I'm Actually Panicking Because My Heart Doesn't Beat (GL) - Chapter 27

The news about the student disappearances in Xinglin City stayed on the trending list for half a day before disappearing.

Even the comments Guan Xiaoxuan had clicked on were gone. Although the news still showed up here and there, it wasn’t given much exposure—almost like it never happened.

“They’re suppressing it,” Guan Xiaoxuan said as she watched the topic’s popularity fade. She closed her phone and told Zhang Wen, “I heard this is already the third disappearance case in our city.”

“That’s so scary,” Zhang Wen said, looking at the report. “That school seems to be a high school. Is this some kind of weird supernatural thing? Not just bullying or something?”

Guan Xiaoxuan shook her head. “I don’t know either.”

Zhang Wen opened the weirdness forum again, scrolling through posts discussing the case. She pointed at several threads and said, “Xiaoxuan, look at these. They’re all saying the students disappeared because of something supernatural.”

She opened one post that read: [About the student disappearances: insiders say it’s caused by something weird.]

[The third missing student reportedly kept saying they saw a little boy before disappearing. This boy would try to play catch with them. If they missed catching the ball, he would take them somewhere. People suspect these disappearances are all related to this strange boy.]

The comments below started replying too.

“Sounds so spooky. Is that little boy some kind of supernatural being?”

“Probably, but can we even talk about this openly?”

“According to classmates of the missing students, only the students themselves saw the little boy. Every time one of them passed the stairwell, they were scared—like they feared something might suddenly jump out.”

“A little boy only some can see? Were the other two cases the same?”

“Though the details differ, I heard it’s all about the same little boy.”

Reading these comments and their vivid descriptions, Zhang Wen shivered a little in the middle of the day.

“Xiaoxuan,” Zhang Wen said cautiously, “this sounds a bit like Cheng Yi. I heard Cheng Yi shows different faces to different people—everyone sees her differently.”

Guan Xiaoxuan’s heart tightened. That shape-shifting Cheng Yi’s face was still at her house.

“It does sound pretty weird,” Guan Xiaoxuan said, trying to comfort Zhang Wen. “But we probably can’t get involved in this. Let’s just keep an eye out for other news.”

Besides, she was mainly interested in part-time jobs that could make money.

Zhang Wen grew more interested in the forum and started looking at posts about trades. She excitedly pointed at one: “Xiaoxuan, look, this one is asking for a trade.”

[Looking for special items that can change appearance. Clues pay 2,000; connections pay 5,000. If you have items, let’s talk. Will pay above market price.]

The post said the items’ prices ranged from 50,000 to 500,000 depending on the effect.

“Wow, special supernatural items are worth that much?” Zhang Wen was surprised. “No wonder some people take big risks. The prices are so high.”

Guan Xiaoxuan also felt a bit tempted by the price.

She knew her own human-skin mask was a high-quality item with almost no side effects. The only downside was that if worn too long, it would start to merge with the body—but as long as she took it off after some time, it would be fine.

At the top price of 500,000, that was a serious amount of money.

That was just for non-offensive special items. Guan Xiaoxuan even saw posts asking for items with extremely high attack power, priced in the millions or tens of millions. There were also bounty posts for specific supernatural beings, ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands.

Item trades, clue sharing, supernatural bounties…

No wonder Chen Man recommended this forum to Guan Xiaoxuan as soon as she heard she needed money. Supernatural items, clues, and even the beings themselves were very valuable.

Guan Xiaoxuan glanced at the post about changing appearance. Though the price was tempting, she knew if such items fell into the hands of criminals, the consequences would be terrible. The sellers could even become accomplices.

Besides, she couldn’t explain where her own special item came from, so she had no intention of selling her mask.

“Wow,” Zhang Wen was shocked by the amounts. “These prices are insane! Just a few deals like this and you’d never worry about money again.”

Guan Xiaoxuan’s face darkened as she said to Zhang Wen, “But you know, weird stuff is dangerous.”

Zhang Wen understood that well but just felt amazed. She put away her phone and said, “Talented people can make money anywhere. But this field has risks, and getting anything valuable out of it is even harder.”

Guan Xiaoxuan was silent for a long moment before saying, “Okay, let’s not talk about this now. Let’s go eat at the cafeteria. There should still be food this time of day.”

Zhang Wen, also someone who valued her health, readily agreed and linked arms with Guan Xiaoxuan. “Let’s go eat!”

Chen Man came to see Guan Xiaoxuan once more after that, but she didn’t try to persuade her or anything—just chatted casually for a bit and then left, not seeming in any hurry.

It was Guan Xiaoxuan who was getting anxious, because Xing Tianqing hadn’t shown up for three days.

Holding her chest, Guan Xiaoxuan sat on the balcony with her eyes closed. Her heartbeat was slowing down—already down to just over 40 beats per minute. In two more days, it would drop below 20. If Xing Tianqing didn’t show up soon, she might really die again!

