Calling the Police

Jing Xiu asked strangely, "It's not time for class?"

Zhou Bai sighed. "Sigh, isn't it because you're all... so far behind me?"

Jing Xiu blinked. "Huh?"

Zhou Bai laid out the excuse he had prepared point by point. "What you study in class is far too elementary for me, far too boring—so boring I've already fallen asleep. I can't help it. Going to class would just be wasting my time. I'd be better off studying on my own."

"Is... is that so?" Jing Xiu looked at Zhou Bai with half-belief and half-doubt. "Big Brother Zhou doesn't attend class because you're too far ahead of us?"

Zhou Bai waved a hand. "Enough said. You don't need to take it to heart. Compared with a genius like me, it's perfectly normal that you can't keep up. With cultivation, as long as you keep improving, that's all that matters."

Jing Xiu was somewhat doubtful of Zhou Bai's words, but when she thought of the talent he had displayed during the exam, she believed him a little more.

Seeing her expression, Zhou Bai knew Jing Xiu was only half-convinced, but that was enough.

Though he skipped class every day, with the Laziness Qi Value bonus, his progress could be called lightning-fast. In less than a week, he had already cultivated three star points on the Supreme Unity Disc. His cultivation would definitely continue to rise by leaps and bounds.

The auxiliary cultivation system could not be exposed, so the only way was to pretend to be a genius.

It also happened to give him an excuse to skip class.

Of course, his classmates and teachers would not believe him based on a few words alone. But studying at the Dao School was not a matter of one or two days. As long as Zhou Bai displayed the fruits of his cultivation in the future and steadily reinforced his image as a genius, they would have no choice but to believe him.

Zhou Bai said, "By the way, what was that Heaven-Overturning Sect you mentioned?"

"The Heaven-Overturning Sect is an organization that resists the Heavenly Court..." As she spoke, a trace of disgust flashed across usually amiable Jing Xiu's face. "They're a pack of utterly deranged madmen. They seek to overturn the Heavenly Court, stop at nothing in their actions, and even slaughter civilians."

Zhou Bai nodded. So it was an anti-government armed group, and one that attacked civilians and students at that.

But for an organization like that to actually kill people in the Dao School—didn't that mean the organization was not weak, and the Dao School was not as safe as he had imagined?

What an unsettled world. As Zhou Bai thought this, he suddenly froze slightly as memories of the room next door flashed through his mind.

The little girl next door seems a little suspicious.

Zhou Bai recalled everything concerning the room next door, especially the crashing noises that had spread from there into his own room last night.

With my current Primordial Spirit Power, it's unlikely that I'd hallucinate. That means... something abnormal probably really happened. Zhou Bai thought to himself, Although I don't know whether this abnormality is related to the Heaven-Overturning Sect this time, and it's very likely unrelated, still...

Thinking of the old man's aberration, Zhou Bai's expression darkened.

After some thought, Zhou Bai decided that safety came first in a matter like this. He should not simply let it slide.

So after bidding Jing Xiu farewell, he went to the Dao School's public telephone booth and took out the contact information Police Officer Li Xiuzhu had given him earlier.

Humanity in this world did not seem to have widely adopted mobile phones yet. He had heard that the military and those powerful figures at the top possessed Immortal Dao Technology for mobile communication, but Zhou Bai clearly did not have such means.

So he went to the public phones and called Li Xiuzhu.

About an hour later, Zhou Bai saw Li Xiuzhu outside his dormitory building, dressed in casual clothes.

Li Xiuzhu wore only a black jacket and sweatpants, looking just like a Dao School student, without the slightest air of a police officer.

Walking up to Zhou Bai, Li Xiuzhu smiled, though what he said was extremely serious. "What did you discover?"

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Bai told him bit by bit about what had happened next door.

Li Xiuzhu pondered for a while, then asked, "Why didn't you tell your teacher?"

The conversation he had heard outside the next-door room a few days ago surfaced in Zhou Bai's mind. He said, "The girl next door seems to be facing possible expulsion. If I tell the teachers and my suspicions turn out to be wrong, it could affect her cultivation, right? So I thought it over and decided to tell you first. Can you investigate the truth while keeping the impact to a minimum?"

Seeing Li Xiuzhu remain silent, Zhou Bai added, "If that won't work, then forget it. Safety comes first, after all. If she really has aberrated, she must be stopped as soon as possible..."

Li Xiuzhu smiled and raised a hand to stop Zhou Bai from continuing. "It's good that you thought that far ahead. You're not as careless as you look. Come on, let's go see what's going on."

Watching Li Xiuzhu head toward the dormitory, Zhou Bai hurried after him. "Just the two of us? Don't we need to make any preparations? I mean... shouldn't we call some of your colleagues too?"

"Relax, relax." Li Xiuzhu said calmly, "Don't let my appearance fool you—I'm very strong. Besides, this might not even be an aberrant. Donghua Dao School is Donghua Dao School, after all. If a student here had truly aberrated, the chances of keeping it hidden from the teachers would be far too low."

Zhou Bai nodded and followed behind Li Xiuzhu.

Li Xiuzhu first went with Zhou Bai to the room next door. He extended a hand and placed it against the door. Primordial Spirit Power slowly stretched out from the surface of his body, slipping through the crack in the door and extending into the room.

Having taken several days of basic courses, Zhou Bai was no longer a complete novice to cultivation. He could already sense the existence of other people's Primordial Spirit Power.

Watching Li Xiuzhu's maneuver, he inwardly marveled, What delicate control. If it were me, I probably couldn't slip through the crack in the door without damaging it.

Li Xiuzhu sensed the room with his Primordial Spirit Power for a while, surprise appearing on his face. After thinking for a moment, he said, "There's an array set up inside that blocked my Primordial Spirit Power from sensing the room.

"This array... is a little strange. I don't recognize it. If I forcibly interfere, I'll probably break it. Without sufficient evidence, I suggest we don't casually damage other people's belongings. This thing may be very precious to its owner."

Zhou Bai asked, "Then what do we do?"

"Didn't you say the disturbance happened at night?" Li Xiuzhu smiled. "Mind if I make do in your room for the night?"

The two of them agreed on a time for that evening. Zhou Bai returned to his room to skip class and catch up on sleep, while Li Xiuzhu went back to work and planned to return that night.

The entire day passed in sleep. After Zhou Bai woke up, he first checked the auxiliary cultivation system's panel.

Daoization Degree: 0%

Primordial Spirit Value: 99

Divine Map: Nine Calamities of Heaven and Man

Laziness Qi: 1660

"Good, I can activate the next star point again." Zhou Bai's eyes lit up as he focused his attention on the fourth star point on the outermost ring of the Supreme Unity Disc.