After a period of traveling, they finally had a chance to rest and enjoy a good meal to nourish their bodies.
After the barbecue, Ye Tiancheng and the others also packed some leftovers.
They had already rented a place during the day, which was fully equipped and ready for immediate occupancy.
However, due to a lack of certain necessities, Ye Tiancheng and the others still needed to purchase some daily essentials before returning.
At the very least, things like bed sheets, quilts, and toothbrushes were indispensable.
Rental properties typically wouldn't provide these amenities for tenants, and even if the landlord was willing, few tenants would likely want to use them.
Therefore, upon returning to the rented house, Ye Tiancheng and the others were all carrying numerous bags of items.
After returning, they couldn't rest immediately; the house needed to be cleaned first before they could truly settle in.
Fortunately, there were no ordinary people present, and cleaning could be done using magical arts. Otherwise, all this back and forth would have been truly exhausting.
Long Zhaozhao, lacking human form, also had very little personal freedom and was relegated to the living room sofa. As a male sable, even though he followed Long Miaomiao in cultivation, it was impossible for him to share a room with her.
Furthermore, for such a small sable, renting a separate room for him would have been absurd.
Long Zhaozhao was not yet familiar enough with Ye Tiancheng and the little fox to impose on them by staying in their rooms, so he had to make do with sleeping on the sofa.
Fortunately, Long Zhaozhao's size was indeed very small, less than half a meter. The large sofa, to him, was comparable to a luxurious Simmons mattress.
In the following days, Ye Tiancheng and the others spent about four days to pinpoint the area.
Fortunately, the place where their senses were strongest was within a university. Moreover, this university was open to the public and did not strictly check student identities, making it easy for Ye Tiancheng and the others to enter.
University life was inherently different from elementary, middle, and high school. In elementary and middle school, students might not even know everyone in the same grade, at most recognizing their classmates. However, in university, many students might not even remember all their classmates. Therefore, unless their student IDs were checked, it would be difficult for Ye Tiancheng and the others to be discovered even if they posed as students.
This made it convenient for Ye Tiancheng and the others to conduct their activities.
If there were any special circumstances that might trap them within the university, preventing them from leaving, they wouldn't have to worry about being stranded on campus and causing significant trouble.
They could easily pretend to be students of the university.
It was unlikely that anyone would scrutinize their identities too closely. If they couldn't leave at night, or if it wasn't a suitable time to leave, they could find an empty room and make do for the night.
However, even with things progressing to this point, it hadn't become any easier.
The university town was already vast, with several universities clustered together. Ye Tiancheng and the others had spent about four days investigating the area, which was a normal pace. Even after identifying the university, things hadn't improved much.
Universities were also very large. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it would take a day to explore an entire university.
Some schools might be smaller, but they would still require a considerable amount of time.
Ye Tiancheng and the others discussed it, and to save time, they decided to split up, with each of them acting individually. Since the danger level in this area was significantly lower, Ye Tiancheng didn't have to worry too much about the little fox encountering danger, so separating the little fox from himself wasn't a major issue.
The three of them could act separately, dividing the campus into sections and slowly searching for clues, which would greatly increase efficiency.
The little fox had a weak sense for fragments, so Ye Tiancheng gave the little fox two fragments and instructed it on how to use them to sense new fragments.
The little fox learned quickly and soon mastered it, allowing them to officially begin their operations.
Ye Tiancheng walked alone through the university, feeling quite emotional. After all, he lacked experience in such settings, and he found the environment quite novel.
He was responsible for the business school area and wandered around. As expected, no one paid him much attention. It wasn't that no one looked at him; Ye Tiancheng's appearance was quite attractive. Even if the male students didn't pay much attention, there were still many female students who were interested in Ye Tiancheng.
However, university students were generally not familiar with each other; everyone was a stranger. Suddenly seeing a handsome stranger in their college might simply lead them to think they hadn't noticed such a striking handsome guy in their college before, rather than suspecting Ye Tiancheng of anything amiss.
Ye Tiancheng also noticed people looking at him. However, as long as these people didn't approach him or cause trouble, a few glances wouldn't hurt him, so Ye Tiancheng generally didn't pay much attention.
He first wandered around the teaching buildings, also visiting the administrative buildings and the library. However, here, Ye Tiancheng encountered the same problem he had felt in the small mountain village: the direction of the fragments was unclear. It felt like the aura of fragments was coming from all directions, with no distinction in intensity or accurate direction.
Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but frown.
Could it be that within this university, there was also a special, large illusory space constructed by Long Miaomiao, similar to what he had encountered in the small mountain village?
