Cataclysm Chapter 35: Crimson Embroidery Shoes 2; Jinshui Secondary School

Chapter 35: Crimson Embroidery Shoes 2; Jinshui Secondary School

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor: Girl from the East 

 

On the wall at the right side of the Branch Office, there was now the Sanqing Zushiye with more on the offering table than before. The five offerings on the table were complete and tidy with the constant addition of burning incense. When Chen Yang came back, he saw Kou Xuanling offering incense to Sanqing Zushiye. He stood aside and waited for him to finish his offering. After paying respects to his Zushiye, Kou Xuanling asked “Director Chen, what can I do for you?”

Chen Yang waved his mobile phone and said, “We have a new job. It’s three stars and they are hiring us for 20 million yuan.”

“That high?” Kou Xuanling washed his hands, picked up a white cloth to wipe them dry. “The employers won’t be hiding any secrets from us, are they?”

“It was published on the app, so it is verified by the Taoist Association. They can be trusted.”

Kou Xuanling nodded, “A three-star job, will you be taking the job with only me?”

“Yes. Xiaoli is a fifth grade Mengwei Tianshi, so she is still unable to accept three-star jobs. In addition, she has recently opened up a business in her school to sell marriage and lucky talismans. She’s making a little pocket money and selling well. Zhang Qiudao is preparing for the promotion examination, so he is busy making up for lessons. I also want him to study in peace. If his promotion is successful, we will have two Wulei Tianshis and two Mengwei Tianshis. The success rate of receiving orders will be higher. Maybe one day I can get a four-star job too. By the way, have you taken any four-star jobs before?”

“I have. But there was no chance for me to do anything. We went to a millennium old tomb. There were groups of hungry ghosts in the ancient tomb. All living creatures were sucked dry whenever they entered the tomb. At that time, there were seven Sangdong Wulei (2nd) Tianshis and one Shangqing (1st) Tianshi. Even the two Sangdong Wulei Tianshis almost died, there were many casualties. As the youngest person in the group with the least qualifications and skills, I could only stay outside the gate of the ancient tomb and wasn’t allowed to go in.”

“It’s that scary.” Chen Yang recalled that Zhang Qiudao had come back from the Deserted Village of the South in southern Guangdong Province before, because of the Taoist Association’s misjudgment, they judged the five-star job as a three-star one, resulting in the loss of a Tianshi. At that time, they had only reached the entrance of the village. “We should wait till we have enough experience before picking up any four-star jobs then. Let’s not say anything else and go prepare things. We are heading out tomorrow.”

“Where are we going?”

“Jingshui secondary school, in Mentou Trench,” Chen Yang said without looking back. He was going to find Mao Xiaoli to draw more talismans in case of an emergency. Since Chen Yang pointed out Mao Xiaoli’s talent for writing talismans, people in the Branch Office loved looking for Mao Xiaoli’s talismans. They regarded her as a human talisman printing machine.

Mao Xiaoli was also cheerful about that. For her it was as easy as practicing calligraphy. When someone in the Branch Office asked for her talismans, she would draw them without reservations. She congratulated Chen Yang for receiving a new job. She told Chen Yang, “The most popular talismans are the Nine Skies Xuannu matching talismans and the Three days Noble Blessing fortune talisman. Unfortunately, the effect is only around ten minutes long. I feel like the sales of the matching talismans have dropped a lot recently.”

Chen Yang suggested, “Why don’t you try to put the seal of the matching Zushiye on the talisman? I remember you worship the two matching Zushiyes, you should have been taught the seal of matching.”

Mao Xiaoli’s eyes lit up, “Yes. I’m going to try it now. Thank you, brother Chen. Goodbye for now, brother Chen.”

In the evening, Mao Xiaoli handed Chen Yang a box of talismans and happily announced to the public that her matching effect could last half an hour now. Because of the inspiration, the effect of the fortune talisman has also increased by 10 minutes.

Both Chen Yang and Ma Shanfeng congratulated her while Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qiudao snorted at the achievement. Mao Xiaoli complained coldly, “There will be a time when you two ask for my talismans.”

Zhang Qiudao, “You will see that in your dreams.”

Kou Xuanling, “In your dreams.”

“I hope you’ll never need to take an exam,” Mao Xiaoli hummed. Then she turned and went back to her room.

“What does it have to do with exams?” Kou Xuanling asked.

Chen Yang opened the box. In addition to the Wulei talisman, there were the Three days Blessing talismans. “Because all the students who bought the three-day blessing talisman were students, they would wear it to the exam after buying it.”

“Cheating?”

