Volume 1, Chapter 176: The Grievous Ghost of the Science Building

"Streamer, please don't be like this, I'm scared."
"So scary, I need a hug from wifey."
Qin Yu let out a soft huff, ignoring the whining comment section.
"Wifey!"
From a distance came a voice, deliberately lowered.
Qin Yu looked over and saw a pair of pale hands waving frantically behind a tall wall.
The person was only five feet tall, bobbing up and down behind the wall so that only half their head was barely visible.
Qin Yu approached; it was the Potato Mine who had appeared in the livestream today.
She had powder on her face, but even that could not conceal the dark aura lingering over her.
Qin Yu formed a hand seal.
Potato Mine's head bobbed up and down, and in an instant, Qin Yu had crossed from beyond the wall to stand right before her.
She was so shocked her jaw dropped.
Qin Yu had walked two steps away before realizing Potato Mine wasn't following. She turned around, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Potato Mine scurried over a beat too late, introducing herself as she ran, "Wifey, my name is Zhao Kexin."
Qin Yu narrowed her eyes and frowned. She hadn't seen clearly from afar, but on her body...
"Wifey, can I turn on my phone livestream later?"
Zhao Kexin was gesturing wildly with excitement, interrupting Qin Yu's thoughts.
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed slightly, giving Zhao Kexin goosebumps all over.
"Yes. But you'd better stick to me like glue."
Zhao Kexin's hair immediately stood on end, a creepy sensation crawling into her heart. "Am—am I going to die?"
Qin Yu didn't answer her question, instead shifting her gaze to a building ten meters away. "What is that place?"
Following Qin Yu's gaze, Zhao Kexin replied, "That's the experimental building, where we usually have our anatomy classes."
Qin Yu didn't speak, for she saw pitch-black dark energy surging there in waves, and this towering resentment was utterly terrifying.
"I knew it! Every time I walked past the experimental building, I felt a chill down my spine. Turns out there really is something wrong with it!" Seeing Qin Yu's solemn expression, Zhao Kexin spilled her guesses in a rapid-fire stream, "Wifey, someone died in our school before!"
"Our school had rumors like that too! But they were debunked by the teachers and school leaders at the time!"
"Is there any chance those weren't debunkings, but just attempts to pacify you students?"
"When I was in school, my classmates even rumored our school was built on top of a graveyard! If my dad hadn't been a nearby real estate developer, I might have actually believed it."
Qin Yu didn't find her words surprising in the least. Her tone remained calm. "Go on."
Zhao Kexin swallowed hard, recalling how an upperclassman had told her the story, and did her best to recount it smoothly. "Ten years ago, our school had a club called the Paranormal Club. There weren't many members—only three guys and two girls. But for some unknown reason, out of the five of them, four died and one went crazy!"
"Ever since that incident, our school never had a paranormal club again. According to the seniors of that year, the school gave every enrolled student a subsidy of two thousand yuan, just to keep everyone from talking about it."
Qin Yu's eyes shifted slightly. She gazed sideways toward the direction of the black smoke, deep in thought.
"Sisters, I just went and checked up on this incident for everyone—it really happened! But the official police report at the time stated that all four committed suicide, while the one who went crazy cracked under the heavy pressure of their studies..."
"What kind of paranormal club is this? This is a death cult!"
"Look at my wifey frowning like that; there's definitely a conspiracy behind this! Peanuts, melon seeds, beer, and cola are all ready, just waiting for the story to begin!"
Qin Yu glared at this comment with a stern look that made everyone in front of their phone screens shudder.
"Life is precious; always maintain reverence."
A mere eight words, yet they made people feel an intangible, overwhelming force pressing down upon them.
Qin Yu was nearly five-foot-ten, making Zhao Kexin look even more petite beside her. Zhao Kexin had to look up just to see Qin Yu's whole face.
"Wifey, do you think the ghost inside is from the Paranormal Club ten years ago..."
At this, Zhao Kexin swallowed nervously, feeling a lingering fear.
"Why don't we go in and find out?"
She wasn't certain if it was those people from the Paranormal Club. But she knew that whoever this ghost was, they had died bearing a deep grievance.
Zhao Kexin's hand was shaking as she held up her phone for the livestream. "G-go in?"
"..."
Qin Yu ignored her and walked straight ahead.
Zhao Kexin had Qin Yu's words about sticking close to her echoing in her mind, so she gritted her teeth and chased after her.
"Wifey, wifey! Wait for me!"
---
Tonight's night sky was exceptionally dark, like spilled black ink thick enough to shroud the entire firmament.
The moment Qin Yu placed one foot on the steps of the experimental building, a sinister, icy wind swept out from inside, howling sharply like blades slicing through the air.
Qin Yu raised a hand to block in front of her, and an intangible surge of spiritual energy acted like a thick shield, blocking everything outside.
Hearing the hurried footsteps rushing up behind her, Qin Yu lifted a hand, and a barrier of spiritual energy enveloped Zhao Kexin.
Amidst the howling wind, something was shrieking, its ferocious intent seemingly eager to tear people to shreds.
Qin Yu cocked her head, listening intently.
"Get out!!"
