Chapter 156
Chapter 156
When the morning’s classes ended, Hua Jiunan headed for the cafeteria with Chen Daji and Zhao Fei.
With those two notorious tough guys beside him, the other students automatically kept several yards away.
Chen Daji looked rather dejected.
“Fatty Zhao, you’ve got to help me clean the toilets this afternoon.”
Zhao Fei curled his lip in disdain.
“Get lost!”
“If it were the girls’ toilets, the great Fatty would consider it his sacred duty. But the men’s toilets? Not interested!”
As the two traded nonsense, Li Yun approached them.
Fatty Zhao put on a lecherous grin, while Chen Daji hurried forward excitedly.
“Hey, Yun.”
“Did you come to ask me to lunch?”
“Whatever you want, it’s my treat!”
Li Yun ignored him completely. She walked around Chen Daji and went straight to Hua Jiunan.
“Class monitor, can you come back to the classroom with me?”
“There are too many people here. I need to tell you something in private.”
Hua Jiunan paused in surprise.
He admired this classmate’s bold, free-spirited nature, but only as a friend. He had no wish to let some imagined misunderstanding drive a wedge between him and Chen Daji.
“Li Yun, if something’s wrong, you can say it here. There are no outsiders among us.”
Li Yun glanced at the crestfallen Chen Daji, then at Zhao Fei, who was eagerly waiting for a show.
“It sounds rather strange… but I swear every word I’m about to say is true!”
Hua Jiunan had seen more than his share of strange things since childhood. One might even say that he himself was part of the strange.
“Go ahead, Li Yun. I believe you.”
Chen Daji foolishly crowded closer and chimed in with a shamelessly ingratiating smile.
“Yeah, Yun, just tell us what’s wrong. I believe you too.”
As usual, Li Yun ignored his attempt to curry favor.
“Yesterday, Fangcao and I arranged to visit the Huimu Mountain Ski Resort with two other girls.”
“Everything was fine at first, until…”
The Huimu Mountain Ski Resort lay deep in a remote mountain region.
Built with investment from an out-of-town businessman, it had only officially opened to the public the previous year.
At its busiest, it welcomed more than ten thousand tourists from across the country every day.
An environmentally friendly tourism project that also stimulated the economy naturally received strong support from the local government.
Xu Fangcao, Li Yun, and the others had a wonderful time at the resort.
The accident occurred while they were riding the cable car down the mountain.
Just as the car neared the foot of the slope, the sachet around Xu Fangcao’s neck fell off. Inside it was the reverse scale.
“Jiunan gave it to me. I can’t lose it!”
Xu Fangcao was adamant. The moment the cable car reached the terminal, she insisted on hiking back up to search for it.
The other two girls did not want the exhausting climb.
The freckled girl teased her, “It’s not worth any money. Just forget about it.”
“We all know how close you and our great Class Monitor Hua are. You can always ask him to give you another one.”
At the mention of Hua Jiunan, the slightly plump girl’s eyes sparkled.
“Honestly, I’m so jealous I could die.”
“Hua Jiunan is handsome, gets great grades, and-oh, right-he’s an amazing fighter too!”
“If a boy like that pursued me, I’d gladly give up ten years of my life!”
In the end, only Li Yun accompanied Xu Fangcao along the cable car route.
Their effort finally paid off. After an arduous climb lasting more than an hour, Xu Fangcao found the sachet containing the reverse scale.
But it had landed inside the skull of some unidentified animal.
Someone had deliberately placed the skull on a stone altar. Seven pieces of frozen raw meat lay before it, each stuck with three incense sticks that had burned more than halfway down.
Ash mixed into the once-white snow, making it look filthy.
In the sunlight, the skull had an eerie dark-red sheen.
It resembled an ox’s head, but its jaws gaped wide, exposing a terrifying set of sharp teeth.
Though it was noon, the bizarre scene still frightened both girls.
In the end, Xu Fangcao’s feelings for Hua Jiunan overcame her fear.
Trembling, she reached into the skull’s mouth and slowly drew out the sachet.
The instant she removed it, one of the skull’s teeth cut her finger, spilling several drops of blood onto the bone.
“This place is terrifying. Let’s get out of here!”
Xu Fangcao and Li Yun fled down the mountain in a panic, falling several times along the way.
Fortunately, the deep snow cushioned them, and neither was injured.
After they told the resort staff what they had seen, employees immediately searched the area they described.
Unfortunately, they found nothing at all.
After such an unnerving experience, none of the girls felt like having fun anymore. They all wanted to go home.
When their vehicle passed the thousand-year-old Jinguang Temple, the other two girls insisted on going inside to burn incense.
“Hehe, let’s ask the Buddha to grant each of us a boyfriend like our class monitor.”
“And if that’s asking too much, I suppose someone like Chen Daji would do…”
After saying that, the two girls stuck their tongues out at Li Yun.
Li Yun was in no mood to joke with them.
For some reason, Xu Fangcao had seemed strange ever since they came down the mountain.
She was distracted and withdrawn, spoke very little, and even reacted much more slowly than usual.
Recalling the terrifying scene they had just encountered, Li Yun decided it might be best to go inside, pay their respects, and pray for safety.