As a player ranked in the top 100, Zeng Fugui was certainly not stupid.
He quickly realized that something was wrong with his surroundings, and at that moment, he frowned and had an urge to run away.
"Were you also called out by the teacher to stand as punishment?" The boy didn't seem aggressive; he just wanted to find validation from Zeng Fugui.
Zeng Fugui's decision to abandon his escape wasn't out of sympathy for the other party, but rather because he recalled Lu Shi's description of these ghosts:
"They're weak; they can be taken care of easily."
Upon closer reflection, his strength should be no weaker than Lu Shi's, so why is he afraid of ghosts?
Zeng Fugui then felt confident. He glanced at the boy opposite him and nodded.
"That's how they are. They're incredibly obedient to good students, but when they see poor students like us, they don't even give us a kind look. I'm humiliated by the teachers just because I can't answer a question in class!"
Zeng Fugui felt sorry for him, after all, this male ghost didn't seem to have much fighting power.
"Well, there's nothing we can do. Teachers also want their students to get high scores. So, in their eyes, poor students like us are just a nuisance."
"Heh." The male ghost rolled his eyes. "They not only humiliated me, but they also berated me repeatedly in front of my parents! I can't hold my head up in front of anyone!"
Zeng Fugui immediately recalled news reports of students committing suicide due to pressure, and felt even more sympathy for the male ghost before him:
"Sigh, I totally understand you! So you ultimately chose to jump off a building?"
The male ghost nodded. "Yes, I really can't stand this kind of life anymore. Every time I close my eyes, I remember my teacher looking at me like I'm trash! My classmates treat me like a monster, and even my own mother thinks I've embarrassed her and would rather I be dead!"
“Well…” Zeng Fugui, who also has children, instinctively spoke from a parent’s perspective: “Perhaps your mother was just saying that in a fit of anger. She definitely wants what’s best for you…”
However, his words directly enraged the male ghost, who suddenly grew enormous, his body almost filling the entire corridor.
A mouth grew on the boy's face, back, hands, and every exposed part of his body.
The mouth was uttering words that were different from the others, yet each one was hurtful: "You can't even do such a simple problem? I think you're not even as good as an elementary school student!"
"You like sleeping in class, huh? Then get out of here and let the whole school see your pig-like sleeping posture!"
"Oh dear, don't talk to that person. He's a terrible student and a sly person. Be careful not to catch his bad habits!"
"Did you steal my things?! A bad student like you isn't a good person either. You must be jealous of me and stole my things!"
"How could I have given birth to a child like you? I should have aborted you while you were still in my womb!"
"Look how promising Aunt Wang's son is, and look at you, last place, getting called to the front of the class every day! Are you trying to drive me crazy so you'll be happy? You jinx!"
Zeng Fugui took a step back. He sensed danger; he seemed to have angered the other party.
At this moment, Zeng Fugui immediately remembered his skill, so he glanced at the male ghost opposite him and proposed to trade with him without hesitation.
"I'm willing to trade his trust!"
Zeng Fugui already knew how to use its skills; these mini-bosses were all vulnerable to its skills.
To everyone's surprise, the system message read: "Unfortunately, this is a ghost without desires; what it wants, you cannot give it!"
Zeng Fugui had a bad feeling. Could he be going to die in the other world?
Just then, he felt a sharp, burning pain as someone slapped him across the face.
He looked closely and found Wei Jin staring at him. Oh, and he was even waving his hand.
So it was Wei Jin who slapped him.
Zeng Fugui touched his nose, but didn't blame Wei Jin. Instead, he spoke in a tone of relief, as if he had just survived a disaster:
"Thank you. I... I almost died."
At this moment, the physics teacher glanced at Zeng Fugui and, unusually, did not scold him: "What's wrong with you? You suddenly fell to the ground and started yelling. We were all scared by you."
“Teacher…” Zeng Fugui stared at the physics teacher and said in a serious tone, “I just saw a boy. He said he was once punished by being made to stand, and then he jumped off from here.”
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 77
☪ Ghost Story Academy 5
"No, it can't be! This can't be real!"
The physics teacher suddenly roared, glaring at Zeng Fugui in front of him, his jaw agape.
"No, it can't be! This can't be real!"
The physics teacher suddenly roared, glaring at Zeng Fugui in front of him, his mouth agape as if he wanted to devour him whole.
“Teacher, I…” Zeng Fugui suddenly realized that someone was pressing down on his shoulder.
He turned around and saw Ye Bugui with an upright expression.
"Don't provoke him."
The physics teacher quickly took leave and left the school, at which point the students could no longer suppress their gossip.
The five of them casually inquired a few times and learned the whole story of the ghost tale from the students.
A student was subjected to emotional abuse from his teacher and classmates, and finally, unable to bear it any longer, he jumped off a building.
From then on, any student near the corridor might encounter this vengeful male ghost.
“His business scope is quite wide,” Ye Bugui said. “We often sit by the corridor, how come we haven’t run into him?”
“There are too many of us,” Wei Jin said softly. “From what we’ve seen so far, the chances of encountering ghosts when you’re alone are quite high. So we should try not to travel in groups.”
This time, Lu Shi interrupted Wei Jin and expressed his different opinion:
"Have you forgotten that Zeng Fugui was almost killed in the Otherworld just now? I can easily deal with ghosts because I know magic, but you can't."
