Chapter 158: School Ghost Stories

After resting for a while, I finally recovered.
I thanked Yi Zhiqiu sincerely:

“Thank you again.
You helped restore my blood and qi,
and you even taught me martial arts.
But… the reason you specifically called me here today
wasn’t just for those two things, right?”

“Ah, right.”

Yi Zhiqiu suddenly remembered.
He had been the one to call me over,
but the moment he saw how terrible my condition was,
he had set his own matters aside
and focused entirely on fixing my blood and qi deficiency first.

“This time I asked you to come
because I’d like your help gathering some information among the students.
It’s not convenient for me to ask around myself.”

Yi Zhiqiu said.

“What is it?
I’ll do my best to find out.”

I replied immediately.
After everything Yi Zhiqiu had done—
the cleansing ritual, the talisman water, teaching me martial arts—
he had already given me far too much.
Helping him gather information was the least I could do;
it barely counted as repayment.

“Help me ask around among the students
whether there are any strange urban legends or ghost stories in this school.”

Yi Zhiqiu said.

I froze instantly.
My mind flashed back to not long ago—
when Bai Yue had taken me to that dark, hidden window in the cafeteria,
and the faint, bloody scent of flesh drifting out from inside.

“Ghost stories… what exactly do you mean?”

I lowered my head and asked,
trying my best to pretend this was the first time I’d ever heard the term.

“Hm, for example—
crying sounds coming from empty classrooms at night,
not being allowed to wear red clothes into the faculty office,
or if you meet a girl with very long hair who asks to borrow a comb,
you must find a way to lend it to her…
things like that.”

Yi Zhiqiu explained.

“I understand.
I’ll ask around among the students as much as I can.”

I agreed readily,
but inside I was hesitating.
Should I tell Yi Zhiqiu about the cafeteria window?

Of course, Yi Zhiqiu had helped me tremendously—
I should tell him what I knew.
But Bai Yue had taken me there with good intentions,
hoping it would benefit me,
and it really had helped me a little.

I began to imagine what would happen
if I told Yi Zhiqiu about the cafeteria window.
Yi Zhiqiu, who hated evil with a passion,
would immediately head to the cafeteria
and destroy that strange phenomenon.

That particular ghost story was the food source for Bai Yue’s Gu insects.
If it were destroyed,
Bai Yue would definitely fly into a rage.
And since she had only recently told me the location,
it would be extremely easy for her to suspect that I was the one who leaked it.

There was almost no chance I could survive Bai Yue’s wrath.
Even if she didn’t kill me outright,
controlling me afterward and making my life worse than death
would be effortless for her.
I had seen her Gu insects—
each one possessed bizarre and unpredictable abilities.

In the end, my conclusion was clear:
I absolutely could not tell Yi Zhiqiu about that window.
Even though it felt a little unfair to him after all the effort he put into helping me,
at least this one ghost story in the cafeteria
could not be allowed to reach his ears.
Otherwise, I would be in deep trouble.

The most I could do was gather as much useful information as possible
from other students
and pass that on to Yi Zhiqiu.

“Do you have any clues or directions to start with?”

“Hm, there is one.
You can start by asking about this girl.”

Yi Zhiqiu pulled a sheet of paper from his desk and handed it to me.
On it was a photo of a delicate, refined-looking girl.

Second Year Class B—Rong Yuyue.
I didn’t know her.
From the picture, she looked like a quiet, well-behaved girl.

I looked up and asked:

“What about her?”

“She was possessed by something evil.
Not long ago I helped exorcise it from her
and showed a bit of my ability in the process.
Some girls nearby saw what happened,
so they came looking for me afterward.”

Yi Zhiqiu gave a wry smile.

So that explained the girls who had been waiting outside when I arrived—
the ones asking Yi Zhiqiu for fortune-telling or love advice.
They must have witnessed him performing the exorcism.

“Did she say how she got possessed?
And how did you determine it was related to something supernatural?”

I asked again.

“She said she was walking in the hallway
when she heard crying coming from the restroom.
She followed the sound,
then lost consciousness.
When she woke up, she was already in the state after I had exorcised the evil.
She also told me that she had heard rumors from classmates before
about the crying sounds in the restroom being a ghost story.”

Yi Zhiqiu explained.

“So the problem is probably inside the restroom?
Didn’t you check it?”

I asked.

Yi Zhiqiu gave another helpless smile:

“It’s the girls’ restroom in that building.
It’s inconvenient for me to go in.
And even if I did,
I probably wouldn’t find anything.
I already sensed from outside—
there’s no unusual aura left inside now.”

So it was in the girls’ restroom.
No wonder he couldn’t investigate easily.

I nodded.

“Alright.
I’ll go ask around for you.”

With that, I left Yi Zhiqiu’s office.

There was one small incident on the way out.
When I opened the door,
I found several more girls waiting outside—
apparently all the ones who had come running after seeing Yi Zhiqiu perform the exorcism.
Among them were the two girls he had previously asked to leave.

The moment they saw me come out,
they crowded around.

“Xia Yubing!
What did Teacher Yi talk to you about just now?
Eh? Your stockings… where did they go?”

“Ah, the stockings… I accidentally tore them earlier,
so I took them off.”

I hurriedly explained.
I absolutely could not let rumors start and cause trouble for Yi Zhiqiu.

Unfortunately, I had underestimated girls’ gossip abilities.
They immediately showed shocked expressions
and exclaimed:

“What kind of play was that intense?
You actually tore the stockings?!”

“What are you all thinking?!
I just accidentally tore them, that’s all!
Nothing happened between me and Teacher Yi!”

I said angrily.

I didn’t care much about myself—
after all, I wasn’t really Xia Yubing.
But Yi Zhiqiu’s reputation couldn’t be ruined because of me.
He had only burned the stockings by accident while trying to help me.

“Then how exactly did you ‘accidentally’ tear them?
What did you do that could tear stockings?”

One girl pressed.

“I was just—”

I started to explain,
but halfway through, I froze.
Right… what exactly could tear stockings?

I had been about to say it happened when I took them off,
but then—
why would I take them off?
Would I have to explain that Yi Zhiqiu got them wet first?
And then what did he do to get them wet?

My brain felt like it was overheating.
There was no way to explain this reasonably.
If I had always been a girl,
maybe I could come up with a plausible excuse,
but unfortunately, I had only very recently become one.
I couldn’t think of anything convincing on the spot.

Just then, Yi Zhiqiu stepped out of the office and asked:

“Why haven’t you all left yet?
Do you need something from me?”

“Mm~ Teacher Yi…”

Several girls turned toward him with meaningful looks,
making him instinctively take half a step back in alarm.

Strangely enough,
even though they suspected something had happened between me and Yi Zhiqiu,
they showed no sign of backing off.
Instead, they all filed into the office.

“Teacher Yi, we all have some things we’d like your help with.”

No matter how Yi Zhiqiu tried to explain,
I had already escaped.
I hurriedly fled the faculty building.

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