Who left their last words here?

Chapter 80 Major: "Found you, Bai Zhou!"

Another last message.

The writing was distorted and blurred, as if a dying person had used their last strength to carve it, and it seemed to be crawling slightly on the ground.

The sound of crying, along with the appearance of the writing, gradually faded away and eventually disappeared.

Bai Zhou pondered for a moment, then cautiously and slowly approached.

The innermost cubicle was unlocked, and the door was slowly pulled open.

There were no demons or monsters baring their fangs and claws as expected, nor were there any impactful scenes to be seen.

There was nothing behind the door.

Even the crying had stopped by now. If it weren't for the still vivid blood-written words on the ground, Bai Zhou would have almost thought he had just hallucinated.

A chill ran down his spine. Bai Zhou looked around the empty public restroom corridor, where only the sound of the wind could be heard as it lifted the heavy curtain with a "clatter".

"..."

Silently, Bai Zhou looked at the last words at his feet.

Someone died here.

But the person who left the last words was probably not a particularly remarkable person.

Because the last words were quite vague and did not put any pressure on Shiraishu.

Like ordinary, plain handwriting, it wriggled beneath the white boat's feet.

[Save...save...me...]

No, please don't save me—

I don't deserve to live!

What did these last words mean?
What did the person who left a suicide note experience before they died to say, "I don't deserve to live"?

Bai Zhou frowned, then slowly stepped back.

He has a ritual... called [Shadow Mirror].

You can see a photograph of someone who died at the location of their unnatural death.

Perhaps, this can help Bai Zhou answer some of his questions, at least to find out the identity of the deceased.

However, this ritual involves life and death and has very strict conditions. It requires burning sage at midnight to perform the ritual.

Even so, Bai Zhou could only see a shadow; he could neither speak with the dead nor see the real souls of the dead.

Because apart from the Reflection Ruins, any ritual involving life and death is a taboo among taboos.

It's an outright "dark ritual"!
This is definitely not something a beginner like Shiraishu (White Boat) can access.

The warning Ya had given to Bai Zhou still echoed in her ears, and when she brought it up, her expression was more serious than ever before:
"Throughout history, there have been many extraordinary individuals who attempted to cross the line between life and death and fell into the demonic path, but in the end they all suffered the consequences."

"During the Elizabethan era in Western Commonwealth England, there was a man named John Dee who, under the instigation and seduction of the alchemist Edward Kelly, became obsessed with the art of summoning the dead from the graveyard."

"In the end, the two of them did manage to summon the dead, but under the guidance of the spirits, they began a dissolute life that was extremely unethical."

"At that time, Dee was a renowned authority figure."

"In the surface world, he was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and philosopher, driving the revival of mathematics in Britain and redefining the concept of cosmology."

"In the mystical world, he used Aztec obsidian 'mirrors' to conduct psychic experiments and studied the language of angels."

"Furthermore, he attempted a crazy angel summoning by incorporating symbols of shamanic culture, and privately collected many incredible, mysterious items that seemed to be related to mythology..."

"—A legendary and extraordinary individual who absolutely stands at the pinnacle of the era!"

Even when he began studying alchemy in his later years, he was still referred to as "the last serious alchemist".

"...But even such beings went astray due to their attempts at black rituals, and were eventually forced to temporarily flee Britain, which is regrettable."

"In many cases, 'dark rituals' are inextricably linked with 'sexual promiscuity,' so never touch them!"

The crow's warning is thought-provoking.

The boundary between life and death is something that ordinary people yearn for and pursue, but it is also the most taboo topic for extraordinary people.

—What do the "last words" left by the deceased in Bai Zhou's eyes mean?
Does he mean he has always been walking a path of taboo?

Only he could hear the deceased's last wishes.

Only he could fulfill the deceased's regrets.

With this ability, what kind of person will he become?

...Nevertheless, the cautious Shiraishu did not intend to easily attempt those "dark rituals".

As for [Shadow Mirror]?
Since the crow dared to teach it, it means it wasn't a "dark ritual".

This is a perception, a collection and perception of the intense emotional fragments left behind by the deceased during their lifetime, not true "spiritual communication".

