Chapter 16 : Elective Courses

“Li Xiaozhen, what are you doing?!”

Snapping back to reality, Zhao Yingying’s expression twisted in disbelief.

She stared at the pencil, now broken cleanly in two on the floor, then glanced at Li Xiaozhen, whose state seemed almost deranged.

They hadn’t even finished the planchette session yet!

Now the pencil was broken—what were they supposed to do?

But Li Xiaozhen clearly had no intention of answering Zhao Yingying.

Her face was ashen as she slowly lifted her head and stiffly walked toward the broken pencil.

She bent down and picked it up.

Then, expressionless, she walked toward Zhao Yingying.

Seeing Li Xiaozhen’s grim face, all the anger Zhao Yingying had felt earlier vanished in an instant.

Her strange behavior slowly registered, and suddenly a chill ran down Zhao Yingying’s spine.

“A lighter.”

Li Xiaozhen stared hard at Zhao Yingying, her tone stiff.

Zhao Yingying sheepishly took out the lighter she used to light the candles and handed it over.

Li Xiaozhen took the lighter and immediately blew out the two candles that had been lighting the atmosphere.

“Snap.”

Suddenly going from darkness to light made it hard to open one’s eyes instinctively.

But perhaps driven by some force, Li Xiaozhen gritted her teeth against the discomfort and grabbed the planchette paper from the table, rolled it up with the two candles, and headed straight to the bathroom.

“Click!”

The sound of the bathroom door locking.

Li Xiaozhen locked herself inside.

“…Is Xiaozhen okay?”

He Yi had already calmed down from her earlier emotions and now rubbed her eyes, looking anxiously toward the bathroom door.

She really shouldn’t have lost her temper and spoken harshly to Xiaoqian earlier.

Thinking it over, there was no such thing as a planchette spirit—it was all superstitious nonsense.

It was probably just a moment of madness, hehe…

Maybe this was all just a prank by Li Xiaozhen and Zhao Yingying.

In this dorm room, she was the one who had treated Xiaoqian best.

Xiaoqian probably had some fondness for her too.

Thinking that, she smiled faintly and glanced toward Hua Qian’an.

But at this moment, Hua Qian’an was… playing on her phone?

Her phone had been buzzing nonstop since earlier.

It was already past midnight, yet someone had sent her several messages in a row.

Lowering her gaze, Hua Qian’an’s mood worsened.

She was already annoyed having to tolerate this boring farce with the others.

If it were just ordinary classmates sending messages, she wouldn’t be this upset.

But the sender’s name, glaring in capital letters: “Counselor,” sent a chill down Hua Qian’an’s spine.

【Qian’an, sorry to bother you. Are you asleep?】

【Some students said your dorm seems very noisy. Has something happened?】

【If there’s a problem, you can report it to the dorm supervisor. It’s late, and other students need to rest.】

【The reason I’m asking you and not your roommates is because I have something else to discuss with you.】

【Did you know there’s an elective course registration today? I noticed you haven’t signed up for any courses, but your roommates have all finished registering.】

【The class monitor said after the group message was sent, they also messaged each dorm leader individually to remind their roommates again.】

【Did they not remind you?】

【The courses assigned by the system may not be the ones you’re interested in.】

【…If you encounter any issues in life, you can always talk to the teachers.】

Staring at the flood of messages, Hua Qian’an’s expression completely fell.

She first replied to the counselor who was still worrying about the students at this hour:

【Okay, I’ll remind them to keep the noise down. It’s late, so please get some rest too, Teacher.】

Meaning, the noise in the dorm wasn’t directly her problem.

But regarding the elective courses…

Hua Qian’an didn’t know how to respond, so she left the messages unread.

Expressionless, she opened the academic system and checked her schedule.

The Monday afternoon slot that should have been free now had an added class—one that didn’t exist before, unfamiliar to her.

【Course Title: Evidence Law】

A boring and dry course, just by the name.

It seemed like legal knowledge that had nothing to do with Hua Qian’an’s life.

