Chapter 88.2

Hearing that, Lin Shuyou’s chest began to heave, blood welling at the corners of his mouth.

Anyone would be furious having their pride dismissed so casually.

Worse still was the fact that the boy didn’t seem to be flaunting his skill—he was just stating facts.

Every region and sect had their own spirit-inviting techniques. The names differed, and the deities summoned varied.

The spirit tablets in Ah Li’s memories, for instance, were a form of high-grade summoning technique used by the Qin and Liu families. They should have protected her—but due to special circumstances, the spirits were gone.

Li Zhuiyuan had always known—he was terrible at spirit-inviting.

“Why do you raise ghosts?” Lin Shuyou asked.

“To guard the place.”

“Raising ghosts disrupts cosmic order. It’s the path of evil.”

“Okay. I’ll let her out later so she can toy a few college students to death.”

“I… that’s not what I meant.”

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at Tan Wenbin, then continued sipping his drink.

Tan Wenbin spoke up. “You share a dorm with Lu Yi, right? I’ll tell you straight—the high heels targeted Lu Yi at first. If Little Yuan and I hadn’t happened to be there, who knows what would’ve happened to him.”

Lin Shuyou’s expression softened.

Clearly, he had a good relationship with his upperclassman roommate from the northeast.

“But still… you shouldn’t be commanding a ghost.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t respond.

Tan Wenbin continued, “Little Yuan made a deal with her. We’ll find her remains and help her pass on before we graduate.”

“But no matter the reason… using ghosts is still wrong.”

Lin Shuyou’s voice had grown faint.

“Look, tonight you barged into our dorm—and that ghost in high heels came in handy, didn’t she? And besides, we’ve had our hands full lately. No time for rites.”

Tan Wenbin deliberately twisted the logic, then added, “By the way, why were you there that night? My dad almost shot you.”

“Your dad?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know?”

“No.”

“Damn, if you had, would you have come after me first?”

“I left because I didn’t want to be questioned. He’s a cop. Shooting me was fair. Why would I come after you?”

“Uh…” Tan Wenbin smacked his lips. “That answer’s too righteous. What do you want, a gold star?”

“I heard Lu Yi mention the case in the dorm. I just wanted to see the crime scene at night.”

“You’ve got way too much free time.” Tan Wenbin gave him an irritated look.

“Your dad’s a good shot.”

“Actually, my dad’s better with a whip. But his kicks are killer—he knows the Tan Family’s Thirty-Six Leg Techniques. Ever heard of them?”

“I have.”

“Heh, I taught him myself.”

Li Zhuiyuan studied Lin Shuyou’s micro-expressions. Even though his face paint hadn’t been removed, it was clear he wasn’t lying.

By Li Zhuiyuan’s usual standards, this guy should’ve been buried already.

But the truth was—first, he hadn’t ambushed them that night. Second, he entered the dorm empty-handed. And third, during their fight, he had obviously held back against Tan Wenbin.

If Li Zhuiyuan hadn’t set a trap that forced Lin Shuyou into a trance and lost control, he probably would’ve dragged Li Zhuiyuan to a place like this and interrogated him the same way.

If it turned out this guy was just a rigid, upright youth, then keeping him around was more useful than burying him.

It’d be like adding another layer of justice insurance to the dorm floor.

And down the line, if anything happened, Li Zhuiyuan could order him around under the banner of “protecting the world from evil.”

His great-grandfather loved this kind of bull-headed mule.

But Li Zhuiyuan had no intention of recruiting him into the group—Lin Shuyou was far too principled.

Unlike Runsheng, who deferred to Li Zhuiyuan in everything, or Tan Wenbin, who had a flexible moral baseline.

Yin Meng was a special case—she came with her own resources thanks to Yin Fuhai.

Her attitude was more of a “follow whoever I’m with” mindset.

Not in a romantic way—she saw herself as the new head of the Yin family.

