Chapter 29: The Campus Legend from Twenty Years Ago

Li Xuan’s first class at Nalan Mud Middle School concluded perfectly. The four students sat bolt upright, eyes fixed forward, as if they embodied all the virtues of Hong Kong’s finest pupils. Fang Xiaoyi had stopped by to observe during the lesson, and the boys' conduct left her genuinely surprised, leading her to hold this young teacher in higher regard.

As the morning session drew to a close, the final bell rang. The school building began to flood with female students in skirts, the air thick with the vitality of youth. Gao Hanqiang stood on the balcony, peering down, his heart nearly taking flight along with the lively chatter of the girls.

"What, fancy one of them?" Charlie walked over, slinging an arm around Gao’s neck with a laugh. "It’s after school hours; even Teacher Li can’t control us now. It’s fine. Go down, have a chat, start by making friends."

Gao Hanqiang smiled but remained silent. His gaze settled on a girl walking briskly with a stack of books, her attire modest, and he felt she possessed a certain intellectual charm.

Liu Zhuobin approached, his face long and miserable. "Stop talking, you guys. Teacher Li said to meet him at the small restaurant outside school after class—don't forget! And take it easy; I suspect he used to be a hoodlum. What kind of teacher carries a bunch of sharp daggers on him?"

As soon as he said this, the four boys' desire to admire the female students plummeted to freezing point. They slouched out of the building and headed toward the restaurant designated by Li Xuan.

Nalan Mud Middle School had a cafeteria, but the food was mediocre, so many students preferred the various eateries near the school gate. One restaurant with a yellow sign read "Lanzhou Hand-Pulled Noodles." It was said the owner was from the mainland; while the noodles were average, his knife skills were superb. A thick slab of beef would be sliced into translucent pieces with a flash of steel. Many students praised the beef for melting in their mouths.

Li Xuan sat in a private booth, having already ordered. Seeing Gao and the others arrive, he smiled. "Authentic cuisine from the northwest of the mainland. Eat your fill—the noodles are bottomless."

Gao Hanqiang forced a smile and thanked him. "Teacher, you said you wanted to talk to us about the school rules outside of campus. Please, go ahead."

Li Xuan listened to their soft, hesitant voices and felt a sense of relief. These four were children, after all. A bit rebellious, perhaps, but a little scare was all it took to make them act normally, right? As a practitioner of the Tao, one could not stand by and watch people die, yet he did not wish to be a pushover after the lesson he had learned from Li Ruonan. His plan was simple: as long as they weren't truly wicked, everyone deserved a chance at redemption. If they insisted on courting death, then there was nothing to be done.

If these four boys ignored his advice and broke the rules, he would simply have to respect their fate. He would let them go in peace... and then find an opportunity to avenge them.

Li Xuan coughed twice. His own mindset was failing him; he was already planning their revenge before they were even dead. He placed an aged newspaper on the table, motioning for Gao Hanqiang to read it first, then pass it on.

It was a twenty-year-old paper reporting on a massive fire at the Nalan Mud school building. During the night, only a dean named Ruan Shiyin had been trapped in the school administration office. The principal and his wife had also been caught in the blaze; while the principal recovered, his wife had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, leaving her in a vegetative state.

Gao Hanqiang, the most handsome and sharp-witted of the four, asked, "Teacher, is there some hidden meaning behind showing us this?"

Li Xuan dropped his right hand into his pocket, his thumb tracing the cold surface of the "Fengdu Treasure Seal." "Because there are ghosts in this school."

The seven words struck like a thunderclap, leaving the four boys stunned. Gao Hanqiang managed a forced smile. "Teacher, quit joking."

Li Xuan remained expressionless. "Twenty years ago, Dean Ruan Shiyin perished in that fire. Her body was never found. A few days later, Principal He Jintai hanged himself from a tree on the hill behind the school. Soon after, supernatural events began. People claimed to hear the dean's voice over the school speakers at night, and every student whose name she called went missing."

Gao Hanqiang felt a chill run down his spine. "That’s just a campus urban legend, right? The kind that spreads to scare students..."

Li Xuan chuckled. "Gao Hanqiang, have you ever seen a black shadow on the wall outside the school auditorium?"

A memory surfaced in Gao’s mind: when he first arrived two days ago, he had seen a janitor scrubbing a wall vigorously. There was indeed a black silhouette on it, and below it, an incense burner with a stick of incense and some fruit offerings. He nodded honestly. "Yes."

"That wall has a function," Li Xuan said. "Whenever someone is killed by a spirit, their shadow appears on that wall."

The booth had no air conditioning, yet everyone felt a cold draft on their necks. Liu Zhuobin asked, "And what does that have to do with the school rules?"

Li Xuan took a pair of disposable chopsticks from a bamboo holder and tore open the packaging. "The source of the haunting is the former dean, Ruan Shiyin. It is said she turned into a vengeful spirit after the fire and remains in the burned-out administration office, monitoring every move the students make. Anyone who breaks the school rules is dragged into the office at night."

"The current principal and some staff are aware of this. The rules Teacher Fang recited at the assembly are the seven points most likely to attract these spirits. She is strict with you—even segregating you in a separate classroom—precisely because she is afraid you will lose your lives by breaking those rules."

"I risked my life to tell you this outside of school, away from Ruan Shiyin's gaze, in a final attempt to save you."

The sudden intrusion of the supernatural into reality was mind-boggling. The four boys looked at each other, none daring to speak. Finally, Di Zhiheng rubbed his stiff cheeks and forced a laugh. "Teacher, I know you mean well, but there’s no need to make up ghost stories to scare us."

"Oh?" Li Xuan let out a meaningful sound, staring fixedly at Di Zhiheng.

If he remembered correctly, this fellow was the first of the four to die. He would break the rule about being in the dormitory by eleven o'clock to chat with a girl and drink beer, only to be dragged into the administration office from the restroom and become a new shadow on that white wall.

Under Li Xuan's gaze, Di Zhiheng grew uneasy, his voice faltering. "Teacher, just... just say what you have to say."