In the small mountain village, the reason why the aura of fragments seemed to come from all directions, as if they were everywhere, was because Long Miaomiao had used the fragments to create a vast space. The entire space was supported by Long Miaomiao's and the fragments' power, so the aura naturally emanated from all directions without a fixed intensity.
But in what circumstances would such a space appear in a university?
Ye Tiancheng felt he couldn't limit his thinking too much, just because of the situation with Long Miaomiao, he couldn't assume everything was the same, lest he fall into a trap.
Unfortunately, despite his earnest search, he didn't achieve much.
He also visited places like the dormitory buildings, and there was no significant difference.
Since the school was quite large, and Ye Tiancheng and the others wanted to understand the situation quickly, they didn't leave the school promptly. The reason they chose to do so was that they didn't have to worry about their identities being suspected.
They wandered around the school until dusk, when it was already dark, before deciding to leave.
At such a late hour, there were hardly any students walking around the campus.
Ye Tiancheng finished searching a specific area and waited at the agreed-upon meeting point for Long Miaomiao and the little fox. After the three of them regrouped, they planned to leave the university.
As it was too late, leaving through the main gate was no longer convenient, as the main gate had already been closed. Even for the university's own students, the security guards might not be willing to let them out, even if they had their student IDs.
Even without using the gate, leaving the place was not difficult for Ye Tiancheng and the others.
However, none of them had expected that they would encounter problems while trying to leave. Even Long Miaomiao hadn't anticipated such a situation.
As they attempted to leave, they discovered that an invisible wall seemed to have been erected around the university, preventing them from exiting.
Long Miaomiao also couldn't sense when this invisible wall had appeared or what had triggered it.
Long Miaomiao stood in front of this invisible air wall, placed her hand on it, and tried to sense it. She then attempted to tear the wall open with her bare hands, but as soon as she acted, she paused and withdrew her hand.
Seeing Long Miaomiao like this, Ye Tiancheng quickly asked, "What's wrong? You can't open it either?"
"This is a barrier," Long Miaomiao replied, shaking her head hesitantly. "Although I can open it, I have a premonition that if I break through this barrier, something very bad might happen."
Upon hearing Long Miaomiao's words, Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but frown.
"Breaking it might cause trouble?"
Long Miaomiao nodded and then said, "Actually, I'm not afraid even if something happens. But I can sense that within this barrier, the university students are still inside. They are all ordinary people."
"If something truly happens, then they might be in danger."
This meant they couldn't rashly break through the barrier.
They couldn't risk the lives of those university students.
However, Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but feel puzzled. "But why would such an existence be present in this university? Why would a barrier appear? And why would it encompass all those university students..."
"Do they know about this? If such a major event occurred, how could there be no news at all?"
The little fox also pondered and analyzed the situation.
It said, "Although I can't determine whether the students in this university know about this matter, I think perhaps the barrier has a specific activation time."
"While I can't confirm the exact timing, I suspect that the barrier is most likely activated between the time the campus is locked down at night and before the school opens the next day."
"When we were wandering around the campus, the students seemed perfectly normal. It's impossible for so many students to be problematic or disguised. Therefore, either they genuinely don't know about this, or perhaps there are a few insiders, or even many insiders, but they are either too afraid or unwilling to speak."
Ye Tiancheng nodded and said, "This is indeed a possibility. At least it wouldn't be permanently sealed. After all, so many students are encompassed within it. If it were just one or two, it might be manageable, but with so many people, it's different."
"If so many people went missing, it would be a major incident. We wouldn't be able to avoid hearing even a whisper of it."
The little fox then asked Ye Tiancheng, "So, Big Brother, what should we do now?"
Ye Tiancheng smiled helplessly and said, "What can we do? Let's find a place to rest for a while, get through the night, and see what's going on. Let's observe the situation first."
Long Miaomiao looked at the two of them. Seeing that the little fox agreed with Ye Tiancheng's suggestion, she also agreed and said, "I'll leave a spiritual sense here to monitor the situation, to see when the barrier disappears and how it disappears."
Ye Tiancheng recalled that while wandering around the campus during the day, he had noticed a dormitory building with an empty floor. Perhaps they could stay there for the night.
Thus, Ye Tiancheng led the little fox and Long Miaomiao towards that direction.
On the way to the dormitory building, the little fox spoke to Ye Tiancheng.
The little fox said, "Speaking of which, after the barrier appeared, will anything different happen within the school? Perhaps more things will appear, and maybe there will be clues that could lead us to the fragments?"
Ye Tiancheng considered this possibility upon hearing the little fox's words.
He asked, "Then do you think we should not rest first and go check the situation? Are you tired?"
The little fox felt no fatigue, and Long Miaomiao was even less so. Ye Tiancheng thought this was also a good idea, so he changed his mind.