Chapter 315

Two members of the drama force carefully pushed the heavy full-length mirror slowly along the track.

Classmate Tengyuan Kui quickly dialed the video call, aiming the phone screen at the pool direction, and also crowded over to look nervously.

As the mirror moved slowly, the angle of that dazzling spot of light on the clean school emblem in the distance changed imperceptibly but crucially.

A few seconds later—

"It appeared! It really appeared!!"

Classmate Tengyuan Kui's scream broke the silence of the hallway.

She pointed at the phone screen, almost jumping up with excitement.

I saw in the video screen that at the bottom of the deep water area of the swimming pool, which originally only had sparkling waves, a distorted black human silhouette was slowly emerging and twisting!

Even more horrifying was that at the "head" position of the human figure, a swaying dark shadow was connected, and under the specific perspective and distortion of the water waves, it was like a rope tightening around the neck!

"My God! It's really exactly the same as the legend!"

"So amazing! It was actually reproduced!"

The drama force members crowded around one after another, seeing the scene on the phone screen, unable to help but let out bursts of low exclamations and sighs, their faces filled with wonder and admiration.

Jiandao Force captain Shanshan Yingshu rushed forward, staring fixedly at the image on Classmate Tengyuan Kui's phone screen.

His face changed constantly, from the initial iron-blue to the extremely ugly look after verifying the facts, finally turning into deep annoyance and self-reproach.

He turned around suddenly, facing Natsume Chikage, his body straight, and without any hesitation, bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle.

"Natsume-kun!"

His voice was somewhat hoarse due to shame and excitement.

"For my shallow and ignorant questioning and offensive words earlier—I offer you my most sincere apology!"

"Really... very sorry!"

He stood up straight, no arrogance left on his face, only heaviness.

"You are right... this event, tracing the source, was indeed a problem caused by our Jiandao Force's lax internal management and improper style! It is my dereliction of duty as captain!"

Natsume Chikage stepped forward, reaching out to help him up, his face also somewhat complex, whispering:

"Captain Shanshan... since you already understand the crux of the matter, I won't go into the details."

"It's just that, regarding the subsequent handling... please be sure to grasp the measure, don't go too far."

Hearing this, Shanshan Yingshu's expression became even more complex; he looked at Natsume Chikage deeply and said solemnly again:

"I understand. Thank you for your reminder."

After speaking, he could no longer suppress the raging anger and shame in his chest, turning around suddenly like an angry lion, striding toward the Jiandao Force training ground downstairs with a menacing momentum.

Anyone could see that those few members who used club activity time to do improper things were about to face the captain's towering anger and severe punishment.

Classmate Tengyuan Kui looked at Shanshan Yingshu's angry back, then looked at the black shadow on the phone screen that had gradually dissipated as the mirror stopped moving, the whole person in a state of confusion.

She asked repeatedly, her head full of question marks:

"W-what exactly is going on?"

"Didn't Captain Shanshan just completely disbelieve and argue earlier?"

"How come as soon as he saw the black shadow appear, his attitude did a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, and he immediately apologized, admitting it was a problem in his club?"

At the same time, at the other end of the video call, Yukimura Lingyin, Xiyuanji Qilai, and Xiaotian Tongzi also witnessed the whole process of "ghost shadow reproduction" through the live broadcast screen.

Their faces were also filled with astonishment and incredulity, and the sound of chattering questions came from the receiver:

"Natsume-kun! How on earth was this done? Explain it quickly!"

"So amazing! How on earth was it discovered? I'm so curious!"

"I-is this really not a curse? But why could you reproduce it so easily, while so many teachers couldn't find the reason before?"

Natsume Chikage's face was somewhat subtle and strange.

He sighed gently and began to reveal the truth of this "coincidence chain" to everyone:

"The process of the matter is actually not too complicated, just a series of embarrassing coincidences."

"First, the Jiandao Force has a tradition of conducting outdoor training near the old building randomly four times a month."

"There is a rest period in the middle of the training. And a few members in the force accidentally discovered that from a certain angle of this specific hallway, they could... overlook part of the girls' swimming pool."

He weighed his words and continued.

"So, they used the rest time, using the excuse of 'finding a quiet place to add practice for basic movements,' to slip here, pretending to practice swinging their swords hard."

"And this huge full-length mirror of the drama force is often borrowed by various clubs or teachers because of rehearsal needs."

"After the borrowing is finished, the drama force students need to recycle and move it back before the club activities end, which is the dusk period."

"When this mirror was pushed past this hallway, at a specific position and angle, it happened to be able to reflect the image of people or objects in the hallway—for example, someone swinging a bamboo sword—onto that giant moon school emblem in the distance, which was carefully cleaned every month and as bright as a mirror."

Natsume Chikage pointed to the school emblem in the distance.

"The smooth curved surface of the school emblem is like a giant convex reflector, which will reflect the received light again."

"And it is a very coincidence that in the current season and the specific angle of dusk, this light reflected by the school emblem for the second time happened to be projected precisely onto the swimming pool."

"The water surface produces fluctuations because of the operation of the circulation filtration system, becoming a dynamic, distorted 'screen'."

"Thus, the image of a person swinging a bamboo sword, after two reflections by the mirror and the school emblem, and then distorted and magnified by the water waves, reflected on the bottom of the pool, became a 'black ghost shadow' that twisted violently, with a rope-like shadow connected to its head, as if it were being dragged into the bottom of the water."

He paused and summarized.

"As for why the teachers have never been able to find out... because this requires a series of extremely strict conditions to be met simultaneously: specific dusk light angle, specific moving position and angle of the mirror, cleanliness and reflection angle of the school emblem, fluctuations of the pool water surface, and the most critical one—happening to have someone swinging a bamboo sword at that position."

"These conditions are indispensable, like a combination lock linked together. Missing any link, the 'ghost shadow' would not appear. And when the teachers investigated, they likely never gathered all these conditions at the right time."

On the other end of the video, swimming force captain Xiaotian Tongzi listened to this long and rigorous explanation, was stunned for a long time, and then, huge relief and joy surged into her heart, letting her let out a long, thorough breath.

"So... the truth turned out to be like this..."

Her voice carried a relief like sobbing.

"It's really not any curse... that's great, that's really great! From now on, everyone in the swimming force can finally train with peace of mind until the club activities end, finally don't have to end club activities early!"

"After explaining it clearly, it can also let everyone make up for the club activity time that was missing before—that's really great!"

Natsume Chikage heard this, was stunned for a moment, and then was silent for a moment.

In his heart, he silently mourned for three seconds for those members of the swimming force who might be "whipped" until later by the captain in the future.

Xiyuanji Qilai was excited, her cheeks flushed, cheering at the phone camera:

"Natsume-kun, you are so amazing, such complex connections were discovered and linked together by you!"

Classmate Tengyuan Kui also patted her chest, with a face of celebration and lingering fear:

"Natsume-kun, you are so amazing, you actually really solved one of the Seven Great Mysteries in the school!"

Only Yukimura Lingyin, on the other end of the video, puffed out her cold cheeks slightly, appearing somewhat unhappy.

She muttered in a low voice, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible annoyance and unwillingness to accept:

"If I had known, I wouldn't have gone into the pool with them at the time... if I had been outside, maybe I could have noticed the reflection angle of the mirror and the school emblem..."

Missing the opportunity to personally participate in the reasoning and discover the truth for the first time made this proud literary talented girl feel quite unwilling.

And Natsume Chikage, after explaining the situation, cast his gaze back onto the Jiandao Force below.

It was time to go and get that 'Decaying Wooden Sword'. ===== CHAPTER 316 =====