Chapter 79

When Tan Wenbin walked into the fair-price store, Runsheng and the others were still busy checking the goods.

He walked to the beverage shelf, wanting to take a drink, but remembered he didn't put money in his pocket after changing into athletic shorts. Sticking to the principle of not causing trouble for them, he still walked to the counter, picked up a tea mug, and drank several gulps of water.

"Need help?"

Yinmeng, holding a pen and a ledger, shook her head: "No, almost finished counting. There are really a lot of goods."

"That's for sure."

Yinmeng pointed to the shelf where daily necessities were placed and said: "Before school starts, we have to stock another batch of daily necessities."

Auntie Sun laughed: "It's like this every year."

Yinmeng: "We have to pack straw mats, mattresses, quilts, basins, cups, towels, etc., into a set, and hang a discount sign to sell them together."

Auntie Sun was stunned for a moment. She wanted to continue showing off her seniority, but for a moment, she couldn't open her mouth.

Tan Wenbin leaned against the counter and teased: "Not bad, it seems you have already entered the state."

Yinmeng said regretfully: "Logically speaking, students should receive quite a few second-hand items after graduation. Clean them up and they could be sold cheaply to freshmen in the new semester. Didn't we collect them at the end of last semester?"

Auntie Sun shook her head: "We haven't done this before."

Yinmeng nodded: "Then let's do it this way in the future. Most students are still from ordinary family conditions."

Tan Wenbin leaned against the counter and teased: "Sure enough, it was the coffin shop that constrained you."

"Since we are going to do it, we have to do it well. I also plan to open a hot food area here. Put in a hot pot base and add some meatballs and tripe to boil. Sell them individually, like hot pot skewers."

"Good idea, but don't cook it yourself."

Yinmeng looked at Tan Wenbin with some dissatisfaction.

Tan Wenbin reminded very seriously: "This is a school. Causing a collective food safety problem is very serious."

Yinmeng didn't argue, just shook the pen in her hand: "Okay, I understand."

Runsheng put all the goods beside his feet onto the shelf, then clapped his hands and looked at Tan Wenbin: "Did you go fishing just now?"

"Hmm."

"Any harvest?"

"Someone was shouting at me from behind by the lakeside, but when I turned back, I couldn't see anyone."

Runsheng was a bit surprised: "Really?"

Auntie Sun asked: "Is it the lake in the west? There are indeed many people who like to run there on weekdays, and couples also like to go there."

Tan Wenbin asked curiously: "Auntie Sun, you have been in this school for a long time. Do you know any school ghost stories?"

"Ghost stories?"

"Yeah, we are relatively interested in this aspect."

"Where would there be any ghost stories? They are all idle chatter. If you want to talk about dead people, quite a few people have indeed died in the school. Every semester there are some—jumping off buildings, drowning, taking medicine, even choking to death, all have happened."

As long as the number of people in an area reaches a certain base, dying a person isn't considered a rare thing.

But what Tan Wenbin wanted to hear wasn't this. He continued to ask:

"Isn't there any place that is relatively eerie?"

"Eerie places?" Auntie Sun covered her mouth and laughed, "This is a school, where would there be eerie places? But a while ago, I heard a sister of mine say that things often happen at night at General Mountain."

"General Mountain?"

"They are all rumors, not to be taken seriously."

"Alright then. Runsheng, Yinmeng, you guys keep busy, I'm going back. Brother Yuanzi is still alone in the dormitory."

Tan Wenbin walked back to the dormitory building. When passing by the

"Auntie Ran."

"You brat, you scared me." Tan Wenbin had just helped her move some things before going downstairs for his night run earlier, so the two of them could be considered acquaintances.

Auntie Ran picked up a piece of sponge cake and handed it to the young man.

Tan Wenbin didn't reach out to take it, but instead opened his mouth: "Ah..."

Auntie Ran could only smile and place the sponge cake into the young man's mouth.

"What are you busy with?" Tan Wenbin asked while chewing.

"Writing a letter to my daughter."

"Can't you just call?"

"How expensive phone bills are."

"Just use the public phone for private business."

"Hmm?" Auntie Ran paused for a moment before she understood what he meant, then laughed and scolded, "You brat know quite a lot; it seems your family doesn't do this kind of thing any less."

"Wrongly accused. My dad is a man of strong principles. When I was little, I always wanted my dad to drive the police car to take me to school, but my dad never did that even once."

