402, Liu Meie finished washing the dishes and lingered by the door, her face filled with worry.
The young man from earlier hadn't heeded her warning and went upstairs late at night. While outsiders might not know, the residents vaguely understood that something was off about the sixth floor.
However, two neighbors who had previously warned outsiders had mysteriously died, so they dared not speak too clearly.
"Sigh, he's probably gone." Liu Meie shook her head and sighed.
Not long after the young man went up, there were loud noises, like something being chopped. She understood that by tomorrow morning, the Law Enforcement Office and the coroner would likely be coming to carry out a body.
Thud, thud, thud!
Suddenly, there were hurried footsteps outside, as if someone was fleeing in panic, leaping several steps at a time down the stairs.
Liu Meie was stunned, quickly pressing her ear to the door and peering out through the peephole.
"Could he still be alive?"
About three seconds later, a terrifying figure came into view. A large chunk of flesh was missing from the left shoulder, exposing the innards, and the right arm was similarly gone, seemingly torn off violently.
It was a female ghost, with disheveled black hair dripping blood. Her eyes, devoid of pupils, swept over, causing Liu Meie's body to stiffen, every hair standing on end.
"A g-ghost!"
The immense fear nearly drove her insane. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound was stuck in her throat.
Liu Meie felt that the next moment she would be torn to shreds by the ghost breaking in.
However, the ghost merely glanced at her, then continued rushing downstairs without pause, her silhouette somewhat disheveled.
Liu Meie was completely dumbfounded. Was it her imagination, or did she see a hint of fear in that terrifying ghost?
What was she afraid of?
"No, she's already a ghost, what could she fear?" Liu Meie thought her speculation was absurd.
Just then, heavy footsteps and a man's wild laughter came from above.
"Hahaha, Ghost Lady, don't waste your energy, you can't escape!"
Liu Meie found the voice familiar.
The next moment, a burly figure descended from the fifth floor. The instant she saw his face, Liu Meie was stunned.
"It's him? The young man from before."
"No, is he chasing that female ghost?!"
Liu Meie's plump body trembled. She felt her mind was no longer functioning. A living person, chasing a ghost at night—was the world this crazy?
"Ghost Lady, don't panic. You've only eaten a few people, it's no big deal. Stop and come back with me to the office for a statement, and we'll let you go," Jiang Chen shouted while chasing.
The female ghost running for her life looked grim.
I don't believe you!
You're a living person, yet you speak more ghostly than us ghosts!
"Ghost Qi +30."
Hearing the prompt, Jiang Chen grew more excited, teasing the ghost with relish.
"Ghost Lady, can we talk about how you died?"
Mirror Ghost:??? This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
If you can't speak properly, just shut up!
"Ghost Qi +50."
"Ghost Lady, when people die, do their lives really flash before their eyes?"
"Ghost Lady, did you ever do anything to betray your husband?"
"..."
Chasing all the way to the first floor, no matter how Jiang Chen taunted, the ghost no longer generated Ghost Qi. He sighed, reluctantly glancing at the ghost.
"Ghost Lady, although I'll miss you, all good things must come to an end. Farewell."
Hearing this, the ghost about to rush out of the stairwell looked delighted.
Could this bastard be having a change of heart, letting her go?
Boom!
A loud crash came from behind, as if the stairs on the first floor had collapsed.
The ghost froze, instinctively turning back, her already twisted face contorting even more.
Because she saw the stairs were shattered by the recoil of Jiang Chen's leap. Is this guy even human? He's a monster!
"Mirror Ghost was deeply shocked, Ghost Qi +66!"
Jiang Chen, using Demonic Python Strength, leaped into the air. As he descended, his right arm swelled unnaturally, delivering a punch to the ghost's terrified face.
"Goodbye, may your journey on the Road to the Underworld be smooth!"
Bang!!!
A head was directly crushed.
"Ding, Mirror Ghost (Malicious Ghost) dead, Ghost Qi +99!"
The headless ghost's body slowly fell, oxidizing, rotting, releasing a foul stench.
Jiang Chen stood by, lost in thought.
