Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I had just moved into this neighborhood.

While I was out buying groceries over the weekend, a woman suddenly forced a red envelope into my hands.

I was carrying a carton of eggs and a bag of vegetables, so I didn’t have time to react.

Realizing something was wrong, I quickly opened the envelope.

Sure enough, tucked between several hundred-yuan bills was a slip of paper.

[Borrowing three years of life. If transferred to another or donated to a merit box, your entire family will perish!]

My vision went dark for a moment.

“Hey, stop right there!”

As soon as the woman heard me, she started running even faster.

I dropped my groceries and took off after her.

“You think you can just pay nine hundred yuan for a three-year life-borrowing?”

I managed to catch her. Unable to escape my grip, she glared at me viciously.

“Pah! Once the red envelope is opened, the life-borrowing is a success. What can you possibly do about it?”

After saying that, she even gave me a smug, triumphant smile.

I found it almost funny. Clutching those nine hundred-yuan bills, I asked her one more time.

“Are you sure you want to go through with a life-borrowing from us?”

She shot me another glare, muttered “psycho” under her breath, and turned to run off again.

Just then, a few elderly men playing chess nearby called out to me.

“Young lady, you just moved in, didn’t you?”

“Sigh, that woman lives in our complex too. What a wicked thing to do!”

Hearing this, I wondered if she was a serial offender who went around trying to perform life-borrowing on everyone. If so, how was she still walking around perfectly fine instead of being beaten to death?

As if sensing my confusion, one of the old men spat on the ground in disgust.

“That woman lives on the eleventh floor. She has a grandson who’s been sickly since he was a child. Who knows what kind of lowlife gave their family that idea.

“People are smarter these days; nobody dares to pick up red envelopes like that. Besides, they can’t be sure who will end up picking them up if they just leave them lying around.

“So, they’ve resorted to targeting young women who move into our neighborhood! They bully outsiders who have no one to rely on. As soon as a girl steps out, she rushes over to perform the life-borrowing!

“Last time, a girl was scared to tears and called the police that same night. But when the police showed up, the whole family acted like hooligans, saying it was all just superstition and they were just playing a joke on her. No one can do anything about that family. Over time, fewer and fewer people have been moving into this complex.

“I reckon they saw you’re a young lady dressed decently and look like an outsider, so they came out to harass you!”