If what Lin Jue had said was true, then that meant the matter they had taken on wasn’t a coincidence—it was more like a deliberate plan.

Zhou Jiayu suddenly thought of something and looked toward Li Jinjiang, who was sitting beside Lin Jue and had remained mostly silent: “Teacher Li, I’d like to ask—how did you come to know my shibo?”

Judging from his words and actions, Li Jinjiang was just an ordinary person. Even if he had encountered something, he shouldn’t have known much about the feng shui trade. So how had he been able to directly contact a professional like Lin Jue?

Li Jinjiang looked somewhat nervous when he heard this. He mumbled a few words, but under Lin Jue’s glaring gaze, he finally told the truth: “S-someone sent me an email saying that you all could help…”

“An email?” Lin Jue said. “Didn’t you say before that a friend of mine gave you my contact information?”

Li Jinjiang showed a helpless expression: “That person said in the email that I could tell you that when I called you… that way, you would come.”

Lin Jue apparently hadn’t expected to be deceived. She said coldly, “Then why are you telling the truth now?”

Li Jinjiang looked like he was about to cry; his voice even carried a sob: “I didn’t expect it to blow up this big either. I thought there was only one ghost, and once it was caught, the school would be fine—”

Shen Yiqiong said: “So now that you’ve discovered there are actually seven, what are your thoughts?”

Li Jinjiang answered very bluntly: “I want to resign.”

Shen Yiqiong: “…”

Lin Jue looked somewhat annoyed, and her gaze toward Li Jinjiang was rather unfriendly, causing Li Jinjiang to lower his head more and more, looking like he wished he could dig a hole and bury himself on the spot.

“The thing is definitely still inside the school.” Lin Jue gave the final solution. “Tomorrow night, we’ll go to the school again, find that thing, destroy it, and then it should be fine.”

“Mm.” Lin Zhushui responded indifferently.

From their tones, one couldn’t hear much tension. Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong, having just experienced an entire day of ghosts knocking on doors, were also somewhat numb by now. So the most frightened person among them became Li Jinjiang, who sat in his chair looking like he might faint at any moment.

Lin Jue smiled: “Li Jinjiang.”

Li Jinjiang shuddered: “Ah?”

Lin Jue said gently: “Tomorrow night… you originally didn’t have to go…”

A spark of hope appeared in Li Jinjiang’s eyes.

But that spark was instantly extinguished by the cold water Lin Jue poured over it, because Lin Jue said: “But since you were the one who dragged us into this, you’ll obediently come with us on this trip.” When she said the word “obediently,” she deliberately emphasized her tone.

Li Jinjiang’s expression went blank, looking like he had been struck so hard he was about to pass out.

Lin Jue raised her hand to check her watch: “Alright, today’s meeting is over. Everyone go back to your rooms and rest. See you tomorrow night.”

The group returned to the hotel and went to their respective rooms.

Originally, Lin Jue had also asked the two of them whether they wanted to squeeze into her and Lin Zhushui’s room for the night, but Shen Yiqiong, with his dark circles, said he wasn’t used to it, and pulled Zhou Jiayu along to indicate that the two of them had been tempered enough by now to face the storms bravely.

Lin Jue looked at Shen Yiqiong for a long time without speaking. Finally, she sighed deeply: “Shen Yiqiong, you really deserve to be single.”

Shen Yiqiong was utterly confused, while Zhou Jiayu didn’t dare make a sound. He always felt that Lin Jue’s words were directed at him…

So the two cowardly dogs squeezed onto one bed again, and before sleeping, they swore that no matter who came, they wouldn’t open the door—opening the door was impossible, absolutely impossible in this lifetime. They couldn’t exorcise ghosts; they could only survive by being a little cowardly. Huddling under the covers felt like coming home; they super loved being inside.

Perhaps the two’s conviction infected the ghosts outside, because those two life-claiming ghosts, who had been even more diligent than migrant workers demanding wages, finally gave up.

The next morning, heavy snow suddenly fell outside. By rights, the Spring Festival had already passed and temperatures should have been gradually warming, but after this snowfall, the sky looked exceptionally gloomy. It was clearly daytime, yet it seemed like dusk.

Zhou Jiayu called Hei-zai (Black Youth) Shen Yiqiong to get up and warned him that he absolutely had to wear a light-colored down jacket tonight.