“It’s not cheating.” Chen Yang said, “They just get lucky. For example, the test just happened to have the contents of things they had reviewed. Or they just happened to encounter a very simple problem. In short, you will come to have good luck. It’s a very good and useful talisman.”

Kou Xuanling and Zhang Qiudao were both model students so they still don’t see the usefulness of the talisman. That thought was until Chen Yang was only just  lucky enough to survive in Jingshui secondary school because of the blessing talisman. Then did they realize how big a “bug” [game changer] luck was.

The next day, Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling set out for Jingshui secondary school in Mentou Trench. Located in the deep mountains of Mengtou Trench District, Jinshui secondary school was said to be an elite school for rich children. It was famous for its strict school rules, terrifying restrictions and monitoring, and high talent cultivation.

“I’ve heard about this school, and it’s very famous in the Tianshi community. It’s not just about their willingness to spend money, but also because Tianshis are hired by the school every year to do soul-releasing ceremonies.”

“Every year Tianshis are invited to school to do ceremonies? Why? Do people die every year?”

“It’s true that people die every year. Jinshui secondary school is famous for its high-intensity learning so every year there were students who couldn’t bear the pressure and committed suicide. However, Jinshui secondary school is very powerful and is well hidden in the mountains. What happens inside school grounds, the media can’t reach. Moreover, the school is very strict with students’ speech control, so even if there are students who commit suicide every year, there is no big commotion. There are still many parents who put their children in that school, hoping to cultivate a talent.”

“Has the school asked a psychologist to conduct psychological counseling for the students?”

“I heard they hired a famous foreign psychologist. Unfortunately, even the psychiatrist himself almost got sick.”

Chen Yang looked out of the window. At this time, the car was driving deep into the mountains. There were mountains and forests on both sides of the road  with luxuriant green plants. Maybe it was because he had lived in fear and death threats from ghosts for more than ten years that he could not understand the students who committed suicide because of the pressure.

After all, life was precious to Chen Yang. It’s a lucky thing to be alive.

“Then why was there a three-star job?”

“Were there any descriptions on the app?”

“It’s just a simple description of the accidental deaths of some students and other students’ witnessing supernatural events. They hope we can solve it.”

“It doesn’t sound too dangerous. It doesn’t feel like a three-star job.”

“It was probably because the price was high. I got it from the blue section among the three-star jobs.”

After receiving several jobs, Chen Yang realized that the list in the Dafu app was also divided into two sections: blue and green. Both sections have jobs split into five levels of difficulty, but the blue section of the same difficulty was simpler than the green section. This is because the star rating reference of the blue section tends to be based on the price, rather than the difficulty of the job itself.

Therefore, the blue section of the list was usually in short supply. People must snatch them quickly, and you still may not be able to grab them. Chen Yang was very lucky to have used Mao Xiaoli’s three-day blessing charm to grab the Jinshui secondary school job.

While they were talking, they saw a car ahead of them blocking their way. Kou Xuanling looked at the car’s navigator and noticed that they were nearing Jinshui secondary school. Looking at the direction of the car ahead of them,  it should be heading to the same destination as them.

Sure enough, when they approached the gate of Jinshui secondary school, they saw that the car in front of them had been let into the school. “It seems that Jinshui secondary school has placed a hiring request more than once,” said Chen Yang.

The guard stopped them next. Kou Xuanling showed the school employee’s ID to the guard. It had been mailed to them by Jingshui secondary school. Only while wearing it can one enter the school. As soon as the guard saw the ID he let them go in. As the window was closing Chen Yang heard him mutter, “Why are so many people willing to die?”

Chen Yang looked back at the guard who was returning to the guard booth. Just as he was about to turn his head back, the sound of crows suddenly came from the mountains on both sides. They flew up into the air, blocking the gloomy sky with a vast expanse of darkness.

He looked at the time. It was past four o’clock in the afternoon, almost five, “The sky gets dark very fast.” It’s June after all, so it gets dark at seven o’clock. But it normally won’t be so dark at five o’clock. The whole school was within a deep mountain and completely dark.

“It doesn’t look like it will rain though.” Kou Xuanling parked in the parking lot, locked the car and got out. He looked around the school, “It’s really quiet, is it summer vacation now?”

“It’s only the middle of June. The school had encountered some ghostly events so they let secondary grade 4 students leave. They kept the secondary grade 5 students who will be promoted soon to make up for lessons so there are still teachers and students in the school. Maybe they are still in class.”

