"Stop looking at me...
"Pay attention to the lesson."
Pinned beneath the focus of hundreds of hollow eye sockets, the center of all this attention, Bai Zhou hesitated, but ultimately swallowed the words back down.
The stone plinth in front of the iron gates bore several flamboyant characters: "Tinghai City Yuanmeng Middle School." Beneath them were inscribed the date of its founding and a lengthy institutional history.
His gaze swept swiftly across the athletic field. On the students' blue-and-white school uniforms, Bai Zhou spotted the exact same lettering.
Confirmed—it really was the same uniform as the one in Fang Xiaoxia's graduation photo.
Before Bai Zhou could ponder any further, the students' mouths all opened into identical O's:
"You..."
"You're late!"
Following that tsunami-like roar—
A synchronized thud of marching footsteps sounded.
As though on military drill, hundreds of faceless students formed into square phalanxes and goose-stepped in an intensely bizarre gait toward Bai Zhou outside the iron gates.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
The footsteps boomed loud enough to shake the heavens, every stride landing like a heavy stomp directly upon one's heart.
Seeing that these students were about to scale the perimeter walls and iron gates to come out, Bai Zhou wheeled around and bolted.
"Using me as an excuse to play truant, are you?!"
He cursed under his breath. "Doesn't your teacher do anything about this?"
What kind of discipline was this? Far worse than the Youth Training Corps back in Wancheng!
Yet it would have been better if Bai Zhou hadn't spoken.
The moment he mentioned a teacher, a muffled grunt came from within the phalanx.
"Where did this beast come from, disrupting the students' studies!"
The phalanx parted, and a man appeared wearing a striped polo shirt, a leather belt, and shorts paired with gray socks and sandals.
He was balding on top and equally faceless, yet possessed a pair of large rectangular spectacles that looked glued onto his eye sockets.
Raising a hand, he pushed up his glasses. The black, pupilless sockets fixed upon Bai Zhou—who was fleeing into the distance—casting a silent death glare.
"Disrupting educational order!"
"Impacting our class's key high school admission rate..."
"How will you take responsibility for this?!"
The next moment—
He pulled out a section of pointer and whipped it through the air.
The pointer swayed once in the air, then transformed into a streak of golden light that shot straight toward the black cat.
*Not good!*
The black cat's fur stood on end as a shudder of pure dread crept into his heart.
*Ding-a-ling—*
A gust of wind blew past, as though ringing a wind chime.
The phantom image of nine tails appeared behind the galloping black cat.
Drawing a speck of spirituality from the Adventurer token, Bai Zhou used it to ring the final bell.
—In the battle against Van Gogh, Bai Zhou had unleashed [Night Travel] once, consuming one bell.
—He had also unleashed [Life Theft] once, consuming seven bells.
Eight bells in total.
There remained one last bell not on cooldown.
As Bai Zhou's greatest trump card after his injuries, it was put to use right now, at the perfect moment.
*Buzz...*
The black cat's figure melted into the night, vanishing from where it stood.
[Night Travel] activated.
As though bounding across countless tiers of folded staircases, with flaking phantom illusions flashing past on both sides, the black cat's form touched down a hundred meters away.
At that exact instant, where Bai Zhou had been standing a moment before, a crisp crack echoed—
The golden light struck nothing but empty air.
Then the pointer spun through the air and looped back into the homeroom teacher's hand.
"Strange cat..."
He slowly raised a hand to adjust his glasses, revealing an inexpensive, old-fashioned wristwatch. On his faceless visage, not a single emotion could be read.
"Continue!"
With a sweep of his broad hand, as grand as a spirited general, he commanded:
"Hundred-Day Oath!"
And so the students in their blue-and-white school uniforms trudged dully back, assembling once more.
Thick fog welled up, shrouding the athletic field behind the iron gates once again.
Everything blurred.
Only the resounding chants of the oath drifted out in unison—
"I will enter a key high school!"
"I will enter a key high school!"
"..."
The swell of sound surged outward, giving the stationery shop's already-crooked signboard next door a shudder.
—It seemed to tilt a bit further.
...
Sprinting hard, Bai Zhou left the hazy silhouette of the school far behind.
Surviving the crisis left his heart pounding violently.
