Chapter 9

Chapter 9

◎Ghost Baby◎

Ji Nanxing entered the classroom right as the bell rang. This time, Xiao Ye didn't wait for Ji Nanxing to speak; he immediately moved aside to let him pass.

After turning in his homework for each subject, Ji Nanxing rested his head on one hand and started to zone out.

At this moment, his drowsiness wasn't at its peak. Having just taken a shower, he was still somewhat awake. The homeroom teacher would come by to check on them soon, and although his sickly persona provided some cover, it would still be too much to openly sleep as soon as he arrived in the morning.

So Ji Nanxing fought off his sleepiness, planning to nap after they went down for military training.

The classroom was a bit noisy, not deafening, but far from quiet. With only a few core subjects' homework assigned daily, it hadn't yet deprived everyone of their sleep time, and their spirits hadn't been worn down by the heaviness of high school.

Ji Nanxing's sharp ears picked up key words from his classmates' chatter: White Building, cordoned off, corpse.

The White Building was the mall where Xia Junyan had been trapped last night. The mall was ancient, dating back to the Republican era. Back then, it was a beautiful European-style white building, owned by foreigners. The locals couldn't pronounce the English name the foreigners gave it, so they just called it the White Building.

Now, the mall had changed ownership several times. Although the ground-floor storefronts still had that white European look, the upper floors, including the office building that was later rebuilt, no longer had the original White Building's charm. However, locals still called it the White Building out of habit.

The White Building was just a few bus stops from their school, which was why he had been able to arrive so promptly last night.

Some classmates lived nearby and had likely seen the commotion at the entrance on their way to school that morning, prompting them to chat with their classmates.

"I don't know what's going on, but when I left home this morning, it was already blocked off, and no one was allowed in or out. There were a lot of police."

"The mall wasn't even open that early, right? Did something happen there?"

"It wasn't blocked off this morning; it was already sealed off last night."

"Last night? How do you know?"

The classmate who had just spoken yawned sleepily and said, "I saw it in a short video. Someone who was out for a night run passed by and filmed it. It was pushed to me locally, so I caught it. Someone even caught a stretcher covered with a white sheet. Someone definitely passed away."

As Ji Nanxing listened to the girls chatting, a face suddenly loomed large in his field of vision.

Ji Nanxing blinked, looking at Xiao Ye, who had suddenly leaned in, with a dazed expression: "Huh?"

Xiao Ye, seeing his somewhat confused expression, found it inexplicably cute, though his pale complexion was a bit unsettling: "What's wrong? You don't look too lively."

Ji Nanxing: "Didn't sleep well."

Xiao Ye: "Then you can catch up on some sleep later. I left my school uniform in the classroom; you can roll it up as a pillow. It's clean, hasn't been worn today."

Ji Nanxing felt a breeze coming in from the window and glanced outside, feeling a headache coming on: "Probably won't be able to sleep."

Xiao Ye followed his gaze to the clear sky and white clouds outside: "What do you mean, won't be able to sleep?"

Ji Nanxing pushed aside the books on his desk and lay down directly on it: "I'll sleep for a bit."

Xiao Ye hummed in acknowledgment and didn't speak to him anymore. It wasn't time to gather yet, so he sat bored at his desk, waiting, but his eyes kept drifting to his little deskmate.

The oversized school uniform sleeves were a bit too long, covering half of his deskmate's hands, revealing only the beautiful fingertips. His nails were cut short, round and clean, with a faint pink hue.

And the face mostly buried in the crook of his arm, sleeping quietly, even his hair strands exuded a sense of obedience.

Until the classmates started leaving the classroom in twos and threes, and Zhang Yuan, sitting behind him, reached out and nudged him, Xiao Ye finally snapped out of it.

Seeing his dazed expression, Zhang Yuan chuckled: "What, does he have gold on his face? You're so absorbed."

Xiao Ye shot him a sidelong glance, refusing to admit it: "Nonsense, I was just thinking about something."

With that, he strode out with his long legs, not even looking back.

When the classroom was empty, Chen Shiyi originally wanted to sit next to Ji Nanxing, but seeing him sleeping soundly, he decided not to disturb him and took out a novel to read instead.

