Woo-woo-woo! Woo-woo-woo!
Police cars with flashing lights sped through the streets. After receiving the call reporting a homicide, law enforcement quickly arrived at the scene. The yellow caution tape was surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers, chattering noisily about the sudden incident.
The call to the police was made by Dai Minghan. Although this was a world within a story, it still operated like reality. The building was filled with surveillance cameras everywhere. If the participants discovered the deceased but deliberately concealed it and quietly fled, they could easily implicate themselves as suspects in the murder. If they were then arrested by the police for questioning and couldn't get away, the consequences would be unimaginable.
By the time they finished answering the police's inquiries and giving their statements, it was already dark. Aside from not mentioning the supernatural attack, the group truthfully reported everything else to the authorities. As for whether the police could uncover the truth of the incident, Chen Mo honestly didn't hold out much hope.
As for the phone that had sent the "cursed game," Dai Minghan had hidden it away. Then, Chen Mo immediately made a call to inform Feng Wenxuan and the others, who were still waiting at the school for news, about what had happened in the apartment.
But just then, something unexpected occurred. Feng Wenxuan, who was on the phone with Chen Mo, suddenly heard a *ding-dong* notification sound for a text message through the receiver. While keeping the call going, he casually opened the message, assuming it was spam, and prepared to delete it.
However, upon opening the message from an "Unknown" contact, a puzzled expression appeared on Feng Wenxuan's face.
"Seven days left? What does that mean?"
And then there was that contact labeled "Unknown."
Feng Wenxuan knew that there were ways to hide a phone's caller ID or the number sending a text message, but who would bother doing something so pointless?
"Feng Wenxuan?"
Hearing the sudden silence on the other end of the line, Chen Mo felt a sense of unease creeping in. But soon, a reassuring reply came through the receiver.
"It's nothing... I just got a text message."
"A text message?" Chen Mo's unease deepened. "What kind of message?"
"It's nothing, just some spam from an unknown sender, and I've already deleted it..."
Since Chen Mo had his phone on speaker, Dai Minghan and Lin Tianheng both heard Feng Wenxuan's reply. The three of them exchanged thoughtful glances.
A spam message from an unknown sender?
"Feng Wenxuan, are you sure you deleted that message? Is your phone acting strangely?"
"Chen Mo, what are you getting at?" Feng Wenxuan's tone turned a bit annoyed. "Are you saying you don't trust me?"
Even though the other person had more "seniority" in the Creepy Radio, Feng Wenxuan still felt that Chen Mo's overly meticulous style was rubbing him the wrong way.
Do I have to report everything to you? Feng Wenxuan thought irritably. But just then, his phone seemed to malfunction, suddenly going black.
What's going on? This is an iPhone I just bought a month ago—it can't be broken already, can it? I still need to carry out the mission in this world!
He pressed the power button a couple more times, but the phone showed no response. Frustrated to the point of exasperation, Feng Wenxuan was about to toss the phone onto the table when, all of a sudden, an electronic synthesized melody started playing from the device.
What's happening? Wasn't my phone just turned off?
The music, which should have been melodious, sounded eerie due to its distorted pitch. At the same time, the dark screen lit up again, displaying an image.
An image... of a pixel game...
"What is this?"
Staring at the screen that had turned on by itself, Feng Wenxuan's face showed surprise. He didn't recall ever installing a game like this.
In fact, he never played games at all!
As a newcomer, although Feng Wenxuan kept a low profile in the story, in the real world, he held the title of Marketing Manager, overseeing about fifteen or sixteen people. The heavy burden of performance evaluations left him with neither the time nor the energy to mess around with such things!
Watching the pixelated character running across the screen, Feng Wenxuan grabbed his phone, trying to shut it down. But no matter what he did, the game on the screen seemed to run on its own, completely ignoring his commands!
"The ritual is about to begin!"
"Yeah, we need to prepare the offerings quickly, or something bad will happen."
"Don't worry, the first statue is already made!"
Seeing the dialogue between the two pixel characters on the screen, an inexplicable fear rose in Feng Wenxuan's heart. His hand trembling, he pressed down hard on the power button.
The screen went black again. To his surprise, the eerie game actually closed when the phone shut down.
"What... what was that?"
Feng Wenxuan sat in his chair, his heart racing. After a long pause, he cautiously turned the phone back on.
Thankfully, the game screen didn't reappear.
It was as if it had just been a phone glitch.
Just then, a phone ringtone suddenly blared, making Feng Wenxuan jump. But this call was from Dai Minghan.
When he answered, a concerned voice came through.
"Feng Wenxuan? What's going on over there? Why couldn't we get through to you earlier?"
"It's nothing..."
In truth, Feng Wenxuan's heart was now filled with an inexplicable terror. He... was too afraid to mention what had just happened.
He desperately wanted to deceive himself into thinking nothing had occurred.
After a weary exchange of a few words, Feng Wenxuan quickly changed the subject. "How are things on your end? Did you find Zhou Xiaomi?"
But as he listened to Dai Minghan's description over the phone, fear gradually crept across Feng Wenxuan's face. Though he tried to stay calm, the muscles in his face twitched uncontrollably.
"You... you're saying that dead student had a game on his phone?"
"Yes, and it's likely a 'cursed game' with the ability to spread! Because before the phone shut down, Chen Mo saw it automatically sending messages..."
Even as he heard the words through the earpiece, Feng Wenxuan's body began to tremble violently, as if he had fallen into an ice cave. A deep chill ran up his spine.
And his face turned incredibly pale!
A game... they mentioned a game...
Could it be the one I just received...
But why me?!
They were the ones who found the phone, they were the ones who directly contacted the deceased—why... why did this cursed game get sent to my phone?!
After hearing their account, Feng Wenxuan was already highly suspicious that the "phone glitch" he had just experienced, along with that eerie game screen...
Was almost certainly the "cursed game" created by the supernatural forces in this story.
And he had been chosen by the ghostly entity to be the next victim!
-- PS, fifth update
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