Edited—

Xiaomi was clearly quite stimulated by Xu Jian’s comment about her being bald. She raised the long knife in her hand and was about to charge into the room.

Xu Jian didn’t panic upon seeing this situation. He jumped down from the table and reached into his pocket to pull out several bead-like objects.

“Go!” With a movement of Xu Jian’s hand, those several beads were thrown out.

Zhou Jiayu had originally thought these beads were something similar to talisman papers. He hadn’t expected that after being thrown out, the beads didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, it was as if they were pulled by silk threads, drawing several bright lines in mid-air.

Xiaomi didn’t know what those beads were either, so she didn’t dodge. Who knew that after the beads circled around her a few times, her body very obviously became sluggish, as if there were really invisible silk threads in mid-air trapping her.

“Die!! Die!!” Xiaomi’s entire face was twisted. Paired with her face covered in blood, she looked even more terrifying. The few black shadows behind her made whimpering sounds, as if they were also anxious.

Hearing Xiaomi’s voice and observing carefully for a moment, Xu Jian very obviously froze for a moment: “You’re that livestream girl? How did you become like this?”

It seemed he also recognized Xiaomi, but Xiaomi’s appearance had changed so drastically that he hadn’t been able to recognize her at first. Indeed, who could have imagined that the cute little female streamer from back then would now become a bald societal menace waving a knife around?

Xu Jian muttered something softly.

Zhou Jiayu, standing next to him, heard it quite clearly. Xu Jian said: So going bald really does have quite a big impact.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Master Xu, at a time like this, isn’t your focus a bit off?

If Xiaomi’s gaze could kill people right now, they would probably have been hacked to death hundreds of times already. But her body was restrained by Xu Jian at the entrance, unable to advance another step. The black shadows circling above her head also didn’t seem to plan on entering.

“Sigh, what a sin.” Xu Jian sighed.

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong both breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least they wouldn’t be chased around by Xiaomi anymore. The two walked out from the corner and carefully examined the situation inside the conference room.

A rough count showed that there were at least seventy or eighty people in this conference room. All of them had dull expressions and only knew how to circle around the conference table. At first glance, they looked like puppets.

Zhou Jiayu saw a few familiar faces among the crowd. He seemed to have seen these people in Xiaomi’s livestream room before; they had all played paranormal games with Xiaomi.

Zhou Jiayu said, “Master Xu, did Xiaomi do this to all these people?”

Xu Jian shook his head: “How could she have this ability? She’s just a puppet herself. There must be something else behind Xiaomi manipulating things; it’s just that thing hasn’t shown itself yet.” Speaking to this point, he suddenly remembered something and looked very carefully at Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong. “Wait, you two aren’t in a soul state. How did you get here?”

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong were both startled by Xu Jian’s words: “What? We’re not in a soul state? But our phones can’t capture our images.”

Xu Jian said, “See the souls in this room? If you took a mirror and found their physical bodies right now, you also wouldn’t be able to capture their images.”

Xu Jian’s words reminded Zhou Jiayu of something: “No wonder they took photos before going in… If they took photos after coming out, they probably wouldn’t be able to see a single person.” He said, “Then Master Xu, is there any problem with our current state?”

Xu Jian glanced at him and said, “Problem? The problem is quite big. For example, if you divide a person into ten parts, the people in this room have only entered with one-tenth, while you two have entered with nine-tenths. A person can still survive if they’re missing one soul; it’s just that their body will become weak…”

Zhou Jiayu understood and said with a bitter laugh, “You mean the people in this room can cut off their tails to survive when necessary, while Shen Yiqiong and I would die here if stabbed?”

Xu Jian said very practically, “That’s right.”

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong were both speechless. Earlier when Jiba told him to take out his phone, Zhou Jiayu had been thinking that leaving one’s body was so advanced that even his phone was still in his pocket. Now reality had harshly slapped him in the face.

“Then Master Xu, what should we do now?” Zhou Jiayu said, “Just wait like this?”

Xu Jian nodded: “Wait. Since your master has come, once he’s finished dealing with matters on that side, he should come to pick you up and take you back. Although I can protect these souls by myself, I can’t sever the contracts they’ve signed with those things. That’s why I haven’t gone back.”

