CHAPTER 108: CHAPTER 108 HEADACHE

Li Ang watched the school uniform-clad youth running towards him upside down. He couldn’t help but inhale sharply, exclaiming in astonishment, "That pose... are you the legendary Leaf Azure Beast—Li LuoKe?"

Standing next to Li Ang, the Black Trojan, who had been panicking, was jolted by the interruption and couldn’t help but retort sarcastically, "What Leaf Azure Beast? Half of his head is gone, man! Fly away, for goodness’ sake, big brother!"

"Don’t panic." Li Ang shook his head calmly, rapidly ascending the drone while saying with a wicked smile, "Unless Li LuoKe unleashes the Table Lotus Flower, there’s no way he can keep up with my speed."

Damn Table Lotus Flower... Damn speed...

The Black Trojan felt a knot of dread in his stomach as he watched the drone on the screen climb higher, narrowly avoiding the lunge of the school uniform-clad ghost and leaving it behind.

Li Ang picked up the walkie-talkie. "Plague Doctor, get ready. There’s a ghost climbing the stairs upside down; he might come for you at any moment."

"Understood."

The situation was urgent, so the Plague Doctor didn’t have time to overthink. He ran to the window at the end of the corridor and peeked at the vertical drop. Then, he took out a bundle of climbing ropes from his backpack, tied them to the steel railing outside the corridor, and clipped a safety carabiner to his waist.

Next, he climbed out of the window, grabbed the climbing rope with his gloved hands, and using the building’s wall as a foothold, descended rapidly by alternately loosening and gripping the rope.

A dozen or so seconds later, the Plague Doctor reached the ground safely. He hastily unfastened the safety carabiner and joined his two teammates, who had been waiting below.

Suddenly, a sharp whooshing sound came from overhead.

Li Ang looked up to see a figure in a school uniform, head down and feet up, leaping out of the building and plummeting towards him.

"Retreat!"

Li Ang pushed his palm forward, using "Fragment Scatter" to release a low-powered shockwave that shoved the Plague Doctor and the Black Trojan away.

THUMP!

Like a sack of cement hitting the ground, the school uniform-clad youth slammed headfirst into the concrete.

His skull, which had only been partially caved in before, now had half of it completely smashed.

Yet, even so, he wasn’t dead. He only managed to say with difficulty in Japanese, "Head... my brain... it hurts... it’s going to split open."

If it weren’t for the inappropriate time, place, and company, the Black Trojan would have loved to retort, "If you knew your head would hurt, why jump from the building? Do you think you have an iron head? Besides, your brain looks like it’s already been smashed to bits. You don’t even have a brain left!"

He didn’t say it out loud. Instead, Li Ang spoke up, "Ahem, well, the thing is, apart from the meninges, the brain itself doesn’t have pain receptors. That’s why some brain surgeries can be performed while the patient is awake.

"Also, the skull itself has no pain sensation. What most people describe as a splitting headache can actually be caused by many factors: things like the dilation, constriction, or traction of arteries, veins, and the dura mater inside and outside the skull; compression, damage, or chemical stimulation of the nervous system; spasms in head and neck muscles; increased intracranial pressure; or brainstem abnormalities, to name a few.

"Don’t mind my current attire; I might look like a mercenary, but many years ago, I was a distinguished neurosurgeon. Unfortunately, due to a medical dispute, I was murdered by a malicious patient named Cao Ahman.

"If you need help, you can stand up and let me take a closer look."

A string of question marks seemed to float above the Black Trojan’s head. Not even a ghost would believe this crap!

"Eh, really?"

The school uniform-clad ghost, still somewhat planted in the ground, turned around and said, "Then thank you, Doctor."

He actually believed it!

The Black Trojan’s eyes widened, and he felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. He watched the school uniform-clad ghost stand up from the ground, no longer upside down, craning its neck to extend its half-smashed head towards Li Ang.

Both the Plague Doctor and the Black Trojan were somewhat nervous; the former tightened his grip on his Wooden Long Stick, while the latter pulled out a small Casio calculator from his backpack.

Li Ang lifted his hand slightly, signaling his two companions to hold back for now. He then took a black umbrella from his backpack, holding it behind him as he focused his gaze on the school uniform ghost’s half-head.

Of his entire face, only one eye, less than half a nose, a mouth, and a chin remained.

Judging solely by the lower half of the face, he was neither fat nor thin, utterly unremarkable.

The raw, jagged cross-section of the half-head was a mess of gory flesh, mixed with black soil and pebbles. Crimson plasma occasionally welled out.

Vaguely, one could also smell a faint scent of gasoline.

"Your condition is quite serious," Li Ang said, withdrawing his gaze and speaking in a serious tone. "How long has your head been hurting?"

"Uh... half a year?" the ghost replied. "Or maybe a year? I can’t quite remember."

Li Ang asked, "Then what’s the last thing you clearly remember?"

"Hmm..." The ghost paused for a moment, appearing to furrow its brow in thought. "That afternoon, I was scolded by the reading room teacher for damaging a few books, so I decided to teach him a lesson."

Li Ang asked, "How so?"

"By setting his office on fire with gasoline." The ghost laughed neurotically. "Heh heh heh, I hid in a corner of the main building, planning to go upstairs with the gasoline can and lighter after dark."

He paused, and Li Ang quickly asked, "And then?"

"I... I think a patrolling security guard spotted me?" he said uncertainly. "He was searching the hallway with a flashlight. I ducked into a room, planning to slip out when he wasn’t looking..."

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. "You didn’t go on to burn that teacher’s office?"

"I hadn’t gotten the chance..." the ghost answered blankly. "I was running in the stairwell with the gasoline can. It had rained that day, so the stairs were a bit slippery, and I think... I fell..."

The youth, with only half a head, seemed lost in thought. "I fell down the stairs... And then... what happened next..."

His speech slowed, and fresh blood began to spurt from the severed vessels in the cross-section of his head, like a fountain.

Seeing that the ghost was on the verge of realizing he was dead, Li Ang tightened his grip on the black umbrella behind him and quickly interjected, "Ahem, classmate, I just took a look. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with your head. The headache... it’s just a psychological issue."

"A psychological issue?" the ghost asked, puzzled.

"Exactly," Li Ang nodded. "Your failure to burn down that teacher’s office has become an obsession, and that’s what’s causing your constant headaches. So, how about this: we help you burn down the office?"

Although it was phrased as a question, Li Ang’s tone left no room for refusal. He guided the drone back, landed it at the entrance of the main building, then took out two Molotov cocktails and tied them underneath the drone with a rope.

Then, he flew the drone back into the building.

Li Ang turned and asked, "Where is that teacher’s office?"

The still-befuddled ghost muttered, "5... 506."

Li Ang nodded. He piloted the drone to the fifth floor and, in front of an office door, had it toss one Molotov cocktail at the entrance.

CRASH.

The Molotov cocktail burst instantly. A wave of heat erupted, and the wooden door, unable to withstand the blaze for long, was quickly engulfed in flames.

Li Ang had the drone toss the second Molotov cocktail. This time, everything inside the office was incinerated.

"Satisfying, right, pal?" Li Ang handed the controller screen to the ghost. "Burned it all to a crisp."

The ghost caressed the screen of the control device, peering at the blazing flames with his bulging single eye. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a smile tinged with both joy and sorrow.

"It’s burned. All burned down," he murmured, clutching the screen as he sank into the soil and vanished.

"Wait a minute." Li Ang looked up at his two dazed teammates. "Didn’t he just take my remote control with him?"