003 Another Car Accident

Afternoon, second period.

The bell signaling the start of class had just rung when Mr. Li, the homeroom teacher, walked in, a girl following behind him. As the girl entered the classroom, a wave of astonishment swept through the room. Chen Hao, who had been brooding with his head down on his desk, looked up and saw a girl whose beauty was startling as a Heavenly Immortal. The girl was about 1.65 meters tall with waist-length black hair, and her figure could be described as perfect, with any more weight or any less likely to break that perfection.

Mr. Li walked to the lectern, adjusted his glasses, and with a slight smile said, "Classmates, this is our new student, Ye Yuqiao. Let's welcome her with warm applause!"

The moment his words fell, Mr. Li led the clapping enthusiastically. Though a teacher, he, too, was a man and couldn't help but feel excited. After all, a girl as beautiful as this was a rare find indeed, perhaps one in ten years, one in a million.

"Welcome! Welcome!" all the boys clapped in unison to welcome her; the girls, with a mixture of envy and jealousy in their eyes, sized up the new girl, as if trying to spot a flaw in this beauty as rare as a Heavenly Immortal.

Ye Yuqiao gave everyone a cold smile, her frosty face not hiding the pride befitting a beauty. Then, she turned her head and asked the homeroom teacher in a calm and cool tone, "Teacher, there are two empty seats in the classroom, can I choose one of the two for myself?"

"Of course, of course!" Mr. Li chuckled and nodded, entranced by every frown and smile of Ye Yuqiao.

In class 10 of the senior year, there were two students without desk mates, one was the impossibly handsome Xie Xiaofeng whom nobody dared to approach, and the other was Chen Hao, who was despised by everyone. They were originally desk mates until Chen Hao offended the "Four Little Overlords," after which Xie Xiaofeng drove Chen Hao away.

As Mr. Li nodded, all the boys turned around, casting envious glances towards Xie Xiaofeng who sat in the left corner. If things went as expected, this new beauty, worthy of the title of school flower, would certainly choose to sit with the good-looking Xie Xiaofeng. As for Chen Hao, who looked ragged and wounded, she would have to be blind to choose him.

Ye Yuqiao walked down from the lectern to the middle aisle of the classroom with a graceful walk, like a noble cat. She walked to the last row of the classroom, and just when everyone thought she would turn right towards Xie Xiaofeng's direction, she unexpectedly made a light left turn, took a few steps, and sat down next to Chen Hao.

Everyone was stunned; Xie Xiaofeng, who was used to girls throwing themselves at him, darkened his face; he was quite displeased. He had never imagined that the new classmate would choose to be desk mates with the utterly worthless Chen Hao, a shameful insult for someone as proud as himself!

As for Chen Hao, he was dumbstruck as if he'd been hit by a jackpot worth five million, staring blankly at his new desk mate.

Shortly after Ye Yuqiao took her seat, Chen Hao was aroused from his stupor by a breath of refreshing fragrance. His mouth agape, he stared at Ye Yuqiao beside him, her flawless profile, erect nose, and eyes clear as spring water filled with ice.

"Have you had enough?" Ye Yuqiao asked Chen Hao, her lips curving slightly upward.

She smiled at me, is she sending me some kind of signal? Chen Hao wondered. After pausing, he responded, "Enough, enough, hi, my name is Chen Hao."

"Yes... Yes...!" Chen Hao nodded with a wry smile, then turned his gaze forward. At that moment, he could feel the hostility and murderous intent in the eyes of the other male students in the class directed at him, and he couldn't help but let a smug expression cross his face, especially when he saw the disbelieving and gloomy look in Xie Xiaofeng's eyes from the other corner, his face involuntarily broke into a grin.

In his life thus far, he had never felt so triumphant.

No sooner had the second period ended than the news that a great beauty had transferred to class 10 of the senior year spread rapidly throughout the school. The boys rushed to class 10 to catch a glimpse, including the other three of the "Four Little Overlords." While marveling at Ye Yuqiao's looks and figure, they couldn't help but feel a mix of admiration, envy, and hatred for Chen Hao.

Not to stir up public anger, Chen Hao buried his head on the desk pretending to sleep as soon as class was over, only lifting it ten minutes into the last period. Apart from a few words during the introduction, he had no interaction with Ye Yuqiao.

This beautiful desk mate seemed too aloof, always appearing as if rejecting others from a thousand miles away. Chen Hao was no longer the persistent pest he once was—if a beauty didn't care to bother with him? He felt that he didn't want to bother with a beauty either. What's the use of looking good? It's not like one can hold or kiss it, so what's it to me!

As soon as the school bell rang for the end of the day, Chen Hao dashed out of the classroom.

As dusk fell, Chen Hao returned home, turned on the lights, and called out for his grandfather twice. When there was no response for some time, Chen Hao settled on the living room sofa. After lying down for a while, he got up and walked to the Eight Immortals table by the east wall of the living room, lit three sticks of incense, bowed his head, and said, "Thank the ancestors for their blessing, as I did not die in a great misfortune!"

