Zheng Hong did not know how the Ghost Mother felt about the little daughter of the family living behind their house.
However, Long Yu was someone who had just dared to take a gamble even after spraining her ankle; how could she possibly be afraid of this?
She followed Zheng Hong straight into her house.
At that moment, the Ghost Mother was sitting right in the main hall.
Seeing them arrive, she smiled and said, "Isn't this Pingping? Come and sit down."
Zheng Hong helped Long Yu to sit down right beside the Ghost Mother.
At a single glance, the Ghost Mother saw that Long Yu's ankle was sprained.
"How could you be so careless? Daughter, go to the infirmary and fetch some liniment to apply on Pingping."
Just like that, Long Yu's simple gamble had paid off.
Zheng Hong told her to wait at home, then went off to the infirmary in the pigpen to look for the liniment.
After Zheng Hong left, the Ghost Mother asked Long Yu, "Is your mother at home?"
Long Yu shook her head and replied, "Mom isn't home."
Unexpectedly, the Ghost Mother let out a cold snort and said, "That woman is so lazy; she's probably run back to her maiden family again, leaving even her own daughter behind at home. Hui Cat truly misjudged her."
Long Yu remained silent.
It seemed she had managed to gather some clues.
The Ghost Mother seemed to realize that it was somewhat inappropriate to badmouth someone's mother right in front of her daughter.
She quickly added, "I'm just speaking my mind, so don't go telling her, alright?"
The spectators outside all felt that there was something wrong with this Ghost Mother.
Why was she being so nice to the examinee? Was there something fishy going on?
No one knew.
Meanwhile, inside Lu Yun's Secret Realm, the Ghost Mother claimed she was not feeling well and told Lu Yun not to disturb her.
Lu Yun said, "Mom, you look like you're not feeling very well. Let me take a look at you."
After a little while, the Ghost Mother opened the door.
Her body was covered in slash wounds, from which a dark, unknown liquid was oozing—it looked like blood, but it was far too viscous.
Lu Yun patiently bandaged her wounds and helped her onto the bed.
The Ghost Mother praised Lu Yun, saying, "It's still better to have a son. Look at Hui Cat's household—Hui Cat hasn't been back for a while, and that lazy woman took her daughter and went straight back to her maiden home..."
Lu Yun told her to get some good rest, then went outside.
Once again, the spectators outside were utterly shocked.
"Wait, isn't that a Specter? He actually dared to go up and bandage her?"
"Some people just have both the nerve and the attention to detail. He deserves to be featured on the main screen."
Over at Lu Yun's place, the sky had already grown very late. Lu Yun went to sleep in peace—it was a completely normal night.
There was no loss of combat power at home, and the Pig-headed Man never even got a chance to approach Lu Yun's house.
As for Zheng Hong's side, it was so late that it would be far too dangerous for Long Yu to try and go back now.
Surprisingly, the Ghost Mother took the initiative to ask her to stay.
"It's not safe for you to go back this late. Why don't you stay here and sleep with my daughter?" the Ghost Mother asked Long Yu.
Long Yu replied, "Okay."
Upon hearing this single-word answer, the Ghost Mother remarked, "You're already so grown up, but you're still this shy—that won't do."
With that, the Ghost Mother returned to her room.
Out in the outside world, the chief examiner looked at the surveillance feed showing only Lu Yun, wondering how this event had been triggered.
On the third day, the sun rose as usual, but filtering through the black mist onto the ground, visibility remained severely limited.
When Lu Yun got out of bed, he found that the meal the Ghost Mother had made seemed... even more bountiful than before?
Lu Yun sat down at the table, and the Ghost Mother picked out a chicken drumstick for him, saying, "Mom doesn't care for these; you eat it. Once you finish eating, you must study hard. When you finish your studies, find a good job. Mom can still take care of herself for now and won't be a burden to you..."
The people outside found this script painfully familiar.
A rebellious sophomore complained, "I knew this Ghost Mother had to be weird in some way. So this is the kind of weirdness she's got."
His friend chimed in, "Ah, guilt-tripping education. Is the Ghost Mother trying to ruin this senior?"
"Oh my god, is this the Huaxia style of education? This is... I need to learn this and go try it out," said a foreign parent.
Hearing the foreign parent muttering to himself, the rebellious sophomore couldn't help but offer a moment of silence for that man's child.
Meanwhile, over at Wei Xiaoxiao's place, the Pig-headed Man had broken into his main hall in the middle of the night and tossed the place into a complete mess.
The Ghost Mother had fought with it and sustained severe injuries, but Wei Xiaoxiao knew nothing of this.
The Ghost Mother simply died right there in her room.
Wei Xiaoxiao was extremely timid. He knew he probably couldn't stay in this house any longer; if he stayed another night, that Pig-headed Man would surely hack him to death.
So he rummaged through the kitchen cupboards and cabinets, taking away a large stash of food.
He planned to hide inside the pigpen.
"If you come to my house tonight and can't find me, won't I be safe?" Armed with that food and water, Wei Xiaoxiao hid inside the pigpen.
Little did he know, as he was doing all this, the Pig-headed Man was watching his every move.
Outside, the invigilator looked at this scene, somewhat indecisive.
However, the head supervisor walked over.
"Given his situation, since he failed to make the right choice over the past two days, him taking these supplies and hiding in the pigpen is already the most correct choice. As long as he survives tonight, his future self will at least be a Tier 2 Spirit Master," the head supervisor said.
The head supervisor was also acting as the chief examiner. These examiners could award up to one hundred points to each student every day; surviving seven days meant seven hundred points, while the final fifty points would be graded by the chief examiner himself.
The more Anomalous Energy acquired initially, the greater the talent, and the higher the future achievements would be.
Keep in mind that Huaxia's strongest Tier 7 Spirit Master had survived for seven days in the Secret Realm back in the day, contracted a Spirit Doll while inside, and used top-tier Ghost Spirit Orbs to convert it into Spirit Qi upon coming out.
The conversion rate was nearly ninety-nine percent.
In the chief examiner's view, this Wei Xiaoxiao's future achievements would cap out at Tier 2 at best.
Little did he know, in the future... that indeed turned out to be the case.
While Lu Yun was enjoying a lavish breakfast, the Ghost Mother on Zheng Hong's side had merely prepared an extra portion of food that could only be described as clear soup and plain water.
Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with this food.
There were no such tricks as illusions disappearing, or the meat turning into duck necks (rat meat) or human flesh.
Even the meals made by a Specter were edible. Just look at some takeout vendors in Huaxia—it's a testament to your strong antibodies if their cheap meal deals don't mess up your brain.
After finishing his meal, Lu Yun said to the Ghost Mother, "Mom, after my investigations over the past two days, I've already figured out where Dad went."
Outside, the freshman and sophomore juniors who heard Lu Yun say this started humming a tune.
"Daddy, Daddy, where are we going..."
"So that's what you've been doing these past two days. You really are Mom's good boy. Then can you tell me, where on earth did your dad go?" the Ghost Mother asked.
Lu Yun said only three words: "Follow me."
Lu Yun led the Ghost Mother deep inside the pig farm, heading straight for the sow pen.
Pointing at the belly of the breeding boar, Lu Yun said to the Ghost Mother, "Mom, Dad is inside the breeding boar's belly. I saw Yang Chuandong sew Dad into it with my own eyes."