If You Can't Talk, Then Don't Talk!

"The girl from the Ling Family..." Xue Lan looked at Ling Xin opposite her. "What... do you want to say to me? Haven't you had enough of fighting before?"

Although Xue Lan is socially awkward, she is not weak-willed, especially when she encounters an evenly matched opponent, she is not afraid to confront them head-on.

Among the previous team battles, the match between Tianjing University and Ningdong Academy was the most intense. Ling Xin's Demon-Breaking Golden Edge with Xue Lan's Ice and Snow Magic. The sheer force of the battle alone caused other players to retreat, and even the barrier at the edge of the arena showed signs of being shaken. In the end, neither side could gain the upper hand, and the match ended in a draw.

At this moment, Ling Xin took the initiative to come to Xue Lan's door, Xue Lan naturally assumed that she was there to provoke her because she hadn't had a good time in the previous battle.

"Nothing," Ling Xin smiled slightly. "I'm just a little curious. What was the secret Luo Jun mentioned about you during the competition?" "Secret?" Xue Lan thought Ling Xin was about to say something harsh. She had already mentally prepared several versions of her argument, secretly vowing to win this argument and absolutely not regret not saying it later that night in bed...

But to everyone's surprise, Ling Xin didn't seem to have any intention of provoking her at all. Instead, she asked about the secret... the secret?

Xue Lan instantly recalled the embarrassing childhood stories Luo Jun knew about her, and her usually icy face flushed red at a visible speed...

"What... what... what... secret... I... I... I don't know what you're talking about!"

Ling Xin frowned. "Why are you blushing?"

"Who... who blushed?" Xue Lan quickly retorted. At this moment, the other contestants watching from the sidelines began to whisper among themselves. "Look how nervous Xue Lan is, what secret could it be?"

"What else could it be? Her face is so red, it must be that kind of relationship..."

"No way, the Ice and Snow Princess! She's usually so aloof, I really can't imagine what kind of man could be worthy of her!"

"Isn't Luo Jun a genius too? Someone who can solve unsolvable Tier A Mission... I heard he stayed in Yuandu for several days, maybe he even met the Ice Queen."

"Huh? Have you met the parents yet? It feels like a marriage into a wealthy family..."

Originally, because of Luo Jun's frank attitude, Ling Xin didn't really suspect his relationship with Xue Lan, only that she was a little bothered by the secret between them. But seeing Xue Lan's current reaction and hearing the discussions around her, she couldn't help but have doubts.

"What exactly is your relationship?" Ling Xin pressed.

"N-nothing... it's nothing..." Xue Lan was especially concerned about what others thought, and the discussions around her were making her extremely embarrassed. Not knowing how to explain, she blurted out in a panic, "We just lived in the same place before."

"Living together?" Ling Xin's eyes widened, and the onlookers also exclaimed in surprise.

"No... it's not what you think!" Xue Lan hurriedly explained, "We were just staying at a hotel together before..."

"A hotel?!" A chorus of "Whoa whoa whoa whoa..." erupted from the surrounding area, and everyone turned to look at Luo Jun. Luo Jun was completely dumbfounded, staring at Xue Lan with a face full of question marks, thinking to himself, "If you can't speak properly, then shut up!"

Just as he felt utterly innocent and didn't know how to explain, he suddenly shivered for no reason. Turning his head, he saw Ling Xin looking at him, her eyes filled with resentment and Killing Intent.

"No, this has nothing to do with me. I just happened to be staying at the same hotel as her while I was away training. We weren't even in the same room."

After hearing Luo Jun's explanation, Ling Xin's expression softened somewhat. "Really?"

"Of course it's true. His brother, Xue Song, was there too." Luo Jun looked at Xue Lan: "Say something too, you forgot? I used to chat with your brother quite often back then..."

"Ah! Stop talking!" Xue Lan suddenly slammed her hand on the table, stood up, looked at Luo Jun, and ran away with her face flushed red...

Now, the others looked at Luo Jun with even more ambiguous expressions.

"No... why are you blushing like a teapot?" Luo Jun was about to chase after her to make her explain when he suddenly felt a chill on his neck. Looking down, he saw Ling Xin's Demon-Breaking Golden Edge.

