Entering the School, Handling It Alone

Master was slightly taken aback by my answer.

I couldn't see his expression, but I could see his fishing rod trembling and sense the sudden fluctuation in his emotions.

Next, I prepared everything I would need that night.

Master had incense, candles, yellow paper, and the like in his car.

Before I left, Master had me grind cinnabar ink and draw a talisman on a sheet of yellow paper.

By the time I finished, it was already ten thirty at night.

At our school, the dormitories closed at eleven.

Once it got to around ten thirty, there were very few people left on campus.

After getting everything ready, I told Master and carried the cage toward the school.

I felt rather uneasy.

Even though I had a way to deal with ghosts, I was still nervous.

By the time I returned to school, it was already ten fifty at night.

Other than a few drunk students hurrying toward the dorm buildings at the main gate,

the school was already completely deserted, without a soul in sight.

Naturally, I had no intention of returning to the dormitory. Carrying the cage, I hurried toward the school lake.

There were many people here during the day, but at night it was chillingly deserted.

Several streetlights around the area were broken, leaving everything pitch-black.

Only faint moonlight shimmered over the lake, along with several large fish opening and closing their mouths as they swam about in the middle of the water.

Looking at the lake, I couldn't help but shiver.

The chicken and rabbit in the cage also became somewhat restless.

I didn't act immediately. Instead, I hid in the flower bed nearby.

After the dormitories closed, most of the lights on campus would go out.

About half an hour passed.

After making sure no one was nearby and no security guards were patrolling, I finally made my move.

I divided the fingernails and hair I had prepared beforehand into five portions.

I stuffed each portion into a chicken's belly.

After that, I went to the western side of the lake.

I set down the rice I had bought earlier, then took out a rope and looped it around a yellow chicken.

Finally, I lit two candles and three sticks of incense.

I held one stick of incense in my hand.

With my other hand gripping the yellow chicken, I walked to the lakeside.

The moment I approached the shore, the several large fish in the middle of the lake stirred and swam toward me.

They stopped about five meters away, occasionally poking their heads above water and slapping their tails, sending up splashes.

The water went "splish, splash."

They looked as if they were provoking me, saying, "Come down already! Come catch us!"

But the sight made my heart quail.

I knew full well that those large fish were fucking Drowned Ghosts.

Steadying myself, I flung the yellow chicken out.

With a splash, the yellow chicken landed in the water.

But in that very instant, the fish that had been churning the surface vanished the moment the chicken hit the water.

The lake water suddenly began to surge.

After falling into the water, the yellow chicken could only flap about.

It let out a series of clucks as it struggled desperately.

I needed to hide quickly, not show myself, and not make a sound.

I only had to wait until the chicken drowned and the rope went taut, then pull whatever was in the water ashore.

I didn't just stand there stupidly. I quickly hid behind the nearby flower bed.

Through a gap, I quietly watched the chicken struggling in the lake.

The chicken clucked frantically. Before long, its whole body was soaked, but it still desperately tried to swim toward shore.

Ripples had already begun spreading across the lake.

The sound of rushing water rose.

Before the chicken had swum even half a meter, it sank into the lake with a splash.

Only a large bubble rose to the surface.

The turbulent lake water also returned to calm in a very short time.

But the rope in my hand remained slack, not taut.

Just in case, I had also looped the other end of the rope around a nearby tree branch.

I stayed hidden behind the flower bed, holding incense in one hand and the rope in the other.

After waiting about three or four minutes,

the incense in my left hand suddenly flared.

Then I saw it begin burning down at a visible speed.

It was as though someone were fiercely blowing on its tip.

And as the offering incense burned rapidly, the white smoke it gave off turned into wisps of black mist.

My eyes widened, and the sight made my heart pound.

But I didn't dare throw away the incense clutched in my hand.

I could only keep holding it tightly.

More than ten seconds later, the rope in my right hand suddenly snapped taut with a bang, without any warning.

It not only jolted my hand painfully, but even bent the tree branch behind me.

Fortunately, I had the foresight to tie the rope to the branch.

Otherwise, that force would definitely have dragged me into the lake.

Seeing the rope tighten, and knowing the chicken had been underwater for three or four minutes, I figured it had already drowned.

Without hesitation, I grabbed the taut rope and began pulling it toward shore.

It was incredibly strenuous, as though there were a hundred-pound boulder on the other end.

Each time, I could only pull it a little.

My hands burned from the friction, but I still didn't dare let go.

After pulling for a while, the other end of the rope gradually surfaced.

A few minutes later, I saw it.

The chicken I had thrown into the water was slowly being dragged out.

Under the moonlight,

besides the yellow chicken, there was also a ghastly pale human hand tightly gripping its neck.

Together with the yellow chicken, it was gradually pulled from the lake by me.

The sight sent a chill down my spine, but I didn't dare stop pulling.

I knew that the hand gripping the chicken's neck belonged to the Drowned Ghost in the lake.

Only by pulling it ashore and using the yellow chicken's soul as its substitute could it be sent away.

I pulled little by little, until sweat beaded across my forehead.

And the Drowned Ghost clutching the yellow chicken's neck was gradually dragged out of the water as well.

It was a woman in white.

Her hair hung loose around her face. She lay in the water, and I couldn't see her features clearly.

The instant I dragged her from the water onto the shore, she suddenly let go.

I fell backward onto my ass.

Fortunately, I held back and didn't make a sound.

But after pausing at the shore, the woman slowly stood up.

Her face was terrifyingly pale. She twisted her head and looked toward where I was hiding.

I held my breath and didn't dare make the slightest sound.

After looking around for a few moments, she kicked the drowned yellow chicken at her feet back into the lake.

Several large fish heads surfaced in the lake again.

The woman turned back and looked at those fish a few times as well.

She said nothing and showed no expression.

She merely twitched her nose a few times, then walked strangely toward the burning incense and candles.

Before long, she arrived at the place where I had set down the White Rice and lit the incense and candles.

She seemed to be starving.

First, she took a fierce inhale of the incense smoke. The incense and candles burned down with a sizzling sound, their flames consuming them incredibly fast.

After she had inhaled enough, she stretched out her pair of water-whitened hands and began grabbing the White Rice from the ground.

She wolfed it down as if she had never eaten before.

She squatted there, continuously making smacking chewing noises.

Beside the silent lake, it was especially eerie...