The weather in August and September was unpredictable. Just moments ago, the sun was shining, but before the half-hour military stance was over, a downpour started. The sun was still hanging in the sky, but large raindrops were already falling.

"Whoa! It's raining!"

"Wow, this is great! It's raining, thunder, time to collect the laundry!"

Students from all classes hurriedly ran towards the school building, some taking the opportunity to cheer and shout, making all sorts of strange noises, excited like a group of monkeys just descending from the mountain.

The instructors from each class were shouting at the top of their lungs, telling the students to return to their respective classrooms and not to run around. Judging by the sky, it was probably a passing shower, and they could continue training after it passed.

Everyone was praying as they went upstairs, hoping the rain would last until school was over.

Perhaps too many people were praying, because before they even returned to their classrooms, the wind started to pick up outside, and the sky visibly darkened. Rolling dark clouds surged in, and the students were even more delighted. This rain probably wouldn't stop anytime soon.

Ji Nanxing, who had been sleeping peacefully for less than half an hour, was awakened by the excited shouts and the thundering footsteps in the hallway, along with the howling wind and rain outside. There was no way he could sleep now.

The classroom windows were all open, and the heavy rain, accompanied by the wind, poured into the classroom in waves.

Ji Nanxing was sitting by the window, and because the windows weren't closed in time, some rainwater had already splashed in.

The windows in their classroom were the kind that opened outward, with a protective net on the outside. But the railing-style net couldn't stop the rain, and the seats near the window were quite wet.

Chen Shiyi was busy closing the windows back and forth, and Ji Nanxing tried to wake himself up, reaching out to close the window on his side.

But as soon as he stood up and reached out, a school uniform appeared from behind, covering his head and face, and a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders, moving him aside.

Ji Nanxing pulled off the school uniform and saw Xiao Ye standing in front of him, pulling the two outward-opening windows shut. In that short time, Xiao Ye's arms were splashed with rainwater, and his shoulders and chest were slightly wet.

The quiet classroom quickly became lively again. The students sitting by the window thanked Chen Shiyi for helping to close the windows, while those who had rushed in from the rain were borrowing tissues to dry their heads and faces.

Ji Nanxing placed Xiao Ye's school uniform back on his chair, took out a pack of tissues from his desk, and handed a few to him: "Here, dry yourself."

Xiao Ye smiled and took them: "Thanks."

The classmate sitting behind Ji Nanxing saw that he had tissues and quickly said: "Classmate, please, can I have some?"

Ji Nanxing handed over the remaining tissues.

Xiao Ye glanced at Ji Nanxing's desk but didn't say anything. He used half of the tissues to dry his face and then used the other half to wipe Ji Nanxing's desk clean.

Ji Nanxing watched his actions and only spoke after he finished: "Thank you."

Xiao Ye raised an eyebrow at him: "These are your tissues."

Ji Nanxing: "Thank you for wiping my desk."

Xiao Ye asked him: "Still want to sleep?"

Ji Nanxing glanced around the classroom. Because of the sudden rain, they didn't have to do military training, and with the sky darkening so quickly, it looked like the end of the world outside. Everyone was excited, and the class monitor had already tried to maintain order several times, but the students still couldn't calm down.

So he shook his head. Without military training, the subject teacher would probably come soon. Even if they didn't have a formal class, they could use the time to go over some homework problems. It seemed he wouldn't be able to sleep.

Just as Ji Nanxing had thought, it wasn't long before their math teacher walked in with a thermos and asked the math class representative to go to his office to fetch the homework that had just been collected.

The problems in the workbook were all very basic, mostly reinforcing some junior high school knowledge points, which were so simple for Ji Nanxing that they acted like a perfect lullaby.

He could hunt ghosts for a week straight, but ten minutes of classroom lectures knocked him out.

Xiao Ye, seeing his classmate's eyes glazing over, held back a chuckle and moved the textbooks piled on the desk, adjusting his seat to block his classmate from view, allowing him to sneak a nap.

However, Ji Nanxing didn't understand Xiao Ye's intention, thinking he was just tired from sitting and adjusting his posture, still propping his head with one hand, his eyes drooping, teetering on the brink of sleep.