"Ling Xin, calm down..." Luo Jun raised his hands and took a step back: "We've been classmates for so many years, you don't have to be so ruthless." "Even if we're classmates, if you're a scumbag who plays with girls' feelings, I won't let you get away with it!" Ling Xin's voice was unusually cold. "Who is it? I've been chaste for nineteen years, how did I become a scumbag?" Luo Jun was truly aggrieved. "Besides, you can question my character, but you can't question my intelligence. The granddaughter of the Ice Queen, if I dared to lay a hand on her, would I still be alive? With so many girls, why would I choose a girl from such Great Family..."

Hearing this, Ling Xin's eye twitched again.

Just then, a hand landed on her arm. "Don't be impulsive, he's telling the truth."

Ling Xin turned her head and saw that it was Zhai Xixi.

How can you be so sure?

Zhai Xixi laughed and said, "Don't forget I'm from the Illusion Faction. I'm especially sensitive to people's minds and emotions. Little Luo Luo's emotions just now were incredibly sincere, so he must have been telling the truth."

Ling Xin glanced at Zhai Xixi, then at Luo Jun, snorted coldly, and sheathed the Demon-Breaking Golden Edge: "For Xixi's sake, I'll trust you this once!"

After saying that, she turned and left, leaving Luo Jun alone to endure everyone's pointing fingers and whispers in front of them.

"What are you all looking at!" Luo Jun said irritably, "So you love watching the show? Don't you have anything important to do all day? Disperse, disperse, go do what you're supposed to do!" Under his reprimand, the crowd finally dispersed...

The next morning, everyone lined up and arrived at the Back Mountain of the academy. After passing through layers of barriers, they came to the space between two rock walls and saw a small steel fortress built against the mountain.

Led by staff, the group entered the fortress. Like the other doors Luo Jun had experienced, it had Changing Room, disinfection areas, and so on. After passing through layers of protection, they arrived at the door that resembled a giant starry sky poster.

The man and woman each went one side, passed through the door, and arrived at a modern, sealed cabin.

Unlike the previous [Martial World] and [Savage Wilderness], this time, after passing through the door, you don't directly enter Changing Room, but rather an isolation and inspection room. This room can not only be cleaned and disinfected, but also scan the contestants' physical condition to prevent any impurities from following them into the Main World.

This is because of the nature of the [Paranormal] world, where spirits can easily hide within human bodies and infiltrate the Main World. Although the abilities of ordinary spirits are greatly weakened in the Main World due to the world's rules, they are still supernatural forces, and if they become uncontrollable after invading the Main World, it can be quite troublesome.

Secondly, the technological level of the Different World is similar to that of the Main World. In worlds like the [Martial World] and the [Savage Wilderness], unless one uses a magical artifact, even if Yuan Cultivation Society the desire to build such a facility, the technological level of that world would not support it.

Of course, those coming from the Main World didn't need any special disinfection. Everyone was simply scanned and left the isolation room for the Changing Room.

Basic clothing was provided, and Luo Jun quickly changed into a set, even taking the opportunity to secretly change into his Limit Underwear from the Hundred Treasure Box. During the previous days of competition, due to detection equipment prohibiting the use of magical artifacts, Limit had been hidden in the Hundred Treasure Box. As for the Smart Equipment Pack, although it had storage space, it couldn't store magical artifacts, and the ordinary items stored inside couldn't be brought through the Otherworld Gate, so it had been emptied before entering.

After everyone had changed, they followed the staff out of the Changing Room and into a conference room.

Just like the Hundred Rivers Sect, which Yuan Cultivation Society operates in the Martial World world, the explorers of the Paranormal world also act in reliance on an organization.

Here, the explorers' Base Camp is a private institution of higher learning called Puhua University. The reason for choosing a university as a hiding place is that it is a place where research institutions can be established to study and explore various Paranormal phenomena in this world.

In this [Paranormal] world, not only is the overall culture and technology similar to the Main World, but the common people's understanding of the world is also similar. Here, the general public does not believe in Supernatural Power. Although there are many frightening Urban Legend and ghost stories in this world, those who have not experienced them firsthand still consider them to be ghost stories made up by others, while those who have experienced them... most of them, even if they do not die, go insane.

But Yuan Cultivation Society knew that those ghost stories not only existed in reality, but also had some scientific basis.

