Deadly Apartment

The Talisman Fortress

The blaring alarm jolted me awake. I blinked at the ceiling light in confusion, taking a few seconds to recall that I had transmigrated into a mystery novel.

Shaking off the grogginess, I got up and retrieved the talismans I had purchased from various temples and Taoist monasteries. Time to put them to use.

I plastered them everywhere.

• The security door

• The windows

• The curtains

• The kitchen

• The bathroom

• The mirror in the bathroom

• The toilet

• My mattress

• The weapons I bought

• The floor

• The ceiling

Every single place I could think of was covered with protective talismans.

To eliminate any possibility of tampering, I made sure to use at least two different types of talismans on each item. Who knew if one of the monks or priests I met had been impersonated by the killer? I wasn’t taking any risks.

God, I’m brilliant.

As soon as I finished, my stomach—empty since the afternoon—let out a loud growl.

No problem. I had packed dozens of ready-made meals from a deli in advance. I popped a serving of fish-flavored shredded pork with rice into the microwave, watching as it heated up. The moment I opened the door, a rush of hot, delicious steam filled the air. Heavenly.

But I didn’t eat just yet.

Reaching into a bag from the pharmacy, I pulled out a set of test strips and carefully checked the food for any abnormalities. Once confirmed to be safe, I finally picked up my chopsticks.

Hot rice, flavorful pork, and my favorite drama, The Legend of Zhen Huan, playing beside me— life couldn’t get any better.

Ding!

A sudden message popped up on my tablet.

Bestie Jessica : “Guess where I am right now?”

Bestie Jessica : [Photo]

Bestie Jesscia: “Ta-da! I’m at your place! Surprise!!”

My hand froze midair.

I clicked on the message, skimmed over it, then calmly resumed eating.

Before transmigrating, this short novel had only been halfway updated, but from what I read so far, I had a feeling—the protagonist’s best friend wasn’t human.

In the original story, Jessica had saved the protagonist twice from a vicious murderer, exposed multiple neighbors’ lies, and pulled the protagonist back from the brink of death more times than she could count.

The protagonist trusted her completely.

But then, in one scene, while they were hiding together in a cramped space, evading the murderer…

“The shadow of her best friend on the door suddenly twisted into something horrifying. She widened her eyes in shock, unable to make a sound.”

That was the final update.

Now that I had entered the story, I could finally see how it ended.

Human, demon, ghost—whatever she was, she wasn’t getting into my room.

I let out a satisfied burp. Time to watch the show