Chapter 69: Yucai High School
At first glance, Li Zhi knew—this was Xiang Min.
Even in death, the girl's corpse remained eerily lifelike, cheeks flushed with unnatural color. She sat cross-legged, right hand raised in a grotesque imitation of a Buddhist mudra.
When the wall cabinet opened, the Three Corpses Worm's mental assault peaked. But between Li Zhi's iron will and the sunflower pendant's restorative power, she held her ground.
So this was why Xiang Min's ghost was missing.
Her corpse had become the worm's breeding ground—her suicide's resentment its nourishment.
The mother worm had to be inside her body. But how to destroy it?
"The Three Corpses Deity cannot be destroyed. How can humans kill a god?"
The principal's taunting whisper echoed in her ears.
Li Zhi scanned the office—blackout curtains, airtight electric doors, lightless hallway windows, the damp administration building. The worms inside Zhou Jianzhang's group only attacked at night. The haunted games required darkness to spread infection.
A realization struck.
It fears light.
She yanked the curtains open.
Sunlight flooded in, yet the recessed wall niche remained shadowed. To drag Xiang Min's corpse into the light meant physical contact—and infection by the mother worm.
Gritting her teeth, Li Zhi wheeled the principal's chair to block the doorway. Outside, chaos reigned.
"Tan Manyu! Bring the hallway mirror!"
While she held the line against the brainwashed horde, Tan Manyu—ever reliable—sprinted downstairs.
The mirror arrived swiftly. Li Zhi angled it to beam sunlight directly into the niche.
Xiang Min's corpse began to smolder. A shrill, ultrasonic shriek pierced the air—then silence, as if vacuum-sealed.
The sunflower pendant at Li Zhi's chest grew scalding hot. She bit her tongue, using pain to stay upright.
Under relentless light, the corpse combusted. Flesh burned away, leaving only a seated skeleton.
From between the bones, a black worm—thumb-sized—writhed toward shadows. But the light pursued it. Slower... slower... until it stiffened. A charred hole expanded across its body, reducing it to ash.
In the hallway, Tan Manyu's team blinked back to awareness. The infected students collapsed unconscious.
Li Zhi's mirror slipped from numb fingers, shattering.
"Infirmary," she managed before darkness claimed her.
Night. Infirmary.
Li Zhi awoke to soft blankets and dim lamplight. Li Jianxi sat vigil beside her, tension easing as she stirred.
"How do you feel?"
"Better."
He pressed the repaired sunflower pendant into her palm. "Wear this. It'll heal your mind."
She studied him—the rare, unguarded smile that made him seem real, not some scripted NPC.
He's different.
But there would be time to unravel his secrets later.
Moonlight bathed the quiet campus. Nearly midnight—one final game awaited in the dorms.
"I have to go."
Li Jianxi nodded. "Next time."
The quiet hope in his voice warmed her. "Next time."
Dorm 404. Mirror Game.
At the stroke of twelve, candlelight flickered across the grimy mirror. As her teammates brushed her hair seven times, the glass rippled like water.
A classroom materialized—laughing students in blue-and-white uniforms.
A ponytailed girl struggled to erase high chalkboard text. A lanky boy snatched the eraser, finishing the job with exaggerated swipes.
Xiang Min and Xie Cong—alive, unbroken.
The mirror showed what Li Zhi wished to see: Xiang Min's truth.
Scenes unfolded—stolen glances, hidden kindnesses.
The Christmas apple he'd secretly picked for her. The meticulous notes she left in his desk.
Then the turning point:
Xiang Min witnessing the principal implanting a worm into a troublemaker's ear.
Her frantic warning to Xie Cong.
His transformation into a hollow mimicry of himself.
The systematic bullying orchestrated by teachers. Xie Cong's aborted attempt to stop her suicide—his body briefly fighting the worm's control before losing.
Her final smile before the fatal leap.
The candle snuffed out.
The system's voice rang:
"Congratulations. 60 points achieved. Yucai High School cleared. Proceeding to popularity tally. Stay tuned for next episode."