Welcome to... the Spirit World

Because of the notorious burglary-and-ghost incident, Villa No. 9 held a certain mysterious aura within a small circle, and people privately speculated about what kind of person the owner was.

Their professional security team had been stationed there after the burglary. They were naturally well aware of that incident.

There was absolutely no issue with theft at the villas on Daozi Lane.

Any thief who dared to come to this place to steal would be blind and incredibly unlucky, facing eight lifetimes of bad fortune.

The two unlucky fools from before had their entire criminal records dug up, and they would likely spend most of their lives in prison.

Since there was no need to worry about theft, even though the young man seemed suspicious, they let him in. He wouldn't be able to cause any major trouble.

If he was a thief, it was his own bad luck.

What if he was telling the truth?

What if he was actually related to the owner of Villa No. 9?

If he was indeed a junior of the owner, they had shown proper courtesy, which would make future interactions easier, wouldn't it?

If not for the signs guiding him, Jiang Yue would have had a lot of trouble finding Villa No. 9.

Even so, it took him over fifteen minutes.

He walked up a winding flight of twenty to thirty steps, arriving at a lawn in front of the entrance. A walking path was carved through the middle of the lawn, paved with ancient-looking tiles, leading all the way to Villa No. 9 at the end.

The front yard of the villa was a large garden. To the right at the end of the garden was a private swimming pool, and there were two garages behind the house.

The entire villa, including the garden, pool, and lawn, covered nearly three mu of land.

The most brilliant aspect was the generous spacing between the buildings. Through clever spatial design, the buildings maintained excellent privacy, creating a sense of luxury as if one family enjoyed its own private landscape.

Seeing it in person, this villa complex looked even better than his sister had described.

Upon reaching the entrance, Jiang Yue faced a very practical problem: no key!

The lock was a fingerprint scanner.

He had never been here before, and trying all ten fingers yielded no results.

As he hesitated, the rune pattern on his palm began to subtly glow.

The shape of this rune miraculously overlapped with the pattern carved on the security door.

A mysterious intuition prompted Jiang Yue to raise his palm and press it firmly onto the pattern.

Click, click...

Mechanical sounds came from the lock, crisp and decisive.

Then, the door slowly opened automatically.

Jiang Yue was secretly astonished, never imagining that this magical rune was a key.

"What does this mean? If the rune is now deeply embedded within me, does it mean I am the owner of this villa from now on?"

Although Jiang Yue generally didn't believe in things falling from the sky.

However, if a villa were to appear out of nowhere, should he take it? Or should he take it?

Given Jiang Yue's looks, if he were to truly say, "I don't want to work hard anymore," wealthy women would surely rush to shower him with villas and luxury cars.

Jiang Yue felt he was still at an age where he could rely on others.

Taking a deep breath and preparing himself mentally, Jiang Yue pushed the door open and entered.

There were no legendary bats, nor any legendary cackling sounds.

He turned on the lights and scanned the interior from the entrance.

The villa was decorated in an antique Chinese style. At first glance, there was nothing unusual.

Logically, a house that hadn't been lived in for a long time should have a strong musty smell.

However, there wasn't.

Although the entire house felt a bit desolate and lacked a lived-in atmosphere due to being unoccupied for a long time, the air inside was fresh.

From the perspective of Yin-Yang principles, the air circulation was unobstructed.

The earth's energy, the door's energy, and the life force were all abundant.

Coupled with the villa's location, orientation, and surrounding environment, it was undeniably an auspicious residence.

It had absolutely nothing in common with the legendary haunted houses.

Jiang Yue remained calm, standing at the entrance for a long time, observing. Only after ruling out any abnormalities did he leisurely stroll in.

It was evident that considerable thought had gone into the renovation. Every table, chair, book, and painting was chosen with care.

The antique-style flooring with interspersed ink-wash patterns complemented the rustic solid wood furniture, enhancing the ancient charm.

The double-height living room, with its screens, latticework, and display shelves, created a highly layered space, adding to its artistic appeal.

"Welcome to the world of Spirit..."

Just as Jiang Yue was feeling pleased with his artistic appreciation, a lazy voice suddenly came from the empty living room.

The first impression of this voice was like the attitude of a sleepy, grumpy clerk on a boring, drowsy afternoon, greeting an uninvited customer.

He had no intention of serving them, yet felt obligated by professional ethics to feign politeness.

It had to be admitted, Jiang Yue's first reaction was unusually fast.

