Am I Beautiful?

After roll call ended, Sun Zhibing adjusted his glasses. "Oh, I have some good news for everyone. The university is holding summer social outings for each school. The other schools are pooling their own money and finding their own venues."

"Mr. Zheng Tiance, Zheng Shaoming's father, has sponsored our school for a two-day trip to the Zheng Group's luxury Mountain Villa. Everything is free!"

Everyone grew excited at the news.

"Meet on the sports field after lunch the day after tomorrow. The school has chartered buses to take everyone there together."

"To wrap up roll call, I suggest we all give Shaoming a round of applause to thank him!" Sun Zhibing gave Zheng Shaoming an eager smile, only to find that he looked rather unhappy and did not even glance his way.

In the back row, Jiang Chen paused, vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

Someone at Zheng Tiance's level should know at least a little about things ordinary people aren't aware of. He knows things have been dangerous lately, yet he's volunteering to sponsor a large event like this...

After a moment's thought, he gathered his demonic power. His eyes warmed slightly as he looked toward Zheng Shaoming.

The next instant, Jiang Chen's gaze shifted. He saw two black handprints on Zheng Shaoming's shoulders, as though something had grabbed him.

Something's wrong... He frowned in thought, then shook his head.

He had only just had a conflict with Zheng Shaoming. If he tried to persuade everyone not to go now, he would inevitably look petty.

Forget it. I'll just go along and take a look when the time comes. In the end, Jiang Chen did not interfere. He was no saint; increasing his own strength was what mattered most right now.

After roll call, he spent the morning relaxing in his shop, browsing recent murder reports on the computer.

The milk tea shop Zheng Shaoming had mentioned actually belonged to Jiang Chen. He was, after all, a transmigrator. Although he had not achieved anything earth-shattering, he had used the seed money Old Zhang left him to open several small shops on campus. His net worth was now around a million, and he had a steady income.

Otherwise, he would never have dared rent a place for five thousand a month.

Of course, all his hard work over the years could not compare to the apartment Sister Hong had given him.

He attended two classes in the afternoon.

After dinner, a little past seven, Jiang Chen took a taxi to Tianfu Road.

It was already dark when he arrived. An old residential complex stood nearby, with lights on in only a handful of homes.

Jiang Chen glanced at his panel before getting out of the taxi with renewed confidence.

[Host]: Jiang Chen

[Ghost Qi]: 9

[Monster Transformation Cards]: Red Python Demon (one star), Chaos-Dwelling Demon King (one star)

He entered Building One and knocked on the door of Apartment 101.

"Who is it?" an elderly man's voice called from inside. He did not open the door.

"Sir, do you know which apartment Zhang Meimei lives in?" Jiang Chen asked.

That morning, he had searched the forums for the disfigurement case and found plenty of people discussing it. One person claimed to live in the Tianfu Road residential complex and revealed that a woman had died there before the disfigurement incidents began.

However, that person had only given the woman's name and how she had died.

Zhang Meimei. Her corpse had been disfigured.

At the name, the old man behind the door fell silent for a while before saying, "I don't know. Never heard of her. You should leave. Things haven't been safe around here lately. Be careful nothing happens to you."

With that, his footsteps receded. He had simply walked away.

He denied it twice in a row. He's covering up his panic. He definitely knows that name, but he seems afraid to say much about it. Standing outside the door, Jiang Chen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Even if she's a neighbor who died, there's no reason to avoid the subject this much, is there?

I'll ask someone else.

Jiang Chen knocked on two more doors. The moment the residents heard Zhang Meimei's name, they reacted as though they had heard something forbidden. Their expressions changed drastically, and they shut their doors, refusing to say another word.

I must be in the right place. Maybe Zhang Meimei lived in this building. Something must have happened after she died to make the neighbors so afraid to talk about her.

He looked up into the pitch-black stairwell. Although it was the height of summer, the building was cold, and a smell similar to that of a hospital hung in the air.

