Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Scene 3

The corridor outside the senior year classrooms fell silent once more.

You stared at You Guang, and he stared back at you.

“Cutting class?”

No sooner had the words left your mouth than You Guang swiftly produced a notebook from seemingly nowhere and presented it to you.

You recognized this notebook instantly.

It was You Guang’s note-taking book, featuring a cartoon kitten with a pink bow on the cover—a design you had specifically helped him choose.

You took the notebook and flipped it open.

The latest page was meticulously filled with new class notes.

“The teacher wasn’t lecturing, so I came out.”

You listened to his explanation, noncommittal, only asking, “How long has this been going on?”

You Guang didn’t hesitate, confessing, “It started half a month ago. This is the sixteenth time I’ve skipped, for durations of five to twenty minutes.”

“…Has the teacher ever caught you?”

He looked at you, his voice dropping slightly. “Today was the first time I was discovered.”

That made sense. If he’d been caught earlier, he would have been reprimanded during homeroom.

Given his thorough confession, you didn’t condemn his misbehavior. Instead, you silently calculated how many blank test papers and assignments you still had left to complete.

You leaned in, whispering, “My remaining 12 test papers and three workbooks—they’re all yours now.”

You Guang’s dark eyes flickered. His lips parted as if to speak, but ultimately, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he swallowed his words.

You couldn’t help but curve your lips into a smile, feeling pleased. “Go on, say it.”

“You’ve left so much homework undone, always sleeping… Babe, give all your assignments to me.”

“Huh?” You wondered if you’d misheard.

Even anomalous entities wouldn’t enjoy doing homework, like You Guang.

But he said, “Your body needs time. Leave everything else to me.”

He spoke seriously, enunciating each word. “You’re always asleep. I’m worried.”

You smiled. “Don’t worry, I can feel things getting better.”

His lips tightened into a thin line again, so you reached up and poked his cheek.

It was cold, yet soft.

“If the day comes when we have to leave, I’ll take you with me.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, a reassuring smile spreading across his face.

Human bodies are incredibly fragile.

Fortunately, you weren’t an ordinary human.

***

Back at school, the mysterious “students” who had appeared in the downstairs classrooms suddenly vanished after about ten minutes, leaving no trace. The male student from the neighboring class who had lost his voice didn’t recover until after evening study hall, though the experience left him somewhat listless. Even as students from various classes crowded into his dorm room to question him, he remained subdued—though otherwise, he showed no abnormalities.

The dormitory building was unusually lively, with all the students discussing what had happened during evening study. You and You Guang wandered around the school, sensing lingering traces of anomalous energy in multiple places, but finding nothing more concrete. You could only mark the spots for later investigation.

The next day.

School was suspended.

The closure was tentatively set for three days, and students were not allowed to remain on campus. Teachers went dorm by dorm to check and usher everyone out, while security guards patrolled the school grounds.

It seemed this anomalous incident had caused quite a stir.

After all, so many extra students had appeared out of nowhere, only to vanish in front of everyone.

You briefly returned home before slipping back into the school with You Guang.

You knew very little about how humans handled anomalous incidents, so you took the opportunity to observe.

After the students were “cleared out,” several police cars arrived at the school. Officers got out and sealed off the classrooms where the extra students had appeared the night before. More surveillance cameras were installed in every corner of the school, even along the dormitory corridors. You and You Guang almost got caught and had to open the “Umbrella World,” standing beneath the umbrella as you watched them work.

They scoured the school, photographing everything, some sweeping the area with detection devices. Though you weren’t sure what they were checking for, they didn’t seem to find anything significant. Soon after, they got back into their cars and left.

On the morning of the third day of the campus anomaly incident, three figures arrived, accompanied by the principal and teachers.

Leading the way was a lean old man dressed entirely in white linen, his graying hair slicked back with gel. He had an angular face, and his right ear was covered in a web-like black tattoo.

Behind him followed two burly young men carrying cases, their expressions stern and their eyes cold—clearly meant to intimidate.

Led by a teacher, the three headed toward the sealed-off classrooms.

Curiosity piqued, you raised the umbrella and moved closer with You Guang. The lean old man seemed to sense something, glancing around before refocusing on the blockaded classroom.

“You Guang.” You felt a jolt of excitement at encountering someone like yourselves. “Do you think he might be one of the ‘Witches’ Uncle Cheng mentioned?”

Cheng Yubing had once told you that only those who had survived anomalous events and gained their powers were called “Witches.”

In all these years, aside from Cheng Yubing, this might be the second human you’d met with anomalous abilities.

People with such powers were vanishingly rare in this city. Cheng Yubing had even said, “As long as you don’t leave this city, you probably won’t run into others like us.”