After Transmigrating into a Novel with My Boyfriend, He Turned Out to Be a Native Villain
Chapter 197: Midnight

At that moment, on the eighth floor.

After finding her room by the door number, Jiang Xi took out the key from her bag.

“Click—” The key slid into the lock. A gentle twist produced a soft clicking sound.

She was just about to push the door open when suddenly, a burst of rapid footsteps came from the room next door, accompanied by loud banging from doors and walls, and a man's excited voice.

“Hello there! New neighbor!!”

“???”

Seeing the tall black figure charging toward her, Jiang Xi's pupils contracted. She instinctively clutched her suitcase and backed away.

What the h*ll!?

The man also seemed to realize that his enthusiasm had startled the new neighbor. He quickly stopped in his tracks and raised his hand to signal he meant no harm.

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and gave an embarrassed smile. “Hi, I’m your next-door neighbor. I... I just haven’t seen anyone move in for a long time. I’ve been the only one living on this floor, so I got a bit excited.”

Only now did Jiang Xi finally get a clear look at the man’s face.

He looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, dressed in a baggy black hoodie with matching sweatpants, barefoot in a pair of flip-flops.

His appearance couldn’t be called handsome—actually, he looked kind of scruffy. Stubble shadowed his jaw, his eyes were squinty with heavy dark circles beneath them, like he’d just pulled an all-nighter. His hair was greasy and limp. When he smiled, his eyes nearly disappeared into slits, making him seem both off-putting and oddly hard to reject.

Jiang Xi subtly furrowed her brows, but for the sake of maintaining good neighborly relations, she still offered a polite greeting. “Hello, I’m Jiang Xi.”

“Hi, hi! I’m Yang Hongjie.” Yang Hongjie smiled and extended his hand, intending to shake hers.

“……”

Looking at the hand that had just scratched that greasy head, the corner of Jiang Xi’s eye twitched. She tightened her grip on the key and gave a slight nod. “Sorry, my hands are full.”

The man paused, clearly caught off guard. The friendly smile on his face vanished instantly, his expression fell, and he stared at her with a hint of angry resentment.

Seeing this, Jiang Xi’s heart skipped a beat and she swallowed hard.

So this was the last “sunny, helpful neighbor.”

But that “sunshine”... was it even real?

She forced a smile and calmly changed the subject, trying to keep her tone warm: “Oh, right. I actually brought a gift. I’ll give it to you once I’ve settled in.”

“A gift!?”

Hearing that word, Yang Hongjie’s face lit up again. “Really!! Neighbor, you’re such a good person!! Let me help you with your suitcase!! How about it!!”

“…Ha-ha, no need. I can manage…”

Seeing his expression shift again, Jiang Xi quickly put on a troubled look. “I wanted it to be a surprise. Can’t let you see it yet. Besides, the suitcase isn’t heavy, I’ve got it.”

The man chuckled goofily. “True that. Well, I’ll head back first. I’ll be waiting for that gift.”

“…Okay.”

Once she was finally inside, Jiang Xi let out a long breath of relief.

Looks like this neighbor wasn’t such a good egg after all.

She was just about to start unpacking when her phone rang in her pocket.

“Ring-ring-ring—”

She looked down to see the caller ID—Boss.

She answered, and a cheerful male voice came through: “Jiang Xi! You moved in, right? How’s it feel?”

“……”

She’s about to die, can you believe that?

Jiang Xi exhaled, and responding like a normal person, spoke with a tinge of fear: “Sh*t, Boss, I think everyone in this building is a psycho.”

She didn’t expect the man on the other end to get even more excited: “What? Psychos?? That’s great!!”

Jiang Xi: “……”

Sensing her silence, the man cleared his throat and then said reassuringly, “Jiang Xi, our line of work is all about digging up big stories, right? You know our newspaper’s on the verge of shutting down. We’re counting on you to deliver that explosive scoop.”

“……” Why don’t you live here yourself and dig it up.

Realizing this call was meant to relay information, Jiang Xi rubbed her brow and asked patiently, “Boss, what’s so special about this building? Other than a bunch of lunatics living here, I don’t see anything unusual.”

The man’s tone suddenly dropped like he’d hit on a keyword: “Actually, there is something. I heard there’s a ‘peace rule’ in this building, and at midnight, weird things start happening. Just figure all that out for me.”

And then he added, “See? It’s a super simple task.”

“……”

Simp—le?

Do you know she almost got murdered in the elevator just now?

Just because she looked at someone else’s husband a second too long!

Now that she knew about the midnight clue, Jiang Xi took a deep breath.

Right before hanging up, she couldn’t hold back and shouted:

“Screw your simple! Why don’t you come do it?!!”

Then hung up with flair.

【Hahahaha, this newbie is hilarious.】

【What a scummy boss. He knows it’s dangerous, wants the scoop, but doesn’t have the guts to go himself—sending his employee to risk her life?】

【The newbie’s rant was perfect! I totally get it! Like and share!】

【So what exactly happens at midnight in this building? Are there ghosts? I mean, the neighbors are weird, but at least they’re still human.】

【Oh please, sometimes psychos are scarier than ghosts. You never know what they’ll do.】

【In this instance, I think everyone except Jiang Xi has been paired with an NPC. Since it’s Peace Tower, maybe they’re supposed to protect their NPCs?】

【That’s way too hard. You have to protect the NPC, keep your persona straight, and not let the NPC realize you’re acting out of character? Total nightmare mode.】

【If that’s the case, Bo Jingmo better protect my girl Li-jie. If she dies, I’m coming for him.】

【But honestly… with Li-jie’s identity, it’s hard to say who’ll survive longer.】

…

Meanwhile, on the fourth floor.

After entering his room, Rong Fan’s fingertips were still trembling unconsciously. The shock hadn’t worn off yet. He looked down at his palms, a shadow clouding his eyes.

“Ge?”

A girl’s weak voice came from the living room.

He looked up and saw a frail-looking girl sitting in a wheelchair.

Her face was pale, lips dry and peeling with a faint whiteness, her body trembling gently from labored breathing, like a fallen leaf at the end of autumn.

She wore a big fuzzy hat that covered most of her head. Her thin face, made gaunter by illness, had jutting cheekbones and a sharp chin, stirring pity in anyone who saw her.

This was his “sickly little sister”—Rong Ya.