The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

He spent the night peacefully reviewing his lessons and reading, only letting his thoughts wander once he lay down in bed.

In Hisamitsu's eyes, what is the life of an ordinary person like? It's probably not something to be envied, because her personality is too different from that of ordinary people. Excessive self-centeredness, erratic thinking, and unique hobbies—all these factors make her have little interest in face-to-face communication. It requires considering other people's thoughts and feelings, which is too troublesome for her. Therefore, online communication is more to her liking.

Everyone here communicates out of shared interests, without needing to worry about the tedious rules and regulations of reality. If things don't go well, the relationship can simply be severed. This is superficial interaction, not touching on the truly core areas of the heart, yet it satisfies the need for communication just right. Therefore, even without an almost alluring blessing, she would probably choose a similar lifestyle.

But there are always exceptions in life, and you can never truly experience the atmosphere of a group activity through a screen. Therefore, it is only at such times that the self-centered person feels a fleeting sense of loneliness. She cannot join in the discussions on the forum, and she would never ask her only friend to abandon the holiday to stay home with her—her friend would undoubtedly be happy to agree, but her pride would not allow her to make such a request that would put others in an awkward position.

"What a hassle," Lu Wenjun muttered.

He empathized with this feeling because he had been in a similar situation.

For a long time, he remembered the smell of disinfectant, the windowless white corridor, the heavy footsteps echoing outside the ward, and the hospital bed where he had lain for countless days and nights. His parents and relatives would always sit by his bedside to take care of him, whether it was a holiday or an ordinary day.

And every holiday, he would think, "Why don't you go out? It's such a special day, why don't you go out and celebrate? Don't waste your precious time on me..."

"cough……"

Lu Wenjun coughed twice, using the unpleasant sound to dispel past memories. He turned over and soon fell asleep.

The next day after class, the tavern sent overtime pay, which the three of them split, each receiving 1000 magic coins. Lü Wenjun then took an extra 2000 magic coins from his guard's allowance and bought two cases of beer before heading to the Magic Art Studio's activity room.

Upon seeing him, the club members all instinctively covered their backsides. Ignoring the many fearful glances, Lü Wenjun smiled at Club President Chai Luo and said, "Senior..."

"Don't give me that crap, I don't take private orders!" Chai Luo jumped back warily. "My schedule is already full this month, let me tell you, bringing alcohol won't help!"

Lu Wenjun handed over a thousand magic coins along with a beer can: "Senior, you're overthinking it. We just happened to have some free time, so let's have a couple of drinks."

"Money won't work!" Chai Luo declared firmly. "You think you can bribe me with magic coins? That's an insult to me!"

Lu Wenjun handed over two thousand magic coins along with the second can of beer. Chai Luo's expression remained unchanged as he turned his head and said, "Quickly get a chair for your junior."

"A disgrace to artists!" "Utterly shameful!"

The members erupted in anger, grabbing beer from the box as they went. Chai Luo sat down, beer can in hand, his face amiable: "What are your requirements and what's the deadline? You've given me a bit too much; I think I'll have to return some of the finished product."

"The timeline might be a bit tight, the requirements are..."

Lu Wenjun brought out the design draft he had prepared in advance, and Chai Luo frowned as he looked at it.

“The technique itself isn’t difficult, but the cost is very high,” Chai Luo said bluntly. “To achieve the effect you’re looking for, you need to combine multiple assimilation techniques. You’ll have to lower your expectations, otherwise the money won’t even cover half the materials.”

After pondering for a while, Lü Wenjun took out the useless veil and asked, "Senior, how much do you think this is worth?"

"This thing, oh my god?!"

Chai Luo's scream sounded like he had sat down on a wooden stake.

"Isn't this a product from the Lyre Workshop?! A creation of a legendary master craftsman!"

The other club members, who were busy drinking, all rushed over, their eyes gleaming: "This texture, this material, could it be an invisibility cloak?!" "No invisibility cloak this small, it's probably a veil used to conceal one's presence!" "Assassin's item?" "Or maybe an exploration item..." "Club president, you have to get your hands on this!"

Chai Luo quickly stuffed it into his pocket: "What are you looking at? Get out of here! This is mine! Mine!!"

