Chapter 33

Gu Yi’an’s investigation method was primarily conducted through chat apps.
When she first started university and arrived on campus, the dormitory atmosphere was still decent. Everyone went in and out together, participating in club activities, and she inevitably added some strangers whose names she didn’t even know.
Gu Yi’an had noted down their names and positions, such as “Basketball Club President” or “Student Union Life Department Cadre.”
This time, as she sought information, she selected those she considered well-informed from this group and sent them messages early on. Once they replied, she immediately expressed her gratitude.
She considered it an imposition, so she was genuinely thankful to anyone who took the time to respond.
After class, Gu Yi’an blended into the dense crowd and made her way to the library.
She settled into her usual seat and began reviewing the replies from those individuals one by one, summarizing the information she had gathered.
Their responses fell into two categories: one group recognized who Gu Yi’an was, some quickly withdrew and stopped replying, while others cautiously probed before sharing what they knew.
The other group had no idea who Gu Yi’an was. They were curious about how they had added her in the first place, but most of them answered if they had any relevant information.
Among these responses, one student council member stood out.
He knew a lot and was willing to share with Gu Yi'an, and his information was more comprehensive than others'.
Gu Yi'an then closed the chat conversations with others and focused solely on this student council member.
This student council member was very well-informed. He recognized Gu Yi'an and told her that the ex-boyfriend of her deceased roommate, Zhou Yaling, and his new girlfriend had died the day before yesterday. In fact, four people had died that day, and none of them had died from playing the pen spirit game.
The day before yesterday?
Gu Yi'an realized why the counselor had called her in yesterday.
No wonder the counselor had given her a protective talisman yesterday and called to remind her today. It was because of the two deaths the day before yesterday that made the counselor worry she, the only survivor from the two girls' dormitories, might be targeted for revenge.
And no wonder the school leadership had invited the eminent monk today, not just to see her, but also because her former roommate had turned into a vengeful ghost.
It could kill without needing to be summoned by the pen spirit game.
After sharing this with Gu Yi'an, the student council member curiously asked if she had some extraordinary protective item and if she could share where to get one, as he wanted to buy one too.
Seeing this, Gu Yi'an guessed that this was the real reason the student council member had shared the information with her.
Gu Yi'an's impression of this student council member was that he was the volunteer who had helped freshmen during the university's opening ceremony.
He was enthusiastic and loved helping others. He had even tried to recruit Gu Yi'an into the student council, though she had declined later.
At the time, the student council member had straightforwardly said that if he could recruit Gu Yi'an, it might attract more superficial young guys to join the student council, which would fulfill the president's recruitment task.
Gu Yi'an appreciated his honesty, but she had no interest in the student council and ultimately didn't sign up.
Of course, the student council member didn't push her.
These events left Gu Yi'an with a good impression of him. This time, he hadn't doubted her and had even offered help, so she replied that the protective talisman was indeed effective.
Gu Yi'an couldn't possibly reveal the items she had obtained from The Game of the Gods.
Coincidentally, the protective talisman the counselor had given her yesterday was genuinely effective, it could detect Lu Zize's presence around her, so she mentioned the talisman to the student council member.
She didn't say the counselor had given it to her, only that a friend had, and she would ask where it was bought for him.
This chat lasted ten minutes. When Gu Yi'an turned her attention back to the notebook on the study desk, it had opened on its own, as if no one else was around, yet no one nearby noticed its movement.
It was unclear whether everyone was too focused on studying to look in Gu Yi'an's direction or if the notebook had blocked their perception.
Gu Yi'an saw a line of text on the notebook's inner page:
"He's trying to hit on you."
Was it referring to the student council member?
Gu Yi'an picked up a pen and wrote two words below:
"Nonsense!"
They were discussing serious matters, after all.
After she wrote the words, the notebook seemed to sulk.
It didn't reply again.
Normally, it would always reply to Gu Yi'an, and do so very quickly. But this time, it even closed itself.
Previously, it was always Gu Yi'an who closed the notebook, but this time it shut on its own.
Throwing a tantrum for no reason.
