Global Collapse

Chapter 35: Since there's no group chat, this is the only way I can talk to everyone.
"Don't get agitated, try to calm down first..."

Before Yuwen could finish speaking, a violent thud came from the other end, as if the phone had been forcibly pulled to the ground, followed by Lin Yue'er's scream.

The call was immediately disconnected.

He shuddered a few times and reached out to redial, only to find that the other party was no longer available.

An eerie silence fell over the room. Yuwen Hao held the phone, unsure whether to put it down or keep holding it.

Just then, he felt a strong sense of being watched, as if something was constantly observing him.

He slowly shifted his gaze to the bedroom door, which was still tightly closed, without a single crack.

He then moved his gaze upwards, finally fixing it on the ventilation window above the door.

The ventilation window is transparent, and from his angle, he can see the ceiling of the living room.

It was pitch black outside, and it felt as if a head was hanging on the ceiling, staring intently at him through the ventilation window.

Yuwen Hao swallowed hard, trying to calm himself down.

He flipped through his phone book: "I need to stay calm... stay calm... call the others first to see if they're experiencing any problems too..."

Yuwen Hao's gaze first lingered on the name "Gu Mian".

But after hesitating for a moment, he seemed to think that the doctor was not very reliable and that talking to him would not help, so he ignored him and turned his gaze to Qinghuan below Gu Mian.

With trembling hands, he called Qinghuan.

Within seconds, the other party answered immediately.

"Hello?" Qing Huan's slightly breathless voice came through the receiver: "Yuwen Hao?"

Yuwen Hao agreed, "Yes, I wanted to ask how things are on your end. Lin Yue'er just called me, and it seems like... things aren't going well for her."

Qinghuan's voice sounded hurried: "Something's wrong with this room of mine. I'm right here pressed against the wall talking to you on the phone."

Stick it on the wall? Yuwen Hao was stunned for a moment.

Qinghuan's voice kept coming through the microphone:
"I don't know why, but ever since I came back to this house, I've felt like something's been following me."

"Whether I'm in the living room, bedroom, or bathroom, I can feel someone behind me!"

"As I walked, I could hear footsteps behind me, very faint, but I heard them; they were very close!"

“I turned around, but there was nothing behind me… but I knew it was always behind me, always following me… I couldn’t take it anymore, so I leaned against the wall. There was a wall right behind me, and that made the feeling a little less…”

Yuwen Hao gripped the microphone tightly: "Did you try leaving that room?"

"Yes, I tried, but it kept following me. When I went down the stairs, I heard footsteps coming down from above. It followed me down!"

"There were no lights in the stairwell, it was too dark, I didn't dare to go any further down, so I came back down the other staircase..."

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Hao took a deep breath. It seemed that not only he had sensed something was wrong, but all five of them were probably in danger!

Thinking this, he comforted Qinghuan for a few words, then hung up and called Golden Wings.

"I wonder how Huang Yu is doing now..." Yuwen Hao muttered to himself as he recalled the appearance of the golden wings: "A homebody like him would probably have no chance of escaping if he encountered a ghost."

But the phone rang for a long time, and the other party did not answer.

Yuwen Hao asked with some concern, "What happened? Is he not home?"

Or is it already...?

After a long while, a cold female voice finally came through the receiver: "The number you dialed is currently busy, please try again later..."

Yuwen Hao frowned.

Who else could Huang Yu call?
Lin Yue'er's phone number is different, and Qing Huan just spoke to me. Could it be that Huang Yu is talking to that doctor?

As he thought about it, he glanced at Gu Mian's name in the phone book. "I should call him and see. I need to know everyone's situation first. I have to call him eventually."

Yuwen paused for a while before dialing Gu Mian's number from the phone book.

About ten seconds later, the other end of the line answered the phone.

As soon as the other end of the line answered, Yuwen Hao completely forgot what he had prepared, because he was startled by the voice coming from the receiver.

A continuous, loud "creaking" sound came from the microphone, like something twisting its joints on the other end of the phone.

Besides the strange sound of joints twisting, Yuwen Hao also heard other faint noises, like the buzzing of flies or the sharp sound of a fork scraping against a plate.

He moved the microphone a little further away from himself, his voice trembling: "Dr. Gu... Dr. Gu, what's going on your end?"

Could it be that they have already... perished?
But immediately, Gu Mian's nonchalant voice came from the other end: "It's nothing, Sadako just crawled out of the TV."

What? Yuwen Hao shuddered violently, his hand jerked and he dropped the phone receiver. When he picked it up again, the call had already ended.

He no longer had the courage to call back and just stared blankly at the phone.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

The phone calls to Lin Yue'er and Huang Yu went unanswered.

Qinghuan leaned against the wall all night, not daring to relax for a moment.

Yuwen Hao was scared half to death by the sounds of Gu Mian eating popcorn and playing horror movies.

Only Gu Mian slept until she naturally woke up.

When they woke up, it was already 7:48. The five of them had arranged to meet at the restaurant at 8:00 a.m.

After Gu Mian unexpectedly stuck her face out last night, there was no more knocking on the door.

Gu Mian was able to watch the entire movie "The Ring" and had almost finished the two bags of popcorn.

When he returned the disc and arrived at the restaurant where they were supposed to meet, the other four men were already waiting there, looking dejected.

Gu Mian put the chainsaw aside and sat down. He counted the number of people, and surprisingly, not a single one was missing.

This seems to be a very benevolent instance.

Yuwen Hao raised his head and stared intently at him, seemingly surprised that Gu Mian was still alive.

Only after Gu Mian sat down did he slowly approach: "Dr. Gu, I called you last night...you said Sadako crawled out?"

Gu Mian answered naturally, "Yes, I'm watching a horror movie."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the people around him changed slightly.

Yuwen Hao asked incredulously, "A horror movie?"

Was the doctor talking about a horror movie last night?

Yuwen Hao was absolutely certain that even if his parents had given him ten more lives, he still wouldn't dare watch a horror movie in a place like this, especially in the middle of the night.

He calmed himself down and thought, "Oh well, it's none of my business if they want to watch horror movies late at night..."

Yuwen Hao stopped focusing on the strange doctor and turned to the others: "Let's talk about what happened last night."

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Yue'er and said, "Yue'er, you go first."

Last night, there was quite a commotion on her end during our phone call, and later the call went unanswered. Yuwen Hao even thought Lin Yue'er was dead, but he never expected to see her alive today.

Gu Mian also turned to look at Lin Yue'er. No one called him yesterday except for Yuwen Hao, so he had no idea what had happened to these people.

Thank you to zhichunbumeng, Fairy, Huanchengyueying, Guilinwyj, Linfenghan, Fuqinshengxiao, woweicuigengjinqun, Liuliulilinqi, and Liuxing for their generous donations. (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
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(End of this chapter)