It was only when they stepped into the school did they find the place oddly silent. It was as if there was no one around. There was no laughter or sounds of lessons. It was as quiet as death. Jinshui secondary school was very large. Straight from the school gate, is a six story administrative building. On the left and right sides are trees and slopes. There is a pond in front of the administration building. On both sides of the pond are roads leading to opposite sides. There were several school buses on the left side and a parking lot on the right side.

Chen Yang’s car was parked in the parking lot. Down the road of the parking lot was the playground, canteen and old dormitory building. Along the left side of the road were the teaching building, the laboratory building and the library. The floors were very old, especially the dormitory building. The top of the building was covered with green vines. Small slopes could be seen surrounding the school, on top of the hills were thick trees.

The growth of trees blocked the sun, so many parts of the school were shady. Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling walked into the administration building. If they were to go directly through the administration building and walk out, they would see another road which connected the administrative building to the teaching building and the dormitory building respectively. However, they took the elevator to the third floor.

Chen Yang, “Administration building room 301, we have to report there first. The other party will tell us about the situation and arrange a dormitory room for us.”

They arrived at Room 301 and knocked on the door. There was also a young man and woman with backpacks on their backs in the room. There was a little Taoist compass pendant hanging on their backpacks. It seems that the other party were the ones who were in front of them in the car just now.

“Are you two from the other group that took the job?”

Chen Yang looked at the person who asked and saw a serious middle-aged man standing there, too. Chen Yang nodded, and the middle-aged man softened his voice and said, “I’m the general director of Jinshui secondary school. My surname is Jin. I’m the person who posted the request. As long as any of you can solve the supernatural incidents in Jinshui secondary school and ensure the normal study of students, the 20 million yuan will be given to you.”

Before Chen Yang opened his mouth, the young man in the other group said languidly, “Don’t worry headteacher Jin. If you have invited us to come, you have hired the right people. We Qiu siblings… ” He made a special glance at Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling, “are not some scammers.”

Chen Yang quietly asked Kou Xuanling, “Do you know them?”

“I don’t know them.”

The implication was that there are no famous Qiu siblings in the Tianshi community. How can they receive jobs on the Dafu app if they were not Tianshis?

Head teacher Jin was obviously not someone who would be biased towards one side with just a few words. He was more inclined to see and believe. Therefore, his attitude towards Qiu siblings and Chen Yang were still impartial, “I’ll ask someone to take you to the teachers’ dormitory. On the way, he will tell you about what has happened in Jinshui secondary school in the past month.”

With that he called a teacher, surnamed Li, to take them away. Teacher Li introduced the school to them while walking in front. He pointed to a teaching building tens of meters away in front of him and said, “There is the teaching building of the senior students. Behind it is the teaching building of secondary 4th and 5th grade students. Now the teaching building of the 4th and 5th grade students is closed. Only the students who will be promoted to secondary 3rd grade are still making up for lessons. The accidental death of the student was in the teaching building of the secondary 6th grade students.”

They looked at the building and saw that the windows of the teaching building of the secondary 6th grade students were tightly closed and the curtains were pulled down. No sound was heard. Qiu Shengming, the younger brother of the Qiu family, said, “There is no human aura. The windows and curtains are all closed. Are they not afraid of being stuffy?”

Teacher Li said indifferently, “The first task of the secondary 6th grade students is to study. The secondary 5th grade students have already stepped into being secondary 6th grade students now. If they do not study, then they are waiting to be eliminated by tens of millions of other students in the country.”

Qiu Shengming was speechless by the teacher’s indifferent attitude. This was also the first time he was refuted back so harshly when he was a Tianshi. Although some people don’t believe in ghosts and gods, people who hire Tianshi often believe it. Since they believe in it, they will naturally respect them. Now, even though Jinshui secondary school hired them to solve the occult incidents, no one here respects Tianshis.

Maybe it’s because high intellectuals don’t believe in ghosts and gods.

Chen Yang asked, “Where did the event happen?”

Teacher Li glanced at Chen Yang and said softly, “At the back hill.” After a short pause, he seemed to remember that they were Tianshis, who had come to solve the incidents, so he added, “See the basketball court behind the library? Behind the iron net of the basketball court is the back hill.”

They looked at the court and could only vaguely see the open space behind the iron net of the basketball court. The ground there was truly a bit higher than the ground at the basketball court. The open space should be the ”back hill” teacher Li spoke of, but it was bare and full of red soil.

Chen Yang gazed at the soil for a long time until Kou Xuanling called him, “Let’s go first.”

At this time, he found that teacher Li had already left, “Mn.” Chen Yang answered. He walked forward, took a few steps, and suddenly looked back at the teaching building. He was shocked to find that the curtains on the fourth and fifth floors of the teaching building were opened and covered with students’ faces. They all looked in this direction indifferently.