Ye Bugui touched his nose, thinking to himself that his serious boasting was so convincing that no one could argue with it, since they really didn't know any magic.
Zeng Fugui scratched his head and sided with Lu Shi, adding that he wasn't a complete novice: "When you encounter a ghost, you must be careful about how you speak. You must not anger the ghost, or you'll be in big trouble."
“Now that we know about the ghost story, I will continue to handle it,” Lu Shi said decisively.
Although Ye Bugui felt that this would increase Lu Shi's workload, after careful consideration, he realized that Lu Shi's abilities were indeed a bug in this instance, so he agreed.
And Lu Shi did not disappoint them. In the afternoon after school, Lu Shi encountered the male ghost again in the corridor.
Just as Zeng Fugui described, the male ghost first recounted his experiences in an attempt to evoke Lu Shi's sympathy.
However, Lu Shi, who had seen many ghosts, merely turned his head to glance at the male ghost, his tone devoid of any emotion:
"Yes, your death deserves sympathy. But you killed so many people afterward, that was wrong. Those people were just as innocent as you, why did you push them off the building?"
The male ghost's eyes turned red, and he stared at Lu Shi menacingly, probably not expecting that he would fail to deceive anyone this time.
For some reason, he really disliked the person in front of him. It was probably because of his condescending, lecturing tone, which was exactly the same as that of teachers and parents.
As the male ghost's body continued to swell, Lu Shi remained completely calm.
As the male ghost rushed toward him at breakneck speed, Lu Shi simply opened his palm casually, letting a burning ghost fire engulf the male ghost's body.
In an instant, it and its resentment were purified by the will-o'-the-wisp.
This time, Lu Shi didn't rush to leave. He squatted down and carefully examined the person in the will-o'-the-wisp, and soon made a new discovery.
Just as the male ghost was about to disappear, his body underwent a dramatic change, and he transformed into a strange young man.
The other person looked at Lu Shi, opening their mouth wide as if trying to tell him a secret.
Unfortunately, Lu Shi still didn't hear anything, only remembering the other person's lip movements.
When Lu Shi emerged from the inner world, the first thing he smelled was the aroma of wolf-tooth potatoes and hot pot noodles wafting from the classroom.
He hadn't even eaten yet, but the taste of both things was already in his mouth.
It's spicy and numbing, it must smell delicious.
Swallowing hard, Lu Shi returned to the classroom and saw Ye Bugui immediately get up and place his dinner on the desk.
"The school cafeteria even sells snacks this afternoon! That's great!" Zeng Fugui said, shaking the fat on his cheeks.
Not far away, Han Ran stared blankly at the food in front of her. She remembered the first time she met Han Baobao, who was sitting at a food stall eating crispy potatoes.
"That male ghost was dealt with very easily," Lu Shi said casually, which made Zeng Fugui admire the Demon Lord even more.
"However, he eventually became a different person, which seemed to have awakened his memories as well."
"What did he say?" Han Ran finally came to his senses, no longer thinking about the past, but focusing on the present.
“I didn’t hear it.” After Lu Shi finished speaking, he sighed regretfully, quite dissatisfied with the result. “In fact, they can only regain their memories after I perform the ritual to guide them to the afterlife. This reminds me of something.”
Ye Bugui raised his head and glanced at Lu Shi. He had always known that Lu Shi was tight-lipped about his past, so it was truly rare for him to bring it up like this today.
"I once met a Taoist priest whose specialty was exorcising ghosts. You know, the way of ghosts and spirits is considered dangerous and improper by upright people, so this Taoist priest was expelled from his sect."
Everyone looked at Lu Shi, as if they had forgotten what their original topic was, and listened attentively to the story.
"Later, this Taoist priest really became an evil person. He trained evil spirits to kill people. Then he used the innocent people who were killed as scapegoats to continue controlling them."
"You mean," Ye Bugui understood, "that the ghosts we encountered at school were actually killed by the original ghosts from the ghost stories?"
“That’s possible.” Lu Shi paused. “And before they died, they all looked like they had secrets to tell us. I suspect there’s something we haven’t discovered yet.”
"I'm completely confused," Zeng Fugui said, wiping his face. He continued, "Does this mean that if we just keep killing the monsters in the ghost stories, we won't be able to clear the game, right?"
“That should be it,” Wei Jin said softly. “Next time there’s a ghost story, let me go. I’ll become a ghost and try to communicate with them. Maybe I can get some useful information.”
No one else had any objections, so the matter was dropped.
During evening self-study, Han Ran quietly touched Lu Shi with her hand and then discovered something surprising.
Lu Shi was actually reading a book with a serious expression.
"Are you studying?" Han Ran was so surprised she almost forgot what she was going to say.
“Yes,” Lu Shi readily admitted, “It’s not easy to have a chance to learn new things. Of course I wouldn’t miss it. You didn’t come to me just to talk about this, did you?”
"Didn't I join our class group?" Han Ran glanced out the back window first, and only continued after not seeing the homeroom teacher: "What happened with the physics teacher today, plus the ball that Wei Jin found at noon, has really scared a lot of people."
"So I secretly fueled the fire in the group, and a lot of people actually revealed some secrets."
Lu Shi's expression changed. He smiled, glanced at Han Ran opposite him, and then gave him a thumbs up.