Chapter 292: Is This How You Solve Problems?

The scream from the master bedroom was fleeting, quickly drowned out by the cacophony of the downstairs gathering. It seemed no one had noticed anything unusual.

Perhaps that was for the best. Too many witnesses would only complicate matters… Lu Yibei mused to himself as he lightly touched the Death Owl Emblem on his chest, establishing contact with Du Sixian.

“Du Sixian, what’s going on over there? Why did someone scream?”

“It was Jacob. Something seems to have gone wrong while he was completing the second phase of the haunting game in the bathroom. The door is locked from the inside, and we can’t get in. We have no idea what’s happening.”

Lu Yibei: “…”

In these small group setups, when a haunting incident is triggered, the first to “go” is always Black Uncle, huh?

He couldn’t help but mentally roll his eyes at the cliché. Then, touching the Death Owl Emblem again, he responded, “Got it. I’ll head over to check things out.”

After replying to Du Sixian, Lu Yibei turned to the special task force members beside him and the guy they had tied up on the floor. He rubbed his temples.

“Alright, guys, I’ll go take a look first. If anything happens, please coordinate with the hotel to evacuate the people downstairs and then come in to assist. I’ll try to buy us enough time.”

Lu Yibei decided against having the task force storm in immediately. That would cause too much commotion, and with so many people downstairs, a panic could lead to chaos and make cleanup efforts far more difficult.

Until he confirmed the presence of a haunting, sending in the team wasn’t the best option.

Jiang Li’s little tips for handling situations like this had proven invaluable. Qi Dong, after hearing Lu Yibei’s more measured plan, paused briefly before flashing him a hearty grin.

“Operator Lu, don’t worry! We’ve got plenty of experience with this sort of thing.”

Calm as a rock, unstoppable as a tank-that’s their motto.

Lu Yibei nodded in acknowledgment, preparing to leave the small gym. Before stepping out, his gaze lingered on the guy tied up on the floor. The man lay on his side, squirming and struggling against his bindings, muffled “mmphs” escaping from his gagged mouth.

Seeing this, Lu Yibei frowned, hesitated for a couple of seconds, then shook his head with a sigh. He crouched down beside the guy and said, “Look, buddy, this really isn’t my fault. Nobody wanted this to happen, okay? How about we have the big guys whip up something for you to eat later?”

The guy: “???”

Wait, what? Something about that sounded… off.

“Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be off. Play nice with the big guys, okay?” Lu Yibei shrugged, stood up, and left the gym, heading toward the master bedroom.

He wasn’t worried about the guy being mistreated by the special task force. These men were well-versed in handling witnesses who accidentally stumbled into haunting investigations.

Beyond standard confidentiality protocols, The Midnight Watchers Society also had access to a harmless, tasteless, and odorless alchemical potion nicknamed “Memory Loss Water.” Just a drop or two, and the problem was solved in thirty seconds flat.

Sure, it had a minor side effect of temporarily making ordinary people more susceptible to seeing hauntings, but compared to the dubious concoctions advertised on public restroom flyers, this stuff was practically miraculous.

“Mmmpf-mmmpf-!”

Just as the gym door was about to close, the guy let out a heart-wrenching, tear-inducing wail.

Lu Yibei glanced back, his expression deadpan. “Don’t be scared. Under the care of the big guys, you’ll soon feel nothing but joy!”

The guy: “!!!”

The next moment, his vision was filled with the towering forms of the task force members, their muscular frames blocking out everything else.

“Heh-heh-heh-!”

Accompanied by laughter as deep as a barbell’s clang, he looked up to see grinning faces and rows of gleaming white teeth…

Leaving the gym behind, Lu Yibei quickened his pace. After rounding a corner, he arrived at the door of the master bedroom.

This should be the place… he thought, pulling out the Fortune Deity Coin from his jacket pocket.

If there’s a haunting in the room, heads means yes, tails means no.

