76. This is the proper way to confess your feelings.

On that wrinkled, time-worn face, shock washed in instantly, even the gaze fixed upon Chen Sheng turned vacant with stupefaction. Was such an answer reasonable coming from him? He was a ghost! Not the living! What living person would think in such a way?

Suddenly, this principal-ghost recalled that ghost tamers often suffered aftereffects, and his eyes shifted to the headless girl standing beside Chen Sheng, as invisible as air. Only then did he realize that the malice radiating from this headless girl could rival his own! Moreover, she was a fierce ghost!

The ghostly principal felt he’d grasped the truth—this young man was most certainly not normal! No matter how fine a ghost tamer’s original nature, how disciplined their conduct, prolonged exposure to specters would ultimately twist them, tainting them with the ghosts’ malice. Their personalities would inevitably change: eccentric, violent, erratic. After all, the power of ghosts was not so easily borrowed! Lesser ghosts perhaps held to some code, but fierce ghosts were practically synonymous with the word “deceitful.”

The principal-ghost’s mouth twisted, and he sighed, “How unfortunate! After all this trouble, the ghost tamer who finally arrives is out of his mind!”

Chen Sheng: “???”

What did this old ghost mean? Why the sudden, inexplicable insult? Since when could “NPCs” be so rude and uncivilized?

Without a second thought, Chen Sheng summoned his treasured item—his “starter equipment”! The cost-effectiveness of this starter gear was so high that, in his heart, it had become a prized possession.

As the gallows manifested, this crude instrument of execution unleashed an overwhelming, invisible shock throughout the space. The five senses twisted, nameless terror descended upon every heart. The ghosts who had been sizing up Chen Sheng with predatory, malicious eyes now dropped to their knees, their forms fully revealed from the shadows—men and women, teachers and students alike.

Judging by the sheer number of ghosts, it seemed some terrible tragedy had once occurred at this school, dooming both staff and students as evil spirits and leaving the campus abandoned.

“An execution device?” the principal-ghost cried out. Though he did not kneel, fear consumed him; he trembled as if about to die a second time.

“Well, are you ready to explain why you sought me out, and why you want me to remain here as a teacher?” Chen Sheng glanced around, unsurprised by the scene. Once he took out his treasure, no one could outmatch him—or even put up a fight.

Then, Chen Sheng added, “Also, I’m not crazy. I’m a licensed doctor, I have credentials—I can show you if you don’t believe me!”

The principal-ghost’s mouth twitched; who in their right mind would say such a thing? But he dared not voice his thoughts aloud. Even now, shocked that a living man could wield an execution device, he maintained his composure: “Those two questions are easily answered—they both relate to that one.”

“Go on,” Chen Sheng nodded slightly.

The principal-ghost began, “During the ascension ritual to become a fierce spirit, that one encountered a problem. Just as success was within reach, it was discovered that two other fierce ghosts had already seized control of execution devices in the field of literature. To avoid being targeted, that one withdrew and switched from literature to mathematics.”

“But when people are desperate, they can do anything—except for mathematics! Even with endless reincarnators as test subjects, the execution device for mathematics could not be seized, let alone the ascension succeed. That one grew furious, and we all suffered as a result.”

“So, we thought to find a ghost tamer for help. As everyone knows, any successful ghost tamer must be highly educated and quick-witted. Especially since ghost tamers can borrow the power of specters, which is ideal for teaching those reincarnators and sharpening their mathematical ability in life-or-death situations.”

With the presence of the execution device, the principal-ghost dared not utter a single lie. Everything he knew, he confessed, even without prompting—selling out the fierce ghost in the depths of the town completely.

Chen Sheng listened in amazement. He had always thought the so-called fierce ghost ascension involved rituals to construct a ghost domain or condense a ghost heart—matters of status and power. Who would have guessed it came down to “elective literature” and “elective mathematics”...

Stunned, he almost asked if there were electives for “physical education,” “biology,” or “physics,” but swallowed the words. He recalled a special case: the fierce ghost known as Black-Faced Warden, who swept through the underworld like a broom and dustpan, periodically culling ghosts and using players as sacrifices—a figurehead among the three great ghost realms near Upper Sanjiang City.

Deciding this was all the twisted humor of some “dog” game developer, Chen Sheng pointed to the young ghost who had tricked him here. “Does he have a girl ghost he likes?”

“This…” The principal-ghost was momentarily at a loss—such matters were rare among ghosts, after all. Sentiments like love among the living arose from hormones and the drive to reproduce.

But ghosts had no hormones—much less the drive to reproduce! If offspring did result, it was either for revenge or as a shortcut to mastering ghostly arts, some of which required a demon body to descend into the world.

Yet, being the most cunning and powerful of the ghosts here, the principal-ghost quickly turned to the young ghost. “Well? Who do you like?”

Frightened out of his wits, the young ghost’s eyes instinctively drifted toward a girl ghost nearby—one about his own age.

The terror induced by the execution device had stripped away the girl ghost’s predatory, bloodthirsty demeanor, revealing instead a normal, pretty face.

Seeing this, Chen Sheng nodded approvingly. A boy liking a beautiful girl—how reasonable. He approached the girl ghost and asked, “Will you like him?”

He pointed to the young ghost.

The girl ghost froze. Was she really being asked this?

When she hesitated, Chen Sheng raised his hand, and the noose of the gallows slipped around her neck.

Life and death hung in the balance.

“Will you like him?” Chen Sheng asked again.

This time, the girl ghost answered without hesitation, almost reflexively, “I’m willing to like him!”