Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

"Eh—"

Cheng Caijun looked at the coin covered in sticky blood that had fallen to the ground and was about to pick it up.

Lu Changsheng slapped Cheng Caijun's hand away with his right hand, while his left hand quickly pinched something.

"Fortune telling".

Lu Changsheng stared at the arrangement of the three coins on the ground.

"When the Zhongfu hexagram changes to the Kui hexagram (Fire over Lake), and the responding line is accompanied by the Black Tortoise, it changes from trustworthy to untrustworthy."

Lu Changsheng picked up the three blood-stained coins from the ground, casually wiped them with the corner of his clothes, and handed them to Cheng Caijun.

"This statement was correct before it was changed, so we can trust this so-called 'shadow'."

"You're telling fortunes in this godforsaken place? What good does that do?"

Cheng Caijun stared in disbelief at Lu Changsheng's outrageous actions.

You can question my character, but you can't question my professional competence.

Lu Changsheng had a righteous and awe-inspiring expression on his face.

No, I knew this guy was really good at it, and I didn't realize he actually was.

[Six-line divination, able to create, calculate, and interpret hexagrams with just one hand—a true master!]

The number of viewers in the live stream suddenly surged, including some true masters who were expressing their amazement.

[Wow, I just finished calculating with pen and paper! The Zhongfu hexagram changes to the Huoze Kui hexagram, with the responding line accompanied by the Black Tortoise. The main theme is the transformation from truth to falsehood. Awesome, master!]

[Hey upstairs, can you explain this? What's with this "fu" and "bufu"? I don't understand.]

[Zhongfu, in ancient times, represented the virtue of consistency between words and deeds, a noble character symbolizing integrity and truthfulness. However, it transforms into the Huoze Kui hexagram, signifying divergence and conflicting intentions. If the responding line is accompanied by Xuanwu (Black Tortoise), then the responding line represents this matter. Xuanwu signifies deception, indicating that more than one person is involved, and the other party is deliberately concealing the truth.]

"Oh dear, I can't explain this to you laymen. All you need to know is that Lu Changsheng's fortune-telling abilities are top-notch in the metaphysical world."

[You write a lot, so I believe you...]

Lu Changsheng did not answer. He squatted down and carefully observed the ground.

Dark brown stains seeped from the grout lines of the floor tiles, resembling dried blood. One of the tiles was noticeably loose at the edge, slightly warped.

"Help me out," Lu Changsheng whispered.

Although Cheng Caijun was afraid, he still reached out and helped him pry open the brick.

Beneath the brick was a narrow opening, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. The opening was pitch black, but a faint breeze rose from below, carrying the same stench of disinfectant and decay as the toilet—only stronger and more pungent.

"Is this a ventilation duct? Or a sewer?" Cheng Caijun swallowed hard.

Lu Changsheng then remembered the words on the ceiling—

Always believe in your shadow.

He looked up at the crackling lamp—its light dim, yet casting a distorted shadow in the corner. His shadow was elongated, pointing diagonally toward the hole.

"It's not a ventilation duct," Lu Changsheng stood up, dusting off his hands. "It's a road."

"Are you going down?" Cheng Caijun's face turned pale.

"The rules mention 'Fourth Teaching Building,' but reporting is strictly prohibited in the examination room. This means it exists but is deliberately hidden. Since we've finally found a way, we have to take a look, especially since..." Lu Changsheng pointed to the ceiling and then to the shadow at his feet. "I believe in my divination. Divination doesn't lie, so I believe in the shadow."

As Lu Changsheng spoke, he crouched down and crawled into the hole. Cheng Caijun hesitated for a few seconds, then gritted his teeth and followed him.

The cave was initially narrow, but after crawling a few meters, it gradually widened, revealing a sloping concrete passage. The walls were damp and covered in moss, and the sound of dripping water could be faintly heard in the distance—drip, drip, a rhythmic sound that was unsettling.

At the end of the passage was a rusted iron gate, with a rickety wooden sign hanging on it:

[Fourth Teaching Building - Basement]

A pale light shone through the crack in the door.

"Have we... arrived at the fourth teaching building?"

Cheng Caijun never expected that there would be a passage leading directly to the fourth teaching building hidden in the main teaching building's restroom.

"It should be."

Lu Changsheng nodded, then pushed open the door—

Lu Changsheng pushed open the half-closed door, and a strong, almost tangible stench of blood and corpses rushed out.

The stark white emergency lights hung high above, illuminating the scene below—on the floor of the circular hall, an incredibly complex and enormous pattern was drawn with a dark red, almost black liquid.

A sixty-six-corner formation.

Each corner pointed precisely to a specific location, and at the apex of each corner lay a prostrate corpse dressed in a blue and white school uniform. The corpses were already desiccated, their skin clinging tightly to the bones, exhibiting a waxy texture, yet they all maintained a kneeling, bowed posture, their hands clasped in front of them, like the most devout offerings.

A total of sixty-five bodies.

Lu Changsheng's gaze swept rapidly across the area, his heart pounding like a drum.

"A ritual to change one's luck..."

"What is that?"

Cheng Caijun asked, his face deathly pale.

"A kind of evil magic that uses sixty-six as the number of the Earthly Fiends to form a complete closed loop, triggering the transmission of some kind of extremely evil or imprisoning power."

Lu Changsheng's expression was solemn as he recounted the corpses on the ground. There were sixty-five, exactly in the northeast corner of the formation, with one missing.

There was only a slightly concave outline, outlining a missing human figure. The floor within the outline was an exceptionally dark color, as if yearning for the last drop of "paint" to fill it in.

Sixty-six cents, one cent short.

"These are all students...?"

Cheng Caijun's voice had changed tone. He covered his mouth tightly to prevent himself from screaming out. He recognized the school uniforms; they were exactly the same as those worn by the NPC students in the examination hall.

"The sixty-sixth one is missing. Or perhaps it hasn't been placed yet."

The missing corner faced the direction they had come from. The formation seemed to stagnate as a result, its power unable to operate fully, but the oppressive feeling of being stared at by countless empty eyes, and the chilling resentment that seemed to drip water in the air, did not diminish in the slightest.

"It seems the third scenario I mentioned has occurred..." Lu Changsheng carefully examined the school uniform on the corpse, confirming that it was identical to the school uniform of the NPC in the examination room.

"There's definitely something unclean going on at this school."

Lu Changsheng whispered:

"We need to find that missing 'corner.' The incomplete formation indicates that the ritual was not completed or was interrupted. This could be a chance for survival, or it could be a much bigger trap."

Just then, the jade pendant in his arms suddenly emitted a scorching light.

"not good!"

Lu Changsheng suddenly looked down. The center of the formation had begun to crack quietly at some point, oozing out a gurgling, fresh, dark red liquid.

Instead of flowing everywhere, the liquid slowly moved along the lines of the array towards the blank corner, as if it were alive and trying to "draw" the missing last part.

What chilled him to the bone even more was that, with the flow of blood, the sixty-five corpses seemed to emit extremely faint "clicking" sounds, like rusty gears starting to turn.

Their heads were slowly, almost suffocatingly, rising little by little.

Their empty eye sockets turned in unison to the two people standing at the edge of the formation.