The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

During the Autumn Harvest Festival, student union volunteers worked on a rotating schedule, one person per day. Lu Wenjun, the custodian, was responsible for the first day, the most risky day. He waved a handkerchief to his friends, leaned over the inquiry desk, yawned, and said, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm just sightseeing, I don't intend to join your little group." Hisamitsu said dismissively, "I didn't expect you to be so popular, considering you're such a petty person."

"I'm generally friendly or at least friendly to most people. If anyone makes me feel uncomfortable, please look at your own behavior." Lü Wenjun opened the browser manual. "Let me see. The first public performance this morning is... a duel between mages, a gray-furred killer rabbit versus a tentacle whip grim reaper."

"That sounds awful!"

"He's your roommate, at least show some support."

Within minutes, a large flock of bats carrying oversized broadcast crystals flew to various parts of the campus. The crystal images, specially enhanced with the noise effects of early 20th-century televisions, were broadcasting the exciting duel at the foot of the mountain.

"Hey, rabbit! Your days of killing people everywhere are over. Give me the dragon-slaying sword!"

Dressed as the Grim Reaper, Ye Jinfa strode in with an air of utter indifference, brandishing her sticky, tentacle-like whip. Opposite her sat a peerless master on a plastic chair at a roadside stall, dressed in a bloodstained nurse's uniform with bandage bows tied around her rabbit ears.

Killer Rabbit Mingxiao stood up from the plastic chair at the food stall, conjured a buzzing chainsaw out of thin air, and sneered, "If you want it, come and take it yourself. You know the rules."

Then the two experts, who were exchanging idiotic conversations, started fighting each other, while tourists from all over the campus cheered with bloodlust.

Lu Wenjun held back for a few seconds but couldn't help but exclaim: "What terrible acting! What awful outfit! What was with that joke/dialogue? And isn't it supposed to be a dragon-slaying sword? What's that chainsaw?!"

“Oh, that chainsaw is called the Dragon Slayer Sword,” Hisamitsu said. “In the lore, it’s a notorious murder weapon in the multiverse. The Tentacle Whip Death God chased the Gray-haired Killer Rabbit all the way to protect the world…”

"What do these terrible plot points have to do with the actual performance? By the way, how do you know so much about them?"

Hisamitsu said smugly, "I wrote the script."

"No wonder it's so bad!"

"You third-rate audience member who doesn't know how to appreciate art!"

Lu Wenjun was whispering and bickering with Jiuguang when he heard a man's voice from the information desk: "Excuse me..."

He quickly returned to work mode: "How can I help you?"

The visitor was a man in his early thirties, dressed in a dark black mourning suit, his face so pale he looked like a dead man, making one wonder if he was a zombie or some kind of ghost.

"Well, that's what I wanted to say..."

His bloodless lips opened and closed several times, failing to string together a coherent sentence. He adjusted his tie somewhat awkwardly—it was a deep purplish-red, like the face of someone who had been strangled—and then asked abruptly, "Spirit Puppet Slappy?"

Lü Wenjun was pleasantly surprised: "Yes, that's right! I'm so glad you recognized me!"

The person in question was referring to the object of his imitation: an evil and lewd terrifying puppet from the American teen horror series "Goosebumps".

The man was also pleased: "I feel a strong connection. You know, when I was in school, the entire adventure novel shelf in the bookstore was filled with books from that series. 'The Puppet,' 'Blood of the Demon,' 'Monster House'... those elaborately illustrated covers were terrifying just to look at."

“That’s right, I always walked past it quickly, but I was still scared by the puppet on the cover,” Lü Wenjun said. “Then one time I finally couldn’t resist my curiosity and opened one, and what I found was…”

They all said in unison, "Those covers are much scarier than the actual articles!"

The man let out a dry laugh, a sound that was hardly pleasant, but at least it gave him a touch of human life. He extended his hand to Lü Wenjun: "Stiller Cooper, freelance magician, horror writer."

“My name is Lü Wenjun, and as you can see, I’m a freshman.” Lü Wenjun grasped his cold hand. “Is Mr. Cooper here for the holiday?”

