These people wore expressions of sheer terror and practically crawled out of the building. Zhou Jiayu had thought they looked quite scared already, but moments later, he caught a strong whiff of urine. Looking down, he saw that the pants of a middle-aged man next to him, with a balding head, were visibly wet…

Zhou Jiayu: “……” Suddenly, he felt that he was actually quite brave. At least he hadn’t been scared to the point of wetting himself…

“Principal, are you alright?” Li Jinjiang was shocked by the scene and hurried forward to help the utterly disheveled man. From his words, Zhou Jiayu and the others deduced who these people were.

“There’s a ghost! A real ghost!” The principal clutched Li Jinjiang’s hand with such force that it left red marks. “Help! Help!”

Li Jinjiang looked a little rattled himself, but still tried to calm the principal down. It wasn’t until the principal and the others around him had settled a bit that Li finally let out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Lin Jue had a helpless look on her face. She glanced at the old teaching building ahead and muttered something softly to herself. Even Zhou Jiayu, who was quite close, didn’t catch it clearly.

The building was three stories tall and had a touch of antique charm, suggesting its age. The flooring was wooden, and dim lights lit the hallway. From the entrance, the hallway seemed to stretch endlessly. But vaguely visible, right at the bend of the stairs in the middle of the hallway, was a figure slowly, slowly crawling out.

At first, Zhou Jiayu thought he was seeing things. He rubbed his eyes, and after confirming what he saw, he said in a low voice, “Shibo, there seems to be something in the hallway.”

Lin Jue looked in the same direction and raised her brows in surprise. “Huh? You’re right, there is something.”

Upon hearing that there was something inside the building, the others quickly stepped back. The principal, in particular, nearly plastered himself to Li Jinjiang’s back.

Li Jinjiang looked visibly strained but didn’t say anything, just barely managing to hold on.

“What is that?” The thing got closer and closer. Zhou Jiayu got a clearer look and realized it didn’t look like a ghost but rather a person. “Is that not a spirit? Did someone not make it out?”

At his question, someone said quietly, “Master Zhang hasn’t come out yet.”

Everyone: “……”

“Oh, ouch, ouch…” Groaning in pain, the shadowy figure slowly crawled to the hallway entrance. Zhou Jiayu finally got a good look under the dim light — it was a man in a Taoist robe, crawling wretchedly, with his right leg twisted unnaturally. It looked like a broken bone.

“Master Zhang, are you alright?” Someone ran forward to help.

“My leg… it’s broken… ah, ouch!” This Master Zhang looked to be about sixty, with a white goatee and wearing a bright yellow Taoist robe. He gave off a faintly dignified aura and said, “Quick, help me up.”

Someone quickly helped him up.

Master Zhang sat at the edge of the corridor, moaning, “This ghost… I can’t handle it. Too strong… too strong…” As he spoke, he tossed the peach wood sword in his hand aside. Zhou Jiayu noticed the sword was broken, only the hilt remained — the blade was missing.

“You already did great!” someone said. “Without you, we wouldn’t have even gotten out!”

Master Zhang sighed, “No good. I’m getting old.” As he spoke, he discreetly glanced at Lin Jue and the others. As expected, he soon asked, “Who are these folks?”

“This is Miss Lin Jue and Mr. Lin Zhushui,” Li Jinjiang explained. “They’re both highly skilled in feng shui.”

If Master Zhang truly had experience, he’d at least have heard of the Lin family even if not their individual names. But to everyone’s surprise, he just waved his hand and said solemnly, “Young people, don’t go meddling in danger. This field is not for you. That thing is extremely dangerous. It needs a real master.”

Zhou Jiayu nearly laughed when he heard him call Lin Zhushui “young man.” After all the places he’d been with Lin Zhushui, no one had ever dared speak to him like that.

Lin Jue, however, didn’t argue. She simply asked, “Master Zhang, why do you say that? Is it really that dangerous?”

“Of course,” Master Zhang replied, relaxing a little when they didn’t argue. “The ghost was wearing red — red-clad spirits are the most deadly. If it’s already materialized in red, that means it’s taken at least ten lives…”

“You really saw it?” Lin Jue asked.

Master Zhang snapped, “Young lady, how can you be so ungrateful? I’m warning you out of kindness, and you question me? Fine, do as you wish!”

