I'm Actually Panicking Because My Heart Doesn't Beat (GL) - Chapter 48

Guan Xiaoxuan looked up at her, puzzled. “Is that shooting range part of your Strange Affairs Bureau branch? How come you all know it so well?”

Xing Tianqing smiled and explained, “Because of our work, we all need to practice shooting. But the training grounds in the suburbs are too far away, and applying to use them is slow and complicated. It’s easier to go to the shooting range, where you can practice too—it just costs a bit more.”

Guan Xiaoxuan glanced at her hands and sighed helplessly.

When they left the traditional Chinese medicine clinic, Guan Xiaoxuan only then realized and asked, “Weren’t you supposed to go out? Did I hold you up?”

“I was planning to,” Xing Tianqing said, “but I saw you were hurt and couldn’t bear to let you go to the hospital alone, so I asked Xiao An and the others for a day off.”

“Ah?” Guan Xiaoxuan looked at her surprised. “Is something going on at the bureau? If you’re really busy, you should go. I don’t need to be seen today—I can wait and go later. Besides, my hand is like this, so even if I go now, I can’t really do anything. I’ll have to go again anyway.”

Just as Xing Tianqing was about to speak, her phone in her pocket rang. She glanced at it, her brows knitting together.

“Looks like I really can’t go to the shooting range with you,” Xing Tianqing said to Guan Xiaoxuan with a bitter smile, then answered the call.

“Team Leader Xing, the higher-ups have arrived. Can you come now?” Xiao An’s voice came through the phone clearly. Guan Xiaoxuan, standing beside Xing Tianqing, heard it all.

The higher-ups?

Guan Xiaoxuan looked at Xing Tianqing curiously—so there was an inspection today.

Having been a corporate worker before, Guan Xiaoxuan knew what it meant when the boss was visiting and the person in charge wasn’t around. If her hands hadn’t been injured, Xing Tianqing would probably already be preparing to welcome the leaders.

“I just finished what I was doing,” Xing Tianqing told Xiao An on the phone. “I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

After hanging up, Xing Tianqing hadn’t spoken when Guan Xiaoxuan said, “You should go quickly. Don’t worry about me.”

Xing Tianqing knew Guan Xiaoxuan must have heard her conversation with Xiao An. After a pause, she said, “I’ll head to the bureau first. You can’t be running around like this—just stay home and rest. I’ll order you some takeout for lunch.”

“You’re still so polite,” Guan Xiaoxuan smiled. “I can order my own food. Don’t worry about me. Focus on the inspection—I’ll take care of myself.”

“All right then.” Xing Tianqing seemed genuinely worried. She didn’t argue, reminded Guan Xiaoxuan again not to go out, and quickly drove away.

Guan Xiaoxuan dragged her aching body home and collapsed onto her bed, lying there all day.

By the afternoon, she was starving and painfully ordered some takeout with her phone. When the food arrived, she was shaking like she had Parkinson’s. After finally finishing lunch, she collapsed back onto the bed.

After resting all day, by the next school day, Guan Xiaoxuan was feeling much better. But when she ate in the school cafeteria with Zhang Wen, she was still trembling badly—like she had a stroke.

“Xiao Xuan, what’s wrong?” Zhang Wen looked at her worriedly, noticing her shaky hands. “Do you want to go to the hospital again?”

“It’s nothing. I already went to the hospital,” Guan Xiaoxuan said, taking a bite of rice. “Last Saturday, I tried lifting weights at the gym, and well, my hands are wrecked now.”

“Ah?” Zhang Wen stared in surprise. “Why on earth did you go to the gym if you were fine?”

Guan Xiaoxuan sighed helplessly, “Well, there’s still the final exams and PE. I really can’t run the 800 meters, so I thought working out would be good—lose some weight and get fit. Who knew on the very first day, I’d get such a harsh lesson.”

Zhang Wen felt sorry for her and said with concern, “The finals are still a while away. Don’t push yourself too hard. I heard no one fails PE. The teachers are pretty nice.”

Guan Xiaoxuan’s nonsense was only taken seriously by Zhang Wen.

The two of them ate while chatting casually.

Just then, Guan Xiaoxuan saw Chen Man enter from the cafeteria entrance.

Chen Man was still wearing a headband and a white dress. When she saw Guan Xiaoxuan, she smiled and nodded as a greeting.

Guan Xiaoxuan bit her spoon, remembering the last time she saw Chen Man was at an offline meeting of the Weird Forum. Back then, Chen Man was with two other men.

At that time, Guan Xiaoxuan wore a mask, so Chen Man didn’t recognize her. But the two men with Chen Man were very alert and noticed Guan Xiaoxuan as soon as she spotted Chen Man.

After that, Guan Xiaoxuan had been busy with Haohao and joining the Weird Bureau, so she hadn’t seen Chen Man for a long time.

Watching Chen Man go like any normal student to get food, Guan Xiaoxuan looked away.

Zhang Wen kept staring at that direction and whispered with a smirk, “Want to hear some gossip?”