Gu Yi'an ignored the notebook and continued communicating with the student union official through the chat app.
The other party sent Gu Yi'an another message.
"The school invited a senior monk today to perform an exorcism. They called it a religious exchange, but it's actually a ritual."
Gu Yi'an already knew about this, she had even seen the senior monk herself.
If she wasn't mistaken, the elderly monk she saw before class today was the one here for the exorcism.
Gu Yi'an replied, "I saw that senior monk today."
The other party immediately sent a message.
"He actually went to see you? No wonder you suddenly asked me for information today. You should have come to me earlier."
The student union official was sharp-minded. From Gu Yi'an's actions, he deduced her role in these death incidents, an innocent bystander.
Gu Yi'an didn't respond to his comment about how she should have come to him earlier.
But the student union official sent another message right away, asking Gu Yi'an what she was doing and whether she was afraid of being harmed by evil spirits.
Gu Yi'an didn't want to discuss her thoughts with him, so she simply replied, "No."
After a while, he sent another message, asking if Gu Yi'an wanted to know about other death incidents, he knew of a few more.
Of course, Gu Yi'an wanted to know.
After Gu Yi'an said she still wanted to hear about those death incidents, the student union official took a long time to reply.
Gu Yi'an didn't rush him. She just played a small game on her phone and occasionally glanced at the notebook.
It lay there quietly, very much like someone sulking.
Why was Lu Zize so moody today?
Gu Yi'an found it strange.
She began to suspect that Lu Zize might be hiding something from her.
Gu Yi'an reached out to touch the notebook, only to see it slide a short distance away, avoiding her hand.
Realizing the notebook was deliberately avoiding her, Gu Yi'an once again focused her attention on her phone.
Unbeknownst to Gu Yi'an, in an office building a few hundred meters away...
The counselor, whom Gu Yi'an referred to as Teacher Huang, glanced at the open notebook on her desk, then looked up at her colleagues, who were completely ignoring the commotion around her.
The colleagues chatted idly in the office as usual, but they acted as if she weren't there at all.
The counselor looked warily at the notebook, instinctively lowering her voice as she asked, "Who are you?"
A line of subtly sharp characters appeared on the notebook.
"You may call me Demon."
Seeing the word "demon," the counselor's wariness toward the notebook reached its peak.
Demons were always associated with evil.
In legends, they were ugly, greedy, and loved to devour human souls.
But this demon seemed polite, reasonable, and even capable of communication.
This only made the counselor more cautious.
She feared being deceived by the demon without even realizing it.
The counselor asked, "What do you want from me?"
She didn't believe the demon would seek her out for no reason.
A new line of text appeared on the notebook that called itself a demon.
"Let's make a deal."
Without a second thought, the counselor refused, "Thank you, but no."
The consequences of making a deal with a demon were undoubtedly dire.
As if completely ignoring her words, the notebook displayed another line of text.
"I will resurrect your sister."
The moment the counselor read those words, her body froze.
The notebook actually knew!
It knew about her sister.
It might truly know her secret.
Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but she held back.
A struggle was evident on her face.
Time ticked by.
In the office, her colleagues continued their conversations, deliberately avoiding the counselor.
The notebook remained silent. If it were a person, it would have been a hunter leisurely waiting for its prey to fall into the trap, calm, yet with hidden lethality.
The counselor was alone in her small world.
"Fine."
She couldn't resist the temptation offered by the demon and gave up her struggle.
The counselor asked, "How can I trust that you can resurrect her?"
She stared at the notebook.
No words appeared on its pages.
The surroundings were eerily quiet.
Doubt began to grow in the counselor's mind. Was this self-proclaimed demon just bluffing?
No.
She noticed a shadow cast on the inner page of the notebook.
It was the outline of a human head.
The counselor jerked her head up.
She saw a beautiful girl, one who only existed in her memories, standing in front of her desk.
The girl's body blocked the light behind her, which explained the shadow the counselor had just seen.
The girl smiled at the counselor and said in a coquettish tone, "Sis, I've been here for so long. Why did it take you so long to notice me?"
