Chapter 49 - Who Are You? (1)
The next day, Li Fei'er brought her divination mirror with her to the school. She got it as a gift from her grandfather. Each shaman owned and received one once they finished their apprenticeship, allowing them to use the item as a tool for exorcising evil spirits.
Li Fei'er was excited to tell Shen Minyao about her plan, but the latter ignored her as usual and focused on their lessons. Shen Minyao didn't make any indication that she was interested in what their classmates were talking about even during their break time in between their subjects.
When lunchtime came, Shen Minyao was nowhere to be found, and Li Fei'er looked around the school but failed to find her. It couldn't be that she had gone to the laboratory on her own, right? She thought so, but she checked the place nonetheless. However, she didn't manage to find Shen Minyao there.
"Huh? Where has she gone?" She asked confusedly.
Meanwhile, the fox woman she was looking for was on the same tree Shen Minyao found during their first day at school. She was able to get some peace and break from troublesome humans here, just for a moment. With her growing hunger and weakening body, she also feared that she might accidentally hurt Li Fei'er if the human insisted on staying close to her.
That wasn't something the fox woman wanted to happen at all. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Little Jiu's current incarnation. Others could go to hell for all she cared, but not her Little Jiu.
When the time came when their class needed to go to the laboratory room, Li Fei'er asked their teacher about the weird mirror hanging on the wall. It wasn't like she hadn't seen mirrors inside a laboratory before, but the mirror was quite out of place in a school laboratory like this.
This time, a white cloth was draped over the mirror. Up this close, Li Fei'er was able to sense a demonic presence coming from it. It came to her as a surprise that Shen Minyao was really correct with her assumptions that it was a demon.
The demonic aura was very faint, but Shen Minyao managed to distinguish it? Li Fei'er couldn't help but be impressed by Shen Minyao's ability, not knowing that the girl was possessed by a demon.
"That mirror? I only knew that a science teacher, who used to work here, was the one who brought it here three months ago. Actually, we wanted to get rid of it because it is giving us and the other students an eerie feeling. Those who attempted to remove the mirror also fell sick after attempting to do so. That's why, most of the time, we just cover it whenever we have class here, so the students don't get distracted by it."
Li Fei'er nodded in understanding, while Shen Minyao pretended not to hear the explanation and continued whatever she was doing in front of her. The teacher's explanation only proved that the mirror was possessed by a demon, but what piqued her curiosity was the previous teacher who brought the mirror here.
What could be her motive in bringing such a dangerous item here? She wondered. It was impossible for that teacher not to know that this mirror was dangerous, but why bring it here when she knew of the danger it would impose on the students?
"Teacher Xia, then what happened to the previous science teacher? Why did she leave Spring Hill High?" Thankfully, her Little Jiu's current incarnation was smart enough to ask the right questions. They needed every detail they could get about the cursed mirror that was trapping spirits of the departed ones, soon to be consumed by a demon.
"Oh. She died from a sudden heart attack at her home last month. We were shocked when we heard about it because she never told us she was sick. She was found dead by the police when she was reported missing for three days."
That didn't make sense to Shen Minyao at all. If that teacher brought this mirror three moons ago, would she end up dead so suddenly? Unless… she had already served her purpose. Was she being manipulated by the demon in the mirror?
Something glittering at the window of the laboratory caught Shen Minyao's attention. She brought her pen down and stood up from her seat, while her classmates were chattering about nonsense things. She picked up a silvery thread from the window.
"What is it?" Li Fei'er appeared next to her, looking over her shoulder to see what Shen Minyao was holding, but there was none. She spotted Shen Minyao looking outside the window earlier as if she had seen something.
Although Li Fei'er was a shaman, her skills weren't strong enough to see whatever the fox woman was holding, so it was natural that she couldn't see the spider web thread glittering on Shen Minyao's hand. Only a demon or an experienced shaman or exorcist would be able to see it.
"A spider web thread." Shen Minyao told Li Fei'er. Compared to normal spider web threads, this was thicker and sturdier, like a thick rope used by humans. The fox woman hadn't seen it for ages but knew what it was at first sight.
"A spider web?" Li Fei'er repeated, but no matter how hard her eyes squinted to find what was on Shen Minyao's hand, she couldn't see anything. "I don't see it."
"It's a spider web from a demon." The fox woman furrowed her brows. The clues were starting to fall in place, and she had a gist of what kind of demon they were facing back at the hospital.
"How troublesome." She said her favorite line. If she was correct with her assumptions, the demon back at the hospital would probably kill Zhao Yichen to gain her fox orb once the demon realized what it was. The fox woman needed to kill it as soon as possible, but the question would be… how?