Lin Jue chuckled and, instead of arguing further, pulled out her phone and started dialing.

Startled, Master Zhang blurted, “What are you doing?!”

Lin Jue laughed, “Naturally, calling an ambulance for you. What else? You didn’t think… I was going to call the police, did you?”

Master Zhang froze for a moment but quickly returned to his previous self-righteousness and said smugly, “A real expert knows from one look — you lot are all amateurs!”

Shen Yiqiong, who’d been silent, suddenly leaned in curiously. “Wow, Master, how did you know we were amateurs?”

Master Zhang was startled. “When did you get here? I didn’t see you just now!”

Shen Yiqiong: “……”

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Shen Yiqiong, I told you not to wear that black puffer jacket!”

Shen Yiqiong’s face twisted with frustration.

Thankfully, Master Zhang didn’t dwell on Shen’s skin tone, or Zhou Jiayu seriously worried Shen might break his other leg out of spite.

“You’re obviously amateurs,” Master Zhang said proudly. “You missed one of the most important details!” Then he confidently declared something no one expected: “Professionals in feng shui never carry cell phones!”

Everyone: “……”

Shen Yiqiong glanced at Zhou Jiayu, who looked at Lin Zhushui. Eventually, even Lin Zhushui couldn’t help the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Only Lin Jue still seemed confused. “What? Not carry phones? Who says that?”

Master Zhang snorted, “Of course! Phones disrupt a person’s feng shui and magnetic field. That’s a well-known fact confirmed by our predecessors. But it’s not your fault. Only true insiders know. You just know the surface — it’s normal you don’t understand.”

Zhou Jiayu struggled hard not to laugh, his face twitching from the effort.

Shen Yiqiong looked just as amused and muttered under his breath, “Does Xu Ruwang know he’s created a monster?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…Maybe we should tell him.”

Shen Yiqiong nodded in agreement.

Previously, Xu Ruwang had used the alias “Wangnv” to post completely made-up but strangely convincing nonsense online, which had already fooled plenty of people. Who’d have thought one of those “victims” would appear here today? But thinking about it, the whole mess started with Zhou Jiayu himself — if he hadn’t pranked Xu Ruwang in the first place, Xu wouldn’t have gone on a crusade against society under a fake name, spreading rumors with such logical precision.

Master Zhang saw the strange looks on their faces and assumed he had spoken too harshly. He tried to comfort them a little, saying that young people shouldn’t get discouraged—that these kinds of details could always be adjusted over time, and there was no need to take it too hard.

While they were chatting, the ambulance had already arrived at the school, sirens wailing. A stretcher was carried over to the teaching building.

Master Zhang got on the stretcher and was carried away. As he left, he reminded them one more time not to go inside—that the teaching building was indeed very dangerous.

Lin Jue still hadn’t figured out what the connection was between cell phones and magnetic fields, looking completely baffled. It wasn’t until Master Zhang was gone that Shen Yiqiong quietly told her what Zhou Jiayu and Xu Ruwang had jokingly said during the competition.

After hearing it, Lin Jue’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at Zhou Jiayu, clearly not expecting that he could have such a secretly mischievous side.

Zhou Jiayu said helplessly, “It was just a joke…”

Lin Jue nodded seriously, “That joke was actually pretty funny.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Why did he suddenly have a bad feeling seeing the expression on Lin Jue’s face?

“Xiao Li,” the principal, now that Master Zhang had been taken away, finally calmed down a bit from his previous state of fear. He said, “I still have some things to do, so I’ll be leaving now. You all… if you’re not ready yet, it’s best not to go in. That building—” He hesitated, choosing his words carefully, “—that building isn’t clean. I don’t want anything happening to you all either.”

“It’ll be fine,” Lin Jue said with a smile. “Principal, you should head back first.” She took a small medicinal pouch from her pocket and handed it over. “This is for calming the nerves. If you have trouble sleeping tonight, you can take a little.”

The principal was still very respectful toward Lin Jue. He nodded, and along with a few other school leaders, left with heads lowered.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t blame the principal for wanting to leave in such a hurry—after all, no one mentioned it, but the way light-colored pants darken when wet was quite obvious…

Seeing the group leaving quickly, Li Jinjiang looked a bit helpless and asked, “Miss Lin, should we wait until morning to go in, or… take a look now?” The last part he said very quietly, clearly afraid.