As the few of them were talking, they discovered that Xiaomi, who had been standing at the doorway without moving much, began twisting her body again. This time, the direction she was twisting toward was outside the door…

Zhou Jiayu watched her movements with a puzzled expression on his face, wondering why Xiaomi wasn’t trying to come in anymore. But then he suddenly remembered something: “Master Xu, there seem to be a few other young people who came in with us!”

Xu Jian said, “What?”

Zhou Jiayu briefly explained the situation at the time. When they were fleeing, they had directly run off in different directions. The remaining four young people should still be in this building, but he didn’t know where they had run to.

“There are still others?” Xu Jian frowned, his tone somewhat heavy. “We can’t let Xiaomi find them. These few people should be in the same situation as you. If Xiaomi injures them, it’s very likely they’ll lose their lives!” He hesitated for a moment. “I can’t get away right now. I can only have you two go find them and bring them here.” As he said this, he took out several more of those beads he had used to trap Xiaomi from his pocket. “These beads are quite special. They’re made from human bone and can temporarily control her movements. But the quantity is scarce. You must only use them at critical moments.”

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong each received two.

Xu Jian also explained the method of use to them. His expression carried hesitation, as if he was somewhat uncertain whether he should let Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong go out to find people.

Shen Yiqiong understood what he was thinking and said carefreely, “Master Xu, don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Xiaomi moves so slowly; she definitely can’t catch up to us. Even if she does, don’t we still have the beads?”

Xu Jian let out a light sigh and once again urged them to be careful.

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong didn’t dare stay too long, afraid that if they went too late, Xiaomi would have already found those people.

Although they were mentally prepared, finding people in such a large building really wasn’t an easy task.

Fortunately, at this time, Jiba gave Zhou Jiayu an idea.

“Throughout the entire building, only you few are in a yin-yang alternating state.” This was the advice Jiba gave. “Your yin energy is too heavy; that won’t do. This matter needs to be handled by Shen Yiqiong. You two go to the bathroom and find a mirror. Have Shen Yiqiong prick his finger, then use his blood to draw this person-searching array on the mirror.”

Zhou Jiayu looked at the array Jiba showed him and felt that practicing drawing talismans before had indeed been quite useful. Having drawn so many, he had gained experience. Seeing a new array, he could actually easily see how to begin drawing it.

“Okay.” Zhou Jiayu nodded.

Shen Yiqiong was still distressed when he saw Zhou Jiayu enter the bathroom with a grave expression. After a moment, the sound of a mirror shattering came from inside the bathroom.

Shen Yiqiong said, “Guan’er, what are you doing?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Give me a little of your blood.”

Shen Yiqiong had a blank expression. Zhou Jiayu pulled his finger and cut open a slit on a fragment of the mirror. Then Zhou Jiayu used his own hand, stained with Shen Yiqiong’s blood, to draw a small and exquisite talisman array on the mirror surface. Drawing talismans and such was indeed quite mentally exhausting. After Zhou Jiayu finished drawing, his chest heaved continuously and his face paled.

Shen Yiqiong was still completely confused. He was just about to ask when he saw that the mirror actually began emitting a faint light. Then the image flashed, and the mirror showed an image of two girls cowering and trembling in a bathroom. One of the girls was that number two girl who had helped them by hitting Xiaomi with a chair earlier.

“Wow, Guan’er, you’re amazing.” Shen Yiqiong’s eyes widened in amazement. “Where did you learn this talisman array?”

Zhou Jiayu told a small lie: “Sir taught me. Let’s first see where exactly she is.”

The image in the mirror wasn’t very complete, but Zhou Jiayu noticed one detail. Looking out from the bathroom window, there seemed to be plant branches and leaves outside. Near the road outside the hotel, there were indeed tall ginkgo trees planted. Being able to see ginkgo trees meant that the place where these two girls were hiding definitely wasn’t on a high floor, and was located on the side near the road.

“Let’s split up and search.” Zhou Jiayu discussed with Shen Yiqiong. “Based on this height, it’s probably around the third to fifth floor. You search this floor; I’ll go upstairs. If we don’t find them, we’ll search upward together.”

Shen Yiqiong agreed.

