Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Due to a mysterious infectious disease rumored in the school, a special investigative department was established, and its head is already going bald with worry.

When people began taking sick leave sporadically, he had a vague premonition of something amiss and immediately contacted the disease control center to check for a new infectious disease.

If a new infectious disease really broke out in C City University... The person in charge sweated profusely, not daring to contemplate the consequences.

In these days, he swiftly sealed the campus, prohibiting entry and exit, and suspended classes. The school was in panic, and the usually bustling campus was now almost deserted.

Not only were there wild speculations online, but he also faced questioning from students and parents, pressure from the education bureau, and his already thinning hair began to fall out in clumps, almost turning him bald.

Anxiously waiting for the disease control center's staff, he welcomed them into the campus with eyes shining like a starving person beholding a delicious chicken leg.

"How many patients are there now? Where are they? Have any disinfection measures been taken?" asked a disease control center staff member with a mask, his eyes sharp, foregoing pleasantries with the welcoming committee and getting straight to the point.

The lead person in charge was momentarily startled, then quickly responded: "The suspected infected patients have been isolated in two dormitory buildings. I'll take you there now."

With professionals present, everyone felt more at ease and hurried to the two dormitories designated for isolation, starting with the girls' dormitory.

For many, it was their first time confronting their sick classmates, having assumed it was just a common oral disease that couldn't be too serious.

The first dormitory housed the most severe cases. Everyone was shocked at the sight of the girls' appearances.

The once vibrant and beautiful girls now had a pale, numb expression, their eyes filled with neurotic madness. Their lips were severely ulcerated, almost exposing ghastly white teeth, resembling not human lips but rotten, gaping wounds.

The air was filled with a foul, sweet, and rotten stench, nauseating to the senses.

"How do you feel?" asked the disease control center staff with a compassionate tone, softly inquiring, "What was the situation that led to these symptoms? Who was the first to show them?"

The hysteria in their eyes was unmistakable, desperately gesturing as they spoke, careful not to open their mouths too wide or stretch their lips too much. They struggled to speak through the pain with muffled, unclear voices.

"The first one to get it was Zhong Xinxue, that slut. She must've caught something fooling around outside and infected us. She drank from my cup, and now I'm like this. That bitch did it on purpose!"

"Don't blame others. It's clearly you who got sick somewhere and infected the whole dormitory. You have the nerve to accuse us."

"Doctor, please save me, I don't want to be disfigured. Please help me, I'm only twenty-one, still so young..."

"Teacher, I don't want to stay here. I want to go home. My family will take me for treatment. Can I please go home?"

It was evident to anyone that these girls were mentally unstable, especially the one who swore the most, almost delirious.

Everyone frowned at the scene, and the CDC staff carefully examined the girls' lips. It seemed like an illusion, but the lips of the most foul-mouthed girl appeared to be visibly rotting further.

They carefully collected samples and recorded everything before moving to the next dormitory. As they left, they could still hear hoarse, harsh swearing from behind.

"It's all your fault, you bitch! You should have died out there with your disease instead of coming back to infect us. Why don't you just die!"

Even the experienced supervisors frowned deeply, but remembering these young students suddenly suffering from an unknown, potentially disfiguring illness, their brows relaxed.

It was hard for anyone to remain calm in such circumstances, and the girls couldn't be blamed.

After inspecting several more dorms, they were surprised to find that, unlike the first dorm, the condition hadn't worsened over time in the others.

Most of the patients only had ulcers inside their mouths, with no spread to the lips.

"How are you feeling now?" CDC staff exchanged a glance. "What was it like in the beginning? Did you take any medication?"

They had just examined the girls and found only faint traces of ulcers in their mouths, most of which had significantly healed.

The girls isolated in these dormitories answered truthfully.

"At first, we had several ulcer-like sores in our mouths, and it hurt even to drink water. Seeing other students' conditions worsening to the point of affecting their lips, we panicked and took some medication for ulcers. It cleared up in a few days..."

Another girl added, "My ulcers weren't severe, and I didn't manage to get any medicine. I didn't take anything, and it healed on its own in a couple of days."

