Chapter 180 - 179: Returning Your Brooch

Shen Gu had some new injuries on his face.

The two purplish bruises stood out against his pale skin, making him look rather pitiful.

Jian Yu had seen how fast Shen Gu usually healed, so she was startled at first glance.

’It’s still not healed after all this time? How bad must the injury have been?’

She leaned in, staring at the bruises for a few moments. "Doesn’t it hurt? Why haven’t you applied any medicine?"

Shen Gu put down his lunchbox and picked up the medicine to spray on his face.

"It doesn’t hurt." His eyes narrowed slightly, and he spoke in a muffled voice, as quiet as a mosquito. "I just finished my match. I had to act tough."

Shen Gu looked up and rubbed his face. "I had the medicine ready to use right away, but who would’ve thought... the other guys in the match took such heavy blows but didn’t make a peep when they came off stage."

He muttered under his breath, "They were just showing off."

Jian Yu couldn’t help but chuckle. "Why are you trying to compare yourself to them?"

"I’m with Chairman Xi now," Shen Gu said dismissively. "I can’t embarrass him. Besides..."

He leaned in a little, lowering his voice. "I picked a bad time to go on. There were a lot of students from other academies there, and I didn’t want to embarrass our school."

Looking at his injuries, Jian Yu reached out her hand. "Let me try."

A small, cyan Jellyfish floated along her arm and onto Shen Gu’s shoulder.

The air around them seemed to transform into the sea. Its tentacles swayed, its drifting movements possessing a certain ethereal grace.

Shen Gu glanced down, staring at the delicate tentacle touching his cheek.

It was like a wisp of smoke, leaving no pressure on his cheek.

His mouth fell open. "Whoa?"

The pain subsided, then vanished completely.

The Jellyfish returned to Jian Yu’s hand.

"Thanks." Shen Gu snapped out of it, his expression dazed. "Yours is a Healing-type Soul Beast?"

’I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the Jellyfish Clan having a Healing Ability.’

’Still, the stronger the better. You can never have too many skills, after all.’

Shen Gu opened his lunchbox and took out the food.

"Yu, your Soul Beast is incredible. It must have undergone a new generation of genetic mutation."

Jian Yu’s fingers paused. She didn’t deny it.

With a deadpan, serious expression, she said, "That’s very possible."

Their eyes met. Shen Gu nodded thoughtfully. "Mmm. Could be. No wonder the Alliance has been harassing Chairman Xi lately."

Jian Yu’s eyes widened slightly. "?"

His tone was full of envy. "It seems they’re afraid you’ll be recruited by another planet, so they want Chairman Xi and the others to keep an eye on a promising talent like you."

His eyes shone with aspiration. "I’m going to hit the books. I need to work hard too."

"Mm." Jian Yu avoided his gaze and lowered her head slightly.

She opened a book, then closed it again.

’Class is already over. Why would I read a book?’

’Time to eat!’

The professor had really laid into them at the start of the semester, so the whole class was cramming.

Except for the subjects with open-book exams, she was sick to death of studying the material for her other classes.

As she ate, Jian Yu couldn’t help but zone out.

Two days ago, after frolicking with Ling Yanzhi until midnight, Jian Yu could feel that her energy was completely full.

Even after sending those sachets and accessories to Xi Yu’s father, her energy still wasn’t depleted.

It wasn’t until she practiced Instant Teleportation, attempted to fly, and then fought with Pei Yin for twenty-five minutes that she was completely drained.

Jian Yu suspected Pei Yin was right; her ’soul domain’ was too small.

’If Pei Yin and the others were 60,000 mAh power banks, she was probably only 5,000.’

Shi Zhao said she could try being in the spotlight, but Jian Yu wasn’t good at that. She was a very reserved person.

’For someone with social anxiety like her, the only way to get into the spotlight, even unintentionally, seemed to be through competitions.’

Jian Yu turned her head. "Shen Gu."

Before she could even get the words out, Shen Gu sighed and said, "Oh, right. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but... I heard that Yan Qin is dead."

Jian Yu froze. "Wasn’t she under observation? She died before she was even sent to prison?"

