Midnight Paranormal Handbook

Chapter 10

"Hey Xiao Gu, next time you want to see me, just come to my house. Why choose a place like this?"

Director Wu's voice trembled slightly, clearly indicating he didn't like being here. Xiao Gu smiled faintly—or rather, a faint smile in his imagination, since Ma Ming could only see most of Xiao Gu's back from his position, and many of his expressions could only be guessed.

"Only here can Director Wu see this."

Xiao Gu extended a finger, and the yin energy in the air suddenly contracted, whipping up a violent gust of yin wind. Although Director Wu didn't have the ability to see ghosts, he could feel the wind pressure and took a step back in fear.

"This...this is different from what we originally said."

“It’s no longer just a problem with those four girls in dorm 416.” Xiao Gu bent his finger, and the chilling wind immediately vanished. “Our plan needs to be changed.”

"We still need to change..."

Director Wu kept wiping away sweat, his eyes almost unable to look Xiao Gu in the eye, like a hamster before a shipwreck.

Xiao Gu's voice suddenly changed: "Because a new uncertainty has emerged. When I went to do my ritual in dormitory 416 just now, someone saw me."

"Who is it?" Director Wu exclaimed in surprise.

"I don't know, but I think it's very likely a newly transferred international student named Shen Fengxi; or perhaps his senior, a physical education teacher here."

Ma Ming felt a pang of disappointment. It turned out that he had only earned the title of "a physical education teacher," a stark contrast to his junior colleague.

Xiao Gu, completely unaware that one of the parties involved was eavesdropping, continued, "Their true identities are likely Taoist priests. If that's true, it will definitely cause unnecessary trouble."

"Then... should I..." Director Wu's voice also became low.

“Not yet, I have my own way.” Xiao Gu raised a hand to stop him, her every move exuding an air of authority that made Director Wu, who was decades older than her, unable to lift his head at all. “You just need to continue with your task. Three days. Three days later will be the final moment we have been waiting for.”

Ma Ming did a quick mental calculation: three days from now would be the peak of the concentration of Yin spirits released by the school, the "final explosion" he had been worried about. However, one side was making intensive preparations, while the other side was still clueless, with a severe information asymmetry. Ma Ming didn't know what he could accomplish in just three days.

Driven by this concern, Ma Ming felt he had to seize this opportunity to gather as much intelligence as possible; otherwise, stopping this whole affair would be a pipe dream. So he crouched low, moving slowly upstairs like a gecko, taking each step with extreme caution, trying his best to get as close as possible to the two people talking so he could hear them more clearly.

First-order, second-order, third-order.

As they drew closer, Ma Ming could clearly see Director Wu's fat, oily face and the fancy trim on Xiao Gu's white uniform.

Clang.

A faint sound suddenly came from the silence, very low in decibels, but it was particularly noticeable in the quiet setting.

Ma Ming looked down and saw that his sensitive measuring device had slipped out of his jacket pocket. He hadn't put the device back in his inner pocket after using it, but had instead casually stuffed it into his outer pocket, which had now caused him a big problem.

"It's true that secrets can make or break a person," Ma Ming couldn't help but sigh.

He turned around, and before he could even look up, he was startled to see a pair of women's feet in snow-white sandals standing in front of him.

Sandals are snow-white, and so are feet...

/UpLoadPic/2008030256232621.jpg

Chapter Six

Ma Ming felt his whole body turn icy cold in an instant, partly because he was too horrified, and partly because the other person's body seemed to make the surrounding air cold as well.

The two legs, clad in sandals, remained motionless, like two wooden poles, coldly stuck in place.

Ma Ming's mind raced. He didn't even look up—in fact, he didn't dare to—his hands flipped swiftly, his left hand holding cinnabar, his right hand drawing a talisman, instantly spitting out a cinnabar talisman. At the same time, his body leaned backward, using gravity to fall down the stairs, while his hands formed six hand seals, releasing them in quick succession. This series of movements was as smooth as flowing water, a seamless blend of escape and attack.

