Cen Yu paused for three seconds when she saw the rental agreement—

"You dare to rent a house like this??"

The rent is 0 yuan, but they require you to live there for at least 2 years. It's like they're practically writing "I'm hiding something" on their faces.

"Because you're poor," the system said in my head. "That's why you came as soon as you heard it was free."

Besides, ghosts are everywhere these days; a free haunted house is much more appealing.

Cen Yu: "..."

After carefully recalling the background of this world, he suddenly felt that what the system said made a lot of sense.

Anyway, there are ghosts everywhere in this world, so why not find a free place to lie down... Cen Yu held the rental contract, guessing that this instance probably had some puzzle-solving and clue-finding tasks.

"Is there a time limit for this mission?" Cen Yu suddenly asked.

Although the system didn't mention this at all, after entering the instance, he entered a week-long "Demon Encounter Time." If he wasn't mistaken, this should be a time-limited mission—if he couldn't complete the mission and uncover the truth within a week, he would probably be punished.

"If the Demon Time ends and I still haven't found the stalker..." Cen Yu asked the system in his mind, "What will the punishment be?"

[Unable to leave this world.]

To be precise, on the last day of the Twilight Hour, a monster broke into the rented house and tore him apart.

The system cheerfully announced the punishment, then added meaningfully, "[You're very clever; some people didn't even realize this was a time-limited task.]"

They thought they could find the truth at their own pace, but little did they know that if they failed to complete the mission and leave this world within a week, they would be torn apart by the monster that broke into the room on the last day.

Cen Yu put the rental contract back in the cabinet. As he talked to the system, time ticked by.

Perhaps feeling he had been in his room for too long, someone knocked on his door—

"Xiao Yu, it's almost time. Let's meet in the living room."

It was Li Chonghe's voice.

Cen Yu checked the windows of the room again, and after confirming that they were all sealed, he opened the door and went out... Li Chonghe was eating the dinner he had bought from the supermarket, and a tender document was displayed on his computer screen.

Seeing Cen Yu approach, Li Chonghe turned off his computer screen and quickly finished his discounted dinner.

“I just called them both.” He gestured for Cen Yu to look at the other two rooms. “They said they’d be out soon.”

Cen Yu sat on the sofa, somewhat absentmindedly... He looked at Li Chonghe tidying up the table and suddenly reached out his hand, "Give me your hand."

Li Chonghe turned around, somewhat confused about Cen Yu's meaning, but still extended his hand to Cen Yu.

Cen Yu pinched it—

It's hot, it has a temperature.

He doesn't look like a dead person, Cen Yu thought. He looked down at Li Chonghe's palm for a while, pretending to be serious. "Hmm, a life of great wealth and honor."

Li Chonghe seemed completely unconvinced. "When will I get rich? After I turn 80?"

“I know what you were in your past life,” Cen Yu said to Li Chonghe. “In your past life, you were the second prince of the empire, deeply loved by everyone, and eventually became the emperor.”

When Gu Hanyin came out, she saw Cen Yu sitting on the sofa, reading Li Chonghe's palm.

He went to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water, and then returned to the living room. "Have you been fortune-telling?"

“Cen Yu said I was a prince in my past life,” Li Chonghe said to Gu Hanyin.

Gu Hanyin looked at Cen Yu.

Cen Yu shrugged. "Fine, don't believe me then."

Gu Hanyin thought for a moment and then extended her hand, "Then can you take a look for me too?"

Cen Yu looked at the hand that Gu Hanyin offered and took the opportunity to touch it as well—although the body temperature was not high, it looked like a living person—he then looked down and studied it carefully before saying to Gu Hanyin, "You were a famous director in your past life."

"You've won Best Screenplay and Best Director." He said earnestly to Gu Hanyin, "Everyone wants to invest in your movies; investors are waving their money around, eager to become your investors."

"But you didn't agree."

Gu Hanyin was puzzled. "Why wouldn't I agree?"

“Because you don’t lack money,” Cen Yu said, “so you don’t want to be coerced by investors.”

"...I'm so aloof..." Gu Hanyin murmured to herself.

“I was a prince in my past life, so it’s not surprising that you’re a high-minded director,” Li Chonghe said.

At this moment, Yu Xinyu came out of the room. Hearing that they were talking about a famous director and a prince, she couldn't help but move closer to Cen Yu and asked, "Can you take a look at me too?"

He reached out his hand and offered it to Cen Yu.

Cen Yu looked at the hand that was offered to him, touched it, and only after confirming that this person was also alive did he look at Yu Xinyu—

"You were a rich young master in your past life."

"And then?" Yu Xinyu asked curiously.

"Am I now the world's richest person?"

“No,” Cen Yu said. “It’s a pity you met a scumbag; he’s not a good person.”

He looked at Yu Xinyu and said, "You were willing to die for him, and in the end, you died."

Li Chonghe and Gu Hanyin fell silent. Yu Xinyu was also somewhat surprised. He looked at Cen Yu... and then asked Cen Yu, "What about that scumbag?"

"Die before you."

Yu Xinyu looked at Cen Yu, who didn't look away. "Does he regret it?"

“I don’t know,” Cen Yu said. “But if it happened again, he probably wouldn’t choose to end it this way.”

As they were talking, it was already 7 o'clock. They had made preparations earlier and had already placed candles in the living room.

But as soon as 7 o'clock struck, both the living room lights and the candlelight went out simultaneously—

“We must not speak or move now,” Cen Yu said. “We absolutely cannot lose our composure.”

After Cen Yu finished speaking, he took the opportunity to quietly stand up from the sofa and walked in the dark towards the nearest room, which was Gu Hanyin's room.

He tried to move as quietly as possible, slowly opening Gu Hanyin's door and closing it after entering the room.

After making sure the door was closed, Cen Yu turned on her phone's flashlight.

The room was completely empty, except for a table directly opposite the door.

There were some food and dried flowers on it, and a photo was placed face down on the table.

Cen Yu walked over with her phone in hand, and amidst the banging sounds outside the window, she flipped open the photos that were lying face down.

The black and white photo shows Gu Hanyin looking at the camera with a blank expression.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like Gu Hanyin in the photo was staring at him... He opened the drawer on his desk and found some torn yellow talismans inside.

There were also small jars wrapped in yellow talismans with blood-red characters.

...

Cen Yu sat down in his original seat in the dark.

After he sat down, in the darkness, Gu Hanyin suddenly asked—

"Cen Yu, where did you go just now?"

"...Where to?" Cen Yu feigned ignorance. "I've been sitting here the whole time."

“But I feel like you just got off the sofa.”

"...Could it be..." Cen Yu exclaimed in horror, "I was just possessed by a ghost?!"