It is often used by extraordinary people who have lost loved ones, in order to get rid of their grief, see their loved ones one last time, and seek some psychological comfort.

As long as the conditions are met, even beginners in rituals can set it up.

—Shirashu always felt that the extraordinary person who invented this ritual must have been very gentle.

"If you have ever felt a strong sense of resentment towards death..."

Black Cat Bai Zhou took one last, deep look at the last words on the ground and silently recited them in his heart.

"Leave this feeling here, let me bear witness."

We'll just have to come back here at a different time to perform the ceremony.

Hopefully, the deceased left behind strong emotions here...

Because the stronger the emotion, the clearer the shadow it leaves behind, and the more Bai Zhou can know.

……

After leaving the public restroom, Bai Zhou continued his investigation around the school.

He searched every hidden corner.

Sure enough, he made an unusual discovery.

—Ritual symbols!
Several ritual symbols were unearthed by Bai Zhou from a hidden, dilapidated corner!

That is, Shiraishu.

They have experience in finding hidden corners and arranging explosive rituals to blow up bases.

Otherwise, these rituals, which are held in particularly secluded locations, would be completely unnoticed by ordinary people!
That's why they say... bad people understand bad people best, right?

This is what it means to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

"What... are all these?"

After examining each symbol and pattern in every corner, Bai Zhou began to identify and ponder them.

These ritual symbols are all different and their meanings are unclear.

I don't know how long they were carved, but they've all faded and are now incomplete.

Based on Bai Zhou's initial assessment, they should no longer have much effect.

But at some point in the past, they must have played a special role.

Having memorized these patterns, Bai Zhou became more spirited.

"This school—"

"There is indeed a problem!"

The mysterious girl in the graduation photo.

A suicide note written in blood in the toilet.

There are also faded ritual symbols scattered throughout hidden corners.

—It makes no sense for multiple supernatural events to occur simultaneously in one school.

If...

Then they must not exist independently, but be interconnected!

Unless this is not a regular school that provides compulsory education.

—It is a magic school that specializes in teaching magic, teaching how to concoct potions, and how to ride broomsticks.

and so.

All these clues point to the center of a vortex.

If you pass through the end of the vortex, you will most likely see what the major has painstakingly hidden!

—Even now, Bai Zhou still can't understand it.

How did the major's "industrial chain"—those people tattooed with red spiders—become connected with an ordinary junior high school and two of its students?
"..."

Its vertically oriented cat eyes narrowed slightly, its eerie gaze gleaming.

As the fog thickened, Bai Zhou realized with growing clarity...

He may have already stepped into the forbidden zone that the major must never let outsiders know about.

"Jingle Bell--"

Bai Zhou was pondering this when the bell rang, signaling the end of get out of class.

The familiar voice even evoked a sense of nostalgia in Bai Zhou.

As groups of students in school uniforms appeared and disappeared, their chatter could be heard from afar.

Based on his previous experience of being chased by his classmates, Bai Zhou quickly hid in a tree.

eavesdropping from a tree branch:
"How can there be such a thing as an entrance exam for school!"

These are students who have just started the second year of junior high school.

The cries of agony blended together.

"Don't ask me how to set up the equations. I figured out that chicken and rabbit problem by counting the numbers in the picture."

"You might not believe it, but for the last question, I spent a whole page of drafts and half an hour on it..."

"In the end, the known conditions were overturned."

When the last person spoke, the students all stood in awe and respect.

How do you solve Xiaoming's problem?

"I wonder how much that scoundrel should pay for the popsicle again."

Xiaoming?

Shirazuki also knows how to do this.

Xiaoming is also in Wancheng's classes.

It seems that whether it's Blue Star or Wancheng, Xiaoming is undoubtedly a superstar, accompanying every boy's growth.

Unfortunately, this mysterious man who never knows how much he'll pay for things, whose ink repeatedly ruins his test papers, who always gets math problems wrong, and who even never knows how old his own mother is...

It can only accompany each person for nine years, and then disappears after high school.

—Maybe it's because this idiot couldn't get into high school.

"Don't worry about Xiaoming. You still have an English exam to take later. Just thinking about Li Hua gives me a headache."