A loud thud echoed from the stairwell as Ma Ming's back slammed heavily against the floor. Ignoring his grimaces, he swayed as he stood up, looked up, and thought that he was now some distance away; it should be relatively safer now.

When Ma Ming looked up, he was shocked.

Xiao Gu looked down at him coldly, her upper body suspended in mid-air, her hands supporting her two separated legs like crutches. Her eyes were icy cold, her expression indifferent, and her pale face, combined with her two human legs, was exceptionally terrifying in this environment.

Ma Ming knew he couldn't answer now, nor could he linger. He had to get away from her immediately, or it was hard to predict what might happen. Although he and Shen Fengxi had different areas of expertise, they shared one crucial skill—escaping.

“This isn’t about running for our lives, it’s about retreating,” Shen Fengxi often said.

“It means turning around and then moving forward,” Ma Mingzong immediately added.

Now was the time to put this skill to use. Ma Ming stretched out his arms, pulled on the rubber bands, and two rows of pre-attached talismans slid out of his sleeves, fluttering into the air. He then took out a spray bottle from his pocket, pressed it repeatedly, and soon a red mist rose between him and Xiao Gu. The flying talismans turned red immediately upon contact with the mist, forming a dense net of talismans with a "whoosh."

Even if the opponent is an ancient demon, it would be hindered for a moment by such a formation. As soon as Ma Ming released the talisman net, he turned around and left without saying a word, occasionally throwing a few pieces of jade stone and calamus powder behind him. He had even tied gold-inlaid red ropes at various stairwells beforehand, showing that he was fully prepared. This guy always plans two steps ahead, with meticulous thinking, and he had already thought of his escape route before he even moved.

He walked briskly, and behind him he could hear the dull thuds of objects hitting the ground. Without turning around, he knew that it was the sound of Gu Fuchen's footsteps as he chased after him, leaning on his legs.

His escape was remarkably smooth; he ran all the way to the first floor, burst through the door, and only then stopped. Ma Ming steadied himself and looked back at the administration building. The building was still filled with demonic energy, like a giant black hole. Strangely, the footsteps had disappeared; Gu Fuchen seemed to have given up the pursuit. Ma Ming raised his wrist, thinking with lingering fear, "If I were to die here, Feng Xi would surely be furious that the bracelet was worthless."

Ma Ming was absolutely certain that the little Gu from earlier was a corpse demon, and a very high one at that, definitely stronger than the one in the botanical garden last time. With something like that hanging around Haidong Middle School, it's no wonder such a terrible thing happened. This isn't something that can be resolved with a simple "Oh, I see."

"It seems we need to contact Fengxi as soon as possible to discuss a solution."

Although Ma Ming's junior brother had a terrible temper and was extremely opportunistic, his strength was not to be underestimated, especially when his own interests were threatened; he would unleash tremendous power. Only by joining forces could they have any chance of winning. Shen Fengxi had just escorted those three guys back to the boys' dormitory and was probably still awake. Thinking of this, Ma Ming immediately rushed towards the boys' dormitory.

At this moment, Shen Fengxi had already kicked those three guys into their respective dorm rooms.

Then he limped back to his room, fuming.

The boys in the same dorm were excitedly discussing the commotion in An Sheng's dormitory building. Their eyes were shining, and they were talking and gesturing, spitting as they spoke. Some were even leaning out of the windowsill to look at the still lively girls' dormitory. When they saw Shen Fengxi return, they quickly called him to join the discussion.

"Hey, hey, did you hear? A thief just broke into the girls' dormitory and stole a lot of underwear!" a boy excitedly told him.

"Nonsense!" Shen Fengxi roared angrily.

The boys suddenly fell silent, staring at the transfer student with curiosity.

Shen Fengxi realized his reaction was inappropriate, and unwilling to explain to these low-class guys, he simply added, "It's past lights out, aren't you going to sleep? Aren't you afraid the teachers will check the rooms?"

"Don't worry, the teachers have probably all gone to the girls' dormitory to maintain order. It's like New Year's outside now."

