Before class ended, they had their routine assembly.

The PE teacher let them go two minutes early so they could get to the cafeteria for a hot meal.

Ji Tong was walking toward the cafeteria when Gan Ting rushed up from behind and threw an arm around her shoulder. The huge impact nearly made her lose her footing and stumble forward.

Gan Ting pulled her back upright. “What’s the situation? I heard them saying you and that Li Qu from Class 9 have something going on?”

Ji Tong hurriedly explained, “Don’t listen to their nonsense.”

“You even gave him water.” Gan Ting grinned slyly and shook her shoulders back and forth. “Come clean—do you like him?”

Ji Tong removed the arm around her neck. “No.” She quickly changed the subject. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

“He went out to eat with friends from No. 3 Middle School.” Gan Ting hugged her again. “Don’t change the subject. Look how red your ears are.” She deliberately sighed. “Tell me what’s going on. I’m your deskmate after all—no loyalty! I tell you everything.”

Gan Ting was chattering away when she heard someone approaching from behind calling “Ji Tong.”

It was Li Qu.

“Well if it isn’t Li Qu.” Gan Ting pushed Ji Tong toward him. “Let’s eat together.”

Li Qu didn’t answer her but said to Ji Tong, “It’s going to rain. Go to the classroom and get an umbrella.”

It was bright and sunny—what rain?

“No way, the weather forecast said it would be sunny for the next few days, and look how blazing the sun is.” Gan Ting looked up at the clear blue sky, squinting.

“Those forecasts are sometimes wrong.”

Gan Ting looked down at him, half-believing. “Really?”

Li Qu said he wouldn’t eat anymore, but Gan Ting couldn’t let him go. She used every trick in the book to persuade him to join them.

Li Qu didn’t refuse again.

Before they reached the cafeteria, the dismissal bell rang, and thousands of students poured out of the teaching building, getting in line ahead of them.

The few of them stood in the middle of the queue.

Ji Tong kept her head down. Li Qu stood behind her—he couldn’t see her expression or know what she was thinking.

He really wanted to spend more time with her, to talk with her more—for a day, a night, a lifetime.

But possessing humans at will violated underworld law. As a patrol envoy, he should lead by example. If he himself ignored the law, how could he command respect from others?

What he was doing now already violated regulations. By rights, he should go to hell for punishment. If this had been decades ago, he definitely wouldn’t have cared about these things—what hell, what punishment, what bureaus, what laws. He only sought satisfaction and pleasure.

The cafeteria was packed with people. Students waiting in the back grew anxious, wishing they could leap over everyone and fly directly to the service window.

A male student pushed forward, trying to cut in line among acquaintances. He accidentally bumped into Ji Tong and was about to apologize when Li Qu struck out with his palm, pushing him so hard he nearly fell.

The male student clutched his chest, steadied himself, took two seconds to react, then cursed, “Are you sick?”

Ji Tong also thought he seemed a bit sick.

His temper was too explosive.

Gan Ting was more worldly and quickly tried to smooth things over, apologizing twice, but Li Qu pulled her behind him.

Looking like he was asking for a beating, he coldly said to the male student, “Get to the back.”

“Who the fuck are you telling to get lost!”

The other guy wasn’t someone to mess with either, and he had two companions with him.

Gan Ting felt helpless. This Li Qu didn’t even know to count heads before picking a fight.

Fortunately, they didn’t come to blows. A supervising administrator walked over.

Everyone had to swallow their anger and disperse.

Ji Tong pulled him aside. “Don’t be impulsive. It’s not a big deal.”

Li Qu obediently nodded. “Okay.”

Ji Tong treated Li Qu to lunch to thank him for his help.

Li Qu sat upright in front of them, hands on his legs, looking like an old cadre.

Gan Ting looked at his strange behavior. “Why are you sitting so stiffly?”

Hearing this, Li Qu relaxed his back a bit.

Seeing that he wasn’t using his chopsticks, Ji Tong asked, “Why aren’t you eating?”

He looked at the food. “I’m not hungry.”

Gan Ting’s gaze moved between the two of them. So awkward! It made her anxious watching. “You already bought it, don’t waste it!”

Ji Tong thought he didn’t like it, but when she’d asked what he wanted to eat while buying food, he hadn’t said a word. “Should I get something else?”

“No need. No need.” Li Qu picked up his chopsticks and held them in his hand.