“Ding-!”

Tails. No haunting… Lu Yibei pondered the result, his brows furrowing.

If there’s no haunting in the room, then where did that strange psychic energy fluctuation-aside from Du Sixian’s-come from?

He flipped the coin again.

“Ding-!”

Was the previous result tampered with? Heads means yes, tails means no.

…

Muttering to himself, Lu Yibei tossed the coin into the air repeatedly, catching it each time. After six flips, he finally nodded in satisfaction.

It’s my first time investigating a haunting incident. Better to be cautious.

All six flips indicated no haunting in the room, so he confidently knocked on the door.

Even though the divination suggested no haunting, confirming that the strange psychic energy fluctuation originated from the haunting game would allow him to use Society-issued tools to continue the investigation.

So Lu Yibei felt it was necessary to take a look inside.

“Knock-knock-knock!”

He knocked rhythmically three times. Hearing hurried footsteps from inside, he stepped back to give space.

With a creak, the door opened, and Du Sixian appeared. As planned, she feigned ignorance of Lu Yibei, her expression puzzled. “Um? Can I help you?”

Lu Yibei gave a slight bow. “I work here as a service staff member. I heard someone scream earlier while I was downstairs, so I came up to check if everything’s alright.”

As he spoke, he used his slightly heated eyes to scan the room. His gaze swept over Yang Yi’s small group of three, and he paused in surprise.

Aside from Du Sixian, everyone in the room was entangled in semi-transparent red threads. Some wrapped around their fingertips, others around their hair, and one extended into the bathroom.

Yang Yi’s thread even pierced straight through his chest!

This probably had something to do with the differences in how each person performed the haunting game’s steps…

But why didn’t Du Sixian have any threads? Was it because she was a psychic?

Lu Yibei pondered silently, extending his psychic sense along the thread leading to the bathroom to probe its interior.

Inside the bathroom, the haunting’s psychic energy fluctuation hadn’t intensified, and Jacob’s life force showed no signs of fading. For now, it seemed safe.

After a brief pause, Lu Yibei retracted his focus and nodded slightly at Du Sixian. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

As Lu Yibei and Du Sixian spoke, Yang Yi, who had been trying to enter the bathroom to check on Jacob, turned his attention to the doorway.

Seeing Lu Yibei standing there, he froze, his face turning pale. “Lu Yibei? What are you doing here?”

For days, Lu Yibei had been pestering them, subtly warning them against playing the haunting game.

They had never encountered someone so persistent-more nagging than a mother hen, more elusive than a homeroom teacher, and faster than a wild horse.

Like a ghost, he’d left them with a significant psychological shadow.

Now, with Jacob’s earlier scare still fresh in their minds, Lu Yibei’s sudden appearance felt like a double whammy.

“What am I doing here?” Lu Yibei stepped back, gesturing to his uniform. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m working a side gig!”

Technically true. Though not as a hotel staff member, but as a part-time haunting investigator.

He mentally added this clarification and continued, “But you guys…”

He glanced around the room, his gaze landing on the oversized bed that could easily accommodate four or five people for “group activities.” His eyes narrowed slightly.

“What are you all doing in here? Don’t cause any trouble for the hotel, alright?”

Yang Yi frowned, his gaze darting toward the tightly shut bathroom door, his expression growing anxious.

He had no idea what was happening to Jacob inside. If he really encountered a haunting, he might already be…

If the hotel staff discovered someone had died in their room, they’d definitely call the police, right?

And if the police got involved, could they even explain this?

If the incident reached their school, Yang Yi’s upcoming election campaign would be doomed…

Yang Yi’s thoughts darkened as he subtly shifted to block the bathroom door, his tone serious. “We’re… we’re not doing anything. Right, guys?”

Lu Yibei: “…” Wow, this guy’s darker than I thought.

Black Uncle was likely trapped in the bathroom, possibly facing a haunting, and Yang Yi still wanted to cover it up?

