Tao Tao has a bad temper, I don’t dare.
Lin Quan remained expressionless and released Tao Tao’s wrist. “External force. There are many Spirit Objects in the world, and quite a few of them benefit evil spirits. For example, I know of a type of phantom ghost flower that can create a barrier on the surface of an evil spirit’s body, protecting it from harm by Spirit Masters. Many evil spirits, after developing spiritual awareness, will immediately seek out such a flower to protect themselves.”
“Are you saying the evil spirits from Chengho Medical College are unafraid of Tao Zhen because they have this flower on them?”
“No, the phantom ghost flower can only create a barrier to protect the body; it cannot conceal the Evil Qi of an evil spirit. So, what they have on them might not be this. I’m just giving you a direction to think in. Since we know it’s due to external force, as long as we remove the source providing that force, it will have nowhere to hide.”
Tao Tao sized up Lin Quan. “You’re actually somewhat useful. I’ve never heard of that flower before. How do you know about it?”
“Probably because I’ve read a few more books than you.”
Tao Tao: “…”
Tao Tao indeed doesn’t enjoy reading. The only reason she has some knowledge is because life in the mountains was too boring, and aside from reading and writing, there wasn’t much else to do.
Lin Quan was different. There was a reference room in the secret underground space of Yelaixiang. Before she became obsessed with anime, Tao Tao often saw him reading there at night, mostly texts and materials related to Spirit Masters. No wonder he had the audacity to think he could cultivate a spiritual root for her last time.
“Keep it up.”
Tao Tao offered a half-hearted compliment before packing up the remaining food and returning to the foot-washing center to find Luo Hou.
Luo Hou had just woken up, his messy hair still uncombed. He sat on the sofa eating the leftovers Tao Tao brought back while listening to her report about Chengho Medical College.
“…I told her to go back and keep an eye on things. Now, approve a request and assign the Anatomy Building incident at Chengho Medical College to me.”
Luo Hou: “Did you clarify the payment?”
Tao Tao slapped her forehead. “Forgot to ask. I was too busy having her pay for me earlier. But she’s a rich kid, and she already signed an IOU—she won’t renege.”
“Honestly, I think you should stay out of this.”
“Why?”
“Xiao Meng and I are both here; there’s no need for you to step in. Don’t you know your own limits? What if something dangerous happens? How am I supposed to explain it to the Bell Ringer?”
“You don’t need to explain. In the Grandmaster’s eyes, I’m probably already a dead person. He won’t give you any trouble. This is an unresolved matter from twenty years ago that the old man didn’t handle properly. I have to go personally. It’s about my master’s reputation—how can I let someone else tarnish his name in the Spirit Master’s Exorcism Ledger, making him out to be a failure?”
Luo Hou was rather sarcastic: “What reputation does a failure need? If it weren’t for his incomplete records back then, we wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble now.”
Tao Tao said seriously, “Luo Hou, the old man is a Five-Pillar Spiritual Master, much stronger than you imagine. If he didn’t reveal the truth, he must have had his own reasons—it definitely wasn’t due to a lack of ability. I may criticize him, but you should watch your tone when talking about him. If you keep this up, I’ll get angry. Even though I haven’t been feeling well lately, I can still handle you.”
Threatened by her, Luo Hou wisely kept quiet.
Tao Tao asked, “The matter at the medical college can’t be delayed any longer. It’s been a month already. Have you gotten the results from the evil spirit mucus I asked you to test?”
“It just arrived at the testing facility in the northeast. It’ll take another two days to get the specific data.”
“What kind of delivery takes a month to arrive?!”
“China Post.”
Tao Tao was speechless. “Why didn’t you use SF Express for something this urgent?!”
“Oh, so the young mistress knows about SF Express? Why are you yelling at me? I wanted to too!” Luo Hou roared back, his voice thundering. “Damn it, some idiot decided to set up the testing facility in a remote mountain valley in the Greater Khingan Range, in some place called Dongchun Gala County, Heixiazi Township, Baomigengzi Village. There are three mountains between the village entrance and the exit. Even if I sent it by SF Express, could they deliver it? Regular mail still cost me thirty yuan!”
