Chapter 26: Ten Years Ago

Xu Xiuli’s face suddenly drained of color as she said in terror, “I really don’t know. Stop asking.”

“Teacher Xu, you’re supposed to be our teacher. So many people have already died, and yet the whole school seems untouched. You’re all teachers—this is how you set an example? Don’t you have children of your own?”

Zhang Xiaofan spoke with rare severity. Xu Xiuli was definitely hiding something, and he had to force the truth out of her at any cost.

As that thought flashed through his mind, the heat in his hand began to rise. He had already made up his mind that if Xu Xiuli still refused to speak, he would make her taste his wrath.

But at that moment, Xu Xiuli let out a sudden sigh and said, “Ten years ago, there was a massacre in one of the dormitories at our school. That night, every student in the dormitory died.”

Zhang Xiaofan froze, then said in shock, “How is that possible? A dormitory can hold over a hundred people. So many deaths and no one knew?”

Xu Xiuli looked at him coldly. “There are some things in this school you’d best not know. I’m done talking.” With that, she rushed out.

Zhang Xiaofan shook his head. After returning to the classroom, he began searching on his phone for anything about the school from ten years ago, but there was nothing online at all.

He quickly called over Hu Xiaotian, Jiang Gewei, and the others, and told them about the dormitory murder case from ten years ago. They were all astonished and said they had never even heard of such a thing.

“Right now we have two targets. First, we need to find Hundred Flowers Village. That place must have some connection to the red-envelope group we’re in. Second, we need to investigate the dormitory massacre from ten years ago,” Zhang Xiaofan concluded.

“Xiaofan, you’ve got fifty thousand underworld coins now. What are you planning to buy?” Su Qianqian asked then.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Zhang Xiaofan scratched his head. To him, buying an ordinary constitution had little power and was rather useless; if he wanted a better one, this amount of money still wasn’t enough.

“Xiaofan, this is a talisman paper I cut out. Take it.” Su Qianqian then took out from behind her a sheet of paper cut into a human shape, with several talisman marks drawn on it.

“What is this?”

“This is the talisman I learned. It’s for defense. It can block one attack, though I don’t know how effective it is—I just learned it recently,” Su Qianqian said shyly.

“Mm, it’s lovely.”

“Why don’t we have dinner together tonight? I know a restaurant that just opened near the school,” Su Qianqian said softly.

It seemed he still hadn’t once properly treated her to a meal. Zhang Xiaofan immediately nodded. “All right. I’ll treat you.”

Suddenly, the talisman paper was snatched away. Lin Roupinched it and said, “Oh, my, this is so ugly. Su Qianqian, you actually had the nerve to give this away?”

“Give it back,” Su Qianqian said unhappily.

“Stop fussing,” Zhang Xiaofan said to Lin Rou.

Lin Rou pouted, but still handed it over, saying, “Xiaofan, let’s have dinner together tonight?”

“I’m already eating with Xiaofan tonight,” Su Qianqian said in displeasure.

“I’m going too.” Lin Rou threw herself beside Xiaofan and said firmly, “I’m sticking to you today unless you beat me to death.”

Zhang Xiaofan was helpless. “Quit messing around. What are you doing joining in?” After speaking, he grabbed Su Qianqian and ran off, while Lin Rou stamped her feet in anger.

After enduring the life-and-death game for so long, Zhang Xiaofan and the others were under immense pressure. So even though they still hadn’t escaped that terrifying red-envelope group, Zhang Xiaofan wanted to relax a little. More importantly, after all this time with Su Qianqian, he had never properly taken her out to eat.

The two of them arrived at the newly opened restaurant. Just as they sat down, Lin Rou suddenly appeared from behind and said in surprise, “Well, what a coincidence.”

A coincidence? Did she take them for fools?

Su Qianqian’s expression changed completely at the sight of Lin Rou, but because there were many people around, she only said softly, “Why do you always like clinging to me?”

“Sorry, I’m here for Xiaofan,” Lin Rou said indifferently.

Zhang Xiaofan had a headache from the two girls. To be honest, he couldn’t exactly drive Lin Rou away now. After all, she had helped him many times before; how could he just turn her out like that? It would be far too cold-hearted.

So he said, “Since you’re here, sit down. But the two of you can say a little less nonsense.”

“Mm-hmm.” Lin Rou nodded obediently like a pecking chick.

Su Qianqian gave a slight nod too, though it was directed at Zhang Xiaofan. But whenever the two girls looked at each other... sparks flew. One wrong move, and Zhang Xiaofan would be the one caught in the crossfire.

“I say, can you two stop arguing the moment you meet?” Zhang Xiaofan finally said helplessly.

The two girls exchanged another look, snorted coldly, and ignored each other.

It seemed that sooner or later he would have to bring the relationship between them into some semblance of harmony, or trouble would happen before long. Zhang Xiaofan picked at his food and thought of the red-envelope group. The games were getting more and more difficult now; if these two kept acting like this, they would surely suffer.

“Oh, right. Tell me what you two bought from the Netherworld marketplace,” Zhang Xiaofan said after they had almost finished eating. He felt it necessary to understand them better.

After all, up to now, he only knew that Su Qianqian had bought the golden scissors and was cultivating with talisman paper. As for her constitution, he still had no idea.

As for Lin Rou, the only thing he knew was that he could no longer see through her.

Su Qianqian said, “You already know what I bought. It’s the talisman crafting and that pair of scissors. As for my constitution, I still haven’t decided.”

“Mine is ice,” Lin Rou said simply.

“That’s all?” Zhang Xiaofan frowned. He had witnessed Lin Rou’s fighting before, so it was obviously not as simple as she made it sound. But seeing that she didn’t seem willing to say more, he did not press further.

After dinner, Zhang Xiaofan sent the two of them back, then returned to the dormitory. He had fallen behind in his cultivation these past few days. Although Mo Sha had been injured, and he could no longer enter the ancient mirror to train, he could still familiarize himself with the wood-sword technique.

While he was studying the technique, Hu Xiaotian came back cursing under his breath. It turned out that he had just used physiognomy to tell a girl’s fortune, only to say that her forehead was darkened and that she was due to lose money, after which he was cursed out thoroughly.

“Ah, Xiaofan, tell me, why is there no trust between people anymore? I meant well too. She even said I was spouting nonsense and that I was only reading her fortune to flirt with her. Come on—looking at that dinosaur face of hers, who’d want to flirt? Only a ghost would.” Hu Xiaotian kept chattering on and on.

Zhang Xiaofan was quite speechless. He thought, If you tell someone their forehead is darkened and that they’re about to lose money, of course no one will give you a pleasant face.

“Xiaotian, how good is your fortune-telling now? Is it accurate?” Zhang Xiaofan asked curiously.

“Very accurate.” At the mention of this, Hu Xiaotian immediately grew spirited. He leaned in and said, “Xiaofan, how about I divine one for you?”

Without waiting for Zhang Xiaofan to agree, he directly took out five copper coins and tossed them casually onto the table. Smiling, he said, “Xiaofan, pick any one. I can accurately tell your luck for tomorrow.”