Chen Yang frowned, feeling that this job was going to be tricky.

Teacher Li pointed to the dormitory building in front of him and said, “this is the teachers’ dormitory building. Now there are 14 teachers living in the dormitory. There are also four directors living in the dormitory building. The principal and vice presidents live in the principal’s office……”

Qiu Shengming interrupted teacher Li, “your headmaster and vice principal both live in the school? Don’t they go home?”

Teacher Li stared at Qiu Shengming coldly, his eyes penetrating. It was a long time before he said, “it’s impolite to interrupt people at will, Qiu Tianshi.”

After Qiu Shengming apologized, teacher Li continued, “You will be living on the fourth floor, room 404 and 405. Opposite to the teacher’s building are the boys’ and girls’ dormitories. No matter which dormitory you enter, you must first ask the supervisor for instructions and get permission to do so…”

Qiu Shengming held his sister behind his back, “it seems that there is something wrong with his brain. His eyes are very penetrating. I only stared at him and I felt numb all over my back.”

Qiu Shengmin ¹ looked at Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling and whispered to scold her brother, “Don’t talk nonsense.” In fact, she has been feeling uneasy since she came into Jinshui secondary school, but she was not willing to give up on the 20 million yuan. With this money, she could retire with her brother and never be a scammer again.

In fact, the Qiu siblings were slightly famous in the Tianshi community for being scammers. This time they came to Jinshui secondary school just because Qiu Shengming heard two Tianshis discussing the job of Jinshui secondary school in the coffee shop. He heard that the reward was 20 million yuan, so he went back and told Qiu Shengmin. They cheated and got the work permits from the two Tianshi and headed for Jinshui secondary school.

The five people set foot in the teachers’ dormitory building, which was an old building. The stairs are so narrow that if two people stand side by side they would feel crowded. Each step can only hold half of the foot, and it was easy to fall if one was not careful. The corridor was still dark, and teacher Li said, “The corridor lights won’t turn on until six o’clock in the evening.  It turns off at seven in the evening. It will turn on again from nine to ten. Don’t go out in the middle of the night when you have nothing to do.”

Qiu Shengming almost stepped wrong and fell down. He pulled out his mobile phone for lighting with displeasure on his face. Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling looked at each other with a solemn look. He and Kou Xuanling have good eyesights and should be fine as long as they are careful. But teacher Li was completely used to walking up the stairs without even looking at his footsteps.

Finally they arrived at the fourth floor and saw that the fourth floor dormitory was empty. The door was closed, no one had lived there. There was a thick layer of dust on the ground. Chen Yang frowned while teacher Li handed each of them a key at the stairway and said, “Don’t break into the other rooms, especially 401.”

After that, he turned around and left in a hurry as if he was scared of something here.

Qiu Shengming grabbed the key to the dormitory 405 quickly and left with Qiu Shengmin. “404 sounds totally ominous,” he muttered as he walked away. ²

Chen Yang squeezed the key in his hand, “let’s go.”

404 Dormitory was not too far away from the stairs. Opening the door one could see there were beds, cabinets, tables and chairs inside the room. From the cabinet, they could get two sets of bedding, pillows and they were very clean. There was a layer of dust on the corridor outside, but there was no dust in the room.

Chen Yang went to the balcony to see the back of the dormitory building. There was a hillside behind it. Actually, there was nothing to see. Jinshui secondary school is surrounded by mountains. Even though it is summer now, the mountain wind is still very cold at night.

Kou Xuanling took the lead in offering incense to his Zushiye. Then he took out the two beddings and laid them on two single person beds. He took out his mobile phone to check, and saw that there was no signal at all. He looked up at Chen Yang, who came from the balcony. “I don’t have the slightest clue.”

“It’s because teacher Li and head teacher Jin didn’t say anything useful.” Although teacher Li did not stop introducing along the way, there was no useful information “Who is the dead? The cause of death and the supernatural events were not mentioned at all.”

“So we have to find out for ourselves?”

“It’s almost six o’clock. Just now, teacher Li said that classes would be over at six o’clock, and that they would study at night at seven o’clock. Let’s go to the canteen and ask the students.”

Kou Xuanling nodded and cleaned up a bit then they left for the canteen together. After arriving at the canteen, they took out the ID card, and the staff of the canteen motioned them to the small canteen for teachers.

Chen Yang said, “We want to eat here, can we?”

The staff said in embarrassment, “No. The student canteen can only be used by students, and teachers use the small canteen. It’s a school rule.”

