Zhao Mou, Get Lost

Although he had secretly glanced towards the women's restroom when he and Yu Xing were looking for clues in the men's restroom during the first evening self-study session, Zhao Yijiu felt that she might not be able to accept actually going in.

This idea, probably ingrained in his mind since childhood, makes him feel that going into the women's restroom is a perverted act.

"What does it matter? There's no one around anyway." Qu Xuanqing suppressed a laugh when she saw Zhao Yijiu's awkward expression, but on the surface she remained calm and composed. She held onto Zhao Yijiu's wrist tightly, completely eliminating any thought of Zhao Yijiu trying to escape.

"..." Zhao Yijiu's drowsiness, which had started last night, was all gone. His whole body was stiff. The woman in front of him was, apart from Yu Xing, the only person in the team... or rather, the only person he could not beat in terms of pure strength among the people he could come into contact with on a daily basis.

"But this is the women's restroom, and I'm a man." He thought for a moment, then maintained a serious expression and said, glancing down the corridor, "Let's find somewhere else."

"Give it to me." Qu Xuanqing pulled again, dragging Zhao Yijiu through the door of the women's restroom amidst his slightly horrified gaze. Then, she chuckled and explained, "Nowhere else is as safe as a restroom. At least there are stalls inside, which is double insurance. Plus, it's close to the classroom, so it won't take too long to get there and back."

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

Silence is Cambridge this morning.

But who told him to ask Qu Xuanqing for help... He looked at Qu Xuanqing with a complicated expression, unable to imagine how many strange things this woman had learned from Yu Xing. Even though he was a very introverted person, he couldn't possibly miss the obvious schadenfreude in Qu Xuanqing's eyes.

"After all... I'm going to stab myself. If someone sees me talking in the bathroom, can I just explain it as my period?" Qu Xuanqing tilted her head slightly and suddenly pulled out a short knife from the side of her school uniform skirt. "Anyway, you can rest assured about the place I chose."

Having said all that, and having come this far, Zhao Yijiu gave up struggling; only the redness at the tips of his ears could faintly reveal his feelings.

Qu Xuanqing's smile subtly curved upwards as he gestured with his chin toward the innermost cubicle, "Go in, there are about seven minutes before class starts, you'll have enough time."

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

As he walked over, perhaps influenced by Zhao Mou and Yu Xing, many strange thoughts surfaced in his mind. It was like when he was exercising at home, Zhao Mou insisted on putting some kind of webpage he'd downloaded from somewhere on his phone and then placing it in front of him. "A Jiu, are you tired? Take a rest. Want to watch a movie with your brother?"

He remembered that his forehead twitched slightly at the time, and he raised his hand to slap Zhao Mou's face away, coldly saying to Zhao Mou, "I won't look."

Zhao Mou grinned in a way that was downright annoying, and relentlessly pressed on, "If you don't like watching movies, how about reading comics? Novels are fine too, I'll read them to you?"

"Are you in heat?" Zhao Yijiu never minced words when speaking to Zhao Mou.

"No way, I'm just worried about you. Look at you, you're over twenty and you have absolutely no interest in this kind of thing. Sigh... I'm starting to wonder if you're completely clueless. It's really strange. I've raised you all these years and never restricted you in these things, so how did you develop such a cold personality?"

Zhao Yijiu coldly watched Zhao Mou's feigned regret. The words "sexually frigid" flashed through his mind. A few seconds later, he put down the exercise equipment and stared expressionlessly at his unserious older brother. "I understand."

"Really? Then come and take a look together, or are you not interested in this kind of ordinary stuff?" Zhao Mou waved his phone screen, then looked down and swiped on the screen, muttering, "This kind... toilet cubicle, forced, after..."

"... Zhao Mou, can you take your little movies and get out of my sight?" Zhao Yijiu couldn't take it anymore. "Don't pollute my ears."

Zhao Mou's invitation that day ultimately failed, but it left an indelible shadow on Zhao Yijiu's heart, who was preoccupied with fighting for dominance against the vengeful spirit and training in combat.

This has led him to inappropriately recall this memory due to the shame of entering the women's restroom.

