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Chapitre 13

"Hurry up! Let's get out of here quickly!" he shouted to the people around him. Now he could finally see clearly that there were ten people playing this game.

"Hey! What are you doing?" A boy next to him asked, puzzled by his agitated behavior.

"Wow! This paper talisman is torn!" said a small boy near the table.

Sure enough, the yellow paper talisman on the table had a large hole in the middle, and there were charred marks around the hole, as if flames had just shot out from inside.

"Hurry up and leave!" Chen Kai shouted, pushing the two classmates standing by the door. When they saw the paper talismans on the table, they were suddenly terrified. They shouted and ran downstairs, forgetting to turn off the lights.

Only when the cold night wind cooled their feverish minds did they finally calm down. People came and went on campus in the night, and everything that had just happened seemed like a distant memory.

"Hey, stop playing around with this stuff. Some things aren't as simple as you think!" Chen Kai said to Du Juan, who was still shaken.

"How can you talk like that! Nothing has come out yet, and the facts prove that those rumors are all false!" Du Juan was very indignant; few people had ever lectured her like that.

"I'm leaving! Take care of yourself~" Chen Kai said and walked towards home. None of them had seen the prematurely aged Old Zhang, nor the immortal Fei Xiao. They couldn't possibly know that the demonic beasts hidden in the darkness would be devoured once they came into contact with them.

Author: A fan of Cute Doll Reply Date: 2004-12-17 17:07:00

It was already past eleven when Chen Kai got home. As soon as he opened the door, Fei Xiao asked, "Chen Kai, did you come back alone?"

“Yes, how could I possibly bring anyone with me?” He took off his shoes and went into the room.

Inside, her face, as white as jade, was serious: "Where have you been? Why did you bring this smell?"

"What's that smell?" He sniffed around, but there was nothing suspicious.

"It stinks like a corpse!" Fei Xiao said, beckoning him over. "Come here!"

Chen Kai walked up to him: "Is something wrong?"

Feixiao stretched out a hand and slapped his hair twice as if trying to brush off the dust, saying as she did so, "Did you go out to do something to summon spirits? Otherwise, if I don't get rid of the bad luck on you, you'll get seriously ill!"

"Summoning spirits? No way! We just went to play a game!" Chen Kai said, "Stop hitting me, it hurts!" Fei Xiao's hands were unusually heavy!

"What game?" Feixiao stopped patting and asked him curiously.

"What is this 'Hundred Ghosts Night Banquet'?" Chen Kai explained the rules of the game to Fei Xiao, and also told her about the talisman.

Feixiao's expression grew increasingly serious as she listened: "You've probably brought trouble upon yourselves. Who was the last person to tell a story?"

"It's Du Juan, the girl who called me to go out!" Chen Kai said. Fei Xiao's expression gave him a bad feeling, and the image of the man squatting on the table reappeared in his mind.

"Let's go to your conference room tomorrow and see what kind of talisman she drew," Fei Xiao said after thinking for a moment.

"Is it serious?" Chen Kai asked him timidly. Judging from his expression, it seemed that something terrible had indeed been summoned from another world by them.

"It's hard to say now! You storytellers, some of you have told true stories and summoned vengeful spirits. Finding the person who told the true story can solve the problem!"

"A true story?" Chen Kai thought about what happened that night and the stories everyone told. It seemed that most of them were made up. The inspiration seemed to come from the recently popular horror movies. Apart from the story told by Du Juan, which was more like a sentimental essay, it felt like only his own story was a true experience.

In the darkness, the mouths of those people telling stories by candlelight reappeared before him. In the flickering candlelight, each person's face was indistinct. Who were they? Had they truly had terrible experiences? And who was telling the truth?

"Chen Kai, Chen Kai, get up quickly!" Fei Xiao woke him up while he was still asleep.

"What's wrong?" Chen Kai asked groggily, then glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only a little past five o'clock; the autumn sky was just beginning to lighten.

"Let's go take a look at that conference room!" Fei Xiao was already dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him.

"What?" Chen Kai's eyes widened. "It's past five o'clock! There are practically no people left in the school!"

"Let's go quickly, the fewer people the better! I've been worried about this!"

Chen Kai had no choice but to pack up and go out with him. The weather outside was getting colder, and there was a chill in the air. There were few pedestrians on the road. Chen Kai wrapped his clothes tighter and followed Fei Xiao towards the school. He felt that the morning mist seemed to have widened the distance between them. He looked at Fei Xiao's cold and handsome face, which seemed distant and unfamiliar. He had to swallow the questions he wanted to ask.