“Of course we’re going in,” Lin Jue said. “If there really is a ghost, that just makes it more interesting.” She glanced at Lin Zhushui beside her and smiled.

Lin Zhushui didn’t say anything and stepped inside first.

The wooden floor creaked under their feet. Zhou Jiayu looked through the glass embedded in the door and saw that the classrooms on both sides of the hallway were empty.

The students had all left, and the classrooms were vacant, though signs of recent use were still visible.

“The latest death happened on the third floor,” Li Jinjiang’s voice dropped as soon as they entered the building, like he was afraid of disturbing something. “That girl was in second year of high school. She had good grades and was a promising student the school was grooming… Such a pity.” He sighed, his expression full of regret.

The overall atmosphere of the school was already off, and the teaching building was no exception. Once Zhou Jiayu entered, he immediately noticed dark energy swirling throughout the building—thicker the higher up they went. If Zhou Jiayu had entered alone, he definitely would have been affected by it. But with Lin Zhushui by his side, none of that black energy could come near him.

On the second floor, they saw a ritual table with incense burners, talismans, and other random items—presumably left behind by Master Zhang before he was taken to the hospital.

Lin Jue glanced at it and promptly judged Master Zhang’s ability: “He’s really just a half-baked amateur.”

Lin Zhushui said mildly, “At least his hands are clean of blood.”

“True,” Lin Jue replied.

Zhou Jiayu remained completely silent, like a well-behaved chicken. Although Lin Zhushui now knew he wasn’t a fraud, the original Zhou Jiayu had done some truly harmful things, so it was better for him not to speak in situations like this.

With nothing unusual found on the second floor, they moved up to the third.

The crime scene was in the rightmost classroom on the third floor, right next to the restroom. Zhou Jiayu noticed that only the third floor had a bathroom and asked about it casually.

“This is an old building,” Li Jinjiang explained. “Back then only the third floor was used for students—the lower two were for teachers’ offices. Later, the school expanded and all three floors were turned into classrooms.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “That must’ve been really inconvenient for students needing the restroom.”

“It was,” Li Jinjiang nodded. “But this building is special. It’s known as the ‘Scholars’ Building’ at our school. Most students want to have classes here. People say, superstitiously, that the feng shui is good… You know how it is. Senior students will try anything if it might help them get into a good university.”

Zhou Jiayu nodded in understanding.

According to Li Jinjiang, this building housed the elite classes for second and third years. First-year students hadn’t been streamed yet, so there were no elite classes for them.

“This is the classroom,” Li Jinjiang said as they reached the door. He took out a key. “It’s been locked since the incident. The remedial classes were disbanded too…”

The door had an old-fashioned padlock. Li Jinjiang unlocked it and creaked the wooden door open.

Zhou Jiayu stepped into the classroom and saw the crime scene.

Though it had been cleaned, traces of the incident were still visible. Of the six ceiling fans, only five remained. Bloodstains, now dried, were visible on the floor and walls. One of the desks nearby showed signs of heavy impact.

“The fan just fell down?” Shen Yiqiong walked under the spot where the fan was missing and looked up. “You didn’t do any safety inspections?”

“Of course we did,” Li Jinjiang said helplessly. “After all the incidents before, the school leaders were on edge. We inspected all the wiring and equipment during summer break. The fans too. But now that it’s happened, what’s the point in saying all that?”

Zhou Jiayu scanned the room and noticed a security camera overhead. “You had a camera here? What did it capture?”

At the mention of the footage, Li Jinjiang’s face turned uncomfortable. He hesitated for a long time before stammering, “It’s… because of the footage that we confirmed this wasn’t a normal accident.”

Lin Jue raised an eyebrow. “You had footage? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Li Jinjiang smiled bitterly. “The school leadership wanted to keep it quiet. But after seeing them run off to find a Taoist, I figured it’s okay to talk now.”

“When can we watch it?” Lin Jue’s tone was clearly displeased.

Li Jinjiang noticed and quickly said, “Anytime. I carry the USB with me. We can go to a nearby tea house or hotel—”

“No need,” Lin Jue interrupted coolly. “Isn’t there a multimedia system in this classroom? Let’s watch it here.”

Li Jinjiang opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing and went to turn on the equipment.