip. A small crack had already appeared in the concrete floor beneath her boots, spider-webbing outward as her body weight fluctuated wildly with her rising anxiety.
The nightmare truly began when the Dean of Students took the stage. As he began a long-winded speech about the 'Future of Innovation,' a high-pitched, electronic squeal erupted from the back of the hall.
Deng Wei was sitting in the back row, his eyes hidden behind thick, glowing VR goggles that he had modified to scan for Syndicate frequencies. His fingers were dancing across a holographic keyboard that only he could see.
"Guys," Deng Wei's voice crackled through the secret comm-link he had installed in their ears. "We have a problem. The University's 'Smart Campus' AI just detected a massive energy spike in this room. It thinks there's a gas leak or an electrical fire. The security drones are launching in T-minus sixty seconds."
"Which one of us is it?" Lin Feng whispered into his collar, panicking.
"It's all of you!" Deng Wei hissed. "Zhao Yan is a thermal anomaly, Mu Han is a humidity sink, and Chen Shi just registered as a 200-kilogram mass on a chair designed for eighty. You're a statistical nightmare!"
Suddenly, a silver, hexagonal drone hummed into the hall, its red lens scanning the rows of students. It stopped directly over the section where Zhao Yan was sitting.
"Anomaly detected. Biological heat signature exceeding safety parameters. Please remain calm for a health screening," the drone's mechanical voice announced.
The Hall went silent. Five hundred pairs of eyes turned toward Zhao Yan.
"Do something, Lin Feng!" Zhao Yan whispered, his eyes wide. A small puff of smoke actually curled out from his collar.
Lin Feng didn't think. He reached deep into the strange, humming energy in his chest—the feeling of the mountain wind—and flicked his wrist. He didn't create a gale; he created a localized vacuum. The air around the drone was sucked away, causing it to wobble and spin out of control as its rotors lost lift.
Before the drone could recover, Mu Han flicked a single drop of water from her bottle. The droplet caught the light, accelerated through Lin Feng's vacuum, and slammed into the drone's sensor like a bullet of ice. The machine sparked and crashed into the aisle.
"Oh my god! The drone just exploded!" a student screamed.
In the ensuing chaos, the five of them slipped out of the side exit. They ran until they reached the edge of the campus, ducking into a narrow alleyway behind an old laundromat.
"We can't do this," Chen Shi panted, her boots leaving deep imprints in the asphalt. "We can't hide in plain sight. Not like this."
"We don't have a choice," Lin Feng said, looking at the glowing band on his wrist. "We're B.Pharm, Engineering, and Science students. We're going to use the university's own labs to figure out how to stop this 'sickness.' But first..." He looked at Deng Wei. "We need a place where the Syndicate can't see us."
Deng Wei kicked a loose brick in the wall, revealing a keypad he had already installed. "Welcome to the basement. It's got 10-gigabit fiber, zero windows, and enough lead lining to hide a nuclear reactor. It's not a dorm, but it's home."
As the sirens of the Syndicate security teams began to wail in the distance, the team descended into the dark. The first day of university was over. The first day of the resistance had begun.