“Recently, citizens including a Mr. Sun from our city encountered an attack by wolf dogs while hiking on the back mountain of Xiheng, resulting in two people being lightly injured. Experts speculate that wolves from nearby mountainous areas have entered the suburbs of our city. Relevant departments have organized professional teams to handle the situation. Residents nearby are requested to pay attention to the circumstances and refrain from casually approaching that area……”
The rumor of wolves on the back mountain had become fact and immediately spread throughout the school.
Quite a few students ran toward the sports field after class, all wanting to see if they could catch sight of any signs on the back mountain.
Ying An’s seat happened to be by the window, and the window faced directly toward the direction of the school’s back mountain.
School life was dull and tedious most of the time, making him unable to help taking an interest in this matter as well.
When the dismissal bell rang, Ying An came back to himself.
Li Jue finished announcing the end of class from the podium, furrowed her brows, and glared at him.
As she left she left behind one sentence: “Ying An, come to my office.”
Seeing her expression, Ying An knew it was definitely nothing good.
He could only leave his seat under the puzzled gazes of Zheng Qiaonian and Su Yueyue, arrive at Li Jue’s office, and stand listlessly to the side.
“You tell me yourself. How many times did you zone out this class? What outside is so good to look at, or has it been too long since I last scolded you?”
“I…” Ying An hemmed and hawed a couple of times, unable to think of any good excuse, and simply admitted his fault directly.
“Sorry, Sister. Next time I’ll definitely listen carefully.”
“I’ve already said that at school you have to call me Teacher.”
Although Li Jue said this with her mouth, the moment she heard Ying An call her Sister her anger was already mostly gone.
It seemed that once the relationship shifted from teacher and student to siblings, she could not help being much more doting toward him.
“Were you thinking about the matter of the vicious wolves appearing on the back mountain?”
“…Mm.”
The little guy had probably never seen a real wolf in reality.
After all, animals of this highly aggressive and difficult-to-tame canine family were almost never seen in zoos.
Having a heavy sense of curiosity was quite normal.
In the past Li Jue had encountered a few wolf demons.
Many of their personalities aligned very well with the characteristics of this creature—ferocious, bloodthirsty, arrogant.
Some had even dared to look down on her just because of the identity of a fox demon, not even placing a thousand-year great demon in their eyes… and deserved to be burned into black ash.
“Go back and attend class. You’re not allowed to zone out again. Don’t always care about things that have nothing to do with you.”
“Mm-hmm, okay.”
Ying An listened to Li Jue’s instructions and held back from again secretly gazing far at the situation on the back mountain during class.
He continued like this until the last class of the afternoon—Zhu Yao’s Chinese class.
Zhu Yao was still that refined, cultured, elegant, and easygoing appearance.
It was rare to see him angry.
When lecturing he was also very humorous, and many outgoing, active boys in the class liked to make a fuss during his lessons.
“Ying An, do you know? There’s a girl in our class who likes Teacher Zhu.”
During class, Zheng Qiaonian secretly gossiped with him.
“Really or fake?” Ying An was half-believing, half-doubting. “He’s a teacher.”
“So what if he’s a teacher? Teacher Zhu looks only in his twenties. He’s probably not much older than us.”
“But it’s weird. Between teacher and student…”
“Then what about you and Teacher Li?” Zheng Qiaonian asked lightly.
“I-I-I, Sister and I… we’re not…”
Ying An became a little flustered, as if that hard-to-speak secret in his heart had been uncovered by someone, and his words became a bit unclear.
“We’re not…”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that Yu Nuan’s feelings toward Teacher Zhu might also be that kind of feeling you have toward Teacher Li.”
“It’s Yu Nuan, huh.”
Ying An turned his head and glanced at the girl in the middle row of the classroom who was listening attentively.
The girl had mid-range grades, was good-looking, and had a lively, cheerful personality.
They had also chatted a few times, and his impression of the girl was quite good.
Liking a teacher… Ying An did not quite understand.
In matters of romance he was a complete outsider who knew nothing, did not understand what that kind of feeling was like, and also had no interest in getting involved in other people’s affairs.
He just wanted to be a spectator.
After this class ended it was dinnertime.
Today’s dishes were quite good and also suited Ying An’s appetite, so he did not go looking for Li Jue again.
After finishing dinner, Zheng Qiaonian called him to go for a walk on the sports field together to aid digestion.
When the two walked to the edge of the sports field, Ying An stopped in his tracks.
He gazed far at the back mountain, letting his imagination run wild, and inadvertently noticed that abandoned old building. “What is this building for?”
“Don’t know.” Zheng Qiaonian adjusted his glasses. “It looks very dirty and messy.”
Ying An walked to the main entrance of the old building and looked.
The light inside was very poor, dim and dark.
The light bulbs hanging in the corridor had long since lost their function.
Only a few sparse beams of the setting sun shone in through the broken windows.
“Xiao An, Xiao Nian, what are you two doing?”
A girl’s soft, delicate voice came from behind.
Zheng Qiaonian and Ying An both turned their heads together.
Su Yueyue was standing behind them holding a broom.
“Su Yueyue, what are you doing here?”
“I’m the duty student. This side is our responsibility area.”
“Is the inside of this building also?” Ying An asked.
“No. It seems no one cleans here.” Su Yueyue walked closer and looked into the building. “Is there something inside?”
“We’re a little curious and want to go in and take a look. Yueyue, do you want to come with us?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to go in.” Zheng Qiaonian defended himself.
He did not have as strong a desire for exploration as Ying An, and his courage was also a little small.
Su Yueyue looked at Ying An.
She was rather interested. “Then I’ll go with Xiao An. I also want to take a look.”
Watching Su Yueyue and Ying An walk into the building, Zheng Qiaonian hesitated for a while and still did not follow them in.
He shouted toward their retreating figures, “There are only a few minutes left until class. Don’t be late.”
After speaking he returned to the classroom by himself.
Su Yueyue and Ying An, relying on the setting sun that had not yet completely disappeared, gradually walked deeper inside.
The light inside grew worse and worse.
The girl could not help drawing a little closer to him.
“It seems there’s nothing here, Xiao An. How about we go back?”
“Let’s walk a little farther in. Yueyue, don’t you feel this is a lot like the scenes in horror movies? Isn’t it exciting?” Ying An’s courage had grown much greater than before.
These years Li Jue had taken him to see many things that ordinary people would never see in their entire lives.
Those experiences had given him courage that someone of this age should not possess.
“It’s really scary. It’s so dark inside.”
“Almost there. We’re about to reach the end.”
The end of the corridor was right ahead.
The abandoned rooms on both sides did not reveal anything eye-catching.
Along the way they also did not see any objects that interested them.
Ying An felt a little discouraged and was about to return with Su Yueyue when he inadvertently noticed a pitch-black thing on the floor of the room at the end.
“Yueyue, look. What’s that?”
“Ah!”
Su Yueyue was startled by his sudden voice and subconsciously pressed herself against Ying An.
“Wh… what is it?”
“Let’s go take a look.”
Ying An steeled his courage and walked into the room.
He discovered that the thing had been covered by miscellaneous items, so they had not seen its full appearance.
It was a black, old iron door covered in mottled rust, looking extremely heavy.
He squatted beside it and observed for a while.
Su Yueyue stood to the side anxiously and flustered.
She glanced out the window.
Only the final remnant of the sun remained.
“Xiao An, let’s hurry back.”
“I feel like there’s something inside,” Ying An knocked on the iron door.
“Maybe a super terrifying great demon is sealed inside.”
“Don’t scare me.”