When Giselle Hargrove opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a bed, an empty bottle of sleeping pills sitting quietly beside her pillow.
The bed was surrounded by thick curtains, only letting a sliver of light leak through the side facing the wall. Above her was a wooden bunk, clearly part of a student dorm room setup.
She furrowed her brows tightly, confused.
Hadn't she died already?
Why was she awake again?
Right then, she heard the low chatter of three girls nearby.
"Why hasn't Giselle gotten up yet?"
"No idea. She’s usually the first one up. Today she's out like a rock."
"Huh, didn’t expect you two to care so much about that bumpkin. Watching her so close."
"Care? Please. I'm just worried she’ll die in here and jinx us all."
"Exactly. Who actually cares about some country hick?"
…
Giselle let those nasty words wash over her as she slowly sat up.
At the same time, unfamiliar memories started surfacing in her mind.
Turns out she hadn’t survived—she had somehow ended up in the body of another girl who had the same name.
The former Giselle was a junior in college, with a pretty face but a tough life. Coming from a poor rural family, she’d been looked down on and isolated by her roommates since the day she arrived.
To avoid trouble, she’d keep to herself in the dorm and sleep whenever she could. But even that didn’t stop her roommates from making noise on purpose, just to mess with her. Sometimes they were so loud, she had to rely on sleeping pills to rest at all.
This time she’d swallowed a whole bottle—not as a cry for help, but because she’d truly hit a dead end.
Just days earlier, her family had called with the news that her mother was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. The only hope was an experimental drug that cost 1.2 million yuan per shot.
For a family with nothing to spare, even selling everything wouldn’t get them close. And that was just the cost of one dose—there would be many more needed.
The devastating news made her dad age overnight, and her brother—who was set to get married—instantly got dumped.
She’d tried. Knocked on every door she could, seeking jobs to carry some of the burden. But two months of trying only brought rejection. No one believed in a poor college student.
Finally landing a gig, she was pushed out because she didn’t quite fit in.
And now, with the family falling apart and her heart shattered by her mother’s looming death, she had chosen to end it all.
Giselle processed the original girl's memories and sighed deeply.
What a foolish, kind soul.
As long as you’re still breathing, there’s still a path to walk.
Now that she had taken over this body, she’d carry the weight properly—for the girl who no longer could.
Her mom didn’t have time to wait. The first thing she needed to solve was the money.
In her past life, Giselle was an orphan taken in by a master in mystic arts. By eighteen, she had become a household name in the feng shui world, with billionaires fighting to get her advice—for a steep fee. Her booking rate? Over a million a pop.Making money wasn’t exactly hard for her.
But now she was just a regular college student, Giselle Hargrove. Without all the crazy connections from her past life, raking in 1.2 million in a short time was another story.
As she racked her brain thinking of a way, voices floated in from outside the curtain.
"Forget that country bumpkin—come check out my brother’s stream! He’s seriously good-looking!"
"Whoa, look at his livestream—over 100k viewers and so many gifts. He must be making bank!"
"He's just a gamer! The ones selling stuff on stream make way more!"
Livestreaming?
Giselle’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Of course. This was the era of the internet. What if she livestreamed fortune-telling? Shouldn’t be that hard to make decent money.
No time to waste.
She yanked her bed curtain open with a loud rip, nearly making the three girls watching their stream on the side jump out of their skin.
"Giselle! You..."
Giselle shot them a cold glance, and whatever insult the girl had on the tip of her tongue got swallowed instantly.
That look... like one more word and she’d really throw hands.
The girl shrank back without thinking. The other two, sensing something was off with Giselle, also zipped their mouths.
Without a care for the awkward tension in the room, Giselle calmly grabbed a coat, threw it over her shoulders, and walked out the door.
She didn’t have time to get into it with them. Right now, all she cared about was getting out of the dorm and setting up livestreaming with a good Wi-Fi connection.
She wandered around a nearby residential complex, picked one she liked, and searched for rental info on her phone. One listing caught her eye.
It was a basement studio—not huge, about eighty square meters—but had a bedroom and living area, private kitchen and bath, all appliances ready to go. Rent was only ¥1000.
The best part? Free Wi-Fi, saving her the hassle of setting it up herself.
Giselle immediately called the landlady to schedule a viewing.
They met shortly after outside the building.