Shen Yiqiong’s mentality collapsed a bit upon hearing this first thing in the morning, saying could you please not call me Hei-zai?

Zhou Jiayu said: “Then can you stop calling me Guan’er?”

Shen Yiqiong said: “No can do, Guan’er.”

Zhou Jiayu said: “Alright then, Hei-zai.”

The two hurt each other, wanting to lighten the atmosphere, but in reality, the moment they thought about their night exploration of the school, it felt like something was pressing on their hearts, and they couldn’t lighten up at all.

Zhou Jiayu organized his backpack, bringing everything he thought might be useful. He had already vaguely sensed that tonight would likely be a hard battle.

Shen Yiqiong had even more things to bring than Zhou Jiayu. He sighed mournfully from the side, saying that before Zhou Jiayu came, he had thought he would be dealing with the feng shui trade for the rest of his life. But after Zhou Jiayu arrived, he was starting to feel like he could expand his business to ghost-catching.

Zhou Jiayu comforted him by saying that having many skills never weighed one down.

Lin Jue and Lin Zhushui didn’t show the slightest hint of tension. While eating, they casually reminded them of things to pay attention to. Though they called them reminders, there was actually only one: Lin Jue said, “If you encounter anything later, move as close to your sir as possible—the closer, the better.”

Shen Yiqiong nodded like he was pounding garlic.

Seeing this, Lin Jue added: “Shen Yiqiong, you can’t get too close.”

Shen Yiqiong said aggrievedly: “Why?”

Lin Jue said: “Don’t you know that when coal encounters an open flame, it’ll ignite?”

Shen Yiqiong: “…” At this moment, he finally felt that his skin color had become a running gag for this group. What was even more terrifying was that he had no way to refute it, because he really was excessively dark. But skin color was something one was born with; there was nothing he could do about it…

In the afternoon, the sky had almost completely darkened. Howling wind mixed with snowflakes beat against people’s faces, cutting their cheeks.

The rhythm of the entire city seemed to stop with it. There were no pedestrians on the streets; only the occasional passing car proved that the city was still alive.

The group arrived at the school entrance again.

The school gate was open, but the security guard in the booth at the entrance was nowhere to be seen. They entered through the side gate, and Zhou Jiayu clearly felt that the atmosphere on campus was even more oppressive.

“The thing should be in the southwest direction,” Lin Zhushui said, stating the result of his deduction. “A place where both water and wood are present.”

“Southwest?” Li Jinjiang said. “That seems to be the school library…”

“Then let’s go,” Lin Jue urged.

This school was quite large, and its teaching facilities were quite comprehensive. According to Li Jinjiang, the library and laboratories were in the same direction; they were buildings expanded after the school was originally built.

“Ding-ling ding-ling ding-ling…” Just as they were walking forward, a sharp bell suddenly rang in their ears, piercing and shrill, echoing through the empty school.

“Is that the school bell?” Zhou Jiayu asked.

Li Jinjiang nodded: “Yes, this bell usually isn’t turned off during breaks either. It rings according to the usual class schedule.”

Zhou Jiayu fell into thought.

Around the time it was set to go off, the street lamps along the path began lighting up one after another. The bulbs made sizzling sounds, transmitting noises similar to electric current.

The road to the library was somewhat long. Zhou Jiayu observed his surroundings. When passing by the teaching building they had gone up before, he saw a faint light emanating from that window in the building.

But the light wasn’t the important part. The important part was that Zhou Jiayu clearly saw a pair of hands gripping the windowsill tightly. The skin tone of those hands was deathly pale—clearly not human.

Everyone saw this scene clearly, but no one said a word. Needless to mention Lin Jue and Lin Zhushui; the other three wore calm expressions on their faces, looking like “you’ve finally arrived.”

They finally reached the outside of the library. Li Jinjiang took out a key and opened the door. With a creak, the glass door was slowly pulled open, revealing the pitch-black corridor inside.

“The lights seem to be on the right,” Li Jinjiang said, reaching toward the wall on the right. But the moment his hand touched the wall, he jumped as if electrocuted, cursing under his breath.

“What is it?” Zhou Jiayu was startled by his reaction.

Li Jinjiang said in a trembling voice: “T-the wall… there seems to be something on the wall…”

Zhou Jiayu took out his phone, turned on the flashlight function, and shone the light toward the wall on the right. When the light hit it and he saw what Li Jinjiang was talking about, he couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath.