Almost the moment the voice sounded, his body had already darted back to the entryway, reaching for the doorknob, intending to escape the room.

"It's useless, don't bother," came the same listless voice.

No matter how Jiang Yue manhandled the doorknob, it remained completely still.

Was this a kidnapping? A trap?

Jiang Yue instantly felt like a wild animal caught in a trap, panic inevitably setting in.

He couldn't help but start imagining all sorts of cruel and terrifying possibilities.

Scenes of brutality and gore from a certain movie series, Electric Shock Thriller, kept flooding his mind, impossible to block out.

When the situation is unclear, calmness is the first choice.

After a brief moment of panic, Jiang Yue slowly regained his composure.

His mental fortitude wasn't built on nothing; the family upheavals over the years had honed his mind, tempering him into someone who didn't panic when faced with adversity.

He was observing, trying to determine if it was a real person speaking or some electronic device.

At the same time, he was mentally strategizing how to probe, how to respond, how to escape...

"Being targeted by that bastard Spirit at a time like this, I don't know whether to congratulate you or pity you..."

"Ah well, I'll congratulate you, as per the usual custom."

"After all, that's how they fooled me when I first arrived."

Jiang Yue tried to pinpoint the source of the voice, but it was useless; he couldn't tell where it was coming from at all. He couldn't help but ask:

"Um... excuse me for interrupting, but who are 'they' you're talking about? And who are you?"

"Well, that's a long story. But to sum it up, it can be condensed into one sentence..."

"Whether it's them or me, we're all unlucky bastards just like you."

Unlucky bastards, a group of unlucky bastards?

Could it be the Non-Chief Club?

Jiang Yue swore that the five words had come to him without any conscious thought, a purely subconscious association.

"Long story short, that talisman, you definitely received it, right?"

"Yes, did you send it to me?" Jiang Yue could fabricate a hundred lies in a second, but in this second, he decided to tell the truth.

"What if I said it sent itself to you? Would you be scared?" The other party's lazy tone carried a hint of mischief.

Would I be scared?

If this were a week ago, the answer would likely have been yes.

But now?

Jiang Yue shook his head: "No."

"Oh? Oh..." The other party was stunned for a moment, then surprisingly, sounded a bit disappointed. It seemed they were slightly let down by their failure to scare the newbie, Jiang Yue.

"So... what exactly is this talisman?" Jiang Yue had passed the initial panic phase and had basically regained his ability to converse, though he still felt a tiny bit unsettled.

"It... it's really not a thing!" The other party's tone suddenly became agitated, and they couldn't help but curse.

Jiang Yue put his hand to his forehead, momentarily unable to make sense of it all.

There was immense resentment in those words.

Most importantly, the script felt wrong.

According to the conventions of movies or novels, shouldn't this be the moment he received a cheat or a golden finger?

Usually, shouldn't this kind of situation be heartwarming?

Even if there wasn't a kind old grandpa, shouldn't there at least be a system dad or something?

There was no reason for the process to be so convoluted and the ending so anticlimactic.

"You really don't believe me! Maybe years from now, you'll be cursing it with me." The voice sounded indignant, its resentment undiminished.

Whether he'd be cursing it with the voice years from now, Jiang Yue wasn't sure.

What he wanted to curse right now was the speaker.

Did they even go to school? Did they know how to get to the point? They'd been talking for ages, and still no useful information.

"Um... Senior, I don't know if it's appropriate to address you that way. Even if it's 'not a thing,' how exactly is it 'not a thing'?"

"It tricked me, wasted my youth, hurt my feelings, and then imprisoned me. Imprisoning me would have been bad enough, but it also..."

Listening to the other party's tone of utter despair, Jiang Yue felt that the ellipsis hid a profoundly tragic, heart-wrenching, and unspeakable past.

"But... now that you've been tricked into coming here, knowing that there's another unlucky soul in this world, why do I feel a little bit excited?"

Fine!

The sliver of sympathy and pity that had just surfaced was immediately suppressed by Jiang Yue.

As expected, the pitiable have their detestable aspects.

"Do you think I'm gloating?" the voice sighed faintly.

"Alas, if it were you, imprisoned for so many years, your psyche wouldn't be entirely sound either."

"You were imprisoned for many years?" Jiang Yue was curious.

"Not that many, just over two thousand years."

WTF?

Over two thousand years?

Jiang Yue didn't suspect his ears were malfunctioning. His first reaction was that the other party's mental state was unstable due to long-term imprisonment, leading to nonsensical ramblings.