Unleashing a secret art once more, even though the spirituality had been drawn from the token, added further insult to injury for his already riddled body.
It was like a consumptive who had slept overnight in the freezing snow, suddenly discovering that he was no longer coughing—feeling only flashes of fever and chills, pain and daze.
It wasn't that the illness was gone; it was just that he was dying.
—That was roughly what it felt like.
Any Extraordinary who saw such a ruined body would shake their head and wring their hands, asking how on earth he had wrecked himself like this, and whether he truly didn't care about having a future anymore.
If this body were still compared to parched earth, then not a single drop of spirituality could be squeezed out of it anymore.
...Fortunately, he had already obtained the "Tears of the Moon Goddess."
His "future" was in his hands.
Otherwise, he really would have felt the panic of being powerless to turn things around, staring down a hopeless future.
Only because of this did the cautious Bai Zhou dare to expend that final trump card, kept held in reserve, on the eve of curing his injuries.
It ached a little to spend it, but fortunately it was still acceptable.
That school...
Was it an anomaly as well?
Even among anomalies, its existence was remarkable, far stronger than the likes of the dumpster or the Paul Frank monkey.
In Bai Zhou's current condition, going anywhere near it was equivalent to dancing in a minefield.
Perhaps only after his injuries fully healed would he have even the slightest chance of investigating it.
First and foremost, he would have to face that homeroom teacher who caught people...
By rough estimate, that entity was equivalent to a Rank 4 Extraordinary.
Yet the problem was that anomalous entities like that were numerous in that school!
Just among the ranks, the striped-shirt middle-aged men Bai Zhou had spotted at a glance—dressed so similarly they seemed cast from the exact same mold—numbered no fewer than six or seven.
If possible, Bai Zhou didn't want to take a single step past those iron gates.
It was a bit too creepy...
And yet.
That uniform really was an exact match for the one in Fang Xiaoxia's graduation photo.
This inevitably weighed on Bai Zhou's mind.
Forget it... Better to visit the "Tinghai Yuanmeng Middle School" in the waking world first and see what clues could be found.
What if he didn't actually need to risk an extra trip here?
Mulling this over and adjusting his condition, time slipped quietly by.
The eaves along the street dripped puddles of water along the path; Bai Zhou's paws went pit-pat, like a wanderer drifting to the ends of the earth.
Suddenly—
The toll of a bell came from the horizon.
*Dong—*
The reverberating waves of the chime swept across the sky above Reflected Tinghai.
Thirty-six o'clock had arrived.
The early hours had come.
Bai Zhou looked up in surprise.
For he noticed that the timbre of this toll was strikingly similar to the bells of the Inverted City in the Deep Ruin Realm.
Except there, a thousand ruined bells had chimed together, whereas here stood only a single, intact one...
Following the chime with his gaze, Bai Zhou saw that it indeed came from that clock tower flickering with blue flames.
The massive clock pointed to exactly thirty-six o'clock.
Beneath the blue flames, that enormous, rusted sign reading "Tinghai Rejects You" suddenly bloomed with an eerie blue light in tandem with the tolling bell.
The light spread outward, engulfing all of Reflected Tinghai.
And then, as though truly rejected and cast out...
Everyone was booted out by this blue light, forcefully kicked out from the flip side of the world.
In this moment, time seemed to freeze. The eaves by the roadside stopped dripping, and the crimson moon's radiance seemed to stretch out—until it finally vanished.
Everything blurred into a daze.
When his vision cleared again, water droplets trickled from the window eaves, silver moonlight flowed in serene silence, and stray dogs barked in the alleys.
Neon lights of vibrant nightlife illuminated his eyes.
The gigantic luminous sign reading "Tinghai Welcomes You" burst into view once more with its vivid presence.
An inexplicable sense of grounding and relief settled in his heart.
The moment he relaxed with that weight lifted from him, the world seemed to spin; Bai Zhou stumbled, nearly failing to keep his footing.
Finally...
He was back.
"Welcome back... Uh?"
A familiar voice reached his ears.
Rendered speechless, Crow stared at the listless black cat, lost in thought.
Just a second ago, she had watched Bai Zhou vanish on the spot.
