Beichuan Huili walked a long way out before she recovered from the shock just now.
She hadn't expected Hoshino Nana to merely extend her hand and Beichuan Si to give her a slap directly.
"You shouldn't worry too much about that person at school; I have some conflicts with her too. Regardless, school starts tomorrow, and I'll figure out a way to handle it then," Beichuan Si said, his voice calm and unhurried as they walked ahead.
"...I understand," Beichuan Huili replied obediently, yet the worry in her eyes couldn't dissipate.
Beichuan Si, however, was indifferent to her concern.
Would an adult worry about what happens in a high school?
To Beichuan Si, the happenings in high school were nothing but childish.
With his naturally calm personality, Beichuan Si certainly wouldn't care either.
As for Beichuan Huili, Beichuan Si genuinely saw her as a sister.
Having been here for more than ten days, he hadn't spoken much to Beichuan Huili but he could see the concern in her eyes.
Hmm?
Beichuan Si's heart skipped a beat as he gazed into the distance.
"What's the matter, Mr. Temple?" Beichuan Huili followed Beichuan Si's gaze.
There was a park with a lake, the winter park landscape desolate, thick snow covering the ground with little signs of people. The lake at the center was irregularly shaped, not frozen over. Scattered around it were benches for resting.
Bare branches jutted out like ghostly claws, swings were rusted, marked with rust the color of crimson blood, and an inexplicable eerie feeling shot up from Beichuan Huili's heels straight to her spine.
Silence—
A deathly silence!
Deep in the dense trees, someone seemed to wave at Beichuan Huili, with a hand white as jade and indescribably beautiful.
Beichuan Huili wanted to get closer for a clearer view—
"Huili," Beichuan Si's calm voice sounded in her ear.
Though his voice wasn't loud, it blasted like thunder in Beichuan Huili's ears.
Beichuan Huili snapped out of it, shivering with cold sweat when she realized her position.
She was standing at the edge of the lake embankment, only a step away from the fog-shrouded water.
If in such weather she stepped into the ghostly green water, she might not die, but she'd surely fall seriously ill.
"Let's go, let's go pay our respects."
"Ah... okay."
Beichuan Huili nodded lostly and let Beichuan Si hold her hand, heading toward the shrine.
Shortly after Beichuan Si and Beichuan Huili left, Hoshino Nana also arrived at the edge of the lake park.
"It's ridiculous, those two forgot to bring wallets—" Hoshino Nana muttered, grumbling.
She took out a makeup mirror to check her appearance.
The bloodstain around her mouth had been wiped clean, but her once delicate and white face was now swollen and red.
That guy Beichuan Si!
Hoshino Nana gripped the mirror tightly, gritting her teeth in anger.
Finally, she exhaled and muttered softly.
"It's truly bizarre, that wooden guy in the class who usually doesn't speak, how did he change like this today?"
Her face swollen like this, if she went to the New Year's visit, she'd be laughed at, wouldn't she?
Mulling over it, Hoshino Nana stepped forward.
Maybe it's best not to go to the New Year's visit this year.
Splash.
Cold.
Piercing cold spread from her feet upward.
Hoshino Nana lifelessly lifted her head.
Unknowingly, she had stepped into the water, the chilling cold lake water submerging up to her thigh.
"What the hell?"
The dampness and cold of the frozen lake engulfed Hoshino Nana, her originally rosy lips turning blue and purple at a visible speed!
Her legs lost feeling, her entire body dominated by the cold.
There was nothing to see.
It turned out, unknowingly, the white lake mist had enveloped her.
When she turned back, there was only the swaying arm deep in the woods.
Swaying arms—
Dozens of arms, clustered together on a mass of flesh.
Hands, hands, hands—
All hands!
In the cold wind, they swayed like bushes!
Despair, confusion, incomprehension, various emotions mixed together, forcing Hoshino Nana to scream!
She wanted to escape, but she couldn't!
"Come." Someone in the mist reached out to her.
This was the only path to survival.
Hoshino Nana stretched out her hands, grabbing this last straw with all her might!
In an instant, the water mist disappeared, and Hoshino Nana lay on the blanket, her lower body wet, lips shivering purple, her face filled with the relief of narrowly surviving.
"Tha... thank you."
Hoshino Nana tried to lift her head to express her gratitude, but her words caught in her throat—
Something swung towards her small head.
In her refined pupils, a bright metallic baseball bat was reflected.
Bang!
From deep within the park came a muffled sound, followed immediately by the heavy thud of a body falling onto the blanket.
...
After the visit, Beichuan Si returned to the lake park. He had matters to investigate, so he found an excuse to dismiss Beichuan Huili.
The lake park was still the lake park; nothing had changed with Beichuan Si's coming and going.
"Let me see what's hidden here?"
Beichuan Si took a deep breath, and a wisp of jet-black gas flashed through his pupils.
Consequently, the world changed.
Under the dead atmosphere, he clearly saw the air filled with scarlet lines of resentment.
This was "grudge."
The thoughts of people had invisible power, and when concentrated, they could become a "spirit."
Spirits could be good or bad; those without strong resentment when alive were ordinary spiritual bodies and wouldn't do extra damage to humans. Some, like Beichuan Jianyi, even accompanied as guardian spirits.
But those subjected to great injustice and resentment would form vengeful spirits. Unconsciously, vengeful spirits would harm the living because they were born out of hatred for the living, so their crimson resentment could harm humans.
Perhaps nothing would happen after the first encounter, but subtly, it could change one's personality, making them angry and ill-prone.
Beichuan Si couldn't help but cover his mouth and nose.
The resentment in the air had formed threads; Beichuan Si didn't want to use his death energy to dispel them.
It was no wonder that no one came to exercise at the lake park in the morning, as people instinctively avoided danger; most would subconsciously stay away from such a place and not think of setting foot here.
Such dense resentment, something must exist in the lake park.
Beichuan Si's thoughts jumped—here the density of resentment had reached that of an advanced vengeful spirit, if he could solve it, his death energy limit and physical fitness would definitely rise a notch.
Thinking thus, he resolutely stepped forward, heading deep into the lake park.
Only the place Beichuan Si was heading wasn't the lakeside, but across the bridge in the park.
Into that dark and deep forest...
And just as Beichuan Si silently ventured therein.
Not far behind him, a gaze from the shadows was watching his back.
Deeply watching—