Chapter 80: The Task Assigned to Zhou Jian

Chen Yao's eyes widened, and she was just about to say, "How can you refuse me?" But then she realized the circumstances and quickly amended, "Don't you want to be a hero? If you catch him, the entire Supervisory Council will be deeply grateful to you."

This statement was somewhat reasonable, and Qin Jing looked at Zhou Jian, as if considering Chen Yao's suggestion.

Zhou Jian immediately tensed up, a powerful sense of crisis nearly making him turn and flee, only to hear Qin Jing shake his head with a wry smile, "Forget it, I can't beat him."

He hadn't intended to fight Zhou Jian at all. To Qin Jing, cultivation resources were not lacking; with peace of mind, he could reach heights others couldn't imagine. In this situation, it was better to make friends and not enemies. Whatever Zhou Jian had done, as long as it didn't threaten Qin Jing's bottom line, he wouldn't care.

"Can't… can't beat him?"

Chen Yao was speechless. Did he really look like someone who couldn't beat Zhou Jian?

Zhou Jian was also quite surprised, but he still believed Qin Jing was one of those mysterious big shots. Very cautiously, he said to Qin Jing, "I don't know your name, but since you choose not to intervene today, I will remember this favor."

"In other words, you owe me one."

Qin Jing pointed toward the classroom with a laugh, "Perfect timing, I need your help with something here. Would you come in?"

Zhou Jian was speechless. He looked at the classroom door and forced a laugh, "Better not. I've been in there before. That's not a place a low-level extraordinary like me should get involved with."

"My name is Qin Jing. I'm a merchant in Cold Sea City. Don't worry, there's nothing dangerous inside. I just need your help carrying some things."

As he spoke, Qin Jing patted the shoulder of the young man next to him, smiling, "If my words aren't enough, should I have him invite you instead?"

"No need, Mr. Qin. If you ask, I will obey."

Are you kidding? That young man was terrifying. Zhou Jian had no intention of crossing him.

Steeling himself, Zhou Jian moved to stand beside Qin Jing and the youth. To his relief, the young man remained expressionless, showing no reaction at all.

Then, Zhou Jian heard Qin Jing say something that made his scalp prickle: "Li Liang, I’ll need your help in a moment too. Put that thing on Zhou Jian and let him help carry it out."

That thing? What thing? Why did Li Liang need to help? What on earth was going on?

Zhou Jian raged inwardly, but dared not resist at all. He followed Li Liang and Qin Jing into the classroom.

Outside, the trio from the Supervisory Council exchanged silent glances. What kind of situation was this?

"Maybe we should go in and take a look?" Chen Yao suggested eagerly.

"Absolutely not. That's the heart of the entire Ghost Realm. I suspect something utterly terrifying is inside. All we need to do is record what happened today and report back," Lin En quickly stopped her. In fact, compared to the art school itself, he was now even more intrigued by Qin Jing. Clearly, this was a hidden powerhouse living in Cold Sea City. If only they could win him over...

Following behind Qin Jing, as soon as Zhou Jian entered the classroom, he felt as though he couldn't breathe!

The whole classroom was filled with students, packed closely together. The strange part was that they were chatting, laughing, even horsing around!

Ordinarily, this would have been perfectly normal. But in the context of this ghost-infested realm, it was anything but. Here, everything had already turned into spirits. For these "students" to talk and laugh—what level of ghosts were they? The thought of dozens like Li Liang made Zhou Jian’s knees tremble.

"Alright, we're here. Zhou Jian, carry it on your back and we can leave," Qin Jing said as the three of them reached the platform, pointing at the corpse lying there.

"A corpse!"

Zhou Jian nearly fell apart. He knew well that everything happening on campus originated from the strange circumstances of this corpse, and yet now, he was being asked to carry it?

"Yes. Move it out and the entire art school will return to normal—even the students who were tainted will recover," Qin Jing replied, his tone carrying a subtle, strange inflection.

Qin Jing had just come in, and with the help of Alchemy No. 1, he’d managed to meet Xu Li. As he’d expected, Xu Li had also become a ghost, so she could not leave the art school, nor even the classroom.

But Xu Li was even more deeply "tainted"—she was a fifth-level extraordinary ghost, practically a ghost king. She recognized Qin Jing at a glance and told him some things.

A few days earlier, Xu Li had dreamt of her ex-boyfriend. Following the dream’s guidance, she found his corpse by the seaside. From then on, strange events began to occur. She noticed those around her gradually losing human emotion—joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness faded, even though they acted as usual. In the end, Xu Li decided to confide in her teacher, only for the teacher to require the whole class to attend a performance lesson, with the subject of the performance being the corpse itself!

Xu Li’s knowledge was limited, but after hearing when she encountered the corpse, Qin Jing formed a hypothesis.

Seeing Zhou Jian’s expression, Qin Jing said mildly, "Zhou Jian, you’ve heard of Penglai Isle, haven’t you?"

Zhou Jian froze, then his face turned ashen. Staring at the corpse, he exclaimed, "Is that the one—the only one who came out of Penglai Isle?"

Qin Jing had once heard from Hathaway that the great explosion on that day was because someone broke through Penglai Isle’s barrier and entered the real world. But what came back was only a corpse.

The identity of the corpse was easy to trace. It still wore the clothes and had the features of its lifetime, and soon the conclusion was reached: it was Xiao Jianlin, a third-year student at Cold Sea Art School. He was a genius, fairly well known as an independent cultivator in Cold Sea. He’d risen meteorically over the past year, reaching third-level extraordinary by his own fortune, and was one of the first to enter Penglai Isle.

Xu Li was none other than Xiao Jianlin’s girlfriend!

"Most likely, yes. But he’s already dead. His corpse, however, underwent a mutation in Penglai Isle. I want to take it back for study. Are you willing to help me?"

As Qin Jing spoke, he took out several items: a bag of spirit rice, a bottle of spirit water, and three magic stones.

He handed one magic stone to Zhou Jian and said, "These are your payment. One stone as a deposit—when you deliver the body to the designated place, you’ll get the rest."

Gulp.

Zhou Jian swallowed hard. Each of these items was an invaluable cultivation resource, and he was getting such a reward just for carrying a corpse?

"This corpse is at the heart of all the strange events at the school and is tied to Penglai Isle. There may be danger while moving it, so if you’re unwilling, I won’t force you—"

Before Qin Jing could finish, Zhou Jian responded instantly, "Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it gets delivered!"

Qin Jing gave a mysterious smile and nodded. "It’s a deal."