"Don't even think about it, you son of a bitch!" "What's yours belongs to the gang; it's common property for all of us." "Keep an eye on Lü Wenjun and make sure he doesn't go back on his word!"

Chai Luo tried to argue with the group members all by himself but was ultimately defeated. He reluctantly returned the three thousand magic coins, then took out 1,500 of his own money to give them back, and finally picked up the beer he had just brought with a heavy heart.

Lü Wenjun quickly waved his hand: "Senior, you don't need to return this wine, consider it my treat for everyone."

"Look how kind you are! We'll definitely make you the best!" Chai Luo gave a thumbs up. "When do you need it?"

Lu Wenjun arranged the work for the two days before the festival and then left with peace of mind. He still had to rush to the student council office to discuss the various arrangements for the Autumn Harvest Festival.

Less than two weeks passed quickly, and before we knew it, it was the third Friday of November. That morning, Brear Rabbit took a hoe and ran to the field, rummaged around for a while, and pulled out a plump carrot.

"It's about to begin!" it chuckled at the passing fairies, wrapped itself in bandages, and dressed up as a mummy rabbit.

The fairies, all dressed in black, resembled fluttering bats. Behind them, the lights in the teaching building gradually illuminated the figures running through the corridors. The professors waved their wands or their fingertips, bringing about a series of new changes to the campus: the solemn and ancient thick curtains turned into bloodstained gauze, the desks were covered with eerie black and red writing and drawings, unsettling sounds emanated from the walls of the teaching building, and terrifying faces peeked out from the library walls.

Ji Chuanjun made a circle with her fingers and pointed it towards the rising sun. All the sunlight was captured in her palm, and the sky above the Great Secret Realm was shrouded in darkness.

This dark night will last for three full days, until the festival ends.

As night fell, the streetlights along Philosophy Avenue lit up one by one. Earl Welton ran across the avenue and struck all the streetlights with his cane—they instantly transformed into burning pumpkins and turnip lamps, running wildly at the command of the fairies.

A large portion of the lights rolled towards the station on the shore of Frosty Lake, illuminating the train that had just pulled in. Tourists from various hidden realms were about to disembark when they suddenly felt their feet sink into the ground; the flying train had disintegrated, transforming into tens of thousands of shrill-looking bats that flew into the night. The passengers screamed as they and their luggage tumbled onto the tracks.

On the station platform, Giltan, dressed as a vampire, greeted the guests: "Ladies and gentlemen, Happy Harvest Festival. We warmly welcome you to Trista Academy."

"This is so much fun!" a plump, donut-shaped woman excitedly told him. "I never expected the scare party to start before we even got off the bus—I actually tripped and fell!"

“A little scare!” Giltan smiled.

Through his communication device, John whispered, "I really didn't mean to move the mechanism ahead of time..."

"You can forget about eating rice until the end of the semester." Giltan glared at him, practically wanting to kill him. "Have you dealt with the Keeper of the Secrets yet?"

"I've tied him up, he can't run away!" Xiao Qing reported.

Inside the student council room, Xiao Qing twisted Lü Wenjun's hands behind his back, stopping his violent struggles. This respectable keeper of secrecy now resembled a deserter: "No! Let me go!!"

Ye Jinfa walked over carrying a basin of mud: "This is my latest improved version this year, made into an oral potion. Its efficacy is 35% higher than the previous versions..."

Lu Wenjun shouted hoarsely, "President, smell that stuff for yourself! It smells like vomit! Have you got the nerve to hold your breath while you're talking?!"

Pershka pinched his nose and chuckled: "Drink up, Keeper of the Secrets, this is your destiny."

"I fucking vomit vomit vomit vomit—"

Lu Wenjun (with friendly assistance) swallowed the curse in one gulp, feeling as if he had eaten a huge lump of vomit-covered mud. He gagged for a while, saying, "I'll haunt you even as a ghost..."

"You can go be a ghost now." Ye Jinfa pushed him out the door. "Happy Autumn Harvest Festival."

"Be careful!" Xiao Qing said gloatingly.

