Chapter Seven
-Xiao Lan-
I'm sorry, Teacher Wu.
Although I didn't want to agree to Angela's offer, she gave me too much.
I thought about it with great heartache.
Forgive me, but I'll treat you to that... edamame Xijiufu when I have money.
"Then you need to give us some direction, like where we should start our investigation. I don't think any of our classmates know much about Teacher Wu's past."
"Well..." Shaohan crossed her arms and thought for a while, "I haven't decided yet."
fall--
I stood up from the ground, looking disheveled: "So you're talking about investigating, investigating, investigating... I give up."
"That's just what I'm saying. We're going to start investigating, starting now, but we're unfamiliar with this place and don't know anyone here... What kind of investigation are you going to do?"
"..."
When it comes to sophistry, I am no match for this guy, so I chose to remain silent in the end.
In short, our investigation plan came to a standstill—or so I thought, of course. Shaohan's idea was that we should start lying low now, lying low, slowly finding clues, and then slowly uncovering the truth.
Alright, let her slowly lie low and look for clues. As for me? I'll naturally help her when she finds the clues herself.
And so, time slowly passed, and about a month later, it was finally time for us to go on our mission.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Shaohan and I were to split into two groups and complete tasks separately. Our teacher, Ms. Wu, commented, "Of course, you two can't always be together; you also need to learn to cooperate with other students."
For this mission, Maki and I were in one group, while Shaohan and Panda were in another.
Shaohan may not be very satisfied with the group assignments, but I think they're fine.
"Ugh!" Shaohan complained to me, "Walking down the street with a panda like that guarantees you'll turn heads!"
"It's okay," I comforted her. "Haven't you always wanted to be 'worshipped' by many people when you walk down the street?"
Shaohan: "..."
Shaohan: "You should go back and study your Chinese properly. What kind of messy word choice and sentence structure are you talking about?"
-
The mission location was an abandoned hospital. Maki and I entered the hospital through a side door.
"This is a very famous horror site. It used to be a hospital, but then a notorious medical malpractice incident occurred, killing several doctors, which led to its gradual abandonment. After that incident, some people said that if you went inside, you could hear the mournful sighs of the doctors who were hacked to death... that's about it."
"Oh—" I nodded. My head felt itchy; it felt like my brain was growing.
"Anyway, it's probably because a doctor who died here cursed this place, right?"
"Hmm." Maki pulled out her knife from behind her back and awkwardly reminded me, "Don't hold me back."
"No way," I replied with a smile, then made a hand gesture, "Instantaneous!"
Maki stared at me expressionlessly—I guessed that in her mind I had become that kind of professional shaman. She turned her head and walked into the hospital first.
I picked up Shunki, whom I had just taken out of the storage bag, and casually hung her on my waist: "I'm getting off now! Maki!"
Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever exorcised a cursed spirit (not counting the time I strung the cursed spirit into a candied hawthorn).
The further I went in, the more eerie the environment became. I could see several small cursed spirits slowly slipping across the dusty windowsill beside me.
I'm hesitant about whether to remove them. After all, in my understanding, cursed spirits are the monsters or ghosts we used to frequently exterminate. Monsters can be good, and ghosts can be good; it's not a simple matter of generalization, so I can't be sure whether those little cursed spirits are good or bad.
While I was still thinking, Maki suddenly threw the knife at me, and right before my eyes, she pierced through those cursed spirits.
“Cursed spirits are mindless, despicable creatures.” She picked up the knife from the ground, flicked off the purple slime, and warned me, “Don’t have any sympathy for cursed spirits. They are all transformed from negative human emotions! If we don’t eliminate them, they will grow stronger and eliminate us!”
Then it dawned on me. Oh—so cursed spirits and demons/ghosts are indeed different.
We finally managed to exorcise all the smaller cursed spirits around us, but the larger cursed spirit remained elusive. Maki and I finally focused our attention on the only door that we couldn't open.
"Be alert! There should be three level-two cursed spirits here. Watch your surroundings!"
Maki held a sword in one hand, a knife in the other, and hesitated as she reached for the door, reminding me at the same time.
"Okay!"
I opened the door without hesitation—after all, there was nothing to be afraid of.
I sensed the presence of the cursed spirit within long ago, he…
Super weak!
"Hello!"
As soon as the door opened, a chilling, eerie air rushed out with a powerful gust of wind. Maki's hair flew wildly across her face, her right hand holding a knife, her elbow desperately trying to block the wind from hitting her face, while her left hand desperately tried to pull me away.
Is it because the cursed spirits inside are moving faster, causing the wind and cold air? I squinted.
I actually really hate the wind—because I'm afraid of the cold.