The phone vibration in his pocket startled Ji Nanxing, who was almost closing his eyes. He glanced at the teacher, then checked WeChat on his smartwatch to see a message from Xia Junyan about the female ghost they caught last night.

Besides the female ghost, there was also a Ghost Baby that had run off somewhere.

Seeing this message, Ji Nanxing frowned; the Ghost Baby posed a far greater threat than the female ghost.

Even Hu Xiaodie, driven by vengeance, who accumulated power to get close to her enemies for revenge, chose to start killing from the weak. Even if her first target was an innocent child, that child was related to the unfinished building project, not just any child on the street.

The Ghost Baby was different; they were never truly born, had no teachings or constraints, all their actions are instinct-driven. When hungry, they eat; ghosts consume living souls. When unhappy, they cause trouble, killing indiscriminately. Tracking them was tougher since Ghost Babies leave no trace.

Xia Junyan: "The Paranormal Management Bureau has issued an A+ level task with a reward of 100,000. Wanna team up? We'll split the reward fifty-fifty."

Ji Nanxing tapped his watch twice and replied: "In class right now, can't talk."

The danger coefficient of the Ghost Baby was too high, its unpredictability even more troublesome than a fierce ghost's. He was just an ordinary high school student; studying was his main task. Let the grown-ups handle saving the world.

The teacher was still tapping on the blackboard, dealing with junior high concepts that students still got wrong, his tone tinged with frustration, his volume increasing: "Whether a function has a maximum or minimum value depends on the sign of a! You're all high school freshmen, how are you still messing this up?"

The students who erred hung their heads, not daring to look at the teacher, afraid that a glance would bring the scolding upon them.

Xiao Ye, seeing him staring at his watch with a serious expression, asked: "What's wrong?"

Ji Nanxing turned off the watch screen: "Nothing, just a little hungry, class isn't done yet."

Xiao Ye also glanced at the time, there were still ten minutes before the bell, hoping the teacher wouldn't run overtime.

After a while, Xia Junyan sent another message: "Where do you think the Ghost Baby went?"

Ji Nanxing often doubted if his 985 diploma was legit, replying helplessly: "When hungry, it looks for food; when full, it looks for its mother; if it can't find its mother, it looks for its father. Where do you think it would go?"

After Xia Junyan sent him an OK gesture, he finally stopped harassing him.

The White Building lockdown quickly trended online. Although there were no specific reports on why it was surrounded, various on-site videos were posted online, making it a highly discussed topic locally at least.

As the chairman of Guangli Group, Meng Hongwei was immediately contacted by the relevant departments.

The White Building had changed hands several times and was acquired by Guangli Group over a decade ago, renamed Guangli Mall. Later, it underwent major reforms, building office towers, and had been developing extremely well over the years, not only making a fortune daily but also significantly increasing the surrounding land prices.

With today's incident, Guangli Group's stock was also affected. Although the fluctuation wasn't large, every loss was money. Early in the morning, all major shareholders came to the company and waited in the conference room.

After cooperating with the investigation and calming the shareholders, Meng Hongwei didn't return home until dark, exhausted.

Hearing the car, Li Yuewen hurried out, full of concern upon seeing him return: "How is the company's situation?"

Meng Hongwei embraced his wife: "The situation is fine, just need to cooperate with their investigation."

Li Yuewen, thinking of the video news she saw, asked: "Was a body really found? In the mall's basement? But that staircase has been sealed, and the elevator doesn't go to the basement."

Two bodies were found, one female, the time of death still under examination, and later a male body was found within the wall, estimated to have died over ten days ago.

Meng Hongwei didn't know about the male body, but thinking of the female body, his expression darkened in a way his wife couldn't see.

Li Yuewen was still worried, Meng Hongwei kissed her forehead: "Don't worry, it's nothing, it has nothing to do with us."

Soon, a child ran out of the house, about five or six years old, jumping and shouting: "Daddy, hug!"

Meng Hongwei picked up his son, his worried expression clearing, coaxing his son: "Were you good at kindergarten today?"

The little boy said in a milky voice: "Super good!"

The family of three walked into the house together, unaware that outside a window, a pair of large eyes with only black pupils and no whites were quietly watching them.