Today, the student council president was dressed in a black robe and wore a skull mask, resembling the Grim Reaper. Meanwhile, Xiao Qing wore a pure white kimono and a white triangular headband, a classic Japanese wandering spirit. Looking out the corridor windows, one could see even more bizarre costumes: zombies and mummies dancing under pumpkin lanterns, vampires and werewolves busily setting up a stage for a comedy show, and a drowned ghost carrying a frozen ghost enthusiastically hawking: "Cursed shaved ice, five magic coins a serving!"

Everyone, including faculty and staff, was dressed in a sinister manner. This dayless revelry would continue until midnight on Sunday as a sign of respect for the hardworking dead in the underworld.

Lu Wenjun straightened his collar and strode outside. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he whispered, "How's the visibility?"

At the center of his bow tie was a sparkling ruby, a sympathetic gem meticulously crafted by Chalco that clearly captured his sensory signals, reconstructing the surrounding information into a holographic image and transmitting it to a pair of specially made glasses in the distance.

Hisamitsu's exclamation reached his ears.

"So clear, it's like using your own eyes!"

Relieved, Lü Wenjun walked outside happily: "Now, let's celebrate the festival!"

Chapter 93 A Horror Writer's Hobby

Lu Wenjun has always been adept at using clever tricks. If a legendary, powerful blessing can't solve the problem, then try a roundabout approach: a magical holographic camera provides a fully immersive experience, plus a magical projector as the interactive interface. With both devices in place, even if Miss Jiuguang doesn't leave her house, she can still experience the festival as if she were there, right?

Hisamitsu was as excited as he had been earlier: "He can even recreate the scent! That guy Chai Luo's skills are pretty good!"

"This way, you've put your junk to good use. Senior Chai Luo really went all out this time; apparently, this thing has a super strong signal and can be used between adjacent secret realms," Lu Wenjun said. "Remember to take the device off when I go to the restroom, okay? My roommate is kind enough to help you out and doesn't want to become an exhibitionist."

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in your [illegible]."

"Don't just blurt out '■■' like that! Can't you at least be a little more polite and respect your dignity?"

Mingxiao switched to the communication, saying dejectedly, "Why didn't I think of this before..."

"Because you're stupid," Hisamitsu said bluntly.

"You didn't even think of that yourself, yet you have the nerve to criticize me! You're even more of an idiot!"

"Please, ladies, stop arguing in my ear. I want to celebrate the holiday too..." Lu Wenjun sighed. "I want to celebrate for five minutes before going to work."

He went to the restroom and changed into his makeup clothes, just like everyone else. When he came out, he bumped into Pershka, who had finished her makeup. The little witch glanced at him from head to toe and commented, "So tacky."

Lu Wenjun said irritably, "You're fashionable, you're cute, you're beautiful."

“That’s only natural,” Pershka said cheerfully.

Today she wore a fitted gothic-style black dress, paired with rose-patterned black stockings and sheer sleeves. Her beautiful orange-red hair was tied into lively twin ponytails, each secured with a skull hair clip, and a small soft hat was perched on her head.

Lu Wenjun found it difficult to use his usual witty banter, since the girl's outfit today was indeed very cute. He had to find another way to break the ice: "This outfit has absolutely nothing to do with ghosts or monsters."

"The witch is a classic image of All Souls' Day. Isn't she, the fox woman?"

Linggong was waiting for the two of them at the entrance of the teaching building, wearing the same silky wizard robes and large sorcerer's hat as before. She looked at Pershka, her mouth slightly agape: "That's cheating! We agreed to dress up as witches, so why is Pershka dressed so fashionably!"

“I genuinely think traditional clothing suits you better,” said Lü Wenjun.

Pershka grinned mischievously and leaned closer: "Witches need to keep up with the times too. If you're envious, I can help you tie your hair into pigtails."

"No way, it's not suitable for me at all..."

"Take a picture of me quickly! It looks great!" Hisami screamed in his ear.

Lu Wenjun also found the scene quite pleasing to the eye, so he raised the jade pendant and said, "Ladies, please look this way~"

Pershka and Reiko each made a V-sign with their hands, and smiled at the camera while standing close together (Pershka had to stand on her tiptoes to keep up with her friend's height).

