Chapter 9: A New World in Our Eyes

“Lifeless powder is a type of item that can mask the aura of living beings,” Ou Zhiqin explained.
“I sprinkled it on my clothes and brought it.
As long as they don’t get too close, ghosts won’t detect your living aura; they might mistake you for one of their own.
Also, most ghosts aren’t coming for you.
They might just be passing by.
The principle in the supernatural world is, when you see a ghost, never react with surprise or alarm.
Pretend you haven’t seen it.
The more afraid you are, the more likely you are to be targeted by a ghost.”

It felt similar to encountering a wild beast in nature.
I sighed, “So, that girl who jumped from the building was just passing by, but the Painted Skin Ghost was specifically after me.
Why would it target me?
I have no presence at all, not to mention in school, but even in class.”

“I don’t know either.
Ghosts sometimes have reasons for choosing their targets, and sometimes it might be completely random.
After all, some are bloodthirsty, some need to absorb the vital essence of living people, or they need a scapegoat, and so on.
There are many reasons for harming people, and I’m not entirely sure of the specifics.
Perhaps the senior student would know,” Ou Zhiqin said.

The senior student Xiao Qing referred to must be the head of the Supernatural Events Department.
I was pretty sure the Painted Skin Ghost didn’t pick me randomly.
It knew my name and even said it was “a good skin,” which showed it specifically targeted me.

“Let’s keep going.
After we get through this, I can take you to ask the senior student.
But if we don’t even survive tonight, there’s no point in talking about what comes next,” Ou Zhiqin said in a low voice.

My heart sank when I heard that.
In just one day, I had experienced a Painted Skin attack, a ghost labyrinth, and a jumping ghost – more malevolent spirits than I had seen from birth until now.
Now I might still be targeted by the Painted Skin Ghost, and whether I could survive tonight was truly uncertain.
I had never imagined that one day I would be in such a perilous, precarious situation, especially with an evil ghost as my enemy.
I had no idea how to deal with it.
Even if I survived tonight, then what about tomorrow?

Fortunately, the other staircase didn’t have a ghost labyrinth, and we successfully exited the teaching building.
After crossing the front playground, we finally saw the lit security office.
I was still wondering how to explain to the security guard why we were coming out so late, but unexpectedly, when we reached the security office, it was empty, not a soul inside, only the lights were on.

This abnormal incongruity made me feel even colder.
Xiao Qing, however, acted as if it was commonplace, pulling me directly over the not-so-tall fence gate.
At this point, it was impossible to tell that she was still a good student with excellent grades and conduct.
As I climbed over the fence gate, I felt the surrounding air loosen, as if suddenly stepping out of a dark, cold cave into the open, breathing fresh air.
I instantly felt like I had come back to life.

The streets outside were brightly lit, with pedestrians coming and going like a tide, forming a stark contrast with the pitch-black school.
Looking back at Jianlong Middle School, the teaching building was like a monster lurking in the darkness.
Countless shadowy figures flickered in the dark windows of the classrooms, as if many people were standing by the windows watching me.

My body shivered again, and countless goosebumps rose.
No wonder the school rules stipulated that students must leave after school and are absolutely not allowed to loiter at night.
Now I understood.
I had also heard some strange stories among students before, tales of students who went to school at night for a dare and were never seen again, or stories of falling asleep at their desks and missing dismissal, then disappearing.

Upon closer inspection of the security office, I was even more frightened and nearly screamed.
There was clearly a security guard in uniform inside, listening to music on his phone, completely oblivious to the two students who had just climbed over the school gate.

“Don’t look at him.
We don’t even know if he’s human or ghost yet.
Let’s go.
At least on the main street, we should be temporarily safe.” After leaving the school, Ou Zhiqin’s voice became much louder; it seemed her strained nerves could finally temporarily relax.

“Phew!
To get out of school alive, it’s truly Buddha’s blessing.” I had never before thought of school as such a terrifying place.

“It’s also still early.
It was only eight when I went in, and now it’s nearly nine.
If it were past ten at night, I probably wouldn’t dare to go in and save you.
If it were past midnight, the Hour of the Rat…” Ou Zhiqin said fortuitously, looking at her phone.

I knew what Xiao Qing wanted to say.
Seeing her wary expression, coupled with her constantly urging me to leave school quickly and saying that the later it got, the more dangerous the school became, it probably meant that going in after midnight would be a near-certain death.

We walked in the direction of home.
Two beautiful girls walking side by side on the road inevitably made many people turn and stop to look.
It seemed I had still underestimated Xia Yubing’s beauty.
Moreover, I also discovered that it wasn’t that we wouldn’t encounter ghosts just because we left the school and came to the bustling main street.
In fact, I quickly realized that even on the main street, there were all sorts of strange phenomena.

For example, a man in a suit and tie, his face covered in a black aura, looking utterly exhausted and overworked.
Behind him was a long-haired woman, her face obscured, floating mid-air, her arms wrapped around the man’s chest, her head resting on his shoulder.
There was also a girl, seemingly younger than us, whose belly was heavily distended, constantly oozing pus, which looked utterly disgusting.
Yet, despite such a conspicuous sight, no passersby around seemed surprised; they simply walked past.

Another beggar sat by the roadside, covered in bandages, smelly and dirty.
But I saw him emanating an aura different from the black aura I saw earlier—black tinged with red.
When I looked at him, he actually looked back, scaring me into quickly lowering my head and walking past.

These were at least still human, but I had already seen some things that were clearly not human.
A ghostly thing with shriveled, rotten skin all over its body, looking like a zombie, limped along the road.
A group of skull heads bounced like balls on the motorized lane, or rolled past.
Some were even crushed to pieces by car wheels and then reassembled.

Before, I had never seen demons or monsters on the street.
Now I understood; it wasn’t that they didn’t exist, but that I simply couldn’t see them.
Seeing so many supernatural events, I couldn’t help but grasp Xiao Qing’s arm.
Now, only she could offer me some comfort.

“What’s wrong?
You look really scared.
Why has your face turned green?
Your hand is so cold.” Ou Zhiqin turned back and asked, puzzled.

“Xiao Qing, can’t you see?
This entire street is full of dirty things.” I said, looking down, terrified of making eye contact with those ghostly things and drawing their attention.

Ou Zhiqin’s expression turned grave: “Your situation is more serious than I imagined.
You can even see these things.
You haven’t awakened Yin-Yang Eyes, have you?”
I had heard of Yin-Yang Eyes before; they were eyes that could see ghosts.
It was said that those who awakened Yin-Yang Eyes rarely came to a good end.