Chapter 29: Dragoncry Middle School (Part 6)

Midnight at 12 o’clock was the time when yin energy was at its heaviest. Dark clouds obscured the moon, and dim yellow streetlights barely illuminated the teaching building. The three of them stood downstairs, waiting.

Ye Xuechun rubbed his arms. “Staying outside at a time like this… we really won’t run into other Weirds, right?”

Fu Wuxuan chuckled mockingly. “It’s not impossible.”

“Huh?”

Yun Xueqing glanced faintly at Fu Wuxuan. “Don’t scare him.”

Fu Wuxuan raised his hands in surrender. “Even if one comes, we’ll just have to deal with it. Though it should… be here.”

He paused slightly and looked up toward the upper floors.

On the windowsill of the fourth-floor classroom for Class 2, Grade 12, a figure suddenly jumped out from the window, plummeting to the ground. Upon impact, bones shattered with a “crack—”.

Ye Xuechun jolted in surprise. The corpse, now a puddle of mush, twisted and struggled like a zombie to rise. The shattered bones slowly healed, and the scraped, torn skin mended. The fallen figure gradually reformed from the meaty sludge into human shape and slowly walked back into the teaching building.

Yun Xueqing made a snap decision. “It’s the Earthbound Spirit. Chase it!”

The Earthbound Spirit moved quickly. It didn’t walk on feet but floated upward. By the time Yun Xueqing and the others reached the Class 2, Grade 12 classroom, the Earthbound Spirit had already completed its second jump.

They turned on the classroom lights and, with a twist of their heads toward the door, came face-to-face with the Earthbound Spirit floating back for its third jump.

Ye Xuechun was somewhat surprised. “It’s not Yin Yan…”

It was the scrawny boy who had failed his biology test on the first day of class and chosen to jump.

The boy had become the Earthbound Spirit, but its appearance hadn’t changed much. It looked no different from when it was alive during the day, only paler in the face with hollow, empty eyes.

It seemed not to see the three of them and headed straight for the window, preparing for its third jump. Yun Xueqing reached out to grab its shoulder, but his hand passed right through the body.

The Earthbound Spirit jumped down, completing its third leap.

Yun Xueqing frowned slightly. “It’s in soul form right now. We can’t touch it.”

Ye Xuechun said, “We can’t touch or grab it. What do we do?”

Yun Xueqing replied, “We have to find a way to awaken it and restore its consciousness.”

As they spoke, the Earthbound Spirit floated back up, preparing to jump again.

Watching it about to jump once more, Yun Xueqing suddenly said, “What was in the office? How did Yin Shixing and Yin Yan die?”

The Earthbound Spirit paused. A sinister expression flashed briefly across its blank face. But it lasted only an instant before the expression vanished, and it jumped down without hesitation once more.

Yun Xueqing was extremely patient. When the Earthbound Spirit floated up from the stairs again, he repeated directly, “How did Yin Shixing die?”

This time, the Earthbound Spirit didn’t ignore him. It halted its jump, its hollow gaze landing on Yun Xueqing as it stammered, “Yin… Yin Shixing… how he died… how he died.”

Yun Xueqing asked gravely once more, “That’s right. How did Yin Shixing die? What exactly are you afraid of?”

The Earthbound Spirit’s expression went blank for a moment. “How he died… killed.”

Progress had been made. Fu Wuxuan pressed from the side, “Who killed him?”

The Earthbound Spirit said, “I…”

“You?”

“We…”

Fu Wuxuan asked, “You and who?”

The blankness vanished from the Earthbound Spirit’s face. Its hollow eyes suddenly sparked with the vitality it had in life, though filled with pain and terror.

It twisted into an ugly expression, half-cry, half-laugh. “…We killed him.”

“We killed the one we loved most.”

After saying that, its face returned to its previous blank state. It jumped repeatedly in its loop, ignoring all verbal provocations from the three no matter what they tried.

Ye Xuechun murmured, “He said ‘we’ killed Yin Shixing. Does ‘we’ mean himself and some others in the class?”

“Not necessarily,” Fu Wuxuan chuckled. “Have you read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express? It could be an accomplice from the whole group.”

Ye Xuechun said, “…Haven’t read it, but I was planning to. Bro, you just spoiled it for me.”

Fu Wuxuan said insincerely, “Sorry.”

Yun Xueqing added, “We didn’t get much from the Earthbound Spirit. Let’s head back and sort it out.”

He glanced at Fu Wuxuan and quietly reminded him, “Shen Qing is in our dorm. Be careful not to run into him.”

“Him? No need to fear him,” Fu Wuxuan replied, still looking completely at ease despite having no Spirit Energy left. “The harm he could do me is less than that from the Mirror Female Ghosts.”

