After Qiao Cheng finished examining her, it was clear that the little girl had obvious abrasions on her body. Fortunately, the injuries weren't serious. She had simply fainted from fright, and even now, traces of the deep terror from seeing something horrifying still lingered on her face.
"Mo-bro, it's about the same as the previous cases," Qiao Cheng said.
Chen Mo nodded.
In Ziyuan Town, there had already been more than twenty incidents—large and small—of ghosts attacking children. The most serious one was actually the time Qiao Cheng stepped in to stop the ghost from attacking a father and son. That incident had resulted in Qiao Cheng suffering severe burns to both hands from ghostly flames.
The rest were mostly minor injuries like this girl's—light wounds that healed quickly after simple treatment.
Of course—
Physical injuries were easy to treat. Psychological trauma was not.
For these children, the deeper scars were in their hearts.
Still…
Chen Mo glanced at the Haunter floating nearby.
"You've completely cleared your name."
"Koujie!"
At those words, Haunter's triangular eyes curved into crescents from sheer joy.
"Mo-bro, Ziyuan Elementary has a nurse's office. I'll take her over to get the wounds treated," Qiao Cheng said.
Holding the little girl, he quickly left.
Not long after, Ah Hui—who had been sent to check the surveillance footage—returned to the teaching building.
"Mo-bro, I checked. Xiao You did go into that girls' restroom. Not long after she left, the incident happened."
"Mm."
Exactly as expected.
Chen Mo nodded, saying nothing, continuing to scroll through his phone.
That made Ah Hui a little curious.
"Mo-bro, what are you looking at so seriously?"
"The investigation materials Xiao Qiao sent me yesterday. You should have them too, right?"
"I do… what about them?"
Without lifting his head, Chen Mo said calmly:
"I don't know if you noticed, but among the twenty-plus attack cases Xiao Qiao provided, very few happened in broad daylight. Most were concentrated around dusk, and not a single incident occurred inside the school."
"Mo-bro… could you explain that a bit more clearly? I don't really get it…"
"..."
Chen Mo put away his phone and looked up at the sky outside, which at some point had become shrouded in thick, dark clouds.
"Xiao You doesn't know about that Pokémon's existence, and that Pokémon most likely understands that acting recklessly would expose not only itself, but also Xiao You—bringing a lot of trouble. So before this, it always carefully chose the right opportunities to attack. That's also a major reason Xiao Qiao couldn't lock onto it for so long. But now there's a problem—it suddenly chose to act directly inside the school."
"Mo-bro, if you put it like that… doesn't that make things even worse?" Ah Hui frowned.
"Not necessarily. They're just my guesses for now."
Chen Mo stood up. "I've already had Pidgeotto monitoring things. Let's go up too. If anything happens, we can stop it in time."
"Alright."
Just as the two were about to head upstairs, Haunter suddenly popped out of the floor and blocked their path.
"Koujie, koujie!"
Haunter pointed at the two of them, then pointed at itself.
"Oh?" Chen Mo raised an eyebrow. "You want to come with us?"
"Koujie!"
Even though the truth had come out, Haunter was still unhappy.
Why should it, Haunter, take the blame for what another Ghost-type Pokémon did? No matter what, it wanted to see exactly what kind of Pokémon that was.
Chen Mo was more than happy to let Haunter join them.
After all, the opponent was a troublesome Ghost-type. Pichu and Pidgeotto wouldn't have much of an advantage against that doll. But with Haunter willing to help, things would be far more stable.
Ziyuan Elementary, Class 3–1.
This was Xiao You's class.
Many children from single-parent families encounter various personality issues as they grow up.
Xiao You was no exception.
On top of that, because of her health, her attendance was intermittent. She gradually lost friends, her grades slipped, and invisibly, the inferiority she carried in her heart was amplified.
She became unwilling to speak.
During school hours, aside from going to the restroom and attending P.E., she tried to stay seated as much as possible—no moving around, no communication.
Slowly, Xiao You became a "weirdo" in her classmates' eyes.
If that were all—just loneliness—she could have endured it. After all, back when her father was busy and couldn't accompany her, she could still stay alone in her room, quietly doing her own things.
But school was different from home.
Just like what happened in the restroom that morning—even when she was simply minding her own business, trouble always seemed to find her.
While she was listening to the teacher explain complicated material, Xiao You suddenly felt her hair get yanked hard.
She clenched her teeth, forcing herself not to cry out, and glanced back.
Two boys were grinning at her.
Without saying a word, Xiao You turned back around.
Classroom seating was arranged by grades. The boys sitting behind her were the most mischievous students in the class—the ones least willing to study.
The best way to get away from them was to study hard and move her seat forward.
As for telling the teacher—
Xiao You had tried that too. It didn't help. In fact, she'd been bullied even more afterward. Fortunately, those classmates hadn't been around for long after that—they were hospitalized due to ghost attacks.
The ghost was really nice.
Yes.
That ghost—the one feared and hated by all the other students—didn't scare Xiao You at all.
Because most of the people attacked by the ghost were classmates she disliked.
Time passed bit by bit, and soon it was lunchtime.
After eating alone in the cafeteria, Xiao You returned to the classroom.
But the moment she stepped in through the back door, she froze.
"What is this? Such an ugly doll—she actually brings it in her bag every day?"
"Well, she's a weirdo."
"It's so ugly. How can there be such an ugly doll?"
"Yeah, it's disgusting. Let's throw it away, then put this wooden snake into her bag. That'll definitely scare her later."
"Good idea!"
The doll was casually tossed near the trash can at the back.
Xiao You lowered her head and quietly walked over, picking up the doll from the floor.
Hearing footsteps behind them, the two boys doing mischief turned around—and instantly stiffened, frozen in place.
"You…"
Xiao You hugged the doll, head lowered. Hidden in shadow, her eyes reddened, and the grievance in her heart burst like a broken dam.
Tears fell nonstop, like rain, splashing onto the doll's body.
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