Zhao Lisheng found the situation utterly absurd. How could he possibly play a game with someone who was already dead? The moment the IP address was traced, police cars were already racing towards the location. Zhao remained at the command center, his eyes fixed on the small moving dot on the satellite map representing the police car. This was the capital of a Southeast Asian country, the city where he had lived for over fifty years. He knew every corner like the back of his hand. Over time, he started to notice something strange about the car's route.
Suddenly, the phone rang. On the other end, an officer's anxious voice broke the silence. "Sir, something's not right… This place, it's a graveyard!" The police camera's live feed showed an empty cemetery, with only a few crows occasionally landing. The signal, continuously transmitting, was buried inside a grave. And the photo on the gravestone? It was none other than the deceased Wang Rui!
It was as if... Zhao Ba was lying in that grave, talking to Wang Rui's ghost.
Zhao Lisheng's face turned pale as he slammed his palm on the table. Last time, the signal disappeared on a deserted island; this time, it pointed to a graveyard. His life, once filled with power and control, had never seen such mockery. Could there really be something beyond the reach of his authority? Impossible!
In contrast to Zhao Lisheng's fury, his son Zhao Ba was paralyzed by fear. The moment he saw Wang Rui's apparition in the living room, his legs had given way. Crawling towards the bodyguard in desperation, he was instead met with a heavy blow—what the Zhao family couldn't have anticipated was that the bodyguard recruitment signal had been intercepted by a law enforcement company. From the moment of contact to knocking Zhao Ba unconscious, it had been law enforcement agents all along.
——
In a dark basement in a small town near the capital of a Southeast Asian country, Zhao Ba was tightly bound to a cross, his head drooping weakly in a pose of punishment. As the saying goes, all sinners must face judgment. A bucket of cold water splashed over his head, jolting him awake. The pain in his body began to register as he opened his swollen eyelids, only to see Wang Rui standing before him.
At that moment, his scalp tingled. His mind was too muddled to comprehend why someone who was supposed to be dead was now standing in front of him. A chill ran from his feet to the top of his head, making him desperately want to hide. But the sound of chains reminded him that escape was impossible; he was tightly bound to the cross, unable to even move.
Wang Rui tilted her head up and gazed at him softly. "You're awake? You don't have much time left."
It was 11:23. Only 37 minutes remained until the next live-streamed execution.
This also meant there were only 37 minutes left until the world delivered its judgment on Zhao Ba's fate.
Wang Rui gave a crooked smile, her face still bearing traces of the innocence she once had. "While you were unconscious, I played a game with your father. If more than 90% of the people vote for your death, then you will die. Aren't you curious about the results?"
With that, Wang casually opened a live-streaming platform on her phone, displaying the voting screen at the bottom left corner. It was a bizarre sight—the live-streamer was completely ignoring the voting link and was focused on selling durians. "Dear viewers, this durian is really great, from Thailand, top quality!" The comment section was filled with questions about the product—"When will it ship?" "Are there ice packs?" "Stop wasting time and just post the link…"
Yet the voting bar kept fluctuating. The red votes in favor of Zhao Ba's execution had soared to 94%, then dropped to 89%, and within seconds, climbed back up to 91%.
Zhao Ba, your family holds incredible power, but in this pure test of public opinion, can your influence truly outmatch the will of millions?