Chapter 123: Help

The moment I saw that face, my scalp went numb. I blinked rapidly, hoping to get a better look, but the person had already vanished into the vast night.

"Sister Yu, did you see that?" I turned my head and asked Qin Yu, who was standing beside me, my face etched with tension.

"See what?" Qin Yu asked, looking at me with confusion.

"A face! A human face! It was hidden right inside that man's hair."

Qin Yu frowned, saying that was impossible and that she hadn't seen anything.

"Could my eyes be playing tricks on me?" I blinked in bewilderment, then glanced at the box of chocolates in her hands. A thought struck me: "Sister Yu, who is that guy? He just suddenly gives you this. The implication is a bit... you know!"

Qin Yu glared at me, then turned and walked into the Sanhua Xuan Pavilion with the box of chocolates. Driven by curiosity, I followed her inside.

Once inside, Qin Yu placed the slightly rusted chocolate box on a side table and walked over to a nearby orchid. The pot was filled with these same pebbles. She poured the entire box of stones into the pot, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"Sister Yu, do you really like these pebbles?" Seeing her expression, I had already guessed most of it.

"Yes!" Qin Yu didn't try to hide it. She nodded and explained that she had grown up by the sea. After a tragedy hit her family, she was sent to Mount Mao. She was less than two years old at the time and had forgotten almost all memories of her hometown, even her parents, but she remembered these specific pebbles very clearly.

I let out an "oh" and asked if she had ever gone back to her hometown to see where those stones came from.

Qin Yu shook her head, saying she had never returned because she had no idea which stretch of coastline produced such pebbles.

I furrowed my brow. "In that case, it seems you've forgotten where your home is. But that man—since he can find these pebbles, why didn't you ask him where your hometown is? And what is your relationship with him? It looks like he’s interested in you."

Qin Yu shook her head again, explaining that she had met him two years ago. He had collapsed from hunger at the entrance of her pavilion, and she had saved him. Once he recovered, he noticed her fondness for the pebbles. Perhaps as a way to repay her, he would visit every month or two, bringing her a box of them. She had tried asking him where they came from, but he would never say a word. He would simply hand them over and leave in a hurry. To this day, she didn't even know his name.

I hummed in thought, noting how strange he was. My mind drifted back to the face hidden in his disheveled hair. "Sister Yu, are you sure you didn't see that face in his hair?"

Qin Yu continued to shake her head, insisting that if there had been anything sinister, she would have noticed. "Perhaps your eyes were just tired," she suggested.

I nodded, thinking she was probably right. After all, Qin Yu was a legitimate descendant of the Mount Mao sect and protected by the Three Flowers; her cultivation was far higher than mine. If there were truly any demons or ghosts lurking on him, she would have surely sensed it.

Checking the time, I saw it was nearly midnight. I said goodbye to Qin Yu and headed back to school.

It was past eleven when I returned. After being scolded by the dorm matron, I finally made it to my room. Following my battle with the Corpse Matriarch, I had tapped into the power of the Yellow Springs Forbidden Arts and used the Yellow Springs Curse. My entire body was exhausted, and I desperately wanted to sleep.

The room was deathly quiet. I turned on the lights only to find it empty. I frowned, wondering if "The Emperor" and the others were still out at the internet cafe. I reflexively called "The Emperor" to ask if he was staying out all night—if he was, I’d lock the door to avoid being disturbed.

To my confusion, the phone rang for a long time without an answer. Assuming he was too engrossed in his game, I tried Liu Dong and Jiang Chao next. Neither of them answered either. I cursed under my breath, thinking they were too obsessed with their games to care about anything else, and tossed my phone aside before locking the door.

Just as I was about to climb into bed, my phone suddenly rang. I checked the screen—it wasn't anyone from my dorm, but a female classmate named Liu Yi. She was one of the top beauties in our class and Jiang Chao's dream girl. However, she was high-maintenance and materialistic; she looked down on guys like Jiang Chao and only associated with the wealthy "young masters" on campus. We had never spoken a word to each other in a year. Getting a call from her felt like a corpse coming back to life.

I answered, "Hello?"

Before I could say another word, a voice filled with extreme terror and urgency cut through: "Wu Dao? Is that you, Wu Dao?"

My heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over me. "It's me. What's wrong, Liu Yi?"

"Help me! Wu Dao, please, help me!"

My nerves tightened. I asked what had happened, but she only kept screaming for help. I asked where she was.

"The laboratory building! The old laboratory building!"

A chill ran down my spine. That building had been abandoned for over a decade and was always kept locked. Legend had it that nearly twenty years ago, a chemistry graduate student had committed suicide there due to academic pressure. After the school failed to seal the building, students began reporting the sound of something heavy hitting the ground at midnight, though they found nothing when they checked. Eventually, rumors of ghosts spread, and after reports of more students dying there, the school had no choice but to abandon it.

It was a forbidden zone at our university; students would always take a detour to avoid it. How on earth did Liu Yi end up there?

Truth be told, I initially didn't want to get involved, thinking she might just be playing a prank. But hearing her panicked voice again, I asked, "Who else is with you?"

"Zhang Juan, Li Fengyu, Zhou Lei... and Li Yi and Jiang Chao from your dorm!"

Hearing those names, I shuddered and roared in anger, "Why the hell did you go to the old lab building? Are you out of your minds?"

Liu Yi began to sob, and then, a piercing, blood-curdling scream echoed through the phone.