The landlady was a woman in her early fifties. The moment she saw Giselle, her face lit up and she grabbed her hand warmly.
"Sweet girl, you’ve got good eyes! A place this close to campus would typically be at least two, three grand. I’m renting it for just a thousand—you’re getting a steal!"
Giselle just gave her a faint smile. "Can we see the place first, ma’am?"
"Of course, come on, I’ll show you!"
The two walked inside and headed to the basement unit.
As soon as the landlady opened the door, a gust of cold air blew out.
From where they stood, the room beyond looked pitch dark—like a beast baring its fangs, waiting to swallow whoever dared to go in.
Any other girl might’ve freaked out and run.
But Giselle wasn’t just any girl.
The landlady laughed nervously. "It’s just a little dark, once the lights are on it’s fine."
She fumbled for the switch on the wall and flicked the lights on with a click.
"Don’t let the lighting scare you. It’s got a bedroom and living space, more than enough room for one person."
As she walked in, she pointed toward the sofa near the wall. "Everything’s brand new—furniture, appliances, all tidy and spacious. I’m telling you, you won’t find anything this good for this price around here."
Giselle followed her inside, slowly pacing around and checking the place out.
Finally, she smiled. "Ma’am, I’ll sign right now if we can make it ¥600 for rent. Deal?"The landlady’s eyes widened, sheer disbelief written all over her face.
“Missy, are you kidding me? A place this good, and you want to rent it for 600?”
“Yeah. Six hundred’s the cap.”
Six hundred?!
That’s daylight robbery.
Her face instantly fell, voice losing its earlier warmth.
“Are you seriously here to rent or just messin' around? That counteroffer of yours is just insane!”
“Go ask around—find a one-bedroom near campus with brand-new appliances for 600. If you can, I’ll change my last name to theirs!”
“I didn’t even give you a starting price ‘cause I figured you looked like a decent girl. But now it seems you’ve got zero sense of gratitude.”
Giselle Hargrove's expression turned cold.
“Honestly, with what happened here… this place? You’re lucky anyone would live here even for free, let alone 600.”
The landlady’s face turned pale in an instant. Her neck stiffened as she practically shouted, “What nonsense are you spouting? How is my place haunted?”
Giselle didn’t even flinch. She yanked open the fridge by her side.
“It’s cleaned up well, gotta admit that. The girl’s body was chopped into over a thousand pieces… you sure you didn’t miss a bit?”
“Tsk, tsk… I mean, come on. Something like that, there’s no way you could ever forget it.”
The minute that got mentioned, all the color drained from the landlady’s face, her mind instantly flashing back to that grisly scene from eight months ago.
Staring at Giselle, voice barely a whisper, she asked, “How do you… how do you know about that?”
Eight months back, a horrifying dismemberment case had happened right here.
Because it was close to the university, the police kept it heavily under wraps to avoid stirring panic among the students. They even warned her strictly not to rent to students for the next three years.
“Let’s just say I’ve got my ways,” Giselle shrugged.
The landlady inhaled deeply and gave in a little. “Six hundred’s too low. Add two hundred.”
“Ma’am, renting this for 600 is already cutting you slack.”
Giselle’s eyes narrowed slightly, locking onto her with a calm but firm stare.
“From what I know, a married couple moved in later… all fine at first, but a few days in, they were fighting nonstop, almost came to blows. After that, no one’s dared to ask about this place. That is, until I showed up.”
Nailed it, one after another.
The woman gasped, clearly rattled. She gritted her teeth, “Fine, how about 700?”
“Look, ma’am, it’s either 600 or you keep it empty. Think it over.” Giselle glanced pointedly around. “If you rent it to me, I promise this place will feel normal again by next year.”
The landlady was doubtful. “And how exactly will you guarantee that?”
“I’m not squatting for free. Give it a shot. Having someone live here is better than leaving it empty, right? You’re good at numbers—you know what’s more cost-effective.”
Truth be told, the girl who died here had moved on after her boyfriend was sentenced to death. Only the leftover resentment still lingered, slow to fade.
Ordinary people staying here would be affected by that energy, maybe even have hallucinations. But Giselle? She was anything but ordinary.
The landlady went silent for a while before finally relenting.
“Alright… fine, I’ll take your word for it this time. But I need it in writing—if anything goes wrong, it’s all on you.”
“No problem.”