Having devoted myself to guiding souls, I was surrounded by them after my death.

"Where is she? It's not a good idea to shout Su Yining's name in a place like this. People will think I'm crazy."

Chen Shi hesitated for a moment, then found a corner, looked around to make sure no one was there, before silencing his phone and opening the organized study materials.

Two minutes later, a strand of red-streaked hair fell down beside her, and a crisp female voice came:

"Wow... junior, you're even bolder than I imagined."

They arrived as expected.

Chen Shi looked to the side, where Su Yining stood silently beside him.

The sunlight outlined her delicate figure, highlighting her exquisite oval face and jewel-like red eyes as she held a cluster of crape myrtle flowers in her hands.

"Why is your nose bleeding?" She looked at Chen Shi's phone screen and then at the napkin on his nose.

"The hot senior is so hot, I got a nosebleed just looking at her."

Chen Shi pulled out the napkin—the bleeding had stopped.

"Haha, are you some kind of innocent male college student?"

Su Yining patted her belly and laughed, her eyes crinkling – she loved to laugh, and her laughter was beautiful.

"So, what are you doing here, junior? Hiding and peeking at the folders I organized for you?"

"No, I'm looking for you."

"You wanted to find me? By opening the study materials...?"

Su Yining tilted her head slightly, stuffed the flower petals into her pocket, and crossed her fair arms behind her head.

"I had no choice. After all, you're so elusive, senior, that it's really hard to find you. Besides, I can't exactly shout out the name of a dead person all over the school, can I?"

Chen put away his phone and stated directly, "I know who you are."

"Hmm...that makes sense."

Su Yining giggled, making no attempt to conceal her death, and with a flick of her long hair, asked:

"So, now that you know all this, what's the point of finding a ghost senior?"

"I need you to exorcise the spirit."

Chen Shi understood Su Yining's personality; to deal with this carefree, witty, and somewhat suggestive senior, he had to be direct.

"Senior, you've been chasing this evil spirit for a long time, haven't you? I know where it is and I have a way to deal with it, but I need some investment."

"How did you know?" Su Yining lightly leaped onto the wall, her movements as graceful as a cat's, her white legs swaying back and forth in the sunlight.

"If I can see you, senior, I can naturally see other things too. And you were running so fast just now, it's because you sensed the appearance of a malevolent spirit, right? I felt it too."

In reality, I didn't feel anything, but I had to pretend at this point. When you're out in the world, you give yourself your identity...

Unlike his approach with Jiang Liu, Chen Shi employed a "veteran" strategy in front of Su Yining, pretending to be highly skilled and unassuming.

Having learned from the previous experience, he knew a crucial piece of information—although Su Yining had been entangled with the evil spirit, she didn't know how to exorcise it.

And this is the key point in negotiating and forming a partnership:

"Senior, we have the same goal right now. I can provide a specific plan for exorcising the spirit. In return, I need you to be my weapon against the evil spirit."

"Mutual exploitation?" Su Yining narrowed her eyes, her willow-leaf eyes looking all smiles.

"That sounds awful. I prefer to call it 'each gets what they need'."

Chen Shi looked up at Su Yining.

The summer sun in Nanhai City is scorching. Su Yining sat on the wall, the blazing sun completely blocked behind her, and her delicate body cast no shadow on the ground.

She leaped down lightly, her toes barely touching the ground, her calves showing off their full curves beneath her white stockings.

Chen Shi suddenly had a bad feeling. If things continued to develop like this, would Su Yining slap him like in a romance drama, yell "Who do you think you are?" and then run away...?

A few seconds later, Su Yining smiled, revealing her teeth, and raised her little finger:

"make a deal."

Thankfully, the melodramatic plot didn't happen.

Although he didn't know why it had turned into a "pinky promise for a hundred years" contract, Chen Shi still extended his little finger and gently made the pinky promise.

……

A few minutes later, Chen Shi arrived at the swimming pool alone and saw his senior standing at the entrance scratching his head.

"Why did it take so long?"

"One mature woman and one hot girl after another came, and I just couldn't stop my nosebleed."

"???"

Chen Shi casually said a few words to them and then entered the swimming pool alone.

"Squeak~"

The door was pushed open, dust billowed up, and a chilly atmosphere rushed out.

But he was already very familiar with it; returning here felt like coming home.

Chen Shi wiped his nose and, without hesitation, headed straight for the swimming pool.

Rewinding from death will put a strain on the body and cannot be used indefinitely.

The threat must be completely resolved in this round.

He went to the pile of clutter, moved all the excess items away, and directly took out the mannequin.

Immediately following up on his previous experience, Chen Shi took a few steps back, turned around, and exposed his back to the mannequin.

This evil spirit likes to attach itself to objects and attacks from behind.