"Hey," big brother, what are you thinking about? Daydreaming."Qu Xuanqing finally couldn't hide his teasing tone, pulling Zhao Yijiu back to reality. "By the way, you wouldn't be shy and switch to that other side to deal with me, would you?"

His face was cold, he narrowed his still reddened eyes, and decisively slipped into the cubicle, leaning against the wall. His black bangs obscured his eyebrows. "Not shy, no, six minutes left."

"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore." Qu Xuanqing realized that the poor iceberg might get angry if things continued like this, so she stopped talking at the right time and twirled the short knife between her fingers.

A smile played on her lips as she silently glanced at Zhao Yijiu. She saw that he was leaning against the wall of the cubicle, exuding an aura of unapproachability, his gaze fixed to the side, not wanting to look directly at her.

That's correct.

Before the first class in the morning, Zhao Yijiu came over with Zhao Mou and told her about the current situation. She immediately realized that in order to remove the pollution from Zhao Yijiu's body, she needed to draw out the ghost energy in the name of treatment. However, this meant that her "body" would have to suffer devastating damage because the pollution was very strong, and she could tell it with just a little feeling.

That must be why Yu Xing didn't come along. She wanted Yu Xing to choose whether to agree or refuse based on her own thoughts, rather than making a decision out of consideration for Yu Xing.

After all, even teammates have no obligation to harm themselves to help another person.

Qu Xuanqing knew that Yu Xing and the others had good intentions. It was not only for her, but also to make Zhao Yijiu not feel so guilty. Everyone had seen Zhao Yijiu's personality. During the group training in early January, he had already shown that he was training desperately because he was weak.

Entering the Yugi late is not a mistake, but when teammates are generally of higher levels, the level difference caused by entering the Yugi late will be magnified.

What's actually hindering Zhao Yijiu's strength is the vengeful spirit's consciousness, because a large portion of the power within him is under its control. Once Zhao Yijiu can completely eradicate the vengeful spirit's consciousness and regain that power, it won't be secretly competing with him anymore...

After she agreed, she exchanged a silent glance with Zhao Mou and understood what he meant.

Qu Xuanqing her body slightly to the side, leaving her back to Zhao Yijiu. She unbuttoned her school uniform and, without hesitation, plunged the short knife directly into her heart.

Time was limited, so she only targeted the most vulnerable areas.

It was only with great difficulty that Zhao Yijiu became shy, which eased Zhao Yijiu feelings of self-blame and unhappiness. She needed to take this opportunity to complete the extraction of the contaminant, otherwise all those crazy moves would have been for nothing.

Blood seeped from his chest, and the unique scent of blood filled the air. Qu Xuanqing glanced back and, sure enough, saw Zhao Yijiu's sharp gaze fixed on her.

"Why don't you just close your eyes?" Qu Xuanqing maintained her teasing tone, making a move to turn around, but her clothes were open so as not to get her school uniform dirty.

Zhao Yijiu immediately closed her eyes. "... Okay."

Finally managing to coax the person to close their eyes, Qu Xuanqing breathed a sigh of relief, then silently choked herself with her hands.

Her main concern was that she didn't want the image of her death to leave any psychological trauma on Zhao Yijiu...

"Don't open your eyes~ I'm facing you right now. If you open your eyes, you'll see things that even Yu Xing has never seen before, and that will put me in a difficult position..." Qu Xuanqing said with a smile, then suddenly twisted her neck with her five fingers, and with a crisp crack, she snapped it.

A lifeless head slumped on a shoulder, blood gushing from the severed wound; if seen, it would certainly be a nightmare.

Zhao Yijiu frowned for a moment, seemingly wanting to see what Qu Xuanqing had done for him, but Qu Xuanqing's voice still echoed in his ears. His fingers turned white, but he still obediently kept his eyes closed.

Then, he felt the heavy pollution that had plagued him for hours being peeled away from his body, thread by Silk Drawing and Unraveling away a cocoon. The uncontrollable drowsiness, headache, auditory hallucinations, and the tension that constantly made his body feel like it was being occupied by another consciousness slowly disappeared.

"Thank you." Zhao Yijiu realized the significance of Qu Xuanqing's words and actions, remained silent for a long while, and then sighed softly.