This entry is suspicious.

As his blurry vision gradually cleared, Zhou Ran found himself standing in a cold, damp alley. The walls on both sides were covered with talismans, and neon lights flickered at the alley entrance in the distance.

"Aren't I blocking the bridge?"

"Where is this?"

Zhou Ran stared blankly at the unfamiliar surroundings, as a flood of memories surged forth.

A world of cultivation, teeming with strange and wondrous things, imaginary technologies, and neon-lit cities...

His previous life was that of a high school student in the Immortal Path. He was orphaned, had ordinary talent, and took out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to cultivate. Now he couldn't repay the money and was blocked by debt collectors all the way. Finally, he ran into this dead end in a daze. Seeing that there was nowhere to escape, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in fear and died on the spot.

"You were scared to death? Can't you have some self-respect?!"

Zhou Ran's expression changed several times. Before he could adjust to the situation, he heard footsteps coming from the alley entrance.

Four burly men appeared at the alley entrance. The man in the lead wore a vest that revealed his muscular physique, and he was playing with a butterfly knife in his hand, its cold glint flashing.

The memories in Zhou Ran's mind told him that this person was called Brother Dao, the leader of this debt collection gang, and had the cultivation level of the first stage of Qi Refining.

He was only at the fourth level of enlightenment, a whole realm lower than the other, making him no different from a chick in front of the other.

"You little brat, why aren't you running away anymore?" Brother Dao said with a forced smile, brandishing his butterfly knife.

Zhou Ran forced himself to speak and said, "Brother Dao, give me some more time. I'll go find a job and I'll definitely pay back the money."

Brother Dao shook his head: "You owe us 300,000 yuan. How long would it take to pay it back with your meager wages? Don't worry, we'll arrange a job for you."

Zhou Ran was taken aback: "Assign work?"

Dao Ge gave Zhou Ran an unsettling smile: "There was a student of yours who owed hundreds of thousands in loans and couldn't pay them back. We sold him to a nightclub under the Hehuan Sect. He was quite capable; he paid off the loans and surgery fees in a year and is now their top performer. You have a good foundation; if you work hard, it's not impossible for you to surpass her performance."

The top hostess at a nightclub under the Hehuan Sect?

Zhou Ran suddenly felt a tightness in his groin and a chill run down his spine. His brain immediately began to work at lightning speed, trying to find a glimmer of hope in this desperate situation.

did not find.

"No! Am I going to be stripped of my hardware and sold into the Hehuan Sect right after I transmigrated?" Zhou Ran was filled with despair.

"Wait, what's that above their heads?"

Zhou Ran suddenly saw a dense array of entries appear above the heads of Dao Ge and the other three.

[Dao Guanzhi], [Wang Ce], [Li Qing], [Zhang Song], [Qi Refining Level 1]... [Debt Collection Gang Leader], [Top-Tier Night Owl], [Hemorrhoid Pain], [Climbing the Crowd], [Honorary Member of the Paycheck Clan]...

These entries were almost all white, except for three that were an incredibly striking blood red, so bright and glaring that it seemed as if fresh blood might flow down at any moment.

[Death is imminent] [Death is imminent] [Death is imminent]

The three crimson entries appeared above the heads of Dao Ge's three henchmen, but Dao Ge himself did not have a crimson entry above his head.

"Kid, if you're smart, come back with us and you'll get a beating," Brother Dao warned in a threatening tone.

The henchman next to him was surprised. Why was it just a verbal warning? Shouldn't they have gone in and started fighting?

What they didn't know was that Brother Dao would never step into the alley in front of them.

As a seasoned veteran, Brother Dao is very well-informed. Some time ago, there were some strange occurrences in this alley, and several people died. I heard that the matter was resolved, and nothing has happened since.

But the supernatural is full of unknowns, irrational, and has all sorts of strange abilities. It may just be temporarily dormant and has not been completely eradicated.

Brother Dao had personally experienced bizarre events in his early years, leaving him with immense psychological trauma. Therefore, he absolutely does not want to touch anything or any place that involves such things.

If he weren't chasing after a debt today, he wouldn't even have approached the neighborhood near this alley, let alone just tell Zhou Ran to come out. Under normal circumstances, he would have already gone in and started beating him up.

However, the underlings weren't traumatized by this; they only knew that the strange incident had been resolved and everything was fine. Now, seeing Zhou Ran standing there motionless like a block of wood, they all became furious.

"Alright, Brother Dao, stop wasting your breath on this kid."

A burly henchman rolled up his sleeves. "A beating will teach him a lesson."

The other two nodded in agreement, and the three of them exchanged glances, rubbing their hands together as they walked into the alley.

Brother Dao neither stopped him nor followed him inside.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he could always sense a faint, chilling aura lingering around him, so he decided it was best not to go in out of caution.

As the three men approached menacingly in the alley, Zhou Ran quickly said, "Wait, don't hit me, I'll go with you."

"Too late." The thug with a face full of scars grinned. "You're not getting away with this beating no matter what."

The three men surrounded Zhou Ran with sinister smiles, but suddenly, a chilling aura swept past without warning, as if something was blowing against their backs and necks, and the four men in the alley shivered at the same time.

"What...what is that?" Zhou Ran's eyes widened suddenly as he stared in horror at the three people behind him.

"You think this little trick will work?" The burly henchman scoffed disdainfully.

"Wang Ce, none of you turn around!" Dao Ge's voice suddenly came from the alley entrance, tinged with fear.