On the wall where the switch was located, pieces of skin sewn together with thick thread were attached. The skin was flesh-colored, pieced together and sewn into a large sheet, stuck to the wall by some unknown method.

“What is this?” Li Jinjiang swallowed and said softly, “H-human skin?”

Lin Zhushui didn’t speak. He stepped directly forward to the wall, reached out and pressed his hand against it, then turned around and said in a cold tone: “It’s just pig skin.”

Hearing that it wasn’t human skin, all three breathed a sigh of relief. But Zhou Jiayu noticed that Lin Jue’s expression didn’t look relaxed. She turned to look at the left side and, unsurprisingly, discovered that the left wall was also covered in this stuff. She said: “They’ve dug a trap, betting on whether we’ll dare jump in?”

Lin Zhushui let out a cold laugh.

The two of them seemed to have been angered by this thing.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t quite understand. It was Shen Yiqiong who quietly explained from the side: “This seems to be a formation. Using the flesh and skin of living creatures as a cage, it can restrict many feng shui masters’ abilities.”

Only then did Zhou Jiayu understand.

Lin Zhushui casually flipped the switch on the wall, and all the lights on the first floor of the library turned on. However, although the lights were on, they didn’t bring a sense of reassurance. Instead, they cast ghastly pale reflections on everyone’s cheeks.

“The library is full of wooden tables everywhere. There are plenty of places with wood, but places with water should be very few. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be in the bathroom.” After looking at the library layout diagram near the first-floor entrance, Lin Jue analyzed: “There seem to be quite a few bathrooms here. Shall we check them one by one?”

“Too slow. Let’s split up and search,” Lin Zhushui said.

Lin Jue smiled: “Sure.” She reached out and pointed directly at Shen Yiqiong. “Hei-zai, come with me. Li Jinjiang, you come too.”

The moment Zhou Jiayu heard Lin Jue’s grouping, he began to feel nervous. He opened his mouth but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to object. However, Lin Zhushui seemed to have already guessed what he was thinking and asked in an indifferent tone: “What, you don’t want to be with me?”

Zhou Jiayu said: “N-no no no.” How could he not want to be with Lin Zhushui? He was just afraid he might expose something…

“You two go to the second floor. We’ll check the first floor first,” Lin Jue said.

Lin Zhushui agreed.

According to Li Jinjiang, this library was very large, with at least three bathrooms on each floor. If they wanted to check them one by one, it would take some time.

There were elevators and stairs inside the library, but for safety’s sake, they still chose to take the stairs.

Lin Jue left with two people, leaving Lin Zhushui and Zhou Jiayu behind. Zhou Jiayu’s palms broke out in a thin layer of cold sweat from nervousness. He wanted to keep a little distance from Lin Zhushui, but who knew that Lin Zhushui would call him to come closer.

“There might be something on the second floor,” Lin Zhushui said. “Don’t stray too far from me.”

Zhou Jiayu hurriedly nodded.

This wasn’t the first time they had been alone together, but Zhou Jiayu discovered that he still couldn’t control his heartbeat. Even while climbing the stairs, he began to wonder whether he was this nervous because of his fear of the library, or because of the expressionless Lin Zhushui beside him.

The stairs weren’t long. Zhou Jiayu and Lin Zhushui quickly reached the second floor. The second floor was even larger than the first, with neatly arranged bookshelves all around.

Lin Zhushui led Zhou Jiayu toward the nearest bathroom.

There were no lights on the second floor. Zhou Jiayu turned on the flashlight in his hand again. Lin Zhushui always kept his eyes closed, so the light didn’t affect him much, but Zhou Jiayu couldn’t do without it. If he turned off the flashlight, he would probably plaster himself directly onto Lin Zhushui.

As they walked toward the bathroom, Zhou Jiayu noticed that on both walls of the library hung one portrait after another. Logically speaking, it wasn’t strange for a library to hang portraits of famous people, but Zhou Jiayu glanced at them out of the corner of his eye and was so frightened he stumbled.

How could the walls have portraits of famous people? The people in the paintings were clearly the deceased, dressed in school uniforms with deathly pale faces, gazing at him with hollow eyes.

Hearing Zhou Jiayu’s stumbling footsteps, Lin Zhushui asked softly: “What is it?”

