Chapter 124: Three Are Needed, None Can Be Spared 17

Shi Xianyu said expressionlessly, "The person who trapped you all here certainly has the audacity to do this."

"Are you suspecting me?" Lu Min looked over with a cold gaze. "My room with Yuxi is indeed right next to the fire escape, but Yuxi has been emotionally unstable. I have been in the room comforting her and haven't stepped out once. Besides, this is my first time at this school; I have no idea where the girls' dormitory is."

"It couldn't have been me either!" Wang Aiguo chimed in anxiously, pointing at the two boys he shared a room with. "We haven't left our room at all!"

The two boys nodded immediately. "That's right, we've been inside the whole time. There are ghosts everywhere—who would be suicidal enough to run outside?"

Zhou Bushan hurriedly said, "Everyone, don't be anxious. She was only suggesting a possibility; it doesn't mean the person who placed the comb is definitely among us."

The situation was already tense, but Xia Yu sneered and said in a low voice, "Why must it be a corner room? The rooms near the stairwell cannot be completely ruled out either. Those who went downstairs to use the restroom earlier had the opportunity to leave the comb in the bathroom."

"Xia Yu! What do you mean by that?! Do you think we killed Wan Qianqian?!" The two girls exploded in anger.

Shi Xianyu felt a splitting headache. She had said so much merely to divert the focus away from Xia Yu, yet Xia Yu seemed to have given up on self-preservation and was now attacking the others directly.

Shi Xianyu felt as if she had been thrown into an incredibly chaotic game of Werewolf. Finding the werewolf was already headache-inducing enough, but the civilians were busy casting random votes. The fundamental reason they were voting so recklessly was that they wanted to end the game as quickly as possible; as long as the votes didn't land on them, they didn't care about anything else.

Xia Yu continued to argue with the two girls, "What? You are allowed to smear me, but I'm not allowed to analyze the suspicious points about you? Have you or have you not gossiped behind Du Xiaoling’s back, calling her a plastic surgery monster? Speak up! Did you or didn't you?!"

She then pointed at Wang Aiguo and cursed, "How innocent can you be?! Do you remember Xie Ting? Young Master Wang's girlfriend! Back then, Du Xiaoling exposed her as a 'sugar-bitch,' forcing her to commit suicide on a livestream. Didn't you harbor a grudge as well? Who knows if you might have targeted Du Xiaoling because of that!"

Wang Aiguo’s face turned crimson, and he snapped angrily, "You—you’re full of crap! Everyone knows Du Xiaoling had her 'sisterhood' backing her. Even if I held a grudge, do you think I’d dare to do anything? What the hell could I do besides breaking up with her? If I hadn't broken up, I’d be mocked as a cuckold by people like you! What else could I have done?!"

"Enough! Stop arguing!!!" Zhou Bushan shouted.

But he couldn't control the situation. Wang Aiguo turned his anger toward him: "I say, aren't you from the Chang Le Palace? You took the money, so do your job! Why haven't you caught the ghost after all this time?! Why don't you think of a solution and get us out of here!"

Zhou Bushan felt like his head was about to burst; he was in agony.

Shi Xianyu, feeling distracted and annoyed, frowned and said, "How about we all go to the girls' dormitory together? Perhaps we can find new clues. Whoever brought the comb might have left some traces behind."

Wang Aiguo was shocked, his tone turning sharp: "What kind of crazy talk is that?! There are ghosts in the girls' dormitory! Didn't Xia Yu just say a senior student died there? The ghost that strangled Wan Qianqian might be right there in the dormitory! Why should we walk right into a trap?!"

"This won't work, that won't work—do you think arguing here will resolve anything?!" Shi Xianyu was also losing her patience.

"I say..." Zhou Bushan wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I say everyone, let's calm down. Why don't we go upstairs and rest? Once we've rested, we can discuss what to do together."

At this, everyone fell silent. They were mostly worried that if the argument continued, they would really be dragged to the girls' dormitory. After all, they couldn't survive without Zhou Bushan; if Shi Xianyu convinced him to go, they would have no choice but to follow.

Everyone went upstairs in silence. The mood was heavy and irritable, their emotions as sensitive as thin wires, where the slightest pressure from the outside could cause a massive reaction.

After returning to the third floor, Shi Xianyu spoke to Zhou Bushan in private.

"You previously said that ghosts have no consciousness. If that's true, why would Du Xiaoling’s vengeful spirit use mirrors and combs to lure outside entities to harm people? Only someone with reasoning and intelligence would do something like that!" Shi Xianyu was utterly bewildered. "But if the culprit isn't Du Xiaoling’s spirit, but an actual person holding a mirror and comb, aren't they afraid of being entangled by ghosts? Does this person have some kind of life-saving artifact?"

Zhou Bushan looked at her helplessly. "I can't figure out these questions either..."

Shi Xianyu pondered for a moment and asked, "Now that Wan Qianqian is dead, is it possible for her ghost to appear and harm others?"

"Why do you think those evil spirits harm people?" Zhou Bushan explained with a grim expression. "Because after a living person dies, their soul turns into a yin spirit. To some spirits with cultivation, these yin spirits are excellent nourishment. Wan Qianqian's soul has long been devoured by the evil spirits; how could she possibly have the chance to harm anyone?"

Shi Xianyu felt a chill in her heart. "...What kind of deep hatred would drive someone to such total destruction? I don't believe it's Du Xiaoling! I am now more worried that someone else has trapped everyone here—someone who hates Du Xiaoling and her sisterhood immensely! Before we arrived, this person enjoyed watching them suffer, even inducing them to play the spirit-calling game. Now that we are here, the mastermind is worried about complications and has started taking action."

Zhou Bushan’s headache worsened. "If your guess is correct, doesn't this person’s cultivation exceed mine? Otherwise, how could they ensure their own safety in this chaotic realm? Sigh, what can we do? What can we do..."

"Wait and see." Shi Xianyu's eyes turned cold. She whispered, "If this person's goal is truly to destroy the sisterhood, and now that Du Xiaoling and Wan Qianqian are dead, the next ones are Xia Yu and Bai Yuxi."

Not one of these four can be missing.

Shi Xianyu asked Zhou Bushan to keep a closer watch on the rooms of Xia Yu and Bai Yuxi. Regardless of any mistakes they might have made in the past, they shouldn't die here in vain.

Afterward, she went to the rooms of Xia Yu and Bai Yuxi respectively, giving each of them an amulet. Xia Yu was fine and accepted it without a word, but Bai Yuxi refused to take it, as if Shi Xianyu were trying to harm her. In the end, Lu Min stepped in to accept it on her behalf.

Whether it was her imagination or not, Shi Xianyu felt that Bai Yuxi’s mental state had deteriorated further. She used to be able to say a few words, but now she was almost silent, shrinking into her boyfriend's arms, either trembling with tears or muttering incoherent gibberish.

Because of this, Shi Xianyu found Lu Min highly suspicious, but given the current situation, she had no way to forcefully separate Bai Yuxi from him.