I spent the next few weeks training both myself and Magic Carp. Despite my best efforts, Magic Carp showed no signs of improvement. Well, at least he could finally tackle his opponents now instead of just splashing about futilely.
Even so, I still couldn't throw him into the battlefield yet. He was in no shape to fight my enemies. Hell, he was a lot weaker than me. Even though he was supposed to fight on my behalf and protect me, I would end up having to defend him instead.
"Damn it! If only I have rare candies! Or if there's a spirit beast day care center where I can delegate training to an elderly couple, so that they will help me level Magic Carp up while I run around outside!"
I was practically on the verge of tearing my hair out in frustration, but I kept at it because I knew I had no choice. For better or for worse, Magic Carp was my fated spirit beast partner. We were going to stick together through thick and thin, no matter the adversity.
Nobody said this was going to be easy. I thought I knew that, but I was determined to persevere because I had faith. Because I had the confidence that Magic Carp would someday surprise everyone with his true strength. I believed that as long as I refused to give up and kept at it, my patience and efforts would eventually be rewarded. Even so, I realized that I had underestimated the enormity of the task.
This was going to be tough.
It got incredibly tougher the next morning. When I arrived at my desk, I noticed that something was amiss. One of the desks was empty, and I suddenly felt a stab of panic when I recalled the day Pang Zi went missing.
The girls, too, they were whispering in hushed tones. Jin Bai He, in particular, looked distraught.
"What happened?" I asked, approaching the girls but keeping a sensitive distance. I didn't want to disturb them, not when they were already so emotional. I might trigger an adverse reaction.
Jin Bai He looked up at me, tears spilling from her eyes.
"Xiao Nian…she…"
Tong Xue placed a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention to him. He raised his smartphone and showed me the news. My jaw dropped when I saw that Shi Xiao Nian was currently in the hospital, having fallen into a coma. She had suffered similar symptoms to the other girls, and her adopted parents had found her unconscious in bed this morning.
"How…?" I murmured, feeling a stab of panic. Wasn't the demonic cultivator supposed to be in school? But from the news, it seemed that he or she had somehow gotten into Shi Xiao Nian's home and attacked her? How was this possible? A chill ran down my spine and I clenched my fists.
While I was dawdling about, unable to find the demonic cultivator, he or she had moved on. It wasn't that I didn't try. I had patrolled the school and actively searched for him or her ever since I received the news, but he or she stubbornly remained hidden. Not to mention, ever since the school implemented those measures, the demonic cultivator had all but disappeared from the school premises.
Without any girls to target, the demonic cultivator had chosen to move on. Or so it seemed.
I had failed. While training, I had returned to the school in the middle of the night, evading both my parents and the janitor, but failed to find any sign of the demonic cultivator.
And now a new victim had popped up. And it was someone I knew.
Fuck!
Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and thought for a bit. Clearly, mindlessly searching was not the answer.
But how? How else was I supposed to locate such an elusive demonic cultivator before he or she claimed even more victims?
Unsurprisingly, the mood in the class had turned somber. Even though Shi Xiao Nian wasn't very outspoken or popular, often quietly hiding behind Jin Bai He, she was still well-liked. She was a nice girl who had spoken up for me several times despite her shyness.
I owed it to her to find the perpetuator and bring him or her to justice.
After school, I decided to pay Shi Xiao Nian a visit. To my complete lack of surprise, I saw that Jin Bai He was right beside her, holding her hand and crying.
"Ah, sorry to disturb you…"
"No, not at all. I'm glad you came." She glanced at us. I had accompanied Ban Zhang and Tong Xue, a good number of classmates having shown up to provide Shi Xiao Nian emotional support.
Her foster parents were strangely missing, though. I heard that Shi Xiao Nian also had a younger sister, who was the biological daughter of the couple who adopted her, but she was nowhere to be seen too.
Jin Bai He must have noticed my expression, for she quickly explained.
"Ah, Xiao Nian doesn't get along with her family very well. She and her sister…uh, they have a one-sided rivalry."
"Rivalry?" Tong Xue asked, blinking in confusion. Jin Bai He nodded.
"That's just a simplification. But every time they get in a fight, Xiao Nian's parents will always side with her sister, Shi Di. It's…terrible." Jin Bai He buried her face in her hands. "She has gone through so much suffering, and yet she has to go through even more…"
"We are all here for her," Ban Zhang told her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"That's right!" the other girls insisted, banding together in unity. Say what you will about my class, but we tended to stick up for each other. That was probably why I stood up for Pang Zi when Qi Fu Ren and the rest bullied him. Their attitudes had rubbed off on me.
Shortly after the visit, we left together. As we did so, Tong Xue dropped his voice to a whisper as he walked next to me.
"Don't you notice that Jin Bai He is very close to Shi Xiao Nan?"
"Oh, yeah. That's a given. They are best friends, after all."
"No, I mean they are closer than that." Tong Xue rubbed the back of his neck. "Jin Bai He, especially. Doesn't she seem like she is in love with Shi Xiao Nan?"
