"To be honest with you, Little Chen, I now know there are ghosts in this world. Having a skilled Ghost Exorcist like you living across the hall makes me sleep much better at night."
"If I weren't afraid you'd mind, I'd move in with you directly~" As she said this, a blush rose on Sister Hong's face, resembling a ripe peach.
"So you must accept this apartment..."
This time, Jiang Chen didn't refuse. After all, the rent here wasn't cheap, over five thousand a month, which was quite an expense for him at the moment.
"Great, you keep eating, I'll tidy up for you. I'll take your clothes to wash and bring them back tonight!" Having given away the apartment, Sister Hong was elated, looking like a girl in her twenties.
...
At nine o'clock, at the entrance of Jiangbei University of Finance and Economics, youthful figures were everywhere. It was summer, and the long, white legs were enticing, making the male students' eyes wander.
Walking among them, Jiang Chen felt as if he had returned to his youth, even though he had died at the age of twenty-six in his previous life.
"It's a pity Old Zhang isn't here, or his eyes would have popped out."
Old Zhang was the old man who adopted Jiang Chen. He was quite a character, always taking Jiang Chen to peek at widows bathing or sneaking backstage at the town theater to watch actresses change.
Every time they got caught, he was the first to run, leaving the seven or eight-year-old Jiang Chen to take the blame.
After entering the gate and walking for over ten minutes, he arrived at the School of Economics and Management building.
Room 415 on the fourth floor, roll call on Monday.
As Jiang Chen entered, he saw a classroom full of lively young men and women. He found a seat in the back row, poured himself a cup of water from his thermos, and opened the news on his phone: the Tianfu Road murder case.
"One of the deceased was a passerby, dumped in the flowerbed after being killed. Two others were residents of an old neighborhood by the road, one dumped at the stairwell, another found in their own home."
"Rather than saying they were dumped, it seems there was no intention to handle the crime scene at all. Such behavior is too bizarre, not like a normal criminal."
Criminals aren't stupid. If they don't want to get caught, they'd at least try to cover up after a murder.
"There are only two possibilities: a mentally ill person, or... those things."
"Moreover, all the victims were disfigured, as if the killer had some kind of obsession. The Knocking Ghost is also obsessed with opening doors to kill, even though she could easily climb twelve floors by hand..."
Jiang Chen analyzed bit by bit, feeling that this was likely a supernatural event.
As he was thinking, a commotion suddenly erupted at the door, and a few students from the same department started shouting towards the back.
"Jiang Chen! Jiang Chen, someone's looking for you."
"It's Lin Youwei! When did you get to know the goddess Lin?"
"And there's the goddess Yang too. Unbelievable, Jiang Chen is so ordinary, yet he has two goddesses looking for him! Envy! Jealousy! Hatred!"
"Come out quickly!"
A group of male students was very excited.
The people in the classroom also craned their necks, straining to see the door.
Jiang Chen was taken aback, looked up, and saw two women with distinctly different temperaments standing among the crowd at the door.
One was wearing a slightly tight white blouse and a long skirt, exuding a gentle aura, but her polite smile carried a sense of distance, indicating her extraordinary background.
The other was dressed in sportswear, her delicate face cold as ice, also at the goddess level.
"Lin Youwei?" Jiang Chen recognized the former. They had been elementary school classmates, but she moved away with her family in the fifth grade. He hadn't expected to meet her again in college.
They had run into each other in the library, both finding the other familiar, and after a few words, realized they had lived in the same town and were classmates.
But after that encounter, they hadn't had any further interaction.
He got up and went out, approaching the two women. Having lived two lives, he wasn't overly excited in the face of such beauties, and calmly asked, "Lin Youwei, what's up?"
She glanced at the surrounding crowd, smiled, and pointed to the hallway outside. "Let's talk over there?"
Jiang Chen nodded, and they walked aside.
The girl in sportswear, Yang Chan, furrowed her brows slightly.
"Jiang Chen, this is for you." Lin Youwei handed him a triangular yellow talisman wrapped in paper. "My mom got this from a Taoist Temple last time. It wards off evil and protects you. Keep it on you and try not to take it off."
"Also..." She hesitated for a moment. "Things have been unstable outside lately, with many murder cases happening. Try to stay home, especially at night."
Then, without giving Jiang Chen a chance to speak, Lin Youwei smiled politely and left with Yang Chan.
After walking a distance, Yang Chan's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "Weiwei, some things ordinary people cannot know. What you did violates the iron laws set by the Daoist Alliance and the Netherworld!"
"I didn't say much, just gave him a talisman."
"That's good, but let me remind you, he's just an ordinary person. Between you two, it's like heaven and earth. Even without mentioning your Metahuman World identity, just your family background alone is something he could never reach, no matter how hard he tries." Yang Chan said.
Hearing this, Lin Youwei was silent for a moment, then playfully slapped Yang Chan. "What nonsense are you talking about? I just see him as a friend, nothing more!"
"Heh, would you give an ordinary friend a talisman of such quality? This thing could sell for two million on the Black Market, and it's still priceless." Yang Chan sneered.
"Remember what I told you, back when my father was down and out, he returned to our hometown to seek refuge. Jiang Chen and I were classmates, and once he got injured saving me from human traffickers."
"A life-saving favor, what's a talisman compared to that? Besides, there was another surge of Yin energy recently, and I'm afraid he'll run into those things." Lin Youwei said.
"You know, he's just an ordinary person who would lose his life if he encountered a ghost. You two are from completely different worlds." Yang Chan became serious, looking at her best friend.
"Weiwei, I'm warning you, don't mistake gratitude for love. You're in your prime, with great talent, and many outstanding figures in the Metahuman World pursue you."
"An ordinary person, no matter how hard he tries, could never match up to you!"
Lin Youwei didn't respond, her eyes reflecting complexity.
What she didn't tell her best friend was that she could naturally distinguish between gratitude and affection, but the shadow of that boy from her youth had long been etched into her heart.
"Sigh..."