Early the next morning, at the gate of Jiangbei University of Finance and Economics, the air was filled with the lively chatter of young men and women, their faces glowing with the vitality and vigor of youth.
Jiang Chen walked among them, breathing in the fresh summer morning air to his heart's content. Every supernatural incident forced him to dance on the edge of life and death. Despite the extraordinary boldness he'd shown, the two incidents had still left a faint shadow of gloom in his heart. Only in a scene brimming with such vitality could his mind truly relax.
While browsing the supernatural forum on the Underworld App the previous night, Jiang Chen had come across others mentioning this exact issue: Supernaturals, who dealt with ghosts, witnessed unimaginable bloodshed, and often saw the darkest side of human nature, were prone to mental breakdowns over time. There were quite a few supernaturals who'd gone insane.
That was why, after handling a supernatural incident, some supernaturals would party wildly in bars for days on end, some would meditate in a monastery for a long time, and some would even finish an entire book of Three Years of College Entrance Exam Practice, Five Years of Simulations… Their ways of venting were bizarre and often time-consuming.
Perhaps due to having lived two lives, Jiang Chen found that compared to others, the psychological trauma he suffered after facing ghosts was minimal. A walk around the university campus was enough to dispel most of the gloom in his heart—and he even found himself looking forward to how much Ghost Qi the next ghost would bring him.
After wandering for a while, he headed toward the teaching building of the School of Economics. His second big lecture was about to start, and there were quite a few people on the road.
Beep! Beep!
Two sharp honks sounded from behind, startling many people. A group of students turned around, their faces angry—but when they saw it was a Ferrari, some of their expressions changed. They held back the curses on the tip of their tongues and silently stepped aside to make way.
In the car, Zheng Shaoming rested one hand on the steering wheel and leaned lazily against the door of the convertible. A cigarette was clamped between his left fingers, and he let the ash drift away with the wind. He didn't even glance at the students on the road; the front of the car almost pressed against a few people as it inched forward.
Yet instead of drawing complaints, Zheng Shaoming's arrogant behavior elicited excited screams from many girls in the crowd:
"Wow! Is that Zheng Shaoming from the School of Economics? He's so domineering—I love it!""He's the heir to the Zheng Group! He'll definitely be a tycoon someday. So charismatic!""I'd be willing to date him even if he dumped me later…""Who wouldn't? Even being dumped by Young Master Zheng is like getting a 'gold-plated' stamp of approval!""…"
Hearing these remarks, Jiang Chen, who was walking by the roadside, shook his head with a chuckle. Materialism existed in every world, but he'd never seen such unapologetic, flexible greed as these girls displayed.
At that moment, Zheng Shaoming also noticed Jiang Chen by the side of the road. He was savoring the adoration of the girls around him and the jealous, angry yet powerless glances of the boys—so his face darkened slightly when he spotted Jiang Chen.
Seeing Zheng Shaoming's foul mood, every student he looked at unconsciously quickened their pace, eager to get away from there as soon as possible.
Jiang Chen, however, continued walking slowly. When he noticed Zheng Shaoming's gaze, he even took the initiative to wave and greet him: "Yo, Young Master Zheng! Driving yourself today? Didn't your mom drop you off at school? Aren't you afraid of getting lost?"
Zheng Shaoming took a deep breath. He couldn't believe how reckless this guy was—he'd already crossed Zheng Shaoming, and now he dared to pick a fight on purpose.
"Jiang Chen, you've got guts," Zheng Shaoming said after his expression had fluctuated several times. With that, he drove away.
The surrounding students were all shocked. They could clearly tell that Zheng Shaoming had suffered a silent loss but couldn't lash out. As fellow students of Jiangbei University of Finance and Economics, they'd all heard of the handful of super-rich second-generation heirs on campus. Zheng Shaoming had always had a reputation for being difficult to deal with—so how had he been talked down to by a nobody who walked to school?
Many people couldn't help but glance at Jiang Chen more. They realized they had no impression of him at all; he must not be a low-key heir from some wealthy family. Only the students from the School of Economics recognized him as a classmate with a very low profile—one who had also clashed with Zheng Shaoming during roll call the previous day.
"He's doomed! He's made a lifelong enemy now. He'll probably end up worse than Huang Tao and Zhang Yiyuan!""Sigh, this guy is too stubborn. Why bother picking a fight with Zheng Shaoming?""He probably doesn't know what happened to Huang Tao. Wait until he gets expelled and his parents lose their jobs—then he'll regret it!""Zheng Shaoming is way too arrogant!""What can we do? Why not just apologize and back down? Being stubborn like this will only lead to his family's ruin. Then he'll realize how stupid he was today!""…"
As a few people whispered among themselves, Jiang Chen suddenly turned around and smiled at them. The group instantly paled, breaking out in a cold sweat. The moment Jiang Chen's eyes landed on them, they felt as if they'd been targeted by a cold-blooded beast—one that could bite their necks and kill them on the spot at any moment!
By the time the students came to their senses, Jiang Chen had already turned and left. They exchanged glances, seeing the fear in each other's eyes, and quickly lowered their heads, daring not to say another word. At the same time, a faint realization dawned on them: No wonder Jiang Chen dared to provoke Zheng Shaoming. Zheng Shaoming was a wealthy heir, but this seemingly ordinary classmate was by no means simple.
Jiang Chen paid no more attention to the group of kids. He wouldn't have even glanced at them if they hadn't gone too far with their remarks.
"Speaking of which, with the residual power from the two Demon Transformations, I could probably take on a Resentment-level ghost even without using a Demon Transformation Card now!" He could feel that what he'd retained permanently included not only his enhanced physique and demonic energy but also the fierce aura unique to monsters. A single glance from him might now be enough to intimidate weak Resentments!
"I can test this out when I get to the hospital tonight," Jiang Chen muttered as he walked into the teaching building.
The morning classes passed quickly, and Jiang Chen barely listened—instead, he sat in the back row browsing the Underworld App. By the end of the class, he had a deeper understanding of the Forbidden Zones for the Living. Jiuzhou's Forbidden Zone was classified as SSS-2, codenamed "Fengdu"—the most terrifying forbidden zone within the country's borders known to the world.
The SSS-1 Forbidden Zone, codenamed "Dreamland," was located in the middle of the ocean; every time it fell into chaos, countries around the world had to join forces to suppress it. The SSS-2 Forbidden Zone "Fengdu" had a chaos cycle of ten years, but it had only been a little over eight years since its last chaos—and yet Yin energy had already begun to surge at its edges.
It was common knowledge that every Yin energy outbreak was a precursor to a forbidden zone's chaos. Within three months to half a year after an outbreak, the forbidden zone would definitely descend into chaos!
"So Jiuzhou has been this unstable over the past two years," Jiang Chen sighed. He saw that not only the true Forbidden Zones for the Living were having problems, but even some "pseudo-forbidden zones" classified as SS had undergone unusual changes.
For example, two years ago, the pseudo-forbidden zone SS-08 "Bloody City" within Jiuzhou's borders had fallen into chaos ahead of schedule. The Underworld and the Dao Alliance had not been prepared, resulting in heavy losses. In the end, they had to invite six reclusive S-rank "King Realm" experts to forcefully suppress it.
"Forget it—this isn't something I should worry about right now…" Jiang Chen put away his phone and went out to eat.