"You guys play by yourselves, I'm going to sleep." Shen Fengxi turned around coldly, climbed into his bed, and prepared to go to sleep.

At that moment, one of the boys asked, "Hey, by the way, where did you go just now?"

"That annoying Teacher Ma made me do chores," Shen Fengxi replied irritably, pulling up the blanket.

"What does the PE teacher want with you so late? You weren't the underwear thief, were you?" a boy said with a smile, his joke causing everyone around him to burst into laughter.

Shen Fengxi flew into a rage, leaping out of bed and pinning the boy against the wall, pressing the sharp edge of the necklace against his throat. "If you spout any more nonsense, you'll regret not having two tongues!"

No one in the dormitory expected him to react so strongly. The boy who made the joke turned pale with fright and forced a smile, saying, "W-what? I was just joking."

A boy who was a class monitor quickly came over and took Shen Fengxi's arm, gently advising, "That's right, it's just a joke, why take it so seriously?"

"Not everything is something you can joke about."

"But you didn't explain beforehand..." the boy muttered sullenly.

Shen Fengxi's eyes suddenly turned extremely sharp, like two daggers stabbing into the boy's face. He grabbed the guy's collar and said, word by word, "Then I'll tell you, you can't reveal anything about me."

The atmosphere in the dormitory became extremely tense. Just then, there was a knock on the door. A student ran to open it and found Teacher Zhao standing there. He held a flashlight and a small notebook, his eyes behind his glasses as stern as ever. As soon as he appeared, the students fell silent. Shen Fengxi released his grip on the collar and casually returned to his bed.

"What's going on?" Teacher Zhao stared at Shen Fengxi for a while, then turned to ask the class monitor.

The class leaders reported the situation in detail. Teacher Zhao frowned, wrote it all down in her notebook, then adjusted her glasses and said, "There was indeed some commotion over at the girls' dormitory, but the school security and our teachers are handling it. I came to check because I was worried you might get involved."

Shen Fengxi hated this kind of bureaucratic talk and didn't even glance at it.

Teacher Zhao continued, “In this matter, Shen was indeed in the wrong; he shouldn't have hit someone, especially not his own classmate. However, there was a reason for it. Your joke was inappropriate. You should respect your classmates, and you shouldn't say things that insult their dignity. Stay away from vulgarity; that's the second rule of the middle school student code…”

The hellish lecture lasted for more than ten minutes. Finally, when almost everyone was on the verge of their limit, Teacher Zhao looked at his watch and said: "Alright, it's getting late. You should all get some rest and don't talk. I'll talk about this again in class tomorrow."

The students all breathed a sigh of relief and obediently ran back to their beds. Seeing that everyone, including Shen Fengxi, was in bed, Teacher Zhao looked around, then turned off the lights and left.

After leaving the dormitory, Teacher Zhao shook his head and rubbed his temples as he walked towards the next dormitory. Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps, turned around quickly, and saw Ma Ming rushing over anxiously.

"Teacher Ma, what are you doing here so late?"

Seeing that he had run into Teacher Zhao, who was on night duty, Ma Ming didn't say much. He simply pointed to the room where Shen Fengxi was and said, "Teacher Zhao, I need to talk to Shen Fengxi about something."

"Can't we talk about this tomorrow? They're all asleep. We need to get enough sleep to have the energy to study."

This nail was neither too soft nor too hard, and even though Ma Ming was good at adapting to changing circumstances, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Teacher Zhao slammed her notebook shut and said earnestly, "I heard that this Shen Fengxi is somewhat related to you, isn't he?"

“Ah, yes, he’s my relative’s or neighbor’s child. I’ve watched him grow up since he was little,” Ma Ming said, thinking to himself that he couldn’t really be considered lying.

“I think he’s been a bit too domineering in how he handles relationships with classmates and some issues. Maybe he thinks he’s got a teacher’s knowledge and that’s why he’s a bit reckless. This misconception must be corrected. Teacher Ma, you should keep an eye on him in the future, otherwise it will not be good for his growth.”

