How to move a "Netherworld"

The moment arrived with an almost unexpected lack of fanfare.

The scattered starlight rapidly faded as time passed. At that moment, Shi Yu was calmer than he had imagined he would be.

Shi Yu looked at Liu Yiyi and Shen Bai standing in front of him, while Huo Qiuliang sat obediently beside the three of them.

As usual, Shen Bai was the first to break the silence. Compared with Liu Yiyi, he seemed better at handling serious matters in every way.

"First, congratulations to everyone on officially becoming one of us. I'll submit your information afterward. Applications for the subsequent allowances and uniforms will follow, and everything should be in place soon."

Shen Bai pushed up his glasses as he spoke, sweeping his gaze over Shi Yu and the other two.

"Later, you can each give a brief account of your Staircases and inheritances. The Gifted-that is, Shi Yu and Hu Zihao-only need to submit the names of your Staircases and describe them. Han He... submit the focus of your inheritance. I'll report whatever you submit without altering it. As for your specific abilities, since we'll need to coordinate later, it would be best to tell one another truthfully where circumstances permit."

Hu Zihao and Han He nodded.

Shi Yu, however, froze. Then he turned to look at Huo Qiuliang.

Huo Qiuliang seemed to have anticipated this outcome. He lowered his head as though he were very busy and wrapped his arms around it, shutting out Shi Yu's gaze.

Huo. Qiu. Liang... He never even mentioned the number of Staircases! That guy really did ask just to satisfy his own curiosity. That liar...

The look in Shi Yu's eyes practically spelled out "I'm going to eat this guy alive" across his face. One glance was enough for Shen Bai to realize that Huo Qiuliang must have asked about something they weren't required to report out of curiosity.

Shen Bai looked at Shi Yu, then at Huo Qiuliang, before walking over to Huo Qiuliang and saying in a very calm voice,

"Xiao Liang, I'll supervise your next training session."

"What?!!"

Huo Qiuliang cried out in terror. He looked up at Shen Bai, only to shrink back under his all-seeing gaze. Slumping over the table with his face buried in his arms, he gave a muffled reply.

"Okay... I'm very sorry..."

Liu Yiyi watched Huo Qiuliang suddenly get assigned extra training. Although she didn't know what had happened, she knew him well enough to know that Shen Bai must have caught him doing something bad. She giggled at his misfortune.

Seeing Huo Qiuliang get punished made Shi Yu feel considerably better, but he still had plenty of questions.

Before Shi Yu could speak, however, Hu Zihao, who was sitting beside him, spoke first.

"Brother Bai, I have a question."

Shen Bai turned back and nodded.

"Go ahead. Ask whatever you're unsure about. You're all kids who have only just awakened and experienced a Netherworld incident. It's perfectly normal to have questions."

Hu Zihao's first question was exactly what Shi Yu wanted to ask.

"The Netherworld incident at our school... what exactly happened, and how did it all unfold?"

Looking at the three newcomers now sitting in a row, Shen Bai walked slowly to the front and sat on the table, facing them.

"The incident at your school was a rather unusual Netherworld incident."

Shen Bai paused, then looked at Huo Qiuliang and said,

"Huo Qiuliang should have given you a brief introduction to the characteristics of Netherworlds earlier. I don't know whether you remember them. They include 'Netherworlds appear completely at random,' 'Evil Sins cannot move Netherworlds,' and..."

Shen Bai's eyes narrowed slightly behind his lenses as he looked at Shi Yu.

"Humans can move Netherworlds through certain methods."

Shi Yu and Han He nodded to show they remembered.

Hu Zihao looked somewhat lost, since he had been unconscious at the time and didn't know about any of this.

Shen Bai continued without stopping.

"A smaller Netherworld can be wrapped in the corpse of a recently deceased human and moved.

"A larger Netherworld, however, can be drawn along using specific methods, including but not limited to laying a road with recently deceased human corpses, marking a route with newborn babies' blood, or weaving a bridge from the hair of recently deceased humans. These methods share one common requirement, a rule that must be obeyed: 'Whoever moves a Netherworld must be human.' In theory, no Evil Sin can use these methods... at least, they couldn't before."

Recently deceased human corpses... newborn babies' blood...

Goosebumps rose over Shi Yu and Hu Zihao as they listened to those horrifying methods. Han He frowned, an expression of disgust showing on his face.

