Chapter 49

Chapter 49

◎Seeing Ghosts Now?◎

Days off always fly by, and in the blink of an eye, it's Monday again. The cold snap had most students bundling up in down jackets. Fortunately, the school uniform jackets were large enough to fit a down jacket inside, even if it made them look a bit bulky.

When Ji Nanxing entered the classroom, he was greeted with many inquiries. The few girls in the class crowded around his seat, asking how he was feeling.

Ji Nanxing smiled and thanked everyone for their concern: "I'm all good now."

Jiang Tangtang even handed him a hand warmer pack she had brought extra: "Here, you can use this. It should stay warm for about two hours. When it cools down, just give it back to me."

It was a cute, palm-sized Sanrio hand warmer. Ji Nanxing shook his head: "No need, I'm not cold."

Jiang Tangtang, seeing his pale complexion, which didn't look as robust as other boys who could withstand the cold, insisted and shoved the hand warmer into his hands.

Lin Yi, sitting nearby, also gave him a box of glucose tablets: "Pop these when your blood sugar's low. Better than chocolate!"

When Xiao Ye arrived, he saw a group of people surrounding his seatmate, with the desk piled high with food and drinks. His seatmate looked like Tang Sanzang stumbling into a spider demon's web. Xiao Ye quickly walked over: "What are you all doing?"

If he'd been any later, his seatmate might've been swarmed from head to toe.

The girls didn't shy away from Xiao Ye. After spending some time together, they had gotten a sense of his personality. He would help girls carry heavy things, let them do lighter and cleaner tasks during public area cleanups, and could take a joke without getting upset. He also never made inappropriate comments about girls.

Good-looking, easygoing, and respectful—Xiao Ye had it all. He was undoubtedly the most popular boy in the class.

As for Ji Nanxing, he was also popular, but not in the same way as Xiao Ye. The girls admired him from afar, feeling a mix of awe and protectiveness. With his delicate beauty, calling him "big sister" would've been too tempting, even though Ji Nanxing had never done so. That didn't stop them from secretly fawning over him.

Seeing Xiao Ye arrive, the girls laughed and teased: "You're jumping to his defense before anything even goes down. What would you do if something actually did?"

Xiao Ye: "If I waited for something to happen, it'd be too late. Homework done? Tests finished? Problem sets tackled? Hanging out here this early? The teacher'll haul you all to the office for a lecture."

After handing over their gifts and hearing this, the girls laughed and scattered. Just then, the morning self-study bell rang, and Xiao Ye swept all the items on the desk into the drawer.

Ji Nanxing looked at him: "Those were for me."

Xiao Ye: "I'm vetting them for you. What if someone snuck something shady in there?"

Ji Nanxing: "Even if they did, it's mine. Give them back."

Xiao Ye blocked his reaching hand and took the opportunity to touch it: "You're freezing. I should find a TCM doc to check this out. Summer's one thing, but turning into an ice cube in winter's no joke. Cold? Here, stick your hands in my pocket. It's warm here."

Xiao Ye's hands worked better than any hand warmer. After holding them for a while, Ji Nanxing felt much warmer. Compared to summer, winter was indeed harder for him. His family had once considered sending him to a coastal city for school, where winters would be more comfortable.

But his master had insisted that he stay in Yulan City until he turned eighteen. Fortunately, winters in Yulan City weren't extremely cold, with temperatures rarely dropping below -7 or -8 degrees Celsius. Temperatures dipping below -10°C were rare and brutal. However, the heavy humidity made the cold feel more biting than the dry cold of some northern cities.

Seeing Xiao Ye open his coat pocket invitingly, Ji Nanxing smiled and slipped his cold hand under Xiao Ye's coat, pressing it against his waist.

Xiao Ye hissed slightly but instinctively clamped his hand tighter, letting it press more firmly against his body. He endured the initial cold shock and said: "Are you trying to murder your seatmate first thing in the morning?"

Guo Can, sitting behind them, propped his head on one hand while secretly grabbing popcorn from his desk: "Here we go again."

