Chapter 66

Xia Zhiming actually didn’t think Qi Xu could successfully enter the boys’ dormitory building either. That auntie just now had practically rolled up her sleeves ready to fight her three hundred rounds. No matter what she said, the auntie wouldn’t listen. Even after she reined in her temper and humbly said some nice words while stooping low, the auntie remained unmoved.

Not only unmoved, but she even gave Xia Zhiming a scolding.

When had Xia Zhiming ever suffered such grievance? She immediately started trading insults with the auntie. As expected, Xia Zhiming was then chased out of the boys’ dormitory by the dorm supervisor wielding a broom. Only then did she sit sulkily by the flower bed, waiting for Qi Xu to come out.

One could only say that one thing subdues another. Xia Zhiming, who always made others eat defeat, actually ate defeat at the hands of a dorm supervisor auntie one day.

With Xia Zhiming’s super mischievous troublemaker personality, she had deliberately let Qi Xu go. Since she herself had eaten defeat, there was no reason Qi Xu could retreat unscathed. So after Qi Xu went in, Xia Zhiming hugged her arms and sat by the flower bed outside, watching the show.

But after nearly five minutes passed, the dormitory building inside remained perfectly quiet, without the noise of the dorm supervisor auntie yelling her throat raw while trading insults with her. A while later, Qi Xu came out, a smile on her face that was somewhat piercing to the eyes.

“Xia Zhiming, we can go in now. Let’s go.”

“？？？” Xia Zhiming truly didn’t understand.

Seriously, what the hell?

Why had the auntie been ready to fight her three hundred rounds when she went, but Qi Xu went in for just a short while—not even ten minutes—and settled the auntie? Not only settled her, but even managed to bring her along inside.

Xia Zhiming’s brows furrowed tightly, but since they could go in, she didn’t plan to stand under the blazing sun in the September afternoon outside. She slowly stood up, still a bit incredulous.

When Xia Zhiming and Qi Xu went in together, they saw the dorm supervisor auntie’s face smiling like a sunflower. The way she looked at Qi Xu was very gentle, full of thick appreciation, as if Qi Xu were her own daughter. But the moment she saw Xia Zhiming, her expression changed.

It turned tit for tat.

Xia Zhiming refused to show weakness and glared back fiercely. Just as the two were about to clash, Qi Xu leaned over and tugged Xia Zhiming’s hand. “Auntie, we’re heading up then?”

The dorm supervisor auntie’s eyes, which had been ready to draw blades, immediately softened. “Alright, it’s hot today. Don’t rush, take the stairs slowly.”

“Okay.”

Qi Xu agreed with a brilliant smile. Xia Zhiming truly didn’t know what soul-bewitching drug Qi Xu had given the dorm supervisor auntie.

Once they reached the corner of the stairwell where the auntie couldn’t see, Xia Zhiming finally asked, “How exactly did you convince that unreasonable dorm supervisor auntie?”

“Unreasonable? Nah, the auntie was pretty friendly.”

“……”

Xia Zhiming shut her mouth and asked no more.

The two soon climbed to the fifth floor, which was also the top floor of this dormitory building. Schools nowadays were all like that. Many places stipulated that elevators were required for six floors and above, so to avoid the hassle, the school had simply built the dorms to five floors, no elevator needed.

Qi Xu climbed stairs every day and was used to it. Xia Zhiming, as a Daoist, exercised daily and had good stamina, so she had no issue either.

When they stood in front of Zhuo Zi’ang’s dorm room door, neither was flushed or out of breath.

Qi Xu took the lead and knocked on the dorm door first, but there was no response.

However, both Qi Xu and Xia Zhiming had super strong perception of yin energy, so they could naturally tell through a single door whether Zhuo Zi’ang was inside or not. Clearly, that thick yin energy told them—he was.

Qi Xu knocked for a while, but there was still no reaction from Zhuo Zi’ang inside. That clump of yin energy even moved a bit farther from the door.

Xia Zhiming said, “Move aside.”

She pulled Qi Xu to the side, and immediately after, they saw Xia Zhiming lift her foot and kick straight at the dorm door.

This was the old campus, so the door was just an ordinary wooden one. Even so, it shouldn’t open with a single kick. But under Xia Zhiming’s charged kick, the wooden door flew open with a massive clang.

The sound was so loud that Qi Xu vaguely heard noises from the surrounding dorms.

But what concerned Qi Xu more was—Xia Zhiming’s strength was way too great!

Qi Xu knew Xia Zhiming had good stamina and decent moves, but she hadn’t expected her strength to be that immense! If Xia Zhiming wasn’t willing, or if she herself didn’t have a ghost body, ten human-bodied Qi Xus wouldn’t be Xia Zhiming’s match. She wouldn’t even pin Xia Zhiming down before being flipped over and pressed onto the sofa by her.

—Huh, she’d actually been flipped over before, arms twisted behind her back, unable to move, and embarrassingly crying out, “It hurts, it hurts!”

With the door kicked open, Xia Zhiming charged inside. Qi Xu followed closely, casually closing the dorm door behind her to prevent people from other dorms from peeking at what was happening. When Qi Xu turned back after closing the door, she saw a figure jumping down from the balcony side.

