Right at the moment when the lock on the door was about to be smashed, a long sheet was suddenly dropped from the balcony above. The occupant of the apartment 902 on the above floor had opened his balcony window. He whispered to Aileen: "Come up here, or you are gonna die!"
Aileen didn't hesitate for a second, grabbed the sheet, and climbed up.
After entering the room of 902 and locking all the windows and doors, Aileen finally let out a sigh of relief.
The occupant of 902 was a programmer of about the same age as Aileen, usually silent and reclusive. Aileen hardly talked to him in the landlord group.
Aileen didn't expect that he would save her in such a situation.
Before Aileen could express her gratitude, he suddenly looked at me seriously and said, "I saw your message in the group, and I can guess what you're doing, but it's useless, it won't save your family, that killer is just Granny Wong's executioner."
Aileen was shocked: "How do you know there's a murderer in my family? How do you know about these things?"
He sighed: "My grandfather was a yin-yang master in the village, and I learned some little tricks from him since I was a child. A few days ago, I ran into Granny Wong in the building, and her condition at that time clearly showed that she had cast a life-exchanging spell on herself. I paid more attention to her and saw her taking 'holy water' to your floor several times, so I guessed that she was probably targeting you. But before I could warn you, she didn't wait any longer and had already taken action."
Aileen tried her best to suppress her fear: "But I heard that Granny Wong died a few days ago? What is a life-exchanging spell, and I have no grudge against her, why would she harm me?"
He handed me a glass of water and said, "You don't need to worry. Can you tell me what happened to you today first?"
Aileen nodded and recounted to him everything that had happened since she got off work and came home, completely and thoroughly. But out of caution, Aileen didn't mention the fact that she died once and came back to life but only those two encounters in the elevator.
After finishing to listen Aileen's story, he seemed thoughtful: "Do you know that Granny Wong's granddaughter has been seriously ill in bed for many years? If I'm not mistaken, your birthday matches exactly with her granddaughter's, so you are the best candidate for her to exchange lives."
He took a sip of water and continued: "Although it's said that it's for her granddaughter to exchange lives, but the life-exchanging spell must first be cast on speller oneself. After Granny Wong casted the spell on herself, she would temporarily lose her consciousness and only remember her only goal, but her body would become incredibly strong."
"To successfully exchange lives, the person being exchanged from must be in a state of extreme horror, witnessing the death of their loved ones at the last moment, and then, under such circumstances, her soul could be stripped inch by inch."
"So she deliberately created those weird events in the elevator, with the aim of delaying you, so that when you get home, you can see your family die in front of you, and the death prophecy news you mentioned, and the rumors that Granny Wong herself is already dead, are all deliberately spread by her, to make your emotions collapse and your spirit reach a state of extreme horror."
After listening to his words, Aileen was stunned on the spot because what he said completely matched her last experiences. She was in a state of extreme horror and saw her parents and brother die in front of her eyes. Aileen felt as if her throat was on fire at the moment, dry and speechless: "So... what should I do now?"
902: "Actually, it's very simple. In order to exchange lives successfully, these three conditions are indispensable. What Granny Wang is doing is delaying you, not letting you go home earlier, so that when you get home, you can see your family die at the last moment. But if your family hasn't had an accident when you get home, and you stay close to them, then the condition cannot be met."
Aileen pondered for a moment and felt that if what he said was true, then this was indeed the solution.
The vibration of the mobile phone disturbed Aileen's thoughts. Messages from the landlord group kept popping up. The neighbors who saw the group message and rushed to her home saw that there was still no money, and now they were all shouting in the wechat group.
409: "Damn it, it's true or false? We've been waiting at your door for a long time, where are you, and where's the red envelope? Are you playing with us?"
605: "I said she was lying. Who would give money before immigrating? What's the point of playing with us?"
2102: "Yeah, and her parents only repeat the sentence 'wait for my daughter to come back' when asked. Is this really playing with us? Speechless, let's all go home!"
Aileen quickly came up with an idea and replied:
"I'm sorry, everyone, I just said it's 12 o'clock, and I'm still on my way home, please wait patiently, if you can't wait, you can go home first, after all, there are only 10 red envelopes, and there are so many of you, I won't be able to share them."
The time on the phone has passed 11:55.
There are only 5 minutes left until the time predicted by the news. Although 902 said that the death prophecy news was a fake message used to scare her, recalling that the second hand on the clock just passed 12 o'clock right at the moment when she lost consciousness, Aileen was still holding her breath.
902 took out a strange-looking metal product and put it in Aileen's hand, asking, "When you saw Granny Wong, did she look drenched and cold?" Aileen thought about the touch when she was touched by Granny Wong, and the sticky touch, and she nodded fiercely.
902: "That's right, those who cast the life-exchanging spell on themselves will first undergo the punishment of deep water. So they are most afraid of fire. I give you this lighter, which was left by my grandfather. No matter how strong the wind is, it won't blow it out. As long as you light the fire, Granny Wong won't dare to get close to you."
"Granny Wong's killer is a desperate person. Although you have used a plan to gather all the residents of the building at your door, making it impossible for him to get away with it, if there is no news from you for a long time, he will definitely fight to the death and kill all the other people who have been controlled."