Guan Xiaoxuan lowered her head, eating, and casually asked, “What gossip?”

“About Chen Man,” Zhang Wen said. “She’s pretty famous around school lately. Didn’t you know?”

“No, I didn’t.” Guan Xiaoxuan had been too busy to care about school gossip. Curious, she asked, “What gossip? Tell me.”

“Apparently, Chen Man has become the mistress of some big boss. Every weekend she’s chauffeured by luxury cars. Many people have seen her cozying up to a middle-aged man at the school gate,” Zhang Wen sighed. “I don’t even think Chen Man is that pretty. How did she catch such a rich boss?”

Guan Xiaoxuan asked, “Are you jealous?”

“What nonsense.” Zhang Wen glared at her. “Why would I be jealous? Those rich bosses are about my dad’s age. They’re just playing with young girls, never serious.”

Zhang Wen sighed, “A stable home inside, but outside flags are waving—there’s no man who won’t cheat.”

Guan Xiaoxuan shook her head. She had seen too many stories about mistresses to be interested anymore. She just listened without much thought.

After eating, they still had classes in the afternoon, so Guan Xiaoxuan and Zhang Wen sat in the library for a while. Zhang Wen gave her a shoulder massage.

After a full day of classes, Guan Xiaoxuan rushed home, quickly made some food, tidied up, and sat down at her computer to attend Teacher Fang Gu’s theory class.

At 8 PM sharp, Teacher Fang Gu’s livestream started.

She greeted Guan Xiaoxuan and sent her a presentation file with the day’s material.

As usual, Guan Xiaoxuan downloaded it, opened the document, and clicked on the first real case study.

But when she opened the first file, Guan Xiaoxuan was stunned.

“Red High Heels at the Bus Stop — Weird Incident”

Case Description: On [Date], the police received a report from someone whose family member had gone missing. At first, the police treated it as a regular missing person case. But as the investigation went deeper, they realized it wasn’t ordinary—it was a bizarre incident…

Reading the case description, Guan Xiaoxuan’s face grew serious. She was sure the red-dressed ghost in the report was the same woman she had met at the bus stop before.

She still remembered how she had sat at the bus stop all night after leaving the morgue.

That was when the red ghost started targeting her, showing up at her door almost every other day, leaving water all over Guan Xiaoxuan’s doorstep.

Eventually, Guan Xiaoxuan contacted Xing Tianqing, who sent Qiu Nan from their team to handle the situation.

Now seeing this ghost in an actual case study felt like the story she once lived through had become part of the textbook.

Teacher Fang Gu noticed Guan Xiaoxuan staring at the screen, looking pale, and asked, “Have you finished reading this case?”

Only then did Guan Xiaoxuan realize she was in class and quickly responded, “Yes, teacher.”

“Good,” Fang Gu said. “This case happened right here in Xinglin City. Several people have gone missing with no trace. From our investigation, we identified some key traits.”

Fang Gu explained, “This spirit isn’t very intelligent. It probably died from drowning. It has a strong territorial instinct. If someone enters its territory, it will follow them relentlessly until they disappear completely.”

Guan Xiaoxuan listened carefully. Although Qiu Nan had cleared the ghost’s mark, she was still afraid of meeting it again, so she paid extra attention.

From Fang Gu’s explanation, Guan Xiaoxuan understood the ghost’s possessiveness.

Last time she accidentally entered its territory and sat there all night, the ghost started stalking her home.

Though it never crossed into her home, it caused quite a bit of trouble.

Just how possessive is this spirit?

Fang Gu gave an example: If Guan Xiaoxuan can’t escape from a certain spirit and offends the red ghost while running away, the ghost’s possessiveness will explode. It will first eliminate any other troublemakers that Guan Xiaoxuan had before.

Because once Guan Xiaoxuan offends the red ghost, she becomes its prey. Any spirits trying to hunt her prey cannot be allowed to survive.

Guan Xiaoxuan was shocked by this.

The woman must have been very obsessed in life to be so possessive after death—so much that she wouldn’t even spare her own kind, only wanting to keep her prey firmly in her grasp.

“This red spirit has been a troublesome case in Xinglin City for years,” Teacher Fang Gu said. “It has caused many disappearances, but no one has ever seen how it attacks. The only message we get from it is: ‘Don’t provoke her.'”

Watching Teacher Fang Gu’s serious face on the video, Guan Xiaoxuan got goosebumps and nodded seriously, “I understand, teacher.”

“Alright, let’s move on to the next case.”

At 10 PM, Teacher Fang Gu ended the livestream. Guan Xiaoxuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Teacher Fang was strict but taught well. Guan Xiaoxuan could almost remember every key point on handling these spirits. She believed that if she really faced these tricky spirits, her chances of survival would increase by at least 50%.

After resting a bit, Guan Xiaoxuan looked at the case file on her desk again. The image of the red spirit lingered in her mind.

In the end, she closed her laptop and prepared to go to bed.