Chapter 135: Three Missing One, None Can Be Spared 28

"Do you really think we would fall for that?" Wang Aiguo said, his voice brimming with righteous indignation. "Don't think you can deceive us into trusting you just by saying these things. The ritual will not be interrupted!"

"I am not deceiving you," Lu Min said calmly. "Any one of you can go and take a look, and you will see that everything I said is true."

"Are you trying to create a diversion? Are you trying to lure us away?" Wang Aiguo demanded, his tone overbearing. "I advise you to give up; we won't be fooled!"

Wang Aiguo had been holding back for too long, and now that Lu Min had confessed without being pressed, he couldn't help but vent his frustrations: "I thought you were suspicious from the start! We are all students from Yaoming High School; you are the only one who isn't! How dare you say you have nothing to do with this?! You killed our classmates, and now you want to kill Bai Yuxi—you're not even human!!!"

Shi Xianyu: "............"

Zhou Bushan was still chanting. Once the ritual began, it could not be stopped, or all previous efforts would be in vain.

Shi Xianyu asked Lu Min, "What deep-seated grudge do you have against the sisterhood, and why would you treat them this way?"

Lu Min was silent for a moment, then replied, "They did have a grudge against me. If it weren't for them, my younger sister wouldn't have died."

"Your sister?" Shi Xianyu asked suspiciously. "Who is she?"

Lu Min said, "My sister's name was Xie Ting. Because the sisterhood called her a 'sugar-coated bitch,' she was ostracized by the whole school. Everyone bullied her, and even when she livestreamed her suicide, people mocked her! The sisterhood put a label on her, so I decided to put a label on them, too. I wanted them to experience what it feels like to be labeled!"

Wang Aiguo was stunned. "I never heard Xie Ting say she had a brother..."

"We aren't blood-related, but we grew up together," Lu Min said. "She was the most precious person in this world to me."

"Damn it!..." Wang Aiguo felt as if he had been cuckolded. "Was she your lover?"

Lu Min’s face darkened, and he said slowly, "My sister died with her eyes wide open. I would never let those who hurt her go. Bai Yuxi has the backing of the Bai family, so I didn't dare act rashly. To my surprise, a god-sent opportunity arose: Bai Yu arrived at the hospital where I was interning. I made an excuse to get close to her, then used the pretext of helping with her treatment to convince her to hold a class reunion..."

He looked at the students crowding outside the door and let out a cold laugh. "I didn't expect you all to find out. It seems I’ll have to keep Bai Yuxi alive for now. But so what if you discovered me? Wan Qianqian and Xia Yu were both killed by ghosts—what does that have to do with me? Even if you send me to the police station, you won't be able to pin a crime on me."

Everyone's expressions turned grim.

Shi Xianyu frowned and asked him, "What about the mirror and the comb? You aren't from Yaoming High School; how did you know how to use the ghosts in the school to attack people?"

"My sister told me in my dreams," Lu Min replied. "You can’t catch her; her ghost has long since hidden away."

"If we hadn't discovered you, what was your next plan? Were you going to lure more ghosts?" Shi Xianyu asked again.

Lu Min said coldly, "I was going to get alone with Bai Yuxi, and when all of you were away, I would strangle her, throw her out the window, and claim that a ghost had come."

"Do you think we're stupid!" Wang Aiguo roared angrily.

Lu Min glanced at him, curled his lips in disdain, and said nothing.

This silence made Wang Aiguo feel inexplicably and profoundly insulted!

Before he could lash out, Zhou Bushan, who had been chanting, suddenly stopped. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned to everyone, and said, "Alright, it is finished."

Wang Aiguo: "???"

Shi Xianyu was also stunned. "Finished?"

"Yes," Zhou Bushan nodded. "After finishing the forty-nine recitations, there has been no reaction at all. He should be 'clean.'"

Zhou Bushan made a move to untie Lu Min.

Wang Aiguo jumped up. "Daoist, stop! Stop!!!"

Zhou Bushan paused, looking at Wang Aiguo in confusion. "There is no ghost on him."

"Even if there's no ghost, you can't untie him!" Wang Aiguo pointed at Lu Min and cursed. "He just said he wanted to strangle Bai Yuxi! Even if he isn't a ghost, we can't just let him go!"

The students behind also chimed in: "That's right! Don't let him go!"

"This guy is too evil. Who knows what he might do if we untie him!"

"He intentionally placed the mirror and the comb to lure ghosts from outside to harm people. What if he does it again?"

"Exactly! Don't let him go. We should keep him tied up and let him taste the feeling of being hunted by ghosts himself!"

"Right! We can't let him off!..."

The group chattered endlessly, each of them wishing to execute Lu Min on the spot. Zhou Bushan was caught in a dilemma; he was just a ghost-catching Taoist—how could he deal with a living human? That went against the teachings of his sect.

Shi Xianyu stared at Lu Min suspiciously. This guy was too cunning; she couldn't bring herself to believe anything he said, no matter how reasonable it sounded.

Lu Min seemed to have given up on pretending, leaning back in his chair with a sneer: "I advise you all to go find the signature book quickly. I hid it in several places in the flower beds downstairs. I was in a hurry and can't remember exactly which bed I buried it in. If you can't find it... heh, then you can just stay here and waste your time with me."

Everyone was desperate to leave this place. Hearing Lu Min's words, they all looked at Zhou Bushan anxiously.

"Daoist, let's go downstairs and find the book immediately!"

"What about him?..."

"What about him? He's already tied up; he can't escape."

"That's hard to say. He must know some evil sorcery, otherwise, how did he summon those ghosts?"

"Leave two people to watch him, and everyone else goes downstairs to find the book!"

"Let's go, let's go, find the book!"

Seeing this, Zhou Bushan said, "In that case... then, let's go downstairs and find the book. As long as we break the blood curse on the signature book, we should be able to get you out."

Everyone scrambled downstairs in a hurry; no one wanted to stay behind to accompany this man—or ghost—Lu Min.

Shi Xianyu lingered at the back. As she surveyed the surroundings, she suddenly realized something was wrong and shouted, "Where is Bai Yuxi? Where is Bai Yuxi?!"

Those heading downstairs heard her and stopped, looking at each other in confusion.

"Where is Bai Yuxi?"

"She was just here, where did she go?!"

"Has anyone seen Bai Yuxi?!"

Everyone looked bewildered.

Shi Xianyu's heart skipped a beat. She immediately turned back and questioned the bound Lu Min: "What kind of trick are you pulling now?! Tell me! Where did Bai Yuxi go?!"

Lu Min looked at her with mockery. "Bai Yuxi is a living person; of course she goes where she wants to go. What does that have to do with me? I've been tied up by you the whole time."

Shi Xianyu knew she wouldn't get the truth from him, so she gave up hope and bolted out of the room, shouting, "Forget the book! Everyone, go find Bai Yuxi! You must find her!"

Everyone was confused. They looked out of the nearby windows—in such a short time, where could Bai Yuxi have gone?

"Found her! Bai Yuxi is on the teaching building!"

Shi Xianyu ran to the window and saw Bai Yuxi climbing onto the ledge of the fourth floor of the building opposite the cafeteria, ready to jump!