He then turned to his own seatmate: "Seatmate, my hands are cold too."

Zhang Yuan, without looking up from his book, replied: "Get lost."

Guo Can: "Alright." That's how normal seatmates should interact.

With many people catching colds recently, the classroom was filled with occasional coughs, so the windows couldn't be completely closed. Some ventilation was necessary.

The rain started on Saturday, and after turning from light to heavy, it hardly stopped. For others, this was just a change in weather, but esoteric practitioners knew it was a manifestation of dispelling negative energy. The White Building's terrain had been suppressing negative energy for too long, so this rain was likely to continue for several more days.

The combination of low temperatures and rain, with occasional gusts of wind blowing in through the windows, chilled people to their core. Many were clamoring to turn on the heat.

There was no central heating here, so in winter, they could only rely on air conditioning for warmth. But it was only early November, not yet the time to turn on the heat, so everyone had to rely on their youthful vitality to endure.

During the break, Xiao Ye, with his exceptional height, managed to fight his way through the crowd at the small supermarket and grab the last bottle of hot chocolate milk. He tucked it inside his coat to keep it warm and ran back to the classroom through the drizzling rain, handing the hot chocolate milk to Ji Nanxing and pulling out a mask from his pocket.

"Put this on later," he said.

Ji Nanxing took a sip of the chocolate milk and looked puzzled at the mask being handed to him. "Why should I wear this? It doesn't keep me warm."

Xiao Ye replied, "Too many people are catching colds. Wear it to avoid getting infected."

With his delicate health, it was almost impossible for Ji Nanxing not to catch something while sitting among a group of sick people. Wearing a mask might help keep him safe.

Ji Nanxing was unlikely to catch a cold. Although he ate regular food and occasionally suffered from minor ailments, it was rare. The current early winter season wasn't enough to make him fall ill. But since the mask was already bought, he might as well wear it. If he did catch something, it would be his own discomfort.

With so many people falling ill, the homeroom teacher reminded everyone daily to dress warmly. After school each day, the on-duty students would light a mugwort stick to fumigate the classroom. The teacher even managed to get some red-hot charcoal, which was doused with vinegar, releasing a sour-smelling smoke that filled the room. The classroom door was then closed to trap the disinfecting fumes.

However, not every class did this. Some classes simply had students wear masks—those who were healthy to prevent infection, and those who were sick to avoid spreading it. Not all teachers were familiar with these little tricks for disinfecting the classroom.

On the day Ji Nanxing was on duty, his classmates, aware of his physical condition, didn't assign him any strenuous tasks. Over time, Xiao Ye, worried that others might resent this, specifically arranged with the class monitor to be on duty the same day as Ji Nanxing, so he could handle Ji Nanxing's share of the work.

After taking out the trash, Xiao Ye brought a bucket of burnt charcoal from the teacher's office and called out to Ji Nanxing, who was wiping the blackboard, "Time to pour the vinegar! Come out quickly."

Ji Nanxing dusted off the chalk from his hands and picked up both his and Xiao Ye's backpacks, heading outside. Xiao Ye carried the bucket inside, closed the doors and windows, poured vinegar to create a room full of smoke, then ran out, closing the door behind him. "I wonder if this actually works," he said.

Ji Nanxing replied, "It does. This is called 'vinegar charcoal fumigation.' Before people knew about germs, they used this method to dispel bad luck and evil spirits. There was even a deity known as the Vinegar Charcoal God."

Xiao Ye was hearing this for the first time. "There's a Vinegar Charcoal God? Did anything and everything become a god back in the day?"

Ji Nanxing smiled and asked, "Do you know who the Vinegar Charcoal God is?"

Xiao Ye took both backpacks from Ji Nanxing. "I just heard about the Vinegar Charcoal God for the first time. How would I know who it is?"

Ji Nanxing said, "You definitely know him. Legend has it that the Vinegar Charcoal God is Jiang Ziya."

Xiao Ye immediately looked skeptical. He knew Jiang Ziya—anyone who had read "Investiture of the Gods" would—but the Vinegar Charcoal God? That title didn't sound all that impressive. If he could grant godhood, why not give himself a more formidable title?