"Your dad is quite good, really."

"That's for sure, and don't look at whose dad he is."

"Hehe." Auntie Ran put down her pen and rubbed her wrist: "Whew... finished writing. Actually, even if I called, when I picked up the receiver, there wouldn't be much to say anyway."

"Come, let me see, I'll help you check for typos."

"Go, go, go, go back to your dormitory."

"Goodnight, Auntie."

"Goodnight, you brat."

After Tan Wenbin left, Auntie Ran took out a matchbox, struck a match, lit the envelope, and when it was half-burned, she put it into a large tea mug at her feet.

Beside the tea mug sat a shoebox, its packaging torn halfway, revealing the black high-heeled shoes inside.

"Clap!"

After entering the room, Tan Wenbin turned on the light and found that Li Zhuiyuan was already lying on the bed.

He immediately turned the light off again.

"Brother Binbin, you're back."

"Did I wake you up, Brother Xiaoyuan?"

"I wasn't asleep."

"Oh, you went to sleep really early today."

"It's not early, look at what time it is."

"Alright, then I'll come back earlier at night from now on." Tan Wenbin picked up his washbasin and towel, intending to go to the water pool outside to take a shower.

When he came back after dinner, he had already washed there with Xiaoyuan.

There was a bathroom in the school area, but firstly it was quite far, and secondly, it was currently closed for business. Actually, even if it opened in the future, Tan Wenbin felt he would be too lazy to go. It was a boys' dormitory, after all; wouldn't it be more refreshing to just go to the water pool, take a basin to catch water, and splash it on yourself, then shake your bird and walk back to the dormitory dashingly after rinsing off?

Just as he was about to open the door, he discovered a talisman stuck to the dormitory door.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, this is..."

"It has been here."

"Ah?"

Tan Wenbin immediately raised the basin with his left hand and grabbed the towel with his right, entering a state of alert.

"It ran away."

"Oh." Tan Wenbin relaxed, "Brother, what kind of thing was it?"

"It ran too fast, I didn't see it."

"Brother, from now on I'll try my best not to go out at night, to protect you."

"I'm going to sleep."

"Hmm." Tan Wenbin opened the dormitory door, his large slippers making a crisp "slap-slap" sound as he walked down the hallway, "What the hell am I night running for? Might as well stay and guard Xiaoyuan. Tsk, our Brother Xiaoyuan is even more eerie."

The next morning, Li Zhuiyuan woke up.

Habitually turning his head to the side, he saw Tan Wenbin still fast asleep.

The sense of contrast was still quite large.

Li Zhuiyuan got out of bed, picked up his basin, and walked to the sink. While he was washing up, someone came in humming a song behind him.

"Hey, little brother, are you also here to attend university? Hahaha."

"Yes."

"Uh..." the other person asked hesitantly, "Are you really here to attend university?"

"Yes."

"Damn, for real?"

Li Zhuiyuan finished washing up, packed his things into the basin, turned around, and walked out.

The other person brushed his teeth while leaning out, and only retracted his head after seeing Li Zhuiyuan walk into the dormitory at the very end.

The boy put down his washbasin and had just sat down at the desk when Tan Wenbin woke up. He bent down to pick up the quilt he had kicked off the bed, muttering:

"It's better to sleep in a coffin, no need to worry about kicking the quilt."

After getting out of bed, Tan Wenbin stretched: "Brother Xiaoyuan, wait for me to finish washing up and I'll go out and bring you breakfast."

"No need, we'll go find Brother Runsheng and the others in a while. We're going out to play these few days; once school starts, they'll have to watch the shop and won't have time."

"That's true."

Tan Wenbin went out with his washbasin. After a while, he opened the door and came back, saying with a smile:

"A sophomore just kept chasing me at the sink asking if you were a student. He's a pretty good guy, named Lu Yi, from Harbin, and he even gave me a piece of red sausage."

As he spoke, Tan Wenbin took a bite himself: "Mmm, the taste is very authentic."

"Have you eaten red sausage before?"

"Never, but the taste when I ate it for the first time is authentic to me."

"He didn't go home?"

"No, he's staying at school to do part-time tutoring. He said his hometown is in the countryside, so it's not convenient to tutor back home."

Li Zhuiyuan and Tan Wenbin arrived at the discount store. They had already finished taking inventory last night, and business wasn't busy now, so they left Auntie Sun to watch the shop, and the four of them walked out of the school gate together and got on the bus.