"It seems a Peak Malicious Ghost can withstand three attacks from me in 1-Star Demonization Card state, carrying Demonic Power."
"Not bad at all, a ghost actually helped me gather so much Ghost Qi."
He glanced at the panel.
[Host]: Jiang Chen
[Ghost Qi]: 889
[Demonization Card]: Hunshi Demon King (1-Star)
The only pity was that the Ghost Qi hadn't broken a thousand.
"But as long as I run into another ghost, I should be able to gather a thousand." Jiang Chen's eyes gleamed with anticipation, feeling that perhaps after breaking a thousand, he could obtain a more powerful Demonization Card!
A sense of expectation rose in Jiang Chen's heart.
He had already checked on the Underworld App.
The hierarchy of malevolent entities was as follows:
Resentful Spirit E, Malicious Ghost D, Fierce Ghost C, Bloodclad Fierce Ghost B, Malevolent Soul A, Ghost King S.
Among them, Resentful Spirits were the weakest, not actively harming people, but if ordinary people encountered them, they would still die!
In fact, the number of ordinary people dying from Resentful Spirits each year in Jiuzhou was the highest among all levels of malevolent entities, because there were too many Resentful Spirits. Especially with each outbreak of Yin energy, the world's Yin energy concentration increased, making the birth of Resentful Spirits more likely.
On the Underworld App, even powerful Metahumans predicted that with the current situation, after a few more rounds of Yin energy outbreaks, those who died naturally would all turn into Resentful Spirits!
Malicious Ghosts were a step above, actively harming people, like the Knocking Ghost from before, which clearly died in Building Four but came to Building One to kill.
Without special powers, Malicious Ghosts were almost impossible to kill; guns and bombs were ineffective.
At the Malicious Ghost level, Metahumans were needed to handle them, otherwise, they would continue killing, growing stronger, and after killing enough people, becoming Fierce Ghosts would be a major problem. At this level, even Metahumans would avoid them.
Only some experts could handle them!
"After going back, I'll find a low-risk event to quickly gather a thousand Ghost Qi." Jiang Chen felt a sense of urgency.
He used to think the Knocking Ghost was terrifying enough, but it turned out to be just a low-level malevolent entity.
The world's danger level far exceeded his imagination!
"Is it resolved?" Chen Xue's voice came from behind.
"Yeah." Jiang Chen nodded. "Can we leave now?"
After all, the commotion and destruction earlier were significant.
"We can just leave. When you reported to the Underworld App, the cleanup crew was probably already on their way. Recently, with the Yin energy outbreak, the Netherworld is short-staffed, but it's only Metahumans and Netherworld Agents they're short of; ordinary personnel are still plentiful." Chen Xue smiled, looking at Jiang Chen with friendly eyes.
Being able to handle a Peak Malicious Ghost, she understood that even among the younger generation in Jiangbei City's Metahuman World, Jiang Chen would have a place.
"Want a ride?" As they exited the community gate, Chen Xue didn't see any other cars, so she offered.
She pulled the keys from the back pocket of her jeans, pressing them twice, and the taillights of a red Porsche 918 parked by the roadside lit up.
Jiang Chen's lips twitched when he saw the car logo.
A new model, a multimillion-dollar luxury car.
This girl is a rich lady?
Noticing his gaze, Chen Xue smiled shyly. "Our Metahuman families may not be well-known, but our heritage far surpasses those city-famous entrepreneurs."
"Of course, even in a family, not every junior gets this much wealth. This car is basically what I earned myself. You know, Underworld points are quite valuable. If you're interested, my Chen family is also buying, at ten thousand per point."
Goodness.
Jiang Chen glanced at his phone. The Underworld App's judgment on the Mirror Ghost took a while, and now the notification had come through. A Peak Malicious Ghost was worth 150 points, which was over a million!
But he wasn't overly excited. After all, having been baptized by Sister Hong's property deed, he wasn't... ahem, not too desperate for money now.
"Alright." Jiang Chen eventually got into the rich lady's luxury car.
It wasn't that he didn't want to work hard anymore, he just wanted to learn more about the Metahuman World along the way.