Tao Tao covered her ears. “The testing facility stores body parts of evil spirits. If the temperature weren’t kept low, they’d rot and stink long ago. How can you blame others for that?”
Luo Hou said expressionlessly, “Now that I think about it, it was your dead old man who set up that testing facility in the first place. He was originally supposed to succeed Li Hegu as the next Bell Ringer, but he suddenly quit, leaving your Grandmaster to carry on alone. I’m really curious—why did Li Sanjiu refuse to become the Bell Ringer back then? And why did he distance himself from the Chaotic Tomb to guard Qingfengguan without ever coming down the mountain again?”
Tao Tao replied, “I don’t know. I wasn’t born yet at that time.”
Luo Hou pulled a stack of sticky notes from the bookshelf and wrote Tao Tao a slip for exorcism. “You can get involved in this, but you have to report every single detail to me. This matter isn’t as simple as it seems. Although I haven’t figured it out yet, you should know that Chengho Medical College’s management of the Anatomy Building is far stricter than you imagine. It’s not just explicitly prohibited by school regulations—to prevent reckless students from sneaking in, the school has installed many surveillance cameras along that road, along with 24-hour security patrols.”
Tao Tao frowned. “I didn’t see any security guards when I went there that day.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Luo Hou said. “After you told me about this, I sent Xiaomeng to Chengho Medical College the next day to clean things up. The surveillance footage from that night showed everything normal—it didn’t capture any students or you entering at all. The security guard claimed he had been patrolling all night and didn’t notice anything unusual.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Of course it’s impossible. How could a group of students acting on a reckless whim plan something so meticulously?” Luo Hou said. “Xiaomeng used Dream-Inducing Butterflies to check the guard’s memories and found he slept in the guard booth all night—or rather, it’s more accurate to say he was unconscious. These students weren’t just being reckless; someone was behind it, planning to send them into the Anatomy Building to feed the evil spirits.”
A sudden thought flashed through Tao Tao’s mind—could the school have intentionally sent the students there to appease the evil spirits in the building?
She dismissed the idea the next second. Leaving aside whether the school was capable of such a thing, even if they did do it, their goal would likely be to keep the evil spirits from coming out. But now, the evil spirits from the building had possessed the students and were wandering around outside—that definitely wasn’t something the school would want to see.
Besides, Xue Rong had nearly argued with her that day over not allowing Tao Tao to report to the teacher. No matter how you looked at it, it shouldn’t have anything to do with the school.
Tao Tao said, “Is it possible that the person behind this plan is among them?”
Luo Hou: “Do you think it makes sense? Among them, someone knew there were evil spirits, yet willingly sent themselves to their death?”
“Maybe he wasn’t human by then?” Tao Tao pondered. “Before these students entered the Anatomy Building, one of them had already been possessed by an evil spirit. Then, he came out to find new targets to bring back for his companions to feast on.”
“If that’s the case, how did the evil spirit bypass the ghost-devouring vines outside the building to possess him?”
Tao Tao said, “There’s a type of phantom ghost flower that can briefly create a barrier around an evil spirit, protecting it from external harm.”
Luo Hou: “I don’t know anything about flowers. All I know is that the possibility of such a thing appearing on an evil spirit suppressed for twenty years is zero. If such a flower existed, it would have escaped long ago. Why wait this long?”
“What if the flower was brought in from outside?” Tao Tao said. “Someone entered the Anatomy Building with the phantom ghost flower before this, was possessed by an evil spirit, and then relied on the flower’s protection to leave the building. When I encountered him, it was his second time entering. By then, already transformed into an evil spirit, he was leading students to offer them to his companions.”
Luo Hou frowned: “That doesn’t explain it. According to your theory, why would he enter the first time when he was still human?”
Tao Tao asked, “I can’t figure that out yet. Is there a way to verify my guess?”
“There is, but we need a living being near the Anatomy Building capable of reading memories. Plants and flowers won’t work—their spiritual intelligence is too weak.”