Another cold wind blew in, bringing scattered raindrops. Xiao Ye, using his body to shield Ji Nanxing, reached over and pulled up Ji Nanxing's collar. "You should go back. I'll take out the charcoal stove and go home soon. There's no need for both of us to wait here."

Although the charcoal had been burnt, there were still some embers left, so after fumigating the classroom, it needed to be removed to prevent any safety hazards. There was no need for Ji Nanxing to wait around in the cold. It was better for him to go home early and turn on the heat.

Ji Nanxing said, "We're both on duty. It wouldn't be right for me to leave first. I'm a bit hungry. Let's grab something to eat later."

Xiao Ye, who had initially wanted Ji Nanxing to go home early, stopped insisting when he heard this. "What do you want to eat?"

Ji Nanxing thought for a moment. "Is your driver here? If so, let's go to Fengli Street for some skewers."

Xiao Ye nodded. "Alright, I'll check if we need to get a number and wait in line."

They waited for about ten minutes until the smoke in the classroom began to dissipate. Xiao Ye then went in to retrieve the bucket and returned it to the teacher's office. As they walked out of the school together, Xiao Ye said, "According to the weather forecast, there's going to be light rain tomorrow, but then it'll clear up. The autumn and winter rains are such a pain. Every time it rains, a bunch of people get sick."

As he spoke, Xiao Ye reached out and tugged at Ji Nanxing. "What are you thinking about? You're so out of it. Didn't you see that person standing there? You almost ran into them."

Ji Nanxing turned to look at Xiao Ye when he heard this, then glanced back at the 'person' standing by the artificial lake. Looking uncertain, he said, "Where is there anyone?"

Xiao Ye turned around and pointed behind him: "There, still standing there. Standing by the roadside so late at night, dressed all in black, someone easily spooked might be scared to death."

Whether others were scared or not, Ji Nanxing didn't know, but he was certainly scared. He even activated his spiritual vision to glance at Xiao Ye, confirming that he was still full of yang energy and hadn't been drained of it from too much contact with him.

So the question was: why could Xiao Ye see ghosts when he clearly had strong yang energy?

Ji Nanxing pondered this question all the way home after having skewers, even thinking about finding a ghost to test it out. But where could one find so many ghosts wandering the streets? Xie Paner had been off somewhere playing these past few days and hadn't been following him.

When the car reached the entrance of the neighborhood, Ji Nanxing saw that Xiao Ye was about to get out to escort him in, so he said, "It's just a short walk, no need to see me off. It's not easy to park here at the gate, you go back."

Xiao Ye looked outside and saw that it had stopped raining, then said, "Alright, you go up quickly, rest early, see you tomorrow."

He reached out as if to ruffle Ji Nanxing's hair, but Ji Nanxing ducked away: "I'm going up, good night."

Xiao Ye chuckled, unbothered. Ji Nanxing never liked others touching his head. Watching him enter the building, Xiao Ye then said to the driver, "Let's go home."

Xie Paner, who he hadn't seen in a few days, had somehow returned and was lying on the carpet, tapping on her tablet and fiercely arguing with netizens. The gamers she was playing with would never have guessed that the account controlling Anqila, hopping around, belonged to a female ghost who had been dead for several years.

Ji Nanxing set down his backpack and said, "Come with me to school tomorrow."

Xie Paner looked up: "Why? Did you get called to the dean's office? It's no use for me to go, the teacher can't see me. But if the teacher could see me, they'd probably be scared to death, hahaha."

Ji Nanxing: "Today, Xiao Ye seemed to be able to see ghosts. Tomorrow, go and hover around him, see if he can see you."

Xie Paner was shocked, covering her face with her hands: "Really? Your deskmate, overflowing with yang energy, can see ghosts? What's going on, did he suddenly open his third eye?"

Ji Nanxing didn't know what was going on either. He glanced at the time; it should be around four or five in the morning where his senior brother was. He decided to call his senior brother tomorrow to ask.

