Chapter 24: Curse Investigator

“Why should it be like this!” Yao Beibei’s face flushed red with indignation. Why were even books divided into tiers? How could knowledge be graded!

The reason given by the school was that they wanted Class F students to build a solid foundation first.

The library teacher spoke with earnest sincerity: “How can you run before you even know how to walk? Lay a solid foundation first before looking at anything else. Your class and D Class share this bookshelf.”

There was only one Class F in the entire school. In the teachers’ eyes, having Class F students share a bookshelf with D Class students was already somewhat beyond their curriculum.

C Class had access to more, B Class even more, and A Class could borrow most of the books.

The library also had an advanced reading room, which was accessible only to teachers and specially approved students.

Looking stern but speaking in a very kind tone, the female teacher added, “To differentiate these books, the teachers deliberately incorporated various knowledge points into your placement exam.”

Yao Beibei was silenced. Since they had failed to test into a higher tier, books beyond their curriculum were temporarily unavailable to them.

Fine. Thinking about it that way, knowledge really could be divided into tiers: the tier she hadn’t managed to test into.

The teacher continued, “Some of these books involve practical exercises. What if you try them carelessly and injure yourselves?”

Just as Yao Beibei was about to plead Ding Ling’s case again, the female teacher said, “The all-ages books are over there.”

The books Ding Ling wanted to read weren’t beyond the syllabus at all; they were essentially at the level of children’s literature.

The teacher kindly added, “Most mythological stories like that can be found in the all-ages section.”

There were quite a few people in the all-ages area. The library carried all kinds of novels, magazines, and the like. Yao Beibei picked out 《300 Questions on Daily Beauty Arts》 and sat down at a long table to read.

Ding Ling searched the bookshelves for stories of Nezha^[1]. She picked up 《Lotus Boy》, 《Havoc in the Sea》, and 《Tales of Subduing Demons》, which included both storybooks and illustrated picture books.

She was just about to open them to study how to craft a human body out of lotus roots.

The library teacher came over to find her: “You’re Ding Ling, right? Director Chen is looking for you. He wants you to go to the office of the director of student affairs immediately.”

Ding Ling didn’t even twitch an eyebrow, but Yao Beibei was already nervous: “What’s this about?”

Had Ding Ling been caught refining pills in the dormitory? Or caught blowing up her pill furnace? Or caught using school soil to grow spiritual plants and selling them outside?

Yao Beibei knew Ding Ling hadn’t accepted compensation from the Ye family, so Ding Ling’s sudden influx of money had worried her terribly.

After agonizing over it for a long time, she had finally asked Ding Ling where the money came from. She had assumed Ding Ling wouldn’t tell her, but to her surprise, Ding Ling was completely candid: “I got it from selling spiritual plants.”

Right! She was from Nanzhou! People from the Four Polar Continents all had their own ways of making money!

Tallying it up like that, Ding Ling really wasn’t a model student. She had broken far too many school rules.

“It’s okay, go on ahead. I’ll borrow these books for you.”

“Thank you.”

Vice Principal Gao, Director Chen, Teacher Miao, Chen Li, and Chen Li’s parents were all waiting for Ding Ling in the director’s office.

The moment Chen Li woke up, he had confessed the truth.

When he first came to, bone was faintly visible in that fingertip of his. Chen Li had nearly lost his mind in terror, confessing everything he had done: “I just… I just…”

The previous curse investigators had been fired by Chen Li’s father for their incompetence in failing to find the source of the curse aura.

The newly hired investigator listened with a subtle expression.

Just what? Just had nothing better to do? Just wanted to harm others without any benefit to himself?

“It’s possible he touched a poisonous spiritual plant, or perhaps the other party cast a curse after having her spiritual field destroyed.” Hearing that the girl was from Nanzhou made that seem all the more likely.

Hearing this, Chen Li’s mother was convinced Ding Ling was the culprit. The moment she entered the office, she aggressively demanded that Director Chen hand Ding Ling over: “We sent our healthy child here to study, only for him to suffer like this! The school must take responsibility! She must be expelled! Sent to prison!”

Once someone turned sixteen, they could be sent to cultivator prison.

Her voice was so shrill that Chen Dahai couldn’t help but frown, his scalp feeling as if it had been scraped by a razor.

He tried his best to remain calm: “Ma’am, the matter hasn’t been investigated yet, so we can’t jump to conclusions like that. Besides…”

“Besides what?” Believing that even the director was siding with Ding Ling, Mrs. Chen was about to slam the desk when Vice Principal Gao spoke up.

“Mrs. Chen, we understand how you feel, but everything requires evidence. If the investigation shows it is related to her, the school will certainly not tolerate it.”

With Vice Principal Gao stepping in, Chen Da, who had remained silent until now, held his wife back. “Of course, we trust the school.” There was no way Vice Principal Gao would ignore this matter.

Chen Da wasn’t worried in the slightest. Vice Principal Gao was fixated on dropping the “Vice” from his title. With a new official’s eagerness to light his three fires^[2], he was itching to let them blaze across the entire school. This matter would only be handled with the utmost severity.

The moment Ding Ling walked in, Chen Li glared venomously at her.

But having barely glanced at her, another bout of piercing agony struck his fingertip.

Seeing her son’s hand in pain, Mrs. Chen rushed forward and asked, “What’s wrong? Does it hurt again?” Glaring furiously at Ding Ling, she was about to speak when Chen Dahai cut in first.

“Ding Ling, we called you here because, according to Chen Li’s recollection, his injury occurred in Greenhouse No. 1 after he destroyed your spiritual field.”

He said this deliberately. Mrs. Chen felt a twinge of embarrassment, but it was the truth after all.

