FXDL V2C8

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Youny sometimes? >.>

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

Previous            Index              Next

---

Chapter 8: Hysterical women are scarier than ghosts

Soon after Emerald was sent to the medical centre, the brownies appeared and cleaned the classroom. Then Professor Samukawa showed up and after a simple attempt at placating the students, started class as usual.

He did not explain too much, as he was not deeply concerned nor had any particular protective measures raised. The instructors’ passive attitudes made Fu Xing feel disappointed in Shalom for the first time.

In the afternoon, Fu Xing went to Grod to inquire about Emerald’s and Leon’s conditions. Fortunately, neither were in critical danger and both were being treated. The heart that Fu Xing was wearing on his sleeve felt slightly more at ease.

That night, when Fu Xing was in the dining hall, a brownie gave him an emergency notification from Aquarius.

Two hours later, Fu Xing, Isaac, and the other Aquarius intern reserve members gathered at Aquarius’s conference room.

“There have been no small number of accidents occurring on campus recently. Although the reason is not yet confirmed, Aquarius has decided to organise our own patrols for the sake of the students’ safety and giving them ease of mind. The patrols will be around campus every day.” Shiran succinctly stated the objective of this meeting and, without allowing further discussion, forcibly began to implement his plan.

Some of the students gathered wore conflicted expressions, but no one voiced any objections. After all, none of them wanted to lose their chance to enter Aquarius because of this.

Fu Xing commended this plan quite a bit. Moreover, he now felt respect towards Shiran form in his heart.

That’s the proper thing to do! Someone should be stepping up to do something for the students! Aquarius is more useful than the academy’s staff – they’re the ones that truly care about the school!

He kind of wanted to join this organisation now…

Shiran continued to elaborate, “Taking manpower and efficacy into account, we have decided to patrol important locations during critical periods. There will be two waves: once at midnight and once at 3 AM, with the patrols divided between allocated areas. Two people a group according to class. You will come forth to draw lots that will decide the area you are responsible for.”

An Aquarius member took out a cylinder filled with paper lots. A representative from each class went up to pull one. When it was Fu Xing’s turn, he randomly took one of the rolls of paper bound with ribbon before returning to his seat.

When he pulled the ribbon off and unfurled the paper, it displayed the letter “F”.

He did not know what it meant. “What did you get, Flora?”

“M.”

“Oh.” He still had absolutely no idea what it stood for.

Once all the lots were drawn, Shiran walked up to the podium. “Everyone has their papers? Then…” He snapped his fingers.

A few seconds later, hidden words floated into sight after each of the letters on the papers.

Fu Xing stared at the writing in his hand, beyond shocked at the words.

“Female dorms?!”

Oh, heavens! That’s seriously…too miraculous!

Can I laugh? He seriously could not suppress his inward surge of passion.

“What?! The Forbidden Tower!”

“Instruction area? Doesn’t that include two parts: the ordinary building and the special ability building?!”

The round of unsatisfied complaints that arose forced Fu Xing to just barely retrain his extreme delight.

Huhuhu…if I’m too obvious, I’ll garner envy.

“Hm, it’s the female dorms.” Fu Xing feigned indifferences as he passed the paper over to Isaac next to him. “What a nuisance, isn’t it.”

All he saw was Isaac’s expression stiffen, then glare straight at the paper slip.

“Female…it’s female…” He muttered quietly to himself.

Fu Xing raised a brow. Had this guy lost his mind from happiness? Hmm, I get it, I get it. To a man, entering a real female dorm is like winning the first prize of a lottery.

Oh right, if F is female dorms, then M is? Fu Xing whipped his head around to spot the corners of Flora’s lips curved up unnaturally.

“Male dorms.” Flora apathetically announced the words on her paper as Fu Xing just had. “What a nuisance, isn’t it. You?”

“Same, not a very good spot.” Fu Xing casually showed the paper to Flora.

“We’re in the same boat.”

The two exchanged a look and smiled in tacit understanding.

Fu Xing and Flora were assigned to the second wave period aka 3 AM. This was a bit hard to adjust to for Fu Xing, who slept early.

At 2:50 AM, the patrol groups gathered before the main bailey. Fu Xing yawned as he sleepily arrived. When he saw Flora’s getup, he immediately woke up completely.

“Flora, you…”

She was dressed the same exact way she had been for their adventure through Sunset Forest back then. Actually, it was even more specialised this time.

But her destination today is the male dorms! What does she have a camera and video recorder for?!

