Chapter 9: The Death List

  Big Liu? Dead? I felt dizzy for a moment, "What's going on?"

  "Yes, Big Liu is dead. He died at the entrance of the company building. Just like Liu Tingting, he was hit and killed by a car coming from the opposite direction."

  "Like Liu Tingting? Killed by a car coming from the opposite direction?" I exclaimed in shock, "How could this be? How could this be?"

  "Yes, the class leader and we were all puzzled. Yesterday afternoon, Da Liu quietly left the company alone, probably wanting to escape from us back home. According to common sense, Da Liu should have taken yesterday's afternoon train home and it was impossible for him to appear again at the company gate..."

  My mind went blank and my phone fell to the ground with a "thud".

  How did it become like this? Da Liu's death, whether it was the identity of the deceased or the order of death, everything was just as that short message said.

  The content of the message has come true!

  My name is not on the death list

  At this moment, I don't know what kind of mood I am in, fear? Afraid? Confused? Or... If all of this isn't a coincidence, then the content of this message is true, which means that this vengeful ghost won't let me off either.

  I will end up dying miserably like others, either at the gate of a company building or somewhere else.

  If things are really like this, then I can only choose to believe in the content of this message or say that I believe in the mysterious person who sent the message.

  I shook my head hard and tried to calm myself down.

  Wait, I thought of a problem. If nothing unexpected happens, that mysterious person will definitely send me another text message. Although I don't know what the purpose of that mysterious person is, it's possible that I might be useful to him in some way.

  I made a decision to leave this haunted building, go find Lin Wei and the others, I must get to the bottom of this matter. Or rather, stop Lin Mei Xin's ghost from continuing to kill people.

  I washed up simply and put on my clothes, then walked out of the room.

  As I walked into the corridor, I couldn't help but think of the rumors about this haunted building again. Are those things I searched online really true? Mr. Li next door gave me an impression of a kind old man, every time we met he would smile and greet me. How could such a benevolent old man be a ghost? I wouldn't believe it even if you killed me.

  With a sense of curiosity or fear, I plucked up the courage to come to Mr. Li's door and knocked on that rusty gate.

  "Dong dong...... zhi ya......"

  I had just knocked a few times, and to my surprise the iron gate slowly opened. Mr. Li's benevolent face appeared before me, his tall figure blocking my view of what was inside the house.

  But I caught a whiff of something pungent and musty, a smell that shouldn't be present in a house where people lived regularly.

  "Xiao Lan, is there something?" Uncle Li asked me with a smile.

  "I... I'm fine, just wanted to see if you're home." I stammered out a reply, unable to think of any particular reason.

  "Oh, I see? Hehe. Little Lan, if there's nothing else, I'll close the door now." Mr. Li said as he was about to close the door, but then stuck his head out again and said, "Little Lan, remember what Uncle said, don't bring friends home for no reason in the future."

  Mr. Li said, "Clang" and closed the iron gate.

  Do you often bring friends back home for no reason? Li Da Shu's words were strange, what did he mean? I couldn't understand. However, just now Li Da Shu didn't look like a ghost who had been dead for ten years.

  I was drenched in cold sweat and stumbled down the stairs, walking towards the company.

  It just so happened that it was a weekend, and the company's building was quiet, with only our office door open, and no other offices could be seen opening their doors.

  I walked into the office and saw Lin Wei and ten others gathered together, their faces filled with terror.

  They chatted with them for a few words, and then everyone unconsciously shifted the topic to this death incident.

  "Lan Tian, you just arrived at the company today and there are some things you don't understand. I want to tell you about the situation we've grasped over the past few days." Lin Wei looked at me, his eyes revealing a fear that he couldn't hide.

  "Good!" I replied calmly on the surface, but in fact, I also wanted to know if they had found any valuable clues through their investigation over the past two days.

  Lin Wei looked around at the crowd, then fixed his gaze on me and continued, "So far, five people who attended our class reunion that night have died, including Liu Tingting and Da Liu. The police came to the scene but couldn't find any reason for their deaths. They either concluded it was sudden death or a car accident, but this matter is far from being so simple. When it comes to the deaths of Liu Tingting and Da Liu, the other colleagues in the company were very indifferent, as if no one had died in the company at all. This morning I asked several colleagues about their views on Liu Tingting and Da Liu's car accident deaths, guess how they answered me?"