At the mention, Ye Xuechun’s face fell. “Going back means facing them again. Hate that.”

Fu Wuxuan mocked mercilessly, “Not just two Female Ghosts, but also the even scarier Dorm Supervisor. You weren’t studying properly in the dorm, after all.”

Ye Xuechun: “…”

Fu Wuxuan snorted with laughter. “Figure out how to handle it yourselves. There are still two Female Ghosts waiting for me in the dorm too. I’m heading back first.”

He left as he said. Ye Xuechun looked helplessly at Yun Xueqing. “Can we not go back to the dorm?”

As long as they didn’t return, they wouldn’t encounter the Dorm Supervisor or Female Ghosts. They’d be safe.

Yun Xueqing shook his head and pointed to the distant woods. “Staying outside is probably more dangerous.”

Ye Xuechun looked over. Shadows swayed in the distance, the pitch-black, tangled tree shades stretching endlessly like they would drag people in. On the layered trunks hung things like clothes, fluttering.

A chill ran down Ye Xuechun’s back. Clothes on trees in the dead of night?

He couldn’t help thinking of horror stories he’d read: Were those clothes hanging on the trees? Or human skin?

Ye Xuechun immediately sidled closer to Yun Xueqing. “Let’s hurry back.”

Any later, and he really feared some unknown monster would peel the skin from his body.

Unexpectedly, the two made it back to the dorm without issue. But the moment they returned, they came face-to-face with the Mirror Female Ghosts.

They had dodged studying, and in the Female Ghosts’ view, they had won this round.

They didn’t hide their malice, smiling smugly and revealing their full faces hidden by long hair.

Their eyes looked gouged out by hand, leaving only pitch-black voids. Excessive paleness marked their faces with scratches, and dark red lips seemed bitten by sharp teeth, stained with dried blood.

The unknown was the scariest, but seeing their full faces suddenly made Ye Xuechun less afraid. Thinking of what they had suffered in life stirred faint sympathy.

But before that sympathy could take root, a piercing yin chill stabbed his back.

He instinctively turned and saw the Flounder Dorm Supervisor already standing at the door, its expression sinister with intimidating rage. “During the 11 p.m. bed check… why weren’t you in the dorm studying?”

Ye Xuechun scratched his face, trying to bluff. “We were studying in the classroom and just got back.”

But the Flounder Dorm Supervisor wasn’t buying it. Layers of piled flesh trembled on its body as it lumbered toward them on stubby legs. “Like running around everywhere. Break these legs, and it won’t run anymore.”

Ye Xuechun retreated a step in fright. He heard it mutter, “Legs can’t write words. Break its legs, and it won’t run. Legs broken is good… legs broken is good.”

The Mirror Female Ghosts watched the panicked Ye Xuechun and giggled, looking on with delight at the show.

Ye Xuechun panicked, instinctively raising two fingers and recalling an Oracle he’d learned before. “Oracle: Solar Flame!”

But nothing happened.

His Spirit Energy was too low, his aptitude too poor to support any offensive Oracle.

Terrified, Ye Xuechun tried to run for the door, but it was already locked by the entity, forming a small sealed room.

They were like birds in a cage, toyed with by the hunter’s hand, nowhere to hide.

He could only rely on the human instinct for survival, hurling stationery from the desk at the Dorm Supervisor. But tiny pens, books, and such couldn’t budge the meat-mountain-like Flounder Dorm Supervisor.

Ye Xuechun could only watch in despair as it approached step by step, extending fat hands to twist off his thighs.

In desperation, Ye Xuechun looked to Yun Xueqing beside him and saw the other pick up a thick Xinhua dictionary.

Yun Xueqing raised the dictionary high and smashed it fiercely toward the mirror behind him!

Ye Xuechun: ?!?

The smooth mirror cracked like a spiderweb. The two Female Ghosts, who had been mere spectators, lit up with joy and swiftly burrowed out through the fissures.

Ye Xuechun couldn’t comprehend the move. He blinked, and while he puzzled it out, Yun Xueqing grabbed his arm and bolted for the door.

Ye Xuechun, like a briefly thoughtless puppet, let himself be pulled along toward the door.

In that moment, he glanced back in terror at the Flounder Dorm Supervisor and Female Ghosts, fearing they would chase together.

But upon turning, he saw the two sides fighting.

Ye Xuechun: ?

Yun Xueqing dragged Ye Xuechun out, shut the Dorm Supervisor and Female Ghosts inside the dorm, and locked the door with the key.

After all that, his expression relaxed, and he released Ye Xuechun’s arm.

Ye Xuechun was bewildered from start to finish. “Why did they start fighting?”

Why infight first instead of teaming up to devour them?

