Jiang Chen explained to Sister Hong, saying he was an exorcist who had dealt with the female ghost. He then reminded her that if anyone came to ask, she should say a passing expert had taken care of the ghost.
He still remembered that Sister Hong had called the police earlier.
There was no confirmed evidence of supernatural incidents in society right now, which meant the Jiuzhou authorities must have dedicated personnel handling such matters.
Jiang Chen wasn't ready to contact these departments yet—after all, no one knew what attitude they would have toward unaffiliated individuals like him who wielded supernatural powers.
Back in his room, he immediately drew two Demon Transformation Cards.
*Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have obtained a 1-Star Demon Transformation Card—Red Python Spirit!*
"The python spirit from Qijue Mountain…" Jiang Chen muttered. As a die-hard myth fan, he instantly judged the monster's strength: "It should be a cut above General Yin."
Many netizens liked to label the Red Python Spirit as the "bottom-tier fighter" in *Journey to the West*, claiming it had to eat several people every day just to maintain a human form.
But in reality, this understanding was slightly biased.
The Red Python maintained a complete human form, while General Yin and some lesser monsters from mountain strongholds could only transform into half-human shapes.
From this perspective, the Red Python wasn't actually that weak.
*Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have obtained a 1-Star Demon Transformation Card—Demon King of Chaos!*
The second card filled Jiang Chen with delight.
The Demon King of Chaos commanded quite a few lesser demons; in a way, it could be considered a small boss among low-tier fighters.
Notably, in TV adaptations, the Demon King of Chaos is often grouped with the "Seven Great Demon Sages," but this isn't accurate—it actually takes the place of Yu Rongwang, the "Great Sage Who Dispels Gods." In the original novel, the Demon King of Chaos was sliced in half by the Monkey King shortly after he returned from learning his magical arts.
Afterward, Jiang Chen felt the power in his body again.
"1-Star Demon Transformation Cards only grant demonic power and physique. I have a hunch that higher-tier cards might let me directly take on the terrifying physical forms of those monsters!"
He also thought back to the sense of oppression he'd felt when drawing the cards. If those monsters had appeared in their true forms, they could probably kill the Knocking Ghost with a single slap.
"I wonder how much Ghost Qi I need to unlock the next tier of Demon Transformation Cards."
Before long, the terrifying power in his body faded. Jiang Chen tested himself—even the remaining 10% of his enhanced physique was equivalent to the strength of seven or eight adult men.
However, the demonic power in his body had dwindled to a faint trace, and he hadn't permanently inherited the supernatural ability—after all, the chance was only 1%.
"If I ran into the Knocking Ghost now, I'd probably be doomed. It's a shame Demon Transformation only lasts 30 minutes."
"At least I have two more Demon Transformation Cards as backup. But I wonder how many ghosts there are in this world… and if there are even more terrifying ones than the Knocking Ghost?"
A faint sense of urgency welled up in Jiang Chen's heart. When he'd gone upstairs earlier, he'd seen the doors of three apartments—on the 5th and 9th floors—left open, with torn corpses inside. They must have all been killed by the Knocking Ghost.
If he hadn't awakened the system, he would have become one of those corpses tonight.
"This world isn't as peaceful as it seems. I can't just wait for ghosts to find me—who knows what terrifying things I might run into then."
"I need to seek out less dangerous supernatural incidents to gain more Ghost Qi. As long as I become strong enough, ghosts won't be anything to fear!"
Jiang Chen muttered to himself, deciding on his next goal.
He also wanted to find opportunities to learn more about the hidden side of this world.
"Oh right, the city news section."
As if remembering something, he picked up his phone and searched for reports of recent murders.
In the end, Jiang Chen focused on the "Tianfu Road Disfigurement Case." Only three people had died in this incident so far, so the danger level shouldn't be too high.
"Tianfu Road is near my school. I'll go there tomorrow night after class."
Glancing at his phone, he saw it was just past 3 a.m. Jiang Chen went back to his bedroom to sleep. Halfway through, he heard a large group of people going upstairs—they seemed to enter Sister Hong's room, then leave again.
Powerful lights turned on downstairs, and people kept coming in and out of the building.
This must be the authorities handling the aftermath.
No one came to find him, which meant Sister Hong had followed his instructions.
It also suggested the authorities didn't have strong hostility toward unaffiliated supernatural ability users—after all, they could have tracked him down if they'd really wanted to.
…
The next morning, just after 8 a.m., there was a knock on the door.
When Jiang Chen opened it, he saw Sister Hong wearing a tight cyan dress, carrying several kinds of breakfast—beef pancakes, pan-fried buns, porridge, and steamed dumplings. Each dish looked exquisite, making his mouth water.
Gone was the disheveled state from last night. The dress accentuated her curvy figure and smooth, fair skin. Her narrow, fox-like eyes were especially alluring, brimming with feminine charm. If Jiang Chen hadn't learned it from casual chats before, he would never have believed she was over 30.
"Hehe, I didn't know what you like, so I made a little bit of everything," Sister Hong said as she walked in, placing the breakfast on the coffee table. She even started tidying up Jiang Chen's room casually. "From now on, don't eat out anymore—just tell me what you want, and I'll make it for you."
"Sister Hong, you don't have to be so polite," Jiang Chen said.
"Nonsense!" Sister Hong narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly, then seemed to remember something. She walked over with a beaming smile. "Oh right, I have something for you."
She pulled out a dark red booklet from under the breakfast tray.
At first, Jiang Chen hadn't paid attention to it, thinking it was just a cloth to line the tray. But now he saw the large characters printed on it clearly:
**[House Property Certificate]**
*Damn it!*
When he realized what it was, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
He knew Jiangbei City's status in Jiuzhou was equivalent to a first-tier city in his previous life. A house in this area would easily be worth three to five million yuan… and she was using a property certificate as a breakfast mat?
"This is just a small gift from me. Take it first—we can go through the ownership transfer later," Sister Hong said.
"No, this is too valuable!" Jiang Chen refused.
It wasn't that he was pretending to be noble—actually, he'd struggled to buy a house in a second-tier city in his previous life.
But in this life, for one thing, he'd already saved some money.
For another, Sister Hong was a single woman with no regular job; Jiang Chen guessed she lived entirely on rent from this house. He couldn't take away her livelihood just because he'd saved her life.
Seeing his refusal, Sister Hong sighed and went back to her own apartment.
A few minutes later, she returned carrying a box, slightly out of breath. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "I get it, Xiao Chen—you don't like the apartment you're living in now, do you?"
"It's okay. I own all the apartments from the 6th floor up to the 15th floor in this building. They're all here—you can choose any one you want!"
"If you really prefer a lower floor, I can ask someone to swap it for you too."
After hearing this, even the usually calm Jiang Chen's hand holding his chopsticks trembled violently. He almost choked on the steamed dumpling in his mouth.
He looked at Sister Hong, who was opening the box and struggling to take out more property certificates. Suddenly, her aura seemed to "soar" in an instant.
He even had an absurd thought: *Any second now, Sister Hong is going to ask me, "Young man, have you ever thought about giving up on working hard?"