Chapter 1. Jiang Yan

"We now interrupt with a social news update."

"At 4:15 this morning, the body of a woman was discovered by the riverside in the suburbs of our city. According to police investigations, the deceased was a children's clothing model for a certain platform, identified as Xiaoxiao."

"Our station will continue to follow up on developments in this case."

The small bus stop was crowded with people. Two girls in school uniforms sat on a long bench, their heads huddled together, whispering as they watched the evening news from Jiangcheng.

“Xiaoxiao…”

The short-haired girl holding a phone pressed the pause button, hesitating as she looked at her companion. “This name sounds a bit familiar?”

“Third place in the children’s clothing model competition, she was on the news a few days ago. You even praised her face for looking like a cotton candy.”

“—Do you remember now?”

The short-haired girl opened her mouth, clearly unable to connect cotton candy with a death case.

People can be quite strange sometimes. If the victim is someone completely unknown, social news often becomes forgettable. But if the victim is someone you know, even if it’s just someone you’ve seen or heard about on TV, they suddenly become relevant to you.

After a long pause, she exclaimed angrily, “Damn, what kind of parent lets such a small child go near the water?!”

Her accusation was fierce, her voice several decibels higher than before, prompting her companion to quickly soothe her.

“Well, we can’t rule out the possibility of homicide… But the parents are definitely at fault; such a small child shouldn’t be out of sight.”

The girl pressed her lips together and fell silent.

After a while, the 437 bus arrived. Three stops later was a bustling large urban village. The bus was crowded, and even more people were trying to get on. The crowd split with a roar, squeezing into two dense masses at the bus doors, making it nearly impossible to move, like ants stuck together in syrup.

The next bus wouldn’t arrive for another half hour. The girl put away her phone and pulled her companion to squeeze forward. After about ten seconds of pushing, the bus doors barely closed behind them.

There were seven or eight hands on the safety railing, and the bus was noisy. The two girls held onto each other’s backpack straps, neither of them speaking.

The display screen at the front of the bus was also broadcasting the evening news, but it was no longer about the “riverbank corpse,” so it didn’t pique their interest. Both were in a bad mood, their eyes downcast as they exchanged indifferent glances with the tired-looking passengers. When their gaze swept to the seats at the back right of the bus, their eyes suddenly froze.

“Hey, look—”

In the gray crowd facing the bus window, there was a striking figure. It was a remarkably beautiful woman, her head lowered, casually leaning against the window. Though her posture was relaxed, the curve of her back revealed an elegant grace.

In short, from both her appearance and demeanor, she didn’t seem like someone who would be taking the bus during rush hour.

The two girls exchanged glances, both understanding the amazement in each other’s eyes.

Jiang Yan had just taken form not long ago. Today, in order to familiarize herself with the urban divisions of Jiangcheng, she had spent the day switching bus lines and was now feeling drowsy. But despite her sleepiness, her alertness remained. Almost as soon as the two fiery gazes landed on her, she lifted her eyes to look back.

They were two young girls, with no hint of aggression.

Jiang Yan thought about human social etiquette and smiled, nodding her head.

That smile was truly beautiful. Whether it was psychological or not, the girls felt the chaotic bus cabin suddenly quiet down, and their gloomy mood over “Xiaoxiao” also lightened.

They returned a smile to Jiang Yan.

Indeed, a beautiful sister heals everything.

**

The sunset in Jiangcheng was a murky yellow hue. Jiang Yan stared at the sky for a long time, increasingly feeling that it resembled a shroud—old, long, and dragging, with a somewhat unpleasant odor.

The bus gradually slowed down and stopped at the urban village. This used to be the most prosperous area in Jiangcheng, but it had now fallen into decay.

Dense buildings spread out along the concrete road behind the bus stop, with red and white checkered bricks intermittently affixed to the building exteriors. At a glance, everything looked the same; the entire city resembled a mosaic puzzle.

Jiang Yan walked along the main road at a slow pace, stopping to buy a portion of grilled cold noodles [1] from a street vendor.

“I remember you! This is your third day coming to buy!”

At this time, there weren’t many people, and the vendor enthusiastically cracked an egg on the iron plate. “This one’s on the house, I’ll put it right on top for you!”

Jiang Yan replied, “Thank you, I haven’t tried this before.”

“You haven’t? Oh, that’s fine! If you come back tomorrow, I’ll definitely give you another one! No cilantro, sweet and sour flavor, right?”

“That’s right,” Jiang Yan responded.

After finishing dinner, Jiang Yan glanced at the time and quickened her pace.

A few minutes later, she turned and decisively tossed the greasy egg she had taken a bite of into a roadside trash bin.

As she walked, she recalled the strange taste, feeling that the edges of the fried egg were dissolving like water, which was somewhat nauseating; it must have gone bad. Halfway through, Jiang Yan bought a bottle of mineral water to rinse her mouth before frowning as she entered an old residential area.

Recently, when buying food, she occasionally encountered human vendors giving her extra items beyond the price, but the quality varied. It seemed they wanted to keep her as a customer with enthusiasm and generosity, yet hesitated to offer fresh items.

Strange.

Because of this incident, Jiang Yan’s mood soured a bit, and she returned home a few minutes later than usual.

At this time, the evening news was nearing its end.

“…The theft case at the National Museum has shocked the nation, and relevant experts are still urgently retrieving fingerprints from the scene.”