Yun Xueqing explained, “In this school, teachers and students are opposed.”

Ye Xuechun wasn’t dumb. He blinked and got it.

The Female Ghosts were now Weirds, but in life, they had been students. The Dorm Supervisor was the teacher side, and the two camps were inherently incompatible.

Moreover, the Female Ghosts had been killed by the Dorm Supervisor in life and hated it to the bone.

They weren’t allies with it—just bored trapped in the mirror and driven by Weirds’ nature to harm people, so they toyed with the pair.

Now freed by Yun Xueqing, their first act was naturally to settle scores with the Dorm Supervisor.

Ye Xuechun listened to the commotion in the dorm, somewhat dazed. “How long will they fight?”

Yun Xueqing’s expression was flat. “It might end soon, or last all night.”

The two Female Ghosts’ power in life might not match the Dorm Supervisor, but years of accumulated resentment could double their strength. The power of hatred was unpredictable; the outcome was uncertain.

Ye Xuechun said, “Then where do we sleep? Borrow a bed from next door?”

He shot down his own idea right after.

Asking strangers for a bed was too hard, and who knew if they were human or Weird.

Yun Xueqing had an idea. “We’ll sleep in the Dorm Supervisor’s room.”

Ye Xuechun scratched his face. “What if another Dorm Supervisor is there?”

“No,” Yun Xueqing denied. “I’ve observed—this dorm building has only one Dorm Supervisor.”

Ye Xuechun thought it over. With no other lodging solution, he followed Yun Xueqing downstairs to the Dorm Supervisor’s room.

In the dorm building, the most luxurious setup was the Dorm Supervisor’s quarters: TV, AC, sofa—all complete, even a Simmons mattress big bed.

Clearly, Yun Xueqing wasn’t the first to think of this.

They pushed open the door to find Shen Qing already lying on the Simmons bed, remote in hand, boredly channel-surfing.

Ye Xuechun gaped in shock. “How are you here?”

Shen Qing gave the pair a cold glance. “You two didn’t return late at night—must be up to something. I don’t want to get dragged in.”

Yun Xueqing had no desire to speak with him and surveyed the room.

The Dorm Supervisor’s room surely hid many students’ secrets. Maybe clues about Yin Shixing were here.

Yun Xueqing searched around and finally, under the Simmons bed, found the Dorm Supervisor’s confiscated items. Ignoring bloody love letters, peeled placentas from pregnant women, and other bizarre stuff, he pulled out a tape.

Ignoring Shen Qing, who was engrossed in the TV, Yun Xueqing mercilessly switched the TV to VCR mode and inserted the tape.

After static snow on the screen, an image appeared.

It was covert footage from the dorm entrance, nothing exciting—just students coming and going.

Shen Qing glanced up, then lowered his head to play with the PS5 the Dorm Supervisor had confiscated.

Ye Xuechun was a bit scared of a ghost face popping up suddenly but watched the footage carefully anyway, fearing to miss details.

Yun Xueqing’s face remained cold under the bluish TV glow, his frosty, snow-like features gaining a layer of serene depth.

Ye Xuechun subconsciously stared a couple extra seconds, realized he’d zoned out, and forced his attention back to the footage.

The first five minutes of the video showed students coming and going. Then, at the sixth minute, Yin Shixing suddenly appeared in the frame.

Perhaps because the footage was shot from upstairs looking down, the distance was too great to make out Yin Shixing’s expression clearly. But the item in his hand caught their attention.

Yun Xueqing pressed the pause button and kept zooming in on the image. Only then did he realize that Yin Shixing seemed to be holding a letter.

Ye Xuechun subconsciously blurted out, “A love letter?”

“No.” Yun Xueqing leaned in closer and noticed scratches on the other’s face, as if he’d been beaten.

Ye Xuechun also spotted the injuries on his face and tried to rationalize his own speculation. “Maybe he’s like the school beauty type—someone confessed to Yin Shixing, and her admirers couldn’t stand it, so they beat him up?”

Yun Xueqing didn’t comment on his theory. Instead, Shen Qing, who had been playing his game on the side, looked up with a mocking tone. “What a wild imagination. You should go write romance novels.”

His tone was sarcastic and grating.

Ye Xuechun seemed oblivious to the contempt and sarcasm. He chuckled and said, “I think I’d be pretty good at writing romance novels too. I’ve got a real romantic soul. If this were a peaceful era, I might’ve become a professional author.”

Shen Qing couldn’t stand anyone who hung around with Fu Wuxuan and deliberately tried to provoke him. “If you tried writing novels, you’d starve to death by the second day.”

Ye Xuechun shrugged indifferently.

While the two bantered, Yun Xueqing kept zooming in on the letter in Yin Shixing’s hand until he could barely make out the words on the envelope.

