The moment Wu Zhongyou awoke, he found himself lying in his own bed, the sky outside bright with the morning light. He checked his body meticulously; nothing was amiss—no inexplicable wounds, no bloodstains. The only discomfort was in his nose; the fright and shock of the previous night had given him a cold.

Wu Zhongyou slowly climbed out of bed and inspected the area. Nothing seemed out of place beside the bed, but when he looked toward the bedroom door, he discovered his home's main entrance was wide open.

Perhaps it was the time of day, but looking out at the bright sky instilled a sense of security in him. After going out to close and lock the main door, he sat down in a chair, the events of the previous night still refusing to leave his mind.

He felt he absolutely had to visit his brother again, to understand exactly what had transpired last night. He reasoned that in the broad daylight, he was unlikely to encounter a ghost.

Arriving at his brother's house, he mustered significant courage before knocking on the door.

His brother answered. Since his son had had his accident, he had taken an extended leave from work and was home. Seeing it was Wu Zhongyou, his brother casually waved him inside.

Upon entering, Wu Zhongyou immediately felt something was strange. Not only was there no memorial tablet set up for his nephew, but the look of excessive grief that had been etched on his brother’s face for days had inexplicably vanished.

Furthermore, his sister-in-law emerged from the inner room wearing a similar half-smile, as if struggling to conceal something immensely joyful, an expression utterly inconsistent with someone whose son had just died.

Wu Zhongyou decided there was no point in concealing his intentions. He pulled his brother aside and got straight to the point: "Brother, do you know what happened last night?"

He suspected his brother was unaware that he had seen his own son, Wu Yinglong, last night. To his surprise, his brother actually nodded: "Yes, I know. Your nephew came back last night. He was very well-behaved; he said he’ll come back often to see us now. You too, why did you run off yesterday? You used to be very fond of your nephew."

Wu Zhongyou was stunned. He scrutinized his brother’s expression; it was serious and perfectly normal, not suggesting any mental instability.

Seeing his gaze examining him strangely from head to toe, his brother chuckled: "I’m not sick, I’m perfectly normal. We are content that he can come back to spend time with us."

With that, without minding Wu Zhongyou’s utter astonishment, he turned to help his wife tidy up the house.

Wu Zhongyou truly struggled to believe what he was witnessing, but seeing his brother and sister-in-law chatting and laughing together filled him with a profound sense of powerlessness that welled up from the bottom of his heart...

He paused here, raising a hand to wipe his wrinkled face, a faint glimmer of tears showing at the corners of his eyes.

Bai Ru waited quietly for him to compose himself.

After a long moment, Wu Zhongyou finally let out a breath: "I wanted to try persuading my brother again, but unexpectedly, not only did he refuse to listen, he told me not to interfere. He doesn’t want anything else; he just wants his son to come back."

Bai Ru frowned slightly and asked him, "Did you not consider other methods?"

Wu Zhongyou gave a wry smile and shook his head: "Of course, I did. I secretly sought out several highly skilled masters over time, but it turned out most of them were charlatans. One, however, did tell me that this situation wasn't something the common swindlers on the street could resolve. To deal with a lingering spirit unwilling to leave the mortal realm, one would require a master of extremely high attainment. But such true masters rarely reveal themselves; they are matters of chance, to be met only by destiny."

Bai Ru sighed softly, saying nothing.

Instead, Wu Zhongyou continued: "However, I later noticed that my nephew seemed to only return in the evenings to see my brother and sister-in-law, to eat the meal they prepared for him, and he didn’t commit any harmful acts against them. Gradually, I began to lose the desire to find someone to deal with my nephew. I figured since my brother and his wife weren't being harmed, and moreover, they weren't sinking into depression or experiencing domestic upheaval due to the grief of losing their son, perhaps this wasn't entirely a bad thing. Even though my little nephew has become a ghost, he hasn't hurt anyone, so why should I confront him? Thus, in the end, I gave up searching for any more masters and pretended this whole affair never happened."

Bai Ru remained outwardly composed, but inwardly, she felt something was amiss. Constant association with a ghost was never beneficial to a human. Humans belong to the Yang, while ghosts belong to the Yin, especially young ghosts whose excessive Yin energy could easily cause a person's Yang energy to wane, resulting in illness at best, and death at worst.

Wu Zhongyou glanced at Bai Ru, seemingly detecting her thoughts in her eyes. He nodded lightly: "I know, I was wrong. But the situation developed to be even more complex than you imagine. I vaguely felt that letting my brother constantly associate with a ghost couldn't be normal, but firstly, I genuinely had no solution, and secondly, this issue hadn't been resolved before trouble struck the school again."

Bai Ru blurted out, "The second student?"

Wu Zhongyou glanced at her and nodded: "Yes, the second one."

A thought flickered through Bai Ru’s mind, and she suddenly asked, "Where were the locations where your nephew and this second student died?"

"The Second Teaching Building."

Bai Ru softly murmured an "Oh," the answer confirming what she had suspected. She pondered for a moment, then inquired further, "Is that 'haunted legend' circulating around the school connected to you in some way?"

Wu Zhongyou raised an eyebrow in surprise, then after a moment of contemplation, said, "You... figured it out?"

Bai Ru made a gesture asking him to continue.

Wu Zhongyou let out a long sigh: "That’s right, I did fabricate that legend, and I even took steps to ensure it spread. In truth, my intention was to keep students away from that teaching building, especially at night. I investigated, and both my nephew and that second student met their ends because they lingered in the teaching building after dark. I suspected something was wrong with that building, and I even wildly wondered if it was related to that incident I saw at the construction site..."

Bai Ru interrupted Wu Zhongyou’s flow: "Could you please explain everything clearly, starting from the beginning?"

Wu Zhongyou smiled awkwardly, repeatedly assuring her: "Alright, alright, this is how the situation unfolded..."