Chapter Eighty-One: Scan to Pay—This Will Not Be Allowed Again

The three members of the Supervisory Committee waited anxiously outside. Chen Yao couldn’t help but ask, “Are we just going to wait here for nothing?”

Lin En gave a bitter smile. “If we don’t wait here, what else can we do? Can we just walk out?”

Glancing at the long-haired girl standing in front of the classroom door, Chen Nan whispered, “Do you think if I offered a bottle of perfume, she’d let us leave?”

Chen Yao looked at him in surprise. “Where did you get perfume?”

“Of course I bought it. Uh, I heard girls like that sort of thing.”

Chen Yao rolled her eyes at her brother, annoyed. “You bought it for Bingbing, didn’t you? Hmph, blinded by beauty and forgetting your own sister!”

Chen Nan’s face stiffened, and he forced a laugh. “I was just preparing ahead of time. The Ice Goddess might not even accept it.”

But then Chen Nan grew serious. “Still, it might be worth a try. Let me give it a shot.”

He carefully approached the long-haired ghost girl, took out a bottle of perfume, held it out before her, and said softly, “Uh, pretty lady, I have some perfume for you here…”

The ghostly girl raised her head, a strange smile twisting her face.

With a sudden swish, her long tongue shot out, snatching the perfume from Chen Nan’s hand in an instant—then nothing more happened.

Chen Nan froze on the spot. He could tell the ghostly girl had just warned him: if he dared flirt with her again, she would show no mercy.

“They were both perfumes! Mine cost tens of thousands for an imported brand, for heaven’s sake. What the hell?”

Chen Nan was on the verge of tears, but realized that doing business with a ghost apparently required something else.

At that moment, Qin Jing emerged from inside.

“Mr. Qin, how did it go in there?” Chen Yao hurried over, curiosity in her voice.

Qin Jing glanced at her indifferently and held out his hand.

“What is it?” Chen Yao asked, confused.

“The money for the water you just got—you haven’t paid yet.”

The three Supervisory Committee members stiffened in place. That bottle of water had cost one hundred thousand.

Lin En quickly stepped forward with a smile. “Mr. Qin, we’re from the Supervisory Committee. We won’t renege on our debts. How about you come with us later and I’ll get you the money?”

Qin Jing’s gaze swept coldly toward Lin En.

In that split second, Lin En felt as though some vast, unfathomable being had its eyes fixed upon him. His body locked up, his breath stilled, and he felt as if he’d died on the spot.

“Don’t try to test me. I only sold it to you because you’re with the authorities. Do you really believe one hundred thousand could buy that bottle otherwise?”

Qin Jing’s indifferent voice rang in Lin En’s ears. Only then did Lin En feel his breath return, life flooding back into his body.

He exhaled heavily, cold sweat soaking him. Qin Jing had always seemed easygoing, and Lin En had almost forgotten that he was someone who could deal with powerful spirits and monsters.

A phone was thrust in front of Lin En’s face. He looked at Qin Jing in confusion, but Qin Jing said, “Scan the QR code and transfer one hundred thousand within twenty-four hours. This is a one-time exception—it won’t happen again.”

Lin En didn’t quite understand what “a one-time exception” meant, but he hurriedly snapped a photo of the code.

With that, Qin Jing strode out of the teaching building.

“Wait, Mr. Qin, what about the spirit inside?” Lin En called after him.

Qin Jing waved dismissively without turning back, quickly disappearing from their sight.

The three exchanged glances, and Lin En managed a helpless smile. “It’s my fault. I must have offended him with what I said.”

Chen Nan asked, “What do we do now?”

Just then, Chen Yao called out, “Look! The long-haired ghost is fading!”

At her words, the three turned to look. The ghostly figure, who had moments ago radiated chilling energy, was now transparent and dim, and as they watched, she slowly vanished from sight.

At the school gates, contingents of armed police stood guard, each carrying live ammunition. Barricades had been set up around the perimeter. Onlookers occasionally stopped, bewildered, with no idea what had happened.

Inside the gates, about one or two thousand students stood in gathered groups as teachers called roll for each class.

Deeper inside, there were two distinct groups. One was led by an elderly man in plain clothes, his hair white as snow, standing with hands clasped behind his back and eyes fixed on the teaching building. They were the Cold Sea Supervisory Committee, and the old man was Lian Rui, the committee’s new chairman.

The other group was the squad of extraordinary individuals summoned by the incident. Heather stood prominently in the very front row, with a square-jawed man beside her.

“Chairman Lian, everyone’s been waiting here more than an hour. Are you going to let us take part or not? Give us a straight answer,” the square-jawed man said.

At his words, the group of extraordinary people grew restless.

“That’s right, does being official make you so great? If you can’t handle the problem, why not let us try?”

“Heh, President Ma is absolutely right.”

“Wow, the big boss finally spoke up. I thought we’d be stuck here forever.”

The strange phenomena at Cold Sea Art Academy had quickly drawn nearby extraordinary individuals, but by the time they arrived, the authorities had locked down the scene. Lian Rui had even had a measured standoff with the square-jawed man, neither side backing down, resulting in a stalemate.

President Ma—real name Ma Junshan—had been a construction foreman just a year ago. But since then, he’d acquired an Eastern spiritual cultivation technique and, after practicing it, shot up the extraordinary ranks in one go. Every three months he advanced a level, and now he’d been at the fourth level for three months. At his pace, he was expected to reach the fifth level soon.

As the first local to reach the third extraordinary level in Cold Sea, Ma Junshan quickly formed a group called the Cold Sea Extraordinary Union, hence his title “President.” Though he looked upright, he was actually quite petty, privately claiming there could only be one president in Cold Sea—and that was him. He always found subtle ways to challenge the authorities, never openly, but always creating trouble behind the scenes, just as he was now.

“Look, someone’s coming out—wait, that doesn’t look human!”

Just then, a shout rose from the crowd. Everyone turned to see a figure emerging from the direction of the teaching building. Though it looked like a person, its appearance was terrifying. Its hands were raised high, and atop them sat a grotesque, bloated monster. Atop the monster was an inky-black corpse, exuding rolling black mist, as if ghosts were oozing from it, leaving a trail of darkness in its wake…