This complex is so old I haven't even seen a security guard. There probably isn't a property management company doing regular disinfection.

So where is that disinfectant smell coming from?

Puzzled, Jiang Chen continued upstairs. On the fourth floor, he saw that one apartment's inner door was open. Behind an old-fashioned iron security gate, a little girl was eating from a bowl of rice.

"Little girl, why are you eating while looking out into the stairwell?" Jiang Chen approached and asked with a gentle smile.

The girl glared at him. "Mister, you scared my friend away!"

"Friend?" Jiang Chen looked around in confusion. There was no one in the stairwell.

"Yes! He was eating here just now, but you scared him away when you came upstairs." The girl had barely finished speaking when a woman called sharply from inside.

"Yaoyao! Who are you talking to?"

A woman wearing an apron came out and glanced at Jiang Chen. Seeing an unfamiliar face, she frowned. "What are you doing in our building this late at night?"

"Ma'am, I'm looking for someone. Do you know Zhang Meimei?"

At the name, the woman's expression shifted. She waved him away as though shooing a fly. "No. Hurry up and leave!"

She was about to close the door, but then sighed and warned him, "Take my advice and get out of here now. Things have been very dangerous in this complex lately. When you go downstairs, if you hear someone ask, 'Am I beautiful?' don't stop for anything. Just run."

Jiang Chen's gaze sharpened. "Why?"

"Because if you tell her she isn't beautiful, that woman will go berserk and hack you to death!" the woman said harshly.

"What if I tell her she's beautiful?"

"Heh. Do you think forcing yourself to call a disfigured person beautiful will earn you her goodwill?" The woman gave a strange smile. "No. You'll only make her feel even more inferior. Then she'll make you look just like her!"

Bang!

With that, the woman pulled her daughter away and slammed the door.

"Thanks, ma'am." Jiang Chen nodded, then turned to look at the cosmetic surgery advertisements pasted on the stairwell wall. He already had a theory about this murder case.

He continued upstairs. On the fifth floor, Jiang Chen saw an apartment door standing ajar, with a faint smell of blood drifting from inside.

Did something happen?

He walked over and pushed the door. It felt a little heavy, so he pushed harder.

Thud!

A corpse toppled to the floor.

It seemed someone had propped it behind the door so that anyone opening it would be greeted by this horrifying sight.

Jiang Chen was not particularly frightened. He crouched to examine the body and found that it belonged to a man. There were no wounds anywhere on him except his face, which had been hacked into a bloody mess.

"He was killed by repeated blows to his face. He must have struggled in terrible pain before he died."

As Jiang Chen murmured to himself, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded on the stairs. A moment later, a woman rushed down. She wore tight jeans and a white blouse. Her face was fair and delicate, her looks every bit a match for Lin Youwei's.

At that moment, however, panic filled her face. Her blouse was torn at the shoulder, exposing a bloody gash that gave off faint black resentment.

"A living person?" The woman frowned when she saw Jiang Chen. She ran over, pulled him out of Apartment 502, then slammed its door shut.

"If you want to live, don't say a word!"

The woman opened the wooden door between the two apartments. It led to the water valve room, a tiny space generally only visited to check the water meters.

"Get in!" She was surprisingly strong. She pulled Jiang Chen inside, shut the wooden door, then took a yellow paper talisman from the back pocket of her jeans. Murmuring a few words, she stuck it to the door.

"Shangqing's protection, Profound Cave Concealment!"

Jiang Chen saw a faint layer of yellow light radiate from the Talismans, seemingly sealing this space off from the outside world.

"You..."

"Shut up!" The woman clapped a hand over his mouth. "This talisman can only conceal the vital energy of living people. If you don't want to die, don't speak!"

The moment she finished, a woman's crazed laughter suddenly rang out in the stairwell.

"Hahaha! Am I beautiful?"

"Don't run! I just want to know whether the way I look now is beautiful!"

Tap, tap!

From the sound of it, someone was charging down from the sixth floor.