Chapter 109: The Special Classroom That Was Burned
Just as Luxianbei had guessed, Jiang Li reacted extremely violently upon hearing the words “Solar Eclipse Society,” even more so than he had imagined.
“Bang——!”
The image of Jiang Li as a high and aloof flower instantly shattered. She slammed her hands on the table, making a dull sound, leaned slightly forward, and fixed a cold gaze on Luxianbei, her aura commanding.
“What did you say? You discovered this, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I…” Luxianbei scratched the back of his head, “But, at that time, they were just discussing and hadn’t started any actions yet, right?”
“Later, there was an urban legend attack at the school, and it got targeted by Agent Li. If I hadn’t come here to study today, I would have almost forgotten about it.”
That guy Li Xuan was always so strange and mysterious; if the blame wasn’t placed on him, who else could it be? Luxianbei thought.
Jiang Li opened her mouth, hesitated for a long time, then took a deep breath to calm her emotions.
“Sorry, I got a bit too agitated. This is not your fault. Let’s call it a day for now; you should go back. I have things to attend to.”
“Leader.” Luxianbei frowned. “You’re not planning to go to Shihhekou Middle School right now, are you? Shouldn’t you prepare some more? I heard that place…”
Jiang Li waved her hand, interrupting, “We’ve known about the issues at Shihhekou Middle School for a long time and have had people monitoring it. It’s just that there are special reasons that make it hard to eradicate.”
“Alright, you should head back early. If we delay any longer, it will be dark.”
After saying this, Jiang Li turned and limped out of the office.
The fact that Shihhekou Middle School hid numerous urban legends was something that all the agents of the Siye Society had already known.
The reason they hadn’t conducted a cleanup was that those urban legends had long integrated with the entire school; one could say that the whole school was an urban legend.
Unless the entire school were flattened, followed by long-term monitoring and purification, it would be impossible to eradicate completely.
But flattening the school was not something that the Siye Society could implement immediately. Moreover, if the many urban legends holed up inside lost their habitat, they would escape everywhere, making it impossible to ensure no fish got away.
Additionally, there has never been a precedent of the urban legends hidden inside Shihhekou Middle School leaving the abandoned school grounds.
Thus, the Siye Society chose a relatively conservative approach—regularly sending people to check and clean, with three members of the Special Action Team alternating to guard the foot of the mountain, preventing outsiders from accidentally wandering in.
However, if this matter were handed to Jiang Li to handle, she would actually prefer to use some radical methods.
For instance, right now, she wanted to take the person who held the property rights to Shihhekou Middle School, who had been undermining it for a long time, and toss him inside his precious school for a night, so he could see well what kind of things were hidden inside the treasure he was so eager to protect!
……
Watching Jiang Li hurriedly leave the office, Luxianbei frowned.
She seemed to mention that there had always been people guarding and checking near Shihhekou Middle School?
Then why didn’t we encounter any obstacles when Du Sixian and I entered that night?
Could it be that during the Moonless Night, the members of the Special Action Team stationed near Shihhekou Middle School were worried about the urban legends causing trouble and had run away in fear?
Luxianbei pondered and suddenly thought of something, his expression changing.
Or…
Was all of this part of a planned scheme, with someone secretly manipulating things behind the scenes to deliberately lead them astray?
……
When Jiang Li found An Qing to invite her to investigate Shihhekou Middle School, she was still on the training ground, seriously coaching Du Sixian.
From afar, seeing Jiang Li approach, An Qing signaled Du Sixian to continue practicing on her own and quickly met Jiang Li halfway.
“What made you suddenly think of looking for me?” An Qing smiled seductively at Jiang Li and said, “I don’t think you’re here to invite me to dinner, right? Is there something you need help with?”
Jiang Li glanced at the distant Du Sixian still practicing, then at An Qing, and replied earnestly, “There is indeed. Do you remember that urban legends chat group I mentioned last time? Luxianbei has made a new discovery, so I’d like to ask you to come with me.”
“Is it an investigation task or a combat task?” An Qing asked directly.
She felt it was not strange for Jiang Li to invite her.
She and Li Xuan had always been at odds, inviting Gu Xiliu would likely end in a no-show, the girl generally wouldn’t leave headquarters, and as for Bai Kai…
No one liked Bai Kai!
“An investigation task,” Jiang Li said.
“An investigation task?” An Qing raised the corners of her mouth and glanced sideways at Du Sixian, who was still sweating. “If it’s an investigation, can we take a newcomer along for some exposure?”
Jiang Li looked at Du Sixian and frowned. “Although it’s an investigation task, there’s a possibility of conflict. I’ve heard her spirit patterns don’t have special abilities, so if she comes along…”
“She has already learned a basic spell formula,” An Qing interjected.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Li’s eyes flickered slightly, secretly amazed at how fast it was.
“Then fine, let’s take her along, but hurry up. I’ll wait for you at the entrance.” With that, Jiang Li turned and left the training ground.
……
Several minutes later.
In Office “V,” after Jiang Li and Luxianbei had left, the office door was quietly pushed open by someone.
A figure swiftly darted into the office, then carefully closed the door behind them, scanning the room before locking onto a heavy book on the desk, narrowing their eyes.
They stepped up to it, and a faint light glimmered on their fingertips as they gently tapped on the cover of “The Book of Siye.” The pages flipped rapidly, and after a few seconds, they paused at page 23 for a moment, then resumed flipping until they stopped at page 29.