“Recording the process is extremely important.” Flora pushed her glasses up as she spoke in a professional tone. “We might be able to discover some clues from doing this in the next few days.”

“Is that so…”

Aquarius’s disciplinary committee members passed out armbands that would identify the patrols. These armbands also carried enchantments that would allow them to enter and exit various areas without restrictions. Once they received simple instructions on what to look out for, the groups dispersed to head towards their assigned location and carry out their mission.

At 3 AM, both diurnal and nocturnal races were resting. In addition, with all that had occurred recently, the campus at night was more sinister and eerie than before.

When they strode into the female dorms, there was a fragrance floating in the air, softening the fear and uneasiness that the night brought on.

The female dorms…

They paced up and down the hallways inside. Despite the fact that each individual room had its door tightly shut, he simply kept thinking about how behind the walls were all girls. The girls inside might be sleeping, reading, or even bathing. After removing their uniforms, what kind of clothing do they change into? Adorable cotton pyjamas or classy, silk robes—

Oh. He suddenly felt like he was a terrible person…

“Ugh…” A groan of discomfort sounded out.

Fu Xing turned to see Isaac covering his mouth with his hand, seemingly feeling unwell.

“Isaac, are you alright?”

“The smell is very strong…” Isaac murmured.

Fu Xing took a whiff. There were various heavy fragrances in the air that came from either shower gel or beauty products.

He personally thought it smelled nice, but perhaps these girly scents were unbearable to a tough guy like Isaac.

“We’ve pretty much checked everything inside, so let’s head back outside.”

Isaac forcefully nodded.

Thus, the two stepped out of the building to stand in the courtyard of the female dorms. The dorms were built in an n-shape, with a flower-filled lawn in the middle. There was a pavilion right in the centre of it. Many covered corridors extended out from pavilion, connecting to the three doorways on different sides.

“You patrol in front there.” When they passed through the path, Fu Xing pointed at the corridor on the west side of the pavilion. “I’ll check from the opposite end. Meet later at the pavilion.”

Isaac nodded and spun around to calmly and fearlessly head into the darkness at the end.

Fu Xing was extremely envious of that tall back. If only I had even a tenth of Isaac’s courage.

With a flashlight in hand, he patrolled around the garden. Under the beam of light, the thickets seemed to flash with ghostly shadows. Fu Xing gritted his teeth and mustered all his courage to calmly walk down.

Bang!

A tiny, hard object suddenly struck the back of Fu Xing’s head. Fu Xing jumped in fright and whipped his head around in alarm. However, he did not see anyone.

“Who is it?!”

Holy crap! I’m so scared! Isaac, come back! Countess, don’t come looking for me!

Right as he was planning to run away, a familiar voice rang out.

“Oi! You! Freeze!” A lovable yet haughty voice came from the corner. “It’s just me!”

Fu Xing halted. It didn’t appear to be a departed soul, but an acquaintance?

He slowly turned his head. However, the scene that met his eyes nearly made blood spurt from his nose.

The other party was an Aquarius intern reserve member like himself; it was the elf Tyste that had always looked down on Fu Xing. Now, she was only wearing a shirt. Her slim, white thighs were completely uncovered underneath the hem of shirt. The only clothing she wore on her lower half were a pair of tall socks that reached her calves.

“What-what are you doing?!” Since he was beyond shocked, he did not know how to ridicule her. “Isn’t your ‘absolute territory’ a bit too excessive?!”

“There-there’s a reason for this!” Tyste was slightly embarrassed as she replied, “Jasmine and I are responsible for patrolling the instruction building, but then I wanted to go the bathroom just now.”

“Oh, I see.”

The two faced each other in silence for a few seconds.

“Then what are you crouching over here for?” Fu Xing asked another question.

“I-I…”

“Oh!” Fu Xing struck his palm with a fist in sudden realisation. “You secretly peed by the path?”

“No! You low-class idiot! …In reality, she’s gone…”

“Gone?”

“She went into the bathroom before me, but by the time I entered, she was nowhere to be seen.”

“She might have left first.”

“I don’t know, Jasmine should have waited for me. I also thought of this possibility, so I didn’t pay it any mind and entered the bathroom…then…”

She gulped and began to think back.

The lights went out.

Tyste raised her head. Darkness was not anything worth the elf to feel frightened about, but since this was an awkward moment, she raised her guard. A feeling of unease enveloped her like the darkness.

Who?

“Is—” this Jasmine? She originally wanted to voice this question.

“Thump…” A faint noise cut off her words.