Ultimately, it's the rules of the [Paranormal] world that are particularly suited to the existence of various spirits. In Main World Main World, after a human dies, their consciousness also disappears. Although some Cultivators, through special abilities or magical artifacts, can forcibly retain a person's consciousness, without external intervention, the consciousness, or rather the soul, of most creatures in the main world and other worlds cannot exist independently of the physical body. But the [Paranormal] world is different. Here, after death, people have various possibilities of becoming ghosts. Some have unfinished business and regrets; some died in a tragic way, leaving behind lingering resentment; and some simply came into contact with some supernatural power, causing their souls to leave their bodies... In short, what appears to be a peaceful and serene world to ordinary people is, in the Vital Energy Vision of Cultivators, filled with all sorts of bizarre ghosts. The above is all information Luo Jun had found on the forum. But he knew that the world he was about to experience firsthand was definitely not something that could be explained by simple information.

"You are now in the Puhua University Underground Research Institute." Standing on the podium in the conference room was a young man wearing a white lab coat and goggles. "Most of you are here for the first time in [the Paranormal], so I will give you a brief overview of the precautions for surviving in this world."

"First, let me introduce myself. My name is Zhuge Huang. I am Spirit Body Research Professor at Puhua University and one of the Vice President of the Puhua Mountain Branch of the Yuan Cultivation Society. I am also the person in charge of your Third-Order of this Exchange Meeting."

Upon hearing the name Zhuge Huang, the contestants began to discuss it. This name was renowned, and it was said that the Zhuge Family had produced many talented individuals in this generation, each with extraordinary abilities. But so far, the two most promising were the brothers Zhuge Chi and Zhuge Huang.

The eldest brother, Zhuge Chi, reached the Peak at only thirty-something years old. This progress is top-notch in the world. Many people have high hopes for him and believe that he can break through to the final step and achieve Feather Transformation in his lifetime.

As for the third brother, Zhuge Huang, although his strength was not as great as Zhuge Chi's, he was still outstanding. Back when he was studying at the Puhua Mountain Academy, he had already shone brightly, contributing numerous brilliant performances at the Exchange Meeting. After graduation, he smoothly entered the Yuan Cultivation Society and advanced steadily in his career, becoming the Vice President of the Puhua Mountain Branch before he was even thirty years old. Many people speculated that with his current work ability, if he could reach the Peak like Zhuge Chi in the future, he could smoothly rise to the position of president. He might even enter the headquarters and reach the highest level of the Yuan Cultivation Society after the fall of an elder! It can be said that Zhuge Huang was the idol of every young person aspiring to work in the government. With such an important figure giving a lecture, everyone perked up and listened attentively.

"First of all, as you all probably already know, this world is full of spirits... or rather, ghosts and monsters." Zhuge Huang explained while asking, "So, does anyone know how to deal with ghosts and monsters?"

At this moment, a student from the Puhua Mountain Academy raised his hand and, after receiving Zhuge Huang's permission, stood up to answer:

"The best way to deal with these intangible ghosts is to use mental attacks, which are most proficient in Illusion Faction. If you don't have Mental Shock abilities, most Elemental School and Spell Faction Law Technique will also be quite effective. Even if you don't have any Law Technique abilities or magical artifacts, you can barely manage with just your own internal energy. Although internal energy isn't very effective at directly killing ghosts, it can at least withstand their attacks and corruption. Furthermore, if your Root Bone is strong enough, even without vital energy, you can use your vigorous life force to resist particularly weak ghosts, but you'll be completely powerless against powerful ones."

"Very good." Zhuge Huang nodded. "This student seems to have a lot of experience in dealing with ghosts and monsters. But what I want to talk about is not these common sense tips... To put it another way, the methods this student mentioned are all about how to fight after you've already encountered a ghost or monster. So, looking further ahead, is it possible to avoid conflicts with ghosts and monsters in the first place?"

"Avoid conflict?" Many students who had never been to [the Paranormal] before looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Yes," Zhuge Huang said, "The number of ghosts and monsters in the [Paranormal] world is beyond your imagination. If we kill them one by one, it will provoke their anger and cause them to attack us en masse. Even the most powerful exorcist will be overwhelmed by the endless waves of ghosts. Therefore, for us, killing ghosts and monsters is never the first choice. The key is to avoid provoking their hostility!"