“I’m here to gather material,” Cooper told him. “The Greater Rifts are unique; you’d be hard-pressed to find a festival with such a harmonious atmosphere in other Rifts: they’re either too traditional or have too many rules.”

Lu Wenjun pointed at the screen and chuckled dryly: "I think what we lack most here is a terrifying atmosphere."

“Oh, a writer’s source material has nothing to do with the atmosphere of reality.” Cooper laughed. “The important thing is ‘imagination’! It’s the opportunity to spark imagination! It’s the same principle as creating a formula. You pick and choose from a vast sea of ​​materials… then you pick up a page and think, what if I changed this prototype? What if I let it go to another book?”

He circled his temples, rambling on and on: “If. If. Once you have that word, you start thinking, ‘And then?’ And then you have the most basic story. For a writer, especially a horror writer, it’s extremely difficult to find that kind of inspiration by sitting at your desk daydreaming. You have to run out, run all over the world, and make some impolite guesses about everyone you meet: what if they’ve met with some terrible thing, what if they’re a serial killer, what if they’re cursed…”

Cooper pursed his lips and said awkwardly, "Sorry, I accidentally said too much..."

“That’s alright,” Lü Wenjun said. “Please continue, I’m really interested.”

“Well, it’s like… it’s true.” Cooper laughed excitedly. “If that girl is already cursed, and she demands to empathize with you in order to possess your body, and you gradually discover her intentions during your adventure, but by then she has already succeeded!”

"!"

Lu Wenjun was startled, and Jiuguang's curses rang in his ears: "What are you saying, you rude fellow!"

“No offense intended, just an example,” Cooper said, scratching his head. “But you’ve read similar stories, haven’t you? Like *The Witch’s House*, Stephen King’s *Grandma*… The idea of ​​a malevolent spirit appearing as a friend is a timeless one. These kinds of stories…”

“The most terrifying part is when the plot twists.” Lü Wenjun nodded. “It’s no fun if you just reveal the answer directly. I understand.”

Cooper let out a few more short, unpleasant laughs. He pulled out the guidebook: "Getting off-topic, what I really wanted to ask was if there would be any serious horror shows today."

"You can try going to the -1 floor of the teaching building. The Demonology Research Institute has set up a rule-based mystery experience room there—the rules are randomly generated each time, and you can play with it all day if you're interested."

“That’s exactly what I’m interested in.” Cooper was pleased. “Thank you. Thank you. As a token of my gratitude, um…would you like to see the results of my research?”

He leaned closer, beckoning mysteriously, and Lü Wenjun, eager to see what would happen, leaned over as well.

Cooper's face opened.

Like a door opening, a line appeared in the center of the face, followed by the skin and flesh on both sides lifting up, the lens slipping off, the nerves dissolving, and the deep red muscles melting and hanging on the skull. From the bloody, mangled eye sockets, thousands of empty pupils emerged, from which tiny scarlet hands reached out.

Those hands, thousands, tens of thousands, densely packed, reached for Lü Wenjun's eyes, lips, and skin. Those hands would tear open his face, would tear away his flesh and blood—

"------ah!"

A scream. Lü Wenjun couldn't believe he had screamed. After so much arduous training, he thought he was fearless. But his pounding heart didn't lie; fear erupted from his mouth as a piercing scream.

He leaned against the inquiry desk, still shaken. Cooper laughed. His face closed again, returning to its deathly pale state.

"The ever-popular jump scare!" he announced. "Overuse can be boring, but an occasional scare can be incredibly impactful. Are you scared yet?"

Lu Wenjun clutched his chest and slowly said, "Yes, I was quite frightened."

“That’s great.” Cooper was delighted. “That’s what horror writers love to hear. It means we’ve made something scary. Happy Harvest Festival, lad.”

He turned and left, then turned back and said, "By the way, you could be a little more confident."

Lü Wenjun didn't understand: "What?"

“You’re a really good student,” Cooper told him. “So you can be more confident, okay?”