Once inside the school gates, Feixiao turned to him and said, "You lead the way, I don't know this place!"

Chen Kai nodded and led him to the teaching building, pointing to the building in front of him and saying, "This is it. Is there anything wrong with it?"

Feixiao looked up, squinting as if lost in thought. After a while, she asked, "Chen Kai, is your conference room on the third floor?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Let's hurry up and go take a look!" Fei Xiao said, walking ahead of Chen Kai and entering the teaching building, as if she already knew where she was going.

"It's just a game, why are you so nervous?" Fei Xiao's behavior seemed to be making a mountain out of a molehill.

The two entered the teaching building, where the long corridor was bathed in the golden light of the morning sun. The vibrant morning was a stark contrast to the eerie atmosphere of the previous night.

"This is it!" Chen Kai said, pushing open the conference room door. Surprisingly, the door wasn't locked and opened easily.

The tables and chairs inside were neatly arranged, but a few candles were scattered haphazardly on the round conference table. The whole room didn't look like it had been tidied up.

"Where's the talisman?" Chen Kai stared at the empty table. "There was a very large yellow talisman here last night!"

"The door wasn't locked, so someone must have come in!" Fei Xiao said from behind.

Chen Kai turned to look at him, his face full of confusion: "What are you doing here? Cleaning?" But why didn't they take the candles or anything else, only that paper talisman?

Feixiao walked over, stood beside the round table, stretched out a slender hand, and placed it on the brown tabletop. After a while, she said to Chen Kai, "There's demonic energy on this. Something was summoned by you last night!"

"What should we do then?" Chen Kai's heart tightened upon hearing this.

"It's hard to say without seeing the talisman. Do you remember how the character '朱' (zhu) was written on it?"

Chen Kai looked puzzled. "How could I possibly remember? It's the same as the Ghost Talisman!" In fact, it was the Ghost Talisman!

"It's getting late, you should go to class first, I'll stay here and look around a bit more!"

Chen Kai had no idea what he was planning, so he had no choice but to agree. Before leaving, he told him, "Don't let the school security guards find out!"

"You should leave now! No one will find me!" Fei Xiao waved to him from the table.

Chen Kai was still worried and left, looking back every few steps. Outsiders weren't allowed in the school, but if Fei Xiao were really discovered by the security guards, he didn't know who to worry about. He hoped that no security guard would be as unlucky as him.

When Chen Kai arrived at the lecture hall, it was already full of students. Today's class was an open class, and everyone in the department had to attend. Chen Kai finally managed to find a seat, still thinking about Fei Xiao. He hoped that Fei Xiao would remember to go home after the tour and not wait for him after class.

He had only been listening for a short while when his consciousness began to blur. He had been frightened and slept too late last night, and then he had gotten up so early today. He simply couldn't hold on any longer.

"Chen Kai! Chen Kai!" Hearing someone call his name, Chen Kai turned around.

To my surprise, I found myself standing in the middle of a sea of flowers. This vibrant and colorful flower field, with its falling petals, was breathtakingly beautiful, even surpassing the beauty of a garden like the one I love.

In the distance, a scholar in a blue robe was waving at him. This outfit didn't seem to be appropriate for this era. Filled with curiosity, he walked over through the flowers.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Chen Kai saw that the man was a middle-aged man with a sparse beard on his chin and a gentle smile on his face.

Upon seeing him, the man bowed and said loudly, "I am Wang Zijin! You must know me!"

Wang Zijin? Chen Kai was shocked. This was Wang Zijin? The person Fei Xiao couldn't forget, the one she talked about every day? He looked ordinary, almost unremarkable, his face full of honesty. This was Wang Zijin, the third person between him and Fei Xiao. He never expected him to be like this.

Chen Kai glanced at the way he bowed, not wanting to imitate it, so he waved back and said awkwardly, "Hello! I'm Chen Kai. I think you're Fei Xiao's friend!"

"That's right, it's me. Feixiao is my friend from a thousand years ago!"

"Um! Um!" Chen Kai scratched his head: "What's wrong?" How come this Prince Jin is still here after a thousand years?

"I couldn't see you before, but since last night I don't know why I've been able to talk to you. But you were too tired, and you couldn't hear anything I said, so I had to come find you again!"

"Is there anything important you want to tell me?" Chen Kai felt that this person was always talking in circles.

Wang Zijin looked at Chen Kai with a sorrowful expression: "Chen Kai, you are my reincarnation. Although we are completely unrelated and cannot overlap in the cycle of reincarnation, but..."