It was strange, too strange. Not just to the CDC staff, but even to the untrained investigation department workers, the situation seemed almost supernatural.

This bizarre illness was devastatingly disfiguring for some, while for others, it was just minor ulcers that healed in a few days, hardly worth mentioning... Could it be that this disease discriminates in its effects?

"What have you been doing these past few days?" The CDC doctor asked the girl who recovered without medication.

"I didn't do anything special," she recalled. "I just stayed at school as usual, reading, studying..."

It was apparent that she was a quiet, introverted girl with her own inner world, requiring little social interaction. Even when afflicted with an unknown disease, she remained calm.

After asking a few more questions and finishing their examination of all the patients, the CDC staff collected all the samples.

The supervisor tentatively asked for their opinions on the disease, but they responded, "We can’t conclude anything at the moment; we have to wait for the lab results."

After saying this, they hurriedly left with the samples.

The school staff, left with worried expressions, stood at the school gate, watching the CDC team leave, sighs rippling through the air.

"What do we do now?" someone asked.

The person in charge, who had lost a few more hairs, rubbed his forehead, "What can we do but wait for their results."

As he said this, a flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes, "I wonder where the Daoist priest we invited has gotten to..."

This silenced everyone immediately.

In fact, when reporting the situation and contacting the CDC, the person in charge, for some reason, had also reached out to a so-called 'Heavenly Master' to check the situation.

The school staff, staunch believers in scientific materialism, had mixed feelings about this.

Given the person in charge's usual lifestyle, there had been no sign of any peculiar beliefs. The sudden mention of a Daoist priest left everyone unsure how to react.

To this, the person in charge firmly explained, "Even if it doesn't solve anything, having the Daoist priest improve our luck, or just provide some psychological comfort, wouldn't hurt."

In plain terms, he didn't believe when there was no need; but when in need, he chose to believe.

As everyone was murmuring and preparing to head back into the campus, a car suddenly turned towards them. The window rolled down, revealing a disheveled, yellow-haired head: "Master, open the gate, let us in."

The person in charge waved his hand: "Sorry, we've closed the campus. No outsiders are allowed in."

The man with the messy yellow hair was taken aback, "Aren't you the ones who invited us here?"

"When did I invite you..." the person in charge began, then he too froze mid-sentence.

The yellow-haired man gave the person in charge a toothy grin, making the latter feel a moment of darkness before his eyes.

Having already arrived, it seemed unreasonable to turn them away at the last minute, so reluctantly, the school staff allowed the peculiar yellow-haired man to drive into the campus.

While waiting for him to park, the person in charge pondered whether to just pay them off to leave immediately, avoiding any waste of time and effort.

Lost in thought, the yellow-haired man energetically got out of the car, but instead of speaking with the school staff, he jogged over to the passenger side and opened the door.

A person in white traditional attire with long, flowing hair stepped out of the car. After a brief glance at a nearby grove, he introduced himself, "I am Gu Dongting."

The refusal that the person in charge was about to voice got stuck in his throat. Accustomed to dealing with all sorts of people, he felt an involuntary pressure under Gu Dongting's gaze.

"Master Gu, nice to meet you." The organizer nervously extended his hand, "I am the one who posted this task."

Few knew that in this world, there exists another realm unknown to ordinary people, and he just happened to know a bit about it, even entrusting someone to post a task on his behalf.

The current state of metaphysics was mixed; he hadn't held much hope to begin with.

Seeing Huang Mao, he felt an unexpected disappointment, as if it was meant to be. But upon seeing Gu Dongting, his doubts vanished like smoke in the wind.

There seemed to be a strangely persuasive magic about Gu Dongting.

Briefly shaking hands with the organizer, Gu Dongting got straight to the point: "Let's first see the person involved."

The organizer hurried ahead to lead the way.

"Are modern shamans no longer adopting the ethereal sage persona? Have they switched to cosplay?" Someone muttered from behind, "So good-looking, no wonder people are willing to spend the money."

What with celestial masters and demon exorcists, it seems it's just about paying to see a handsome man.