Gan Ting looked at him and laughed. “Is that how you hold chopsticks?”

He hadn’t held these things in decades. He wouldn’t forget how, of course, but they felt somewhat unfamiliar.

He picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth. The taste was a bit strange, different from back then.

But it was delicious.

Li Qu smiled a little.

Ji Tong looked at him and asked, “What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing. It’s good.”

Gan Ting suppressed her laughter. These two awkward people together were incredible!

So funny!

…

After eating.

They each returned to their classes.

Halfway there, it started raining.

Gan Ting was surprised. “It really is raining! Weather forecasts really are unreliable.”

The rain wasn’t heavy, so they jogged back to their classrooms.

He Feng remembered his seat, sat down, and lay on the desk before emerging from his body. Li Qu woke up dizzy and disoriented, with chest pain and somewhat scrambled memories.

He stood up, nearly falling over, and walked out supporting himself on the desk.

A classmate saw him walking unsteadily. “What’s wrong with you? Where are you going?”

“To eat.”

“Didn’t you just come back?”

Li Qu didn’t seem to hear, waved his hand, and walked out of the classroom.

…

Ji Tong lay on her desk for a nap.

She slept until afternoon classes started, when Gan Ting woke her up.

She had another dream, about a young man leading a white wolf. He was very tall with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

But in the dream, she could never see the young man’s face clearly.

Ji Tong wrote two characters in her notebook, then stared at them in a daze before suddenly asking Gan Ting, “Who is A’Zhi?”

“What zhi? Are you sleepwalking?”

Ji Tong tapped her head and stopped thinking about it.

…

After evening self-study ended, Ji Tong walked out of the school gate alone.

Before she’d gone far, she was dragged and pulled into an abandoned small courtyard.

Tall weeds grew everywhere, and huge spider webs stretched between walls and trees, decorated with several shriveled insect corpses.

Two flashlights sat on a broken cabinet by the wall, their beams shining directly on Li Qu, who knelt in the center of the courtyard.

He kept his head down—just his silhouette alone made people feel depressed.

There were four or five people in the courtyard, maybe five or six, led by Zhang Xinrui.

He shouldn’t have been implicated in this. It was all because he helped her. Ji Tong felt terribly guilty. “Let him go.”

Zhang Xinrui squatted on a pile of broken bricks, holding a cigarette and smoking casually. She smiled at Ji Tong. “I won’t let him go. What can you do about it?” Zhang Xinrui jumped down and walked up to Li Qu, grabbing his short hair and forcing his face up. “Look, big hero, your little beauty is here.”

The flashlight illuminated his face. Li Qu had blood at the corner of his eye and couldn’t open his eyes against the glare.

Zhang Xinrui looked at Ji Tong again. “Come over here.”

Ji Tong was pushed in front of him by Yellow Hair. She couldn’t break free and was forced down to the ground.

Zhang Xinrui patted Li Qu’s face. “Say something. Are you mute? I don’t remember hitting your mouth.”

Li Qu was forced to glance at Ji Tong. “I don’t know her.” He suddenly pouted, tears falling, his voice trembling as he said, “Please let me go.”

Ji Tong was stunned.

…

He Feng went to a meeting in the west of the city that lasted all evening.

When the meeting ended, he calculated that Ji Tong should already be home.

He went directly to her house but didn’t see anyone.

He Feng waited at the stairway for a while. At eleven o’clock, she still hadn’t returned. Afraid something had happened to her on the road, he searched along the route to and from school.

The school had long been empty.

He Feng went around the classroom but still didn’t see anyone. He went out and randomly grabbed a ghost to question. The ghost was terrified and stammered back, “Don’t know… didn’t see anything.”

After questioning several ghosts, there was still no news.

Now He Feng was anxious.

…

Li Qu really couldn’t take a beating. These people hadn’t hit him too hard—just a few kicks and punches—but he was already lying on the ground unable to get up. They hadn’t roughed up Ji Tong either. Today they mainly came for Li Qu; grabbing Ji Tong was just to let her see what a coward he was.

Ji Tong was a quiet person who rarely made noise. Usually speaking a bit louder was already extraordinary for her. But seeing them humiliate Li Qu like this, she was desperate and kept pleading.

Zhang Xinrui found it annoying and tore off a piece of tape to seal her mouth.