Tan Wenbin noticed Runsheng carrying a large bag and asked: "Runsheng, bringing so much water?"

Bringing your own water before going to tourist attractions or buying it outside the attraction is a common memory of travel for people in the country these days.

Because water inside the scenic area is relatively expensive, and as for what to do about food... normal people wouldn't be willing to buy things to eat inside the scenic area.

"Last night we counted a lot of near-expiry and just-expired food, so I brought them all. I have a big appetite, and eating and drinking outside is expensive, so it's just right to eat them."

"Runsheng, you're a second boss now, why are you still so stingy? You should show some style."

Runsheng patted the large bag: "These are all good things. It was hard to get to eat them when I was little. I never dreamed I'd be able to eat snacks to my heart's content one day."

After the four of them got off the bus, they first went into a duck blood vermicelli shop and had breakfast.

Then they visited several scenic spots in a row that day. The whole time, Li Zhuiyuan provided the commentary. By the time they finished at dusk, Li Zhuiyuan felt his throat was a bit hoarse.

There was no help for it; anyone could see the magnificent natural scenery with their own eyes, but without someone to explain the cultural sites in detail, one could only look at flowers while riding a horse, and would soon slip out and shout that it was meaningless.

The four of them took the last bus back to school, then went to "Old Sichuan" for dinner, and separated into pairs after entering the school gate.

Runsheng walked into the shop and didn't see Auntie Sun. He was still carrying a portion of brown sugar sticky rice cakes he had specially packed for her.

"Maybe she's downstairs." Yin Meng picked up a hair tie to tie up her hair, then picked up a broom and started sweeping the floor.

Runsheng walked toward the basement and knocked on the door of Auntie Sun's room. There was no response from inside, and the light was off, so she probably wasn't there.

Runsheng had no choice but to return to his room, only to find the dog cage was actually empty.

He searched around and finally found the black dog curled up into a ball under the bed.

The black dog was not its usual lazy self; instead, its eyes were watery, and its whole body was trembling.

Runsheng stood up silently, walked to his luggage, and took out the Yellow River shovel.

Yin Meng, who was sweeping the floor, heard the sound of a stool rubbing coming from upstairs. It was still early before school started, and there were no performance activities that needed rehearsal, so logically there shouldn't be anyone upstairs.

Walking to the stairs, Yin Meng shouted toward the top: "Auntie Sun, is that you upstairs, Auntie Sun?"

There was no response, but the sound of the chair rubbing became even clearer.

Yin Meng walked up the stairs to the second floor. The lights weren't on, but borrowing the moonlight coming through the window, she could vaguely see a figure dancing there.

The other person was dancing very intently, occasionally knocking over the chairs placed around.

The light switch was right at the stairs, and Yin Meng reached her hand over.

"Clap!"

The light came on, and the figure disappeared.

The large wooden-floored dance studio appeared empty.

Footsteps came from behind. Yin Meng turned around immediately, and after seeing it was Runsheng, she let out a sigh of relief.

Runsheng walked up holding the Yellow River shovel, and when he passed by Yin Meng, he said: "Xiao Hei saw something and got scared."

Hearing this, Yin Meng was also scared.

Runsheng held the shovel and walked to the center of the dance studio, looking around.

Yin Meng followed up and said: "Just now I heard the sound of a chair upstairs. After I came up, I saw a person's figure dancing here. After I turned on the light, it was gone."

Runsheng asked: "Could it be a living person?"

Yin Meng shook her head: "It's impossible for a living person to disappear that quickly before my eyes."

Even setting aside their profession as corpse fishers, the two of them were now true martial arts practitioners, and their observation and reaction skills were much stronger than ordinary people.

"Let's go, go tell Xiaoyuan."

"Hmm."

The two of them had just gone downstairs when they saw Auntie Sun coming in carrying a thermal bucket.

"Hey, isn't this a coincidence? The dorm manager of Building 9 just called me to eat tangyuan. I thought the shop couldn't be left unattended for a long time, so I brought it back. Come, come, come, let's eat together."

Auntie Sun walked to the counter, put down the thermal bucket, and enthusiastically invited the two of them over.

Runsheng looked at Yin Meng, signaling her to go notify Xiaoyuan while he stayed here.

Yin Meng shook her head slightly; that was the boys' dormitory, it wasn't convenient for her to go, so Runsheng should go while she stayed here.