Seeing that Lu Yibei showed no signs of leaving, Yang Yi turned to the two-faced flirt and the ditzy sweetheart in the room, signaling them with his eyes.

“Uh-huh.” The ditzy sweetheart nodded, her face full of barely concealed worry.

“That’s right, we’re just playing games!” The two-faced flirt put on an impressive performance, her expression innocent and guileless-a true pro at this sort of thing.

Relieved, Yang Yi exhaled quietly.

His plan was simple: get rid of Lu Yibei, the hotel staff member, and then assess the situation in the bathroom. If it turned out to be fatal, he could always pin the blame on Du Sixian. After all, she organized the gathering and suggested the haunting game.

He thought it was a straightforward solution. What he didn’t anticipate was having an “insider” in their midst.

“We’re playing the haunting game!” Du Sixian suddenly declared.

Yang Yi: “…”

“The haunting game?” Lu Yibei raised an eyebrow. “You mean one-person hide-and-seek?”

Yang Yi’s face darkened, his gaze sharp as he stared at Lu Yibei. “What does that have to do with you? We-“

Before Yang Yi could finish, Du Sixian interrupted again. “That’s right! It’s exactly the game you’re talking about!”

She, Du Sixian, was a professional insider.

“You really played that game?” Lu Yibei feigned seriousness. “This is bad! I’ve warned you repeatedly not to play that game. Why didn’t you listen?”

Yang Yi frowned deeply, his mind flashing back to the past few days when Lu Yibei had been nagging them. His face changed, and his words abruptly stopped.

Suddenly, he realized that, setting aside the 80% of trash talk in Lu Yibei’s warnings, the remaining 20% had indeed been subtle reminders about the game’s dangers!

“You knew the game was dangerous?!” the ditzy sweetheart took a while to catch on, as if she had discovered some treasure, and exclaimed in shock, “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

Lu Yibei remained silent…

Lady, people can’t…

Oh well, who asked you to be cast as the ditzy sweetheart?

In the brief silence of Lu Yibei, the two-faced flirt suddenly approached him, grabbing his wrist, her tone almost coquettish, “Lu Yibei, actually, I’ve always thought you were a nice person…”

“Don’t say that, wouldn’t your boyfriend get angry if he heard?” Lu Yibei interrupted her.

That sounded familiar… The two-faced flirt paused, but continued, “I don’t have a boyfriend! A girl like me, who would like me?”

“You know it, that’s good!” Lu Yibei said expressionlessly, decisively.

The two-faced flirt, “……”

She looked at Lu Yibei, confirmed through his gaze that they were on the same wavelength, and dropped her act to get straight to the point.

“Lu Yibei, since you know this haunting game is dangerous, you must also know how to resolve the danger, right?”

Hearing this, the ditzy sweetheart also got excited, “Yeah! Lu Yibei, you must have a way, right? Please, help us!”

Lu Yibei was about to say something when Yang Yi sarcastically commented, “What’s the use of asking him? If he could help, he wouldn’t just be persuading us!”

At that time, nothing was certain; what else could I do but advise you? Lu Yibei thought annoyedly, shaking his head at Yang Yi, “They can be saved, but you… probably not!”

“You…” Yang Yi, pointing at Lu Yibei, stopped himself.

“What do you mean, you!” Lu Yibei brushed him off and said dismissively, “I’ve seen it already; your situation is different from theirs. I suppose the way you played the haunting game was different too?”

Hearing this, Yang Yi’s face turned pale, and he unconsciously clenched his fist, hiding his fingertip that had been pricked by a needle.

Knowing that Yang Yi had been the one who persistently advised against dropping blood into the doll, the two-faced flirt also changed her expression, calmly distancing herself from him, and then moved to the furthest corner from him.