Zhou Jiayu went upstairs alone. Honestly, if this were before, Zhou Jiayu might really have been a bit afraid. But now he had seen quite a lot and basically had no fluctuations in his heart. He could even spare a moment to tell dirty jokes with Jiba.

The situation on the fourth floor was somewhat similar to the eighteenth floor. Most of the doors were half-open. Zhou Jiayu quickly found the rooms on the side near the road and began searching room by room, calling out softly, “Is anyone there?”

When searching one particular room, Zhou Jiayu noticed that the bathroom door in that room was locked. He reached out and knocked, saying, “Is anyone inside? I’m that person from before…” He had originally wanted to say his own name, but was worried this girl wouldn’t recognize him. After pausing helplessly, he said, “I’m that intellectually disabled person from before.”

“…Really?” The voice that came from the bathroom made Zhou Jiayu breathe a sigh of relief.

It was that number two girl’s voice. She said, “You’re really that intellectually disabled person?”

What else could Zhou Jiayu say? He could only say yes, I’m that intellectually disabled person.

After a moment, the door opened with a creak. Zhou Jiayu saw a timid face peeking out from the crack. When she saw Zhou Jiayu standing outside the door, she also visibly relaxed: “You scared me to death.”

“Hurry over here. Come with me to a safe place.” Time was urgent now. Zhou Jiayu planned to first take her to where Xu Jian was, then go find the remaining two.

“Okay.” The number two girl and another girl both nodded obediently.

The three of them went downstairs and headed straight for Xu Jian’s location. Xu Jian showed an expression of praise when he saw Zhou Jiayu return so quickly. He said, “As expected of Lin Zhushui’s disciple. Truly reliable.”

Zhou Jiayu felt quite embarrassed from the praise, but deep down he also felt a little happy, thinking that he hadn’t disgraced Sir. After finding the two girls, he planned to go to the fourth floor to check on Shen Yiqiong. However, when he reached the fourth floor, he saw splattered bloodstains at the stairwell entrance.

These bloodstains made Zhou Jiayu’s heart tighten, and he had some bad premonitions. He stood in the corridor and loudly called Shen Yiqiong’s name, no longer caring whether this would attract Xiaomi.

His voice echoed throughout the entire floor, but Shen Yiqiong never responded to him.

Zhou Jiayu carefully observed the bloodstains and discovered that the bloodstains spread upward, looking as if someone had been injured and then moved upward.

“Shen Yiqiong!!” Zhou Jiayu was somewhat anxious. Following the bloodstains all the way upward, what worried him very much was that these bloodstains didn’t decrease at all. Instead, there were more of them, as if a vital area had been injured and the blood couldn’t stop flowing.

“Yiqiong!” Having climbed to the twelfth floor in one breath, Zhou Jiayu was panting from exhaustion. But he clearly felt that the bloodstains on this floor were fresh because they were still wet and floating on the ground surface, while the ones downstairs had some dried traces.

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen… floor after floor. By the time Zhou Jiayu could barely move his feet anymore, the bloodstains finally disappeared. But at this moment, he suddenly remembered something. If this blood really was Shen Yiqiong’s, then he must have been seriously injured. But if he was seriously injured, did he really have the strength to climb twenty floors to a position near the rooftop in such a short time?

Zhou Jiayu felt some anxiety in his heart. He gripped the talisman papers in his pocket and the beads Xu Jian had given him.

At this moment, he was on the twenty-first floor. This hotel only had twenty-three floors total. Further up was the rooftop.

Just as Zhou Jiayu was hesitating whether to continue climbing up or honestly go back down, he heard a sharp creaking sound coming from downstairs. This was a sound that only one person could make—the Xiaomi dragging her knife.

Zhou Jiayu took a breath, bit his teeth, and continued climbing upward.

A few minutes later, Zhou Jiayu reached the twenty-third floor. He saw that the door to the rooftop was open. Through the crack, he could faintly see the beautiful green vegetation planted on top of the building.

The rooftop of this hotel was a glass garden. Since it was now approaching spring, among the green grass bloomed gorgeous flowers. It was quite incompatible with the gloomy atmosphere inside the building.

Zhou Jiayu felt somewhat uncomfortable: “Jiba, why do I feel like I’ve been tricked.”

