Qu Xuanqing Gets Hurt

Nights are long when you're awake, and even longer when you're in a dungeon.

When Zhao Yijiu returned to his dorm with dark circles under his eyes, the darkness in the sky had gradually faded, and it began to turn slightly grayish-white. He was not surprised to find that his three temporary roommates were all sleeping soundly in bed, and none of them seemed to be waiting for him.

"..." He quietly closed the door, then silently walked to each person's bedside and glanced at them, lingering for a long time at the foot of Yu Xing's bed.

In the silence, the shadows around him had not yet dissipated, and the red in his eyes gleamed faintly. If anyone else were to see this scene now, they would probably have a heart attack from fright.

This looks exactly like a ghost standing by the bedside staring at a living person, or a pervert breaking into someone's house in the middle of the night.

Yu Xing felt the same way.

A dozen seconds later, he opened his eyes reluctantly, his voice hoarse from just waking up, with a hint of amusement. "You're back... Why aren't you sleeping? What are you looking at me for?"

"Your breathing rate gives away that you haven't been sleeping," Zhao Yijiu said quietly. "I just want to see how long you can keep up this act."

"... Actually, it's not that I didn't sleep, I just woke up when you came in." Yu Xing yawned, then sat up abruptly, glancing at Zhao Yijiu for a couple of seconds. "How long have you been gone?"

"It's almost dawn." Zhao Yijiu's voice sounded tired. He had been using the power of shadows to conceal himself and search the entire dormitory building from top to bottom, while also having to dodge the patrolling rats. His energy was completely depleted.

"Ah... is it already dawn? That must have been exhausting. But it seems you didn't find anything?" Yu Xing rubbed her temples, fully waking up, and got out of bed.

He didn't think Zhao Yijiu was standing there specifically to watch him sleep or wait for him to speak. Zhao Yijiu was a very efficient person, and he generally wouldn't do anything unnecessary unless it was absolutely necessary.

That only proves that Zhao Yijiu felt she couldn't fall asleep right now. Yu Xing leaned closer to Zhao Yijiu, squinting at her for a long time. "Are you injured?"

"We didn't find anything useful." Zhao Yijiu's voice was deep, seemingly a little disappointed. "But we detected a strong level of pollution in the building, which affected me a bit, and I'm a little afraid to sleep."

"What kind of impact?" Yu Xing frowned slightly. Based on the information he had gathered from the girls' dormitory, he speculated that the plague would accelerate the alienation of students like those wearing red armbands. In other words, this pollution would be very unfriendly to people like them who possessed special powers.

He himself didn't feel much because his curse power could effectively resist this pollution, and his spirit was affected by the power of the Ghost Tree, so he was constantly under the shadow of a more powerful pollution, and he didn't care much about the strange power of the female dorm supervisor.

However, people like Zhao Yijiu, who have the power of a vengeful ghost sealed within their bodies, are different. He is inherently unstable. If he had the body of an ordinary person like Zhao Mou and Wen Qinghuai, he would actually be safer.

If even Zhao Yijiu said she was afraid to sleep there, it proves that the pollution must be very obvious.

Their voices startled Zhao Mou and Wen Qinghuai, since no one in the dungeon dared to sleep so soundly.

Who knows if a knife might suddenly come down on them in the middle of the night without them noticing? That could lead to something terrible.

So, as soon as Zhao Mou opened his eyes, he heard his younger brother and the team leader talking about pollution. He sat up abruptly, reacting quickly. "What's going on?"

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

He looked at his worried brother, closed his eyes briefly, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "It's nothing serious. The power of a shadow wizard can be easily infiltrated by anything in this building. I spent the whole night... its consciousness is too active right now, but I can still control it."

Yu Xing and Zhao Mou both understood that "it" referred to the vengeful spirit within their bodies, while Wen Qinghuai, who was unaware of this, remained silent despite waking up, in order to give them a free environment to communicate.

"But if I sleep, I won't be able to control myself. Once I rest, you'll only see that version of me tomorrow, and it will occupy me for a long time. I don't know when I'll be able to recover." As Zhao Yijiu said this, the crimson in her eyes flowed abnormally, as if a river of blood was slowly dissolving.

At this point, about five hours had passed since Zhao Yijiu saw the phantom of the tree branch under the influence of the vengeful spirit's consciousness. After that, the vengeful spirit's consciousness would occasionally pop up and cause trouble, seriously interfering with him. In a daze, he felt as if he had returned to his childhood, to the time he spent in the dark room prepared for him by the Zhao family when he had just merged with the vengeful spirit.

It was the same back then. No matter what he was doing, he could hear a voice that didn't belong to him speaking to him at any time, gradually leading him towards the realm of depravity and darkness.

He survived that phase, and of course he can withstand the harassment of the vengeful ghost's last burst of energy today. The problem is that he has to fight for his body with that consciousness while also using the power of shadows to search the corridors and empty rooms. If he is not careful, both sides will collapse.

Zhao Yijiu hadn't been this tired in a long time.

"So the pollution power that the dormitory manager possesses and 'it' must be from the same source, otherwise it wouldn't be able to amplify 'it's' activity while troubling you. What a nuisance. It seems that the worldview of Dead Silent Island just happens to clash with 'it'." Zhao Mou was concerned but still rational. He also came over and, with even more meticulous methods than Yu Xing, thoroughly examined Zhao Yijiu. Only after confirming that there were no abnormalities in her body did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.

