The cool classroom

"It's so hot. I don't want to go to school."

"Like you want to go to school in winter?"

"Someone should suggest online classes to the principal. I promise I'll study hard at home," Zhao Zhuo vowed solemnly.

"Oh, please. Study hard at home? Just yesterday, you copied your summer homework from Zhou You's already-copied homework."

The students grumbled as they walked into the classroom. After walking from home to school with their backpacks first thing in the morning, their backs were drenched, and their clothes clung to them uncomfortably with every little movement.

"Huh?" One student noticed something odd as he stepped into the classroom.

He stepped back out, then went in again.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?" Zhao Zhuo asked, puzzled.

"It's so cool in here!" the student exclaimed excitedly.

He was like Columbus discovering the New World.

The moment he entered the classroom, he had felt a bone-piercing chill. Thinking he had imagined it, he had gone in again.

"Cool in the classroom? The heat's making you hallucinate." Zhao Zhuo entered the classroom, and the dismissive look on his face quickly vanished, replaced by utter surprise.

He was like a native of the New World discovering Columbus.

Rather than cool, it was cold enough to make him shiver.

The instant he entered the classroom, he actually shuddered. His back went cold and his hairs stood on end, as though some terrifying presence had fixed its gaze on him.

The piercing chill soon faded, leaving only faint traces of coolness welling up from deep within him. "Did they install air conditioning?" The school really came through. I made a wish yesterday, and they granted it today, Zhao Zhuo thought.

Unfortunately, he looked around and found no air conditioner. Besides, this coolness felt different from air conditioning.

"Am I imagining things? Why does it feel so creepy?"

It reminded him of visiting a haunted house at an amusement park, where being chased by ghosts had chilled him right down to the soles of his feet.

"What's going on? Why did the classroom suddenly get so cool?" Zhao Zhuo asked his deskmate as he took out his books.

His deskmate shook his head. Every student was wondering the same thing.

"Weird. Is it haunted?"

"Zhou You, do you know why?" Zhao Zhuo asked Zhou You, who sat behind him.

"No idea." Zhou You's gaze was clear, but an inexplicable hint of amusement lurked in his eyes, leaving Zhao Zhuo thoroughly puzzled.

The change in the classroom was entirely thanks to Nuomi.

Zhou You had guessed correctly. The old dormitory building was cold and gloomy because Nuomi lived there, so inviting her to the classroom would make it cool as well.

When he invited Nuomi to live in the classroom the previous night, she agreed readily, with little hesitation.

Zhou You figured the old dormitory building was too boring. Nuomi had probably wanted a change of scenery for some time, and his invitation had given her the perfect opportunity to leave.

"I know the reason," Chu Xiaoyao volunteered, claiming the credit. "I employed a minor trick and captured a female ghost from the old dormitory building!"

Zhao Zhuo chuckled. I'd have to be out of my mind to believe you.

Everyone in Class Three knew Chu Xiaoyao suffered from delusions of grandeur. They were long past being surprised.

Nuomi stamped her foot angrily at this, feeling that the claim damaged her dignity, and corrected Chu Xiaoyao's wording. "What do you mean, captured? I didn't want to stay in the old dormitory building anymore, so I came here of my own accord!" In the past, Nuomi would have blown cold air down the back of Chu Xiaoyao's neck by now. But her visit to Chu Xiaoyao's inner world had left her traumatized, and she no longer dared.

Realizing Chu Xiaoyao couldn't hear her, Nuomi had no choice but to seek Zhou You's help. She poked him. "Hey, say something to her."

By comparison, Nuomi found Zhou You easier to get along with.

Although Zhou You had punched her without a word when they first met, he had later explained that it was all a misunderstanding. He had apologized sincerely at length and even warmly invited her to move here.

A good living person.

Chu Xiaoyao, on the other hand, had nothing she feared, as Nuomi discovered when she used her secret art to enter her inner world. Clearly, Chu Xiaoyao was unfathomable. Someone like that was obviously dangerous, and best kept at a distance.

Zhou You likewise poked Chu Xiaoyao. "All right, enough. You're making the ghost angry."

Zhao Zhuo sighed. Chu Xiaoyao was beautiful, sure, but her mind worked differently from everyone else's. Talking to her too much could easily rub off on you.

Zhou You was a prime example. Look at him. In the end, he had failed to resist Chu Xiaoyao's contamination, and his sanity had eroded.

Zhao Zhuo didn't dwell on why it had become cooler. Whatever the reason, cool was good enough.

This was Zhou You's first encounter with a ghost, and he was especially curious about Nuomi. He had been pressed for time yesterday and hadn't had a chance to learn much about her.

"All I know is that your name's Nuomi. Do you remember anything else?"

Things like how she had died, or when.

He couldn't ask those questions outright. That would be too rude.

Nuomi scratched her head. "It's strange. All my earlier memories are gone. I only remember the past two years. At the beginning, I drove out the ghost living in the old dormitory building and moved in myself."

Zhou You: "..."

No wonder you reacted like that when I suggested you move somewhere else. You've done it yourself! Nuomi grew a little embarrassed under Zhou You's stare and explained sheepishly, "My head wasn't very clear at the time. I just wanted somewhere to stay. Besides, besides, the other ghost attacked first. I remember he called himself the Ghost King Zhenyue or something."

Zhou You pondered this. "Do all ghosts lose their memories from when they were alive?"

"No idea. It's my first time dying, too. I have no experience."

Zhou You had never died, so he had even less experience.

But a lack of experience was no problem. Didn't he have a Female Emperor right beside him?

"Xiaoyao, Nuomi says she has no memories from when she was alive. Is that normal?"

Chu Xiaoyao inwardly sucked in a breath. This was outside her knowledge, and not easy to bluff through. If she made something up now, she could be exposed when they met other ghosts later.

Chu Xiaoyao didn't want to admit to Zhou You that, although she was the Free and Unfettered Female Emperor, she had lost her memories. It would make her seem rather incompetent as a Female Emperor.

"Hard to say," she said after a moment's thought.

"Hard to say?" Zhou You hadn't expected that answer.

"The six paths of reincarnation on the Primordial Continent were established later. Figures such as the Hungry Ghost Path Master, the Yellow Springs Venerable, and the Asura King worked together to construct the six paths of reincarnation and govern the order of life and death."

"But we don't know how the rules of life and death work in our world. We can't be sure whether Nuomi's lack of memories from life is caused by those rules or by some accident."

Zhou You nodded, finding Chu Xiaoyao's explanation reasonable.

Listening beside them, Nuomi was secretly awed. Six paths of reincarnation, the order of life and death, and figures like the Hungry Ghost Path Master, who sounded formidable just from the title. She didn't understand what they were discussing, but it sounded very advanced.

Was this really something two people with no cultivation could discuss?

Seeing that he couldn't get an answer from Chu Xiaoyao, Zhou You motioned for Nuomi to continue telling him about her experiences.

"After that, I ran into a Taoist out of nowhere. The moment she saw me, she threw glutinous rice at me. I thought she was kindly giving me something to eat. Only later did I realize she was trying to exorcise me!"

"A Taoist? Did the school hire her?" Zhou You asked, puzzled. He had never seen a Taoist at school, though it would make sense for the school to hire one to cleanse the old dormitory building.

"That rotten Taoist was wearing a school uniform. She was probably a student at your school. I went looking for her afterward, but couldn't find her. Who knows where she hid."

"She'd better not let me catch her again, or I'll make her pay!" Nuomi threw punches with a series of little battle cries, still unable to forget what had happened two years ago.