The Warehouse

Everyone's faces stiffened. Following the sound, they suddenly realized the person who had spoken was Mei Ye.

"What?" Director Wang's face changed drastically. "Sir, what do you mean by that?"

"I mean, why don't you jump down too and keep those two company? Though you're more than a decade late."

Mei Ye spoke with unhurried composure, but his tone was ice-cold.

"Sir!"

The principal couldn't accept such language. "Weren't you hired to investigate the demons? How can you say something like that? You have to apologize, or I'll file a complaint with your captain!"

The people around them also pointed at Mei Ye, calling him rude and saying he was talking nonsense.

Wen Siyi had followed them over. Seeing Mei Ye take Director Wang to task like that, her beautiful eyes curved with amusement, though she was even more excited to watch the drama unfold.

Mei Ye ignored their barking. He raised a finger and pointed at Director Wang.

"You're the one who deserves to die most."

"More than a decade ago, those two didn't die because rumors put unbearable pressure on them, as you claimed."

"You're the one who killed them."

Mei Ye fixed his gaze on Director Wang's face. "Before coming here, I looked through the school's records. You may be a good teacher, but you're rotten to the core. You often preyed on female students. Those two students were powerless to resist you, and you drove them to the brink of collapse.

"And while you carried on living in this world, you continued treating the school like your personal harem, wreaking havoc to this day."

"You—you—you're slandering me!"

Director Wang stared at Mei Ye in terror. Sweat ran down his forehead as he kept backing away under the pressure Mei Ye exerted.

The others stared at Director Wang in shock, too.

"Sir..."

The principal looked at Mei Ye with a pallid face, as if a secret had just been exposed.

"Director Wang, countless people at this school have suffered from depression because of you. Their complaints went nowhere. They were warned and treated with contempt... Director Wang, you're the greatest demon here. You're the one who deserves to die most."

Mei Ye stared straight at Director Wang and strode toward him, radiating an oppressive presence.

With his true face exposed, Director Wang's legs went weak with fear.

"You... You're making things up..."

He instinctively looked toward the others, but all he saw were their downcast faces and awkward silence.

Clearly, now that the truth had come to light, they were all fretting over how to clean up the mess.

Mei Ye came up to Director Wang. His tall figure blocked the sunlight, and Director Wang was engulfed in a pitch-black shadow.

Mei Ye kicked him, sending the two-hundred-pound Director Wang's obese body flying.

"Ah—!"

A bloodcurdling scream came from below. Director Wang plummeted rapidly, and soon his cries cut off.

"You—you're committing murder!"

The principal hurried over to look at Director Wang. When he saw the man smashed into a bloody pulp, he felt dizzy.

After a long moment,

he began to tremble all over and pointed at Mei Ye, cursing him.

"I'm filing a complaint! You're a murderer!"

Mei Ye didn't look at the principal. He walked to the edge of the rooftop and watched Director Wang's body below.

Seeing how brazen Mei Ye was, the principal was so furious that his eyes bulged and his beard shook.

"Quiet."

Mei Ye spoke flatly, still watching below. His long blade slid from its sheath, and the principal's head shot into the sky. Blood gushed from his severed neck like a fountain.

The headless body swayed twice, then crashed to the ground.

"Ah!"

If Mei Ye's killing of Director Wang had been excessive enforcement, then killing the principal was a crime.

No one wanted to be near a criminal.

The school staff still on the rooftop fled as fast as their legs could carry them.

Mei Ye remained on the rooftop, unmoved by the chaos, as if nothing in the world could stir him.

"Good riddance! I've hated those two for ages! I know where the homeroom teacher is, big brother. Let's go kill her too!"

Wen Siyi clapped her hands and cheered beside Mei Ye, smiling brightly.

It was strange. Everyone else was running away, keeping their distance from Mei Ye, the crazed murderer, but she wasn't afraid.

Mei Ye glanced at the girl without reacting.

A moment later, he looked away from Director Wang's body and let out a quiet breath.

Then he turned and left.

"Hey!"

Wen Siyi hurried after him. "Big brother, wait for me!"

Wen Siyi pestered Mei Ye, chattering away, but he had important things to do and didn't want to waste time.

The sooner he killed the demon, the sooner he could clock out.

Mei Ye went downstairs. On the way, he ran into some students, who looked at him as if he were a devil and fled in blind panic.

"Big brother, look. Everyone's afraid of you. This is all your doing! How are you going to explain this to your captain when you get back?"

Wen Siyi looked at Mei Ye with a bright smile.

This guy was so interesting. If it weren't for his uniform and human aura, Wen Siyi would've thought he was a lunatic who'd escaped from a mental hospital.

"Big brother, look! There's my menopausal homeroom teacher."

Wen Siyi excitedly pointed at a middle-aged woman fleeing among the crowd, dressed in old-fashioned black, straight-legged trousers.

