A chill rose from the bottom of Jiang Yue’s heart. He froze for an instant, then grew even angrier.
Ridiculous! Had Xu Deng’s single glance actually frightened him just now?
How was that possible?!
A pathetic worm who was usually silent and meek at school could frighten him?
Jiang Yue ran out of patience. A cold look entered his eyes. He wouldn’t do anything in front of so many people, but once they were outside, who could say…
Students going out to “talk” wasn’t too much, was it?
A sneer hung at the corner of Jiang Yue’s mouth. He signaled with his eyes to the boys beside him. Just as he was about to act, a clear voice sounded beside him: “Enough.”
Jiang Yue turned his head.
Ji Ziyang stood there with a faint expression. He said little, but his stance was obvious.
Jiang Yue’s eyes shifted. Normally, he would have backed off… but he looked back and saw Xu Deng sitting there completely at ease, eating as if no one else existed.
It was infuriating. How could he just let it go?
Seeing Jiang Yue—rarely—dig in his heels against Ji Ziyang, the boys beside him exchanged glances. They all sensed something unusual in the air.
One of them stepped forward. It was Zhang Zeyu, one of Jiang Yue’s friends. He smiled and tried to smooth things over. “Xu Deng isn’t with us today, so he must have his own reasons. You guys sit first—I’ll go line up.”
Someone broke the stagnant calm.
Jiang Yue drew a deep breath. The coldness in his eyes faded, replaced by a cool smile. “Fine. Go ahead.”
He turned and walked the other way, but this time he didn’t wait for Ji Ziyang.
Ji Ziyang didn’t mind. He lowered his gaze to Xu Deng.
The boy was focused on his meal. With his head bowed, a sliver of fair, delicate neck showed faintly. He looked fragile, as if a breeze could knock him over, yet also like unmoving green bamboo. It was as if the confrontation just now had nothing to do with him…
Across from him, He Xiaosong was sweating nervously, unable to sit still. It only made Xu Deng’s calm look more striking.
This wasn’t the Xu Deng Ji Ziyang remembered.
When Jiang Yue first came over, Ji Ziyang hadn’t intended to interfere. In his view, Jiang Yue only needed to gesture, and Xu Deng would obediently go over as before… The boy seemed incapable of refusing anyone. Even unreasonable demands—he didn’t know how to resist.
But to his surprise, Xu Deng had refused this time.
Jiang Yue had a poor reputation in private. Ji Ziyang didn’t want to get too close to him, but their families had some business dealings, and Jiang Yue was relatively restrained around him. It wouldn’t do to deny him all face, so Ji Ziyang allowed Jiang Yue to appear at his side. As long as Jiang Yue didn’t cause trouble in front of him, Ji Ziyang usually didn’t meddle.
If Xu Deng had obeyed today, fine. But since Xu Deng didn’t want to go, Jiang Yue should have stopped there. Ji Ziyang would not allow Jiang Yue to coerce a classmate in front of him.
Only… Ji Ziyang gave Xu Deng a deep look.
The boy didn’t seem afraid. Was it because he didn’t know what Jiang Yue was like, or because even if he did, he didn’t care at all?
Ji Ziyang pondered for a moment.
Xu Deng seemed a little different.
But Xu Deng never looked up at him once. It was clearly a posture of refusing communication. Ji Ziyang paused, then had no choice but to turn and leave.
The corner returned to calm.
After finishing his meal, Xu Deng looked up and saw He Xiaosong watching him with admiration.
Xu Deng: ?
He Xiaosong whispered, “You don’t know—I was scared to death just now!”
Xu Deng didn’t think there was anything to fear. This was the cafeteria, and Ji Ziyang was present. Jiang Yue wouldn’t dare do anything real… Even if he wasn’t dead yet, he wasn’t afraid.
Xu Deng: “Oh.”
He Xiaosong: …
Although his deskmate had always been quiet, rarely spoke, and seemed a little hard to approach, He Xiaosong now deeply understood what it meant to kill a conversation with one word.
He Xiaosong followed Xu Deng out of the cafeteria. After thinking for a moment, he asked, “Want to eat together tonight too?”
When Jiang Yue and the others had come over, he had somewhat regretted being with Xu Deng. But now, perhaps influenced by Xu Deng, he suddenly felt it wasn’t scary at all. He even wanted to keep spending time with him.
Xu Deng nodded. “Sure.”
He Xiaosong: …
He Xiaosong scratched his head, opened his mouth, then closed it. He really wanted to ask Xu Deng: Do you actually like Ji Ziyang? Why didn’t you go over today? But they weren’t that close. He Xiaosong chose to shut his mouth.
Xu Deng returned to the classroom and class began.
He propped his chin on his hand and zoned out.
Usually, he listened very carefully. As a senior in high school, about to face the college entrance exam, everyone worked hard—Xu Deng was no exception. And he always wanted to do better. If he were as outstanding as his older brother, would his father look at him more? But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t match his brother, and his father never cared about his grades…
But now?
If he was going to die in three months, did he still need to study seriously?
If you only had three months left, what would you do?
At that thought, Xu Deng’s lips curved up. He almost laughed. He suddenly remembered that his classmates had once discussed something similar during break: If you had only one day left to live, what would you want to do?
