Chapter 46 (1/2)
Chapter 46: A Serious Zhou Bai
Everything from the young girl’s neck down had turned into paper.
Her limbs were nailed to the wall. She hung there like a painting.
Zhou Bai lowered his head and said in a deep voice, “Who did this?”
Li Xiuzhu walked up next to Zhou Bai. He gazed at the girl on the wall and said, “Probably herself.”
“What?” Zhou Bai said incredulously, “Why would she do that to herself?”
“To increase her Degree of Taoification.” Li Xiuzhu sighed. “Didn’t you say she was about to get expelled? From what I’ve heard, Donghua Tao Academy holds a test every two months. Once a student is found to have no visible improvement after consecutive tests, they get expelled. The conserved resources are used to foster students with greater potential.
“This girl…clearly didn’t have enough gift. Mutation is the result of forcibly improving.
“The sound you heard before was probably the sound of her ramming her head into the wall. Her body has completely mutated below her neck. She’s become something like a paper person. She can even pass through walls.
“But because her head still retains its human shape, when she’s passing through the wall, her head gets stuck and makes the sounds of a collision.”
Zhou Bai looked at the girl before him, who had lost all vitality. He sighed, “Why…why must she insist on improving…”
“The path of Tao practice—if you don’t advance, you’ll retreat. Especially under the influence of the distorted Heavenly Tao, sometimes advancing doesn’t necessarily mean success.” Li Xiuzhu shook his head. “To take a step forward or to take a step backward, the delicate decision between them is something you must learn while practicing Tao.
“You need the courage to press forward with an indomitable will, but also the resolution to break it off when you must.”
Zhou Bai frowned after he heard this. Practicing Tao…was too difficult.
“Good thing I have the auxiliary practice system.”
Zhou Bai looked at the girl on the wall and asked, “Did you kill her?”
Li Xiuzhu shook his head. “I’ve been lying in ambush outside. When I realized you passed out, I barged in here. But she killed herself right after I broke through her Tao technique.”
Looking at the girl before him who was pale as paper, Li Xiuzhu sighed and said. “She probably had a single thread of consciousness remaining, that’s why she chose to kill herself. And it was probably thanks to this thread of remaining consciousness that she didn’t kill you last night.”
What followed was a series of aftermath procedures. The teachers at the school, police from the outside, and all sorts of practitioners came to the scene to analyze, inspect, and seal off the site.
Li Xiuzhu also brought Zhou Bai back to the police station to file a report.
Before he left, Zhou Bai told him about everything he saw, “I saw a square-faced man speaking with her before. He promised to prepare something for her, and they…”
Hearing Zhou Bai’s description of what happened, Li Xiuzhu narrowed his eyes, “Square-faced man? I’ll have someone look into it. Your teacher is looking for you; go speak with him.”
***
When Zhou Bai left the police station, he encountered Lu Chongyang, who had been waiting for him outside.
“Zhou Bai,” Lu Chongyang asked with concern. “Are you all right? I can’t believe a student mutated at school.”
“I’m all right.” Zhou Bai felt like a mouse who had just seen a cat. The more Lu Chongyang cared about him, the more awkward he felt.
It was just like that time in his senior year of high school when he cut class to go to an Internet cafe. When the homeroom teacher came to get him, he didn’t scold him at all. He just sighed.
What touched Zhou Bai the most iwas not scolding, cursing, or disdain, but disappointment….
But when he remembered he was doing this to become stronger and fight for the future of humankind, Zhou Bai straightened himself up.
Lu Chongyang couldn’t tell Zhou Bai’s change of emotions. He just said, “Zhou Bai, you haven’t been coming to class recently. Is it because of what’s been happening next door? Since it has been resolved, come to class tomorrow.”