  I couldn't guess, shook my head and replied, "I don't know."

  Lin Wei's pupils suddenly enlarged, and behind the gold-rimmed glasses, a heart-stopping fear flowed out, "They... they actually said that no one in the company knew about someone dying in a car accident."

  "Has someone died in a car accident?" I exclaimed loudly, "What does it mean?"

  "What does it mean?" Lin Wei sneered, "Their meaning is that the accident never happened in front of the company building at all, and no one died. To be precise, only we know about this matter!"

  "How is this possible? On the night of Liu Tingting's death, there were clearly many people watching from a distance. How could they not have known that an accident occurred at the company entrance and someone died? Ah, I remember that the security guard at the security booth was also present..." I replied loudly, but my back had already been drenched in cold sweat.

  "Lan Tian, calm down first and listen to me finish speaking." Lin Wei interrupted my words and continued, "After getting this unbelievable answer, I really went to find the old security guard Lin at the company entrance. Old Lin has been working as a security guard here for almost ten years, and from his mouth, I got even more terrifying information. There was indeed a series of car accidents at the entrance of this advertising company, and the way the deceased died, their appearance, and the location of death were all the same as those of Liu Tingting and Da Liu who have already passed away, but only similar because the time when this serial car accident case occurred was three years ago!"

  As soon as Lin Wei's voice fell, I suddenly felt a buzzing in my eardrums and beads of cold sweat trickled down from my forehead.

  Three years ago? Three years ago, we were all still on campus. But how did what's happening now become a thing of three years ago?

  This is too absurd!

  Lin Wei looked at me with a cold hum, "My feeling at that time was the same as yours, extremely shocked! I went online to check with a glimmer of luck, and unexpectedly, things were just like what Old Lin said. Three years ago, thirteen people died in car accidents at the company entrance within a month. The police set up a special case team to investigate at that time, but ultimately didn't find out any results, and concluded it as a traffic accident."

  "If I'm not mistaken, the deceased should be us!" I asked in a trembling voice.

  "That's right." The response came from Zhang Xiaolu, who was looking for her boyfriend Zeng Mingqing along with Liu Tingting. Her face was filled with a desperate expression, clearly prepared for the worst.

  "According to this, weren't we already dead three years ago? Is that possible? We're all still alive and well now! Moreover, the second day after Liu Tingting's death, I was taken to the police station by two policemen for questioning!" I suspect they are all lying and colluding to deceive me.

  The office suddenly fell silent, with only heartbeats and heavy breathing sounds left.

  Lin Wei broke the deathly silence with a bitter smile after a long time, "It sounds unbelievable, but it's undeniable that this is the fact in front of us! If we must explain, it can only be said that the place where this advertising company is located is a time tunnel, and we are shuttling back and forth between life and death in this time tunnel. Moreover, there is another fact to tell you, since the series of car accidents, our office has been sealed off. In other words, the office we are currently in does not exist at all!"

  At first, I thought this matter was strange and unpredictable, but I absolutely didn't expect it to be so unbelievable.

  However, I didn't give up hope. I thought of the mysterious person who sent me a message, and maybe this matter isn't a dead end after all, there might be a way to rescue it.

  I didn't speak, but was thinking of a countermeasure in my mind. To be honest, I don't want to die like this because neither Lin Meixin's sudden death nor the series of deaths that followed had anything to do with me.

  "After a brief silence, Lin Wei spoke again. 'I think that time may not be the most important thing for us. Whether we were living three years ago or now, it doesn't make any difference to us. What's important is that we must survive this ordeal. As long as we can survive, all our problems will be solved and we'll return to our normal lives. Now, what we should think about is how to survive.'"

  Lin Wei's words had a certain effect, and the others sitting in the office reignited their hope for survival.

  I sat there in a daze, still thinking about the question I had just thought of.

  "According to the results I found online, I already know our order of death and time of death. Starting from Da Liu's death today, one person dies every day, in the order of Xiao Peng, Zhang Xiaolu, me, Zeng Mingqing... That is to say, tomorrow at dawn will be Xiao Peng, then Zhang Xiaolu, followed by me, Zeng Mingqing..."

  Lin Wei's words had just finished, Xiao Peng's face turned pale, the hope of survival that had just appeared was gone, and he trembled with fear, shouting, "Squad leader, I...I don't want to die!"

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