The best option would be to ask his master, but unfortunately, his master had gone off to handle some matter and had been out of contact for a long time. If it weren't for the fact that a few management members of the Bureau could still reach him through special communications, he wouldn't be waiting so calmly. It wasn't worth bothering the Bureau over such a small matter; he'd ask his senior brother first.

Ji Nanxing suspected that his frequent contact with Xiao Ye had affected him. Not long ago, he had spent the night at Xiao Ye's place and slept next to him, being in close contact all night.

For the next few days, he planned to keep his distance from Xiao Ye. Tomorrow, he planned to have Xie Paner accompany him to school. If Xiao Ye could see Xie Paner, then he would take a few days off to give Xiao Ye some time to recover his yang energy.

It was still raining, and Xie Paner didn't need to stay in the yin wood plaque. She had burned a stick of incense before leaving in the morning and floated lightly behind Ji Nanxing to school.

Xiao Ye arrived early today and, seeing Ji Nanxing enter, pulled out his large thermos again.

Ji Nanxing put down his backpack and sat down: "I told you, you don't have to bring me food."

Xiao Ye: "It's not every day, just occasionally. These are special dates someone gave my grandfather, said to be very good. Wang Ma prepared them early this morning, red date and white fungus soup, with goji berries and peach gum added. Try it and see if it's good."

Ji Nanxing took the food container and glanced over at Xie Paner. Xie Paner didn't dare get too close to Xiao Ye; his yang energy was too strong, and as a lingering ghost, she naturally avoided it. So she floated around the classroom, occasionally drifting over to Xiao Ye without touching the ground.

But Xiao Ye only had eyes for Ji Nanxing, watching him take a couple of sips and smiling: "How is it, is it sweet enough? I was afraid it might be too sweet and cloying, so I asked Wang Ma to make it lighter."

Ji Nanxing nodded: "It's quite good, the sweetness is just right."

Xiao Ye was satisfied: "Drink it slowly. Did you have breakfast? If you're too full, drink less and save some for break time."

Xie Paner, floating in front of Xiao Ye, almost wanted to gouge out her own eyes to scare someone, but apart from Ji Nanxing, no one in the class seemed to be able to see her.

Seeing Xiao Ye very normally handing in homework and talking to people, Xie Paner hid over by Ji Nanxing: "He can't see ghosts at all, he can't see me. Could you have been mistaken, was that really a person last night?"

Ji Nanxing didn't respond to Xie Paner; he couldn't just talk to himself like a lunatic. He just waved his hand slightly, letting her go play on her own.

Xie Paner exclaimed, dramatically giving him a half-squat salute: "Then this humble one takes his leave, young master must study hard, this humble one will now roll away."

Then it flew out with a whoosh.

Ji Nanxing looked at Xiao Ye, who was chatting with someone about playing basketball in the upcoming PE class. If he can't see ghosts, then what happened last night? It couldn't have been a mistake; he knows the difference between a person and a ghost.

During the break, realizing it should be afternoon where his senior brother was, Ji Nanxing decided to make a phone call.

Although Ji Yuanting was busy, his junior brother rarely contacted him unless it was something important. So when his personal phone rang, he gave the meeting attendees a ten-minute break and went to the lounge to take the call.

Ji Nanxing briefly explained the situation: "I'm wondering if I've absorbed too much of his yang energy, which might have lowered his fortune and caused him to see ghosts."

Ji Yuanting: "Has his yang energy decreased?"

Ji Nanxing: "That's the strange part; it hasn't. Have you or our master ever encountered something like this before?"

Ji Yuanting: "If his yang energy hasn't decreased, have you considered that the issue might be with the ghost you saw?"

Ji Nanxing was puzzled: "With the ghost?"

Ji Yuanting chuckled: "When you're in a state of soul separation, your yin energy is strong, so even a Taoist might mistake you for a fierce ghost, but in reality, you're alive."

Ji Nanxing immediately understood his senior brother's meaning: "So that person wasn't a ghost; it was just his strong yin energy that made me think he was a ghost at first glance, but in reality, he's a person."

