Borrowing yang energy is a form of black magic, using someone else's life force to prolong one's own life. This is extremely sinister and will incur divine retribution.

These students were obviously manipulated by the yin-yang barber while getting their haircuts, unbeknownst to them, their yang energy was drained away.

Who exactly is the barber in the opposite barber shop?

Why is he so malicious? Targeting students like this?

Chubby paused and asked me, "Are you saying that the barber, by borrowing the students' yang energy, is prolonging his own life?"

I pondered for a moment and said, "It's possible that he is prolonging his own life, or perhaps someone else's."

Chubby furrowed his brow and said, "That old man is too ruthless. Yang Cheng, we need to find a way to deal with him. Otherwise, more students will fall victim to his evil hands!"

I nodded and stroked my chin, saying to Chubby, "Know thy enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated. Are you willing to accompany me tonight to secretly investigate the barber shop? We need to figure out what that old man is up to!"

Chubby said, "No problem, but give me a jar of pickled vegetables to boost my courage!"

As night fell, after successfully tricking me into giving him a jar of pickled vegetables, Chubby changed into all-black attire and followed me quietly out of the dormitory.

I said, "Chubby, are you dressed for a funeral?"

Chubby said, "I don't know, this is called stealth attire. They do it like this on TV."

The dormitory lights were already off, and many people had entered dreamland. We managed to avoid the dormitory supervisor, climbed over the wall, and left the school.

The town was quiet in the night, with few pedestrians on the streets. We quickly arrived at the barber shop across the street.

The barber shop's front door was tightly shut and securely locked, emanating a gloomy atmosphere in the darkness.

There was no way we could enter from the front, so we circled around to the back of the barber shop.

There was a small courtyard behind the barber shop with a locust tree growing, its branches extending over the wall.

Chubby and I grabbed onto the branches of the locust tree and climbed over the wall, hiding among the foliage as we peered inside.

The room had no lights on, but there were lit candles casting a bright glow, and no one could be seen at the window. The old man should not be inside the room.

I secretly wondered why this barber shop was so strange. It was understandable that they didn't turn on the lights during the day, but why not at night? While our town may be poor, it still had electricity. It was the modern era, yet they were still using candles?

I gently tugged on Chubby's sleeve, motioning for him to come closer.

Chubby nodded and silently slid down the trunk of the tree. Unexpectedly, he missed his footing and landed on his buttocks, causing him to yelp in pain. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and covered his mouth with my hand, urging him to be quiet.

Chubby made a muffled sound, and only then did I slowly release my hand, pulling him down to crouch beneath the window of the room. We listened intently, making sure we hadn't alerted anyone.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I glared at Chubby, scolding him to be more careful.

Chubby rubbed his head, grinning foolishly. "I was demonstrating my unique skill, the 'Falling Goose on a Flat Beach'!"

I couldn't be bothered to argue with him and tiptoed, gently opening the window. Seeing that there was no one inside, I agilely climbed in like a cat, followed by Chubby.

When I looked up, I suddenly noticed a wooden bed right in front of me, and there lay a person on the bed!

I was startled, plopping down on the ground.

Chubby was also taken aback, about to scream, but I quickly lifted my foot to cover his mouth.

Chubby pried my stinky foot away, furrowing his brows and wiping his mouth, occasionally glancing back at the room's entrance, afraid that the barber would walk in at any moment.

Inside the barber's room, there was actually a ** of a young person.

But that wasn't the strangest part. What was peculiar was that a circle of white candles was lit around the **, creating an indescribable eerie atmosphere.

I was cautious and quickly counted them. There were a total of forty-nine white candles, a Yin number.

However, not all forty-nine candles were burning. Thirty-nine candles were lit, leaving ten unlit candles, coincidentally positioned around the head of the **.

The ** of the young person lay within the circle of candles, exuding an inexplicable sense of strangeness.

Directly above the head of the bed, there were many black cloth bags hanging from red strings. These cloth bags were all black, and we didn't know what was inside them.

I counted them and discovered that there were also thirty-nine black cloth bags hanging, corresponding exactly to the thirty-nine burning candles.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I casually took down one of the cloth bags, opening it to find a strand of hair inside.

Underneath the hair was a small yellow paper inscribed with the name and birthdate of a student.

Clearly, these strands of hair were secretly left by the barber while giving haircuts to the students. As for the birthdates, they were most likely extracted through conversations between the barber and the students.

I continued opening two more cloth bags, finding the same contents inside: a strand of hair and a small yellow paper with a name and birthdate.

I also saw the name "Xu Wenbo" written on one of the yellow papers, along with Xu Wenbo's birthdate.

Even a fool could tell that this barber was definitely practicing some kind of sinister magic in this room.

A chill ran down my spine, and the entire room felt like a mysterious altar, suffocatingly horrifying.

Suddenly, Chubby reached his hand under the ** of the young person, fumbling as if searching for something.

I quickly grabbed Chubby, telling him not to touch anything here.

Chubby retrieved something from under the ** and handed it to me. I took a closer look and found it to be a student ID card. The ID card had a photo affixed to it, with the name and class clearly marked.

In the name section, it read "Zhu Ye," and looking at the class, it belonged to a grade higher than ours, making him our senior.

I looked at the photo on the student ID card and then at the ** on the bed. It turned out that this deceased young person was indeed Zhu Ye.