Zhou Jiayu said: “…T-there are portraits on the side. They seem to be of those students.”

Hearing this, Lin Zhushui sneered: “Putting on a mysterious act.” After saying this, he casually waved his hand. The next moment, the portraits on the wall instantly burst into flames.

The figures inside began to distort. At first, Zhou Jiayu thought this distortion was due to the high temperature, but when he looked carefully, he saw that the figures in the frames were indeed writhing.

Lin Zhushui’s face was like ice as he continued forward: “Zhou Jiayu, remember—things that can truly take your life will never bother to scare you.”

Zhou Jiayu nodded heavily.

“Only trash would waste effort on these kinds of things.” Lin Zhushui was practically sneering. “Fear wears away at a person’s strength. If you become afraid first, you’re giving those things an opportunity.”

Zhou Jiayu felt that what Lin Zhushui said made perfect sense, but in reality, truly controlling the fear in one’s heart wasn’t an easy thing.

However, Zhou Jiayu’s admiration for Lin Zhushui grew even stronger, and for a moment he felt himself filled with resolve.

The location of the bathroom was somewhat remote, requiring passage through a short, narrow corridor. Lin Zhushui walked in front, with Zhou Jiayu closely following behind.

“Drip, drip…” The library was too quiet. Zhou Jiayu had reached the door but hadn’t entered yet when he heard the sound of dripping water coming from inside.

The men’s restroom was on the left, the women’s on the right. Looking in from outside, not a single person could be seen. At this time, in this place, if one really did see a figure inside, it would most likely not be a living person.

Lin Zhushui entered the men’s restroom first.

The men’s restroom had eight stalls and didn’t look like there was anything unusual. But Zhou Jiayu’s heart didn’t relax, because he could still hear the clear sound of water droplets falling.

Right next to it was the women’s restroom. Zhou Jiayu took a light breath and followed Lin Zhushui’s footsteps inside.

Drip, drip… Water was falling from the ceiling, gathering into a thin puddle on the ground. The faint light from his phone shone on it, creating small reflections. Zhou Jiayu slowly raised his head, looking toward the ceiling, wanting to find out where exactly the leak was coming from.

Who knew that when he looked up and saw what was above the water stain, his entire breathing stopped.

“Sir.” Zhou Jiayu’s voice carried a bit of a crying tone. “T-there’s something above…”

It was a human-shaped dirty thing, its body facing downward, but its limbs were pressed against the ceiling in reverse. Its hair was very long, hanging in midair and swaying gently. Its bluish cheeks had its mouth slightly open, revealing a scarlet tongue—this was a female ghost in the appearance of a hanged ghost.

Zhou Jiayu told himself countless times not to be afraid, but when he truly saw this thing, his body uncontrollably began to tremble, and even his hands and feet turned ice-cold.

“Drip, drip…” Saliva slid from the thing’s mouth, falling to the ground. It had also discovered Zhou Jiayu and Lin Zhushui, and its posture changed somewhat. At first glance, it actually looked like it was about to pounce.

Zhou Jiayu truly couldn’t care about the little romantic feelings in his heart anymore. He pressed tightly against Lin Zhushui, not daring to leave his side by half a step.

Seeing the dirty thing looking like it was about to pounce on them, Lin Zhushui reached into his pocket and took out a small bag, then removed something from inside. His movements were unhurried, as if he completely couldn’t feel the suffocatingly tense atmosphere.

In moments, a small white hair clip appeared in Lin Zhushui’s hand. Zhou Jiayu had seen this clip before; it was something from the ceramic jar they had dug up on the playground.

The moment it saw this object, the dirty thing on the ceiling seemed to become somewhat agitated and began moving quickly across the ceiling, yet it still hesitated to come down.

A sigh carrying a tone of pity escaped him. Lin Zhushui said softly: “Go.”

Suddenly rising bright yellow flames caused the white hair clip to burn in Lin Zhushui’s palm. He seemed completely unafraid of the heat, holding the flames like that until the clip burned into ashes.

As the clip burned, the dirty thing also began to emit miserable, ear-piercing screams. These screams were extremely horrifying; Zhou Jiayu listened until goosebumps popped out on his arms one after another.

“Aaaaahhhh—” The dirty thing fell heavily from the ceiling to the ground. Its body twisted continuously, its appearance incomparably ferocious.