He said as he sent me to the door: "There is no time, you must go back to your family now, remember, if you meet Granny Wong on the way, no matter what she does, don't be scared by her. Her purpose is to delay you, so that when you get home, you can witness your family's last breath at the last moment, and then it will be too late to save your family!"
Aileen clenched the lighter, feeling the slightly hot temperature in her hand, and her heart suddenly felt a little more at ease. Taking a deep breath, Aileen resolutely rushed out of the door and into the elevator. She didn't dare to be sure that the elevator would continue to take her to the floor. But she had no choice now. With her physique, it would take at least 5 minutes to climb from the 9th floor to the 25th floor. Even if the death prophecy at 12 o'clock was a fake, who dares to imagine what will happen in the 5 minutes of climbing the stairs.
After all, there was no elevator in the corridor, and they had nothing to fear.
Entering the elevator, Aileen stared at the elevator floor number, 9th floor, 10th floor, 11th floor ... 15th floor … 20th floor... The elevator did not suddenly go down again.
But Aileen didn't know why, at this moment, she was even more nervous. Her whole heart was in a knot.
[Ding …]
The elevator door opened on the 25th floor. Outside the door, there was no one but only the sound of a commotion coming from the end of the corridor.
Aileen took a bottle of mineral water from her bag and quickly smashed it to the side of the elevator door. Only after hearing the water bottle land steadily did she let out a sigh of relief. There was no one outside the elevator, it seems that Granny Wong hasn't found her here yet.
Aileen rushed out of the elevator towards the door. She hoped everything was still in time. But as she was running, Aileen slowly stopped, because she suddenly felt something was particularly wrong. Aileen stood in the middle of the corridor. Her home was at the end of the corridor, and she could clearly hear the noise coming from the direction of her home's door. But ... But why, from here, there was no one at the door of her home, only a corridor light was shining a weak light in the night?
No matter what, even if there was a fire over there, Aileen had to rush over to solve the problem. Aileen tried to take another step towards home. But ... her right foot was suddenly like being entangled by vines, and she couldn't lift it at all. Aileen slowly lowered her head …
A withered, gray hand was tightly holding her ankle! The old woman's pale face, without blood color, her eyes full of resentment, staring at Aileen.
Her forehead was covered with sweat, panting heavily.
Granny Wong, she actually climbed the stairs from the eighth floor! She enlarged her lips and said word by word: "You can't go now!" Her wet body was tightly attached to Aileen's calf. She wrapped herself tightly around Aileen with her own body.
902 said that those who cast the life-exchanging spell on themselves would have infinite strength, and Aileen couldn't break free from her no matter how hard she tried. Aileen quickly took out the lighter that 902 had just given to her and quickly lit the fire.
[Click], the metal head of the lighter lit up a bright red flame. Granny Wong suddenly screamed and let go of me, as if she had touched something extremely terrifying, and desperately retreated a few steps.
Aileen was surprised to see the lighter in her hand. It worked, it seemed that 902's grandfather who was a yin-yang master really had some skills. Aileen didn't dare to delay any longer and turned to run home. Behind her, Granny Wong's voice was almost screaming: "You come back! You come back! You can't go now! My granddaughter will die! You come back to me quickly!"
"My granddaughter only has this chance to live again!"
Aileen didn't care and ran forward, straight to the door, took out the key and inserted it into the lock. The air was eerily quiet. Aileen looked up and suddenly realized that there was no one at the door of her home, and even the noise just now was gone. Aileen opened her cell phone and found that the landlord group was unusually quiet at the moment.
Could it be that the killer, after waiting for her for a long time, became angry and dragged everyone into the room to kill them all? But ... But what's wrong with all this?
If according to 902, the killer is Granny Wong's executioner, then he must have his best interests in money or emotions of Granny Wong. Granny Wong was his employer. He would naturally do what Granny Wong intended to. How could he kill people on his own just because he hasn't waited for me?
There's more.
If the life-exchanging spell must be satisfied with two conditions, it must be in a state of extreme horror, and the second is that the person being exchanged from must not see the process of their loved ones dying, but must witness the moment they breathe their last.
Thinking about it, if in order to make both conditions not to be met at the same time, according to 902, one way is that if she went home earlier, she won't witness the so-called "last breath of my loved ones" thus the life-changing spell can't be established.
However, there was another way: Aileen never went home. It sounds more plausible and safer, but why does 902 ...
Thinking about it, Aileen frowned and retreated. But she was facing Granny Wong who was crawling towards her with a ferocious look. At this moment, Aileen didn't know where to go.
The next second, the door of her home suddenly slammed open! A pair of strong hands instantly pulled her in. The room was filled with a strong smell of blood. It was still the bodies of her parents and brother lying on the ground, their necks still gushing blood.
What about those people? What about the residents who came to her home from the landlord group? Just now, there was clearly a commotion, even if they all went downstairs, Aileen should have met them in the elevator. But ...
Before Aileen could figure it out, hands suddenly tightened around her neck. She was strangled and fell to the ground. Aileen tried to turn her head to see the face of the killer but the person's strength was too strong, and there was no chance for her to turn around. Consciousness gradually dissipated.
At the last moment, the clock on the wall stopped at midnight 12 o'clock.