"Don't say anything that's detrimental to unity... I love the Eastern Federation and don't understand the gibberish of the Western Federation."

Some people spoke with righteous indignation.

But some people sighed and lamented:

"The thought of the holiday being completely over, and having exams like this every week, makes me feel quite depressed..."

“You’re right, but this is our top school in Tinghai, the Yuanmeng Middle School with a 100% rate of students getting into key universities.”

"I remember our middle school had a school counselor, right? Where was their office? I feel like I might need their help."

"It's a pity, I heard that the school counselor has taken a long leave and gone back to her hometown."

The energetic young people wailed loudly and gradually disappeared into the distance.

Not far away, the younger students who had just finished their military training were drenched in sweat, each one looking like a fish dying of thirst on the shore.

...Everyone has their own troubles during their youth.

But after a long time, these worries will turn into memories of youth.

Bai Zhou wholeheartedly agreed with this.

As people grow up, they tend to cling to outdated ideas about these troubles...

For example, when seeing his junior training hard, he would enthusiastically go and watch.
On the day the students took their exams, I was eating barbecue skewers as I passed by the school gate, reflecting on life.

Bai Zhou had done all of these things in the youth training group.

I've suffered the hardships I've endured, and I love to see others suffer them again.

The green trees cast long shadows, and the campus is filled with vibrant noise.

Even Bai Zhou, a "veteran wanted criminal" with a lifeless mind, felt as if he had returned to the carefree age of thirteen or fourteen.

But... such a harmonious and youthful campus...

Who was it that, this damned thing, placed such a bizarre and unpredictable vortex into it?

……

A day passed quickly and quietly.

Bai Zhou overheard a lot of information, but few of it was useful.

Most of them are about the troubles of youth or topics related to studying and attending classes.

Although a few more hidden ritual symbols were discovered, no other new discoveries were made.

As darkness fell, Bai Zhou quietly left the school.

That concludes today's survey.

It's 5:24 PM now, more than five hours before midnight.

Time was of the essence, and Bai Zhou had to find a place to prepare to meet the major's pursuers.

The major must not be allowed to know that he has discovered the anomaly here and is investigating the school.

He needs time to find a suitable place, make some arrangements, and then leave.

...This will be a surprise.

But before Operation White Boat—

It vibrated gently with a "hum".

The ribbons above their heads spread out in the air on their own.

The sound of the windbreaker fluttering overhead was like a bird spreading its wings.

Lazily stretching, her trench coat billowing in the evening breeze, Miss Crow makes her appearance in mid-air.

"how's it going?"

The toes touched the air, creating ripples in mid-air.

A cool, slightly hoarse voice reached my ears.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, her ruby-like pupils glanced casually at Bai Zhou.

"What have you been busy with all day?"

……

It didn't take long.

The top floor of an office building by the roadside.

Two figures appeared there, standing opposite each other.

The white boat transformed back into human form, and the raven explained in detail the discoveries of the day.

“...unfamiliar ritual symbols.”

As he tried to decipher the incomplete symbols that Bai Zhou had drawn on the ground with pebbles, Ya frowned.

"It bears traces of Eastern Federation witchcraft, but also the shadow of Western Federation shamanism."

"My personal guess is that it might be some kind of ritual that is close to a curse, but it will take time to experiment and decipher it."

As he spoke, the crow looked up at the white boat, seemingly lost in thought:
"Unexpectedly, you actually stumbled upon an unusual school by sheer chance."

"Without a doubt, targeting schools in the surface world has crossed the line for all officials and all extraordinary individuals with a conscience."

"Anyone who dares to do this must be incredibly audacious and have a lot of confidence!"

People who meet this criterion...

The answer lies in the hearts of both of them.

Crow's eyes were filled with coldness, all sleepiness gone, as he calmly analyzed the situation for Bai Zhou:

"But now, simply infiltrating is unlikely to yield much more."

"You need to connect with people in the school to better identify your targets."

"Have you thought about this?"

“Yes,” Bai Zhou sighed, “but that’s precisely the difficulty.”

“The school is xenophobic, and an unfamiliar face like mine would stand out too much.”

"But in its black cat form... it's even more impossible for it to communicate with people."

They'd just get kicked out by security guards with a fork.

