Taking a Loss

Xie Xie felt that after meeting that white-haired, red-eyed woman, his life had completely gone off the rails.

Not onto some track of hot-blooded adventure, either. It had derailed into a horror movie projector called "Xie Xie's Daily Survival Report." By day, he was Class Five's puppet on strings; by night, it was terror in the third-floor dormitory. In between came Yun Ying's cold jokes about the "Survivors' Mutual Aid Society" and Gu Yue's "comforting" words: "Once she's got her eye on you, you can't escape." He had tried pretending to sleep, barricading the door with a chair, and lining up the buns Tang Wulin gave him on the windowsill as offerings—all useless. Whether Shadow came or not had nothing to do with the calendar. It depended on her mood.

At noon on the third day, Xie Xie cornered Tang Wulin and Yun Ying in a corner of the cafeteria. His face was as pale as a frostbitten radish.

"Boss, Yun Ying," he said in an extremely low voice, his fingers trembling against the edge of the table, "I won't survive this week."

Tang Wulin was gnawing on a chicken leg. He looked up at that, the corner of his greasy mouth twitching. "Who? Is Director Long picking on you again?"

"Ten thousand times worse than Director Long." Xie Xie swallowed, his eyes darting around as though Shadow might crawl out of a vinegar bottle at any moment. "That... Shadow. She came again last night. She sat in my plastic chair, tapped the corner of my desk with a dagger, and told me about how Yun Ying's stab under her ribs last year took nine days to heal."

The chopsticks in Yun Ying's hand snapped with a crack. She narrowed her eyes, instinctively tensing her shoulders and back. "She really dared to crouch on the third-floor windowsill and climb into the boys' dorm?"

"She did." Xie Xie nearly burst into tears. "She even knocked over my thermos. She said my room smelled of mint mixed with panic, and that it smelled better than the alley. Yun Ying, listen carefully—she knows the group name you changed, she knows Gu Yue talked to me loudly in the hallway, and she knows I sit in the middle of the last row! She's not human, she's a ghost!"

Tang Wulin set down his chicken leg and wiped his hands. His expression was unusually serious. "Xie Xie, that Shadow you mentioned... what level is she at?"

Xie Xie swallowed. "She said she fought Yun Ying to a draw and needed nine days to recover. But now she hangs off my windowsill like she's strolling through her own backyard. If she summoned those twin daggers, I bet she could snap them like toothpicks."

The air went quiet for three seconds.

Yun Ying slowly set down the broken chopsticks, her voice as cold as the barrel of her gun. "A draw? Bullshit. I chased that thief down and beat her senseless last year. Some white-haired lunatic jumped in to steal the kill halfway through. That shot of mine going off target was genuinely an accident, not because she forced me to miss. But... she did have some skills."

Tang Wulin rubbed his brow. "So we can't solve this through normal means."

"Solve my ass!" Xie Xie grabbed Tang Wulin's sleeve. "Boss, I'm begging you, if you two can't handle her, let's find a teacher! Teacher Wu! Once he unleashes that icy aura of his, no matter how obsessive she is, she'll turn into an ice sculpture!"

Yun Ying raised a brow. "You think Teacher Wu can beat her?"

Xie Xie clung to that lifeline. "Teacher Wu is a teacher! A Soul Emperor! The Heavenfrost Sword! No matter how crazy she is, can she be crazier than a Soul Emperor? Besides, she dares to harass students, but would she dare harass a teacher? Once Teacher Wu turns on that cold aura, won't she crawl out on her knees?"

Tang Wulin and Yun Ying exchanged a look. Yun Ying snorted. "Fine, we'll go with you. But let me make this clear first: if she really goes up against Teacher Wu and blows up the office, don't blame me."

"It won't blow up, it won't," Xie Xie said hurriedly. "Teacher Wu's office is the sturdiest, Eastsea Academy special-grade level..."

Before he could finish, Tang Wulin had already stood up. "Let's go. Teacher Wu might be there during lunch break."

The three of them slipped from the cafeteria to the faculty office area in the teaching building. Xie Xie hid behind Tang Wulin like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, suspecting Shadow's white hair was flickering in every window's reflection they passed.

Wu Changkong's office door was half-open. The air conditioning inside was cranked up high, and Wu Changkong was studying a freshman fitness report, the lines of his profile harder than the holly outside the window.

Xie Xie took a deep breath, charged through the door, and cried out, "Teacher Wu! Save me!"

Wu Changkong looked up, his brows drawing together slightly. "Xie Xie? Making noise during lunch break. Conduct points deducted."

"Don't deduct them, don't deduct them!" Xie Xie rushed to the desk, with Tang Wulin and Yun Ying following in and taking positions to either side. Xie Xie gestured with trembling fingers. "Someone... someone's harassing me! A pervert! An obsessive lunatic! White hair, red eyes! She climbed through my dorm window the day before yesterday and sat in my chair with a knife! I can't sleep, I tripped twice during practical training, and even my hands shake when I summon my twin daggers—"

The corner of Wu Changkong's mouth twitched faintly.

