Chapter 107: Madison and Maria: The Paranormal Club

Madison stopped smiling altogether, yanked Maria’s hand, and walked to the other side, finally sitting down in a seat far from Louis and Emma.

In fact, she wanted to run out right now and switch classes, but unfortunately, she dared not—it was too obvious.

In the end, she could only wait anxiously for the teacher’s arrival.

She didn’t notice that Maria beside her kept glancing back.

Behind them, Louis, who had been wondering if Madison resembled a character from some movie in his memory, felt the gaze and looked up to see Maria; he waved, and she smiled back.

Emma suddenly said beside him, “Them?”

Clearly, Emma had recognized them too.

“Yeah, didn’t expect them to come to this school—looks like their family lives in Orlando too.”

“What a coincidence. But they seem terrified of you, Louis,” Emma said.

“What do you think?”

Louis shot a sour retort at Emma.

Emma smiled, her gaze fixed on their backs, lost in thought.

Soon, the teacher arrived. Louis barely listened to the lesson, but Emma beside him paid close attention; though not a genius like Maria, she had always been a good student—well, at least in grades and awards.

As soon as class ended, students began introducing themselves; in fact, some among them already knew each other from before, having been classmates, while others quickly found companions based on seating, appearance, or speech.

Though this was America, it was an instinctive behavior among students, driven by social needs.

Under these circumstances, people also gathered around Louis and Emma, but Louis ignored them, slumped on his desk, and began sleeping while circulating his internal Qi through the Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Orbits; his internal Qi had only taken a few steps toward deeper cultivation, still far from completion—he needed to strive to fully cultivate it as soon as possible.

Emma, meanwhile, offered a warm smile and chatted with the girls who approached.

But mostly, they chattered nonstop while Emma merely listened, the faint smile she’d shown at first long gone.

Madison and Maria had already left the classroom—no, accurately, Madison had dragged Maria out.

They were going to find the grade coordinator to apply for a class transfer.

In American schools, there was no homeroom teacher—only counselors and grade coordinators—so they could only go to the grade coordinator.

But they returned soon; Madison walked ahead with a dark expression. Yes, the application was denied—the coordinator rejected her idea and planned to notify the counselor to closely monitor her situation.

“Bitch, old bitch—just saying that much and now this? Even threatens to call my parents.”

“Ha, go ahead, call them. They don’t care anyway. If she can get through, she wins—I’d even thank her for letting me see those parents one more time.”

Madison kept muttering nonstop, venting her anger and resentment; behind her, Maria followed like a servant, listening with a look of helplessness, yet somehow accustomed to it.

They were neighbors and classmates, from elementary school until now—thoroughly familiar with each other.

Madison’s family was wealthy; her parents were said to work in film, not as stars, but behind the scenes.

They were usually busy and rarely came home, leaving Madison with loose supervision—or rather, mostly ignoring her entirely, merely ensuring material abundance; if not for Christmas, when they always returned, Maria even wondered if they had secretly divorced and remarried, forgetting they had a daughter named Madison.

Under these circumstances, Madison had grown up fiercely independent and hot-tempered—completely opposite to her…

Of course, compared to Madison’s family, hers might perhaps be slightly better.

Probably…

Maria touched her own face, a shadow crossing her eyes as she entered the classroom; her peripheral vision swept over Louis, who lay sleeping on his desk, utterly alone, and suddenly her gaze stirred.

Fire… fire…

The flames that had burned fiercely that day…

Had consumed the terrifying Esther, remaining calm throughout, unafraid, unshaken—instead, controlling others’ emotions!

That scene from elementary school had left a deep impression on her, one she could never forget.

Never expected to meet him again today.

So… what should she do?

Maria shrank, lowering her head.

…

American high schools also had clubs, especially private schools, which strongly supported student hobbies—partly because the equipment purchased for these clubs generated considerable profit, and competitions held their own hidden advantages.

As for other reasons?

It always came down to fame and profit.

But American students had a bold, rebellious spirit—they could invent anything bizarre.