Runsheng's gaze was firm, meaning it was also very simple for her to enter the boys' dormitory.

The two of them had been practicing and sparring for so long that they naturally didn't lack tacit understanding, and a glance was even simpler.

Yin Meng had no choice but to run out of the shop.

Auntie Sun asked suspiciously: "Eh, where did she go?"

Runsheng: "Went to deliver something to our friend."

"Then let's eat first, tangyuan will swell and fall apart if left for too long."

"I packed sticky rice cakes for you, they're downstairs. I'll go down and get them."

"No need, eating this is enough. Eating too much at night is easy to cause indigestion."

"Oh, okay."

Runsheng walked behind the counter and placed the shovel on a chair.

"Runsheng, what are you doing with a shovel?"

"A piece of wall plaster fell off, I plan to shovel it down and repaint it."

"This shovel's style looks quite complicated, where did you buy it?"

"Brought it from home."

"Oh, no wonder. Come, you eat first." Auntie Sun unscrewed the thermal bucket and handed a spoon to Runsheng, "Eat quickly, taste our local tangyuan."

"What day is it today, to eat tangyuan?"

"The birthday of the dorm manager auntie of Building 9."

"Oh."

Runsheng nodded, took the spoon but didn't rush to scoop the tangyuan, instead taking a thick stick of incense out of a tin box and lighting it.

"Is this a cigar?"

"It's incense." Based on the fact that they would have to watch the shop together in the future, Runsheng didn't avoid her.

"Incense?"

"This is my personal habit when eating, it's been like this since I was little, I can't change it."

"This kind of habit is really peculiar, but I've heard that some children even dig wall plaster to eat, yours is even cleaner."

Suddenly, a white light flashed; it was lightning.

Immediately after,

"Boom!"

Thunder sounded, it started raining outside, and the wind also blew in from the door.

Auntie Sun: "This season is just like this, it just starts a thunderstorm out of the blue. Eat quickly, have a taste."

Runsheng didn't put the spoon down, but instead looked at the incense he had just lit.

The wind outside blew in, blowing his hair and the book pages on the counter, but the incense smoke still curled up, rising straight.

Runsheng raised his head.

Above,

was a pair of floating feet.

"Thanks for your hard work today, Brother Xiaoyuan, do you want to drink soda?"

"You drink it, Brother Binbin."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you don't like sweet things. Then I'll brew you a cup of tea... let me look, I remember my mom put two bags of my dad's prized tea leaves in my luggage when I came. Hey, found it."

Tan Wenbin brewed a cup of tea and placed it on Xiaoyuan's desk.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, have a taste."

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the teacup, took a sip, and nodded.

"How does it feel?"

"Your dad didn't take bribes."

"Uh, hahahaha!" Tan Wenbin couldn't help but burst into laughter, then wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand and said, "Then I'll go buy you some good tea leaves tomorrow."

"No need."

Counting the days, Grandma Liu should appear near the school in a few days.

Tea has no good or bad, only taste preferences. The problem is that he was used to the taste of Liu Yumei's tea, but that kind of taste was extremely expensive.

The tea that the elderly in the family compound had to hold a tea party to invite everyone to savor together after getting a little bit was just daily rations for Liu Yumei.

"Rumblings!"

"Oh, it's going to rain."

Tan Wenbin walked over to close the window and collected the clothes by the way.

Just at this moment, outside the hallway, came the "tick... tick... tick..." sound of high-heeled shoes.

Tan Wenbin heard it, and immediately excitedly made a "shh" gesture to Li Zhuiyuan, although the boy was sitting at the desk and hadn't moved at all.

Tan Wenbin did a series of rolls on the ground, grabbed the Yellow River shovel, and then tiptoed to the side of the dormitory door, just as the high-heeled shoes walked to the door again.

The sound of friction, the shoes turning toward the dormitory door.

"Brother Binbin..." "Shh shh!" Tan Wenbin waved his hands continuously at Li Zhuiyuan, signaling him not to scare that thing away again.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the book and said: "It's a living person."

"Ah? Oh... that, I know."

Tan Wenbin stood up, used his left hand to brush his hair and his right hand to touch his thigh, focusing on using awkwardness to relieve awkwardness.

"Knock knock..."

"Binbin, are you there?"

It was the voice of the dorm manager, Auntie Ran.

Tan Wenbin opened the door, and Auntie Ran stood at the door holding a ceramic bowl.