"White hair, red eyes, rose-red streaks, and red Feather Blades." Yun Ying added from the side, her tone as calm as if she were reciting a menu. "She calls herself Shadow and says she fought me to a draw."

Wu Changkong's gaze paused as he looked at Yun Ying. "You fought her?"

Yun Ying nodded. "During an assignment last year. We were competing for a thief's head. A draw. She took a grazing shot from me, and I got a knife slash through my sleeve. But it was a wild fight, so I don't know her exact strength."

Wu Changkong fell silent for a moment. "Xie Xie," he said coolly and evenly, "are you certain her purpose is harassment, rather than simple surveillance or a warning?"

"Harassment!" Xie Xie almost dropped to his knees. "She sat on the edge of my bed and called me little brother, said I was so nice, talked about who I wanted to marry someday, and touched the red bump on my forehead from where I hit the wall! Teacher Wu, if that isn't harassment, I'll write my name backward!"

Tang Wulin coughed dryly. "Teacher Wu, Xie Xie really hasn't been right these past few days."

Wu Changkong tapped the desk with his fingertips. A thin layer of frost formed on the wall of his cup.

"...Fine." He closed the report and stood, cold air already circling him. "I'll meet her. If it's only a warning, driving her away will suffice. If she truly crosses the line, I'll deal with it."

Xie Xie felt as though he had been pardoned. Tang Wulin and Yun Ying exchanged another look—Yun Ying's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, as though she were smiling without quite smiling.

Just as Wu Changkong pushed open the office door, a gust carrying the scent of mint and rust rushed straight at them.

The window latch clicked.

The aluminum window swung inward thirty degrees. Before the wind could even fill the room, a white figure had already flipped lightly inside, thick-soled shoes touching down without a sound. Shadow looked like a cat while crouching on the windowsill, and like a slanted snowflake carried by the wind when she flipped inside. Her long white hair fell over her shoulders, the rose-red streaks at its ends painfully bright under the afternoon sun. Several semi-transparent, hollow rose-red diamond blades floated around her, turning lazily.

She tilted her head, her red eyes curving. "Little brother, you came to Teacher Wu to complain about me?"

Xie Xie screamed and shrank behind Tang Wulin. "H-how does she know?!"

Wu Changkong remained expressionless. His right hand hovered over his sword hilt as frigid air suddenly burst out, dropping the office temperature by three degrees. "You are Shadow?"

"That's me." Shadow carried a Feather Blade with its tip hanging toward the floor, as casually as if she were carrying a scallion into someone else's study. "Teacher Wu is so impressive. Your Heavenfrost Sword Qi is freezing my eyelashes." She raised a hand to brush aside her bangs, her red eyes moist like those of an entertained cat. "I came to play with little brother, but he cried and begged. So useless. But does Teacher Wu want to chase me away?"

The corner of Wu Changkong's mouth twitched again. He had seen arrogant people before, but never someone who climbed through a student's dorm window and, after being caught red-handed, could still say, "I came to play with little brother."

"This is the academy's office area, not a private residence. Xie Xie is my student. If you have no official business, leave."

"Official business?" Shadow giggled, spinning the Feather Blade around her fingertip. "Does little brother treating me to soy milk count as official business? His potted plant sprouted, so does me coming to fertilize it count as official business?" She took a step forward, her thick-soled shoe grinding across the tile as the Glazed Blades suspended in the air accelerated. "Teacher Wu, your clothes are pretty cute."

Wu Changkong looked down—his uniform had felt too tight during lunch break, so he had put on loose loungewear instead. It was pale blue, with a row of pale yellow ducklings printed across the chest, the kind with pacifiers in their mouths.

The air froze for half a second.

Xie Xie poked his head out from behind Tang Wulin. When he saw that row of ducklings, a strangled clucking sound came from his throat.

The tips of Wu Changkong's ears visibly flushed for an instant. Cold air exploded with a boom, and though the Heavenfrost Sword remained sheathed, Frost Mist was already sweeping up around him. "Insolent."

"The insolent one is you, Teacher Wu." The smile in Shadow's red eyes faded into a faint, frenzied obsession. She cocked her head, her hair brushing past a blade's edge. "Little brother is mine. If you touch him, I'll touch you."

Before her words had even faded, she flicked her left wrist.

Pink-purple mist exploded from her sleeve.

It was not the glow of a soul skill, but actual mist—sweet and cloying, like rotten flowers mixed with mint, instantly flooding the office. Six peach-colored threads swept out of the fog along the floor. At the same time, Glazed Blades whirled around her body, their initial speed not fast, but every rotation added another layer of afterimages. Their humming made people's teeth ache.

"You're using your ultimate without even warming up?" Yun Ying raised a brow at the doorway, her hand already reaching behind her—but she did not draw her gun. She could tell this was not a fight she could intervene in.

Wu Changkong snorted, and the Heavenfrost Sword came out of its sheath.