When he inserted the third incense stick into the censer, a sudden gust of cold wind blew the incense ash into Chen Hao's left eye. Chen Hao exclaimed "Ow" in complaint and rubbed his left eye. As he opened his left eye again, the sound of children's laughter suddenly filled his ears.

"Ah!" After removing his hand from his left eye, Chen Hao trembled all over!

He saw that in the living room of his home, aside from himself, there were more than a dozen children crowded around. The youngest seemed to be only three years old, and the oldest no more than nine. Their skin was pale with a faint blue tint, exactly like the old grandmother he had seen in the hospital the night before.

"Who... who are you?" Chen Hao asked in horror.

"Brother Chen Hao, grandpa said, we are all your brothers and sisters!" A little girl holding a teddy bear in her left hand walked up to Chen Hao and said. After speaking, the girl reached out with her right hand to hold Chen Hao's left hand.

Feeling the chill from the little girl's hand, Chen Hao was so scared that his scalp went numb, and his body was as if he had been shocked by electricity. He immediately shook off the girl's hand and exclaimed with horror, "Stop calling me that, I'm not your brother, and you're not my siblings!"

"Wuu wuu!" The little girl let out a mournful cry, which was like the cry of a nightingale in the dark forest at night, with a chill that made one's heart tremble. "Brother Chen Hao doesn't want us anymore!"

As soon as the little girl finished speaking, all the children in the living room gathered around her. Over a dozen children huddled together, wailing pitifully. Listening to this terrifying and mournful crying, Chen Hao, driven to the edge of panic, couldn't help but wet himself. He dashed out of the house!

Just as Chen Hao ran to the stairway, a woman in red standing there suddenly turned around. Her skin was a darker purplish-blue, darker than that of the children in the living room. Seeing the malicious gleam in the red-clad woman's eyes, Chen Hao was startled and felt his legs weaken. The woman reached out both hands toward Chen Hao's neck. Instinctively, Chen Hao dodged and took a long stride out of the old building.

Reaching the street, Chen Hao, scared out of his wits, ran wildly without direction and arrived at a nearby intersection. A blinding, lemon-yellow car light shone on his face, accompanied by the sharp sound of a honking horn. With a "bang," once again, Chen Hao was hit by a truck. Still reeling from the shock, he lost consciousness.

After the truck stopped, two middle-aged men, one fat and the other thin, immediately got out of the vehicle. The fat one took out his phone to call for an ambulance; the thin one approached Chen Hao's side, retrieved a yellow talisman from his hand, bit his left index finger to draw blood, then used the blood to inscribe characters on the talisman.

These two middle-aged men were yin yang masters. A day earlier, they had been notified by the Netherworld gatekeepers Niu Tou and Ma Mian that the yin soul of a young man, who was meant to die in a car accident, had not reported to the Netherworld on time, and the soul guide assigned to him had also disappeared without a trace. Hence, Niu Tou and Ma Mian tasked the two yin yang masters with investigating the matter.

The two men discovered upon investigation that this young man, Chen Hao, was the only grandson of Chen Che, a senior yin yang master from the Y City Yin Yang Master Association. However, contrary to the Book of Life and Death, Chen Hao was not dead. After reporting to Niu Tou and Ma Mian, they arranged the traffic accident and instructed the two yin yang masters to use a spell to send Chen Hao's yin soul to the Netherworld.

The thin man finished drawing the spell with his blood, stuck the yellow talisman onto Chen Hao's forehead, placed his left palm over the talisman, and began to chant a spell with his eyes closed, humming and groaning. Seconds later, the thin man abruptly opened his eyes, yet Chen Hao's yin soul did not leave his body. The thin man frowned, looking at Chen Hao with confusion.

"Come here," he gestured to the fat man, "This spirit talisman for soul summoning isn't working; seems like we need to use the soul-snaring rope now."

"Right! But we've got to be quick; the ambulance will arrive soon!" the fat man nodded. After speaking, he took out a black plastic bag from his bag, opened it, and pulled out a length of hemp rope from inside. This rope was not ordinary hemp but had been soaked in chicken blood and divine sand water for forty-nine days and was meant for yin yang masters to capture yin souls.

The two yin yang masters, one at each end of the hemp rope, pulled it taut. They swiftly looped and wrapped the rope around Chen Hao's entire body. As the hemp rope tightened around him, it immediately flashed with a golden light. The two yin yang masters gritted their teeth and pulled the rope in opposite directions, trying to force Chen Hao's yin soul out of his body.

At that moment, the purple spell seal on Chen Hao's left eye reappeared. Instantly, a beam of dark light spread from his left eye, slicing the hemp rope wound around Chen Hao into thousands of pieces. The two yin yang masters, exerting all their strength, lost their balance and fell to the ground, vomiting blood.

"Ugh!" The thin yin yang master faintly sensed that the purple seal was no ordinary spell and immediately got up from the ground, helped the fat man into the truck, and fled quickly.

The truck hadn't gone far when a slender figure in the dim pedestrian path approached the unconscious Chen Hao.

It was Chen Hao's new deskmate, the newly proclaimed school beauty of Jingwen Middle School—Ye Yuqiao.