I'm Actually Panicking Because My Heart Doesn't Beat (GL) - Chapter 26
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- I'm Actually Panicking Because My Heart Doesn't Beat (GL)
- Chapter 26 - The Underground Weirdness Forum
A student disappearance?
Guan Xiaoxuan blinked slightly and clicked on the trending topic to read the news report.
[According to the Xinglin City Public Security Bureau, the police received a report from a citizen around 7 p.m. last night about a missing student from Xinglin City No. 27 Middle School. This is reportedly the third student disappearance case in Xinglin City. The police are still investigating the details…]
7 p.m. last night?
Guan Xiaoxuan bit into a fried dough stick and remembered that when she arrived at the school gate around 8 p.m. yesterday, Xing Tianqing was just about to leave.
So when Xing Tianqing said she had something to deal with, was she referring to this?
Scrolling through the comments under the trending topic, Guan Xiaoxuan saw many opinions.
“Third disappearance? Are they really missing, or were they kidnapped?”
“Is the missing student a boy or a girl? Why hasn’t that been reported?”
“Maybe they sneaked out to surf the internet or went to a hotel. Kids these days are hard to control and always worry their parents.”
“My little brother goes to that school. He said the missing student wasn’t in a good mental state—maybe it’s because of study pressure.”
“All of you are talking nonsense, just rumors. The real reason is that these students encountered some dirty spirits, got entangled, and then disappeared.”
Seeing the comment about “dirty spirits,” Guan Xiaoxuan clicked on the user’s profile—and found it was already 404’d.
Guan Xiaoxuan: “……”
So some topics really are off-limits, even online.
She finished her fried dough stick and drank the soy milk she bought before putting her phone away to get ready for class.
When she opened the door, she glanced at the peephole and saw the ground outside was clean, with no sign of trouble. Only then did she nervously open the door.
It seemed Xing Tianqing hadn’t come back all night. This student disappearance case really was tough to handle.
Guan Xiaoxuan touched her chest and noticed her heartbeat. She realized she no longer needed to see Xing Tianqing every day. Going three to five days without seeing her no longer made her heart race, though the longer the gap, the slower her heartbeat became.
The longest time she’d gone without seeing Xing Tianqing was five days. By then, her heartbeat had slowed dramatically—only about ten to twenty beats per minute. She was so worried she nearly panicked, but luckily Xing Tianqing didn’t forget their agreement and appeared on the evening of the fifth day, helping Guan Xiaoxuan’s heartbeat return to normal.
Since then, Guan Xiaoxuan knew her limit.
One week.
If she didn’t see Xing Tianqing for a full week, her heart might stop completely—and whether she’d live or die was anyone’s guess.
Knowing this gave Guan Xiaoxuan more freedom.
She rode the crowded morning bus to school, feeling that if she could afford it, she’d buy an electric scooter. At least then she wouldn’t have to squeeze into a bus full of people like minced meat.
Walking along the quiet campus path toward the teaching building, Guan Xiaoxuan was thinking about trying her luck finding a part-time job at the mall after class when someone called out behind her.
“Guan Xiaoxuan!”
Turning around, she saw a girl wearing a long skirt with a ponytail and a headband.
The girl wasn’t in her class and Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t recognize her—but something about her seemed familiar.
Just as Guan Xiaoxuan wondered if this was someone the original owner knew, the girl hurried over and said, “Hi, I’m Chen Man—Man with the ‘woman’ radical.”
Seeing Guan Xiaoxuan’s confused face, Chen Man smiled and said, “You saved us on the rooftop before. You might not remember me, but you woke me up. If it weren’t for you, I might never have woken up again.”
Though Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t remember the girl clearly, she did recall many girls on the rooftop, so maybe Chen Man was one of them.
“It’s nothing,” Guan Xiaoxuan said politely. “I just helped.”
Chen Man looked at her, hands behind her back, smiling. “Are you free today? I want to talk to you, if that’s okay.”
Guan Xiaoxuan replied, “Sorry, I have classes all day.”
“How about after school?”
“I’m going to look for a part-time job after class.”
At the mention of part-time work, Chen Man’s eyes lit up. She hurriedly said, “I know a place where you can do part-time work. The hours are flexible, and the pay is good. Interested?”
Guan Xiaoxuan frowned deeply.
Usually, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If it looks like one, it’s probably a trap.
She wasn’t a clueless college freshman—she’d been through the harsh realities of life and was wary of scams like telecom fraud or pyramid schemes.
“Thanks, but I’ll find part-time jobs on my own. I have to go to class now.”
With that, Guan Xiaoxuan turned and headed toward the teaching building.
Chen Man hurried after her and called out, “Guan Xiaoxuan, don’t reject me so quickly. This part-time job actually involves the weird and supernatural.”
That sounded even less believable.