Hearing this, the organizer twitched an eyebrow and burst out scolding: "Nonsense! Don't gossip behind people's backs. You are teachers and should set an example!"

Immediately, no one dared to speak, but they were still puzzled in their hearts: what abilities did this young man possess to make the organizer so anxious?

The group retraced their steps and returned to the most troubled dormitory. Upon entering and seeing Gu Dongting, the girls who were previously agitated paused, then quickly took out masks and put them on.

With the masks on, they looked no different from ordinary girls, except for a faint stench still lingering in the air.

"It stinks," blurted Huang Mao, instantly drawing angry glares from two girls, while the other two shyly lowered their heads.

Seeing their reaction, Huang Mao hurriedly added, "Sorry, I didn't mean you. I meant..."

"If you look down on us, then do so. Why bother explaining?" A girl sneered sarcastically, her voice raspy.

Huang Mao felt unjustly accused.

Gu Dongting pondered for a moment, then asked one of the girls, "Could you take off your mask so I can see?"

The girl hesitated for a while but eventually succumbed to Gu Dongting's calm gaze. Blushing, she removed her mask. Her dormmates mocked her, "Don't you have a boyfriend? You can't resist a handsome guy. What if your boyfriend knew how fickle you are…"

From a few steps away, Gu Dongting, as if he hadn't heard the other girl's mockery, continued negotiating with the first girl, "May I take a drop of your blood?"

Seeing her shyly nod, Gu Dongting signaled to Huang Mao, who quickly took out a pure white bowl from his backpack, and then a glass bottle, pouring half a bowl of water into it.

With a reassuring smile to the girl, Huang Mao pricked her finger to get a drop of blood and dropped it into the white bowl. The moment the blood touched the water, the clear liquid instantly turned a pale green.

"Thank you," Gu Dongting said to the girl, and then added, "It's not the work of spirits, but human interference."

Huang Mao explained, "This is spirit water used to detect spiritual energy. If it's the work of demons or ghosts, the water turns grey-black. The heavier the influence, the darker the color. If it's human-caused, it turns green, the purity of the spiritual energy dictates the depth of the green."

"...All this fancy talk, but it's just a chemical reaction, right?" A teacher specializing in chemistry rolled his eyes. However, after pondering for a while, he couldn't identify the exact chemical reaction at play.

Gu Dongting brought his index and middle fingers together, touched the pale green water, closed his eyes for a few seconds, and upon reopening them, a drop of condensed green water floated in the air, tremblingly flying outward.

Those who were convinced he was a charlatan: "!!!"

"What kind of incredible magic is this!"

Dazedly following behind Gu Dongting, the group walked on, only to realize they had merely moved from one female dormitory to another. At last, the crystalline green droplet disappeared into a door.

"What's inside?" Everyone's throats moved, but no one dared to knock.

The same people who were previously skeptical now stood behind Gu Dongting, resembling startled chicks, their expressions bewildered, their whole being radiating the 'joy' of having a new world opened to them.

Huang Mao, holding a Thunder Talisman between his index finger and thumb, cautiously knocked on the door.

To everyone's surprise, the door was opened by an extremely beautiful girl. Her face was immaculately clean, flawless. She spoke with a crisp and pleasant voice, "Who are you?"

Several girls following Gu Dongting's group screamed, almost rushing forward.

"Jian Yiqiu! You vile wretch, it's you who's been harming us! I'll tear you apart!"

Hearing this name, the teachers present changed their expressions. Though they hadn't seen her personally, they were familiar with her formidable reputation at the school.

Now, her reputation had the added infamy of harming fellow students.

The person in charge, thinking that all the trouble stemmed from this seemingly beautiful girl, was so enraged he could hardly breathe, "Jian Yiqiu! Do you realize that poisoning your classmates and causing the entire school to fall ill is a criminal act? Have you considered the consequences?"

Jian Yiqiu lifted her eyes, her clear black and white irises daunting, "It's precisely because I knew the consequences that I chose to do this."

She didn't even try to deny it, admitting her guilt outright.