“It seems I was right,” Lu Yibei said calmly, “but considering we are all classmates, as long as…”

Lu Yibei was about to say, as long as you pay a decent sum, I’ll settle this for you, but the earnest expression on Du Sixian caught his eye, and he couldn’t bring himself to say it, clearing his throat instead.

“Ahem, as long as you cooperate well, I’ll try my best to help you.”

In front of familiars and colleagues, it wasn’t good to do whatever I wanted, which is annoying! Lu Yibei thought.

“Can you really do it?” Yang Yi probed.

“What else?” Lu Yibei glanced at him, “Though I appear to be an ordinary college student, I actually received training from the Great Pure Palace…”

… and that no-name Daoist temple next door. Lu Yibei added silently.

“My goodness! Is it really that legendary Great Pure Palace!?”

As soon as Lu Yibei finished, Du Sixian couldn’t help but exclaim, either playing along with Lu Yibei’s act or genuinely knowing about the Great Pure Palace, it was very exaggerated.

Seeing this, Yang Yi furrowed his brows and asked, “Miss Du, you seem to know that… what palace?”

“As a lover of haunting stories, how could I not know? I’ve heard many people seek solutions there for their haunting encounters, and moreover, the amulets you get from there are really protective!”

Lu Yibei, “???”

Wait! What the heck?

The amulet wasn’t originally from our ancestors, created to swindle money from the believers? How did it end up in the hands of the Great Pure Palace? Can we respect intellectual property rights, please?

Yes, what I mean is…

I, the grandson of Qing Ji, demand payment!

Lu Yibei thought to himself, silently adding another subject to the list of things he had to learn from Qing Ji-amulet drawing.

No matter how flamboyant or bold a regular person is, when facing death, they would still show some fear.

Seeing Du Sixian praising Lu Yibei’s supposed mentorship profusely, Yang Yi finally stepped aside and gestured for Lu Yibei to proceed, “Please go ahead, if you can get in.”

Lu Yibei stepped forward, twisted the doorknob, and frowned.

He used all his strength, but all it did was produce a light click; the door was locked from the inside, and he could even feel a faint psychic energy fluctuation on the doorknob.

“…”

After pondering for two seconds, Lu Yibei said, “No worries, a minor issue, I have a way to solve it! Don’t wander around here; I’ll be right back.”

With that, he turned and left the master bedroom, heading to the adjacent small gym where the special task force had helped him stash his guitar case, searching for the Myo-o Statue.

A minute later, he returned to the master bedroom with the Myo-o Statue in one hand, locking the master bedroom door behind him. Under the astonished gazes of everyone, he approached, raised the Myo-o Statue with both hands, and aimed at the bathroom door lock…

Everyone, “???” Is this your solution?

“Duang–Duang–!”

Two muffled thuds later, the door lock was knocked off, and Lu Yibei turned to glance at the crowd, “Did you just say something?”

Everyone, “, no, continue.”

And, you’re impressive!

“Creak–!” With a light push from Lu Yibei, the door opened.

A chilling, bone-piercing draft rushed at them. The bathroom window was open, and Jacob stood by it, his eyes closed, with a faint smile on his lips, clearly out of his senses.

His upper body, pulled by a red thread, was leaning out about seventy degrees, seemingly about to fall out of the window.

In the bathroom, a small mirror faced the window. The mirror was pitch black, reflecting neither Jacob’s figure nor the scene outside. Instead, it showed a pale, fierce-faced boy floating tens of meters in the air, his abdomen split open, with four red threads, like intestines falling out of his belly, stretching out and each connected to one of Yang Yi’s small group.

Yang Yi and the others, seeing the situation in the bathroom and startled by Jacob’s bizarre behavior, stood frozen in shock. In their moment of distraction, Lu Yibei dashed forward, wrapped his arms around Jacob’s waist, and pulled him back inside.

Then, he reached out, grabbed the red thread in front of him, quickly wrapped it around his hand several times, and secured it tightly.

Got you, little thing! Lu Yibei thought, his eyes narrowing slightly.