The next second, she saw him return in the form of a black cat.
Looking completely drained.
Firmly resisting her instinctive urge to pet the cat and holding back her hand, Crow lowered her eyes.
She spoke with a hint of perplexity:
"You seem to have gone through... a lot?"
It was only a trip into the Reflected Ruin Realm to buy an unremarkable bottle of Moon Water.
Why look as though heaven and earth had been turned upside down?
"Well..."
Bai Zhou hesitated.
*Long time no see...* For Bai Zhou, who had been through so much and finally reunited with Crow after surviving catastrophe, that sentiment was truly heartfelt.
Yet to Crow, it had been a mere instant, not even a second long.
And within that single instant, Bai Zhou had experienced things beyond imagination.
On his very first foray into the Reflected Ruin Realm, he had no idea how to even begin explaining what had happened to him.
First attacked by a Paul Frank monkey, then making an "enemy" of the Gem Witch.
Then bidding against an extravagantly wealthy rival at the auction, which ended up sparking street killings and the revival of the ghost market.
It had even drawn out one of the Statute Hall's Inspectors—a sinister figure who looked scarcely human.
—And in the end, he had nearly met his downfall in an anomalous school.
Any single one of these events would have been enough fodder to write home about in vivid detail.
Yet when they met Bai Zhou, they were reduced to merely "one of many" experiences.
Crammed together and tumbling in rapid succession, all of it had taken place over a single night.
—Within those twelve hidden hours on the flip side of the world.
"It's a long story."
Letting out a slow, long breath, the black cat shifted.
Bai Zhou drew himself up, appearing before Crow.
—Yet his appearance caused a fresh question mark to pop up over Crow's head.
"What on earth are you...?"
A mysterious figure carrying an exquisite silver briefcase and wearing a tattered cloak came into Crow's view.
—If something that looked like it had been gnawed on by dogs could even be called a cloak.
If the Major were here to see this cloak, he would instantly cry out in shock: *Wasn't that cloak worn by that penguin?*
Yet who was Bai Zhou?
He hadn't even been willing to part with the real cloak.
He had simply told the penguin adept at illusionary disguises to conjure an illusion of the cloak as well.
—At worst, he just had to pay extra.
The moment extra pay was mentioned, the penguin's eyes had lit up, patting its chest and guaranteeing that below Rank 5, no one could see through its illusions, and above Rank 5, they'd need specialized expertise!
Still, this cloak was indeed far too recognizable.
For anyone seeing it for the first time, it delivered quite a mental shock...
Just like right now.
Crow's gaze was thoroughly captivated by the string of advertising slogans printed across the cloak:
"West City Mass Graves, New Property Development! A Century-Old Prestigious Residence! Limitless Appreciation Potential, Down Payment Just Seven Figures!"
*Wait, what...?*
*I sent you to the ghost market, and you went house-hunting at a sales office in the Reflected Ruin Realm?*
*Or is this dog-chewed underworld chic the latest trend blowing up over there?*
After a brief silence, Crow shook her head and sighed with heartfelt amazement:
"You..."
"Every single time you go into the Reflected Ruin Realm, you really manage to astonish me."
Noticing Crow's attention entirely fixated on his crude cloak, Bai Zhou felt somewhat embarrassed by his handiwork:
"It was necessary for the ghost market."
"Though thanks to this cloak, I avoided picking up another formidable archenemy."
Hearing this, Crow's expression grew solemn. "What happened?"
"It all happened at the ghost market."
Pulling back the cloak's hood, Bai Zhou revealed a weary face.
He couldn't help but sigh:
"I understand what people mean now when they say human hearts are like ghosts."
"Maybe ghosts really do exist in this world—after all, with an occult world out there, how could there not be? But compared to the monsters and demons that are Extraordinaries, even ghosts are much more endearing."
Like the mimic, for instance; it had been quite endearing.
As he spoke, Bai Zhou swayed over and sat down along the edge of the rooftop.
Setting the silver case aside, he turned his head to look down from the top of the skyscraper.
The wind stirred the wisps of hair by his ears as Bai Zhou exhaled a long breath of stale air from his chest.
Following intense tension, a relaxed mind tended to wander into a daze, while muscles that suddenly unwound became exceptionally sensitive to their surroundings.