“What about the security guard? I could knock him out and bring him here.”
“Of course not! What are you saying? You can’t just knock people out!” Luo Hou roared. “Besides, anyone entering the building would avoid the security guard. He wouldn’t have those memories to read!”
“Then…” Tao Tao asked, “What about a cat? There’s a black cat that’s always active near the Anatomy Building.”
“That could work.”
Tao Tao said, “Then calculate where it is and send someone to catch it. I have a bit of a grudge with it—it might not come out if it sees me.”
Luo Hou: “Fine, give me its birth details.”
Tao Tao thought for a moment: “Renwu year, sixth month, sixth day, third quarter of the Yin hour.”
Luo Hou yelled, “Young Mistress, have you lost your mind? I need the cat’s birth details! Why are you reciting your own?”
Tao Tao: “…Just kidding, how could I possibly know something like that!”
“Then there’s no other way,” Luo Hou said indifferently. “You’ll have to go catch it yourself.”
Whenever Tao Tao communicated with Luo Hou, it always ended with one of them roaring.
She returned to her room, planning to rest for a while before heading out in the evening. This was partly because cats are nocturnal and easier to catch at night, partly because she was worried the evil spirit possessing the student might see her and endanger Xue Rong, but most importantly, she hadn’t slept well last night and was now tired.
Lying in bed, she mulled things over. Lin Quan sat by the windowsill reading Tokyo Ghoul, while Fugui flapped his wings in the corner, pecking at her backpack strap.
—Each had their own thing to do, undisturbed by the others.
As she thought, Tao Tao grew drowsy. She called out, “Lin Quan, turn your volume down. Fugui, stop digging at my bag. If you dare peck a hole in it, I’ll pluck your feathers to patch it up.”
Lin Quan muted the sound, but Fugui remained restless, still fiddling around.
Tao Tao had no choice but to get up and put away her bag. Fugui was tugging at the strap, and during the struggle, a notebook fell out from inside.
Tao Tao picked it up and realized it was the diary she had found back in the Anatomy Building. She had stuffed it into her bag at the time, but after arriving at the foot-washing parlor, there were too many things going on, and she had forgotten about it.
She tossed Fugui onto Lin Quan’s shoulder and leaned against the bed to flip through the notebook.
She had only read halfway through the diary last time, so she continued from where she left off.
[April 29th, Sunny]
Today, my advisor called me into his office and asked me what was going on with Yan Tao. He said Yan Tao had been distracted in class lately, and his midterm paper was a complete mess. Even my advisor noticed something was off about him, but I wasn’t sure about Yan Tao’s situation either. All I could say was that something had happened at home, so he was feeling down. My advisor urged me to check in on him more often, so I plan to study with him tomorrow.
[April 30th, Cloudy]
I studied with Yan Tao today. He said he and Lou Feng were preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, but while he was in the bathroom, I flipped through his book—there wasn’t a single word written in it. Clearly, he was lying to me. After I pressed him repeatedly, he finally confessed that he had been dealing with some troubles lately and wanted some time alone to sort things out.
[May 15th, Sunny]
After half a month of solitude, Yan Tao finally sorted out his emotions. He invited me to go for a walk in the park tomorrow. That’s great.
[May 16th, Cloudy]
I’m so happy to see Yan Tao acting normal again. Even though we just took a walk in the park, it felt like the gloom from before had completely lifted. However, he didn’t want to talk much about what happened at home. My roommate says I’m too trusting—maybe so, but I choose to believe he didn’t cheat. Love is built on mutual trust, isn’t it?
[May 17th, Moderate Rain]
Today, I ran into Yan Tao eating alone in the cafeteria. He was actually eating pork ribs—how is that possible? He’s Hui…
[May 23rd, Sunny]
No, Yan Tao still isn’t right. Maybe he didn’t cheat, but he’s not acting like himself anymore—eating green peppers and pork, which he never touched before, drinking carbonated drinks he would never have taken a sip of before, and during anatomy class, he was afraid to use the scalpel, saying the corpse would feel pain. Isn’t that ridiculous? I asked him to help me mail a letter at the post office, and he actually asked me where the post office was. He worked there part-time just last year—was he joking with me? No, I have to ask him tomorrow what’s really going on.