Jiba said, “What?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “This blood definitely isn’t Shen Yiqiong’s. I feel like someone deliberately lured me here.”

Jiba said, “That makes sense, but why would they lure you to the rooftop?”

Zhou Jiayu also couldn’t think of an answer. He was wondering whether he should just go back when he heard faint sounds of two people conversing coming from the rooftop.

Zhou Jiayu froze when he heard this sound, because one of the voices belonged to Lin Zhushui.

Lin Zhushui said one sentence: “Why should I believe you?”

The other man’s voice was unfamiliar to Zhou Jiayu. At least in his memory, he had never heard it before.

“Lin Zhushui, you calculated it long ago. Why deceive yourself?” This voice was quite pleasant to hear, but unfortunately the tone carried a mocking flavor.

“A doctor does not treat himself; a fortune-teller does not divine for himself.” Lin Zhushui’s tone was very cold.

“Really?” The man laughed upon hearing this. “You truly haven’t calculated it?”

Lin Zhushui didn’t speak. His silence seemed to indicate another answer.

“I know he’s very cute.” The man lowered his voice, his tone carrying a bewitching quality. “If I encountered him, I also wouldn’t be able to resist. A person about to die of thirst in the desert suddenly encounters water. If it were me, I wouldn’t let go either…”

The man seemed to say something else, but his voice was pressed too low, and Zhou Jiayu couldn’t hear clearly.

After the man finished speaking, Lin Zhushui let out a cold laugh.

Zhou Jiayu was really quite curious. He slowly moved his body and finally saw, through the crack in the door, the two people standing on the rooftop.

Lin Zhushui was sideways to the doorway. Across from him were two people.

One was a man sitting in a wheelchair, his entire body wrapped in a cloak. The other stood behind the man, supporting the wheelchair. This person was wearing a mask. Zhou Jiayu felt he had seen him somewhere before. After thinking carefully, he suddenly remembered—wasn’t this person that tall man who was killed by Lin Zhushui at the school? Although his appearance was concealed, judging from his temperament and clothing, the two were very similar.

Wasn’t this person already dead? How could he suddenly appear again? Zhou Jiayu wondered this in his heart as he slowly moved his body toward the crack in the door, wanting to see the situation inside more clearly.

But the two people’s conversation didn’t continue. That man said one last sentence: “Since that’s the case, I’ll give you a little more time to consider.” Then the person behind him pushed him and turned around, seemingly preparing to leave.

Lin Zhushui said coldly, “Did I let you leave?”

After he said this, Zhou Jiayu clearly saw that Lin Zhushui slowly opened his eyes.

This wasn’t the first time Zhou Jiayu had seen Lin Zhushui open his eyes. It was just that the last time Lin Zhushui opened his eyes, the light had been too bright, and he hadn’t been able to see anything clearly. And this time, he could finally see Lin Zhushui’s eyes clearly…

They were a pair of black eyes, pure as a sea of stars, deep and dark, as if they could suck a person into them. And within the sea of stars, there were dotted with faint light spots, as if there really was a galaxy sealed within Lin Zhushui’s eyes.

The man seemed to be very wary of Lin Zhushui with his eyes open. His gaze instantly darkened. The atmosphere on the rooftop also began to become tense, as if a great battle was about to break out at any moment.

“Lin Zhushui.” The man said, “Why must you do this?”

Lin Zhushui didn’t speak, but the flames around his body began changing color, from red to cyan, from cyan to purple.

Zhou Jiayu knew this meant the temperature of those flames was rising. He didn’t know what was wrong with himself—at such a tense moment, he actually got distracted. The thought that popped into his head was that purple flames probably reached temperatures of around five to six thousand degrees.

“You’ve stained your hands with so many human lives, and you want to just leave like this?” Lin Zhushui said indifferently. “Although I can’t kill you right now, at least leave a physical body behind.”

The man seemed somewhat angry. He opened his mouth, still wanting to say something, but the flames around Lin Zhushui seemed to have lives of their own, directly pouncing toward the man’s direction.

Where the flames passed, in an instant, the two people before him plus the wheelchair beneath them all turned to ashes.

Zhou Jiayu was so nervous he forgot to breathe. Only when he saw the ashes falling to the ground did he begin gasping for breath.

