The senior drove Li Li back to the apartment building and helped unload everything into the lobby.

  “Well, I guess I’ll…” the senior began, sounding hesitant.

  Li Li immediately understood. Normal people had reservations about a known haunted apartment—completely reasonable. “It’s totally fine, really! I can manage from here!” she said quickly. “You’ve already helped me so much with all this stuff. Thank you!” She playfully flexed a bicep.

  The senior laughed, lightening the mood.

  Li Li then pulled out one of her mass-produced protection charms and handed it over.

  The senior looked surprised. “You believe in these, junior?”

  “Just something from home,” Li Li said with an awkward laugh, feeling a little guilty. At this rate, by the time she graduated, would every person in this city have one of her charms?

  “Totally get it,” the senior said, accepting it cheerfully. “Thanks!”

  “No problem at all,” Li Li waved it off. “Just a token for good luck. Hope you don’t mind.”

  They chatted a bit more, hugged goodbye, and Li Li watched the senior’s car drive off. She sighed at the pile of secondhand items in the lobby and resigned herself to moving everything piece by piece to the elevator for the final trip up.

  Helpful tenants—both men and women—came by asking if she needed assistance. But as soon as they heard she was moving into *that* apartment, their faces paled, and they quickly shook their heads.

  Li Li didn’t want to push, so she politely declined all offers.

  Luckily, her daily training had made her a strong, independent Chinese woman. She could handle this.

  Half an hour later, everything was finally inside her apartment.

  Closing the door, Li Li wiped sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, cheeks flushed, and called out to the figurine in the corner, “Xiao Mei, come meet our new roommates! Jennifer and Stephanie!”

  Xiao Mei, thinking Li Li had brought back other wandering ghosts, squinted around. “Where?”

  “Right here!” Li Li pointed at the mattress and rice cooker. “Every Chinese student’s best friends abroad!”

  Xiao Mei: “…”

  *What is wrong with Chinese people’s mental state?*

  Not bothered by the silence, Li Li energetically sorted and arranged everything.

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  The senior had been incredibly generous. The basic furnishings now met her needs, and the apartment finally felt lived-in.

  She didn’t waste the leftover cardboard boxes. Using scissors, she built a simple shrine, placed the peach-wood figurine inside, put the incense burner in front, and lit three sticks of incense bought from Chinatown.

  As the smoke rose, Xiao Mei inhaled deeply, feeling much better. Before, she’d been muddled, acting mostly on instinct. Now her consciousness felt clearer.

  “So? Strong stuff?” Li Li asked eagerly. “First time buying from Chinatown. Is it pure?”

  Xiao Mei: “…Something feels off.”

  “Yeah, it’s good,” she said vaguely. As a Western ghost with no frame of reference, she couldn’t tell good incense from bad.

  “Great!” Li Li clapped her hands. That meant she could safely burn it as an offering for the Reapers later.

  Soon, Xiao Mei was blissfully buzzed from the incense, mumbling incoherently. Leaving her to it, Li Li opened her laptop, logged onto the local online marketplace, and after careful comparison, ordered the top-rated deluxe reptile terrarium and a bunch of environmental decorations for Xiao Xie.

  *A promise is a promise,* Li Li nodded. She would be a mother of her word.

  Suddenly, her silent phone on the table chimed repeatedly with notifications.

  She picked it up.

  **[Loving Family (3)]**

  **[Li Chengxian - 63rd Gen. Heir]:** ?? *Study hard.*

  **[Zhang Xinlan]:** *Such a beautiful building! Take care of yourself, sweetie.* ????

  From the senior:

  **[Cai Cai (Back on the 3rd, *Taking Orders*)]:** *Sorry, just got home! Sending you the link now.*

  **[Cai Cai (Back on the 3rd, *Taking Orders*)]:** *[Link]*

  And from Li Guang:

  **[Do You Believe in Light?]:** *All checked in?*

  **[Do You Believe in Light?]:** *[Animated Sticker: Puppy Peeking]*

  Li Li replied to each.

  **[Loving Family (3)]**

  **[Lily]:** *Will do, Dad!* ??

  **[Lily]:** *I will, Mom!* ?? ??

  To the senior:

  **[Lily]:** *Thank you so much!*

  **[Lily]:** *[Spinning, Running Sticker]*

  To Li Guang:

  **[Lily]:** *Done.* ?

  Done with the replies, she clicked the link from the senior.

  It led to a social media profile with a solid black avatar. Scrolling down, the last post was a photo of Xiao Mei at a beach resort. The caption read: *Vacation's over, back to work~ When's the next getaway?*

  The comments below were flooded with R.I.P.s and candle emojis.

  *The next one is… never.*

  The black avatar was likely set by her modeling agency. Li Li clicked on the profile info and found her date of birth. Doing a quick calculation with her fingers, Li Li’s eyes narrowed. A cold smile touched her lips. Now she understood.

  *Someone’s trying to achieve Immortal Ascension.*

  An Immortal is a deity. It requires the perfect balance and abundance of all **Five Elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth**—to refine one’s soul into that one-in-ten-thousand transcendent state.

  Unlike celestial beings, most mortals have deficiencies in their elemental makeup. It’s rare to have all five elements present, abundant, and in harmonious balance.

  Thus, dark practitioners devised a shortcut: extract the **essence of each element** from specific human sources, coupled with refining countless souls, to force an ascension.

  Compared to the natural path, which requires both fate and arduous cultivation, this method is brutally simple—all you need is a complete lack of morals. However, the karma of murder is too heavy, condemned by the Heavenly Dao. At best, one becomes a **Dark Immortal**.

  But for these people, an immortal is an immortal.

  Based on Xiao Mei’s birth date, Li Li calculated that the **Metal** element in her fate was extremely strong. Without the exact birth hour, it was hard to be precise, but from the circumstances, it was likely Metal was the *only* dominant element in her chart.

  Her missing lung, which corresponds to the Metal element, would be the **“Metal within Metal”**—the purest essence.

  Coupled with her missing soul fragment, the conclusion was almost certain:

  *Someone here is attempting a Dark Ascension.*

  A/N: Plot twist! It wasn't just a random murder—someone's collecting body parts

  and soul fragments like they're ingredients for a cursed immortality potion.

  ---