"Recently, a psychopathic murderer has appeared near Tianfu Road. Three victims have been reported, with their faces mutilated beyond recognition. Citizens are advised to stay indoors and be wary of suspicious individuals!"
"A massacre occurred at Changhe Residential Complex, where a family of five was brutally murdered. The case is under investigation, and the area may still be dangerous!"
"A skinning incident took place at Kangzhuang Tower..."
"What's going on? In Jiangbei City, there are almost three to five murder cases every day?" In his rented room, Jiang Chen stared at the news on his phone, his brows furrowed tightly.
"And these cases are being reported even before they're solved."
"Or is there another purpose behind these reports, subtly warning citizens to stay away from these places? Could it be that the so-called murderers aren't human?"
A strange thought popped into his mind. This wasn't baseless speculation, as Jiang Chen himself had experienced supernatural events—after all, he wasn't from this world.
He still remembered dying of cancer in his previous life, only to open his eyes and find himself in the body of his three-year-old self, in a completely unfamiliar world.
Initially, Jiang Chen was excited, thinking he was chosen by fate to live another life and reach the pinnacle of success. But he quickly realized that it was snowing heavily around him, and there wasn't a soul in sight on the streets.
Before he froze to death, a lonely old man took him home, saying, "Call me Grandpa, and this will be your home from now on."
After that, Jiang Chen had a guardian of sorts.
But two years ago, just after he got into Jiangbei University of Finance and Economics, the old man left.
Don't get it wrong, he didn't die.
The old man left a letter and a bank card with a hundred thousand yuan, then left the city, whereabouts unknown.
"A couple of days before he left, the old man was muttering about some sect being in trouble. Could he have been possessed by a ghost?"
The unusually high number of murder cases in the past month made Jiang Chen have some unsettling thoughts.
"Knock... knock... knock..."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door outside.
Jiang Chen was startled and glanced at the time on his phone.
02:44
"Who would be looking for Sister Hong at this hour?"
The knocking was coming from across the hall, where Jiang Chen's landlady lived—a woman in her thirties, full of charm.
"Knock... knock... knock..."
In the silent building at this hour, the sound was particularly jarring.
"Could Sister Hong be in trouble? Or is there something wrong with the person knocking, and she's afraid to open the door?"
Hearing no one open the door, Jiang Chen frowned, got up, and went to the door.
Through the peephole, he saw the back of a woman in a white dress with dark red blotchy patterns. She continued knocking on the door across the hall, her outstretched hand looking pale under the hallway light.
Jiang Chen felt something odd about the woman's movements. Her wrist didn't move as she knocked; instead, her entire arm swung like a beckoning cat.
"Her arm joints seem very stiff..."
After knocking for a while, the woman suddenly stopped but didn't leave. Instead, she leaned against the door, peering through the peephole, trying to see inside.
"What is she trying to do?"
The woman's behavior was so bizarre that it gave Jiang Chen a very bad feeling.
"I know you're in there, open the door, open it now!" After a few glances, the woman suddenly spoke in a sinister voice, hoarse as if phlegm was stuck in her throat.
As she shouted, her knocking became more frantic, almost pounding on the door.
Jiang Chen's pupils contracted, and the strange feeling in his heart grew stronger.
He judged that this woman was either mentally unstable or one of the psychopathic murderers reported recently.
Just as he was about to call the police, a message came in.
"Don't open the door!"
"Sister Hong?" Jiang Chen thought for a moment and typed, "What's going on?"
"The thing outside... it might not be human!" Sister Hong quickly replied.
"Little Chen, you might not know, but something terrifying happened in our complex about a year ago. A female college student named Sun Fang rented a room in Building 4."
"Not long after, a man followed her. At first, he bought breakfast and flowers every day, seemingly trying to win back his girlfriend."
"When these actions failed, the man started cursing at her door, causing a commotion for a long time."
"From his curses, people vaguely learned that they had been in a relationship for three years, and Sun Fang had found a wealthy man and wanted to break up, leading to this incident."
"Later, one of Sun Fang's besties came over. The girl was sharp-tongued and scolded the man until he was speechless and left in disgrace."
"Everyone thought it was over, but that night the man returned, seemingly drunk, and kept banging on Sun Fang's door. Her bestie was still there, rushed out, and started cursing him again. This time, the man pulled out a knife."
"Sun Fang's bestie was terrified, turned to run back, but Sun Fang was also scared and locked the security door, leaving her bestie outside. No matter how much she banged on the door for help, Sun Fang didn't respond."
"The bestie was stabbed to death in the hallway, and the boy was taken away by the police."
"The eerie part is, seven days later at night, Sun Fang died in her rented room."
"According to neighbors in Building 4, they all heard knocking that night, along with a woman's faint cries for help. But the problem is, Sun Fang died inside her apartment, so she shouldn't have been knocking on anyone's door for help."
"People began to suspect that the one knocking that night wasn't Sun Fang herself."
"The residents of the complex tacitly agreed not to mention it again."
"But do you know who I just saw through the peephole? Sun Fang's bestie! It took me a while to remember her face. I only saw her once when they were causing a scene."
"Someone who's clearly dead is now standing outside my door, knocking continuously. Little Chen, don't come out. I've already called the police. Stay hidden and safe. If anything happens to me, make sure to tell the police about these clues!"
After reading the message, Jiang Chen looked at the woman outside again, feeling a chill run up his spine. This woman was someone who had already died!
So the red spots on her dress weren't patterns but bloodstains from when she died?
Click—
Suddenly, there was the sound of a lock turning outside, and Jiang Chen's pupils widened slightly. He saw the security door across the hall open!
"No way! If Sister Hong knows something's wrong outside, she definitely wouldn't open the door."
Through the peephole, Jiang Chen saw no one behind the security door. It seemed to have been opened by some eerie force.
At that moment, the woman who had been facing away suddenly turned her head, revealing a ghastly pale face. She gave Jiang Chen a creepy smile, her mouth wide open, teeth stained red, with bits of flesh still hanging.
"She's here! She's inside! I didn't open the door, but she's in the living room!"
Sister Hong sent another message.
Jiang Chen didn't have the mind to read it. The moment the woman looked at him, he felt a chill rush from his feet to his head, as if he were being watched by a predator.
Once the woman entered Sister Hong's room, Jiang Chen regained his ability to move. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, suddenly realizing that his left hand was as cold as ice.
He looked at his hand, which was surrounded by a black mist. It seemed to be the mark of the female ghost, indicating that he was now her target.
"Heh, I've already died once, and you still want my life?"
A hint of madness flashed in Jiang Chen's eyes. He turned and ran towards the kitchen, intending to open the gas valve and create an explosive trap for the ghost.
Though he didn't know if it would work, he wasn't the type to sit and wait for death.
But just as he took two steps, he froze in place.
Because in his mind, a clear, mechanical female voice suddenly sounded.
"Ding, detecting ghostly presence, Demonization System activated."
"10%... 50%... 100%"
"Ding, system activation successful, awarding 100 initial Ghost Qi."
"Ghosts consume human Qi, demons consume Ghost Qi. The host can obtain Ghost Qi by causing emotional fluctuations in ghosts, which can be used to draw Demonization Cards."