"Blech—"
After spitting, Jiang Qiao stepped on the Vicious Ghost's bald head and lit a cigarette.
He had originally thought this Vicious Ghost should be pretty powerful.
After all, it had reached the Second Tier.
Besides, its entire body was covered in scars. At a glance, it clearly looked like it had weathered the storms of society.
Who would have thought it would go down with one punch?
What the hell.
At first, he had thought the fellow was pretending to be dead and planning to ambush him like Voldemort.
But after a few punches, he had directly beaten it into an alien species.
Only then did he realize that it was genuinely useless.
He shook his head.
Soon, the Vicious Ghost transformed into wisps of Ghost Qi and was absorbed into Jiang Qiao's body.
He felt that the Supernatural Chef was only one step away from the Second Tier!
"Keep it up!"
Full of vigor, Jiang Qiao launched a kick and sent another door flying open.
He swaggered inside.
The first thing that caught his eye was a huge wooden bed.
The bed was large enough for five or six people to sleep on, with enough room to do the splits and roll around.
A black quilt lay spread over it, embroidered with white Double Happiness characters. At a glance, it clearly wasn't something from a respectable household.
Apart from that, the entire room was permeated by a faint Bloody Scent.
"Little darling, let me see where you are."
Jiang Qiao first went to the bedside. His large hand, covered in bluish markings, seized a corner of the quilt and abruptly flipped it up.
There was no ghost at all.
Under the quilt was only a woman's undergarment.
He picked it up and sniffed it. It carried a faint jasmine fragrance, so it wasn't the source of the Bloody Scent.
But the garment was thin and sheer. Jiang Qiao felt it was indecent.
So he took out a lighter and set it ablaze.
Looking at the flames rising from his hand and the ashes that remained, he revealed an honest smile.
Female ghost, don't even think about harming anyone!
After clapping his hands, Boss Jiang began rummaging through the room.
"Where did you hide?"
His hand suddenly gripped the underside of the bed frame, and he exerted his strength.
"Clang!"
He directly lifted the entire bed.
There was no bound corpse beneath the bedboard, either.
"Not under the bed, either."
After setting the bed down, Jiang Qiao began playing an escape-room game.
Every so often, there was a bang as some cabinets failed to withstand the pressure and collapsed all over the floor.
"Could the Vicious Ghost not be in the room?"
After searching everywhere without result, he couldn't help frowning.
"Click."
Suddenly, a faint noise caught his attention.
Following the sound, he discovered that a small mirror had somehow appeared by the doorway.
"Huh?"
Jiang Qiao was somewhat surprised.
There definitely hadn't been anything like this by the door just now.
He walked over and picked it up, discovering that the front of the mirror had already shattered into countless pieces, covered in spiderweb-like cracks.
At first glance, it seemed quite ordinary.
But he soon noticed something wrong.
When he pointed the mirror at the bed, the reflection inside it changed.
On the large bed behind him, a naked woman suddenly appeared.
The woman was covering her face, seemingly crying.
Jiang Qiao turned around and looked. There was nothing on the bed.
"Could it only be visible in the mirror?"
He waved the mirror around, pointing it at the various parts of the room. No other scenery appeared on the cracked surface.
Only when he pointed it at the bed did a different scene appear.
Holding the mirror, he went to the bedside.
"Miss, you're crying so sadly. Did you lose your Household Registration Book?"
Jiang Qiao asked with a beaming smile.
The woman sitting on the bed seemed to hear his voice and actually raised her head.
That single movement gave Jiang Qiao a fright!
Holy crap!
The woman's face was covered in crisscrossing wounds, as though someone had slashed her with a knife.
Some of the wounds had already healed, while others were still oozing blood.
"Wuwuwu, my husband doesn't care about me anymore."
In a daze, Jiang Qiao heard the woman's voice beside his ear.
He instinctively reached out and touched the spot where the woman was, but felt nothing.
Even in the mirror, the reflection of his hand didn't appear.
"Interesting."
At this sight, Jiang Qiao was momentarily stunned, then wore a thoughtful expression.
"Miss, why doesn't he care about you?"
"He said I was cheating on him outside. Wuwuwu—"
The woman's sobs grew clearer and clearer. Jiang Qiao felt an eerie aura seep out of the mirror and coil around his body.
He began forming some kind of connection with the female ghost in the mirror.
"So, did you actually cheat on him?" he asked again, his expression unreadable.
"I did."
The female ghost suddenly calmed down. An eerie smile spread across her ferocious face.
"The person I cheated with... wasn't it you?"
The next moment, Jiang Qiao felt a slight dizziness, but it quickly vanished.
A hand actually reached out from the mirror, trying to drag him inside.
Unfortunately, it couldn't budge him at all.
The female ghost revealed a trace of bewilderment.
"Miss, I can't be controlled."
The next moment, Jiang Qiao grabbed that hand. Lightning flashed, and electricity traveled along the hand into the mirror.
The female ghost didn't even have time to scream.
With a dazed look on her face, she directly turned to ash.
The mirror, already split into countless cracks, let out a click and shattered into a pile of fragments.
"This female ghost really is interesting."
Jiang Qiao nodded.
She actually wasn't in reality, but in the Mirror World.
This reminded Jiang Qiao of some Ghost Stories he had read before.
Some unlucky people played games with their reflections in a mirror, only for the shadows to come alive and switch places with them.
From then on, the shadow lived in reality in place of the unlucky person.
Meanwhile, the unlucky person himself was locked inside the mirror, forever unable to escape.
This female ghost probably had a similar ability.
Jiang Qiao once again experienced the sheer variety of Vicious Ghosts.
Behind every Vicious Ghost that the Simulator skimmed over, who knew how many human Lost Souls' cries of anguish lay hidden.
"Ah."
He sighed.
"Strength. I must have absolute strength before I can establish myself in this supernatural apocalypse."
He continued using the same method, violently kicking open every door.
Unfortunately, he found no trace of any Vicious Ghost in the remaining rooms.
Even after setting the room on fire, he failed to burn out anything suspicious.
Somewhat regretfully, he walked down the stairs.
The first-floor lobby.
The old woman at the inn's front desk had already disappeared. He didn't know whether she had gone off work.
Jiang Qiao rummaged around behind the counter and found some brightly colored bills. They looked like underworld currency, but were also somewhat different from it.
That was because the denominations printed on them were actually: one year, two years, five years, and ten years.
Good grief.
Jiang Qiao understood at once.
The room fee at this inn was actually human lifespans!
When he had rented a room earlier, the Old Woman had said the fee for one night was ten yuan.
She had probably meant ten years!
Damn, what a rotten black-market inn!
For such a shabby inn to charge so much!
It had to be fined!
Cursing under his breath, Jiang Qiao casually stuffed the money into his pocket.
Besides that, he also took down the oil lamp hanging on the wall.
This thing wasn't particularly useful, though. It was only good for lighting the way.
He might as well treat it as a bonus with the underworld currency.
Carrying the oil lamp, he swaggered out of the inn.
Outside was pitch-black, and a layer of thin mist had risen, obscuring everything.
However, when the mist encountered the oil lamp's light, it was immediately driven away.
Jiang Qiao smiled.
Not bad. Though he didn't need it while his Dual Pupils were active.
He followed the path forward, planning to wander around and see whether there were any other Vicious Ghosts.
As he walked, Jiang Qiao suddenly stopped.
He heard a strange sound coming from the distance.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The sound was rhythmic, like someone striking a clapper.
A Night Watchman?
Curiosity appeared on Jiang Qiao's face as he walked toward the sound.
Before you continue