The counselor trembled. After the initial shock and fear in her eyes, pain and regret intertwined, leaving only excitement and guilt at the girl's reappearance.
"Qiaoqiao."
Tears streamed down the counselor's face without her realizing it.
She stood up, wanting to touch the person who only existed in her memories.
But just as her hand was about to reach the girl, the girl's figure faded, disappearing bit by bit before her eyes.
No one in the office noticed the commotion around the counselor.
She stood frozen, staring at the spot where the girl had vanished for a while before turning her gaze back to the notebook.
"What do you want in return?"
A new line of text appeared on the notebook.
"Protect Gu Yi'an."
In the library.
About ten minutes later, Gu Yi'an received a chart compiled by the student council members.
The events on the chart were arranged in chronological order, including the number of deaths, the identities of the deceased, and their respective causes of death.
Starting from the incident two months ago when Gu Yi'an's former roommate died while playing with a spirit board, all the way to the unidentified male corpse discovered yesterday, every death case was recorded.
The level of care put into this spreadsheet was extraordinary, and more importantly, the precise details of the deaths that the school had tried to conceal were the most valuable part.
Gu Yi'an felt that a simple "thank you" was completely inadequate to express her gratitude for the effort this person had put in.
But at this moment, she could only convey her thanks through the chat app.
The other person replied quickly, almost in a joking tone.
"Since I went through the trouble of making this spreadsheet, how about treating me to a meal at the cafeteria? I'm a bit hungry."
When Gu Yi'an saw this message, her gaze involuntarily shifted to the notebook on her desk.
It seemed the notebook had been right.
In the past, whenever a man invited her to a meal in such a subtle way, it usually meant he was interested in her and trying to pursue her.
If the notebook hadn't said what it did earlier, Gu Yi'an might have agreed without a second thought. The request was so minor.
But because the notebook had mentioned it, she couldn't help but think in that direction.
She had no intention of getting involved with men, nor did she want to give off any signals that she was open to being pursued.
After a moment's thought, Gu Yi'an sent a reply.
"I'm on a diet lately, so I won't be going to the cafeteria. How about I try to get you a protective talisman instead?"
The other person had previously expressed interest in buying a protective talisman, so she figured she could help him get one.
After a while, he replied with a tearful, grateful emoji, saying it would be a big help and that he would pay her back.
This was exactly the kind of straightforward, transactional relationship Gu Yi'an preferred, clear and simple, with no strings attached.
He didn't push further, and when she hinted, he backed off.
She quite appreciated his reasonable behavior.
Glancing at the motionless notebook on her study desk, Gu Yi'an thought to herself, This student council member is so much better than a certain notebook that sulks at the slightest provocation.
Gu Yi'an left her seat and headed to the library hallway to call her academic advisor.
She had always been someone who acted decisively, never procrastinating if she could help it.
As soon as she dialed, her advisor picked up immediately.
The speed of this startled even Gu Yi'an.
"Yi'an, is there something going on?"
The counselor's ever-friendly voice came through the phone.
Gu Yi'an replied politely, "Teacher Huang, this is Gu Yi'an. May I ask where you bought the peace charm you gave me yesterday? After wearing it yesterday, I felt calm and more at peace than usual. I’d like to buy one for my family as well."
She had made up an excuse.
It wasn’t entirely a lie, Gu Yi'an did plan to buy one for her brother, Gu Tianjing.
Although Gu Tianjing had seemed more respectable in recent years, deep down he was still a troublemaker, and Gu Yi'an was a little worried something might happen to him.
No matter how Gu Tianjing had treated her in the past, he was now the only family member she still cared about in this world.
Upon hearing Gu Yi'an’s words, the counselor immediately asked if the peace charm she had given her had lost its effect.
While making the call, Gu Yi'an had already considered the possibility that the counselor might discover the charm had been destroyed.
She calmly explained, "Yes, Teacher Huang. Somehow, that peace charm turned to ashes. I’m worried something might happen to me, so I’d like to buy another one. If there are plenty in stock, I’d also like to get one for my family."
