Chapter 4: The Unsettling Omen

On the second day, Bai Yuliang arrived in the classroom, catching the very tail end of the school bell for the first time.

Upon his arrival, the classroom was already bustling with students, every seat occupied.

“Oh, how exceptionally rare,”

Qichuan Feng began her taunts the moment he stepped through the door.

“Did you spend another night playing divination games, Yuliang-kun? Those prominent dark circles beneath your eyes make you resemble a national treasure from your Divine Land. Are you perhaps trying to make me fall for you with such tactics? Heh heh…”

A ripple of hushed laughter spread among the close friends clustered around Qichuan Feng.

Bai Yuliang offered no retort, simply making his way to his seat as if oblivious. This blatant disregard caused Qichuan Feng’s expression to sour slightly.

She muttered under her breath, a sound audible to no one else, ‘Tch, just a stinking shut-in. How dare he be so arrogant…’

“What’s wrong?”

Nishionji Mitsuki, seated at the desk in front of Bai Yuliang and serving as the class representative, couldn’t help but inquire about his condition.

“Nothing.”

“Really?”

“Mm.” Bai Yuliang casually tossed his homework onto his desk and, without another word, unlocked his phone to check it.

Teacher Matsui, it seemed, was truly angry. No new messages had been sent, and their avatar remained gray.

Bai Yuliang rubbed his temples, attempting to alleviate his weariness.

Last night, he had poured his heart into divining his own fortune. Yet, despite laying out every conceivable item—compasses, ancient coins, bamboo slips, turtle shells—he had tried them all.

But not once had he succeeded, for each divination yielded a different result.

Initially, he attributed it to his rusty Taoist arts, so he decided to practice with past outcomes. However, the results were even more startling.

Even the hexagrams he had previously deduced multiple times now presented varying outcomes!

He suddenly recalled a novel he had read called *The Three-Body Problem*, where aliens, to stifle Earth’s technological advancement, used something called a ‘sophron’ to interfere with Earth scientists’ particle collider experiments. This prevented them from deriving patterns through observation, leading scientists to declare that science was dead.

Now, he felt as though he, too, was being targeted by something. And this ‘thing’ was certainly not the gentle ‘Miss Sophron’ from the novel, who resembled a Yamato Nadeshiko; it was something far more terrifying.

A faint unease stirred within his heart.

“Is Teacher not coming to class today either? How wonderful, we get self-study again!”

Asakura Mirai yawned, utterly bored, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Bai Yuliang’s gaze involuntarily fell upon him. He observed Mirai’s normal complexion, which showed no signs of distress.

‘Perhaps I’m overthinking it…’

Mirai seemed to notice Bai Yuliang’s stare. He sauntered over, hands casually tucked into his pockets, as if completely oblivious to the concept of an opponent.

“Hey, Bai Yuliang, you said I’d die yesterday, but I’m perfectly fine now, aren’t I?”

Bai Yuliang offered no response, which only fueled Asakura Mirai’s smugness. He pulled out his phone, opened his photo album, and tapped on an image, eager to show it off.

“Hahaha, open your eyes and take a good look! This person in the photo is the ace of the second-year dance club! My—*my*—girlfriend! Tsk tsk tsk, just look at those legs, couldn’t you play with them for a year?”

Bai Yuliang glanced at the photo. The girl was indeed attractive, quite tall with long legs. However, her chest was flat, and her calves looked rather muscular, making her not quite his type.

More importantly, she wasn’t a loli, and he simply didn’t like her.

“Ha, jealous, aren’t you!”

Asakura Mirai declared triumphantly.

“Too bad you can’t get her. She’s *my* girlfriend, mine! Once Saturday arrives, I’m definitely going to savor just how tender she is!”

“Haha…” Bai Yuliang clasped his hands together and offered a polite smile. “Then I wish you good health.”

“Of course! Only someone with a strong body like mine, an ace in the baseball club, can handle a woman who dances like that!”

Asakura Mirai’s words were cut short as he suddenly erupted into a violent fit of coughing.

“Only… ugh… cough cough… cough cough…”

“Whoa, Mirai, you didn’t catch a fever, did you?”

“Haha, quick, isolate him!”

“If you have a fever, you can’t do strenuous exercise, so it looks like Mirai-kun won’t have that ‘blessing’ tomorrow~”

The classmates chimed in with their teasing.

Just then, Bai Yuliang suddenly remembered something. He whipped his head around, his face paling as he looked at the clock on the wall.

At this moment, the usually hot-tempered Asakura Mirai didn’t retort. Instead, his coughing grew increasingly violent.

“Hey, Mirai seems to be acting strangely.”

“His face is so pale.”

“Quick, take him to the infirmary!”

As one classmate reached out to help Asakura Mirai, the latter suddenly coughed up a mouthful of thick blood, splattering directly onto the other student’s clothes.

It was then that everyone truly saw Asakura Mirai’s condition. Blood slowly seeped from his nose, the corners of his eyes, the corners of his mouth, and his ear canals, a truly horrifying sight.

“Mirai-kun, you…”

Everyone recoiled, their faces ashen. As students, they had never witnessed such a terrifying scene.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Asakura Mirai shrieked frantically, blood oozing from all seven orifices. “I just have a bit of internal heat—cough cough cough—”

‘Whoa, you’re practically dead, but your mouth is still spouting nonsense!’

“Call 119!” Nishionji Mitsuki, the class representative, urgently cried out. The surrounding students, also terrified, frantically dialed their phones.

But it was already too late. Asakura Mirai stood rooted to the spot, his face covered in blood, his body hemorrhaging profusely.

Most had never seen a person lose so much blood; it was as if all his internal organs had burst simultaneously, a truly horrifying spectacle.

Soon, Asakura Mirai’s face twitched violently, and he coughed up one final gush of blood.

At the same instant, his body crashed heavily to the floor, blood splattering everywhere.

When others went to check on him, the boy who had just moments ago been full of vigor and lively spirit was now breathless.

He was no longer stubborn, but his body could no longer move, his face etched with profound unwillingness.

Bai Yuliang picked up the phone that had rolled onto the floor, looking at the wallpaper of the girlfriend. He wondered if this poor boy, even in his final moments, still regretted not having been with this woman?

“Ah!” A female bystander finally reacted, letting out a piercing scream before collapsing to the floor in terror.

Many male students also turned ghastly pale with fear.

“Someone’s dead! He’s dead!” Some girls shrieked, their emotions spiraling out of control. Several girls fainted from fright, and the surrounding boys were stunned by the horrific tragedy before their eyes.

Everyone’s face was contorted in terror. It was a long moment before a student finally reacted.

“Call a teacher… call a teacher!”

“Yes, yes! Call a teacher!”

“Call an ambulance, call the police!”

“No need to call!” Teacher Matsui suddenly posted a new message in the group chat. “Asakura Mirai failed to complete his homework, and is therefore punished with bleeding from all seven orifices! (Serious)”

“A new assignment is now issued: Ishihara Naomi must remove all her clothing in front of everyone in the classroom. Reward for success: 100,000 yen (approximately 5140 RMB). Punishment for failure: death by fiery immolation. Deadline: 2 hours!”