Li Xuan stared at the page, feeling puzzled. “How could there only be six or seven new pages of study content? This progress…”
This progress was not only slow but also seemed abnormal, even to the point where he doubted Luxianbei’s learning capacity might be a bit lacking.
“d*mn it, he must have found a way to evade ‘The Book of Siye’! I have to think of a way…”
Li Xuan muttered to himself when he suddenly sensed a gaze from outside the window fixating on him. That unsettling feeling wrapped around his body like damp, slippery tendrils, and in an instant, goosebumps crawled up his arms.
“Who is it!” he exclaimed, turning to look out the window, only to see a girl holding a black umbrella, with long disheveled hair and deep black circles under her eyes, appearing extremely listless.
The girl’s lifeless eyes fixed on Li Xuan for a moment, seemingly losing interest, as she murmured softly, “Eavesdropping, tattling… eavesdropping, tattling…” She then turned away and walked off.
Li Xuan watched the girl’s retreating figure, his mouth twitching, and with a “snap!” he closed “The Book of Siye” and left in a huff.
Thus, of the entire Huacheng Siye Society, the one he disliked the most was that girl!
Sneaky, elusive, and always eager to tell tales. What a pain. Li Xuan thought.
……
A black sedan slowly rolled along a road that appeared somewhat muddy and dirty, and not far away, a narrow river was stained with the crimson hues of dusk.
Inside the car, the little maid Ahua silently controlled the steering wheel, while Jiang Li sat in the passenger seat.
In the back seat, An Qing and Du Sixian looked out the window at the desolate scene on either side, hearing the crisp sound of the tires rolling over withered branches.
Behind them, an unremarkable white SUV was filled with casually dressed members of the Special Action Team.
Under the dimming sky, the scenery tinted with shadows rushed past them.
Traveling along the winding mountain path, ahead loomed a campus that exuded a sense of gloom and oppression.
Earlier, when Du Sixian learned from An Qing that she would be accompanying her to Shihhekou Middle School for the first observational learning, her brain short-circuited for a second or two.
Shihhekou Middle School had recently given her quite a shadow, and returning to the same place now stirred a multitude of emotions within her.
Should I tell Qing Sister about what I experienced with the High Person at Shihhekou Middle School?
Maybe not? To think that the High Person had such abilities but didn’t choose to join the Siye Society, disappearing into the crowd right after everything ended without even demanding compensation…
Such a person must be aloof and proud, unwilling to be disturbed by others, right? Du Sixian pondered.
As if sensing Du Sixian’s abnormality, An Qing gently patted her shoulder and said softly, “Are you scared? Don’t worry, this is just an investigation task.”
“……” Du Sixian smiled without saying anything. In fact, she wasn’t scared at all; she felt a bit excited just thinking about getting close to urban legends in a relatively safe situation again.
……
“Miss, we’ve arrived.” The little maid spoke in a hushed voice, gradually stopping the car in front of the rusty school gate.
At that moment, the sun completely dipped below the horizon, and the entire abandoned school was suddenly shrouded in a massive shadow, falling into darkness.
From a distance, the buildings standing under the night seemed like monsters hiding in the shadows.
The whole desolate campus was eerily quiet, silent with no sound, seemingly devoid of crawling insects or life.
With Ahua’s assistance, Jiang Li got out of the car and stood in front of the school gate, gazing at the scene with a look of disgust on her face, her cold eyes hiding a hint of ferocity.
Silently snorting to herself, Jiang Li turned around and addressed the others, “Let’s assign the tasks.”
“This operation involves twelve people. We’ll take five minutes to form groups of four, led by me, An Qing, and Ahua, ensuring each group has at least one member familiar with the Shihhekou Middle School environment.”
“Once we enter the abandoned school, we’ll split up to carefully inspect each building. If anything unusual is found, please contact us via the badge. If nothing is wrong, we can discuss the specifics of the group divisions.”
……
While Jiang Li was assigning the tasks, Du Sixian had already lost focus, her thoughts drifting away like a student daydreaming in class.
I wonder where the High Person is now? I’m a spiritual ability user as well now, and the next time we meet, having learned a spell formula, I should be able to keep up, right?
Du Sixian thought, and when she came back to her senses, she realized she had already followed An Qing deep into the campus.
The trees in the campus grew crookedly, and wild grass flourished on the ground, surrounded by numerous sculptures, mostly of human figures, looking somewhat eerie in the night.
Entering the target teaching building, the dark hallway had all the doors tightly shut, and occasionally, dust-covered classroom chairs were abandoned by the side of the path, giving a fleeting illusion that students were still seated on them.
No, it might just be some student sitting there! Du Sixian thought, but the people now accompanying me are all members of the Siye Society, so it’s unlikely those frightening things would easily show up.
As she was thinking this, An Qing suddenly stopped in front of her, waved her hand signaling everyone to halt temporarily, and then raised her hand, gently brushing her fingertips over the d*ath-Owl Badge on her chest. Almost immediately, a voice from one of the Special Action Team members echoed through the hallway.
“Group C has made a discovery. We found a classroom burned by fire on the third floor of Building 1. Through spirit energy fluctuation detection, we found that the hidden urban legends nearby are intentionally avoiding this classroom. Over.”
As the voice fell, Du Sixian tightly grabbed the hem of her clothes in the dark.