Because the system automatically assigns baseline courses, most students who rush to pick electives are aiming for ones that interest them or have high pass rates.

Those left with the last picks are either extremely dull or taught by inhuman teachers…

Of course, there was an even more desperate scenario—

【Offering Department: Hangyang University Medical School】

“…”

Hua Qian’an’s face turned cold.

She read the next line.

【Professor: Lin Yanqiu】

The worst case—boring course and an inhuman professor.

“…Xiaoqian, are you okay?”

He Yi hesitated, asking Hua Qian’an’s condition.

Because Hua Qian’an’s current expression was terrible.

But unlike Li Xiaozhen’s earlier pale shock, Hua Qian’an’s looked like she was about to create a horrifying scene herself.

He Yi had never seen this expression from Hua Qian’an before…

Even during the planchette session, Hua Qian’an had remained calm and gentle.

Hearing He Yi’s voice, Hua Qian’an finally snapped out of it.

Her hand, gripping the phone, trembled slightly from the tension.

She glanced at He Yi and gave a forced smile.

“I’m fine.”

“Just tired.”

“I’ll lie down on my bed for a while.”

With that, she didn’t look at the other two again and walked straight to her bed.

She slipped off her slippers and got into bed.

Zhao Yingying glared at Hua Qian’an’s back but was too distracted and annoyed to bother with her.

What exactly was wrong with Li Xiaozhen?

Water sounds and various odd noises continued inside the bathroom.

Zhao Yingying approached the door and knocked.

“Ying…Yingying…”

He Yi suddenly hesitated, pointing toward the door crack.

“Do you smell smoke coming out from under the door?”

Zhao Yingying’s pupils suddenly shrank.

Just as she was about to force the door open, it swung open from the inside.

A thick cloud of smoke immediately billowed out.

Li Xiaozhen stood at the doorway expressionless.

The bathroom floor was wet, and black scorch marks and burnt fragments were visible.

It seemed Li Xiaozhen had burned something and then doused it with water.

Before Zhao Yingying could ask anything, Li Xiaozhen hurried to the table they had used for the planchette session.

“Hurry, help me out.”

“Let’s get this table moved back.”

Zhao Yingying turned and glanced toward Hua Qian’an’s bed, frowning.

“But…”

She wanted Hua Qian’an to come help.

But Li Xiaozhen was already lifting one side of the table and urged impatiently:

“I’ll tell you what I saw just now on the way.”

“Let’s get this unlucky thing out of here quickly!”

Hearing that, no one cared about Hua Qian’an anymore.

Zhao Yingying and He Yi both stepped forward to help lift the table and carried it out of the dorm.

With the footsteps fading down the corridor, the dorm room fell silent.

Hua Qian’an lay quietly on her bed, staring blankly at the bank balance on her phone.

Only by looking at those numbers could she somewhat ease her mood.

The earlier noise from her roommates was now completely blocked off by the bed curtain.

Why…

Why was it so hard to just get through university peacefully?

Why couldn’t she just put on a smile, or not?

She only wanted a stable few years in college… why did people have to be so pushy?

Hua Qian’an had considered changing dorms before.

But after entering university, she hadn’t done much socializing—not even classmates were more than acquaintances.

No dorm would want a random unfamiliar person joining unexpectedly.

So she told herself to just endure it for a few more years.

Her finger brushed the screen.

The phone shifted, and her eyes reflected the flickering light.

She scrolled through the recommended videos on her video app, completely unenthused.

Maybe it was because she had searched for spiritual investigation videos before, so the algorithm kept pushing similar content.

It reminded Hua Qian’an of the vlog video she had shot herself.

She wasn’t sure which company or platform it was for; she hadn’t really asked…

She thought she could find some free time next morning with no classes to go back and shoot a video at that haunted house again.

Her eyes shone with a burning desire to earn money.

Speaking of which, she remembered the other party said they would apply for protective measures for her and told her to keep track of logistics…

What exactly were those things?