Doctor Zhai found the burn ointment and hurried over to Ji Xun.
He cradled Ji Xun's hand like the most devout believer, his eyes full of heartache and regret. "How did you hurt yourself?"
Ji Xun thought for a moment before answering, "I was passing the Small Auditorium and thought I smelled smoke inside, so I tried pushing the door open to take a look."
Doctor Zhai's hand paused as he applied the ointment. "The Small Auditorium isn't open. Don't go there again."
"Oh."
Doctor Zhai asked as if in passing, "How come I've never seen you before? What's your name?"
Ji Xun answered obediently, "I'm the new transfer student in Grade One Class Seven. My name is Yuan Ci."
"Oh, Yuan Ci." Having finished applying the ointment, Doctor Zhai stood up and smiled at him. "Take good care of your hands. Don't hurt them again."
Ji Xun raised an eyebrow. Doctor Zhai was far more interested in his hands than in him.
"Doctor Zhai," Ji Xun called out to stop him, looking at the empty stand. "I heard there was an anatomical model here. Where did it go?"
"Perhaps he went out to play." Doctor Zhai's smile was loaded with meaning. Then he added, "Just kidding. The model had gathered some dust over time, so I took it away to be cleaned."
Ji Xun said goodbye and quietly glanced back as he was about to leave.
With his back to Ji Xun, Doctor Zhai was looking down as he sorted the jumble of instruments on his desk. Beneath the collar of his white coat, somewhere just below his cervical spine, there was a metallic glint.
It looked like a zipper on his clothes.
Ji Xun closed the door without giving anything away.
He wandered around the teaching building all day and found a yellow talisman behind every mirror on every floor.
Ji Xun removed the talismans and burned them, then said softly, "Jiang Yao."
Ripples spread across the mirror like water, and Jiang Yao's face slowly appeared on its surface. "Ji Xun."
"Give it a try. Can you come out?"
Unless he came out through Wang Kaile, Jiang Yao couldn't even leave the ground-floor lobby. If he did, he suffered as though he were being roasted alive.
But at Ji Xun's words, Jiang Yao tried leaning his upper body out without the slightest hesitation.
And so a bizarre scene unfolded in the boys' restroom: a deathly pale boy emerged from the mirror out of nowhere, with only his upper body outside while his lower half seemed to remain within it.
"A ghost! J-Ji Xun, you really are a ghost!" Chen He pointed at Ji Xun, trembling.
Before Ji Xun could explain, Chen He pelted him with exorcism tools, leaving his arms full of them, all while muttering something about "evil spirits, begone."
There were talismans, holy water, and even a little straw doll.
Seeing Ji Xun standing there perfectly fine, his expression unchanged, Chen He let out a shriek and fled in sheer terror.
Ji Xun and Jiang Yao stared at each other.
Jiang Yao said, "How rude."
Ji Xun pressed a hand to his forehead. "How did I not manage to get a single word in?"
Once Jiang Yao was out, he flexed his fingers and said in delighted surprise, "I really am fine!"
He hurriedly patted the mirror. "Wen, you try coming out too!"
Deng Wen had never left the ground-floor lobby and had long since grown sick of that cramped space. Jiang Yao caught his outstretched hand, and with Jiang Yao's help, he hopped lightly out of the mirror.
Although the restroom thoroughly ruined the mood, Deng Wen's eyes still reddened as he gazed longingly at the sky outside the window.
Ji Xun said, "Tell the others not to come out yet. I suspect there are Proxy Ghosts created by the principal in this building. You might be in danger."
"All right." Jiang Yao passed Ji Xun's words on to Wu Xiran, asking him to keep the other girls calm.
Once Jiang Yao and Deng Wen had readjusted to being outside in their own bodies, Ji Xun quietly took them to the Principal’s Office on the third floor.
The Principal’s Office had originally been strictly off-limits. Triggering it would set off an alarm, drawing every Proxy Ghost in Experimental Middle School over.
But Yuan Ci and Wei Lin had killed the principal yesterday, lifting the seal on the Principal’s Office.
The lock on the office door had already been destroyed, so he pushed the door open easily.
The principal's desk stood directly opposite the door, its surface a complete mess. Blood covered the walls. The principal's decapitated body slumped limply in the chair behind the desk, his obese bulk like a mountain of flesh, giving off a foul smell.
The cabinets had been ransacked as well. Ji Xun guessed that Yuan Ci and Wei Lin had been looking for something in the Principal’s Office.
"What are we doing here?" Jiang Yao stared at the principal's corpse with hatred written across his face, while Deng Wen had already sat down on the floor to rummage through the documents.
Ji Xun asked, "What were you planning to do before you were tricked into going to the Small Auditorium?"
Realization dawned on Jiang Yao. "We were going to find evidence of the principal's crimes!"
He smacked his forehead in frustration, then crouched beside Deng Wen to help him search.
There were far too many documents in the Principal’s Office. Fortunately, they had Deng Wen, who skimmed through them at an inhuman speed. Before long, he had cleared the pile beside him.
Jiang Yao said, "I'd better just carry the documents over for you."
Sure enough, no one could match Deng Wen when it came to reading.
Ji Xun sighed in admiration. "A top student, huh? Perfect. Help me with something tonight."
"Found it!" After some time, Deng Wen pulled several forms from the office's documents. "It's a list of the students the principal victimized."
They had found evidence, but Deng Wen's expression showed no relief. "No, this alone isn't enough to convict him."
"True. Testimony can be recanted too." Jiang Yao frowned.
Ji Xun looked up toward the door. "Keep looking. I'm stepping out for a moment."
Doctor Zhai was leaning quietly against the wall outside the Principal’s Office. There was no telling how long he had been there.
He showed no surprise when Ji Xun emerged from the office. "That fat pig's dead?"
Ji Xun raised an eyebrow. Doctor Zhai's face filled with disgust at the mention of the principal. He had originally thought Doctor Zhai was one of the principal's Proxy Ghosts too, but apparently not.
Doctor Zhai held an envelope and waved it in front of Ji Xun. "Want it?"
"No."
"Really?" Doctor Zhai smiled, his voice full of temptation. "This is the test report I prepared from Class Twelve's blood samples. It's enough to prove they were given extremely pure drugs without their knowledge."
"What do you want?" Ji Xun put his hands behind his back, his face expressionless. "You're not getting my hands."
Doctor Zhai looked disappointed. "Fine, keep them. Who knows whether they'll scar? If they do, I won't want them anyway."
How incredibly rude are you? Ji Xun thought.
Doctor Zhai chuckled and tossed him the test report. "I want to leave this school."
Ji Xun said, "I can't do that."
Doctor Zhai said quietly, "If you couldn't, I wouldn't be asking."
Ji Xun spread his hands. "All right, I'll try."
Doctor Zhai seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Oh, and be careful of those three teammates of yours."
Three?
Ji Xun frowned. Did he mean Wei Lin and the other two, or Chen He's group?
"Ji Xun." Jiang Yao sounded anxious. "Come in, quick!"
Ji Xun hurried inside. Jiang Yao had found a built-in safe in the wall. They didn't know the combination, but opening a lock was no trouble for Jiang Yao now that he was a ghost.
As the safe opened, banknotes spilled out like a surging tide.
Jiang Yao reached in and scooped the banknotes out. Behind them, numerous bags of powder were neatly arranged.
Money. Drugs.
Desire and sin.
"We've found the evidence."
Before you continue