The muffled sounds were like a seed trying to break through soil, stomped deeper into the mud.

Yellow Hair held Ji Tong down while shouting and laughing as he gestured to Red Hair. His grip inadvertently loosened, and Ji Tong seized the opportunity to break free, tore the tape from her mouth, and threw herself toward Li Qu. Though her strength was weak, she still wanted to protect him.

But before she could reach him, she was twisted aside like a little chick.

“What are you rushing for? Looking for death?”

Ji Tong didn’t steady herself and fell sitting on the ground. Suddenly she screamed hysterically, “Come at me instead!”

He Feng stood on the rooftop, sensed her, and whipped around. His speed was so fast that before Ji Tong’s echo had faded, he appeared in the sky above.

Instantly, fierce winds arose in the courtyard. Spider webs were torn apart, leaves were ripped from branches, flying everywhere.

A cloud of fine dust blinded them. Zhang Xinrui rubbed her eyes and cursed, “Damn, where’s this ghost wind coming from?”

She had cursed correctly.

Ghost wind indeed.

As everyone raised their sleeves to shield their faces, Li Qu rose amid the chaotic wind and leaves, his eyes filled with murderous intent, ready to tear everyone apart with his gaze.

Seeing him get up, Yellow Hair cursed and moved to kick his knee. Li Qu nimbly dodged sideways, and in the next second grabbed his shoulder, flipped him over, and punched him three or four meters away.

He rotated his wrist, very displeased.

This broken body had no strength at all.

Everyone was shocked. They felt Li Qu had become a different person—whether in bearing, expression, or every movement.

Ji Tong sat on the ground, staring up at him in a daze.

She saw Li Qu’s every attack was precise, accurate, and ruthless. In less than half a minute, several male students were lying on the ground unable to get up.

Zhang Xinrui was scared. The cigarette in her hand fell to the ground.

Li Qu walked straight toward her. Zhang Xinrui kept backing away, panicking so much her lips and tongue tangled. “You… what are you doing… what do you want… if you dare touch me I I I won’t let you off! Don’t come over.” Feeling uncertain, she turned to run, but Li Qu grabbed her hair and forcibly yanked her back.

“Let go! You bastard!”

Li Qu dragged her, leaving a winding trail on the ground. He walked to a broken chair, kicked it to pieces with one foot, and picked up a chair leg from the debris.

“Li Qu—”

“Li Qu——” Ji Tong panicked. Seeing Li Qu grip the chair leg and raise his hand to stab it down at Zhang Xinrui, she stumbled over bricks and debris and threw herself at him, hugging his waist.

“Don’t!”

The chair leg stopped in front of Zhang Xinrui’s forehead. She was so scared her body went rigid, her soul nearly leaving her.

Li Qu instantly calmed down, straightened up, and threw away what was in his hand.

Seeing him stop, Ji Tong let go and stepped back.

Li Qu turned around and saw her face was deathly pale. “I frightened you.”

Zhang Xinrui’s accomplices were also scared silly. They thought this four-eyes had gone crazy. They dragged and carried Zhang Xinrui as they fled.

“They left.”

“Should I go chase them?”

“You almost… killing someone is illegal. It’s not worth it.”

“I’m sorry.” Li Qu frowned and wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes. “I didn’t expect they would come after you again. I didn’t handle it properly. Don’t worry—there won’t be a next time.”

Ji Tong said nothing.

“Let me walk you home.”

Those people had fled in such haste they forgot their flashlights. One beam of light cut across the night, falling at his feet.

Ji Tong suddenly asked, “Are you alright?”

Li Qu wiped the mud from the corner of his mouth. “I’m fine.”

Ji Tong stared straight into his eyes. “You’ve been acting strange today.”

Li Qu looked back at her for a moment, then looked away and picked up the flashlight from the ground. “It’s late. Let’s go home.”

He turned around and shone the light ahead.

“Wait.”

Li Qu turned back to look at her.

Ji Tong pulled a book from her backpack. “Your book.”

Li Qu reached out to take it.

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.”

Ji Tong was extremely sensitive to this kind of thing. No matter how changeable a person might be, they wouldn’t transform so drastically in such a short time. She had deliberately given him her own book to test him, and unexpectedly she had guessed correctly.

“This isn’t your book at all.

Who are you? Why are you possessing his body?”

…