In short, Li Zhuiyuan didn’t want a team member with that much integrity wedged into the mix.

And right now, while Lin Shuyou was still distracted by Tan Wenbin’s nonsense, he didn’t realize that the boy across from him had already assigned him a tool’s role.

Li Zhuiyuan gave Tan Wenbin another look. Tan Wenbin smoothly changed the topic.

“By the way, where’s your hometown?”

“Huzhou.”

“Oh, in Zhejiang.”

Li Zhuiyuan corrected, “Fuzhou?”

Lin Shuyou replied, “Right, Fuzhou.”

Tan Wenbin asked, “So who taught you this stuff?”

“My grandpa and my master…”

At that, Lin Shuyou finally realized what he needed to do. He looked solemnly at Li Zhuiyuan and, despite his labored breathing, recited as smoothly as he could:

“Three sticks of incense to the heavens, a shrine atop Shizhu Peak, altar raised by the Longjiang estuary, sitting to watch cloud and wind. May I ask, esteemed one—which dock do you hail from?”

Tan Wenbin exclaimed, “Huh? You know we’re corpse retrievers?”

Lin Shuyou said, “I recognized the Yellow River Spade.”

Still seated, Li Zhuiyuan replied, “The Jiang River Liu Clan.”

Lin Shuyou gasped. “Dragon King Liu?”

“Mm.”

“You serve the Dragon King?”

Li Zhuiyuan paused. It used to be normal to say he served the Dragon King—but now that he was about to formally join the sect, it no longer felt appropriate. Even people who just loosely affiliated with the Liu Clan, like those at the Ding Family banquet in Shancheng, claimed to serve the Dragon King.

“I’m part of the sect.”

Despite his injuries, Lin Shuyou propped himself up and stared at Li Zhuiyuan. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“Why didn’t you ask earlier?”

“I… I heard stories of the Liu Clan from my grandpa when I was young. He had great respect for them. So you’re really not lying to me?”

“What would I gain from lying to someone I could bury at any moment?”

Lin Shuyou, gritting his teeth against the pain, placed both hands before him and began a formal salute.

Li Zhuiyuan sighed and stood to return the gesture.

“Phew…”

After the ritual, Lin Shuyou collapsed back onto the bed, breathing so shallowly he was barely exhaling.

Tan Wenbin rushed over, propping him up with pillows and rubbing his chest until his breathing steadied.

“Seriously, what are you trying to do? Kill yourself and blame us? You looking to extort us or something?”

“Rites… must not be neglected.”

Tan Wenbin groaned, sneaking a glance at Little Yuan. If the timing weren’t so awkward, he’d have begged him not to recruit someone like this—too damned inflexible.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Lin Shuyou, is the misunderstanding between us settled?”

“Even if you are of the Liu Clan, you still shouldn’t control ghosts. At most… I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything this time. But don’t let it happen again.”

Tan Wenbin wanted to flick him on the forehead but was afraid it might actually kill him, so he pointed and scolded instead. “You’ve got some nerve, huh?”

“I’ve already gone against my principles…”

“So what—should we thank you or something?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Binbin, take him to the infirmary.”

“Alright. I’ll tell them he fell off the balcony while peeping at the girls’ dorm.”

“You…”

“Shut up.”

Tan Wenbin carried Lin Shuyou out.

Back upstairs in the shop, Runsheng was sitting shirtless on a stool while Yin Meng applied medicine to his back.

“Runsheng, how’s your injury?”

“Just surface wounds. I’m fine.”

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Yin Meng. “And you?”

“Same. Nothing serious. Little Yuan, go rest in the dorm.”

“Mm.” Li Zhuiyuan picked up the bag containing the high heels and walked out.

Yin Meng let out a breath. “Honestly, I still can’t get used to it. When he shows concern, it freaks me out a little.”

“It’s good. It’s late, let’s…”

Runsheng put on his shirt. “Let’s start inventory early tonight.”

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