Ding Ling nodded.

Her expression was indifferent as she waited for Chen Dahai to continue.

“Chen Li’s parents bear no ill will, but they simply wish to confirm whether the curse has anything to do with you.” Chen Dahai could barely bring himself to say it.

“All right,” Ding Ling nodded in agreement.

Mrs. Chen took half a step forward. What, did she think she had the right to refuse?

Chen Da held her back, speaking politely to the newly hired curse investigator: “I’ll trouble you to look into this.”

He had called in favors and spent a fortune to bring this man over from the military. The man had cracked many cases, and Chen Da refused to believe that even someone from the military wouldn’t be able to uncover the truth.

The curse investigator yawned. If not for the generous side pay and the assignment from his unit, he wouldn’t have bothered coming at all.

“Student over there, take a pen and write whatever you like.”

Ding Ling pulled her charred black hand from her pocket.

The curse investigator froze. “When were you injured?”

Chen Dahai held back his temper and said, “Just two months ago, when that A-rank secret realm collapsed…” Both the municipal and military investigation teams had already reviewed the report on it.

“I’ve seen that report. Is this the victim?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t she…” The report had stated that her spiritual root was completely ruined. The military had been far more interested in Ye Yibai, who had survived unscathed, but his older brother had blocked them from seeing him.

The curse investigator’s expression immediately hardened. “Then how could she possibly curse anyone?” Are they messing with me? What kind of crazy nonsense is this?

He scoffed in exasperation. “Does this even need investigating? With a hand like that and a spiritual root like hers, who could she possibly curse?”

Seeing the young man flare up, Chen Da quickly placated him. “We’re just ruling out possibilities. Sorry to trouble you.”

Mrs. Chen was about to speak, but Chen Da glared her into silence. This man was different from the others; he was from the military, not someone they could boss around just by throwing money at him.

Calming himself down, the curse investigator pulled out paper and a pen from his bag. “Fine. Little girl, come over here and write something with that hand. Anything will do.”

Ding Ling walked up to the office desk. She glanced at the paper and pen; both bore formations.

She reached out her hand unhesitatingly, scribbling two crooked strokes that looked halfway between a “T” and the character “Ding.”

The curse investigator drew a formation on the desk with spirit stone powder. Everyone stepped back a few paces to watch, except for Ding Ling, who did not move.

Placing Ding Ling’s writing into the formation, the man chanted under his breath and pointed with a hand seal.

The moment his fingertip touched it, the formation drawn with spirit stone powder lit up as if electrified.

The sheet of paper trembled faintly, then settled back onto the formation, completely motionless.

Once the spiritual energy in the spirit stone powder was exhausted, the formation dimmed.

With everyone’s eyes glued to the scene, Chen Da spoke up first: “How is it? Did it react?”

The curse investigator glanced at Ding Ling first before shaking his head. “No.” Such a faint reaction was nowhere near enough to make a determination.

“Impossible! It has to be her!” Chen Li shouted.

The curse investigator was already packing up his things. Hearing this, he glanced at Chen Li. “I’ll issue an official assessment.” Once an assessment was finalized, the military would not waste manpower getting involved again.

With that, he grabbed his bag and walked out.

Mrs. Chen refused to accept it either. No matter how she looked at her, this girl seemed strange; her son’s injury definitely had something to do with her!

Seeing this outcome, Vice Principal Gao cleared his throat. “Since it wasn’t her, Student Ding may return to class. Perhaps Student Chen was injured off campus? We’ve already searched every corner of the school. By process of elimination, it couldn’t have happened here.”

Vice Principal Gao was clearly trying to wash his hands of the matter, but Chen Da was powerless to stop him. Even calling in someone from the military had yielded no results.

Even he was beginning to wonder: could it be an enemy of the Chen family?

Just as Chen Da was about to leave with his wife and son, Teacher Miao, who had been standing quietly in the corner, spoke up: “Please wait a moment.”

With a beaming smile, he said to the vice principal, “Student Chen damaged the spiritual field in Greenhouse No. 1. That matter hasn’t been punished yet, has it? He ought to apologize to Student Ding.”

Vice Principal Gao nodded. “Indeed. One thing at a time. Violating school discipline and regulations warrants punishment.” This was a new policy he had just instituted, so naturally, it had to be enforced.

“I’ll leave this matter to Teacher Miao and Director Chen.” With that, Vice Principal Gao left.

Teacher Miao maintained that smiling face of his as he pushed up his glasses. “For damaging the spiritual field, Student Chen will write a one-thousand-word self-criticism and submit it to me, read it aloud in front of the entire school, and be assigned duty in Greenhouse No. 1. Is there any problem with this punishment, Director Chen?”

His expression made it clear that he had no intention of letting Chen Li off easy; he was going to make full use of that duty.

Director Chen spoke up next, “He really should apologize to Student Ding Ling.”

Blue veins bulged on Chen Li’s uninjured hand. Chen Da shoved his son forward, and Chen Li walked up to Ding Ling, glaring at her intently. “I’m. So. Rry.”

His mouth spoke the apology, but his eyes promised that he would never let her off.

Malice surged in his chest as he uttered those three words, and the moment they left his mouth, a sharp pain flared in his palm.

Ding Ling paid him no mind. Bypassing Chen Li, she asked, “May I leave now?”

She was busy.

Ding Ling stepped out of the office. Just as she turned down the stairs, she saw the young curse investigator standing by the landing, having not yet left. He flashed a grin at Ding Ling.

“Here’s my business card.”

Ding Ling didn’t take it. There was something on that card, and with her spiritual root in its current state, she couldn’t take any risks.

The man didn’t force it on her. Toying with the card in his fingers, his grin widened. “It really was you.”