Le Chemin des Fantômes Lésés, Partie 1 Le Chemin des Fantômes Lésés

Chapitre 35

"What did you say!!!!"

Lou Lifan rushed forward to pull the monitor off and smash it, but Pei Linhai desperately held him back from behind to prevent the poor phone from dying before the conversation was over.

“That’s only natural,” Hai Shenlan’s gentle smile now seemed like that of a demon. “When you transfer schools, the system will automatically check your household registration. If it doesn’t match the school you’re going to, it won’t work. It’s really troublesome to embed your household registration into the demon register. I wouldn’t want to do it if I could avoid it.”

"Then don't do it!"

"Hehehe... Anyway, it's already done, so please accept my condolences," Hai Shenlan smiled and waved to them through the cold monitor. "Once you get your things back, your student status and household registration can be restored. Good luck, goodbye." She even blew a kiss before leaving.

Lou Lifan stared at the blacked-out monitor, his shoulders trembling slightly: "Bastard...bastard...bastard...bastard!!!"

With a loud bang, the innocent monitor finally came to the end of its life.

"So that's why they weren't worried at all about us quitting halfway through! Not only is the work difficult, but there's also this kind of threat! They can't even stop us from giving up halfway! Damn Demon Academy! Damn perverted academy! Damn Byte!"

Damn Hai Shenlan! Damn the Paranormal Association! "..." (...It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Paranormal Association, does it?) Pei Linhai grabbed his waist and forcibly dragged him out of the phone booth, otherwise not only the monitor, but the entire phone booth would have been reduced to dust.

"Let me go! I'm going to kill those bastards!"

Pei Linhai was covered in cold sweat: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but let's get the stuff first before we go back, otherwise we'll really become a demon for the rest of our lives."

It's not that there's any class distinction between demons and humans; the problem is that demons are inherently more powerful and have much longer lifespans than humans, so society has very high standards for them. If they were to be registered as demons, they would have to assume the responsibilities of a demon in a human body, and these people would absolutely, positively not be willing to make such a sacrifice.

--However, as I said before, if they really turned into demons, that would be a different story.

"Aaaaah! Damn it, when I get back I'm going to kill you all! Kill you all! Kill them all! I'm going to put poison gas in that freakish academy! I'm going to put sulfuric acid in every single one of your teacups..."

A wolf watched their miserable plight from a distance in the bushes, making strange, panting laughs.

Plan A failed, Plan B's escape plan fell through, and now only the last resort—Plan C—can be used…

Lou Lifan's face was greener than ever, and Pei Linhai's face was yellower than ever.

Because Lou Lifan is now using his "charm" to "bewitch" Beren in order to find out the whereabouts of the indenture, while Pei Linhai... is being choked by him and is waiting to die with his eyes closed.

“I’m telling you… Pei Linhai… you absolutely, positively cannot tell anyone what I’ve done at this Demon Academy! Not even Hai Shenlan or Byte! If I find out you’ve let slip even the slightest hint, I’ll tear you to pieces and feed you to the dogs! Do you hear me?” These words were spat out one by one from between his teeth, as hard as ice shards, making Pei Linhai tremble all over.

The poor man couldn't help but swallow hard: "Uh... if it was someone from the Demon Academy who leaked it..."

"You'll be buried with me!"

"..." What did I do to deserve this?! The innocent Pei Linhai cried out in his heart, then, while tears streamed down his face, he mentally considered which method of suicide would be the least painful...

At 12:25 a.m., Lou Lifan stood motionless at the entrance of the Demon Academy, staring at Beren, who was leisurely basking in the moonlight on the cliff.

“Li Fan…” Pei Linhai whispered cautiously in his ear, “You’ve been standing here for half an hour… If you keep standing here, he’ll go into the woods…”

Lou Lifan stood there upright for half an hour after Beren came out, without even moving a finger, and his body was now a little stiff.

"...It's none of your business..." Lou Lifan's face was ashen, and he looked even more terrifying in the night.

Pei Linhai obediently complied, hiding to the side and not daring to utter another word. He didn't know if his next word would provoke him, giving the man an excuse to seize him and vent his anger…

At 12:29, Lou Lifan finally moved. He slowly walked towards the cliff, as if he were walking towards the guillotine that would kill him.

At 12:42, before Beren had left the cliff, Lou Lifan's heavy figure finally reached him—or rather, "it"—after a difficult trek.

The white wolf on the cliff suddenly twitched its ears, then slowly raised its head from its paws, its narrow eyes gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

"Lou Lifan...? Is something the matter?" Even after revealing his true form, he still had the ability to speak, but for an ordinary person, it was rather strange for a wolf to speak human language.

"Uh... um... something... happened..." The last word "something" was almost drowned out by the sound of the breeze, his head was lowered so low it was almost level with the ground.