[May 24th, Overcast]
Yan Tao said he’d meet me at the Anatomy Building tonight to study, and he’d tell me everything. I want to see what he has to say.
The diary ended abruptly here.
Lin Quan had been standing by the bed reading the diary with her without her noticing. He said, “It’s very similar, isn’t it?”
Tao Tao understood what he meant. Indeed, it was very similar—the diary owner’s experience was almost identical to what Xue Rong had described.
Both Wu Liang and Yan Tao had entered the Anatomy Building and emerged completely changed. Tao Tao glanced at the diary again—it was written in 2000, meaning that even back then, evil spirits had already possessed students? Li Sanjiu had only suppressed the evil spirits inside the building back then—did he know that some had escaped?
Lin Quan said, “If we want to know whether Yan Tao was possessed by an evil spirit back then, we just need to find the owner of this diary.”
“Her diary only goes up to May 24th. She might have already been killed.”
“Originally, there was only one student who went missing in the Anatomy Building, a boy. This girl named Tian Wenyue should still be alive.”
“How do you know?”
Lin Quan said, “It’s written in your master’s Spirit Master’s Exorcism Ledger. Haven’t you read it?”
Tao Tao asked again, “You’re usually either giving foot massages or watching anime. When did you flip through my master’s notebook?”
“When you were sleeping.”
Tao Tao: “You were awake while I was sleeping?”
Lin Quan: “I’ve said before, I don’t need much sleep.”
Tao Tao eyed him distrustfully: “Then you wouldn’t have secretly done strange things to me while I was sleeping, would you?”
Lin Quan: “…”
Tao Tao said seriously, “Lin Quan, I suddenly think it’s very inconvenient for a man and a woman to be alone in the same room. You’ve lost your memory for so long, don’t you want to go outside and see? Maybe you can even recover your missing memories? How about this: when I’m awake, you can stay here, but when I’m sleeping, you go out for a walk, or I’ll ask Luo Hou to switch rooms.”
“Who would you switch with? Luo Hou? Or Qiangzi?”
Thinking about it, those two are even worse than Lin Quan.
Tao Tao was very annoyed. She threw the notebook onto the table, pulled the blanket over her head, and went to sleep.
But after that conversation, she couldn’t fall asleep, so she pretended to be asleep, wanting to see if Lin Quan would actually do something to her while she slept.
An hour passed. Lin Quan was watching anime and didn’t move.
Two hours passed. Lin Quan still didn’t move.
Three hours passed. Lin Quan finally moved. He put down his phone and walked to the bedside.
Tao Tao was exhausted, waiting for this moment. She secretly clenched her fist, thinking, Finally couldn’t hold back, you scoundrel! When you extend your filthy demon claws toward a sleeping teenage girl, that will be your day of doom. Come closer, closer! Once you step into my attack range, get ready for my flying kick sweep!
Lin Quan indeed entered her attack range. Just as Tao Tao was about to leap up and kick him, Lin Quan raised the Spirit Master’s Exorcism Ledger in his hand.
—Smack.
He slapped a cockroach crawling on the wall. When he pulled the notebook back, the dead cockroach fell onto Tao Tao’s fair forehead.
Tao Tao: “…”
She thought that as a simple favor, Lin Quan would at least clean it up for her, but he had no such intention.
Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, fifteen minutes passed…
Tao Tao finally couldn’t bear it and rolled over: “Lin Quan, is it really so troublesome to move your noble hand and take this bug away?”
Lin Quan said calmly, “It’s not troublesome.”
“Then why is it still on my face?”
“Tao Tao has a bad temper. If I do strange things to her, I’ll regret why I’m alive in this world.” Lin Quan said, “I don’t dare.”
Tao Tao: “…”
Author’s Note:
Still giving out red envelopes in the comments section~