The crumpled piece of paper now held the souls of Kevin, Ziya, and Leonard.
"What are you going to do with all the souls that you captured?"
The spirit of the Notebook of Secrets That Will Destroy Your Life asked.
"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? I thought you were eavesdropping… I said that I will be protecting them."
"Oh? Are you really that kind?"
"Fuck off... Just what kind of a person do you think I am?" Calvin shook his head and bitterly smiled, "Anyway, since you're not really Kevin and was just possessing his body. How do I call you? Do you even have a name?" Calvin teasingly asked.
"How rude! Of course, I have a name... It's that, I don't deserve to keep that name anymore since I've become ownerless." The spirit within the notebook seemed to be embarrassed. For the spirit, the issue of not being able to use his previous name was quite delicate than what Calvin had expected.
"What does that mean?" Of course, Calvin had to pretend that he didn't know what the spirit was talking about.
"You... You clearly know what I am talking about! Why must you tease me like this?" The spirit rolled his imaginary eyes at Calvin.
Calvin felt a shiver down his spine, "All right... I know. I'll give you a name once we're done and over here."
The spirit fell silent.
He could feel that Calvin was serious.
He felt gratitude towards him.
But not only because Calvin was willing to grant him a name, but it was also because Calvin was so kind to the souls in this school that still had that trace of purity.
Calvin may be ruthless but he knew where to draw the line.
The spirit appreciated such people and his resistance towards being Calvin's Blessed Artifact had lessened.
"Since you're the one that created this fucked-up world, can you tell me more about it?"
Calvin locked the doors of the room and started speaking.
"All right, but calling this world that I made as fucked-up seems to be too much?"
"Too much? All right, let's just say that I'm wrong. I don't have time to waste with such pleasantries."
The spirit felt irritated. It knew that it was wrong for creating this nightmare of a world, but could anyone really blame it?
The spirit felt lonely and that was why it made this world under the nose of Fivecent. Fivecent permitted its existence for the company was afraid of pushing the spirit's patience too far. After all, a cornered rat would bite as a last-ditch effort to escape. Fivecent didn't want something like that to happen since they wouldn't stand to benefit in that scenario.
In short, this school could be considered as the only place suppressing the spirit from falling over the edge and going berserk out of loneliness. If an ancient artifact like the Notebook of Secrets That Will Destroy Your Life really went mad, it would be far too difficult for Fivecent to stop it.
This was why they didn't push the spirit too far and permitted the existence of this school.
The spirit let out a sigh and started talking, "Out of all the souls in this school, only a few of them are actually demons. To be honest, most of the souls that Fivecent gathered were all souls with varying purity. Unfortunately, they were tainted by the demons and most of them had gone too far into the abyss. There's no saving them anymore."
"But I'm grateful that you're trying to save Kevin, Leonard, and Ziya. I think that in this school, only the three of them still have that purity that could be their gate to reincarnation. I'm really happy that you came here at just the right time. If you arrived here too late, then you would have nothing to save."
"Instead, you wouldn't be able to do anything other than just to cleanse this place." The spirit let out a sigh.
"Just what is the reason why you build this place? Could it really be because you're lonely? Or does it have anything to do with your inexhaustible thirst for secrets?" Calvin probingly asked.
"Yes... Those souls, even though they were puny and I could easily snuff them out with a flick of my fingers. Their memories actually contained a world that I have never heard before..."
"Stop..."
Calvin suddenly spoke and interrupted the spirit's speech, "What do you mean a world that you have never seen before?"
"Yes... I was just about to tell you what kind of a world I saw in their memories... That world... It's full of wonders! They have lights without the need for fire. They have artifacts that can fit in their pockets containing knowledge that I have never seen before!"
"They are masters of arithmetic and they also have buildings that could tower over mountains!"
"Such a world like that..."
"I'm sure that it's a treasure trove of secrets!"
Bang!
A loud explosion occurred.
Calvin had slammed his fist on the wall beside him.
"What are you doing?" The spirit scrunched its imaginary eyebrows.
It was obviously displeased of Calvin's sudden interruption.
"Those bastards... Those souls..."
"Those souls came from Earth!"
"So, that's the reason why there's a lot of suspected human trafficking cases lately! It's because Fivecent is kidnapping children with the purest of souls all over the world so that they could satisfy your craving for secrets!" Calvin's eyes turned bloodshot out of anger.
Back then at the Waterback Hotel...
Calvin vividly remembered the newscaster talking about some nationwide search for thousands of missing children.
So, those children...
They were here all along!
They were killed, then their souls were harvested before being given to this ancient notebook!
The Notebook of Secrets That Will Destroy Your Life!
Calvin's goodwill towards Fivecent collapsed right here and then.
He felt guilty that he was planning on ditching Fivecent, so he didn't have to attend their guided tutorials that lasted for a year so that he could save some time, but now... He had no guilt at all. In fact, he was happy. To think that he dodged such a bullet!
But Calvin was wondering.
Why was it that he didn't know about all of these back in the previous timeline?
Could this timeline really that vastly different from the previous timeline?
Calvin was already suspicious.
But was he scared?
Of course, not!
How could he be scared of facing adversity?
But he was greatly incensed.
"Fivecent... I'm glad that you raised me up back in my previous life, but now that I know the unscrupulous things that you have done before the backs of everyone. There's no way that I can still idolize you like what I have done before." Calvin silently made a decision.
Afterwards, he turned to the spirit and asked.
"How many enemies do I have left?"
The spirit promptly replied, "There are about three cannon fodders, and there's also that final boss of the Disciplinary Committee, sir Nick."
"Oh, sir Nick? That fat piece of shit? All right, I'll gladly fight him."
"Don't be too complacent, the final boss of this place isn't something that you can easily handle." The spirit warned.
He felt that Calvin was being too arrogant.
"Don't I have you to support me?"
"What?" The spirit was confused.
"You're my Blessed Artifact, right?"
"Umm, yes..."
"Then, aren't you going to support me?"
"Well, I will."
"Then, why are you so confused?"
"Well, I thought that you are going to face them all alone."
"What? Are you stupid? Why would I dare to face them all alone? I may be quite brave, but I don't have a death wish!"
The spirit was speechless.
But Calvin was right.
He was indeed too weak to fight against the Disciplinary Committee members, but with the spirit in tow.
He had a huge chance of defeating them.
It's just that...
The spirit felt that Calvin was being too shameless.