He walked away on his own, leaving behind this abrupt and unrelated remark. Lu Wenjun took a few seconds to calm his racing heart before saying, "You can laugh at me now."

“I was scared too,” Hisamitsu said dryly. “That person is sick. Not just seriously sick.”

Lu Wenjun gulped down half a bottle of water to calm his nerves and said, "I think we're going to be in trouble soon."

Unfortunately, his premonition came true in less than half a day.

Starting at 4:44 p.m. that day, ghosts began to appear throughout the college.

Chapter 94 Ancestors' Visit to the School

The first ghost sighting of the day happened near the information desk. A female Rakshasa from the Indian sanctuary discovered a pale shadow emerging from beneath her feet. She initially thought it was a fun activity arranged by the school, but upon closer inspection, she realized that the spirit was her lover whom she had personally killed 300 years ago.

Things quickly spiraled out of control. Although the lover was physically weak, she used her invulnerable spirit body to hurl a torrent of curses at her enemy. If Lü Wenjun hadn't arrived in time and used his silver tongue to force the ghost to retreat back into the ground, Miss Rakshasa would have nearly lost control and started a killing spree on the spot.

"You should know shame even if you're a ghost!" Lü Wenjun said with great distress. "Revenge is fine, but you can't let innocent bystanders suffer. If you can't do it yourself, you can go to the school. There are plenty of dolls available for possession; just pay and you can choose whichever you like."

The ghost sheepishly replied, "I only have paper money on me..."

“Miss, we living people don’t accept underworld currency. If you’re going to be a ghost, at least be a good one. Don’t make things difficult for us ordinary college students, okay?” Lu Wenjun sighed. “How about this, we have a Professor Ji here who is very skilled at dealing with ghosts. Let me give you a report…”

"I dare not trouble Immortal Jade!"

The female ghost cowered in terror, only revealing her face on the ground to glare at her enemy and lover. The Rakshasa woman began slamming her long-handled sword into the ground. Lü Wenjun had to warn her that if she continued, she would be fined, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by another scream.

"Help me—help me—" Eriel cried as she ran.

"Why do I feel like she's always the one who's unlucky?" Hisamitsu said. "Shouldn't this kid see a fortune teller to check her luck?"

"I don't think her fate needs any further calculation." Lü Wenjun rushed over. "What happened?"

Ariel leaped onto an old tree by the roadside and screamed, "Aunt Scythena, you've been dead for so long, please let me go!!"

A burly, middle-aged Gorgon ghost floated over from afar, pointing at her and shouting, "I had already made a deal with the Cyclops' son back then, why didn't you go on the blind date? I'll make you pay for this even if it kills me!"

"He was only 153 years old back then! He wasn't even old enough to go to school yet!"

"So what if I'm 153? When I was 153, I was already the mother of three monsters!"

Eriel cried out in desperation, "Wenjun, aren't you in the student council? Please help me!"

Aunt Sissina turned around and said, "I think this lad is not bad either!"

Lu Wenjun opened and closed his lips twice and said, "It's about respecting personal wishes, prioritizing free love, and resolving family matters yourselves. You two can catch up slowly. I have to go now. Have a happy holiday."

He turned and ran, hearing Hisamitsu's malicious laughter: "Speaking of which, the most popular type of female yokai is the delicate and beautiful one like you..."

"How could you use those four words to describe a man? I have great physical strength and can withstand a lot of blows!"

"Ignoring his dirty inner self, isn't his appearance the standard melancholic and frail type of man? He's very likely to arouse the sadistic desires of monsters."

"I don't want to be popular at this level!"

He ran back to the information desk, intending to continue dealing with the female demon's situation, when he noticed other tourists also encountering ghosts. The student council's internal communication channels were in complete chaos, with everyone talking at once: "Ghost sightings around the library..." "I saw one in the woods too!" "Is there a riot over at the lake?" "We contacted the owner of Frostmourne Lake; it's not a local spirit."

The vice president was in a state of panic: "Then where did it come from? Did the gates of the Myriad Spirits Palace collapse??"