“Even eating needs to be according to the rules?”

“If you don’t follow the rules, you’ll be fired.”

Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling could only go to the small canteen. Fortunately, the small canteen is close to the student canteen and only separated by a wall. They sat near the door. After ten minutes, students came in one after another. A round table was occupied with six people, waiting for the chef to serve the last bowl of soup. The students only started eating after that. During this time, no one spoke and all ate quietly.

Their actions made Chen Yang have the illusion of being in the army. The Qiu siblings came around and sat with them and they took the lead in showing goodwill. Seeing the students, Qiu Shengming said, “I always feel like they are walking corpses and everything depends on orders. I get goosebumps all over.”

Chen Yang said, “You went out for a walk early. What did you hear?”

The two are still deliberating, they did not know whether to say their findings. Chen Yang pulled his lips up and gave them a gentle smile, “you two are not Tianshis, are you?”

“And you are?” Qiu Shengming asked.

“We are,” Chen Yang raised his eyes, “but you are not. Yet you still don’t know that something is wrong here.”

When he said the last sentence, he was looking at Qiu Shengmin. Qiu Shengming wanted to retort back, but Qiu Shengmin grabbed him and seriously answered Chen Yang, “We are not Tianshis, but I can see dirty things.”

“Sister!” Qiu Shengming was quite anxious.

“You are born with ghost eyes,” Chen Yang stared at the area between Qiu Shengmin’s two eyes, which is where the so-called Yinyang eyes (another name of Ghost Eyes) were. “Were there a lot of dirty things in Jinshui secondary school?”

Qiu Shengmin’s face was contorting, “On the contrary, it’s so clean that I’ve seen no ghost in the school. At the foot of the mountain, I can see one or two wandering souls who died in a car accident, but I didn’t see any souls or ghosts on the hillside. The school is very clean.”

Sometimes cleanliness doesn’t mean good. Where there are a lot of people there are bound to be ghosts. Especially in schools, mountains and forests. Some time ago, people died here. They should not have time to hire Tianshis to do the soul-releasing ceremonies yet, but that person’s soul disappeared completely.

Knowing that Chen Yang was particularly sensitive to Yin auras and ghostly auras, Kou Xuanling asked him, “How is it?”

“There is Yin auras.” Chen Yang shook his head, “but no ghostly auras.”

The mountains and forests gathered in the Yin aura. In addition, the strict school rules of Jinshui secondary school made it very dark and gloomy at all times. Many of the old buildings in the school were covered with green vines, which made the place even more gloomy. So it’s no surprise that Chen Yang felt Yin aura here. Since he didn’t feel ghostly auras, it’s just as Qiu Shengmin said, she didn’t see any ghosts.

Qiu Shengmin took a deep breath and said, “we can work together, we split the money three seven, we take three, and you take seven. How about it?”

Chen Yang laughed and refused, “Yin Yang eyes are not important to us.” If they wanted to see ghosts, they had many other ways. Besides, when Tianshi reached a certain level of practice, he was more or less sensitive to those things, so it was not important for  his eyes to see the ghosts.

Qiu Shengmin reluctantly pulled a smile, she pulled Qiu Shengming up and left. Qiu Shengming did not understand, “Sister, why do you want to cooperate with them? I don’t think they are very good either. Besides, if you say that the school is clean, it means that the supernatural events are all false. Can’t we just fool around and take the money and leave?”

“It’s not that easy.” Qiu Shengmin stopped and looked up at the window on the third floor of the executive building of Jinshui secondary school. The curtain is slit opened. Suddenly, she saw a face pasted on the window, staring in this direction. When she stared at the place in detail, there was nothing.

Qiu Shengmin staggered back a few steps, grabbed Qiu Shengming’s hand and said, “Let’s leave. I have a very bad feeling about this place.”

Qiu Shengming hesitated, “Sister, 20 million yuan. With 20 million yuan, we don’t have to scam people in the future anymore! Sister, let’s have a look first. Stay for the night at least, if nothing happens tonight, we’ll stay. If something goes wrong, it’s never too late to leave.”

Qiu Shengmin finally failed to resist her brother’s request and agreed to stay for the night. She decided to leave tomorrow no matter what and her foreboding of uncertainty grew heavier and heavier.

After half past six, the guards of the canteen left and all the students began to whisper. Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling stood up and reached the students’ table next to them. They asked the boy who was chatting excitedly.

At first, the boy thought it was the teacher, which startled him. When he learned that Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling were the people who came to investigate the death of some students, he was relieved. “Who else could be doing the killing? Of course it’s the fierce ghosts.”

 

 

 

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