"But what is it?" Chen Kai saw that he seemed to want to say something but hesitated, and it seemed that it was not a good thing, so he hurriedly went to ask.

Wang Zijin on the other side opened his mouth as if to say something, but Chen Kai could only see the sadness on his face and couldn't hear anything at all.

"Hey! Speak up!" Chen Kai shouted at him. What was he trying to say? Why did he have such a sorrowful expression?

Suddenly, he felt someone push him from the side, and he woke up with a start, covered in a cold sweat. It was Du Juan, who had arrived at some point, and was sitting next to him.

"Chen Kai! The teacher is calling your name to take attendance!" Du Juan whispered to him.

"Here!" Chen Kai was startled and immediately stood up to answer.

Upon seeing this, the teacher on the podium adjusted his bottomless glasses and said, "Just sit down and answer; you don't need to stand up!"

This was met with another burst of laughter. Chen Kai's face turned red, and he could only sit down with an embarrassed expression.

The teacher called out names one by one, and a total of eight students were absent. After that, he continued lecturing.

"There are quite a few people who didn't come today?" These kinds of open classes are usually for accumulating credits, so it's rare for people to miss them.

“Yes!” Du Juan, who was standing next to him, slumped onto the table, looking languidly at Chen Kai. “And Zhao Yu didn’t come either!” Her eyes were alluring, as if she wanted to keep him hooked and devour him alive.

Chen Kai's heart fluttered as he looked at her. Today's Du Juan seemed so different from the Du Juan he usually knew. He quickly swallowed and asked, "Who is Zhao Yu?"

“We played together last night! Don’t you remember?” Du Juan seemed to have no bones, still slumped over her desk. “It was that tall, handsome boy!” Du Juan said, two more blushes rising on her face.

"You don't actually like her, do you? I support you!" People say that women in love are the most beautiful, and it's true. Chen Kai was so happy to have snooped on someone else's privacy that he completely forgot about Wang Zijin.

"No!" Du Juan said, running her hand through her hair. "I just really want to get close to him!"

"Hehe, isn't that the same?" Chen Kai said with a mischievous grin, "Do you need my help?"

"Sigh! But why didn't he come?" Du Juan looked disappointed, her face displaying a captivating charm. Chen Kai was stunned when he saw her face; the phrase "tender as water" couldn't be more fitting.

"Ahem!" Chen Kai had no choice but to continue the conversation: "Eight people didn't come. They probably all caught a cold!" As soon as he said it, it seemed to touch a chord in his heart. Eight? Eight? Could it be such a coincidence? Only ten people played that game yesterday. Could it be? Could it be that only he and Du Juan came to class?

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Don't lie there! Quickly check if the people who didn't come are the ones you played with last night?"

“Yes!” Du Juan said without even glancing at them. “It’s normal that they didn’t come!”

"Why? Why do you say that?" Chen Kai looked at Du Juan beside him; she seemed to know something.

To her surprise, she seemed lost in thought, ignoring Chen Kai. With a beaming smile, she finally said after a long pause, "But Zhao Yu, he should be able to come!"

Chen Kai gazed at Du Juan's beautiful profile and her gentle, watery eyes. He felt that the world had changed after playing that game. The same classroom, the same podium, the same teachers and classmates, yet everything was different.

Just like Du Juan beside him, a familiar face, familiar eyes, yet strangely unfamiliar. Who exactly is this woman sitting next to him?

After class, Du Juan stood up from her seat, ignored Chen Kai, packed her things, and left. Chen Kai had wanted to ask her if the story she told last night was true, but after calling her several times without response, he had no choice but to shake his head and follow her to the cafeteria.

Du Juan stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, looking around with her books in her arms, but did not go in.

"Hey! Who are you looking for?" Chen Kai couldn't hold back any longer.

"Ah, it's you!" Du Juan turned around and smiled at him, her gaze gentle, her face beaming, as if she were the Du Juan Chen Kai knew again. Then she turned back to look at the hundreds of students eating in the cafeteria: "I'm looking for Zhao Yu!"

The same words again. Now even Chen Kai wants to know who this guy named Zhao Yu is. He doesn't remember there being such a celestial being last night.

"I see him! He's there!" she suddenly exclaimed with delight, running to sit down next to a boy while clutching her book.

Chen Kai followed, wanting to see what Zhao Yu actually looked like.

Du Juan sat down next to the boy, said something, put the book on her seat, and went to buy food by herself.

Chen Kai carefully examined the boy, Zhao Yu, who was clearly stunned by the unexpected romantic encounter. He even forgot to eat and stared wide-eyed and mouth agape in the direction Du Juan had gone.