As expected, as long as the above operations are repeated, it will still attach to the human model and launch a sneak attack.

A malevolent spirit that lacks martial virtue.

"crunch..."

A few seconds later, a scraping sound of plastic was heard.

Behind me, the mannequin did indeed move!

In the darkness, the mannequin, with its deathly white matte finish, resembled a rusty, wind-up toy, slowly rising from the pile of debris.

The next second, its head moved.

With the eye socket facing the back, slowly raise the right hand, with the five fingers in a grasping shape towards the heart.

For a moment, it seemed as if the air itself had frozen.

Suddenly, the mannequin went berserk, its hand thrusting forward rapidly!

"They've taken the bait."

At almost the same time, Chen Shi also made a move.

He was prepared and dodged to the side with a quick roll, causing the mannequin to miss its target.

When he turned his head again, the mannequin was still in the gesture of reaching out its hand, but it was completely still, turning back into a puppet.

Chen Shi was not in a hurry about this.

Based on previous experience, this evil spirit will become enraged and open the spirit cage after failing once.

Sure enough, with a "bang," the swimming pool door slammed shut.

"really."

Chen Shi remained calm, having already figured out how this evil spirit operated.

He remained completely calm, standing still as the spirit cage was generated.

"Splash..."

The pool was full of water, and the smell of disinfectant filled the air. Two rows of lifeboats were neatly arranged, and each lifeline was looped.

Cold light shone down from the ceiling, causing ripples on the surface of the pool, but the water underneath was murky.

"pat..."

As soon as they entered the spirit cage, the sound of splashing water immediately rang out, and two rows of footprints began to appear from the opposite side of the pool.

"Clap! Clap!"

The footsteps suddenly quickened, as if someone was running around the pool. Two rows of footprints circled the pool and quickly moved towards the back!

The evil spirit acted swiftly, aiming to eliminate its target before it discovered the rules.

If it were someone else, they would definitely panic.

Unfortunately, Chen Shi had already memorized those three rules.

As the footsteps drew closer, Chen Shi seized the opportunity and quickly turned around, the watery footprints disappearing instantly.

"As expected, the rules of a spirit cage created by the same evil spirit will not change."

He looked at the swimming pool:

"Since that's the case..."

Chen Shi strode forward, squatted down, and stared directly at the water.

The task remains the same: to lure out the true form of that evil spirit.

As expected, a figure slowly floated up in the pool, its limbs stiff and its outline blurred, looking up as if it were looking at him.

At the same time, a chill suddenly crept up my neck, like someone breathing on my shoulder.

Chen Shi took a deep breath, his gaze slowly shifting to the surface of the water...

On his shoulder, a pale face hung there, its eyes swollen and purplish, its features indistinct, and its skin deathly white, devoid of any life.

coming!

At this moment, if you turn around, you will be immediately dragged into the pool by the figure in the water. But if you don't turn around to avoid it, you will be stabbed through the chest by the undead behind you.

For someone without any means of checks and balances, such as magical artifacts, it's a dead end.

Therefore, at this point, an external force is needed to intervene.

"Senior!"

Chen Shi called out, and a figure walked straight through the door, as if her body did not exist in reality.

Su Yining rushed over, and in the gloomy darkness, a few streaks of red in her hair looked like leaping flames.

With a sliding tackle, she grabbed a rope from the rescue chair, precisely looped it around the spirit's neck, and then pulled hard!

"babble--!"

The evil spirit let out a mournful howl, its limbs convulsing as if electrocuted. Su Yining pulled it backward, causing it to writhe in agony on the ground.

"It worked? It really did!"

Su Yining tightened the lifeline and strangled the evil spirit's neck. A purplish-blue mark began to appear on the spirit's neck, and sizzling smoke rose from it.

Upon hearing Su Yining's good news, Chen Shi took a few steps back, moving away from the pool, and then turned around, his back to the pool.

Just as he had guessed.

The person at the swimming pool didn't drown accidentally, and it's not a drowned spirit.

This is a Leling.

The deceased was strangled and then submerged in the swimming pool!

Seeing that his guess had been confirmed, Chen Shi picked up another lifeline from the bench next to him.

As Jiang Liu's "Survival Guide" states: "The state of the spirit cage will indicate the cause of death of the evil spirit, which needs to be speculated."

This malevolent spirit had previously attached itself to the survival rope, attempting to launch a sneak attack.

After the spirit cage was activated, each lifeline took on the shape of a hanging rope, the implication of which was quite obvious.

However, I was misled by my senior's words and naturally assumed that dying in the swimming pool must be a drowning.

Su Yining dared not let go. She squatted on the ground and used her delicate body to tighten her grip on the evil spirit, letting it struggle and scream on the ground.

Hearing that mournful roar, she couldn't help but frown slightly and purse her lips.