This was a chilly and eerie two-story Japanese house.
The dim environment, the heavy, damp moldy smell, walls and ceilings covered in mildew stains, the creaking wooden floorboards—
In such an environment, it wouldn't be surprising if a vengeful spirit from a novel or movie really appeared out of nowhere.
"This should be about it," Bai Fan said, standing in the living room with his eyes scanning the surroundings.
At midnight, the world was completely silent, and any sound seemed especially abrupt at this time, especially in a dark, haunted little house, making any human noise an incredible thing.
A creak—
A sound came out, as if someone were holding onto the entrance handrail, bulging cold eyes, peeking at him.
Bai Fan looked toward the sound.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
A little girl in white ran past the entrance.
"In fact, a little girl running past isn't surprising."
Bai Fan thought so.
He had been in this grim courtyard for quite some time; it was about time someone came to greet him.
Bai Fan calmly turned his head.
Before him was a large, smooth, full-length mirror.
With the faint light of his phone, Bai Fan clearly saw the expression on his face in the mirror.
The Bai Fan in the mirror was grinning widely, his face pale, smiling broadly at himself.
This completely normal scene made Bai Fan feel a deep sense of dissonance.
Very strange—
Because he wasn't smiling at all.
In Bai Fan's gaze, the corners of his mouth in the mirror had already stretched to the base of his neck.
It had really stretched to the base of his neck, and his bright red lips appeared even more scarlet and eerie.
The Bai Fan in the mirror's entire mouth occupied his entire jaw.
Upon seeing this scene, even the always-calm Bai Fan showed a bit of surprise.
Looking at the reflection's open, bloody mouth aimed at his head, Bai Fan slowly raised the phone in his hand—
A click sounded.
He made a peace sign and took a selfie.
...
Bai Fan put his phone back in his pocket.
He glanced sideways.
The smooth mirror shattered, fragments covering the ground, and the wooden handrail leading to the second floor was torn off barehanded.
And the instigator of all this leisurely walked step by step out of the premises to the outside, not reflecting on the fact that he had trespassed in a private residence at all.
"System," Bai Fan called out in his mind.
After a while, a cold message came through.
"Specter in the Mirror, In-House Phantom recovered, two intermediate vengeful spirits, skill points gained: 3."
Then, a simple, glowing, ghostly green panel appeared in front of Bai Fan.
Looking at the panel's odd color, Bai Fan merely shrugged indifferently and then focused his gaze on its page.
Name: Bai Fan (Beichuan Si)
Overall Physical Value: 30
Dead Energy: 30/50.
Skills: Baji Fist (Intermediate Entry), Basic Dead Energy Utilization (Beginner Dabbler), Jiu-Jitsu (Intermediate Entry), Bare-Handed Combat (Advanced Mastery).
Trait: Your trait ensures you will always attract strange and supernatural phenomena.
Remaining Skill Points: 3.
Remaining Items: Spirit Talisman(4).
Bai Fan looked downward.
Beneath the ghostly green data panel, there was an enormous tree extending endlessly.
This was a skill tree with branches as numerous as the sea—
Anything that had ever existed or been conceptualized in human imagination could be seen on this sprawling skill tree.
Smelting, forging, sewing, building, brick kilning...
Ancient Japanese Swordsmanship, Competitive Swordsmanship, Western Swordsmanship...
Baji Fist, Five Animals Qigong, Tai Chi...
At the very top, there were even things like magic, spiritual power, true yuan, advanced life forms, source energy, and ghost energy, just to name a few prestigious-sounding components.
But Bai Fan knew, those were things that could be seen but not touched.
Not to mention how to increase proficiency after unlocking them, just the skill points required to unlock things like spiritual power and true yuan were a huge expense.
Bai Fan only managed to begin his mastery of dead energy through a mission with a mid-level advanced vengeful spirit, a nearly fatal encounter.
Had it not been for the fact that the vengeful spirit was in a weakened state, Bai Fan reckoned he would have been smashed to bits in no time.
"I should be heading back soon."
Bai Fan rubbed his hands, exhaled a puff of chilly air, and wrapped up in his down jacket as he briskly made his way to his home in Neon.
Just like a standard plot from a starting novel, Bai Fan was a transmigrant who crossed over half a month ago into this Japanese high school student named Beichuan Si. Before the crossing, he had been in his twenties and was reliving high school life, full of youthful and vibrant female students, enriching love comedies... Everything should have unfolded according to this storyline—
Yet it seemed that fate played a joke on Bai Fan. He had no memory at all regarding his predecessor, Beichuan Si, when he first crossed over.
Fortunately, when Bai Fan transmigrated, the school was on winter break, and the predecessor was staying at home, sparing him from the ridiculous scenario of having to ask others where his own home was.
After a few hours of initial confusion, Bai Fan, equipped with a medical student's calmness and an adult's mindset, quickly assessed his current situation and gathered quite a bit of useful information through his phone and the student ID at hand.
First, the predecessor was named Beichuan Si, a student at Kyubei Private High School. Judging from the sparse number of contacts on his predecessor's phone, it seemed the predecessor wasn't one who was skilled in socializing. But this was undoubtedly a good thing for Bai Fan. With no prior memories of the predecessor, and no acquaintances around, the risk of exposure was naturally nonexistent.
Secondly, there was the language barrier. Japanese communication skills seemed to still linger in this body, so Bai Fan didn't need to put any effort into learning a new language. This turned out to be a relief.
Bai Fan, or rather, now Beichuan Si, once he had sorted everything out, found the second major event soon followed.
The system.
No one knew where it came from or what it was.
As a student under the firm ideological banner of the red flag in the Heavenly Dynasty, Beichuan Si initially thought this was merely a figment of his imagination.
After all, as a standard 21st-century Heavenly Dynasty university student, who hadn't read a novel or two with themes like "I am the master of my fate"? Having psychological suggestions arise was quite normal.
However, upon awakening the next day, Beichuan Si realized he was gravely mistaken.
Opening his eyes in bed, Beichuan Si saw a livid face hanging upside down from the ceiling. Ignoring it, he washed his face and brushed his teeth with the crimson liquid from the bathroom sink faucet.
During mealtime, ink-like saliva dripped into Beichuan Si's curry in front of him—he unemotionally finished off the entire curry.
Up to this point, he was still adamantly convinced he was merely experiencing "acclimatization issues" sparked by psychological suggestions after recently crossing over.
However, after using the system-gifted Spirit Talisman to deal with the "hanging woman" on the ceiling and noticing a significant physical boost, plus gaining 0.5 skill points, he began to sense that this world might be far stranger than he had ever imagined.
Many have said before, "Some things happening in reality, even novels wouldn't dare to write."
Yet, what Beichuan Si was confronting was indeed reality.
He stood at the two bounds of a gateway. One side was the known world, where no monsters or ghosts existed, and stringent physical and chemical scientific laws operated unwaveringly.
But the other side of the gateway was filled with mysterious, bizarre, terrifying things that sent chills down one's spine—
Beichuan Si pushed open the door.
He looked calmly at the slender girl standing hesitantly at his doorstep with a fearful face.
The hour was midnight.
The door, the house, the wall lamp, and the timid, compassion-filled frail-looking girl.
This was the first time Beichuan Si, after arriving in this world, encountered something so thrilling to play with.