“Thump, thump, thunk…”

It sounded like footsteps. However, it seemed as though something was being dragged along and knocking against the ground.

“Urk…” The door of the first bathroom stall was pushed open. The grating door made a rough noise similar to someone retching.

“Urk…” The noise echoed again. The second bathroom stall was opened.

Damn-damn it! I’m not scared! I’m a respectable elf! What’s a mere departed soul…

“Urk…” The third stall.

“Urk…” The fourth stall.

The noise came from the next stall over.

I’m not afraid…not afraid…

“Thump, thunk…” The dragging noise moved so that it was right in front of her, stopping before her stall.

What-what happened?

“Tap, tap.” A light knocking came from the door.

The terrified emotions that had been taut in Tyste’s heart instantly crumbled.

“Ahhhh—” She recited an attack spell out of pure instinct.

“Bam!” The door was slammed open from the wave of attack, flying backwards.

At the same time, Tyste raced out of the bathroom as quickly as possible, not caring about anything else. Like an arrow, she shot out of the instruction building and flew straight towards the female dorms.

 

“So that’s what happened.” Fu Xing nodded. “So because you were in such a rush to run away, you left your skirt behind?”

Tyste shot Fu Xing a glare. “In that type of situation, I had no room to care about anything else…”

“Then why not return to the dorms?”

“How can I go back like this! Don’t forget, I have to pass through the courtyard gardens to reach the female dorms. I don’t want to be seen by others! Besides, I still haven’t found Jasmine!”

“That’s true too.” Fu Xing couldn’t help but chuckle. “You can also get scared, huh?”

“Cut the chatter!” Tyste reprimanded. “Hurry up and accompany me back to my room! Help me keep watch!”

“Got it.” Fu Xing paused for a second before taking off his jacket.

Tyste cried out in alarm, “What are you trying to do?! You low-class, vulgar thing!”

Fu Xing was taken aback. “I just wanted to use the clothing to cover you…wouldn’t it be easier to walk that way?”

“Oh…yeah.” Tyste was dumbstruck for a moment. She then awkwardly accepted the clothes. “Turn around! Don’t peek!”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Such a pain…

“Uwuu…”  A faint sobbing noise came from behind.

Fu Xing smiled. “Hehe.”

“What are you laughing at?!” Tyste angrily rebuked.

“You’re scared to tears?” He hadn’t imagined she would have a cute side as well.

“As if I’m crying!” Tyste spun around with Fu Xing’s jacket already tied around her waist to cover the erotic sight. There was only indignation on her face, with no apparent trace of tears.

“Then that noise just now…”

“Uwuu….”

The sound came again. Both of them heard it this time.

They shuddered as their blood ran cold. Their fear rose up from the bottoms of their feet and burst out from their throats.

“Ahhhh—!” The two of them wildly sprinted forwards without caring about anything else.

There was a spot of light along the pitch-black path. It belonged to the beam from Isaac’s flashlight, though now it felt like a lighthouse guiding one towards their escape route in the desolate darkness.

“Isaac!” Fu Xing shouted.

Isaac turned around. When he saw who had arrived, his expression immediately changed. Then—he turned tail to run.

What’s with this?! Don’t tell me—he saw something terrifying behind us?!

“Wait for me!”

Bro! Aren’t you a tough guy?! Why are you acting as cowardly as me?!

Out of the corner of Fu Xing’s eye, he suddenly spotted a white figure flash past. Eh! That’s…Fu Xing stopped in his tracks.

At the same time, Tyste was charging forwards with the speed and nimbleness unique to elves. She ran straight ahead with so much force that she knocked down the nearly two metres-tall Isaac onto the ground.

“That hurts!” Tyste squinted in pain.

“You, you—” Isaac stared at Tyste in terror, as if he had seen a beyond horrifying scene.

“What you doing, woman!” Fu Xing slowly made his way over and shouted, “The jacket fell off!”

“What?!” Tyste spun around to see the jacket in Fu Xing’s hands. She lowered her gaze and was shocked to discover that her position was very questionable and awkward—her lower half was naked and her two legs were spread out as she straddled Isaac.

She hurriedly covered her body and lashed out haughtily, “Bastard, don’t look—Ahhhhhhhh!”

Tyste let out a frightened scream as she leapt away from Isaac like a cat, cowering into the corner of the wall.

“What’s wrong?!” I don’t think this is the right time to be screaming?

“He, he—” Tyste stared in horror at Isaac lying on the ground, so scared that she was unable to speak properly.

Fu Xing trembled with trepidation as he walked towards Isaac, then sharply inhaled.