But paradoxically, I have an extremely talented ice spirit root—a Heavenly Grade one.
Heavenly Grade is the highest level among spiritual root grades.
"Instantaneous." I turned around and smiled at Maki, who was trying her best to pull me back. I drew the Instantaneous Sword from my waist, and stood with my feet shoulder-width apart. "Long-lasting Technique, Part One."
"Treading through wind and snow—"
As soon as I finished speaking, a sudden blizzard swept through the room. Of course, I didn't intend to remove the cursed spirit with just the first step of the Long Condensation Technique. After all, to be honest, treading on snow and wind doesn't actually have much destructive power.
It's more suited to showing off.
After all, with a single command, snowflakes began to fall all around... The feeling of controlling the snow, coupled with the stunned expressions of those around him... was just too cool!
Okay, let's get down to business.
The Snowwalking ability slows down all creatures that come into contact with snow, while increasing my own speed. In short—wherever there's snow, I'm invincible!
It's a support move, so it really doesn't have much offensive power.
Sure enough, the wind in the room gradually subsided. I could then make out the appearance of the three cursed spirits inside. They were strange and twisted in appearance, their entire bodies were black, and they were muttering incoherent words that I couldn't understand.
All right.
I sighed.
Indeed, cursed spirits are quite ugly creatures.
I ignored those wretched monsters and instead pierced their heads with my sword.
...
Having received the reward for this mission, I felt the joy of having money in my hands. First, I bought Shunxi some sandpaper and a few bottles of contact lens solution. I planned to treat myself to a big meal and also buy Gojo Satoru some edamame.
What was that poem again? "Give me a peach, and I'll repay you with a plum..." I think that's how it goes.
"Edamame Xijiufu?" Ever since the mission, Maki's gaze towards me has seemed strange. "The restaurant he likes to eat at is quite far away, it doesn't seem to be local."
"Never mind then." I said, deflated. "Does he eat anything else?"
"...I don't think you need to worry about that, after all, that guy loves to eat almost any dessert."
That makes things much easier, doesn't it?
Since even Teacher Wu's students said so, it must be right! I casually walked into a dessert shop, ignoring Maki's sign next door that said, "This is a high-end cake shop." I thought to myself, so what if it's high-end? How high-end can it get? I'm rich now!
Of course, if I could do it all over again, I definitely wouldn't do it that way. I would stay far away from that cake shop without hesitation! Cake assassin, ta-meh!
After going inside for a while, I came out carrying the small cake, looking miserable and utterly dejected.
This tiny piece of cake cost me almost half of my remaining money! Oh no!
What kind of prices are these?! They're even more expensive than where I live!
I refuse to admit that it was my fault for accidentally entering a high-end dessert shop and inexplicably ending up in a queue, only to find myself embarrassed to cancel the order due to the exorbitant price.
It's all the fault of the prices here! How could I possibly be at fault?
I remember grinning from ear to ear when I first received my first pot of gold here, thinking, "Wow, the pay is so much!" Looking back now…
What's the use of having a lot of money? The currency is devalued here, and the cost of living is high!
I pitifully counted the little money I had left, almost deciding not to eat dinner tonight. In the end, my stomach protested loudly for a long time before I decided to eat something cheap.
Do you know where there's a dumpling shop around here?
I clutched my stomach, looking expectantly at Maki beside me.
Maki received the same amount of money as me, but instead of spending it all, she went to the bank and deposited most of it, leaving only the last bit.
"Yes, there are... but you might not have enough money to go to a dumpling shop," Maki replied tactfully.
This time, I was shocked—what? We don't even have enough money to buy dumplings?
You know, dumplings are the cheapest food in our area—even though they're frozen dumplings sold by weight in the cafeteria—but that doesn't matter! What matters is, dumplings, dumplings…
So much money isn't enough to buy dumplings?
"Where are the wontons?"
I still held onto a sliver of hope: "Surely I have enough money to buy a bowl of wontons?"
Maki shook her head.
"The noodles?"
Maki shook her head again.
"Is that fast food... or a boxed meal? Do you have any here?"
This time, Maki finally nodded. "We have lunch boxes, and we should have enough money."
Okay, okay, finally!
I breathed a sigh of relief—finally, there's food to eat! I won't go hungry anymore!
Following Maki through a maze of turns, we finally arrived near the station. Next to the station was a bento box restaurant, where an elderly woman and a little girl were working.
"I'd like a boxed lunch."
Maki seemed to be a regular here. She skillfully counted out a small amount of money and handed it to the woman. I couldn't do their complicated accounting, so I simply presented the old woman with my meager savings and let her take it herself.
Then I received the final 50 yen.
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