Chapter 59: The Corpse and the Restaurant

"Li Xi, everyone has their own destiny. Such is my fate, and it cannot be changed. From now on, I must walk my path alone. If we ever meet again one day, I hope to fight side by side with you. Farewell."

This was the last thing Jinyuan said to me before he left.

After Jinyuan spoke those words, Liu Sui patted my shoulder as well. "Jinyuan is fated to endure this tribulation. You don't need to be too pessimistic; perhaps there are opportunities hidden within this destiny. He has his path to walk, and you must walk yours. You should strive to better yourself. If both of you defy the heavens and change your fates, when you meet again in the future, you will be able to fight side by side."

Watching their departing backs, I silently chanted in my heart: "Jinyuan, I wish you good fortune and success in defying your fate. I will certainly not let you down. When we meet again another day, fighting side by side, we will surely be invincible."

I stood in place for a long time, staring fixedly in the direction they had left. But they had long since vanished from my sight.

After regaining my composure, I tightly clutched the two talismans Liu Sui had left behind and headed for the kindergarten. Upon arriving, I found the two children who had been planted with the puppet spell, burned the talismans into ash, mixed it with water, and made the two children drink it.

Until this very moment, the matter of the puppet spell finally came to an end. As for that ghost master, although he had escaped, he had also suffered heavy injuries during his flight, and he would not come to wreak havoc again anytime soon.

Returning to school, my life regained its peace.

Not long after Jinyuan left, his parents came to the school once. And to my utter surprise, I ended up severely chewing out Jinyuan's parents.

The reason was that Jinyuan's parents were completely unaware of anything that had happened to him during this period. The last time Jinyuan was in a car accident and went missing for nearly half a month, his parents had no idea. This time, Jinyuan left the school with Liu Sui, with no guarantee of whether he would return alive, and his parents were still clueless.

The only reason they had sought him out at the school was that they had deposited living expenses for Jinyuan for two consecutive months, yet Jinyuan hadn't touched a single cent. When they finally came looking for him at the school, they had even intended to drag Jinyuan out and demand an explanation. As a result, after inquiring everywhere, teachers and students alike told them that Jinyuan had already gone missing.

Upon hearing that Jinyuan's parents had come to the school, I took the initiative to approach them and strike up a conversation. During our talk, I discovered that the two of them knew almost nothing about Jinyuan. In a fit of anger, I pointed right at the pair and unleashed a furious tirade. The two of them stood there in utter shock, their faces burning red, yet they did not talk back.

In the end, I sent them away. As for everything concerning Jinyuan, I still chose not to tell them.

Suddenly, I felt a trace of sympathy for Jinyuan. Although he was the son of a wealthy family, I felt that his life wasn't particularly good. No wonder his past self had been so wild and untamed.

***

After Jinyuan's parents left, I turned my attention to the note Jinyuan had left behind. Written on it were the tasks Liu Sui had assigned to the two of us. There were eight tasks in total, but Liu Sui and I had only completed the first one. Now, I was prepared to take Jinyuan's place and complete them alone.

However, I was delayed by two other matters.

The first matter was that Cheng Keyan had resigned and left. The second matter was that Hu Tou was also leaving.

On the second day after sending away Jinyuan's parents, I decided to visit Cheng Keyan at the hospital. However, when I rushed to the hospital, the ward was completely empty. I asked the doctor and only then learned that Cheng Keyan had already been discharged a few days earlier. Holding a bouquet of fresh flowers, I casually tossed the flowers into the trash can upon hearing this news.

I rushed all the way back to the school, hurrying to the archives building, only to find another teacher sitting in Cheng Keyan's office. After inquiring, I learned that on the very day she was discharged, Cheng Keyan had hurried back to the school to handle her resignation procedures.

I had never expected that my day at the hospital would be the last time I ever saw Cheng Keyan. After that, I never laid eyes on her again. As for her husband getting entangled with a fox spirit, my heart ached with powerlessness. I could only hope Cheng Keyan would appear once more so I could ask Liu Sui to vanquish the fox spirit and restore a happy household to her.

On the very same day I heard the news of Cheng Keyan's resignation, as I returned to my dormitory, I discovered that this fellow Hu Tou was actually packing his luggage. Whenever I entered the dorm in the past, I would always find him playing video games. But today, his computer was turned off.

Looking at Hu Tou with utter confusion, I asked, "Where are you going?"

Hu Tou flashed a grin at me, his chubby face blooming with a bright, hearty smile. " Oh, Li Xi, I haven't had the chance to tell you yet. I asked the school for a month's leave, and I'm heading out to participate in a tournament. The League of Legends National Championship, you see! Winning first place comes with a massive cash prize, you know."

Not knowing what else to say, I could only step forward and pat his shoulder. "I wish you success. You better bring that trophy back, kid."

Amidst hearty laughter, Li Xiang and I saw Hu Tou onto his ride, then watched him vanish from our sight.

Yet, never in my wildest dreams did I expect that once Hu Tou left this time, he would never return either.

On that day, I didn't think deeply into Hu Tou's affairs, simply believing that the kid had truly gone to a gaming tournament and was preparing to win a huge prize. Because it was getting rather late, Li Xiang and I grabbed a meal and went back to the dorm to sleep soundly.

***

Yet the very next day, we heard a heavy piece of news: Hu Tou had dropped out of school. Hu Tou's mother had fallen gravely ill, requiring a vast amount of money for medical treatment, and Hu Tou had voluntarily chosen to suspend his studies and go out into the world to work.

This news came straight from our head teacher's mouth. When Li Xiang and I heard it, we felt as though we had been struck over the head with a club, standing frozen in place for a long while.

Before class even ended, Li Xiang and I sprinted out of the school. But at the school gates, Hu Tou's figure was nowhere to be found.

In the span of just a few short days, so many things had happened. What I found most unacceptable was that three people in succession had vanished from my life.

Jinyuan, Cheng Keyan, Hu Tou.

The faces of those three replayed in my mind over and over again. And after suffering through two entire nights of insomnia, I finally sobered up. I decided to pull myself together and absolutely refused to sink into such despair.

On the third morning, I once again pulled out the paper listing the tasks assigned by Liu Sui. There were eight tasks in total. Back then, Jinyuan and I had completed the first task: searching for a corpse.

As for the second task, a corpse had revived at a certain family's home, and I needed to go help suppress it. "Corpse rising" roughly meant that a dead body had climbed up on its own. It might turn into a jiangshi, or it might turn into a walking corpse.

Following the address, I tracked down the location of the corpse rising. To my surprise, the location was neither a funeral parlor nor the home of someone who had just died, but rather a restaurant.

Puzzled, I walked into the restaurant and met a chef named Xu Ling. I followed this chef named Xu Ling into the restaurant's kitchen, only to discover that several corpses were actually laid out inside the kitchen.

Was this restaurant selling human meat?