You must know that when that family elder was completely transformed into a monster, the degree of physical mutation was terrifying. Over the years, Zhao Mou's biggest worry has been that his younger brother would follow in that elder's footsteps because he merged with a vengeful ghost.

On the contrary, if it were a purely spiritual confrontation, he had great confidence in his younger brother; he knew A Jiu's resilience better than anyone else.

"I told you it's nothing serious, no need to be so nervous." Zhao Yijiu awkwardly freed himself from Zhao Mou's clutches, but after the ordeal, he seemed to feel a bit better.

Since it wasn't a serious matter, Yu Xing knew how to handle it, so she relaxed and teased, "I know, you've been standing at the foot of my bed for so long, you wanted me to chat with you so you wouldn't fall asleep?"

"..." Zhao Yijiu was speechless. "I'm not interested."

"Then if I make you angry, you'll have a hard time falling asleep too. I know, I know. This is supposed to make you angry to death." Yu Xing said, lying back on the bed. Zhao Yijiu stared blankly at her, and pulled the covers over herself, settling in comfortably. "I can sleep, but you can't. Are you envious?"

"Envy won't help. You can stand there for a while; you can be my alarm clock and wake me up half an hour before class."

"Are you even human?" Before Zhao Yijiu could speak, Zhao Mou couldn't hold back any longer. He put his glasses back on and stared at the bulging blanket on the bed with a reproachful look. "Yu Xing, don't mess with me. A Jiu is already so tired. You should let him sleep next to you."

Zhao Yijiu: "?"

Yu Xing: "?"

Wen Qinghuai, who had been quietly listening in, asked, "?"

"Kill two birds with one stone. If you pull a little trick, A Jiu can rest in bed, but she won't dare to fall asleep because she'll be careful of you. That'll achieve your goal." Zhao Mou's lips curled up. "Is this method reliable, brother?"

Yu Xing: "You're making me sound like a pervert who has homosexual tendencies and acts like a scoundrel."

Zhao Yijiu: "... That's enough, stop."

"Your words alone are enough to bring me to my senses." With a blank expression, he chose to leave this place of trouble and walked to a table in the public area to sit down.

He could obviously tell that whether it was Yu Xing's or Zhao Mou's annoying remarks, they were all meant to create emotional fluctuations in him by using exaggerated topics in order to keep him in a sober state.

One of his reasons for insisting on standing there and waiting for Yu Xing to open her eyes was this.

But...

Finally sitting up, Wen Qinghuai voiced his true feelings. "You guys are so gay. Well said, don't say that again next time."

"Alright, alright, just kidding." Zhao Mou shrugged, looking at Yu Xing who was curled up in the blankets as if she might fall asleep at any moment, and asked more seriously, "You're not in a hurry, do you have a solution?"

If this issue isn't resolved, Zhao Yijiu won't just be unable to sleep now, but will be unable to sleep for a very long time until the pollution subsides.

But no one knows how long this pollution will take to disappear, or even... whether it will disappear at all over time.

If the vengeful spirit's consciousness remains so active, Zhao Yijiu can only drag it out until she is extremely mentally exhausted. In the end, she will have no choice but to relinquish her consciousness and wait for an unknown period of recovery.

This is the biggest crisis Zhao Yijiu has ever faced in her life, as she has never experienced anything like it before.

Fortunately, the ghost's activity this time was due to the pollution. As long as the pollution is resolved, the ghost's consciousness will subside again. Yu Xing thought to herself, "You're still asking me? You, as the older brother, are so calm. You've obviously thought of a solution."

He answered perfunctorily, "Yes."

Then, raising her voice, she addressed Zhao Yijiu, who seemed unwilling to speak to them, "Actually, I know what you're thinking. You stared at me for so long without saying a word. Don't worry, I'll explain to Qu Xuanqing tomorrow; whether she agrees or not is another matter."

Zhao Yijiu then paid him any attention. "But if she agrees, she'll get hurt, I—"

Yu Xing said, "Although I didn't want to see that scene emotionally, rationally speaking, her physical injuries weren't serious, since she doesn't have... the sense of pain."

"Indeed, this is the simplest method right now, but we should ask for her opinion tomorrow. If she doesn't want to do it..." Zhao Mou pondered for a moment, "I'll look for other methods."

Since the pollution on Zhao Yijiu's body is of the same origin as the vengeful ghost inside him, then to put it bluntly, the pollution is a kind of ghostly energy.

This ghostly energy is not naturally generated, but rather imposed by external forces, equivalent to a wandering power. Qu Xuanqing's characteristic of "absorbing ghostly energy to heal when the body is injured" is just right to transfer this power.

The premise is that she has to be injured, which means that if Qu Xuanqing wants to help Zhao Yijiu, he may have to manually poke several large wounds on her body—small ones won't do, because for the vengeful ghost to be so active, the level of corruption must be quite high.

Even someone as unethical as Yu Xing felt that this method was somewhat inhuman.

Therefore, it depends on Qu Xuanqing's own wishes. He knows that Qu Xuanqing listens to him in everything, so he will never give Qu Xuanqing any hints that he hopes she will agree.