Shen Gu scratched his head. "Apparently, the Soul Ghost Body successfully took over her body. She was beyond saving, so they had to have her executed on the spot."

Jian Yu frowned, her grip on her chopsticks loosening slightly.

’She didn’t know enough about Soul Ghost Bodies. She wanted to ask some questions, but she didn’t even know where to begin.’

Shen Gu lamented, "She used to be so impressive. It would have been so much better if she’d just kept her head down and waited to graduate instead of stirring up so much trouble."

Jian Yu pursed her lips.

’Yan Qin said she was targeted by the Soul Ghost Body because of jealousy.’

’Jealousy? Everyone has feelings and desires. Is it really possible to never feel jealous or envious?’

’Just like how I was once jealous of the director’s daughter.’

Jian Yu fiddled with her chopsticks and asked in a low voice, "Can you be targeted by a Soul Ghost Body just for feeling jealous?"

Shen Gu looked at her strangely.

"No, that’s not it. It’s actually harder to possess a regular person with a stable mind than it is to possess an Awakener. Normally, regular people aren’t targets for Soul Ghost Bodies."

Shen Gu checked the time.

"Yu, you’re an Awakener now too. You can’t afford to stay this clueless. The books in Library No. 2 have records of a lot of things that aren’t common knowledge, including information on Soul Ghost Bodies. You should really go check them out when you have time."

"I still have some time before my next class. You go ahead and eat. I’ll finish explaining before I go."

"Soul Ghost Bodies excel at Spiritual Attacks and feed on spiritual power. They selectively attack Awakeners and Half-awakened who have spiritual power but haven’t learned to control it properly yet."

"If an Awakener’s spiritual power spirals out of control, they become easy targets. What’s deadly is that as soon as an Awakener or Half-awakened gets injured, their spiritual power goes haywire."

"Then there’s the Threshold Devouring Period. In the past, whenever Chairman Xi and the others entered their Threshold Devouring Period, they would go into hiding. They were afraid of their spiritual power and Soul Power getting out of control, which would give a Soul Ghost Body an opening."

"Whether you’re an Awakener or a regular person, if you do favors for a Soul Ghost Body, make a deal with it, or carry out acts it goads you into, your body will eventually lose control after a certain point. You’ll completely lose your mind."

"They don’t have physical forms and their lifespans are extremely short. They invade territories and seize bodies all for one reason: to live long lives, just like Awakeners."

Seeing that she’d finished eating, Shen Gu started packing up the lunchbox.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that made him catch his breath. He suddenly raised a hand and patted his chest.

"What’s wrong?" Jian Yu rarely saw Shen Gu so nervous.

She asked thoughtfully, "How did you know something happened to Yan Qin?"

Shen Gu motioned with his eyes toward the window.

"?" Jian Yu shifted her gaze and was caught off guard when she met Sheng Yue’s eyes.

’Couldn’t he just *not* appear? Or at least not so suddenly?’

Jian Yu’s pupils trembled, and she felt a surge of panic.

"Come out for a second." After saying that, Sheng Yue walked directly to the other end of the hallway.

Jian Yu stood up.

Shen Gu hurriedly answered her previous question. "Senior Lin Yu told me after the dorm check last night."

Jian Yu made a gesture. "I have plans with Xu Jianjuan, so you can go ahead without me."

In the empty corridor, the figure in white was especially conspicuous.

As she drew closer, the intensely aggressive, cold aura emanating from Sheng Yue began to spread rapidly.

Jian Yu gazed at his tall, cold back, took a purple brooch out of her Space Ring, and wrapped it in a handkerchief.

"Chairman Sheng, the academy reissued me a badge and brooch after I updated my information."

Sheng Yue turned around, his blue eyes lowered, his gaze falling on her hand.

His lips, which had been curved slightly upward, pressed into a tight, straight line.

Jian Yu suspected she saw it wrong.

’Yeah, I must have. Him, smile?’

’As if.’

Jian Yu raised her hand higher. "I’m returning this to you."

Sheng Yue said coldly, "You don’t have to return it. It has your information on it."

’She’d returned the million, and she had to return the brooch too.’

’Why am I the only one she rejects?’