Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Medical Academy, Part Four

Inside the cold storage room, the mist was far denser than elsewhere, yet it carried an oddly solemn and grand atmosphere.

The yin energy here felt cold to the touch but not eerie.

Ming Yue sat on the floor, her leg limping. She had ruthlessly bitten a chunk of flesh from her wrist, and now it was bleeding profusely. The senior sister shook her head repeatedly, pulling out gauze to bandage her wound. "Junior sister, you’re too careless."

Ming Yue grinned sheepishly. "I was in a rush, a bit heavy-handed."

Yan Jun crouched down, handing her some Yunnan Baiyao, and said in a low voice, "Apply this."

Ming Yue thanked the class leader, smiling brightly. "So, class leader, you came with the seniors too?" As she spoke, she sprinkled some of the medicinal powder on her wrist wound, then lifted her pant leg to reveal a circle of strangulation marks on her left calf, glowing an alarming red and still emitting faint wisps of black energy—

The fourth-year students gasped in unison.

Guo Tianyang frowned. "Yin burn. Junior sister, are you feeling unwell?" The yin energy had taken form, manifesting as strangulation marks, and the black hue was truly unsettling.

Ming Yue shook her head like a pendulum. "I’m fine."

Yan Jun grabbed her arm sternly. "The senior is asking out of concern. No need to act tough."

Ming Yue waved her hand. "Thanks, class leader, but it’s really nothing. These are marks from a hanging rope."

Everyone else: "…"

Yan Jun: "What?"

Ming Yue spilled the beans, recounting how she had gone to the live experiment lab to catch rabbits and ended up encountering the Old Hanged Man’s entire family.

Her story left the rest of the cold storage room in silence.

Yan Jun: "…Rabbits?"

Guo Tianyang: "…Old Hanged Man’s family?"

The senior sister, shocked, asked, "Junior sister, with such heavy yin energy, you don’t feel uncomfortable?"

Ming Yue shook her head honestly. "It was a bit much at first, and I threw up, but I got used to it after."

Senior sister: "…"

Guo Tianyang and the others in his group exchanged incredulous looks.

This was the mortal world, the domain of the living.

Even if Fengling Academy students had yin-yang eyes, an ability beyond ordinary humans, their bodies merely served as vessels, holding a small amount of yin energy to unlock the rare yin-yang vision—

But one must remember: you’re still a living person. High concentrations of yin energy can harm the living in ways words can’t describe.

At best, it causes illness or shortens life; at worst, it sends you straight to the afterlife.

This junior sister… Guo Tianyang, the fourth-year class leader, sorted through his thoughts, feeling like his worldview had been shaken.

The senior sister whipped out a pen and paper from her bag, her eyes gleaming. "Junior sister, I’m Xu Miaomiao from the fourth-year Information Department. Could you please describe in detail how it felt to encounter a group of hanged ghosts in the ventilation duct?"

Ming Yue was startled by Xu Miaomiao’s sudden academic fervor, her scalp prickling. "Senior Miaomiao, what’s with you?"

Guo Tianyang pulled Ming Yue to her feet. "Ignore her. She’s gone crazy trying to come up with a thesis topic."

Xu Miaomiao grabbed Ming Yue’s hand, indignant. "What’s that, Guo Tianyang? You think my study on *Analysis of Ghost Slayer Self-Preservation Strategies in High-Density Yin Energy Environments* lacks substance?"

Guo Tianyang, ever diplomatic, said, "Of course not. I just suggest changing ‘Analysis’ to ‘Preliminary Analysis’ to seem less… overconfident."

Xu Miaomiao: "…"

You’re the overconfident one.

Afterward, Ming Yue quickly sent a message to Zhao Tianque and the others to reassure them. With her leg still limping, she couldn’t run back and forth in the corridors, so she simply tagged along with Guo Tianyang’s group.

The fourth-year seniors assigned tasks to thoroughly inspect the cold storage room. Yan Jun and Ming Yue were tasked with sprinkling visualization powder across the area to check if any spirits had been wandering around and to search for traces.

Ming Yue touched the smooth, non-sticky powder in her hand. "Class leader, are you alone?"

Yan Jun carefully avoided Ming Yue’s injured leg, tossing visualization powder onto the ground with a flick of his hand. "You mean coming out today to scout with the seniors?"

"Yeah, just me."

Ming Yue visibly deflated. "Oh," she replied glumly.

Yan Jun couldn’t help but laugh. "Sorry, Ming Yue, I didn’t drag Jun Weinan along."

"I’ll be sure to pass on your concern when I get back."

Ming Yue: "…"

Ming Yue glared at him. "Class leader, don’t you dare. He already finds me annoying."

Seeing the bloodstains on Ming Yue’s right wrist, Yan Jun helped her sprinkle the visualization powder, thinking to himself that Ming Yue’s yang energy was remarkably strong. In the cold, yin-heavy morgue, the area around her felt warm. "Liking someone isn’t something to be ashamed of. Besides, everyone in our grade knows you like him, so what’s there to hide?"

Blushing from the comment, Ming Yue protested, "What’s this about liking or not liking? That’s shallow!"

"It’s admiration."

Yan Jun smiled, letting the topic drop but adding, "Even if it’s an open secret, the person involved should know, right? All I can say is, Old Jun probably hasn’t taken a liking to anyone yet."

"Ming Yue, keep at it."

After sprinkling the visualization powder, the scene was shocking. The floor was covered in eerie green footprints, with a few red human footprints standing out starkly in the middle, like a stock market opening in a sea of red.

The fourth-years looked at the footprints with grave expressions.

Xu Miaomiao took out sampling paper, pressing it onto a few footprints for closer inspection. "They’re all human footprints."