So Xiao Ye could see him because he was a person all along, whereas I had preconceived notions based on yin energy.

After hanging up, Ji Nanxing felt a lot better. He had been overly concerned about Xiao Ye's yang energy, mainly because he was worried that his frequent contact with him might have had an adverse effect. This had caused him to focus too much on Xiao Ye, forgetting to consider the ghost's perspective.

But if he's a living person, why does he have such strong yin energy? Even I, if not in a state of soul separation, can be seen by those with the third eye as a living person full of vitality. Yet, the person we encountered last night showed no signs of vitality at all.

After school, Ji Nanxing intentionally walked by the artificial lake. Yesterday, he had to go to the teacher's office to drop off an iron bucket, and taking the path from the faculty building past the artificial lake was the quickest way. Today, coming from the classroom building, walking to the artificial lake meant taking a detour, a path usually only taken by couples in the spring and summer evenings. In this cold weather, few people came to the lake.

Xiao Ye noticed him taking this route and looked around: "Taking a detour, huh? Who's meeting you here?"

Ji Nanxing casually replied: "Yeah, someone said they'd give me a love letter and asked me to wait here."

Hearing this, Xiao Ye grabbed Ji Nanxing's wrist and quickly pulled him forward: "What love letter? Wait for what? You're just a high school freshman. Believe me, I'll tell your brother you're dating early."

Ji Nanxing had already checked; the person who stood here yesterday was gone, and even the residual yin energy from where they stood had dissipated after a day. So he let Xiao Ye drag him along: "Even if my brother finds out, he would only support it."

Xiao Ye: "Support what? What's most important for a student is their studies! Early romance is not allowed!"

Ji Nanxing laughed: "Why aren't you allowed?"

Xiao Ye: "Because I'm your boss, because I've got your back. The boss isn't dating, so how can the underling date?"

Ji Nanxing found this even more amusing: "When did you become my boss, and when did I become your underling?"

Xiao Ye raised his other hand: "See my fist as big as a sandbag? If you don't listen, I'll punch you."

Besides the sandbag-sized fist, his arm was carrying a lunch box, and he was carrying two backpacks, making the threat of punching completely non-threatening.

In a small alley, a girl who had just finished her night shift walked in with an umbrella. Taking the main road would require a long detour, at least an extra ten minutes, but cutting through this alley would get her to her residential area quickly.

Usually, this path had streetlights, but for the past two days, perhaps due to the rain, the lights had been broken and no one had come to fix them. However, having walked this path for many years, with the moonlight above, it didn't seem particularly dark.

But today, the girl felt an indescribable unease. The path she walked at least twice a day felt unusually different today. She couldn't pinpoint what was different, but her heart was uncontrollably racing.

The girl looked back; no one was there. She was more than halfway through, not far from home. Just as she was about to muster the courage to run back, a hand reached out from behind her and covered her mouth.

The girl's eyes widened in terror. Her phone, which she used to light the way, and the umbrella she was holding fell to the ground. Her hands instinctively tried to grab the hand covering her mouth and struggle.

At this moment, the person covering her mouth seemed to be resisting a force, struggling to let her go. After letting out a painful groan, the hand over her mouth loosened slightly.

The girl frantically shoved him aside and bolted forward.

But the next second, a tendril of black mist surged from all directions and entered her body. The girl instantly lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

The man looked at the girl lying on the ground, knelt down, and struggled for a moment. His expression shifted from pained resistance to cold indifference as he stood. He didn’t even glance at the fallen phone, instead rifling through the girl’s bag. Unfortunately, nowadays everyone uses phone payments, so she didn’t carry much cash—only a scattered hundred or two.

After pocketing the money, the man also stripped the gold bracelet and necklace from the girl’s body. Although the phone could be sold second-hand, the risk of getting caught was pretty high. These gold accessories would be easier to offload.

Once he was sure all valuables were taken, the man stepped over the girl’s lifeless body and vanished into the alley.

The black mist that had been lingering around the girl quickly emerged from her body and attached itself to the man.

The person lying on the ground had already stopped breathing.