The tall figure lying on the ground was face-up, like a collapsed great wall.

Isaac’s pale face was dyed scarlet, dark red blood flowing out from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

 

“I heard a darkblood bled from all seven apertures yesterday!”

“It’s the tall darkblood from 1-C named Isaac!”

“To be able to knock down a darkblood means the other party’s strength can’t be underestimated.”

“It’s a departed soul, it’s definitely a demonized departed soul! It might even be a demon [itself]!”

The rumours filled the entire campus. All that came out of any student’s mouth was related to departed souls and curses. Though Emerald was in the medical centre, it did not have any effect on the faith in the amulets. The goods he had previously sold were now being sold among the students for threefold the price.

Most of the injured or ill students would be out for roughly a week to be treated before returning to class as usual. However, there were a small number of people with more severe conditions that remained in the medical centre under observation and treatment.

Emerald, Brad, and Leon were all those that stayed behind for observation.

Leon’s condition was controlled after two or three days. But despite his consciousness and physical strength recovering, his external wounds had not yet healed.

During his free period, Fu Xing headed over to pay a visit to the medical centre.

Leon had been transferred to a normal ward and was sitting on the bed reading. His face and body were covered in bandages, making him look a bit like a mummy.

After some simple greetings, Fu Xing cut straight to the main point. “Did you see who attacked you?”

Leon helplessly shook his head.

“Was it a spectre? Or a person?”

“I don’t know…” Leon put his book down.

“How did things end up like this?” Fu Xing felt useless and at a loss. “Was it our fault? Did infiltrating the castle anger the Countess?”

“Impossible,” Leon denied once again.

“But even Isaac—”

“It’s precisely because Isaac was harmed that I say it cannot possibly be the Countess!”

Fu Xing was taken aback. “What does that mean?”

Leon furrowed his brows and did not directly respond. Instead, he changed the topic. “Rather than worrying about pranks from the castle’s spectre, you might as well worry about if we were noticed by White Triangle members while we went out.”

His tone grew colder. His eyes showing from under the bandages turned crimson with resentment.

“This might actually be White Triangle’s scheme. Those guys could have dispatched powerful lackeys this time…If I could leave this place…”

Leon’s thoughts were filled with revenge. He gritted his teeth and fell silent.

Fu Xing let out a soft sigh, knowing that this exchange had already ended. “Take care.”

The people by his side had fallen one after another. There was only one person left that could help him.

 

Upon leaving the medical centre, Fu Xing immediately headed to the forest area around the Forbidden Tower. Youny was already sitting there, leisurely reading a book as though he was isolated from the world, completely unaffected by the matters occurring in the school.

“Good afternoon, Fu Xing.” Youny waved at Fu Xing. When he noticed the latter’s gloomy expression, he curiously asked, “What’s the matter?”

“The academy is a complete mess right now.”

“That truly is terrible.” Youny’s words were drawn out, as though the matter was not something worthy of concern. “It’s already evening, don’t you need to leave?”

“Zhu Yue, Emerald, Brad, and Leon encountered mishaps. Only I’m fine.”

He seriously could not even guess why he could avoid the disaster. He was the weakest of their night adventure group – no, he could say he was the weakest in the entirety of Shalom. Why had the invisible enemy let him go?

“Then that’s great.” Youny did not seem to care at all. “What about the others?”

“Momiji and Taeharu seemed to have made preparations in advance and are likely hiding some secret weapons. Dan Juan put up a defensive web outside his room. I don’t know about Rachel.”

“What about Rocort?”

“He’s fine.” Fu Xing huffed in exasperation, “He just keeps complaining that his stockpile of snacks is disappearing. He suspects there’s a rat in his room and is currently distressing over how to prevent the same situation from reoccurring.”

That guy didn’t want his snacks to be stolen yet could not bear to place rat poison or mouse traps around. Thus, he could only pack up his snacks and hide them in a more concealed spot.

However, the rats in Shalom seemed to be even smarter than rats outside. They always found a way to find the food and take them away.

“Rats?” Youny chuckled.

“What about it?”

“Just across the path is the student dining hall. Do you think rats would abandon that large of a storehouse and run over to the dorms to seek food?”

“Eh, that makes sense. But isn’t it pretty normal for there to be rats in the dorms too?”

“That’s in human society. Such scenarios wouldn’t occur in Shalom.” Youny began to explain, “First of all, the brownies responsible for the campus conditions wouldn’t allow rats to appear in the student dorms. Second of all, if there really were rats, then the rat spirits would use tactful ways to have their race leave the campus so that they wouldn’t be hunted by cat spirits or other jingguai races.”

