Late at night.
Lu Fei was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by the urgent ringing of his phone.
"Who is calling so late?"
"Lu Fei, help me!"
As soon as he answered the phone, Pan Lin Kai's frightened voice came through.
"What's wrong, Lin Kai?"
"Hai Tao, Hai Tao is after me!"
"What?"
Lu Fei immediately sat up in bed, turned on the light, and looked at the blood-stained phone on the desk.
The phone seemed perfectly normal, with no trace of any eerie presence.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
"It's not a dream! Haitao sent me another message, he's about to arrive at my doorstep." Pan Linkai was so terrified that he spoke incoherently, "First, he sent pictures of my neighborhood, then my building, from the first floor to the fifth. He's almost here..."
Before he could finish his sentence, his phone vibrated and another message popped up.
It was a picture of his front door.
He's here!
Pan Linkai instantly felt a chill all over his body as he desperately curled up under the blanket, trembling while holding his phone.
"He's here, what do I do, Lu Fei? He's right outside my door!"
"Don't open the door!" Lu Fei calmly held his phone, while grabbing clothes with the other hand, "Linkai, is anyone else at home with you?"
"My parents are out today, it's just me." Pan Linkai, feeling utterly lost, huddled under the blanket, on the verge of tears.
The phone vibrated urgently.
"Open the door!"
"Open the door!"
"Open the door!"
Messages flashed continuously on the screen, like urgent signals deeply stimulating his heart.
"Lu Fei, help…," Pan Linkai shouted in panic.
"Linkai, listen to me, no matter what happens, do not open the door…",
Before Lu Fei could finish, the call was suddenly disconnected.
"Linkai? Linkai!"
Lu Fei quickly redialed.
There was only the busy tone.
A sense of foreboding arose in his heart.
"Haithao's phone is clearly with me, and the yin energy on it has been removed. What exactly is sending him messages?"
"From what he said, that thing is already at his front door."
Lu Fei held the phone tightly, staring at the call log on the screen.
Forget it, I'll help to the end!
Lu Fei pushed open the door.
"Boss, what's wrong? I heard something going on over here." Huzi also rubbed his eyes as he walked out of his room.
"Huzi, grab your gear and come with me."
As Lu Fei walked out, he dialed the number of his squad leader, Wang Feng.
"Lu Fei?"
Wang Feng answered the phone surprisingly quickly, as if he hadn't been sleeping.
"Class monitor, do you have Pan Linkai's home address? Could you send it to me right away, please?"
"Let me check. It might be on the old class contact list. I happen to be working overtime and have my computer on... But why do you need his home address so late at night?"
"He might be in danger. I'll explain later, thanks a lot!"
Lu Fei hung up the phone, and Hu Zi was also ready.
The two locked the door and quickly walked into the night.
On the other side.
"Lu Fei? Lu Fei?"
Pan Linkai looked at the suddenly disconnected call, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
He didn't even hear clearly what Lu Fei said last before the call was cut off.
"What should I do?"
"Calm down, calm down! Call Lu Fei again.
He panted heavily, his hands trembling as he redialed Lu Fei's number. His hands were shaking so badly that it took him several attempts to press the right buttons.
Beep beep beep——
However.
The sound of a busy signal from the phone chilled his heart.
"What's going on? Why can't I get through?" Pan Lin Kai kept dialing Lu Fei's number, but he couldn't get through no matter what.
The phone vibrated again.
"Open the door!"
"Open the door!"
"Open the door!"
One urgent message after another kept flashing on the screen.
"No!!!"
Pan Linkai, in terror, threw the phone away, but it continued to vibrate. He covered his ears tightly with the blanket, yet still could not block out the sound.
"Don't look for me! Don't look for me!"
The sound of the phone vibrating filled the entire room.
Pan Linkai could hear nothing else; that sound was all that remained in his ears.
Finally unable to bear it, he grabbed the phone and desperately pressed the power button.
The screen went dark, and the phone finally fell silent.
Pan Linkai collapsed onto the bed, drenched in cold sweat.
"Please don't look for me anymore, I beg you, don't look for me."
He bowed to his phone and then placed a book on top of it, thinking that as long as he couldn't see it, he wouldn't be as scared.
The light in the room was dim and yellow.
Pan Linke, wrapped in his blanket, gazed out at the heavy darkness of the night, feeling that time had never passed so slowly.
There were still several hours until dawn.
Everything inside and outside the room was deadly quiet.
Thinking about being the only one in the house, his mind couldn't help but wander with all sorts of wild thoughts.
"What if he didn't leave and is just waiting outside the door..."
Just thinking about this, he could no longer stay calm.
After a mental struggle, he crawled out of his blanket, turned on the lights in the living room, and tiptoed to the front door.
He quickly locked the door and then looked out through the peephole.
Cold sweat slid down his forehead.
His heart was pounding like thunder.
He mustered all his courage, but the cat's eyes were pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.
"Has it left…?"
Pan Linhai felt uneasy, hesitated for a moment, and then returned to his small room.
Outside the window, everything was pitch black, and time seemed to drag on endlessly.
His mind was full of torment, as if covered in fur, and he could not sit still for a moment.
Looking at the silent phone, he gritted his teeth, took it out, turned it back on, and tried calling Lu Fei's number.
Unexpectedly, it worked this time.
"Lu Fei!"
As the phone connected, Pan Linhai was overjoyed, as if he had found a savior.
"Lin Kai, how are you?"
"I'm fine for now, please help me!"
"I'm right at your doorstep, open the door."
"Okay…"
Pan Linhai hurried to the front door, but just as his hand grabbed the doorknob, he stopped.
"Is it really Lu Fei?" he asked with some unease.
"Of course it's me, hurry up and open the door!"
Lu Fei's voice came clearly through the phone, but when Pan Linhai looked through the peephole, he only saw the dark hallway.
There was no one outside the door.
"You...who are you?" Pan Linkai's voice trembled.
There was a moment of silence on the phone.
"Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!"
A sharp voice suddenly exploded in Pan Linkai's ears.
"Go away! Go away!"
He could no longer hold it together, roaring as he threw the phone and scrambled into his small room.
Thump thump thump!
But at that moment, the front door was knocked on.
"Linkai, are you still at home? It's Lu Fei." Lu Fei's voice came from outside.
Pan Linkai pressed his ears desperately.
"Don't look for me! Why are you looking for me, when it was clearly you who jumped off the building..."
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
The urgent knocking echoed through the hallway, seeming to not let him go.
Pan Linkai completely broke down. He shook his head and retreated to the window.
Now, there was one way for him to escape from here.
And that was.
To jump.