Lin Zhushui, however, slightly turned his head and said toward the direction of the doorway, “What are you standing there foolishly for? Come in.” His eyes were still open and looking in the direction where Zhou Jiayu was.

After confirming that Lin Zhushui was indeed talking to him, Zhou Jiayu pushed open the door and entered, obediently calling out, “Sir.”

“Come here.” Lin Zhushui said this.

Zhou Jiayu, hearing this, walked to Lin Zhushui’s front. He really wanted to look carefully at Lin Zhushui’s eyes, but he was somewhat afraid that certain emotions would leak out through his gaze. So he kept his head lowered, not daring to meet Lin Zhushui’s eyes.

“Afraid?” Lin Zhushui asked. His voice was very light, as if he was truly worried about scaring Zhou Jiayu, who was like a kitten that might explode in fright at any moment.

“No, no.” Zhou Jiayu worked hard to cheer himself on in his heart. After taking a deep breath, he raised his head and met Lin Zhushui’s gaze.

Seeing Lin Zhushui’s eyes at such close distance, Zhou Jiayu didn’t feel the slightest bit of fear in his heart. Instead, his heart began beating wildly, to the point where he could even hear his own heart going thump thump thump.

So useless… Zhou Jiayu felt somewhat hopeless toward himself. He was really a bit afraid that Lin Zhushui would discover his abnormality.

“Red.” Lin Zhushui said one rather inexplicable sentence very slowly and very lightly. “Very cute.”

Zhou Jiayu was full of confusion and hadn’t yet figured out what Lin Zhushui was talking about when he saw Lin Zhushui close his eyes again.

“Let’s go.” Lin Zhushui didn’t give Zhou Jiayu a chance to react. He directly turned around and walked toward the direction of the exit. “It’s time to go back.”

Zhou Jiayu was a bit dazed. When he was almost at the exit, he suddenly realized the meaning in Lin Zhushui’s words—Lin Zhushui was talking about his ear tips. And… and even praised him as cute.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” The moment he realized this, his feet directly stumbled a few steps, nearly causing him to fall.

Lin Zhushui walked in front of him and stopped his footsteps: “What is it?”

Zhou Jiayu steadied his mind and forcibly found a topic to change the subject: “Sir, can your eyes see?”

Lin Zhushui slightly shook his head.

Zhou Jiayu’s heart tightened upon seeing this. He secretly cursed himself for being too stupid, actually saying such a thing. If Lin Zhushui couldn’t see, then wouldn’t these words be like stabbing a needle into Lin Zhushui’s heart?

Who knew that Lin Zhushui would say: “But I have other eyes.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Other eyes?”

Lin Zhushui gave an “mm.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Then you mean…”

The corners of Lin Zhushui’s mouth hooked up: “Whether I can see or not depends on whether I want to see.”

Zhou Jiayu hadn’t expected this. His eyes widened round, and he instantly thought of the times when he and Shen Yiqiong mouthed words at each other. If Lin Zhushui could see, then wouldn’t that mean…

Lin Zhushui seemed to know what Zhou Jiayu was thinking and slowly said, “Don’t worry. I don’t use that method often either. Normally, all the bad things you few do behind my back, I don’t know a single one.” When he spoke, he deliberately emphasized the words “don’t know.”

Zhou Jiayu hung his head and didn’t dare make a sound. In his heart, he had already begun reflecting on just how many bad things he had done before.

Before he could figure it out, he heard the sound of Xiaomi dragging her knife again. Previously, if he had heard this sound, Zhou Jiayu would have panicked a bit. But with Lin Zhushui by his side at this moment, Zhou Jiayu felt as calm as a cooked chicken. When Xiaomi appeared before them, he even tattled, “Sir, this person chased me with a knife the whole way and nearly chopped me.”

“Okay.” Lin Zhushui said, “I’ll help you get revenge.”

Zhou Jiayu heard this and stood nearby, foolishly giggling, thinking that Sir was truly so cool…

__

Author’s Note:

Lin Zhushui: Red, very cute.

Zhou Jiayu: Wuwu… Si… Sir… It’s swollen…

Lin Zhushui: You don’t like it?

Zhou Jiayu with a red face: L-like, like.