"Knock, knock, knock!"
In the old rented apartment, there was a sudden knocking on the door.
Lying on a black leather sofa covered in cracks, a young man, awakened from his sleep, looked bewildered and suspicious.
He looked around: the worn-out furniture, the moldy, peeling white walls, the yellowed calendar.
"This room... looks familiar!"
He muttered to himself and suddenly widened his eyes.
Wasn't this the house he rented five years ago!
"Have I been reborn?"
Quickly looking around, he found his phone in the gap of the sofa.
"June 30, 2028, 11:38 PM, two days before the eerie arrival. I've really been reborn!"
Xia Tianqiong's heart was filled with joy, and he almost exclaimed out loud.
In his previous life, countless eerie beings suddenly descended, using various means to induce humans to trigger death rules and then seizing the opportunity to devour human flesh and souls.
The entire world fell into apocalyptic panic, and countless humans died.
Even entire cities turned into ghost cities, and humans became livestock.
Xia Tianqiong struggled to survive in the apocalypse for five years, luckily becoming a ghost hunter. He had killed some weak eerie beings, but his life was full of hardships and dangers.
Eventually, he died at the hands of a powerful eerie being.
He never thought he would be reborn and have a chance to start over.
He remembered much information about the eerie beings and how to deal with them.
He could contract with various powerful eerie beings at the initial stage of their arrival, ensuring better survival in the future.
"Right, the most important thing now is to burn some hell money for myself!"
Xia Tianqiong suddenly had a good idea.
After the eerie beings arrived, people discovered that the currency they used was the hell money burned during tomb-sweeping.
As the saying goes, money makes the ghost go.
As long as there was enough hell money, eerie beings could be made to serve and obey you.
"The eerie beings will arrive the night after tomorrow, there's still time."
Xia Tianqiong was planning in his mind to go to the funeral shop to buy some hell money early tomorrow when the knocking on the door sounded again.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
In his previous life, long after the eerie beings arrived, he hadn't encountered any eerie beings, so he didn't think much of it now.
Thinking it might be the female neighbor next door needing help with a water pipe or a light bulb, he got up to open the door.
"Sir, your delivery."
In the dim hallway stood a delivery boy in blue clothes, holding a white packaging bag.
The aroma of meat wafted out, making Xia Tianqiong's mouth water and his appetite surge.
He instinctively swallowed and reached out to take the delivery.
But then he stopped, as he hadn't ordered any delivery.
"I didn't..."
Just as he was about to speak, he remembered a piece of information about eerie beings.
His body tensed, and his heart pounded.
There was an eerie being called the delivery ghost. It could use its own ghostly power to condense enticing food and deliver it randomly to people, luring them into taking advantage. If they ate the delivery, they would trigger a death rule.
Xia Tianqiong stared at the delivery boy.
Could he be the delivery ghost?
But that couldn't be right. According to the official announcement, the eerie beings should arrive the night after tomorrow. How could one appear now?
And there was another serious problem.
In his previous life, no one or eerie being knocked on his door on this day.
Why was it different after his rebirth?
"Sir, your delivery."
The delivery boy, seeing Xia Tianqiong in a daze, repeated his words.
His voice was sincere, and he looked real, with no abnormalities, just like an ordinary person.
Could he be mistaken?
Xia Tianqiong hesitated and took the delivery. "Oh, thank you."
The delivery boy turned and walked down the stairs. Xia Tianqiong stood at the door until the boy disappeared from sight before closing the door.
"I want to see if it's the delivery ghost."
Xia Tianqiong suddenly became interested and placed the delivery on the coffee table without opening it.
Eerie beings couldn't kill randomly; it was said that the ghost world had rules prohibiting it.
They had to use various means to induce or force humans to trigger death rules to eat people justifiably.
Xia Tianqiong had already triggered the preliminary condition of the delivery ghost's death rule.
As long as he didn't open the delivery, the delivery ghost would come back, and he could return it to terminate the rule without any problem.
But this wouldn't confirm if it was the delivery ghost; it could really be a wrong delivery.
The food condensed by the delivery ghost had a unique taste and special effects.
Xia Tianqiong could determine if it was the delivery ghost by tasting a bit.
However, he needed to prepare some hell money first.
If it was really the delivery ghost and he couldn't pay with hell money, he would be in mortal danger.
Hell money could be the colorful paper money sold in funeral shops, with denominations in billions, or gold and silver paper folded into ingots.
After a special ritual, burning the hell money would allow him or his family to receive it.
Xia Tianqiong didn't have any ready-made hell money, but he could fold ingots himself.
The material was simple; any gold or silver paper would do.
He sat on the sofa, took a half-empty cigarette box, and tore out the inner silver paper, writing his birth date on the back. Then he skillfully folded it.
In a blink, he had a small ingot.
"Not bad, I haven't forgotten the craft."
Looking at the silver ingot in his hand, Xia Tianqiong was very satisfied.
In his previous life, countless people lost their jobs. To survive, many folded ingots at home, some for personal use and some to exchange with the government for food and supplies.
That's how he survived the initial stage of the eerie arrival.
But one ingot might not be enough, so he found an empty cigarette box in the trash, tore out the silver paper, and folded another ingot.
Next, he needed to perform a simple but very important ritual.
Xia Tianqiong looked out the dark window, determined the north, and held the two ingots in his hands, raising them above his head.
He deeply bowed towards the north.
He had to bow so that his head was lower than his buttocks.
After three bows, the ritual was complete.
Then he just needed to burn the paper ingots to get hell money, it was that simple.
"Hmm, where's the lighter?"
Xia Tianqiong searched for a long time, looking in the sofa cracks, under the coffee table, on the bed, everywhere, but couldn't find it.
He usually smoked, so he had lighters at home.
But today, he couldn't find a single one!
It was really strange.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
The knocking sounded again.
Xia Tianqiong was startled, "How did it come back so quickly?"
Luckily, he didn't touch the delivery; otherwise, he would have doomed himself.
He felt fortunate, preparing to return the delivery.
But when he turned to look at the coffee table, his pupils contracted, and he froze.
The delivery had somehow tipped over, with the soup spilling from the white bag.
The aroma of meat filled the room.
"D*mn it!"
Xia Tianqiong's heart skipped a beat.
When he moved the coffee table earlier, he was very careful and sure he didn't tip over the delivery. How did it spill now?
A damaged delivery also triggered the rule.
Either pay up or die.
But without a lighter, he couldn't burn the hell money. If it was really the delivery ghost outside, he was doomed.
If he got himself killed on the first day of his rebirth, that would be too ridiculous!
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered.
Then, with a creak, the door handle was turned by some force and slowly opened.