A pair of chopsticks rested on the bowl, inside were tangyuan, and the outer wall of the bowl was printed with red characters: Labor Model.

"Auntie Ran."

"Auntie cooked some tangyuan, brought some for you. Remember to return the bowl and chopsticks to Auntie tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you, Auntie."

Auntie Ran poked her head into the room and smiled at Li Zhuiyuan sitting at the desk: "Our top scholar should also eat a little."

Li Zhuiyuan turned to the side and returned a shy smile.

Tan Wenbin asked: "Auntie is dressed up tonight, and even wearing high heels."

"Today is my birthday."

"Oh my, why didn't you tell me yesterday? If I had known, I would have prepared a cake for you."

"You brat only knows how to be sweet-tongued."

"Auntie, happy birthday."

"Alright, alright, remember to return the bowl and chopsticks."

Auntie Ran walked away in her high heels.

Tan Wenbin closed the door.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, I didn't talk to Auntie about your affairs. She manages the dormitory and knows that the students who live in this room are not ordinary. She had already inquired about who you were, and even wondered why the newspaper didn't publish the photos of the top college entrance exam scholar this year."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't cooperate with the publicity, and Wu Xinhan didn't force it; anyway, it was enough that the provincial top scholar came from his own high school.

"Hmm, it doesn't matter if you said it. After entering university, college entrance exam scores have no meaning."

"Brother Xiaoyuan, want one?"

"I've brushed my teeth, not eating."

"Then I'll eat." Tan Wenbin picked up the chopsticks and had just picked up a tangyuan when he suddenly heard the sound of the window being opened, followed by a woman's face suddenly poking out, scaring him so much that he threw the bowl in his hand out and shouted, "Mom!"

Yin Meng climbed in.

Tan Wenbin complained: "No, why don't you use the door?"

"I'm a girl."

Tan Wenbin raised two fingers to make a walking gesture: "It's just one dorm manager auntie, you could have just bent over and walked past her windowsill."

"Climbing the wall is still more convenient."

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Yin Meng and asked: "Did something happen at Brother Runsheng's place?"

"I was in the dance studio above the shop and saw the shadow that disappeared."

Tan Wenbin bent down, preparing to clean up the tangyuan spilled on the ground: "What's the big deal? It's just like what Brother Xiaoyuan said, when the few of us get together, the dirty things will naturally gravitate toward us."

Yin Meng continued: "Runsheng said Xiao Hei was scared."

"Damn!" Tan Wenbin stood up straight immediately.

The black dog had been fed medicinal supplements since it was young, and it was also the purest five-black dog. In normal circumstances, this type of dog would only become more fierce and excited when encountering dirty things.

Therefore, the thing that could scare it must have a very big background, and it was definitely not some ordinary dirty thing.

After the four of them left Nantong, they thought about fishing for dead bodies to get their fix, but that only referred to normal dead bodies, definitely not this kind of big guy with extremely strong challenging power.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the drawer and picked up the whip: "Brother Runsheng is trapped?"

"No, he stayed in the shop and asked me to notify you."

"Why did you separate?"

"Because Auntie Sun came back halfway, so Runsheng stayed in the shop to keep her company."

The next moment, Yin Meng saw a flash of indifference in Li Zhuiyuan's eyes.

Just this one look made Yin Meng's back suddenly feel cold.

It wasn't disgust or anger, but it was higher than those two emotions.

The boy was instinctively rejecting this kind of stupid choice.

But soon, the boy closed his eyes and opened them again, his gaze recovered, and then he responded faintly: "Hmm."

The three of them ran out of the dormitory building quickly. On the way, they passed the dorm manager auntie's office; the window was closed and the light was off.

Arriving at the shop entrance in the rain, Li Zhuiyuan stopped and raised his hand.

Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng also stopped immediately.

It was still raining, and rainwater was dripping continuously from the shop door frame.

But the problem was, the door was inside the building and there was a terrace above it; it was impossible for rainwater to hit that and form a water curtain cave pattern.

Li Zhuiyuan specially looked up and scanned it, but didn't see a water line.

Unless the internal wall of this activity building was cracked, and the rainwater seeped in and just happened to flow out along the crack above the door frame, but how could there be such a coincidence in this world?

Therefore, the water dripping from the door and the rainwater outside were not from the same source.

Li Zhuiyuan: "It's inside."