The counselor replied, "I bought it at a Taoist temple. I remember you don’t have classes this afternoon. Are you free? If not, I can take you there."
"Alright, thank you, Teacher Huang."
Gu Yi'an expressed her gratitude and waited for the other end to hang up first.
On the other side, the counselor, who had hung up first, stared at the notebook on her desk and whispered, "Staying away from my student is the best way to protect her."
In the counselor’s view, the failure of Gu Yi'an’s peace charm was entirely due to the notebook’s presence. She had stumbled upon the truth by chance.
A new line of text appeared on the notebook’s page.
"If I want you to protect her, why would I harm her?"
The counselor grew even more wary upon reading this.
Why would the notebook want her to protect Gu Yi'an?
It could bring the dead back to life, such an extraordinary power, so a simple act of protection should be effortless for it.
Was there something the notebook couldn’t handle?
That seemed unlikely.
Then perhaps it didn’t want to reveal itself to Gu Yi'an?
For now, that was the only possibility the counselor could think of.
The more she pondered, the more convinced she became.
A demon was certainly not a being that acted without expecting something in return.
Was it protecting Gu Yi'an because it coveted her soul?
The counselor suspected the demon’s true intention in protecting Gu Yi'an was to ensure its "food supply" remained safe.
Based on her observations of Gu Yi'an over nearly two semesters,
Gu Yi'an was intelligent, hardworking, and well-regarded by all her teachers. She was rational, independent, and kind-hearted, she would firmly stop others from playing with the pen spirit.
Such a beautiful and virtuous soul, who wouldn’t be moved by it?
Suddenly, without any warning, the notebook gradually faded from solid to illusory and disappeared before the counselor’s eyes.
The counselor glanced at the empty desk where the notebook had been, then looked past it to the spot where the girl had once stood, her eyes filled with nostalgia and guilt.
"It’s my fault, Qiaoqiao. I will bring you back to life."
In the library.
Gu Yi'an returned to her seat and first glanced at the notebook.
The notebook lay still, showing no reaction at all.
Is Lu Zize still angry?
He's not that kind of person.
Gu Yi'an grew increasingly uneasy and decided to pick up the notebook.
Just as her hand touched it, it felt as if her fingers passed right through, but in the blink of an eye, the notebook solidified and opened on its own.
Her hand landed on the inner page of the open notebook.
Wait, was the notebook an illusion at first?
Gu Yi'an felt a bit suspicious, but it seemed that the notebook had suddenly opened the moment she touched it, which was why she couldn't grasp it initially.
A line of text appeared on the ruled page:
"Don't touch me. I'm not happy."
Gu Yi'an withdrew her hand, her mind racing with doubts. Had the notebook she initially touched been an illusion simply because it didn't want to be touched by her?
She had thought the notebook had slipped away, leaving an illusion behind to deceive her.
Just as Gu Yi'an was about to ask, another familiar sentence appeared in the notebook:
"He wants to hit on you."
The "he" undoubtedly referred to the student union official she had been chatting with.
This time, Gu Yi'an couldn't respond as calmly as before.
Judging by the official's subsequent actions, it did seem like he had that kind of intention.
Gu Yi'an wrote a sentence below Lu Zize's line:
"He might be trying to pursue me."
The notebook erased all the black text on the page, including what Gu Yi'an had just written.
Then, a line of sharply penned characters emerged:
"You rejected him."
Gu Yi'an wrote below it:
"I rejected him."
This time, the handwriting in the notebook became much more relaxed. A new line appeared:
"He's lucky."
Seeing this, Gu Yi'an was first speechless, then raised an eyebrow as she remembered something.
Gu Yi'an wrote, "You weren't here earlier. Where did you go?"
If the notebook had been present, it should have sensed her conversation with the other person and known she had tactfully declined the invitation.
So, the notebook must have been absent earlier.
The previously assertive notebook lay quietly on the desk, choosing to remain silent.
Meanwhile, Brother Zhang and the other four players followed the senior monk as they circled the campus.
It wasn't until the eminent monk entered the teaching building that the group finally withdrew.