Now, in addition to the tension of trying to uncover the secrets of this centuries-old monster, there's also the fact that monsters are at their lowest point of "humanity" and highest point of "beastly instinct" when basking in the moonlight. One wrong move and you could anger him and be torn to pieces and eaten.

So why approach Beren at this particular moment? It's because when one's "beastly instincts" reach their peak, vigilance is reduced to mere intuition and appearance. In other words, Beren can now sense the hidden killing intent in the air, and he can react much faster than usual to any actions by Lou Lifan that are detrimental to him. However, he won't be as sensitive as usual to Lou Lifan's attempts to probe his intentions.

“…Come sit next to me.” Beren nodded to the seat next to her.

Lou Lifan hesitated for a moment, then walked to the spot he pointed out and sat down.

When he first revealed his true form, Lou Lifan had been watching him from a distance, only knowing that he was huge. It wasn't until he sat down next to him that he realized that his true form was over two meters long. His wolf head alone was three times the size of his own head. Although his bushy tail was now obediently coiled up, it was clear that if it moved even slightly, it could shatter Lifan's bones beyond repair.

These could all be attributed to the oppressive feeling caused by his enormous size, but that was not the real reason that made Lou Lifan tremble.

Beren was, after all, a wolf, and his muscular body seemed to exude a beastly aura at any moment. Just by sitting a little closer, Lou Lifan could feel a sense of fear seeping into his heart.

It's terrifying, this person is truly terrifying. He doesn't even need to move a single part of his body to turn him into mincemeat. Even if there were ten Lou Lifans and Pei Linhais combined, let alone Pei Linhai, they probably wouldn't be a match for him. Now he seriously doubts that even if they find that indenture, they won't be able to escape. This person… is definitely not as easy to deal with as they previously thought.

"What exactly happened?"

If you listen closely when you get closer, his voice is also different from when he is in human form. Although the tone of his voice has not changed much, in his "wolf" form, his voice is lower and hoarser.

"I...uh, I meant to say, Chairman Beren seems to know a lot..." As soon as the words left his mouth, Lou Lifan wanted to slap himself twice. Beren had lived for a very long time; over five hundred years wasn't for nothing. If he didn't know enough at this age, he might as well just kill himself.

But apart from that sentence, he really didn't know what other excuse to use to start the discussion. He and Pei Linhai spent the whole day discussing this extremely difficult problem, but in the end, there was no result.

“Ah, yes,” the white wolf’s voice sounded like he was laughing, but since he was a wolf, Lou Lifan couldn’t tell if he was really laughing. “I’ve lived too long, and I know a lot of things I didn’t want to know.”

really……

Lou Lifan wanted to ask, "For example?", but that would be too fast a transition. Even if his animalistic instincts were in control now, Lou Lifan might still sense Lou Lifan's true intentions. So, he had nothing to say, and a brief silence fell between them.

Since this topic wasn't working, Lou Lifan decided to bring up another subject.

"Um, actually I've been paying attention to the chairman lately. You rarely leave the school, but you go into the woods every night around this time. Is something wrong?"

The white wolf's eyes squinted slightly, and Lou Lifan felt that he was making a mischievous expression, but he couldn't be sure.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Huh?" I have a strange feeling... like I asked a question I shouldn't have...

"Actually..." White Wolf looked at the sky, "Didn't you notice that these past few days have been around the full moon?"

"Oh...that's true." Lou Lifan looked at the sky and was surprised to find that the moon was hanging full and round in the black night sky.

Lately, they've been so focused on keeping an eye on Beren, gathering intelligence, and stealing things... that they've never noticed the phases of the moon. If Beren hadn't reminded him, he probably wouldn't have even realized why the nights have been so bright lately.

“In the region, the moon is at its fullest around these days, and that’s also the time when wolves are in heat…” The white wolf glanced at Lou Lifan, who could tell this time that he was genuinely making a mischievous face. “My heat also happens to fall during this period.”

Lou Lifan was once again certain that he was definitely not the type to elicit a confession. He covered his eyes and mentally cursed himself a thousand times for being an idiot. There was no need to ask why he went into the woods anymore; Lou Lifan had once again lost a potential starting point.

However, to his surprise, Belen unexpectedly saved their conversation.

“However, I’m not going there for that reason; there are other things,” said the white wolf.

"Anything else?"

"I'm going to see someone...someone I've known for many years."

"Hmm... friends...? Aren't you going tonight?" But thinking about it, even if they're friends, it seems a bit strange, doesn't it? Going to see someone during your heat...

Lou Lifan broke out in a cold sweat because he suddenly remembered that he had come to him during Lou Lifan's heat... and now he was in the form of a girl... This... this...

