Yu Nian thought for a moment and soon noticed something amiss.
If thousands of spirits gathered at Wanju High School every night, why was the school so quiet last night? Apart from the female ghost outside the window, the contestants hadn't seen any other demons.
Feng Chengyuan exchanged a glance with Yu Nian and quickly understood her meaning.
Acting as if nothing was wrong, he asked Sun Mingze and the other one, "Does the gathering of thousands of spirits happen every night?"
Sun Mingze scratched his head, a look of confusion appearing on his face. "It's strange. In the days before you came to the school, ghosts would almost appear every night. Only last night was there no incident."
"Do you know who was the first person to play the spirit - summoning game?"
Without even thinking, Sun Mingze pointed at the long - haired girl sitting in the first row by the window.
"It's Qiu Xuan."
Actually, this wasn't a secret at Wanju High School.
The students all stayed on campus, living a life that revolved around the dormitory, the cafeteria, and the teaching building. Their spare time was mostly spent in the library.
Qiu Xuan found an old, yellowed booklet in the library. It had no book number and seemed to be a privately - printed one. The booklet detailed the steps and incantations of spirit - summoning, claiming that it could make one's wishes come true and was extremely effective.
Out of curiosity, she took the booklet back to her dormitory and, in a playful mood, tried to summon a spirit.
Qiu Xuan didn't really believe it, so she just casually made a wish. She had liked a red scarf for a long time but had never been willing to buy it. She really wanted to get that red scarf.
After going through the whole spirit - summoning process, nothing strange happened in the dormitory. Qiu Xuan didn't care and went to sleep after washing up.
At around 2:30 a.m., Qiu Xuan first smelled a rusty, bloody smell, and then felt something furry sticking to her face.
She opened her eyes groggily and was instantly terrified.
The red scarf she had been longing for was lying on her bedside. Under the moonlight, the red color became even darker, exuding an indescribable sense of eeriness.
Qiu Xuan didn't even dare to breathe loudly. After waking up her roommates, the whole dormitory stared at the scarf for the whole night...
From that day on, this spirit - summoning game spread throughout the school.
They were all high - school students. At first, they didn't ask for grand wishes. They just wished for things like improved grades or doubled living expenses.
But as these wishes were gradually fulfilled, the school became more and more chaotic.
Until two girls disappeared without a trace, as if they had evaporated from the world. Only then did the school start to take it seriously and tighten the management, but it was already too late. And the booklet that recorded the spirit - summoning technique had also disappeared...
Yu Nian's gaze fell on Qiu Xuan. She had long, black hair. Although she was bathed in sunlight, the gloomy aura around her lingered.
Yuan Dongxu whispered a reminder, "Sister Yu Nian, you'd better not talk to Qiu Xuan. Since something happened in the school, she's like a different person. She ignores everyone and is really hard to get along with."
Yu Nian retracted her gaze and quietly made a spell gesture, leaving a mark on Qiu Xuan.
Time flew by. Soon, the bell rang for the end of class. Yu Nian grabbed Feng Chengyuan and was about to go out to look for clues.
After taking just two steps, Yu Nian seemed to think of something. She gave a talisman paper to Sun Mingze and Yuan Dongxu respectively, instructing them not to let the talisman papers leave their bodies. Then, she left gracefully under their confused gazes.
..........
Yu Nian wasn't sure if it was just her illusion, but the sky in the illusion seemed to turn gloomy faster than in reality.
Since they had to stay in the competition area for a full three days, Yu Nian asked the students about the opening hours of the bathhouses.
To prevent students from indulging in bathing and wasting time, the bathhouses in the north and south areas usually opened from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., which happened to coincide with the peak time when students finished evening self - study. The place would be crowded, and there weren't enough showerheads.
However, there was an independent bathroom for the dormitory aunt in the north area, which was rarely used.
Yu Nian thought for a while. After saying hello to the dormitory aunt, she walked into the single - building.
Since there were very few people in this area, the long corridor was extremely quiet. Only half of the tube lights were on, creating an inexplicable sense of eeriness.
Feng Chengyuan originally planned to wait for Yu Nian downstairs. But after taking a look at the dim single - building, he accompanied Yu Nian in and waited for her next door.
After Yu Nian entered the bathroom, she found that the bathroom provided by the school for the staff wasn't very big, but the facilities were complete.
She made a spell gesture to set up a barrier outside her bathroom cubicle and then blocked the live - broadcast equipment.
After hanging her clean clothes on the wooden door, Yu Nian took a comfortable hot bath.
After about twenty minutes, just as Yu Nian had wrapped herself in a bathrobe, she heard faint footsteps coming from outside the bathroom door.
The steps were intermittent. It was more like something heavy was slowly dragging on the ground than someone walking.
"Drip, drip."
The sound of water droplets hitting the ground suddenly echoed throughout the bathroom. Then, whatever was outside seemed to suddenly become impatient. Its dragging speed got faster and faster, accompanied by hoarse, ferocious laughter from time to time.
The sound was as if it was squeezed out from the depths of the throat, dull and cold, not a sound that a normal human could make.
Yu Nian glanced coldly at the door, only to find that the sound was getting closer, as if it was coming from directly above her head.
A drop of bright red blood landed beside Yu Nian's foot. She slowly looked up and saw a female ghost with a bloody and mangled head squeezing into the bathroom cubicle. Her hands were frantically scratching at the wooden door as she tried her best to break through the barrier.
Yu Nian frowned tightly, her voice terrifyingly cold.
"You won't be able to break through this barrier. As a phantom, you've picked the wrong person to mess with."
With a flip of her wrist, Yu Nian removed the barrier.
The female ghost, no longer blocked, almost overflowed with pride on her face. This little celestial master had no magical artifacts or talisman papers on her. She would surely not be a match for her! So she reached out her hands and pounced at Yu Nian ferociously.
Almost at the same time, Yu Nian nimbly dodged the female ghost's attack. Her slender arm precisely grabbed the back of the female ghost's neck. Then, she suddenly bit her finger and slapped the back of the female ghost hard, deftly drawing a talisman.
A dazzling red light flashed on the talisman. The female ghost let out a painful howl and slumped to the ground limply, disappearing like a phantom sand.
Yu Nian stared thoughtfully at the direction where the female ghost disappeared for a while before opening the wooden door to pick up the scattered clothes.
The dirty blood on the female ghost had stained all of Yu Nian's clean clothes red, and it carried a stinky smell.
Yu Nian frowned slightly, hesitating between "using the Clean - Clothes Incantation to dry the clothes" and "pulling the female ghost back from someone else's dream and beating her up again".
But Yu Nian had overlooked one thing. The noise from the fight between her and the female ghost was quite loud. And the bathroom had a sound - amplifying effect. By the time the sound reached the outside, even the dormitory aunt was alarmed.
Feng Chengyuan had been guarding outside the door. Suddenly, he heard a few sounds of heavy objects hitting the ground.
After calling Yu Nian several times without getting a response, Feng Chengyuan started to panic.
He was about to ask Yu Nian outside the wooden door if something had happened when he unexpectedly bumped into Yu Nian, who was only wrapped in a bath towel.