Guan Xiaoxuan frowned and looked at her. “You’ve been through life and death yourself. How can you still be so naive? Don’t you know how dangerous the supernatural can be?”
Chen Man shrugged and said, “You don’t have to scare me. I actually know that weird stuff isn’t that scary. Otherwise, how could all twenty of us have made it out alive?”
Guan Xiaoxuan looked at her in surprise but didn’t say anything.
How dangerous that incident with Cheng Yi was—others might not know, but how could Guan Xiaoxuan not know?
From the Red Girl’s interest group to Bai Zhiqi, who stayed forever trapped in the inner world, wasn’t that enough proof of how scary the weird stuff really was?
She had almost had her face torn off by Cheng Yi and died inside that place, yet Chen Man still thought the weird stuff wasn’t scary.
Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t know what to say and just shook her head helplessly as they kept walking.
Chen Man quickly caught up and said, “I’m not asking you to take risks. The weird group I know is actually an online community. They have a special forum where they share information and trade unique items.”
“You know about unique items, right?” Chen Man’s eyes sparkled. “A regular weird-item drop costs at least thirty to fifty thousand. If it has special powers, one item can easily be worth a three-ring apartment.”
A three-ring apartment?
Guan Xiaoxuan glanced at Chen Man. “That expensive?”
Seeing Guan Xiaoxuan was interested, Chen Man hurried to keep going, “Yeah, yeah. You should check out the online stuff first. If it fits, you can join the offline meetups too. And online, people actually pay for tips and clues. You’re so talented, you could make a lot of money easily.”
Guan Xiaoxuan stopped walking and looked at Chen Man. “Why are you telling me all this? What exactly do you want me to do?”
Chen Man stopped too and smiled at Guan Xiaoxuan. “I just think you’re really good at this and could make a lot of money. I’ve got a bunch of good stuff to sell too. If you want, you can contact me anytime. I’ll send you the forum link first.”
After they exchanged WeChat contacts, Chen Man sent her a website link.
“This is the civilian weird forum,” Chen Man said with a smile. “They hold offline meetups every month. You can learn more about it and just ask me if you have any questions.”
Finally, Chen Man said, “Hope we get to work together someday.”
Watching the girl in the long dress leave, Guan Xiaoxuan put her phone in her pocket, lowered her eyes, and seemed lost in thought. After a long moment, she turned and went to class.
Her mind wasn’t on studying all morning.
Zhang Wen was taking notes beside her, but Guan Xiaoxuan stared out the window, thinking about Chen Man’s words from that morning. The more she thought, the stranger Chen Man seemed.
Could Chen Man be a second Cheng Yi?
Worried but also curious, Guan Xiaoxuan stopped Zhang Wen, who was about to go to the cafeteria after lunch.
“What’s up?”
Zhang Wen looked at her curiously, puzzled. “If we don’t go now, there won’t be any food left.”
“Wait a moment. I want to ask your opinion on something.”
“Ask me?”
Zhang Wen pointed to her nose, even more puzzled. “What would you ask me about?”
Guan Xiaoxuan told Zhang Wen what had happened that morning. Zhang Wen’s eyes widened.
Looking at the website on Guan Xiaoxuan’s phone, Zhang Wen said in surprise, “A civilian weird forum? How come I never heard of something like this?”
Guan Xiaoxuan said, “I guess Chen Man must have known about it for a while. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have joined Cheng Yi’s operation.”
Now that she thought about it, maybe the forum had existed for a long time. Cheng Yi might even have been a member. Otherwise, how else would she have organized everyone to catch Bai Zhiqi?
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Guan Xiaoxuan looked at the link and asked Zhang Wen, “Do you think I should click it? What if it has a virus?”
Zhang Wen looked down at her own phone, apparently searching for something. Then she looked up excitedly. “Xiaoxuan, this Chen Man’s link seems legit. I saw on the search engine that this really is a civilian weird forum.”
Guan Xiaoxuan leaned over to look. Zhang Wen’s phone showed quite a few results about the weird forum.
“Then let’s open it and take a look,” Guan Xiaoxuan urged Zhang Wen. “You click it.”
Zhang Wen said, “…Sis, why don’t you click it?”
Guan Xiaoxuan replied sincerely, “I’m scared.”
Zhang Wen: “?”
If you’re scared, why wouldn’t I be?
Besides, what harm could a forum do?
Seeing that Guan Xiaoxuan really didn’t want to tap the screen herself, Zhang Wen braced herself and clicked the link.
After a couple of loading circles, the phone opened the weird forum.
The forum looked pretty ordinary—actually a bit simple—but at least it was tidy and didn’t have annoying ads, so it looked legit.
Maybe because the forum had location services, it showed them the Xinglin City weird forum right away.
On the front page were a few main posts.
Zhang Wen flipped through them, curious. “Xiaoxuan, why are they all talking about student disappearances? Are there missing students in our city?”