In fact, Bai Zhou's first investigation of Yuanmeng Middle School yielded considerable results.

However, the investigation then clearly hit a bottleneck.

This afternoon, he spent half the day sunbathing on campus, but gained almost nothing.

But Crow waved his hand, seemingly confident:

"Therefore, you need an identity."

"identity?"

"Actually, hunters are very good at disguise, or helping others disguise themselves."

The raven's tone was leisurely, but the words it uttered only made Bai Zhou's expression more confused.

"Did you just mention that a counselor at Yuanmeng Middle School is on extended leave?"

"So, what I mean is..."

The crow pointed to the white boat and nodded.

"You, go and replace this counselor."

Bai Zhou: "?"

Look left, look right.

After confirming that no one else was around.

Bai Zhou paused for a moment, then pointed to himself.

"……I?"

—18 years old? A teacher?

Miss Crow, are you awake?
……

It was 22:30 PM.

The moon hangs high in the sky.

The North District is a well-known office area in Tinghai City.

It's close to the beach and has beautiful scenery.

Tall office buildings and commercial buildings stand here.

However, due to the economic downturn in recent years, even in such places, there are some abandoned and unclaimed "ghost buildings" due to commercial disputes.

One of the "Starlight Buildings" is such a building.

From the outside, the shape of this building is somewhat like a... furnace, or rather, an alchemy furnace.

The exterior glass curtain wall is quite well-designed and looks rather luxurious.

The interior was completely unfinished, with bare walls everywhere, and some floors didn't even have stairs. It was a real abandoned building.

At this time.

A furtive figure appeared on the 20th floor rooftop and opened the window.

A gust of wind rushed in, ruffling the corner of Bai Zhou's black trench coat.

Moonlight streamed in, illuminating the darkness behind the white boat.

The unfinished room should have been empty...

At this moment, however, it is densely covered with various symbols and all sorts of handmade mechanisms.

A dazzling array of goods, everything imaginable.

Something like this...

Bai Zhou did not build a room.

Instead, they built only half a building!
At this moment, Bai Zhou, who had just finished his busy work and was panting, looked up at the bright moon outside the window.

The evening breeze was slightly chilly, and the moonlight gently caressed my face.

Cars come and go beneath my feet, and pedestrians hurry by.

"The moonlight is so bright."

Seeing this, Bai Zhou couldn't help but sigh:

"—What a dark night!"

……

At nightfall.

Branch 36.

The office doors and windows were locked, the lights were off, and all light was cut off.

The twelve candles burned silently, their flickering light illuminating the major's face through the heavy shadows.

In the center, surrounded by twelve candles, sits an antique bronze compass on the desk.

What's in the center of the compass isn't a pointer, but rather a passport photo that Shiraishu had taken earlier.

Around the photograph, on the surface of the compass, layers upon layers of cryptic text seem to threaten to engulf it.

The major reached out, picked up a candle, and placed it directly on top of the photograph.

With a "smack"—

Melted red wax dripped down, like crimson blood, covering Bai Zhou's face.

As the red wax dripped, the major muttered a spell:

"Use wax as blood to sacrifice to your divine light."

"All spirits from all directions traverse the illusions."

"Searching for traces, appearing in one place!"

"Om..."

The compass vibrated, and the cryptic inscriptions on it seemed to come alive.

As if in response, the remaining eleven candles on the table suddenly flared up.

Their wax dripped continuously onto the smooth tabletop, as if guided by an invisible hand.

Every drop of blood-red wax solidified and deformed the moment it touched the surface of the desk, turning into one charred and twisted scribble after another.

Finally, these writings formed the location of the white boat—

A clear location coordinate system!

[Qiancheng Subdistrict, Beicheng District, unfinished Xingguang Building]

"Got you……"

Behind the dim candlelight.

The major's face, half-hidden in the silent shadows, curled into a sinister smile.

It was as if the predator had once again rediscovered the bloodshed of its lost prey.

You're really fast! After you hid, I couldn't find you anywhere.

But, it didn't work.

All the farce will end tonight.

The "artists" and the "Black Knights" will give the unprepared White Boat a huge surprise!

—Surprise, isn't it?