“According to experts, this wedding dress has existed for at least 2,300 years, making it the oldest wedding dress ever excavated. It was buried with the empress as one of the burial items in 762 AD, having been excavated ten years ago.”

“The dress is pomegranate red, its color unchanged over the years, luxurious and elegant, a national treasure.”

“…National cultural relics must not be desecrated. Our station will follow up in real-time and report the investigation results as soon as possible.”

After watching the news, Jiang Yan leaned back and sank into the sofa.

She let out a sigh of relief.

As the “stolen item” in this wedding dress theft case, Jiang Yan had only one source of amusement these days—watching those renowned experts and scholars frantically search for her.

It was truly a fascinating thing, as everyone’s expressions and body language were interesting in their own right, depending on their positions.

Jiang Yan’s mood quickly recovered.

The corners of her lips lifted slightly, and as her gaze wandered, it landed on a piece of white paper not far away.

“.........”

Her recently restored mood vanished again.

Jiang Yan didn’t quite remember how many years she had lived — 2,300 years, 3,000 years, or even longer — but she knew she had possessed consciousness over a thousand years ago. However, for some reason, she had not rushed to take form, dragging it out until sixty years ago.

Sixty years ago, the rules of heaven changed abruptly, cutting off all possibilities for demons to take form.

Unwillingness and inability; Jiang Yan accepted the former more readily.

So since then, she had been researching the method of taking form every moment, but each time she was nearly crushed by the rules of heaven.

A week ago, late at night, after countless failed attempts to take form, an old man in a Daoist robe suddenly appeared in the museum, walked into the exhibition hall where she was placed, and used nine talismans to sever the rules of heaven, helping her successfully take form.

There is no such thing as an action without purpose.

After successfully taking form, Jiang Yan directly asked him what he wanted her to do. The man didn’t say it outright but instead asked her to fill out a personal information form.

Personal information...

Damn personal information.

Jiang Yan picked up the white paper in front of her with slight irritation and browsed through it again.

This was a document she received yesterday.

Clearly, the man in the Daoist robe used her personal information to sign her up for a psychic program, and participating in this program was the “payment” he required from her.

However, no matter how many times she read this agreement, Jiang Yan still couldn’t help but doubt its authenticity.

—Because she was not a psychic at all.

Jiang Yan had been thinking about this for two days, and today on the bus, she was also contemplating the Daoist man’s intentions. Each profession has its specialization; her abilities were completely unrelated to “spiritual communication.” She couldn’t draw talismans, couldn’t catch ghosts, and her abilities even greatly blurred the distinction between humans and ghosts. Since the Daoist man could sever the rules of heaven, he surely had the means to know her abilities.

If that’s the case, why would he want her to participate in this program?

The minute hand moved inch by inch, and the thin, dark shadows of trees fell on the white wall, casting a shadow nearly half a person high. It slowly stretched toward the sofa and coiled around the white paper, as if urging Jiang Yan to make a decision.

If she couldn’t figure it out, then don’t think about it.

After a moment, Jiang Yan picked up the pen and signed her name.

**

After washing up, Jiang Yan walked to the coffee table, tidied the agreement, and placed it neatly by the entrance.

Outside, the sounds of a square dance ended, followed by a loudspeaker announcing for everyone to pay attention to safety and hurry home. Jiang Yan’s home was on the first floor, and her balcony opened directly into a small eight-square-meter garden. At this moment, people were continuously passing by from outside the garden, and the noise was quite loud.

Jiang Yan had been living here for a week. Different demons have different ways of understanding human society based on their personalities, and Jiang Yan’s way of integrating into society was to listen to and analyze human conversations.

Jiang Yan walked to the edge of the balcony and pulled back a corner of the curtain.

At that moment, a couple happened to walk past the garden.

The girl in the couple playfully clung to the boy, dragging her feet as they walked slowly.

“It’s all your fault,” she pouted, “You dragged me to dance the square dance, I’m exhausted!”

The man raised his hand, smiling gently, “Alright, it’s all my fault.”

“Then shouldn’t you compensate me?”

“There’s still a pound of shrimp tails at home; should I make you a midnight snack when we get back?”

The girl clearly liked this, her voice softening quickly, “You’re so considerate. And my feet... there are too many kids in the square, running around without looking where they’re going. That little boy just stepped on my foot, it hurt so much.”

“Don’t be mad, I’ll blow on it for you when we get back—”

“Hey, hey, what are you doing!” The girl quickly covered the boy’s mouth, “Lower your voice! It’s embarrassing if others hear.”

“If they hear, they hear. It’s just right…”

The boy turned his head to continue speaking, but noticed the half-drawn curtain a few meters away. After a few breaths, he friendly nodded at Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan leaned against the window, unbothered by being noticed, and smiled as she watched the two leave.

She recognized this couple.

They lived on the sixth floor of her building and had just gotten engaged not long ago. She had heard several times from the residents in the community about how loving they were, how the boy spoiled his girlfriend, and how they would definitely come to congratulate her when they got married as neighbors.

But clearly, the information these people had was incorrect.

After all, at this very moment…

Jiang Yan’s gaze slowly swept over the couple, more precisely, her eyes landed squarely on the man’s feet.

At this moment,

The man who doted on his girlfriend had his toes pointed backward, aimed directly at Jiang Yan.

Notes:

[1] 烤冷面 (Grilled Cold Noodles) - A popular street food in China, especially in the northeast. It’s made by grilling a thin sheet of dough with toppings like eggs, sauces, and vegetables, sometimes with meat.