She grabbed Mei Ye's arm and tugged him in that direction. "Come on, let's find her!"

Mei Ye pulled his arm back, his face full of distaste.

I might be crazy, but you're definitely insane!

After being pestered the whole way, even Mei Ye, who was normally so aloof, was getting annoyed by this woman's way of thinking.

He felt he had to explain things and salvage his reputation.

"Jin Hong and the other dead demon were students here back then."

Mei Ye carefully chose his words, then said quietly,

"They were killed by Director Wang, and after becoming demons, they were bound to take revenge on him.

"So it was suspicious that Director Wang was still alive."

Mei Ye and Wen Siyi walked downstairs and reached the plaza.

"You suspect that wasn't the real Director Wang?"

Wen Siyi raised an eyebrow, but for some reason, there was a trace of disappointment in her eyes.

"Isn't that obvious?"

Mei Ye pointed at Director Wang's body nearby, a hint of emotion in his voice.

He had a strange feeling she really thought he was a lunatic.

But I thought it through carefully before I struck!

Wen Siyi looked to the side and saw that Director Wang's corpse wasn't a pile of flesh and blood, but a shattered puppet.

The puppet looked lifelike, but its exposed joints gave away the fact that it wasn't human.

"Then was the principal a puppet too?"

Wen Siyi pursed her lips, seemingly unhappy with the result.

"Maybe."

Mei Ye said calmly. He had suspected the principal, too, though he wasn't certain. He had just found him unbearably annoying, so he'd cut him down.

Mei Ye looked across the school in chaos. Since the deaths, many students had been so terrified that they'd climbed over the walls and run away.

The teachers had called the police, too.

Soon, a squad of Demon-Suppressing Guards would show up.

If he didn't get rid of the demons soon, he might lose his bonus.

Mei Ye tightened his grip on his long blade and headed deeper into the school.

"Where are you going?"

Wen Siyi noticed Mei Ye walking in a particular direction and couldn't help asking.

"Miss, stop following me. I won't protect you, since you're not paying me a bonus."

Mei Ye strode on, his voice floating back from ahead.

"How could I miss out on vanquishing demons? I'm part of Second High School, after all."

Wen Siyi smiled and kept pace beside Mei Ye.

"Besides, if I'm there to witness it, I can vouch for your innocence later."

Mei Ye thought she had a point. Captain Jiang would probably criticize him again when he got back.

Having someone to defend him would save him from some of the backlash.

"By the way, big brother, you killed our principal and director so decisively. Does that mean you already know where the demon is?"

Mei Ye hesitated, but still answered honestly.

"The demons formed from the two students may be ghosts."

"They don't seem able to leave this place, so even though the puppets have been exposed, they can only stay here and face the Demon Suppression Bureau when it arrives."

"An Earthbound Spirit?"

Wen Siyi looked thoughtful.

"Maybe," Mei Ye said. "So the puppet demons are actually ghosts possessing puppets. They're here, taking revenge on this school."

Mei Ye stopped and looked toward a building, his gaze deep.

"The Demon Suppression Bureau is coming today. Those two ghosts may be waiting for their final judgment, too."

Wen Siyi stopped as well and looked ahead.

A sports warehouse.

A setting that showed up all the time in erotic manga.

It was also where Director Wang used to tutor students.

"I'm transferring schools," Wen Siyi remarked. "This is disgusting."

Mei Ye could sense the demonic aura inside, thick and undisguised.

The person—or rather, ghost—inside had probably prepared to face him.

"Wait here."

Mei Ye drew his white blade, tossed out those words, and vanished from the spot.

"Big brother, I don't give up halfway."

Wen Siyi smiled. Her long, elegant legs crossed as she managed to keep up with Mei Ye's speed.

Mei Ye caught the scent of her fragrance but didn't turn Wen Siyi away.

He reached the iron door of the sports warehouse and swung his blade. The blade struck the lock, and the door crashed inward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the warehouse doors flew open, a neat, spotless interior was revealed to Mei Ye.

The training equipment inside was gone. A shaft of sunlight from outside shone into the center.

The sunlight illuminated the person inside.

Wen Siyi saw Jin Hong lying with his head in a girl's lap as she gently combed his hair with her fingers.

"We used to study at this school and dreamed of serving our country and driving out demons."

The girl gently stroked Jin Hong's face, her movements tender beyond compare.

"But in the end, we became vile demons."

The girl sighed softly, making anyone who heard her feel sympathy for what they had endured.

Wen Siyi curiously watched the pair. So they were the puppet demons?

"People from the Demon Suppression Bureau, why did you only come after we died?" the girl said. "When we were alive, you watched us suffer. Now that we're dead, you're finally willing to show up, and you still want to kill us. Why?"