As Jiang Tao narrated this part, their taxi pulled up once more in front of the gates of "Fuxing Middle School," and he parked the car on the street opposite the main entrance.

Just as Gu Yi was about to open the door, Bai Ru quickly stopped him. "Hey, the story is at the crucial point."

"The ending, of course, is me saving them all," Gu Yi said with a grin.

Bai Ru turned and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back into the car. "It’s not fully light yet, and the school's server room will definitely be empty. It’s best to wait until school opens to check the archives. Now, sit tight and finish the story for me. I want details."

Gu Yi reluctantly closed the car door, which he had pushed open slightly, and settled back into his seat.

Seeing this, Jiang Tao continued his tale.

Beneath the dimly lit overpass, Gu Yi stared at Jin Qiu, who was holding Jiang Tao hostage, and the female ghost on her back. He sighed and surprisingly agreed to the ghost's demand.

"Drop your spell and step aside," the female ghost commanded.

Back in the car, the ghost hadn't realized Gu Yi possessed the ability to capture spirits, which is why she had lunged straight for him. Now, however, she dared not underestimate him; only if Gu Yi stayed far away could she feel secure.

Gu Yi rubbed his nose and backed up several paces. With a wave of his hand, the two faintly visible Bagua symbols in the air vanished.

The female ghost, manipulating Jin Qiu, forced Jiang Tao toward the car. Since his neck was being choked, Jiang Tao could only keep his head down, hunching over as he walked alongside Jin Qiu toward the vehicle in an extremely awkward posture.

The female ghost stared intently at Gu Yi, wary of any sudden move. Gu Yi could only raise both hands and wave them in a gesture of surrender, signaling that he had no intention of interfering.

The group reached the car. Jiang Tao was first ordered to crawl into the front passenger seat. Jin Qiu then dragged him from the passenger side to the driver’s seat while still choking him. But just as Jin Qiu bent down to enter the car, and her fingers briefly left Jiang Tao’s eyes, Gu Yi clapped his hands together, releasing the final Bagua seal.

This last seal, faintly emitting a bright blue glow, was different from the previous two. It shot toward the car at an incredible speed. Right before reaching the door, it suddenly dissolved into countless blue motes of light, forming a vortex of blue energy in front of the door.

The female ghost, clinging to the hunched-over Jin Qiu’s back, had truly not anticipated that Gu Yi would dare cast a spell while she held a hostage. Just as she tried to react, she felt an immense suction force from behind and cried out in terror. She lost her balance and was ripped away from Jin Qiu's back. However, she wasn't immediately sucked into the blue vortex. Instead, she resisted the pull of the swirl, twisting and struggling mid-air, occasionally letting out piercing shrieks.

Gu Yi narrowed his eyes, watching the female ghost suspended in the air with a cold gaze. His hand seals shifted continuously as he began to walk slowly toward the front of the car.

"Jiang Tao, how are you?" Gu Yi called out loudly.

"Al... alright..." Jiang Tao replied weakly, his voice trembling.

"Get Jin Qiu out of the car."

"She's... passed out."

Gu Yi took a deep breath, looked at the female ghost, and suddenly spoke, "I didn't want to resort to this. You could have simply moved on to reincarnation; why make things so difficult?"

The female ghost could only scream; no other sound emerged from her.

Gu Yi executed a rapid sequence of hand seals, and the vortex in the air spun faster and faster. Finally, the female ghost could no longer withstand the powerful suction. With a horrible shriek, her body was pulled into the vortex.

Simultaneously, a mournful cry filled with resentment echoed from inside the car: "No..."

The car door flew open, and Jin Qiu stumbled out, screaming, "Sister..."

Gu Yi sighed softly. He flipped his wrist, and a streak of red light shot into the vortex, which was on the verge of disappearing, before immediately shooting back out. By this time, the vortex had completely swallowed the female ghost, and then vanished entirely from the air.

In the space where the vortex had been, a talisman, faintly shimmering with red light, floated gently toward the ground. Gu Yi reached out and caught it, quickly folding the talisman into the shape of a paper crane.

Clutching the paper crane, he slowly approached Jin Qiu, who was kneeling on the ground covering her face, and whispered, "She's gone now."

Jin Qiu kept her hands over her face, her shoulders shaking slightly as she sobbed silently, offering no words.

Helplessly, Gu Yi placed the paper crane on the roof of the car and said gravely, "I'm not very good at comforting people, but... I think everything should be fine now." As he said it, he realized how inadequate the statement sounded. He lowered his head and beckoned to Jiang Tao inside the car, signaling him to come out and help.

With no other choice, Jiang Tao scrambled out of the car. His legs felt like rubber as he shuffled toward the two of them, bending over Jin Qiu. "It's over. I'm sure your sister wouldn't want you to be this upset, although... although she... uh..."

To be honest, he had no idea how to console Jin Qiu; he hadn't even fully processed everything that had just occurred.

Suddenly, Jin Qiu whimpered, "I... I knew... he... had something wrong, was hiding something from me, and... he’s been avoiding me these past few days... and today he even hit me... it turns out... he killed my sister..."

Only then did Jiang Tao understand the reason for the swelling around her eyes and felt even more at a loss for words.

Gu Yi reached out and grasped Jin Qiu’s arm, pulling her forcefully to her feet.

Startled, Jin Qiu instinctively released her hands from her face, looking at Gu Yi with tear-streaked cheeks.

Gu Yi picked up the paper crane and handed it to Jin Qiu. "Sealed inside this is a sliver of your sister's residual soul. While it’s completely useless, or perhaps it's nothing at all, I thought, at least..."

He couldn't find the right words to finish.

Jin Qiu was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly reached out and took the paper crane, choking out, "At least, it can remind me that I had a sister..."