"Yes, yes, you're right." Ma Ming nodded and bowed, secretly hoping to get him away as soon as possible. This was already a critical moment with a crisis looming; who had the mind to worry about educating minors!

"In short, you need to tutor him more. I'm leaving now," Teacher Zhao said at the end.

Ma Ming breathed a sigh of relief and watched him leave the dormitory corridor. Once he could no longer hear Teacher Zhao's footsteps, he immediately ran to the dormitory door and knocked.

"Who is it?" a boy shouted.

Is Shen Fengxi there?

Silence remained in the dormitory; no one answered. After a while, the dormitory door opened with a "whoosh," and Shen Fengxi stood in the doorway with a resentful look on his face: "I'm already asleep..." He suddenly froze halfway through his sentence: Ma Ming's expression was very serious, and his forehead was purplish, a sign of excessive consumption of magical power, indicating that something terrible had happened.

"Let's talk outside. This time things are serious."

How serious is it?

"It's more troublesome than murder to cover it up, but not as troublesome as defaulting on a debt."

So, Shen Fengxi left the dormitory and followed Ma Ming all the way there.

At first, he thought they were going to Ma Ming's dormitory to discuss something, but he quickly realized the road was wrong. The surroundings grew darker and darker, and eventually, the two of them ended up at the end of the playground. There were several lush pine trees there, with a few broken baskets filled with ash and soil under them, surrounded by weeds. Behind the pine trees was the tall school wall, which looked particularly eerie on such a night.

This place is usually a forgotten corner, rarely visited by anyone. Only during school-wide cleaning season does students come to pull weeds. Now, at midnight, this corner seems even more desolate.

"Hey, what did you call me here for?" Shen Fengxi couldn't help but ask. Ma Ming hadn't said a word the whole way, his hands in his pockets, head down in thought. He rarely saw his senior brother with this expression, and he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. "Let me make it clear beforehand, I won't be paying back the money."

Ma Ming squatted down, pulled a shovel from beside the broken basket, and began digging under the pine tree. After digging for about ten minutes, he threw down the shovel and pulled a tattered suitcase from the hole, with a huge antique brass lock on the opening.

"Give me your necklace."

Faced with Ma Ming's unyielding demeanor, Shen Fengxi surprisingly didn't object and obediently handed over his "Jin" character necklace. Ma Ming took out his broken "Qing" character bracelet from his pocket and placed both chains on the box. Their shapes perfectly matched the grooves on the box, and with a "click," they were completely embedded. A flash of light appeared, and the yin-yang fish on the chains began to rotate on their own, the two silver chains emitting a strange whistling sound and dazzling light. With a "snap," the swallow-wing lock on the box opened. Shen Fengxi leaned closer to look and couldn't help but gasp.

Inside the box were stacks of talismans, a large bundle of binding ropes, jars of gold elixir, bottles of pills, a jade-inlaid compass, a scripture-listening drum, and even several dazzling magical artifacts: from the peach wood sword of the Daoist master of Longhu Mountain to the demon-subduing cone of the Maoshan sect, everything was there. At the bottom of the box lay an embroidered silver banner. In the eyes of a Daoist, this was practically an arsenal of immense power.

"Senior brother... I didn't expect you to have so many things hidden away."

“This is my most treasured possession, kept for emergencies.” Ma Ming turned around, a hint of pride in his voice. “Now it’s that ‘emergency’.”

Then, as he began taking props out of the box, he told Shen Fengxi everything he had seen in the administration building.

After listening, Shen Fengxi silently brushed a strand of hair from his forehead, his handsome, angular face etched with a mixture of resentment, conflict, and vague regret. He was already mentally prepared that Xiao Gu was a corpse demon, but when this fact was confirmed, a strange sense of loss still lingered in his heart. He bit his lip inwardly.

The sharp pain in his jaw finally brought him back to his usual state, but it still couldn't stop him from letting out a sigh—a rare occurrence for Shen Fengxi, who wore arrogance and ruthlessness as his attire.

"So...did she recognize you?"