“Ah, that’s true too.” But that’s not the point. Lives are in danger, who cares about hygiene!

Youny smiled. Suddenly, he noticed from the corner of his eye that there were red rashes on the back of Fu Xing’s hands that reached all the way to his wrists.

“What’s wrong with your hands?” Youny lowered his eyes to discover that the other’s right leg was swollen below the ends of the trousers. “And your leg.”

“Oh, if you’re asking about my hands, they were like this when I woke up the day before yesterday.” Fu Xing glanced at the back of his hands. “It hurts a bit, but it doesn’t really bother me. I’m guessing that they’re bugbites. As for my leg, I twisted it while patrolling two days ago.”

Youny’s smile disappeared. He reached out to hold Fu Xing’s wrists and gently stroked them.

“…Light-absorbent concentrate.”

An elven tonic used particularly often by wood-type elves. When lathered on the body, coming into contact with the slightest bit of light would be like being exposed to strong sunlight. It had the powerful ability to absorb light.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’ll be fine in a few days.” Youny smiled, but a cold displeasure flashed behind his eyes.

“Oh.” Fu Xing looked at the rashes on the back of his hand and sighed. “Grod and the others seem to intend on inviting the headmaster back from the southern campus. Hopefully the matter comes to an end that way…”

Youny raised a brow and shut his book. “The headmaster?” It won’t be good if that guy returns now.

“Mhm. If it’s the headmaster, he should have a way to resolve this, right?”

Youny smiled. “Indeed…”

However, he did not want that mood-killer to come back at this moment to become a hindrance.

He sighed.

Alright, I’m tired of this. It’s about time for the farce to come to an end anyways.

“Fu Xing, have any students died from the fierce soul’s attacks?” Youny suddenly asked.

“No, why do you ask?”

“Because you’re wearing all black and it looks as though you’re in mourning.”

Fu Xing scanned himself. He was wearing a black T-shirt on top and the black uniform trousers on the bottom, in addition to black leather shoes. There were also the amulets around his neck and wrists that Emerald had given him, which just happened to be made from black stone and metal.

“It’s just a coincidence that I’m wearing so much black.” Without being told, he would not have even noticed himself.

“It is.” Youny chuckled. “Some independent phenomena are completely unrelated to each other. But when an observer finds common points, the automatic conclusion is that there’s a correlation.”

“Huh?”

“Reconstruct every incident one by one from the beginning. You might find your answer.” Youny stood and patted the dust off his pants. “Oh, in addition, go help Rocort. If there are rats in the dorms, it can cause quite a disturbance.”

“But didn’t you say that there shouldn’t be rats in the dorms?”

“That’s indeed correct.” Youny let out a frustrated sigh and looked at Fu Xing. “Fu Xing, hurry and become stronger. Both in body and in mind.”

His patience had its limits.

“What does that mean?” When Fu Xing met Youny’s transcendent gaze, a peculiar feeling sprang up inside him. “Youny, do you know something?”

“I know many things,” Youny chuckled back in reply.

Fu Xing was perplexed. In that instant, he suddenly realised that he knew absolutely nothing about the person in front of him!

Why had he become friends with Youny?

Aside from name, Youny was a complete stranger!

“What class are you from? Do you stay in the dorms? How come I’ve never seen you.” As Fu Xing spoke, suspicion and apprehension began to spread from the bottom of his heart. “What race are you? Why do I seem to—”

“Sh.” Youny held his index finger out in front of Fu Xing’s face. “Calm down. Just remember what you should.”

His long finger lightly tapped Fu Xing’s forehead. A blue glow lit up from his fingertip, disappearing after a flash.

Fu Xing blinked. The chaotic thoughts swirling around his mind were instantly wiped clean.

“Eh, what’s going on?” Why had he suddenly spaced out?

“Nothing, you’re tired.” Youny smiled. “You were saying that you’d go help Rocort deal with the rat issue and that you’d re-investigate the fierce soul matter.”

“Oh, right!” Fu Xing quickly stood up. “See you next time!”

“Good-bye.”

A profound smile formed on Youny’s face as he watched Fu Xing leave.

The memory-controlling spell was nearly broken. He had sealed off some memories into a blind spot so that Fu Xing would ignore some details. That would allow Youny to continue interacting with him, to continue being his “friend”.

It looks like that guy has unconsciously grown after all…

He looked forward to more.

---

Previous            Index              Next