Qi Xu’s heart nearly leaped to her throat. Xia Zhiming was fast and had already chased after. Qi Xu hurriedly ran over and saw Zhuo Zi’ang land straight on the ground unharmed. He stood up and bolted nimbly, like a monkey.

At the moment he landed, Qi Xu had seen the yin energy expand massively, cushioning Zhuo Zi’ang. Otherwise, jumping from the fifth floor would’ve been certain death.

Xia Zhiming saw him running and bellowed, “Kid! Stop right there!”

But Zhuo Zi’ang acted like he hadn’t heard, head down as he ran outward.

The female voice erupting in the boys’ dormitory made people from other dorms poke their heads out to look at Xia Zhiming. But at this point, Xia Zhiming didn’t care. She lifted her leg, ready to vault over the railing for a fifth-floor leap too.

Qi Xu saw her movement and her soul nearly flew out. Xia Zhiming moved too fast; before Qi Xu could react, she was almost over the railing. Qi Xu couldn’t think anymore. Her body moved faster than her brain, instinctively hugging Xia Zhiming’s waist and pulling her down from the railing.

But Xia Zhiming wasn’t happy. She gripped the railing tightly with both hands and even spared a moment to curse Qi Xu. “What are you doing?! Let go! If we don’t chase now, he’ll get away!”

“You can’t just jump from the fifth floor! You’ll die!”

“Bullshit! This lady isn’t that easy to kill! At worst, a few broken bones!”

“……” Broken bones hurt plenty too.

Xia Zhiming was skilled, fast, and strong, but none of that exceeded normal human limits. Qi Xu really felt jumping straight from the fifth floor would be fatal. Even though Zhuo Zi’ang had been fine just now, what if Xia Zhiming slipped and really fell?

Qi Xu truly didn’t want to see Xia Zhiming whimpering on a hospital bed. Her full-throated cursing suited her better.

Xia Zhiming was truly crazy. Seeing someone jump off the building to escape, her first instinct was to jump too.

Logically, Qi Xu couldn’t hold Xia Zhiming. If she really wanted to break free, Qi Xu truly couldn’t suppress her. But right then, Qi Xu’s adrenaline surged, and she managed to yank Xia Zhiming back.

When Qi Xu panted and pulled her back, Xia Zhiming was still a bit unconvinced. But by now, she didn’t plan to jump after him either, since Zhuo Zi’ang had run far away, not even a shadow left.

“What now? He’s gone without a trace.”

Qi Xu pulled out her phone. “We’ll have to trouble the colleagues at the Information Processing Department again.”

After Qi Xu said that, Xia Zhiming’s expression turned a bit hard to describe. She shook her head immediately. “No way. Those guys are stubborn as mules. They never cough up intel without arguing for hours. Too lazy to deal with them.”

“Huh?” Qi Xu was stunned. She blurted out subconsciously, “But they’re all pretty nice. I didn’t wait long before all of Zhuo Zi’ang’s intel came through.”

“……” Xia Zhiming fell silent.

Qi Xu fell silent too.

She thought of something.

With Xia Zhiming’s personality, she probably argued with the Information Processing Department colleagues all the time. Xia Zhiming also thought of how Qi Xu had easily handled the dorm supervisor auntie just now.

Xia Zhiming shut her mouth. Qi Xu coughed and dialed the Information Processing Department’s number. Though Xia Zhiming didn’t call herself, she perked up her ears to listen while Qi Xu did. The operator spoke softly and gently, like a spring breeze, communicating perfectly with Qi Xu and quickly agreeing to check the relevant surveillance right away and send Zhuo Zi’ang’s clues to Qi Xu’s phone as soon as possible.

Qi Xu hung up. Xia Zhiming spoke up. “They say ‘as soon as possible,’ which means waiting till the flowers wilt. Better for me to use the compass to find him faster. Check which bed is Zhuo Zi’ang’s and give me his daily items…”

Before she finished, Qi Xu’s phone chimed with a ding. Qi Xu looked down—surveillance screenshots, complete with the monitoring location address. Follow-up footage was sending over too, a whole string of messages.

Xia Zhiming went completely quiet, but from her face, Qi Xu saw defiance.

—Seriously, what the hell?

This thought was deeply etched in Xia Zhiming’s mind. Fine, the dorm auntie liking Qi Xu was one thing, but why were the Information Processing Department colleagues so nice to Qi Xu too? Was this the same department that yelled daily, “Don’t bother us! You know how busy our department is! We’re already working hard to find your data! Stop urging! All day urging, urging ghosts or what!”?

Xia Zhiming took a deep breath, grabbed Qi Xu, and walked out.

At the dorm door, they saw heads poking from the neighboring dorm due to those two massive noises earlier—the door kick and Xia Zhiming’s yelling—peeking at this room. Xia Zhiming, in no good mood, saw them and immediately cursed. “What are you gawking at, dead men? Get your heads back in. Skipping class to game in the dorm, and you have the face to peep!”

Her style was just like a discipline inspector checking for truants, making all the students shrink back.

Following behind Xia Zhiming, the two went downstairs. Xia Zhiming stormed through the entrance gate. Qi Xu still greeted the auntie. The dorm supervisor smiled and said, “Student, come again next time~”

Qi Xu waved at her. Though she had no plans to come back, she still smiled sweetly at the auntie.

Then she was directly scooped up by Xia Zhiming. “Hurry up, what are you dawdling for!”