Seeing that Brother Xiaoyuan didn't intend to rush inside, Tan Wenbin didn't dare to act rashly either, but instead shouted loudly toward the inside:

"Runsheng, Runsheng!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "There is miasma, they can't hear inside."

"Oh..." Tan Wenbin shrank his neck.

If there is miasma, rushing in means entering its trap, either getting lost or falling into a coma; in short, it would waste a lot of time.

Li Zhuiyuan's eyes narrowed, he held the whip in his right hand and snapped his fingers with his left:

"Clap!"

In the state of walking in the underworld, the water dripping from the door frame turned into a black, thick state, and while falling, it kept flowing to both sides and then up, like a living thing.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his whip and lashed out at the dynamic black line on the ground!

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Three times in a row, this process was interrupted.

In reality, from the perspective of Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng, it was just Xiaoyuan lashing a few times at the ground, and the water curtain on the door frame stopped by itself.

Li Zhuiyuan shouted: "Yin Meng, enter."

Yin Meng didn't hesitate and was the first to rush in, Li Zhuiyuan was the second, and Tan Wenbin was the third.

Everyone actually hadn't practiced coordination at all on weekdays, but when encountering dangerous situations, they all knew who should be protected as the core.

Originally, Runsheng was the most suitable to lead the charge, but he was inside now.

Everything in the shop was normal, it was just that the lighting was a bit dim.

By the counter, Auntie Sun was lying there, having fallen into a coma.

Li Zhuiyuan took a deep look at Auntie Sun's back.

Runsheng was not seen on the first floor, and upstairs, "Thump! Thump! Thump!" three heavy blows in a row.

"Go upstairs!"

Following the order of entering the door, the three of them ran upstairs quickly. Just as they ran to the corner of the stairs, the surrounding walls and the stairs under their feet started to fluctuate, as if they had turned into liquid, and the shaking amplitude started to increase continuously.

Yin Meng could only bend down, barely maintaining her balance.

Tan Wenbin fell to the ground on his butt, unable to distinguish the direction, his center of gravity completely lost.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up toward the top of the stairs; it was preventing them from entering.

This meant that Runsheng was still fighting with it.

"Follow me!"

Li Zhuiyuan raised the whip in his hand and lashed at the empty space in front of him. While the sound of the whip exploding in the air rang out, he also closed his eyes, his ears trembling slightly.

Then, in the line of sight of Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin, Xiaoyuan was walking in the direction of the stairs downstairs.

They immediately lowered their gaze and looked at the positions Xiaoyuan had stepped on.

Then Yin Meng jumped over, and Tan Wenbin crawled using his hands and feet; anyway, they all had to move along the "memory footprints."

Finally, Tan Wenbin crawled out, the sense of space around them returned to normal. He stood up and saw Runsheng nailed to the wall by a piece of steel bar.

Yin Meng saw it earlier than Tan Wenbin, her eyes red, but she didn't move, still standing in front of Xiaoyuan.

Tan Wenbin immediately raised the shovel, came behind Xiaoyuan, and kept looking around and overhead.

"Over there!"

Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin discovered a spot on the ceiling at the same time, where black liquid was dripping, accompanied by a rich, fishy stench.

Looking up further, it seemed there was a black shadow stuck on top. It must have been seriously injured in the fight with Runsheng.

"Hum!"

The black shadow started to squirm, its figure disappeared from its original position, but the dripping liquid still existed, only it had changed direction; it was actively approaching the three of them.

"Hum!" "Hum!" "Hum!"

Disappearing and reappearing several times in a row, the traces of black blood on the ground got closer and closer.

Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin immediately raised their tools toward that direction.

Li Zhuiyuan was closing his eyes.

The black blood appeared right in front of them.

Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin each raised their Yellow River shovels.

Li Zhuiyuan shouted: "Opposite direction!"

The two of them turned directly and slapped down toward the opposite direction.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

Two muffled sounds came out in a row.

Tan Wenbin only felt his arms go numb from the recoil, almost cramping.

Yin Meng, after one shovel, leaped into the air on the spot, kicking out continuously with both feet toward that position; this was a standard leg technique for kicking a dead body.

"Thump thump thump!"

A mass of sludge appeared in the place that was originally invisible, sludge splattered everywhere, and a body was revealed inside. At its waist position, black blood different from the sludge was flowing out gurglingly.

Yin Meng raised her shovel forward again, aiming hard at the other party's wound and slashing diagonally.

The scattered sludge suddenly retracted at this moment and hit Yin Meng.

