Chapter 172

Back at the hotel, everyone returned to their own rooms.

Xue Lingyun did not go straight into his room.

He walked to the end of the corridor and raised his hand to knock on Wang Dong's door.

No one answered.

He tried turning the handle.

The door had not been shut properly. It opened with a push.

The lights were off inside, and the curtains were half drawn. Light from outside filtered in, barely enough to see.

Wang Dong sat at the desk with her back to the door, completely motionless.

Xue Lingyun closed the door behind him. His footsteps sank dully into the carpet, but Wang Dong did not turn around.

"How did you get in?" Wang Dong's voice was slightly muffled, as though it had just been forced out of her throat.

"The door wasn't shut." Xue Lingyun sat in the chair beside her and glanced at the desk.

An open book lay there, more than halfway read. The water in the cup beside it had already gone cold.

Wang Dong did not reply.

She remembered closing the door, but perhaps she had not shut it tightly enough.

She did not dwell on it.

Xue Lingyun leaned back against the backrest and looked at her. "Something was off with you today. What happened?"

Wang Dong's lips moved, then closed again. After several breaths, she finally spoke in a quiet voice. "I can't explain it. When Teacher Wang said today that everyone had to use Soul Tools, I suddenly felt really irritated. Not the kind of irritation where I simply didn't want to use them. It was like something in my head was pushing outward. I felt strongly repulsed by them. I couldn't even control it myself."

She rubbed her temples, her brows tightly furrowed.

"And I understand what