A night breeze like this, mingling with the scent of the city, brushed against him until a crisp, tingling ease spread through his heart.
The roar of traffic from the streets below drifted up here as though veiled in mist, which inexplicably highlighted the tranquility.
Basking in the gentle evening breeze, Bai Zhou narrowed his eyes in slight contentment.
Crow's soft whisper reached his ears:
"It seems your trip to the ghost market wasn't just to buy an item."
"We can talk about those things later, though. I really can't stand to watch your body in such a wretched state any longer... Did you buy the Moon Water?"
Looking at the listless, pale Bai Zhou, Crow's brow knitted slightly.
"...No," Bai Zhou scratched his head and answered truthfully.
"How could that be?"
Crow froze for a moment, then belatedly came to an epiphany as to why Bai Zhou's injuries had worsened.
*So...*
"Was the supply of Moon Water insufficient, and someone fought you for it?"
"Was it that person who reduced you to this state?"
"Did you take note of their traits?"
A murderous aura swirled within her crimson eyes.
Crow had never been someone to be trifled with.
Yet immediately afterward she appeared worried, looking at Bai Zhou with hesitation on her lips, a stark contrast to her usual calm, icy, and decisive demeanor.
Bai Zhou's condition was visibly terrible, far worse than even before he had entered the Reflected Ruin Realm.
His injuries had reached a critical juncture.
In the end, after a moment of silence, she lowered her eyes and murmured,
"Without Moon Water, things will indeed be tricky."
"But endure it for a few days; there might still be a way..."
Frowning, she racked her brains.
"There might be some difficulties and obstacles along the way, but you will get better in the end."
Looking into Bai Zhou's eyes earnestly, Crow said, word by word:
"Do not worry. I will handle everything."
"..."
Bai Zhou blinked, a touch of bewilderment in his eyes.
*Why did she suddenly pour all this out without letting anyone finish talking?*
*She seemed to have grasped something all on her own and jumped to a massive misunderstanding.*
And yet...
From the corner of his eye, along the streets below, streetlamps shone with golden radiance, washing the intersections in flowing gold.
High in the heavens hung a single bright moon, yet upon the ground were thousands of moons.
The streetlamps were brighter than moonlight...
Yet they were not the moon after all.
In Wancheng, there was a story like this.
Two fools argued over the moon in the sky: one claimed it was the moon, while the other insisted it was the sun.
Just as their argument grew heated, a passerby happened along. So the two fools asked him:
"Is that the moon or the sun up in the sky?"
The passerby replied, "I'm not from this village, so I'm not really sure."
The first time Bai Zhou had truly resonated with that foolish, joke-like tale was that night when, gravely injured, he had sat alone on an air-conditioner unit, letting the wind blow over him.
Looking up, a bright moon hung in the sky, but it was the moon of Blue Star.
Not the moon of Wancheng.
It had nothing to do with Bai Zhou, the "passerby."
He really wasn't familiar with the moon here.
Fortunately, there was not always just one moon.
People said the moon shone brightest over one's hometown, which was why they claimed the moon in a foreign land was no moon at all.
Yet there was another saying:
*Where the heart finds peace, there is my home.*
Quietly observing Crow's earnest yet clumsy, stiff words of comfort, the corners of Bai Zhou's mouth curled up into a silent smile:
"It's all right. It doesn't matter that there's no Moon Water..."
As he spoke, with a click—
He opened the silver case beside him and took out a vial of potion.
A small, clear test-tube vial, sealed top and bottom with silver. Inside lay a profound crimson-purple liquid, flecked with shimmering points of silvery-white radiance flowing through it like stardust.
An ethereal luster glinted under the moonlight.
Lifting his head, he looked at Crow.
Bai Zhou raised this potion that was unmistakably extraordinary at a single glance, shimmering with a faint glow in his hand.
As though moonlight itself rested in his palm.
Facing the young woman's worried and perplexed expression, Bai Zhou blinked, suddenly unable to tell whether the moon was before his eyes or in his hand.
Then, looking earnestly at Crow, he said softly:
"Because I've already gotten something better."
"—The [Tears of the Moon Goddess]!"
Chapter 75