"I met a magician named Stiller Cooper this morning. He looks like a dead man in a suit," Lu Wenjun reported intermittently. "I strongly suspect that this matter is related to him. I suggest that the chairman take a look at it separately when he has time."

After saying that, he slumped down in front of the information desk without saying another word and started to slack off.

Such a complex event in the entire secret realm should either be handled by the teachers or by the senior students or the guild leader. What could a mere volunteer like him possibly do? It's not his place to investigate that dangerous and eccentric Mr. Cooper.

He stretched his limbs, took a sip of water, and then saw Faris running towards him. Lu Wenjun waved to him: "What the hell?"

"This is fucking bizarre!!" Faris exclaimed, still shaken. "My great-aunt! She's been dead for five years! And she just popped straight out of the fountain! What on earth is going on today?!"

"It would be great to have the chance to meet..."

Faris lowered his voice: "She's my most troublesome relative. I don't..."

A loud, energetic shout rang out: "Good, what trouble are you getting into now!"

Faris turned around with a beaming smile: "Aunt Maria, I'm so excited to see you! I'm sharing this joy with my friend..."

Aunt Maria, a grim-faced white female ghost, looked at Faris as if he were a pig waiting to be slaughtered. She looked at Lü Wenjun, her face full of astonishment: "His friends? He can have friends??"

Lu Wenjun chuckled and waved, "Hello, Auntie. We're quite close."

“Young man, for your own good, stay away from this menace,” Aunt Maria earnestly advised. “He will definitely send you to the police station. He successfully ruined every member of the family back in elementary school…”

"Aunt, I already told you it was a misunderstanding."

"Because he told the whole school that his family was of Satanic blood," Aunt Maria shouted. "The FBI and the local cops all came! We used almost 100 hypnotic spells that night!"

Lu Wenjun repeatedly expressed his amazement, then turned and whispered, "How did you do that?"

"I just found out I have demon blood, isn't it reasonable to want to share this with my classmates?" Faris shrugged. "Who knew the microphone in the broadcasting room was still on? Besides, Satan is way cooler than Surgart."

Lu Wenjun said gently, "Auntie, please calm down. It's all in the past now. He's doing quite well at school..."

Aunt Maria nodded: "Also, a year before I died, the CIA..."

“Brother Faris, let’s sever our ties today,” Lü Wenjun declared decisively.

"I've already told you it's all a fucking misunderstanding... Auntie, how on earth did you die here...?"

Other friends followed, crowding around the information desk to watch the spectacle. Linggong commented, "Faris's past is truly fascinating."

Faris, caught off guard by his aunt's barrage of criticism, finally snapped: "Auntie, we've been separated by life and death for so many years, and it's rare for us to see each other again. Can't we say something nice? Why do you have to bring up those old grievances?"

“Because that’s what the deceased are like,” Pershka said gleefully. “Life has already reached its end; they are merely staying in the underworld. They no longer have a future, so they can only look to the past.”

Lu Wenjun said "Oh," and pointed behind her: "By the way, was that lady looking at you?"

“Me? How could that be? My only relative is still in my hometown—” Pershka’s expression froze on the spot. “Mrs. Anneli?”

Not far behind her floated the ghost of a plump old woman, her kind face filled with astonishment. She covered her mouth and sighed softly, "My goodness... is it really you, little princess? You've grown so much!"

Pershka hurriedly waved his hand: "It's me. Now, first..."

"How did you come to a place like this? Your mother..."

“Later,” Pershka gestured vigorously. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

But she stopped them too late; the university students were already chuckling. With her back to her, Vilsa said, "Did you hear that name?"

"Little princess." Lü Wenjun tried hard to suppress his laughter, "Little princess! Ahahaha!"

Pershka blushed slightly: "Enough, what's so funny!"

Lady Anneli hardened her expression: "Young people, this is extremely rude. How dare you speak to Her Highness the Princess in such a tone?"

Pershka shrieked, "Madam, please stop talking now!"

Lu Wenjun slapped the table, laughing heartily. He tried to compose himself and said, "You misunderstand. We are unaware of her noble status. We always thought that Ms. Pershka was just a—"