Early the next morning,

  John was relaxing at home, feeling no anxiety at all.

  After the Peace River disaster, all the paranormal teachers at school had been swamped with work, so classes were suspended indefinitely. Everyone in the Spirit Warden Class was on an unofficial break.

  Will classes ever start again? They can’t just cancel them for good…

  Just as John was thinking, his phone rang.

  “Hello? Teacher Ron?”

  “Where are you right now?”

  “At home. Why?”

  “Get to school. We’ve got a mission.”

  “What?!”

  John’s eyes widened. “Teacher, what did you just say? I didn’t catch that.”

  “I said we have a mission!”

  “The line before that.”

  “Huh?”

  Ron frowned in confusion, but repeated himself anyway: “Where are you right now?”

  “Out of the province!”

  “?!”

  Ron’s mouth twitched. He snapped, “You little punk, are you messing with me again?”

  “No, I really can’t make it.”

  John’s tone was full of fake helplessness.

  He knew exactly what kind of mission would pop up at a time like this—it had to be about Peace River.

  No way William was right, and they were actually sending me to deal with this thing…

  “Cut the act!” Ron cut straight to the point. “Relax, there’s a reward.”

  He assumed John was refusing just because there was nothing in it for him.

  “Is everyone in the Spirit Warden Class going?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, okay then.”

  John breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The school wouldn’t send all of them to their deaths—that would be completely pointless.

  “In that case, I’ll hurry back from out of province.”

  “…”

  Half an hour later,

  John showed up at Spirit Warden Class Two.

  The other students were already seated, all whispering and guessing why they’d been called back.

  About ten minutes later,

  Ron’s voice came over the classroom speakers.

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  “Students, I’ve called you all here today because we have a mission. I’m sure you all saw what happened at Peace River last night.”

  “To stop it from killing more people, we need you to step up.”

  As soon as he finished, the class erupted into movement.

  That’s my students, the regular theory teacher thought, watching them jump to their feet, his chest swelling with pride.

  But his expression quickly turned to stone.

  Everyone was standing up, shoving things into their bags, and talking about moving to another city…

  “…”

  As if he’d guessed exactly what they were doing, Ron spoke again over the broadcast.

  “To be clear—you’ll only be dealing with the small fry. The ghosts inside the river will be handled by the experts. Students from the other five high schools will be joining us too!”

  Hearing that, the class slowly sat back down.

  They had courage, but that didn’t mean they wanted to get wiped out for nothing. They had talent—they could make it anywhere…

  “On top of that, anyone who performs well will earn Ghost Crystals as a reward!”

  “Think of this as a competition!”

  Only then did the students relax completely, no longer resisting the mission.

  John raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself:

  Did they finally find a way to counter the Ghost River’s mind warping?

  The Ghost River couldn’t be beaten by numbers. One blast of its corruption, and an entire army would turn on itself.

  “The buses are waiting outside the school gates. You may leave now. You must reach the Peace River area by noon.”

  That’s urgent, John thought. But given how dangerous the Ghost River was, it made sense.

  The officials couldn’t risk another outbreak.

  Soon,

  students from the Intelligence Class and Spirit Warden Class of No. 5 High School arrived at the site.

  Peace River was no longer empty. Outside the barricades, over a thousand people had gathered.

  Besides the students from the six high schools, civilian Spirit Wardens who’d dropped out of official programs had also joined the operation.

  Everyone’s eyes locked onto Peace River.

  In the very center of the river floated a single boat, and on the bow stood a middle-aged man, calm and motionless.

  Is that the expert sent by the officials?

  John’s gaze sharpened. He had a good guess.

  The fact that they’d gathered all these students meant the officials were confident in their plan.

  “Boss John, what Curse level do you think that guy is?”

  “Hmm…”

  John stroked his chin and said seriously:

  “After careful analysis… he’s definitely not First Curse.”

  “…”

  William’s mouth twitched. That was the most obvious thing in the world.

  If a First Curse could handle the Ghost River, Ron would’ve solved it ages ago.

  John dropped the fake analysis and thought to himself:

  So we’re supposed to fight those severed heads, then.

  The Ghost Servants would probably be handled by veteran Spirit Wardens like Ron, while the core of the Ghost River would be taken on by the official experts.

  Grunts against grunts, generals against generals. It only made sense.

  But John had never been one to follow logic. A greedy thought crossed his mind:

  Is there a chance I can get something good to eat out of this?

  With the officials rolling out such a big force, he might just find an opening…

  At that moment, a burly man suddenly charged out from the riverbank.

  He leaped, and in one bound, landed directly on the boat in the center of the river—like the lightness skill from old TV dramas, but real.

  The crowd gasped in shock.

  Another expert?

  John blinked. Anyone who dared to leap straight over the river had to be powerful.

  The officials really had come fully prepared.

  “Minister Wei! Am I late?”

  The man let out a hearty laugh, looking completely relaxed.

  “Lu Ming?”

  Wei Feng raised an eyebrow, relief washing over him. “I didn’t expect they’d send you.”

  “My family took the job. We get paid, we get it done—otherwise the Lu Family loses its reputation.”

  Lu Ming crouched down, staring at the Peace River beneath his feet.

  “?!”

  In an instant, his carefree expression turned grave.

  It wasn’t that the Ghost River’s paranormal aura was too strong. It was that, even from this close, he couldn’t sense any aura at all.

  This river was hiding itself too well.

  As time passed, Spirit Wardens from every high school in Blackwater City and all the civilian fighters gathered, buzzing with anticipation for the large-scale ghost hunt.

  With top experts leading the charge, they were just here to pick up easy rewards.

  Who wouldn’t love a gig like that?

  Just then, John’s expression shifted.

  Not far away, he spotted a familiar face.

  “Huh? Uncle?”

  John waved.

  It was the random passerby he’d met by the river that day—the same man who’d sighed and said, “Peace River is not peaceful at all.”

  “Kid, we meet again.”

  The middle-aged man blinked, clearly recognizing him too.

  John raised an eyebrow. “You’re a Spirit Warden too? Here to hunt small fry for rewards?”

  “No.”

  The man shook his head, his eyes fixed on the dark water below.

  “I’m here to retrieve a corpse.”