Chapter 11: The Mysterious Revival of a Current High School Girl

Are human souls precious?

To Jianzi, the answer was yes.

They carry their own cherished memories, or beautiful pasts worth treasuring, or terrible pasts so awful they wished for death—but undeniably, every soul is unique.

If Jia Qi were to answer, the answer would be entirely different—“Fuck, bro, you don’t think human souls are something precious, do you? This planet has birthed a hundred billion humans!”

Omg, it’s 100000000000!

Throughout history, roughly a hundred billion conscious primates have walked the earth; excluding the eight billion still alive, nine hundred twenty billion have died—how many of those nine hundred twenty billion can truly say they met a peaceful end?

Spirits that remain unliberated and unbound by reincarnation become wandering ghosts—how many of those nine hundred twenty billion dead still “exist” in this world?

There is no exact number, but it is certain that the number of ghosts far exceeds what people imagine.

………………

Good morning.

Hss—

In the bright, soft sunlight, a faintly outlined, emaciated human figure tilted its head, grinning ear to ear as it politely greeted Jianzi.

Its entire body was bony and gaunt, messy black hair hanging down, its hollow eye sockets nearly pressing against Jianzi’s face; it wore the same high school uniform as them—but only the upper half.

Good morning, Xiao Hua.

Good morning, Jianzi. Huh? Why are you wearing sunglasses today?

The girl Jianzi called Xiao Hua had dazzling golden hair, radiating vitality; even the white uniform could not contain her ample curves. Her bright eyes curved into crescents as she bit into a fried rice bun with a loud “ahm!” while asking curiously.

“Nothing… my eyes have been a bit uncomfortable lately.” Jianzi ignored the female high school ghost standing between her and her friend, walking straight through the black lines to stand beside Xiao Hua.

“Whoa! That’s serious! You must go to the nurse’s office right away!” Bai Lu, Jianzi’s best friend, grabbed her hand without looking back and rushed toward the end of the hallway, completely disregarding the impending school bell and her unfinished breakfast.

“Wait… wait, Xiao Hua!” Jianzi finally stopped after being dragged a long way, panting as she called out.

“I’m really fine!”

The girl gave Jianzi a skeptical glance, but the black lenses hid her friend’s expression.

“Mm.” Jianzi nodded. In her heart, she apologized to Xiao Hua—after all, yin-yang eyes could count as an eye ailment.

Sunglasses—this was the simplest and most effective solution everyone had come up with yesterday.

As everyone knows, most ghosts are shades of gray or black. If Jianzi wore darker sunglasses, at least eighty percent of ghosts would vanish from her vision.

Of the remaining ones, another eighty percent were nothing but black outlines and clothing—so long as she didn’t focus entirely, their terrifying appearances could be easily ignored.

For example, before, Jianzi’s spiritual vision clarity had been 4K, even 8K; now it was at most 360p.

This made pretending not to see them far easier.

… Girls’ changing room…

“Jianzi, you seem to be in a good mood today.”

Hearing Xiao Hua’s cheerful tone, the girl touched her lips and realized they had subtly curled upward without her noticing.

She had just sent a message to the group about her sunglasses working.

【Da Mengshen: Am I a genius? I am definitely a genius!】

【Xia Na: Though I hate to admit it, I really couldn’t think of a better solution】

【Forever Seventeen: It’s this simple…】

She could almost hear the group owner laughing heartily.

“Did you watch the creepy story from yesterday?”

“Ah! I did! The one with the head!”

“If you open the locker…”

“Eww!”

Nearby, girls from their class were discussing a horror TV show—something that could not possibly frighten Jianzi, who had experienced far worse.

Hmph, the girl proudly adjusted her sunglasses, making sure they wouldn’t slip off.

“A head… there’s a head in the locker…”

“So scary!”

Xiao Hua was about to cry; having accidentally overheard the ghost story, she trembled violently, clutching her half-undressed shirt tightly over her chest, her facial muscles stiff, eyes wide open as if tears were about to burst forth.

“Xiao Hua is really afraid of this stuff.”

The girl solidified her resolve: she must not casually tell her family or friends about her awakened yin-yang eyes. She could handle it herself.

“Hey… can you open the locker for me?”

Xiao Hua spoke hesitantly.

“Why?”

“Because there might be a head inside! Please! Otherwise I can’t even change clothes!”

“There won’t be one…”

The girl sighed helplessly. They’d been to this changing room countless times—how could there possibly be a head in the locker?

Still, she could understand. Everyone had different thresholds for fear; some were naturally timid, while others remained unmoved even as mountains collapsed before them—unshakable, possessing iron hearts, unflinching even when blades were at their throats. Heroes like that—like her!

Swish—the locker door slid open.

“See? There’s nothing…”

“Thank goodness!” Xiao Hua, hiding behind Jianzi, sighed in relief upon seeing the empty locker. “Thanks so much, Jianzi, you’re the best!”

【Can you see it?】

Above the locker Xiao Hua thought was empty, a head three times the size of a normal human’s emerged, its glassy eyeballs bulging outward, its mouth stretched wide enough to swallow a basketball, all teeth and bloodied gums exposed, its throat repeating the malicious question over and over.

【Can you see it?】

【Can you see it?】

“Can’t see it~” Though she faintly heard the voice, she saw no demon or ghost—inside her mind, the girl cheered wildly.

Jianzi naturally turned her gaze toward Xiao Hua and sighed with envy.

As long as she acted “normally” or did “the same things as usual,” everything was fine. Compared to seeing them, auditory hallucinations were negligible!

Life in the ordinary Pingfan Valley was truly wonderful—Jianzi thought unconsciously.

Life was as easy as flipping your hand!

Bang!

The sunglasses, intact one second ago, suddenly cracked.

Their gazes met.

“Oh no oh no oh no… this is really bad!! There’s really a head in the locker!?”

Fighting back the urge to scream, the girl bit her lip hard, trembling all over, summoning the group chat in every passing second.

【YinYangEyeJianzi: Master, save me! @DaMengshen】

Jia Ji meditating under a waterfall: Jianzi? (unconcerned)

Everywhere—in fire, in water, in grass, in forests, in earth, in clouds, even in the girl’s skirt (mist)—those things were everywhere.

“They’re everywhere!”

(End of chapter)