Upon hearing Chen Mo's voice, Lin Tianheng was startled. "Chen Mo, you're not dead?"
This made Chen Mo laugh in anger. "What do you think?"
Lin Tianheng on the other end of the phone was clearly stunned for a moment. "Since you're not dead, then why did we receive that cursed game?"
"What?"
This time, it was Chen Mo's turn to be shocked. "What do you mean?"
"Not just me and Ye Sheng, but Zhang Yiming too—all three of us just got a message, and that cursed game appeared on our phones! Chen Mo, what the hell did you guys do?!"
Hearing Lin Tianheng's reply, Chen Mo was also taken aback. Since his phone was on speaker, Dai Minghan's expression shifted as he pulled out his own phone from his pocket. On its screen, the eerie image of the cursed game had appeared without warning.
Not only had the game's visuals shown up, but the screen corruption seemed worse than ever before, as if the program was damaged. The entire display flickered constantly, nearly obscuring its original form.
"This..."
The turn of events had exceeded Chen Mo's imagination. Could it be that because they had touched the core clues of this horror story, they had artificially accelerated its progression, leading to this outcome?
Even Zhang Yiming, who wasn't a participant, had been affected by the curse and received that terrifying game.
After a few seconds of thought, Chen Mo relayed everything he and Dai Minghan had discovered in the house to Lin Tianheng. Upon hearing Chen Mo's account, both Lin Tianheng and Ye Sheng were deeply shocked.
"You mean this Zhang Yiming hasn't been telling us the truth?"
"Whether he's lying or not, at least he's likely hiding part of the truth. If I had to guess, the reason Zhang Yiming is concealing this is that revealing it would put him in a very bad position."
"That bastard..." Lin Tianheng gritted his teeth, a fierce look crossing his face.
"And don't forget what happened at N Company."
"What happened at N Company?" Lin Tianheng paused, then quickly caught on. "You mean..."
"When we were investigating that abandoned building, a shadow suddenly appeared and attacked us. Doesn't that prove someone didn't want certain things hidden there to come to light?"
"Right, how did I forget that?" Lin Tianheng suddenly realized. "Chen Mo, are you suggesting this might be connected to Zhang Yiming?"
"Whether it's connected or not, we need to ask him properly. Yin Xiong's death probably isn't that simple. If it weren't for a deep-seated grudge, he wouldn't have become the source of the curse in this story."
"Damn it, I almost let this guy slip by." Lin Tianheng clenched his teeth. "The moment I saw him, I knew something was off. Chen Mo, wait—I'll make him spill everything."
After hanging up, Lin Tianheng's grim face turned to Zhang Yiming, who, having received the cursed game, seemed on the verge of collapse.
Without a word, Lin Tianheng walked over and kicked him to the ground.
The kick stunned Zhang Yiming. "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? You've got some nerve! Tell us how you've been deceiving us."
"Deceiving? Why would I deceive you?" Zhang Yiming, already terrified, jumped up at Lin Tianheng's provocation. "You're the ones who broke your word! You promised to protect me from the curse! You..."
Before he could finish, Lin Tianheng kicked him in the stomach again, making him break out in a cold sweat. His gaze toward Lin Tianheng now held a hint of fear.
"You... you're not cops, who the hell are you?!"
"I haven't finished questioning you, so who gave you the right to speak?"
Lin Tianheng raised an eyebrow, his menacing aura startling Ye Sheng. As a student, Ye Sheng had never seen such a scene. Unsure of Lin Tianheng's background, he dared not speak, watching with a mix of surprise and awe as Lin Tianheng seemed to transform.
"I've already told you everything I know. What more do you want from me?"
Ignoring Zhang Yiming's whining, Lin Tianheng sneered coldly. "What more? Start with what happened in that abandoned building at N Company."
"What?" Zhang Yiming's face twitched with agitation. "What do you mean? How can you be sure I hired someone to attack you? What proof do you have..."
He stopped mid-sentence, as if realizing he'd made a mistake, his expression shifting sharply.
At the same time, Lin Tianheng and Ye Sheng's faces both turned strange.
"How strange—I haven't even said what happened in that building, yet you knew we were attacked..."
"No, no! It's... it's me! Listen, listen to me!"
Like a defeated rooster, Zhang Yiming's face darkened instantly. Receiving the cursed game had shattered his psyche, and in his panic, he'd made the mistake of confessing without being pressed.
Now, regret was too late.
For Lin Tianheng, there were no more scruples either. All participants were now affected by the curse, which could only mean they had touched the story's core clues, and the mystery was about to unravel.
But this was also the story's most dangerous moment—life or death, no exaggeration. In this situation, to force the truth out of Zhang Yiming and seize that slim chance of survival, Lin Tianheng was capable of anything.
Sensing this intense danger, Zhang Yiming finally gave up struggling. After a moment's hesitation, he revealed another version of the story behind it all.
Upon learning the truth, Lin Tianheng and Ye Sheng exchanged glances. Eventually, Lin Tianheng called Chen Mo again, sharing what they'd discovered with Chen Mo and Dai Minghan, who were still investigating the "cursed room."
"That Yin Xiong wasn't just a programmer at N Company—he was the developer of the game 'Death in Seven Days.'"
"What did you say?" Chen Mo's voice came through the phone, amplified by shock.
"That's right. He was the one who created that cursed game!"