"S-so..."

Hu Zihao's voice trembled slightly.

"Yes. Someone moved the Netherworld into your school. It wasn't a large Netherworld, so they used the first method."

Shen Bai reached up to adjust his glasses, looking at Shi Yu and Hu Zihao's slightly pale faces.

"I can view other people's memories to a certain extent. Based on the school administrators' memories, I can roughly deduce what happened."

"First, the incident was orchestrated by a level 4 Evil Sin. He was born in a Netherworld somewhere and possessed the powers of 'cognitive distortion' and 'memory manipulation.' About a month and a half ago, it targeted Yang Desheng, a director at your school, and manipulated him using the properties of its powers."

Shen Bai lowered his eyes and explained carefully.

"This Evil Sin's powers were extremely rare and unique. Those two abilities allowed it to achieve unexpected effects. It gradually altered Yang Desheng's cognition, broke down his mind, and replaced his memories with its own... finally, it altered its own cognition as well, merging completely with Yang Desheng."

No way...

Shi Yu felt as though every pore in his body was giving off a chill as he listened to Shen Bai's description.

What kind of suffering had Director Yang Desheng endured back then...?

Shen Bai raised his eyes and looked at the three of them.

"This Evil Sin used its abilities to turn itself into a 'human' in the truest sense, then killed Yang Desheng's wife and son. It used them to move the Netherworld."

Shen Bai's voice was so steady that even the air seemed to turn cold.

"This was an extremely unusual Netherworld incident. You could even call it the first case of an Evil Sin moving a Netherworld itself to cause an incident. This combination of abilities is one in ten thousand, almost impossible to replicate."

Shen Bai lightly tapped the table beneath him, his fingertips making a knocking sound against the wood.

"Then it moved the Netherworld into the boys' restroom in the school dormitory and performed a 'Birth' inside, giving birth to a second Evil Sin-the one you initially discovered. Afterward, they began hunting the school's teachers and students one by one, feeding on human fear and memories and rapidly growing stronger. Before long, they were on the verge of advancing."

Shi Yu immediately recalled Han He's mention of a "crab shedding its shell." He spoke up.

"Was that why they couldn't hide their powers?"

Shen Bai wasn't displeased by Shi Yu's interruption. Instead, he shook his head.

"No. They could hide their powers the entire time. I heard that you could sense the Evil Sins' presence, but unfortunately, that wasn't actually the case."

Shen Bai sat a little straighter and looked at Liu Yiyi.

"What you actually sensed was the aura of 'molting ascension.' It's similar to our 'rituals.' We use that method to strengthen ourselves or climb higher, and so do they. Only this aura cannot be concealed. On the other hand, it only appears within the site an Evil Sin needs for its advancement. Anyone outside cannot sense it, even if they're only a millimeter away."

Han He, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke.

"So do they become more vulnerable at that point?"

Shen Bai shook his head.

"No. What comes next happens to serve as a basic introduction for you.

"Unlike us, Evil Sins don't stop progressing because they lack a 'Staircase' or sufficient 'insight.' Once an Evil Sin reaches a certain threshold, it can evolve by fulfilling the requirements of 'molting ascension.' Each kind of Evil Sin has different requirements, and no pattern has been discovered yet.

"To advance, however, they must strictly follow the requirements of 'molting ascension.' Any violation means they have to start over."

Shi Yu exchanged glances with Hu Zihao and Han He beside him.

Sure enough, Shi Yu's original guess had been right. The reason it had locked him in the cabinet was that the Evil Sin had been strictly following the requirements of "molting ascension," so it couldn't attack him ahead of time.

Shen Bai continued.

"Returning to the incident, before this, 'Yang Desheng' had demonstrated his powers to the school administrators and tampered with them to make them obey his every command. There is a certain possibility that this Evil Sin was colluding with a Curtain-Caller. We'll discuss Curtain-Callers later."

Seemingly anticipating their curiosity about Curtain-Callers, Shen Bai cut off their questions in advance and continued his account.

"Using this as its leverage, the Evil Sin gradually gained control of the school, toying with the memories of any teachers and students who realized something was wrong. Throughout this period, it repeatedly mated with its own offspring, producing more level 1 Evil Sins to expand its control over the teachers and students."