"Bang!"

Yin Meng lost her balance and was forced to fall toward the sludge.

But at the moment before touching, Yin Meng supported the ground with one hand, tightened her waist, used her arm as an axis, threw her whole body up, and kicked the sludge hard with both feet again.

The sludge scattered again, and the face of the body inside appeared. To be precise, she had a head but no face; the position where the face should have been seemed to have been eaten away, the whole thing sunken in.

It could be seen that she was a woman, because of that long, straight black hair.

It flew out of the sludge and pounced toward Yin Meng.

Yin Meng was just preparing to pick up the shovel to defend.

Just at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on it.

A silent, sharp scream instantly rang out throughout the entire dance studio, and both Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin felt a sharp tearing pain in their eardrums.

And that faceless person immediately changed direction and pounced toward Li Zhuiyuan.

It felt a huge threat; this boy was attempting to control it!

Tan Wenbin, who had been staying by Xiaoyuan's side and hadn't gone up to fight, took the initiative to rush out this time, protecting Li Zhuiyuan, and gave the oncoming faceless person a powerful shovel.

"Bang!"

The shovel hit the faceless head solidly, and Tan Wenbin flew backward, taking Li Zhuiyuan behind him down as well.

Oh no, I knocked Xiaoyuan down!

Tan Wenbin, who was shaken to the point of bleeding from his mouth and nose, gritted his teeth and climbed up to reach for the dropped Yellow River shovel, but a hand behind him grabbed his arm to borrow strength to get up.

Li Zhuiyuan glared at it.

This kind of close-quarters combat, every moment could decide life or death. No matter how many tools there were, there was actually no room for them to be used; this was an encounter battle, not a trap-setting hunt.

Therefore, Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin could only manage to use the Yellow River shovel to fight from beginning to end, while Li Zhuiyuan used the method of controlling dead bodies from Wei Zhengdao's black-covered book as soon as he came up.

The boy's spread-out palm clenched suddenly.

"Hum!"

The faceless person's figure stopped on the spot.

Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin both let out a sigh of relief, success!

However, the joy of success only lasted for a few short seconds. Deep within the faceless person's black, sunken face, two red eyes emerged.

Li Zhuiyuan's face revealed shock: Damn it, it was already being controlled!

Blood started to overflow from the corners of the boy's eyes, but he still kept his eyes wide open, ignoring the crazy seesawing and tearing in his consciousness in the state of walking in the underworld.

The faceless person's body started to tremble violently, black blood mist erupted continuously, and the body seemed to be falling apart.

Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin looked at each other. One took out a homecoming net, and the other extended a seven-star hook. But just at this moment, the faceless person, sensing that it might be completely left here, suddenly started to expand.

"Boom!"

Black mist overflowed, obscuring their vision.

The faceless person's figure started to retreat quickly, smashed the glass on the second floor, and disappeared.

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head, squatted down slowly, and pressed his hands over his eyes.

So painful...

Li Zhuiyuan's heart was full of horror.

Before, in Shigang Town, he had encountered that Taisui dead body that could control ghosts, but those two ghosts possessing the thugs were all beaten down by Runsheng alone at that time.

But if the faceless person just now was also a ghost, then how terrifying must the person controlling her from behind be?

Why would such a level of thing exist in the school?

"Xiaoyuan, are you okay?" Tan Wenbin asked with concern.

Yin Meng also squatted to the side.

Although Runsheng was still nailed to the wall, no one went to look at him now.

It wasn't cold-blooded, but they were worried that after splitting up, that thing would return and attack Xiaoyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "Go check on Runsheng's situation, she's falling apart, she won't come back."

"Hmm."

Yin Meng immediately got up and ran toward Runsheng.

Runsheng grabbed the steel bar penetrating his shoulder with his left hand, gasping for air continuously.

His pale face showed that he had exhausted most of his strength in the previous fight.

In fact, the reason Li Zhuiyuan was able to successfully activate it and almost control that dead body was also because Runsheng had beaten it into serious injury beforehand.

"What to do?" Yin Meng asked.

"Support me... out."

"Can you?"

"Can... not in a vital spot."

Tan Wenbin also ran over to help at this time. The two of them supported Runsheng's body from left and right, and then Runsheng grabbed the steel bar with one hand and moved forward bit by bit.

It was equivalent to walking through the process of being penetrated by the steel bar again.

Finally, after breaking free from the restraint, Runsheng fell to his knees with a "thump," opened his mouth, and breathed heavily.