Lu Wenjun had taken a few group photos of the witch ladies and was considering whether to use them as jade pendant screensavers when Jiu Jiu Mu walked over and hurriedly shouted, "I want to take a picture too!"

"Okay, then the three of us can go together... Grandma, your outfit is a bit out of season."

Today, Jiu Jiu Mu was dressed in a padded hat and robe, topped with a pair of conspicuous antlers, making her the first person to prematurely embrace winter. She proudly puffed out her chest: "This is the attire of a Northern Witch, ancient clothing befitting a god!"

"I see, but the final product might not be very good."

Lu Wenjun then took a group photo of the three of them, and Jiu Jiumu eagerly came over to take a look.

"I'm the only one who looks so unsophisticated!"

"So I said it..."

Ling Gong gently comforted her, "It's alright, Grandma is fine as she is now. How can she abandon her divine status for something like fashion..."

"Hey, this woman gets all excited as soon as she sees someone at the bottom. What a terrifying cunning of her."

"Everyone's outfits are quite distinctive," Velsa's voice drifted from the side.

"Oh, that confident voice. It seems you're quite pleased with your appearance..."

Lu Wenjun's turning motion, like his words, faltered midway. Their burly friend, Mr. Versa, was now dressed in an even more imposing outfit: a helmet adorned with an exaggerated crescent moon emblem, a full-coverage black iron mask with a fake beard, a crimson armor plated with overlapping scales, two swords at his waist, and a longbow on his back—he was a Warring States period warrior charging into battle!

"What the hell?! Why are there samurai armor pieces in the Day of the Dead parade?!"

Reiko pushed up her glasses: "Vilsa, do you really know what holiday you're participating in?"

Versa said seriously, "I am disguised as a mortal warrior."

Lu Wenjun's lips twitched: "Where are the remains?"

"That would have diminished the imposing presence of the armor, so I removed it."

"You just want to wear the armor for fun, you muscle-brained idiot."

Velsa raised her hand and pointed behind the crowd: "I think I'm still quite serious. You all see Liss."

Standing 4.5 meters tall with a 2.2-meter-wide waist, Faris, dressed in a special tokusatsu film suit featuring bulging muscles and a naked male body, waved enthusiastically to the crowd: "Yo!"

Lu Wenjun leaped up and delivered a flying kick: "Yo, you son of a bitch!"

Pershka activated the jade pendant: "Vice President? It's me. I found a suspicious person behaving indecently at the entrance of the teaching building... Yes, they are our students, sorry, they are first-year students..."

"I dressed up so realistically and you still kicked me?!" Faris was shocked.

"Tell me what you're dressed up as."

Faris declared confidently: "The urban legend of the devilish muscle man who ingested large amounts of inferior protein powder and six-winged bio-chicken."

"Very good, everyone, let's all grab him and arrest him. We can't let this bastard embarrass the school."

In the end, Mr. Faris had to drape a bed sheet over himself and change his character to "a muscular monster hospitalized after serious injuries." He was skeptical of this: "You didn't even bother with a makeover, and you still have the nerve to criticize me!"

Lu Wenjun combed his hair with a small comb: "Damn, I'm dressed up as a classic character from your hometown, and you didn't even realize it?"

Today he was dressed in a staid black suit, his hair was slicked back with hair oil and combed neatly, and he wore a striking deep red lip gloss with a straight vertical line drawn on each side of his mouth.

Faris stared at him for a long time and said, "The one from Saw?"

"No white powder or red blush, it doesn't look like it at all."

“I really didn’t recognize you.” Faris shook his head. “You win. Your hobby is niche and unique.”

Lu Wenjun curled his lip: "You bunch of guys who never had a childhood..."

They walked about halfway around the academy, arriving at the center of Philosophy Avenue, where they escorted Lü Wenjun to the information desk made of wooden planks. Jiujiu Mu encouraged him, "Good luck, Wenjun!"

"I'll try my best." Lu Wenjun sighed. "Alright, friends and family, I'm starting my shift now. Have fun and stay away from me... According to the chairman, I'm basically the one who suffers whenever something bad happens these days."

"Don't worry, we'll come back and brag to you when we're tired." "Get lost!"