Qin Yu tilted her head with a smile. "Since you put it that way, I'm even more inclined to meet you."
[Hahaha, the streamer has such a rebellious streak!]
[Don't laugh, you'll be crying in a minute.]
[What a joke! Would a woman like an eagle cry?]
Qin Yu lifted her foot and walked inside. No matter how sharp the surrounding wind blades were, when they struck her spiritual energy barrier, it was like a cup of water poured into a desert—instantly neutralized.
Over on Zhao Kexin's end.
Though protected by the spiritual energy shield, she was still instinctively trembling all over.
Meanwhile, her livestream chat was going wild.
[Sister, stop shaking! You're making me dizzy.]
[Sigh, I thought I'd see something different in this stream, but it's basically an immersive motion-sickness simulator.]
[Sister, keep up with wifey!]
[It's useless telling her to keep up, watch this!]
[Zhao Kexin, there's a ghost behind you!]
[...]
Zhao Kexin had originally wanted to look at the livestream comments to pump herself up, but seeing the entire screen flashing with warnings of ghosts scared her into shedding tears and kicking her legs.
Yet the further inward they went, the more Zhao Kexin felt the surrounding environment was strangely familiar—so familiar that it made it hard for her to breathe.
Noticing her abnormality, Qin Yu slapped a bright yellow talisman onto her.
"Breathe deeply, don't let it sway you."
Qin Yu's powerful voice pierced through the surrounding wall of wind, striking straight at Zhao Kexin's eardrums.
She quickly took deep breaths.
The hallway of the experimental building used motion-sensor lights. With the howling wind, they flickered on and off, pushing the eerie atmosphere of the corridor to its absolute peak.
"W-wifey..."
Zhao Kexin pressed closely against her, like a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood on the water.
Qin Yu chanted a calming incantation, and Zhao Kexin's nervous emotions eased slightly.
"Don't be afraid."
[Wuwuwu, I want to cuddle with wifey too!]
[Liu Yifei from Hunan is officially filled with envy.]
[Let go of the streamer and let me do it!]
Zhao Kexin was already a devoted little fan of Qin Yu, and at this moment, Qin Yu's image in her heart grew even taller and more majestic!
Zhao Kexin buried her head in the crook of Qin Yu's elbow, her heart blooming with joy.
Zhao Kexin: Ah! This damned sense of security!
Qin Yu: ......
The drone responsible for the livestream was being blown this way and that by the wind, but it had to be said that this drone possessed incredible stabilization. Even under these conditions, the livestream feed remained high-definition and steady.
Qin Yu stopped outside a classroom door and turned to look at Zhao Kexin, who was currently emitting pink bubbles of infatuation. "What's inside here?"
"This is where specimens and models are kept. Sometimes teachers bring these models to class for demonstrations."
Qin Yu nodded knowingly. "Hold on tight to me."
Before Zhao Kexin could react, she felt a strong hand support her waist, and in the next second, she was already inside the room.
As soon as they entered, the malicious gazes from all around grew intensely palpable.
"You'd better faint right now."
Zhao Kexin was still immersed in the shock of having zipped right through the wall from the outside, failing to process what Qin Yu meant.
Yet the next second, she understood...
Because something seemed to be tugging at her ankle, feeling like a venomous snake slithering up the skin of her lower leg.
Her gaze moved down in terror, inch by inch, until she saw a pair of rotting hands gripping her ankle tightly.
"Ah!!!"
A scream pierced the clouds.
Zhao Kexin closed her eyes and passed out cold.
[Ahhhhhhh! Why wasn't the screen censored today? Wuwuwu! I'm traumatized!]
[Why is there no safety talisman purchase link today? Half of my life was scared out of me?]
[Could it be that when you said nobody would be sleeping tonight, you meant this? Wifey, you can't be this cruel! No censorship and no safety talismans? How are people supposed to survive this?!]
Of course, Qin Yu paid no mind to these weeping and wailing comments, because within a few short seconds, she sensed a doubled wave of hatred radiating from her opponent.
Qin Yu gave a light, disdainful scoff of provocation. "What? Realizing you can't beat me, you decided to go after the weakest one?"
The black resentment slowly gathered, forming an oversized dark lump.
If Murling were also on the scene, he would definitely step up to spar with this big dark lump.
"Are you also hired by that person to get rid of us? Go back and tell him that even if our souls are scattered to dust, we'll turn his school upside down!"
With a crisp "crack," a whip lashed across the mass of black energy.
The black energy froze, clearly not expecting Qin Yu to dispense with words and attack directly.
"You!"
"Crack!"
"How...!!"
"Crack!"
"I...!!!"
"Crack!"
"..."
Every time the opponent tried to speak, the spiritual whip would mercilessly lash down.
After a dozen or so lashes back and forth.
Qin Yu's spiritual energy was a destructive existence to any ghost, so the scene transformed into this:
A ball of black energy whimpered as it shrank into a corner, covered in whipping injuries. It looked with sheer terror at Qin Yu, who wielded the spiritual whip. Even without visible facial features, one could easily guess just how terrified it was right now.
"Why would anyone just start beating people without a word?!"
The black energy simply couldn't fathom it!