They were written in large red ink: Denunciation Letter.

Yun Xueqing noted this detail and continued playing the video.

The rest of the footage was unremarkable—more students entering and exiting the dorm entrance—but Yun Xueqing watched intently, afraid to miss any detail.

At the end of the video, a massive face suddenly filled the frame, and the camera view shook violently.

In the footage, the Flounder Dorm Supervisor loomed with its greasy, fat, ugly face, glaring menacingly at the cameraperson. “Doing things unrelated to study? I’ll chop off your hands!”

The video cut off abruptly there.

Ye Xuechun scratched his head beside him. “I think something’s off.”

Yun Xueqing looked up. “What?”

Ye Xuechun blinked, glancing at Shen Qing nearby as if worried about leaking clues, hesitating whether to speak.

Yun Xueqing said, “Go ahead.”

With his permission, Ye Xuechun hesitantly continued, “It might be that I missed something, but Yin Shixing is the only one who appears in the video. Yin Yan doesn’t show up from start to finish.”

Hearing this, Yun Xueqing suddenly realized it wasn’t just the video—Yin Yan had barely any presence. From Sun Li, the Orphanage director, to the Earthbound Spirit’s words, Yin Yan felt overlooked.

Even in the Orphanage brothers’ belongings, there was nothing exclusively Yin Yan’s.

If not for Fu Wuxuan’s investigation clues mentioning Yin Yan’s death by jumping from a building, they might have forgotten he existed.

He was clearly a troublemaking brat who should’ve drawn attention, yet everyone subconsciously ignored him.

Ye Xuechun said with some trepidation, “Did Yin Yan even exist?”

Were Fu Wuxuan’s clues really reliable?

Given how similar Yin Shixing and Yin Yan looked, could Yin Yan actually be Yin Shixing in disguise? Were they the same person?

Yun Xueqing shook his head. “Yin Yan definitely existed. The student archives wouldn’t lie.”

Ye Xuechun froze, realizing he’d been led astray by the video. He quickly nodded. “My mistake.”

Yun Xueqing nodded. “That said, Yin Yan’s presence is remarkably low. Who knows what role he played in this Weird Domain.”

Scratching his head, Ye Xuechun offered his guess. “I think one of the Yin brothers must be the master of this Weird Domain… Yin Shixing seems more likely. He’s way too involved.”

“What an idiot.”

Ye Xuechun’s eyes widened as he turned to Shen Qing, who had spoken up suddenly. “Why’d you call me an idiot out of nowhere?”

Shen Qing set down his PS5 and lifted his gloomy eyes, his tone still dripping with mockery and disdain. “Yin Shixing is the obvious bait on the surface. The invisible Yin Yan is the true Anomalous Domain Lord.”

Ye Xuechun asked suspiciously, “How do you know?”

Though he disliked Shen Qing, Ye Xuechun still listened carefully to his analysis.

But Shen Qing just tossed out two words lightly: “Gut feeling.”

Ye Xuechun: “…”

No matter how Ye Xuechun pressed him afterward, Shen Qing clammed up and went back to lying down and gaming.

In the end, Shen Qing slept on the big bed while Ye Xuechun and Yun Xueqing made do on the sofa for the night.

When they woke up, Shen Qing was gone. Yun Xueqing guessed he’d headed to the Orphanage again. He figured he’d make time to check it out himself and probe for secrets.

It was Sunday morning—no classes—so with Ye Xuechun still fast asleep, Yun Xueqing didn’t wake him. Instead, he went upstairs alone to the dorm door.

He pulled the Calamity Blade from his Storage Space, gathered Spiritual Power in secret, and cautiously opened the door.

The dorm inside was a total wreck—things flipped everywhere, bed frames toppled and piled up like a garbage dump.

The battling Flounder Dorm Supervisor and Female Ghost had both been gravely wounded: one had its head torn off, the other its heart pierced. Neither could move.

As soon as Yun Xueqing entered, both fully dissipated into motes of starlight that scattered onto him.

The Weird Domain judged that Yun Xueqing had indirectly killed them both, so he inherited their Weird Power.

The Weird Power enveloped his body, nurturing his Dantian as his wounds gradually healed.

Perhaps because these three Weird entities had been particularly powerful, it even restored ten percent of his Spiritual Power.

Yun Xueqing calmly sheathed the Calamity Blade, preparing to go find Fu Wuxuan and head to the Orphanage.

But as he descended the dorm stairs, Fu Wuxuan was already waiting downstairs.

Yun Xueqing opened his mouth to voice his intentions, but Fu Wuxuan’s expression was inscrutable, his tone unusually grave as he said:

“Your class’s Mediterranean Class Teacher… is dead.”