He didn’t have time to think, instinctively striding forward, about to run along the lakeside path toward the school hospital, not caring whether others could handle the harm caused by the “golden core.”

After running for a while, Eric Dawson gradually calmed down. Things had already reached this point; fear and panic would do no good and would only waste his energy.

Once he settled down, he suddenly sensed something was off and frowned:

There was a warm sensation in his lower abdomen, quite uncomfortable. With every breath, a stream of heat surged from there, rushing toward his feet and lungs. The soreness from running vanished, his breathing gradually steadied, and he felt as if he could run another three thousand meters. The burning or freezing sensations he’d worried about did not appear.

“This…” Eric Dawson took a light breath, slowed his pace, tried to calm himself, and looked down at his lower abdomen.

As he lowered his head, his mind buzzed, and he vaguely saw a phantom scene: below his navel, at the spot martial artists call the dantian, the “golden core,” vast as a nebula, quietly coiled, expanding and contracting with his breath, releasing tiny streams of energy mixed with dazzling ice crystals and flames.

The vision vanished in a flash. In front of Eric Dawson was only his own dark blue T-shirt. He carefully lifted the hem—his belly looked normal, soft and a bit round, clearly not long after a meal.

His steps grew slower and slower until he finally stopped. As his breathing returned to normal, the warm sensation disappeared, and so did the stream of heat that had eased his fatigue.

“Can the golden core replenish my strength when I’m tired?” Eric Dawson frowned, pondering the change. “That’s a good thing. It doesn’t seem like a source of danger. After all, humans and greenfish aren’t the same…”

After a moment, Eric Dawson’s frown gradually relaxed, since neither the scorching flames nor the freezing cold that had worried him appeared.

“Let’s try again…” He made up his mind and turned back, running along the original path.

People get tired when they run. After a while, Eric Dawson began to feel fatigued. At that moment, the warm sensation in his lower abdomen reappeared, sending out a stream of heat to soothe his body.

“It really works! If I keep running like this, I could join the school’s long-distance race…” The joy in Eric Dawson’s heart gradually outweighed his worries as he stopped in front of the dead greenfish.

After a moment’s thought, he bent down, picked up the greenfish, stuffed it under a lakeside rock, and tossed it back into Weishui Lake.

After all this, he turned again and walked along the lakeside path back toward the boys’ dormitory area.

Along the way, Eric Dawson was at times delighted that he’d truly gotten a treasure—maybe he could rely on it to become a pillar of the martial arts club, win Grace Bennett’s favor, gain fans and admiration, and bask in glory. At other times, he worried about the hidden dangers of the golden core, afraid he’d end up like the greenfish, dying young. So, his steps were sometimes light and sometimes unusually heavy.

“I’ll observe for now. If there’s a problem, I’ll go to the authorities right away!” Standing at the door of dorm 302, Eric Dawson took a deep breath, made up his mind, then took out his key and opened the door.

……

By Weishui Lake, on a secluded path, a figure in an old, worn shirt walked over from afar and stopped near where the greenfish had been. His hair was completely white, and he looked at least seventy or eighty, but there weren’t many wrinkles on his face.

“Seems like there was a strange fluctuation here?” The old man looked around.

After a while, he shook his head, skillfully pulled out a small silver metal flask, took a deep swig, then strolled away humming a tuneless song.

……

Back at the dorm, with the matter weighing on his mind, Eric Dawson didn’t check if Brian Carter had returned, but went straight into the small bedroom, turned on the light, and filled the room with brightness, driving away the darkness.

He closed the door behind him, sat blankly in front of the computer, not moving the mouse, not looking at the screen.

No matter how much he tried to comfort himself, no matter how many explanations he sought, he was still just an ordinary young man who hadn’t experienced much, unable to remain calm in the face of possible danger.

You only get one life, and the world is so beautiful!

No matter how many benefits or bright prospects there were, they couldn’t dispel the anxiety in his heart!

The pressure came crashing down, heavy as a mountain. Eric Dawson gritted his teeth, instinctively picked up his phone, and dialed a familiar number.

“Hello, Eric?” A slightly hoarse female voice came through the line.

“Mom, it’s me.” Hearing that familiar voice, Eric Dawson’s nose tingled, and the fear in his heart seemed to ease.

At times like this, he always thought of home, of that place that could embrace all his pain and confusion.

“Eric, are you upset? Your voice sounds a little off.” Eric Dawson’s mom asked sensitively.

Eric Dawson’s eyes grew hot, but he forced a smile and said, “No, I just miss home a bit.”

“Miss home? When I asked if you wanted to come back for the holidays, who was it that said a real man should be independent?” Eric Dawson’s mom laughed in that motherly way. “Be honest, are you short on money?”

Eric Dawson’s gloomy mood slowly dissipated. “Really, I just miss you and Dad, miss your eggplant with pork, stir-fried eel, tomato and egg soup, and the pot of chives I grew myself on the balcony…”

If he died like the greenfish, he would definitely have endless regrets.