"So all I have to do is be myself?" The old principal felt that Chen Ge's plan was questionable at best — if you could even call it a plan. It sounded more like walking up to someone's doorstep and picking a fight.
He had spent his entire life as an honest, law-abiding man who had done countless good deeds, so this sort of thing didn't come naturally to him.
"That's right. Just do what you want to do, say what you want to say, and don't hold anything back." Chen Ge opened his backpack and began rummaging through his tools. "We can't give up on a single child. I'll reluctantly play the villain for once. First we'll teach them a lesson with good old-fashioned discipline, and then we'll save them spiritually."
Chen Ge was already prepared — this was something he had wanted to do for a long time.
"Ying Hong, can you do me a favor?" Chen Ge crouched down in front of Ying Hong. "You've lived in this Ghost School for so long — you must know which people and places here are truly dangerous?"
"Why are you asking me?" Ying Hong scowled, her cute little brows furrowing.
"Because you're one of those scary kids. At least, that's how your classmates see it — they all seem terrified of you."
"I—" Ying Hong shot Chen Ge a fierce glare, but she was completely powerless against him. "Fine. There are plenty of lunatics and ghosts in this school. If you're so determined to throw your lives away, I'll take you to them."
"We're short on time. We'll start with the worst ones first. If the Ghost School's teachers won't step in, then we will."
Chen Ge spoke with impressive conviction, but Ying Hong looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Even if you punish those kids, new troublemakers will just show up. Unless you plan to stay in this school forever, dishing out punishment over and over again — but have you ever considered that if you actually did that, you'd be no different from the bullies who pick on the weak through sheer force?"
Ying Hong seemed to know some of the deeper truths behind this Ghost School. "Aside from a handful whose memories were sealed away, most of the current bullies were once victims themselves. In the chaotic world beyond the Door, they were twisted by the Ghost School's will. They aren't bullying — they're venting. That's exactly why the teachers turn a blind eye. It's permitted by the school's will, and they wouldn't dare interfere."
"The school's will permits it? Isn't the school's will just a collective consciousness? Does it actually speak?" Chen Ge was beginning to understand why those teachers chose to ignore the bullying — they simply didn't want trouble.
"The school's will never said so explicitly, but that's what everyone believes."
"I'm afraid that's not quite right." Chen Ge thought of the many dark, terrible things he himself had experienced, yet he had never fallen into despair. Even hiding in the deepest depths of the night, a part of him still hoped for the dawn. "What changed those children wasn't the school's will — it was themselves. Grievance and hatred, stoked by negative emotions, turned them into the very people they once despised most."
Chen Ge let out a quiet sigh. "I was a little hesitant before, but after hearing you say all this, my desire to help them has only grown stronger. Cruelty toward the defenseless will never bring redemption — it only pulls you deeper into the abyss."
"I agree with that," the old principal spoke up suddenly, a note of admiration in his gaze as he looked at Chen Ge.
"Time is tight. Let's move out as soon as we can."
The task Chang Wen Yu had given Chen Ge was to identify all the malevolent ghosts who could become "Door Openers." Chen Ge intended to exceed expectations — he planned to recruit every single abnormal "person" to his side.
While Chang Wen Yu and the Painter fought over control of the Ghost School, Chen Ge set his sights on all the students.
"The Ghost School's will is formed from the collective consciousness of countless despairing children — meaning every student in this school could influence the final outcome. The Painter did a decent job of understanding that much, but his approach of starting from scratch was essentially abandoning the majority of students who were steeped in resentment."
After walking toward the center of the school for several minutes, Ying Hong stopped outside a particular study room. She pointed at the door beside her. "This is a place even the teachers avoid. Whether you go in or not — your call."
The wall outside the study room looked perfectly ordinary, except for a white sheet of paper taped to the glass window on the door. On it, written in crooked, uneven characters, were the words: "Exam prep in progress. Do not disturb."