But the moment they retreated, the persistent spirit of the pen latched onto the five of them once again.
On the ground, a familiar pen appeared before everyone. They couldn't shake it off, nor could they afford to.
Brother Zhang picked up the pen, sensing the dangerous aura emanating from it, the pen spirit was indeed attached to it.
Brother Zhang said to the group, "Let's go find Gu Yi'an."
He didn't let the other players hold the pen, as he didn't trust them with it. He believed it was better to keep his own fate in his own hands.
Brother Zhang and the others had already scouted out the side door of the library earlier that morning.
They had entered the library through that side door in the morning.
Everything had gone smoothly, except for one thing: they hadn't managed to catch Gu Yi'an that morning.
The five of them avoided surveillance cameras, taking advantage of the time when students were in class and there were few pedestrians around, and successfully climbed into the library.
They made their way to the floor where Gu Yi'an's designated seat was located, navigating the journey with some tension but no major incidents.
As they passed by, students glanced at them, assuming they were maintenance workers. They were puzzled, though, by how disheveled and weary the "workers" looked, with bloodshot eyes.
From a distance, Brother Zhang and the others peered into the study room and were shocked to find that Gu Yi'an's usual seat was empty!
"That's strange. Could she be deliberately avoiding us?" one of the male players remarked, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Brother Zhang felt a pang of disappointment. He had even rehearsed how to act when they met, only to find that Gu Yi'an wasn't in the library this time.
There's a world of difference between an accidental miss and a deliberate effort that still fails.
According to the forum, on weekdays, as long as Gu Yi'an didn't have classes, she would definitely be in the library.
Brother Zhang tightened his grip on the pen, signaling the pen fairy not to worry. He whispered to the pen, "Maybe she had something come up unexpectedly. We'll look for her elsewhere."
After a moment's thought, Brother Zhang realized they couldn't rely on Gu Yi'an for the time being. It seemed they would have to return to the vicinity of that dormitory building to search for clues.
He said to the players, "Let's head back to the dormitory building where we first arrived in this world."
Meanwhile, Gu Yi'an was completely unaware that the players were already looking for her.
To this day, she knew nothing about the content of her fourth game.
After obtaining the list of deaths from the student union cadres, she quickly pinpointed the direction she needed to investigate.
She decided to start from the source of these death incidents, the pen spirit her former roommates had summoned back then.
Although the table provided by the student union cadres made no mention of the pen spirit's origins, it was clear that the pen fairy was the key subject to investigate.
It was the root of everything.
Gu Yi'an went to the school's dormitory building.
The building she had previously lived in was now empty, but there was still a dorm supervisor on duty.
The previous supervisor had been replaced, but the current one was also a long-time staff member.
The dorm supervisor recognized Gu Yi'an.
As the sole survivor from two female dorm rooms, Gu Yi'an was quite famous among the dorm supervisor team.
Moreover, her striking looks made her even more memorable.
Gu Yi'an asked the dorm supervisor if anyone had died in their building before the new students arrived.
"If anyone else asked, I definitely wouldn't say anything. But since it's you, I'll tell you," the dorm supervisor said, sighing as she understood Gu Yi'an's purpose. "It's as you suspected. Before you new students arrived, a girl named Huang Qiao died in this building."
Hearing this, Gu Yi'an realized that the girl named Huang Qiao was very likely the spirit they had summoned during that pen spirit session with her former roommates.
The dorm supervisor recalled, "She was an exceptionally beautiful girl. I heard she was driven to suicide by rumors. I don’t remember much about her, but I know she had an older sister. After her death, her sister came to our university and worked as a counselor, probably to investigate the exact cause of her sister’s death. I remember our school didn’t have counselors back then, it was only after this incident that the position was created. Oh, and her sister came to see us before. What was her name again? Let me think… Huang Ya. Yes, her sister’s name was Huang Ya."
The name Huang Ya sounded familiar to Gu Yi’an.
Immediately, it dawned on her, that was her counselor’s name!
In an instant, a suspicion formed in Gu Yi’an’s mind: Could her roommates’ pen spirit session be connected to their counselor?