Her pet Guazi was lying on a chair beside her, basking in the sun. It was the weekend, and Guan Xiaoxuan had nothing to do, so she was just zoning out at home with no purpose.

Knock knock knock—

At that moment, someone knocked at the door. Guan Xiaoxuan jumped up immediately, ran to the door, peered through the peephole, then quickly pulled it open.

“Captain Xing!”

The moment Guan Xiaoxuan saw Xing Tianqing, she felt completely relieved, almost wanting to jump into her arms.

Xing Tianqing noticed the hopeful look in Guan Xiaoxuan’s eyes and was a bit surprised herself.

One of Xing’s colleagues standing nearby couldn’t help but laugh and teased, “Captain Xing, your little girlfriend’s been waiting for you to come home.”

Guan Xiaoxuan was stunned for a moment before realizing the “little girlfriend” was referring to her.

Xing Tianqing glanced at her colleague and said, “Don’t talk nonsense. I’m here to work today. Don’t spread rumors when you go back.”

“Got it, got it.” The colleague chuckled and greeted Guan Xiaoxuan, “Hello, little miss. I’m Qiu Nan from the Weird Affairs Bureau, a professional exorcist. I’m here to help you out today.”

Qiu Nan was a sharp-looking woman, around 30 years old, with neat short hair.

Since it was probably a day off, neither Xing Tianqing nor Qiu Nan wore their usual black trench coats; they were dressed casually.

Finally, someone had come to work on her problem!

Guan Xiaoxuan’s eyes lit up as she opened the door wider to welcome them in. “Thank you for coming. The door to my place gets waterlogged all the time—I’ve been so worried.”

Qiu Nan looked around Guan Xiaoxuan’s home and even played a bit with Guazi before telling her, “There’s no weird presence inside your house. I guess it was just standing outside the door for a while. I’ll perform a ritual to clear the mark on you, and that should solve the problem.”

Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t understand what kind of ritual it was. She turned to Xing Tianqing with a confused look.

Xing Tianqing replied calmly, “Don’t worry. Qiu Nan is a very skilled exorcist. She’ll definitely be able to drive the weird presence away.”

“Exactly,” Qiu Nan added. “Captain Xing, you should praise me like this more often.”

Xing Tianqing rolled her eyes at her, then said to Guan Xiaoxuan, “It might get a bit messy later, but it’s all for your own good. Don’t be afraid.”

Messy?

Why would an exorcism get messy?

Guan Xiaoxuan didn’t realize what was coming until Qiu Nan led her to the bathroom and suddenly poured an entire basin of water over her face. Then she finally understood what Xing Tianqing meant by “messy.”

Soaking wet all over, Guan Xiaoxuan sneezed. This was way too messy!!

After half an hour of back-and-forth—being splashed with water, drinking ritual water—before Guan Xiaoxuan could start thinking Qiu Nan was a total quack, the ordeal finally ended.

“It’s all done now.” Qiu Nan patted the bedraggled Guan Xiaoxuan and smiled. “You won’t be bothered by that female ghost anymore. No need to thank me—that’s just my job.”

Guan Xiaoxuan: “…Thank you.”

Qiu Nan: “I told you, no need to thank me. Why so polite, little miss?”

Guan Xiaoxuan: “…”

Luckily, it was almost summer, so being drenched wouldn’t make her catch a cold. She quickly took a hot shower and changed clothes. When she came out, Qiu Nan had already left, leaving only Xing Tianqing sitting in her house.

“All done?” Xing Tianqing looked up at Guan Xiaoxuan, who had just finished showering. “Your problem is taken care of. If anything else comes up, just come find me.”

“Thank you.” Guan Xiaoxuan walked over to Xing Tianqing and after a moment asked, “How’s your work going? Have you finished everything?”

Xing Tianqing shook her head.

Maybe because Guan Xiaoxuan just finished showering, Xing Tianqing noticed a faint, pleasant scent of body wash—light and sweet—on her.

Thinking about Guan Xiaoxuan’s ‘fondness’ for her, Xing Tianqing couldn’t help stealing another glance before saying, “Not yet. We ran into some tricky issues. We’ll probably need to investigate further.”

“That complicated?” Guan Xiaoxuan was surprised. She thought Xing Tianqing and her team were all very capable. She hadn’t expected that even after a week, the case was still unsolved.

When the topic turned to the case, Xing Tianqing’s expression darkened slightly. She told Guan Xiaoxuan, “You’re a student too. Be careful at school. If you see that little boy in the stairwell, don’t talk to him.”

So that weird presence really was the little boy in the stairwell?

Guan Xiaoxuan nodded and smiled, “I understand. Thanks for looking out for me, Captain Xing.”

Xing Tianqing smiled back, then suddenly asked, “Have you been looking for part-time jobs recently?”

“Huh?” Guan Xiaoxuan looked at her in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I naturally heard about it,” Xing Tianqing said as she looked at Guan Xiaoxuan. “Speaking of part-time jobs, are you interested in being a freelance member of the Weird Affairs Bureau?”