Guo Tianyang: "…"

Guo Tianyang teased, "Want to add that they’re all *Homo sapiens* footprints?"

Xu Miaomiao rolled her eyes, her expression sour. Ming Yue quickly stepped in to defuse the situation. "I ran into a rabbit ghost earlier. Maybe that’s what the senior sister meant."

With the junior sister speaking up, the two senior titans stopped bickering. Xu Miaomiao grabbed a brush, dipping it in visualization powder to collect more traces, while Guo Tianyang pondered the next steps—

Before Ming Yue arrived, the group had already scanned the entire room with their yin-yang eyes. The concrete structure and deep beneath the floor showed no signs of spirits. The room was filled with dense cold and yin energy, but the source of it was nowhere to be found—

At that moment, Ming Yue, limping, began sticking qi-storage talismans onto the cold storage cabinets. These were leftovers from the ones she’d made in the concrete duct earlier.

As soon as a talisman touched the metal surface, a *hiss* sounded, and a faint yellow mist rose.

Everyone looked up. Guo Tianyang asked, "Junior sister, what’s this?"

Ming Yue handed him one. "It’s a qi-storage talisman, senior."

"I made it myself. It’s got strong yang energy. Evil spirits’ yin energy can’t get past it. Stick it on the cabinet doors, and even if the ‘seniors’ inside want to take a stroll, they’ll only be able to roll over in their beds."

Guo Tianyang: "…"

How come I’ve never seen a qi-storage talisman work like this?

Aren’t qi-storage talismans usually just infused with a bit of yang energy from a living person’s spit?

Xu Miaomiao’s eyes lit up again. "Junior sister Ming Yue, you’re truly a treasure of our Fengling Academy."

"A weapon for defeating enemies."

Yan Jun pulled Ming Yue back, smiling. "Senior sister, you’re too kind. We’re all from the same academy; of course, we help each other."

Xu Miaomiao gave him a cold look. "Yan Jun, you’re such a buzzkill."

"I’m just gathering material for my thesis." With that, she turned and walked away.

Yan Jun: "…"

Guo Tianyang shrugged at Yan Jun.

In the end, the group compiled Ming Yue’s oral report of the Medical Academy incident and agreed to return that night to investigate further. As they were about to leave, Guo Tianyang suddenly turned back and asked, "Junior sister Ming Yue, did you straighten the mirror in the Medical Academy’s main hall?"

Ming Yue, leaning on a cold storage cabinet to stand, didn’t answer directly but asked, "Why do you ask, senior?"

Guo Tianyang shrugged. "No reason. We found fingerprints on that mirror, left-handed ones. Just now—" he pointed at Ming Yue’s left hand, "I noticed you were using your left hand to stick the talismans."

The room fell silent, all eyes on Ming Yue. Xu Miaomiao’s eyes started gleaming again.

Ming Yue smiled and nodded. "It was me."

"But I’m not left-handed, senior. I’m ambidextrous."

Guo Tianyang gave her a meaningful look. "Did you look in the mirror?"

Ming Yue nodded again. "I did."

Guo Tianyang pressed further. "Did you see anything?" The mirror in the Medical Academy’s main hall was no ordinary dressing mirror.

Ming Yue pointed at herself. "A really ugly version of me."

Guo Tianyang: "…"

The fourth-years: "…"

In an instant, they all recalled the times they’d been confronted by their hideous reflections in that mirror.

Seeing the seniors’ strange expressions, Ming Yue burst out laughing. "Just kidding! The mirror in the Medical Academy is brimming with yang energy. We Fengling students have yin-yang eyes and carry yin energy, so we’d naturally look ugly in it."

"But I didn’t see any other old ghosts or new spirits. I just heard a lot of strange voices."

Before Guo Tianyang could speak, Xu Miaomiao had already pulled out her notebook to start jotting down notes. "What did you hear?"

>>>>>>>>>

Leaving the Medical Academy, the two first-years parted ways with the seniors at a fork in the road. Ming Yue planned to head to the cafeteria for food but was stopped by Yan Jun. "Where are you going?"

Ming Yue blinked. "To eat. It’s almost two o’clock."

Yan Jun stared at her. Ming Yue wiped her face. "Did I break out in pimples?"

Yan Jun: "…"

Yan Jun sighed, exasperated. "You realize it’s almost two, right?"

"There’s a written exam for Cursive Script this afternoon. You remember that, don’t you?"

Ming Yue: "…"

Ming Yue stomped her foot, only to wince from her leg injury. "I forgot!" She tried to drag Yan Jun toward the teaching building.

Yan Jun, thoroughly done, stopped her and pulled a piece of bread from his bag, breaking off half for Ming Yue. "Here. Check your phone. The counselor sent new exam info."

Ming Yue took the bread gratefully. "You’re the best, boss."

Yan Jun looked at the half of his lunch that remained. "It’s a class leader’s job to look out for classmates."

Ming Yue buried her head in her phone, thinking to herself that Yan Jun never stepped in when she was being mocked in class. Then she saw the new message: the written exam’s location had changed too.

"What? The written exam’s location changed?" She nearly dropped her bread in shock.

Yan Jun handed her a box of milk and nodded.

"With the courtyard formation removed, the surrounding areas we used to protect have been plagued by evil spirits. Something happened at the Tianjingxuan complex across the river. This morning, Professor Wang took some graduate seniors to help out—so Li Xianzhou simply set our written exam at the site, having us support the seniors by drawing talismans."

Ming Yue was dumbfounded. "What, with our grade-18’s trash talisman-drawing speed?"

As if she weren’t part of grade 18 herself.

Yan Jun glanced at her. "So it’s about who can draw well and fast."