Pei Linhai was cheering him on with hand gestures from afar, but what Lou Lifan wanted to do more now was to grab him and sit here in his place to complete that seemingly impossible task.

"Yes, because there have been a lot going on lately, we need to exchange some opinions. But I don't really want to go tonight."

Whatever... but why don't you meet openly and honestly during the day...?

“Oh, right,” Lou Lifan suddenly remembered a piece of information he had gathered, and now was the time to use it. “I heard from the Musi Flower Fairy that you are friends with Byte, the world-famous principal of the perverted academy?”

The word "BIT" reached his ears, and a sharp glint flashed in White Wolf's eyes, almost unnoticed.

"Friends? If knowing him counts as being friends!" White Wolf said irritably. "That kind of pervert, I wish I'd never met him in my entire life!"

"Uh...? Did he... offend you?" Lou Lifan asked cautiously.

The white wolf looked up at the sky, then turned back to look at him. "You seem quite interested in Byte's matter?"

Lou Lifan's heart nearly stopped beating: "That...no, no, no! I just...I just..."

“I know,” White Wolf chuckled twice, “the news that I’m going to auction that guy off along with his academy has spread all over the world, hasn’t it? Don’t you find it strange? Why would I do something like this?”

Lou Lifan hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Because that guy was really outrageous. He's so old but he still acts like he's young. Back when we were at the Illusionary Demon Academy, I thought he was the same age as me, and I admired his abilities immensely... But I never expected that he had already founded the Byte Academy back then, and he was someone I had always admired..."

"Worship? Admire?" Unbelievable...unbelievable! Someone would actually worship a freak like Byte? Admire someone? That's truly the second wonder of the world...hmm? What's the first wonder? Of course, it's the extent of that guy's freakishness!

Beren rested his head on his paws again and said slowly, "I don't know his age, but he wrote a masterpiece like 'On the Origin of Vampires' a thousand years ago. It has been reprinted more than five hundred times in the past thousand years, and it is still used as a reference book. When I first saw it, I was absolutely in awe. I thought I was seeing a genius, a genius who was not of this world..."

If that book really was Bytti, Lou Lifan would also consider him a genius, but only if he could distinguish between that guy's abnormal behavior and the perception of "genius".

"I knew his name when I saw him at the Illusionary Demon Academy, but because he was such an abnormal person, although I thought of him, I didn't connect him with that genius at all. I just thought he was really amazing, knowing so many things that we, as novice demons, didn't know..."

...That's why the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. When he realized that this pervert was the very person he had always admired... his illusions shattered...

Lou Lifan felt as if he could hear the sound of his poor, fragile heart shattering.

"But we rarely saw each other after graduation, and I couldn't vent my resentment until I saw him at this meeting. I couldn't help but teach him a lesson. But what surprised me was that he fell into my trap so easily. He probably didn't expect it either, so he looked really pitiful standing there. He only remembered to cry after he signed the contract, but it was too late."

Lou Lifan could hardly trust anyone from the perverted academy, so he specifically contacted his sisters and parents. Their response was the same as Hai Shenlan's: that pervert had really sold himself out, and only remembered to hug his creditor's leg and cry after signing the contract of servitude...

"Hahaha..." Lou Lifan chuckled dryly, "He really is stupid..."

Beren smiled casually: "That's right, but that guy does have some brains after all, he knew to send someone to steal that contract."

Lou Lifan's heart immediately stopped working.

"Then...then...then..." He really wanted to say that he didn't come to steal...but that would be the same as saying "Wang Er next door didn't steal anything."

“Unfortunately,” Beren continued, oblivious to his unease, “I haven’t yet discovered which student or teacher in the academy he sent. If I had found out…”

What would happen if they found out? Kill them? Skin them? Or… I can't even imagine…

"Haha...hahaha..." Although Lou Lifan's heart had resumed functioning, his voice remained stiff and unable to relax. "Chairman, you're so smart, you must have hidden something so important in a secret place, right? Even if that pervert came to steal it himself, he couldn't, right? So it's okay, hahahaha..."

Beren laughed along with his voice: "Yes, I wear that contract around my neck."

The world suddenly fell silent.

After a long while, Lou Lifan finally managed to utter a sound: "...Huh?"

Beren slightly raised one of his front paws, letting him see the pendant that always hung around his neck: "I used spatial fusion to integrate it into this pendant, so I never take it off. Just like you said, even if he comes to steal it himself, he can't take it away."

Lou Lifan, male, 20 years old, this is the first time in his life he has ever known how to write the word "despair"...

"No... but that contract of servitude... you must be joking, right?" Lou Lifan's smile was somewhat forced. "In any case, buying and selling people is illegal..."

“He is not a ‘human’ person.”

"...That...trading monsters too..."

"He's not a monster either."

Not a monster?! Could it be... "He's a demon!?"