The henchman named Wang Ce instinctively turned around: "Why?"

Suddenly, he froze on the spot.

A tall man appeared in the alley at some point, his skin deathly pale, devoid of any color, like a corpse.

Even more horrifying was that the man had no eyes, only two dark holes, bottomless, like two dry wells.

Perhaps because of Wang Ce's turning around, the eerie male corpse was staring straight at him with its empty eye sockets.

"sly……"

As soon as Wang Ce uttered his words, his expression changed. His eyes widened and his mouth opened as if he wanted to shout something, but he couldn't utter a single word. He fell straight forward and landed on the ground with a thud, where he remained motionless.

The blood on the corpse quickly faded, the skin changed from rosy to waxy yellow, and then from waxy yellow to deathly gray, and the whole body exuded a putrid stench, as if it had been dead for many days.

"Dead, dead?"

Zhou Ran felt a chill rush straight to the top of his head, and it exploded on his scalp.

A cultivator in the Enlightenment stage died so inexplicably?

Is this... a strange power?

But the next second, his fear turned into astonishment.

Because he also saw the entry on that tall male corpse!

[The Stopper], [Level Two Mystery], [Inevitable Death Upon Action], [Regional Boss]

Blood-red characters floated above the pale body, a horrifying sight.

"Any action will result in death..."

Zhou Ran felt a chill run down his spine, instantly realizing that this was the strange ability before him. The debt collector named Wang Ce had been killed after turning his head back.

In a true life-or-death situation, he calmed down and analyzed the situation with a speed he never expected.

"You can't move at all; you have to stay still. Isn't that just like 'Red Light, Green Light'?"

"No, we all moved just now, but only Wang Ce died. Is the entry information wrong? Impossible... Maybe this strange thing can only kill one person at a time, and it's the first person to move."

"If that's the case, I might still have a chance to survive!"

Zhou Ran's eyes darted around, looking at the two men beside him. The two burly men were frozen in place, their faces pale, clearly terrified. Meanwhile, Brother Dao from the alley entrance had vanished without a trace.

With that kind of escape speed, no wonder there's no crimson text above their head.

"These people are unaware of the strange abilities. In their panic, they will definitely make some moves, triggering the strange killing mechanism. At that time, I can take the opportunity to escape."

"The term 'regional BOSS' means that the boss's activity range is limited, so it's likely safe to stay away from alleys, just like with Brother Dao."

Thinking of this, a thought suddenly popped into Zhou Ran's mind—why was I alright in the alley just now?

No, it's not that nothing's wrong...

Didn't the original body die?

Zhou Ran's heart sank. If he couldn't escape, then his predecessor's fate would be his fate as well.

"Run!"

Just then, the two debt collectors beside them finally snapped out of their daze. Their survival instinct overwhelmed all reason, and they rushed toward the alley entrance.

Zhou Ran's heart pounded wildly, and he mustered all his strength to rush out.

The sound of the wind rushed into my ears, and the neon lights swayed at the alley entrance, like a line between life and death.

However, after running only five or six steps, the debt collector named Li Qing suddenly froze, his face frozen in terror.

He remained in a running posture, like a statue, leaning straight forward.

Bang.

The dull thud echoed through the alley. After landing, his skin began to turn gray and decay at a visible speed, just like the debt collector who had just died.

Zhou Ran's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately stopped, tensing his muscles and remaining motionless for a moment before continuing his frantic sprint.

The strange thing is that it can only kill one person at a time, and that person is the first to act... He doesn't know if his guess is correct, but he has to take the gamble when it comes to life and death.

If this is correct, then the next person to die will be Zhang Song.

If it's wrong...

Zhou Ran forcefully banished the thought from her mind, gritted her teeth, and poured all her strength into her legs.

Meanwhile, the last debt collector, Zhang Song, was running for his life in fear and trembling, almost touching the alley entrance.

Suddenly, his expression froze, and he collapsed to the ground as if all his strength had been drained away. The light in his eyes went out, and the life force in his body completely disappeared.

The body fell to the ground, the upper body protruding out of the alley, the lower body still inside. This last half-meter distance became an insurmountable chasm for him.

Just as Zhang Song collapsed, a figure swept past him, rushed out of the alley, and ran more than ten meters before staggering to a stop.

On the street, Zhou Ran gasped for breath, his heart pounding wildly as if it would burst out of his chest. The surge of adrenaline coursed through his entire body, his scalp tingled, his legs trembled, and all he could hear was his own heavy breathing and the pounding of his heart.

All the reactions foreshadowed the same outcome.

"I'm not dead!"

The thought emerged clearly in Zhou Ran's mind, and then he suddenly turned around to look behind him.

In the dimly lit alley covered with talismans, three corpses lay scattered about: Wang Ce was lying face down at the deepest point, Li Qing was in the middle, and Zhang Song was at the alley entrance.

The pale, tall male corpse had vanished, as if it had never existed.

"As expected, the strange influence only extends to the alley."

Zhou Ran's eyes flickered, and just as he breathed a sigh of relief, two lines of text suddenly appeared before his eyes.

You have successfully resolved the bloody incident.

[Number of entries extracted +1]

"this……"

Zhou Ran was stunned for a moment, then realized that this was probably some kind of ability he had gained after transmigrating.

Soon, he found a book in his mind.

This is a thick, jade-green book with a mottled cover covered by large black stains. Only the two characters "窥命" (peeping at fate) can be discerned from the gaps in the stains.