The air was suffocatingly hot, an oppressive weight pressing down on my chest, leaving me gasping for breath, as if the very oxygen had been stolen from the world.
I jolted awake, my eyes snapping open as I inhaled in panicked, ragged gulps.
All I could see was darkness—an impenetrable void, so thick that even the faintest outline of my hand was swallowed by it.
Terror and confusion gripped me. Where am I?
Fumbling blindly with trembling hands, I groped at my surroundings. My fingertips grazed sharp, splintered edges that stung my skin, leaving trails of searing pain.
As my hands moved downward, I realized I was lying on a coarse wooden plank. I tried to sit up, but a sharp thud echoed as my head collided with something hard above me. My fingers reached upward to find yet another unyielding wooden surface.
Suddenly, a flicker of light pierced the darkness, followed by the shrill, jarring ring of a phone.
I turned toward the sound, my heart pounding wildly. It was a phone—an old one—lying right beside me.
In the faint glow of its screen, I caught a hazy glimpse of my surroundings. Horror froze my breath as I realized where I was.
I was trapped inside a narrow, claustrophobic wooden coffin. The space was empty, save for my trembling body.
With shaking hands, I picked up the phone. It was an old Nokia keypad model—clearly not mine. The screen displayed a series of Burmese characters I couldn't understand.
The phone kept ringing incessantly. After a moment's hesitation, I pressed the answer button.
From the other end of the line, a familiar voice filled the suffocating silence—Qin Yao's voice. She chuckled softly before speaking, her words chilling me to the bone.
"So, how does it feel to be buried alive?"
Her words struck me like a thunderclap. My heart sank, and an icy dread flooded my veins. My voice quivered as I stammered, "W-What do you mean?"
She spoke slowly, her tone calm and deliberate, every word steeped in malice.
"I watched you as they buried you. Everything's been calculated perfectly. With the oxygen canister I left in the coffin, you have—at most—thirty-five minutes. After that, you'll suffocate to death."
A deafening roar filled my ears as panic surged through me. My entire body trembled uncontrollably, and I couldn't hold back the primal scream that tore from my throat.