Everyone had spoken up, as if they all had many, many things they wanted to finish before the end.
See a concert, take a trip, watch a sunrise, confess to someone they liked, eat a meal with family…
But that day, Xu Deng had only watched them discuss, saying nothing.
It wasn’t that he had no wishes at all.
It was that, from childhood to now, not a single wish had ever come true. Saying them aloud would only make him look ridiculous.
Back then, he never imagined he would actually face such a question one day. So life really could have a death deadline.
But now that the day had truly come, he didn’t want to do anything at all.
Because everything was meaningless, so there was no point wasting effort.
The System had been quiet all day.
Don’t tell me it thought all day and still couldn’t figure out what it could do?
Xu Deng was genuinely a little surprised. He had assumed the System would be somewhat useful…
Time passed quickly while he spaced out.
By evening self-study, Xu Deng simply lay down on his desk and slept. He only groggily woke when the bell rang.
Xu Deng shouldered his backpack and left school.
Without thinking, he started toward the bus station, but after two steps, he suddenly stopped.
There was no one waiting for him at that home anyway. Why hurry back? The night was nice. Might as well walk alone.
Xu Deng turned and headed in another direction.
This was a newly built commercial street. Because it was close to Green Vine High School and several upscale residential complexes nearby, it usually had plenty of foot traffic. Even at this hour, it was bustling.
People flowed past him. Couples leaned close together, intimate and inseparable. Parents walked by with their children, smiling… They brushed past him, yet had nothing to do with him.
Apart from the busiest main road, the commercial street had small paths crisscrossing between the buildings. Xu Deng walked aimlessly.
At first, there had been noise around him, but as he walked, it suddenly grew quiet.
When he came back to himself, there wasn’t a single person beside him.
Xu Deng stopped. Only then did he realize he had wandered into a narrow path at some point. Several trash cans stood by the roadside, the garbage inside giving off a foul smell.
The path was narrow, dark, and dirty. No wonder no one came here. Xu Deng frowned slightly and was about to leave. The side door of a cinema happened to be beside him, so he turned and pushed it open, intending to exit through the other side of the cinema.
But the moment he entered, the temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Xu Deng frowned. Wasn’t the air conditioning turned up too high?
What Xu Deng didn’t know was that the instant he stepped into the cinema, someone’s nerves pulled taut.
In the cinema’s monitoring room in the distance, red ropes crisscrossed, each hung with bronze bells. The bells near the northeast corner were moving without wind, ringing ding-ding-ding.
Bai Yi stared at the chiming bells on the red ropes, his expression ugly. To keep people from wandering in by mistake, he had set up a formation around the cinema. Even if someone came, they shouldn’t be able to enter—they would unconsciously avoid the place. So who on earth had gotten in?
Was there another Xuanmen practitioner here besides them? Or some sinister creature?
Bai Yi’s expression turned grave. He said to the person sitting in front of the monitors, “See what’s going on.”
The person at the monitors was a staff member here. He hadn’t managed to escape when the situation broke out, but luckily, help had arrived soon after. The newcomers clearly had real skill, and everything that had happened today was far beyond his understanding. At Bai Yi’s words, he immediately pulled up the surveillance feed.
On the screen appeared a boy—thin, wearing a school uniform, carrying a backpack. A high school student.
Bai Yi froze.
Was it really just an accidental intrusion?
But how had he bypassed his formation?
A thin layer of sweat appeared on Bai Yi’s forehead. Had his training been so poor that he’d made such a mistake? If something happened to this student, what then?
He carefully glanced behind him.
One of the lights in the monitoring room was broken. Where the light didn’t reach, a man stood quietly. He wore old black clothes, the cuffs faintly gray-white, half his face hidden in shadow, impossible to see clearly.
The man only stood there, silent, yet no one could ignore his presence.
Bai Yi felt immense pressure. He drew a deep breath and said cautiously, “Mr. Yin, someone just accidentally broke in. He’s in great danger right now. Should we… step in?”
Bai Yi’s voice trailed off. Cold sweat soaked his back. He truly wasn’t trying to tell Mr. Yin how to do things—he was just desperate. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared open his mouth even if beaten to death!
In the silent monitoring room, even breathing was audible. Just as Bai Yi was growing anxious—
The man finally moved slightly. He turned his head, and his face emerged from the shadows.
It was an unforgettable face. Every feature was just right. He was the most handsome person Bai Yi had ever seen… except those eyes were closed, making one unable to help wondering what kind of eyes they were.
Such a person should have inspired joy at first sight.
But at this moment, Bai Yi felt only awe in his heart. He didn’t even dare look at the other man too long.
Because if you knew even a little about this person’s deeds, you wouldn’t dare harbor the slightest longing for him.
Bai Yi had never imagined that in his lifetime, he would not only see a legendary existence with his own eyes but also go on a mission with this person!
Should he “thank” his master? The old man was usually just a carefree recluse who kept a low profile—who would have thought he could be friends with “this one”?
As it happened, they had run into a difficult Vengeful Ghost, and this person just happened to be visiting his master, so he had come along.
Logically, with such a big shot on the case, subduing a mere Vengeful Ghost should be nothing. Yet Bai Yi was more nervous than usual.