A flash of blue-white sword light erupted. His second soul skill, Frost Mist, unleashed absolute freezing air. A blue-white ice barrier descended around him, and when the pink-purple fog hit its edges, it crystallized into ice. The peach-colored threads lashed against the ice and froze brittle, shattering apart. Wu Changkong stepped forward. His third soul skill, Heavenfrost Slash, swept out in a horizontal arc, the icy blade carving into the mist and shaving one corner of the office desk flat.

"Interesting." Shadow's voice came from deep within the fog. Frenzied Dance Steps accelerated, stretching her figure into an afterimage. Plume Storm surged forward—not bird feathers, but her Glazed Blades taking the form of feather-like glazed shards, spiraling ahead and knocking back the ice barrier. During the unyielding phase, Plume Storm's final ricochet doubled in power. A rainstorm of peach-red Glazed Blades poured toward Wu Changkong, every shard whistling through the air.

Wu Changkong pressed his left palm against the flat of his sword. A giant Heavenfrost Sword burst from the ground, its frost barrier forcibly withstanding the downpour of blades. Ice chips and glazed shards collided in an unending series of cracks. With a backhand motion, he used his fourth soul skill, Frost-Ice Word, transforming it into a massive ice sword that cleaved down heavily. Ice shards tore through the pink mist, making the office windows hum and shake.

Xie Xie clung to the doorframe as Tang Wulin pulled him backward. "Stop watching. If they really fight, we'll get caught in it."

Yun Ying leaned against the corridor wall with her arms folded. "Teacher Wu's freezing aura can lock down her control, but she isn't affected by crowd control... interesting."

Inside the office, Shadow fought more and more wildly.

She did not defend at all. Glazed Blades poured out recklessly, as though she were burning herself as ammunition. Cracks appeared in Wu Changkong's ice barrier, and Heavenfrost Sword light chased her afterimages as it cleaved down. She tilted her head and smiled, her red eyes wet and bright. At the moment she knocked aside the sword edge, a peach-red Glazed Blade slashed diagonally upward—

Riiip.

The sound of fabric tearing.

Wu Changkong's movements halted.

From the left chest downward, his pale blue duckling pajamas had been sliced open in a foot-long tear. The pale yellow ducklings had been split in half, and the pacifier duck had been carved into the shape of a dumbbell. Cotton stuffing drifted from the opening, freezing into little fluff balls in the icy air.

The air truly froze.

Wu Changkong lowered his head, looked at the row of ducklings that had been brutally bisected at the waist, then looked back up at Shadow.

Shadow froze too. Her red eyes blinked, and the smile at the corner of her mouth stiffened halfway. "...Oh. The ducklings."

The next second.

Wu Changkong's aura suddenly turned violent.

It was not anger, but an eruption of extreme cold born from something absolutely untouchable being touched. Heavenfrost Battle Armor covered his body—blue-white armor encased him, frost formed along his shoulder wings, and the Heavenfrost Sword swelled thirty feet in his palm. Sword intent froze and cracked the glass in three walls of the office.

"—My. Duckling. Pajamas."

His voice was ten thousand times colder than his morning lectures.

One strike.

There was no soul skill name, only a pure, heavy slash of Heavenfrost Sword intent. Shadow had just recovered from her daze and tried to retreat, but the sword wind struck her afterimage head-on. Half the ring of Glazed Blades around her exploded into fragments, and she flew like a rag doll smashed by an ice hammer. Her back blasted through the outer office wall before she crashed into a plane tree at the edge of the athletic field. Long white hair covered half her face, her suit was torn to pieces, and her black shirt revealed old scars and fresh blood between her ribs.

She coughed up blood, but her red eyes still curved as though getting beaten was fun. "Teacher Wu... the ducklings... really are cute..."

Then she braced herself against the tree trunk. Her figure swayed and melted into pink-purple aftermist, slipping away along the base of the wall so fast that even Yun Ying did not stop her—or rather, Yun Ying chose not to.

All that remained by the athletic field was a trail of blood and a clump of hair caught in the plane tree.

Inside the office, Wu Changkong stood before the hole in the wall as the Heavenfrost Battle Armor slowly receded, revealing the torn duckling pajamas beneath. He lowered his head and tugged at the two halves of the pacifier duck, the corner of his mouth twitching harder than it had when Xie Xie first tearfully pleaded with him.

Xie Xie poked his head through the crack in the door, his pale face paired with wide, round eyes. "T-Teacher Wu, she ran away."

"I saw." Wu Changkong's voice was terrifyingly flat.

Tang Wulin silently pulled Xie Xie farther back. Yun Ying walked over, glanced at the broken wall and the pajamas, and finally could not stop the corner of her mouth from lifting half a millimeter. "Teacher Wu, I know those pajamas. They're twenty-nine ninety in the East Sea Supermarket clearance section. I'll replace them for you tomorrow."

Wu Changkong ignored her. He looked at Xie Xie, his gaze as complicated as if he were looking at a piece of sticky taffy covered in sugar.

"Xie Xie."

"Here!"

"From today onward, stay in the office after evening self-study. If she comes again and I am not here, even jumping out the window and running would be better than staying."

Tears finally streamed down Xie Xie's face. "O-okay, okay, okay! Thank you, Teacher Wu!"