Fortunately, the wound position was not in a vital spot; if it had deviated inward a little bit more, it would have been the most terrifying fatal wound.

This was the first time Runsheng had been made to look so miserable. Thinking from another angle, it was because Runsheng was still able to survive the fight with that faceless person; if it were anyone else, whether it was Yin Meng or Tan Wenbin, they would definitely have died long ago.

Li Zhuiyuan walked over. Although he had wiped it, there were still blood stains remaining at the corners of his eyes.

Runsheng saw the boy's shoes, he raised his head hard and looked at the boy's face, especially the boy's gaze.

"Xiaoyuan... I... was wrong..."

Even the fiercest wild beast, under a long life of comfort, would gradually have its edges and corners smoothed out, become dull, and lose its former fierceness and decisiveness.

No one can keep that string taut at all times and always make the most correct and appropriate choice. Even a knife has to go to the whetstone every now and then.

Li Zhuiyuan's eyes revealed a feeling of concern:

"Brother Runsheng, are you okay?"

Runsheng nodded: "It's fine... minor injury."

Li Zhuiyuan knew that Runsheng wasn't acting tough; it seemed that as long as it wasn't a fatal injury, he could recover very quickly every time.

"Binbin, you take Runsheng to the school infirmary, just say he accidentally fell onto a steel bar while decorating."

"Okay."

Different from the infirmary in middle school that could only prescribe Ban Lan Gen, the university infirmary was more like a small hospital, and even at night, there were doctors on duty.

The biceps Tan Wenbin had trained played a role at this time; if it were an ordinary person, they really wouldn't be able to carry Runsheng's large frame.

Yin Meng originally wanted to follow, but Xiaoyuan didn't name her, so she stayed behind.

The two of them returned downstairs. Because that thing had left, the lights in the shop also returned to brightness.

Although it was still raining outside, the water curtain on the door frame had already disappeared.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the counter.

He noticed the slight swaying of Auntie Sun's earlobes, very slight, but it couldn't escape the capture of someone skilled in physiognomy.

Her previous coma wasn't faked, but her current sleep was fake.

Li Zhuiyuan knew she had a problem, which had nothing to do with the contact over the past two days; she was very normal at that time.

Everything stemmed from the posture she was in when the three of them came in.

If she had been lying on the ground with her limbs spread out, or if her head was broken and bleeding and she was on the verge of death, or even if she was shivering on the second floor under Runsheng's protection, all of that would be normal.

The most abnormal thing was that she was actually lying on the counter with both hands; this posture was like taking a nap during work on a weekday.

Such a fierce dead body, why would it be so gentle to you?

And, you were watching the shop all day today; if something was going to happen, it would have happened long ago. It just had to wait until Runsheng and the others came back to happen.

Although this logic is relatively cold-blooded and belongs to the presumption of guilt, Auntie Sun's being safe and sound is the biggest problem.

Especially now, she was actually still pretending to be in a coma.

She is unlikely to be the murderer, nor the controller, but the faceless dead body must have a connection with her!

Yin Meng has no problem with professional quality as a corpse fisher, but in other aspects, she is inevitably a bit slow. At this time, she still wanted to go up and wake Auntie Sun.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand and stopped Yin Meng's action.

Then, the boy reached out and grabbed the Yellow River shovel in Yin Meng's hand. Yin Meng immediately let go and handed it to him.

Li Zhuiyuan raised the Yellow River shovel and smashed it down toward the counter!

"Bang!"

"Ah!"

The glass on the counter shattered. Auntie Sun let out a scream, and while immediately raising her head, she fell to the ground. She supported herself with both hands, then was pricked by glass shards, gasping for air continuously.

Yin Meng's eyes revealed anger. She finally discovered that the other party was actually pretending to be in a coma. Thinking that Runsheng stayed behind because of her, Yin Meng clenched her fists.

Auntie Sun's gaze first looked at Yin Meng, then at the boy who was walking toward her step by step while raising the shovel.

The boy's shoe soles stepped on the broken glass, making a crisp "crunch crunch" sound, but on the boy's face, a warm smile appeared, just like the few times he had seen him over the past two days; he was always very sensible and polite.

Li Zhuiyuan squatted down while leaning on the Yellow River shovel, looked at Auntie Sun, and asked the coldest question in the most warm voice:

"The truth or be buried alive?"

(End of chapter)