At first, Zhou Jiayu thought burning the hair clip was to make this thing’s soul scatter and disperse. But he quickly discovered that although her screams sounded miserable and her body was writhing, she was slowly changing back into her original human appearance.

Lin Zhushui quietly recited a mantra under his breath, and circles of golden light rippled out around him. This scene was very familiar to Zhou Jiayu; he had seen it before when Huiming was liberating the resentful spirits on the bridge. Only, Lin Zhushui’s light didn’t contain lotus flowers; instead, it took the shape of flames, as if it would cleanse all filthy things.

The female ghost before them finally turned into a high school student curled up on the ground. She was wearing a school uniform, her long hair draped over her shoulders, and tears spilled one after another from her eyes. Before she finally disappeared, she said two words that Zhou Jiayu didn’t understand—bones.

Bones? What did bones mean? Zhou Jiayu was about to ask again when her body began to gradually turn transparent, finally becoming faint specks of light. It looked like she had gone to be reincarnated.

“Sir.” Zhou Jiayu said, “What did she mean by what she said?”

Lin Zhushui raised an eyebrow slightly: “Words?”

Zhou Jiayu was stunned. He hadn’t expected that Lin Zhushui hadn’t heard what the disappearing spirit had said.

Lin Zhushui explained in a very flat tone: “These kinds of liberated resentful spirits generally cannot speak. Even if they do speak, normally it can’t be heard. Perhaps it’s because your constitution is special.”

Zhou Jiayu showed a helpless expression. If he could choose, he really wouldn’t want to have this kind of strange constitution: “Before she disappeared, she said two words… bones.”

“Bones?” Lin Zhushui slowly repeated it once, his expression falling into contemplation.

Just as he was thinking about something, a miserable scream came from outside the door. Zhou Jiayu was very familiar with this scream; the voice’s owner should be Shen Yiqiong. He didn’t know what they had seen on the first floor to make him scream so miserably.

“Go down and check on them,” Lin Zhushui also heard it, his tone carrying a bit of helplessness. “Then we’ll go to the third floor together.”

Zhou Jiayu nodded like he was pounding garlic.

When leaving the bathroom, Zhou Jiayu glanced back. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he vaguely felt like there seemed to be a human figure standing by the window. But since Lin Zhushui didn’t say anything, he figured he must have seen wrong.

Returning to the first-floor lobby, Zhou Jiayu saw Shen Yiqiong sitting on the sofa, with the unconscious Li Jinjiang lying beside him.

Seeing them come down, Lin Jue said: “There was nothing on the first floor, just one ghost.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Why can you say such words in such a calm tone?

Lin Zhushui nodded: “Same on the second floor.”

Lin Jue said: “Then let’s go to the third floor. What should we do with this Li Jinjiang? He fainted from fright the moment he entered the bathroom.”

Everyone cast their gazes toward Li Jinjiang.

Shen Yiqiong rolled up his sleeves and said: “It’s fine, I’ll wake him up.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…”

So he watched with his own eyes as Shen Yiqiong rushed forward and slapped Li Jinjiang’s face with a series of papapa sounds. Li Jinjiang woke up groggily, and the first thing he said when he saw Shen Yiqiong was: “S-save me—the down jacket is flying—”

“Pfft.” Although the atmosphere wasn’t right, everyone still laughed, and even Lin Zhushui curved the corners of his mouth.

Shen Yiqiong was almost infuriated to death: “It’s me! It’s me! What do you mean the down jacket is flying?”

Hearing Shen Yiqiong’s voice, Li Jinjiang finally recovered and said grievously: “Shen Yiqiong? My face hurts so much…”

Shen Yiqiong said coldly and ruthlessly: “Hurry up and get up, or we’ll leave you here and go upstairs by ourselves.”

The moment he heard he would be left alone, Li Jinjiang scrambled up from the sofa with a swoosh.

Seeing Li Jinjiang was awake, Lin Jue nodded in satisfaction and said: “Let’s go.”

The group then headed in the direction of the third floor.

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: My heart has been pounding wildly. Is it because Sir is beside me?

Shen Yiqiong: No, it’s because you have a floating ghost hanging above your head.

Zhou Jiayu: …

There will definitely be romance, but Guan’er is rather cowardly and Sir is very restrained, so the emotional development definitely won’t be straightforward. It can only progress slowly; otherwise, it feels like it would break character.