"Eh? I guess?" I wasn't very sure. Romance wasn't my forte, after all. But Tong Xue had a point. Jin Bai He and Shi Xiao Nian were awfully close to each other.
Wait, that was…
"But Shi Xiao Nian has a crush on Si Nan from the neighboring class," I suddenly said. "And Jin Bai He was encouraging her…"
Well, not exactly, more like emotionally supporting her when she realized she couldn't win against Mu Zi Xing.
"Yeah, well…Shi Xiao Nian likes guys. But you know, Jin Bai He seems the type who likes girls. So I was wondering…"
"Good point." I nodded. "That's why they call her the prince. I heard that there are a few girls who confessed to Shi Xiao Nian before. The girls from the taekwondo, in particular."
I hadn't actually seen them confess, just heard the rumors. But because they were none of my business, I never paid much attention to them.
"Oh, I've heard about it too!" Tong Xue nodded fervently. Then he hesitated. "It must be hard for Jin Bai He, huh? For her crush to already be in love with somebody else."
"Well, that's…" I wasn't comfortable with such gossip. "…if Jin Bai He needs support, we should give it to her. Stand by her."
"I thought you would say that." Tong Xue grinned. He glanced at the other classmates. "But I don't know how the others will react to it."
"Why?"
"Well…because, you know…"
Same-sex romance wasn't very encouraged here. I came from a more liberal mindset, especially since I spent too much time reading nonsense. So I honestly didn't care. To me, gender was not a barrier for love. I considered myself straight, but that didn't mean I was going to force my sexuality on other people. If Jin Bai He loved Shi Xiao Nian, then that was good. I would support her. Of course, I would also take into account Shi Xiao Nian's feelings, but given how close they were, I doubted anything bad would come out of it.
At the same time, I couldn't be overly intrusive or Jin Bai He would get mad. It was none of my business, after all.
I didn't say that, however. Instead, I paused in the train station where we would go our separate ways. The train that would take me toward the direction to my home was different from the one Tong Xue and Ban Zhang were supposed to board. Knowing this, we prepared to split up. I raised a hand and waved at my friends.
"All right. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye!"
"See you tomorrow."
I nodded and boarded my train. I watched my friends disappear from view as the doors to the train shut and it moved off. As the outside turned into a blur, I allowed my thoughts to wander. Closing my eyes, I sighed.
What should I do?
I couldn't put this off any longer. The demonic cultivator had touched my friend. Honestly, I was hoping that the hidden cultivators would do something about this, but they hadn't done anything so far. And when I tried to do something about this myself, I failed.
Damn it. I couldn't do this alone.
Wait. It wasn't as if I was alone, right? I had contacts. Ye Wu Tian said I could contact him if I had any questions. What if I told him about this? Surely the Divine Dragon Sect wouldn't allow this demonic practitioner to run rampant in Cheng Shi City?
Retrieving my smartphone, I dialed the number and called Ye Wu Tian. He picked it up, thankfully, and I wasted no time telling him about the demonic cultivator. Obviously I left out the part where the perpetuator might be from the future or another world. Even if he was a cultivator, I doubted he would believe me regarding the Celestial Realm or the Nine Heavenly Temporal Tribulation.
Hell, I still had my doubts concerning that. It wasn't that I didn't trust Kai Li Si, but the whole thing just seemed so…unreal to me.
"We do have people looking into it," Ye Wu Tian admitted. "But we haven't found anything so far. You are right, though. From our agents in the police, the autopsies reveal that the victims have their yin qi essence sucked dry. The demonic cultivator is definitely absorbing their essence to practice his or her forbidden arts."
"We have to do something!��� I wasn't able to keep the rage out of my voice. Ye Wu Tian sighed.
"Of course. But that's easier said than done. We can't find the culprit, despite our best attempts. We have tried to draw the demonic cultivator out, but he or she seems to have noticed something. Either that, or our bait wasn't working."
"Huh? Did you just say bait?"
"Yeah. We tried to lure the culprit out with female agents from our side, but he or she never took the bait. I guess it's understandable." Ye Wu Tian's voice was dripping with contempt. "The demonic cultivator is very picky. He or she only targets teenage high school girls. I assume he's a male pervert with a fetish for high school girls in uniform. A sexual predator, even, but none of the girls show any sign of being raped."
I was half paying attention to him now. The information that Ye Wu Tian gave me was churning in my head, forming into a kernel of an idea. Something about bait…and high school girls.
My female classmates flashed into my mind, but I dismissed the image quickly. I couldn't put them in danger, not when they weren't cultivators. They had no way of defending themselves.
However, I knew of one particular high school girl who was a cultivator, and a talented one at that. The so-called reincarnation of the Heavenly Phoenix from the prestigious Na Lan family.
"Hello? Shu Cong? Are you there?"
"Ah, yeah, I am. Sorry." I calmed myself down. "It's just that I have an idea. We might have the perfect bait to lure the demonic cultivator out, after all."