Clubs were no exception.

There were plenty of normal clubs—photography, exploration—but even more bizarre ones: pasta club, guessing students’ underwear color club, paranormal club, religion club, New Orleans chicken wing club…

Everything imaginable existed—nothing they hadn’t invented.

But none of this concerned Louis; he had a clear goal and went straight to the Paranormal Club—he planned to join a club just to skip class.

But choosing a club required thought, and he also wanted to see if there were any people here who truly enjoyed courting death.

The Paranormal Club was his first choice; upon arriving, he found it a tiny group with only five or six active members, the rest mere nominal members. Given American students’ love for adventure, the numbers shouldn’t be this low.

The reason? Most had been lured away by the neighboring Exploration Club—wasn’t having girls enough?

But for Louis, whether a club was suitable didn’t depend on that—he needed to see what they actually did.

Ultimately, he judged by their routine activities: visiting haunted houses, abandoned mansions, playing paranormal games, seeking mediums—all to verify the existence of malevolent spirits.

The Paranormal Club won Louis’s favor.

He joined without hesitation.

What else could he do? Their reckless behavior was too tempting to abandon!

“Perfect! The Paranormal Club gains another member—time to celebrate!”

“Decided! Next month we’ll organize an expedition to that villa we picked!”

Club president Gilmore del Toro shouted.

The other members responded enthusiastically.

“Ooooh!”

“Very good!”

“Yeah!”

“…”

Clearly, these few were true believers in paranormal exploration.

At that moment, Gilmore turned to Louis, looking embarrassed.

“Louis, look—can you help us with something? We’re still too few. How about you go recruit? With your looks…”

“Best to recruit girls?” Louis smiled.

Gilmore nodded, then shook his head. “Guys are fine too—as long as they’re people.”

Though he wasn’t ugly, he was slightly overweight; in American schools, fat kids were often bullied—he was lucky not to be bullied at all, let alone go out recruiting.

The other members weren’t handsome or beautiful either—no appeal.

Louis was different; just one look confirmed he was a guy. If Louis went recruiting, boys might not come, but girls definitely would!

The Paranormal Club could grow!

Then.

Louis flatly refused—he had no such idle time, nor any intention to use his looks to lure people in; joining the Paranormal Club was merely to add some fun to his school life.

After confirming the activity time and location, Louis returned home directly.

Because school ended early, Louis and Emma got home quickly.

At home.

Louis met Yulinka; she seemed in good spirits, humming a tune—apparently, she had already become class president on her first day by being well-behaved and excelling socially.

She was one step closer to her ultimate goal: becoming a student council representative.

For the next half-month, Louis rarely attended class, instead staying with the Paranormal Club, focused on reading the doll journal while quietly cultivating Qi; the spacious classroom usually had few people, giving him ample space and time.

Lying on a recliner, basking in warm sunlight, sipping black tea—comfortable~

During this period, no events occurred; life remained calm and uneventful.

Everything felt too peaceful—almost strange.

In fact, this was the usual state of life; how many dramatic upheavals could there really be? And he needed a little rest anyway—Qi cultivation required time, even for the Left Path.

The Right Path took ten years; the Left Path needed at least one to three years—faster than that, and even the final foundation would vanish!

Time passed quietly like this for ten days.

School life settled into stability.

But some people were born to be restless—like Emma, Yulinka, and… Madison.

Eventually, they stirred up some ripples at school.

And as time passed, cliques had fully formed; American-style bullying began to emerge. After all, school was a relatively closed micro-society—even a new school with ample funding and faculty couldn’t avoid it.

Among American boys, bullying targeted the weak—slim or overweight boys both suffered.

Among girls, they ostracized the shy, bullied the ugly or the overly beautiful.

And there were types both genders liked to bully…

The reasons were complex, but mostly stemmed from ridiculous, childish motives, with only a few acting as leaders while most simply followed the crowd.

Coincidentally, Maria, Madison, Emma, and Yulinka all belonged to the beautiful group.

(End of Chapter)