Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

In room 403, the hands of my watch pointed to 10:30.

The seven people gathered in the living room to piece together all the clues they had gathered so far.

"We have made a preliminary assessment of the relationship between these three companies."

Chen Ji sat on the sofa and spoke quickly: "Wang Su from room 201 and Wang Lijun from room 305 are siblings. Wang Lijun is the aunt of Wang Weiwei from room 502."

"The Wang family may have lived on this land for a hundred years, from Wangjia Village and Jixiangyuan, all the way to Liting Apartment after 00."

"The old woman is the mother of Wang Su and his sister. I don't know why she's wandering around this apartment."

He scanned the crowd and pondered for a moment before saying:

"Of the two ghosts that have appeared so far, she has not shown any aggression yet, but we still need to be careful."

"Xiao Chen is right."

Zuo Shiming nodded. "This is only the second cycle. She didn't show up again today, so nothing is certain."

Speaking of the two ghosts, Chen Ji thought for a moment and then said, "There's something else."

"Regarding that elevator ghost, I think its weakness is that it's trapped in the elevator shaft. As long as it doesn't use the elevator, it doesn't pose much of a threat to us."

He spoke with great conviction, and in fact, this conclusion was drawn after a day of testing.

During their search for clues, the seven people passed through the elevators on various floors more than once, but no danger occurred.

Based on the crowbars and screwdrivers scattered on the ground, as well as the head severed by the elevator door, the seven people had already deduced the cause of Wu Zhonghai's death during their previous discussions.

Perhaps he was misled, or perhaps Wu Zhonghai was in a hurry to leave the sealed-off fifth floor.

In short, he was killed by the ghost because he pried open the elevator door himself.

Chen Ji sighed, "Wu Zhonghai..."

He died unjustly.

There is another matter that remains unresolved.

So, who exactly is the elevator ghost?

The pool of candidates has now been narrowed down to a very small number. Given the fateful connection between the Wang family and Liting Apartments, everyone unanimously guesses that it is Wang Su.

However, there is no concrete evidence to support this.

The discovery of old documents today has brought that long-overlooked mission back into focus.

The past is never truly gone, and what has passed has never truly left.

The meaning of the second half of the sentence is already very clear, while the first half has stirred up a new fog in everyone's minds.

"The past is never truly gone..."

Chen Ji murmured, "Could it be that someone survived one of the three murders?"

"But there's no one alive here, except for that elevator operator?"

Murong Qing also frowned, her mind racing as she pondered the meaning of those words.

After a long pause, she still had no clue. The only possible interpretation of this sentence was, as Chen Ji had said, that someone had survived.

"Tomorrow...the next cycle, let's observe the elevator operator."

“Judging from his age, if he really is a resident of this apartment, then it can only be Brother Yuan,” Murong Qing said.

Chen Ji nodded and said nothing more.

For some reason, he had a vague feeling that the elevator repairman was unlikely to be Brother Yuan.

To be precise, it wouldn't even be someone from this apartment building.

Because there is no logic to it!

The elevator worker appeared to be in good health, with no injuries, which is impossible given the amount of blood at the crime scene.

Moreover, why would he come back for no reason?

Chen Ji's expression was somewhat grim. He had a vague feeling that if the investigation proceeded in this direction, the group might be going astray.

However, unless there are some clues they haven't found that correspond to the first half of this sentence, the group can only investigate in this direction.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Chen Ji raised his wrist; it was 10:50 PM.

Starting at 10:00 AM, he had instructed everyone not to leave room 403, because the time for the cycle to end had not yet been determined.

Fei stretched and drank all the milk that Hu Li had given her, sucking until the milk carton was flat.

She threw the milk carton into the trash can, stood up, and said lazily:

"I'm going to sleep."

After saying that, she lifted her leg and walked into the bedroom.

"Then we'll go back too." Seeing her return to her room, Yuanyuan and Huli quickly stood up.

These past two days, they've gotten along quite well with Fei'er, and they all think Fei'er is as cute as a doll.

Most importantly... they felt an inexplicable and strong sense of security when they were with Fei'er.

Seeing this, Murong Qing also returned to her bedroom.

"Okay, everyone, pack up and get some rest."

Chen Ji said, got off the sofa, and lay down on the floor next to Zhuang Rui.

Since Zuo Shiming was also nearly forty years old and had lumbar problems due to driving for ride-hailing services, the others left the softer sofa for him to sleep on.

Chen Ji turned to the side, his eyes fixed on the watch on his wrist, not blinking.

He vaguely remembered that the loop suddenly ended a little after 11 p.m. last night.

Not long after, Zhuang Rui, who was beside him, had calmed down and fallen asleep.

It was at this time.

That familiar feeling, like a sudden power outage, returned.

Chen Ji immediately took advantage of the last bit of consciousness he had left to quickly memorize the time.

11: 13.

He muttered the words rapidly to himself, then his eyes suddenly became blurry, and his thoughts ceased to function.

Two or three minutes later, his eyes slowly closed, and he fell into a dreamlike state of darkness.

......

Eight fifteen.

Chen Ji opened his eyes, glanced at his watch, and saw that it was the same time as yesterday.

Zhuang Rui, who was beside him, was still sleeping soundly.

Zuo Shiming lay on the sofa with his back to them, his body rising and falling slowly, clearly still asleep.

Chen Ji looked around and, seeing nothing amiss, breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked a few steps to the bedroom, pushed the door open a crack, and stared intently.

Inside the room, Fei'er had already sat up. She had just woken up and was lazily rubbing her eyes.

Murong Qing was sleeping far away from her, curled up, her face with her eyes closed showing an unusual peace and tranquility.

Yuanyuan and Huli were very close together on the floor. It seemed that the two had suddenly ended their cycle again, and many small items fell out of their bags, such as papers, rubber bands, and small mirrors.

Chen Ji and Fei'er exchanged a glance and nodded. Seeing that everyone was alright, they stopped looking and gently closed the door.

Suddenly, his hand trembled violently, and his expression turned somewhat strange.

The pen moved frantically in his pocket, as if it had something to tell him.

Chen Ji glanced around, then quietly went into the bathroom before taking out his pen.

As soon as he came out, the pen flew onto Chen Ji's arm, as if it wanted to write something.

"Wait a minute."

Chen Ji stopped the pen from moving and said in a serious voice, "From now on, if anything happens, just move it once."

"Stop fidgeting all the time, it's easy to cause misunderstandings."

The pen flicked its cap, as if casually tossing its hair, and the nib glided across Chen Ji's arm.

【o】

There's something you might not know.

[The loop did not end immediately after you lost consciousness last night.]

[It lasted for about two minutes]

[The cycle has just ended]

"Oh?"

Chen Ji was taken aback; this was a very valuable clue.

He suddenly remembered that the pen was a strange object, so it was unaffected by losing consciousness.

It's just unclear whether this two-minute interval is normal loading time or something else entirely.

"That's amazing, thank you."

Chen Ji touched the pen, speaking in a friendly tone, and the pen rubbed against Chen Ji's palm comfortably.

Chen Ji's heart stirred, but his face remained expressionless.

It seems that the PUA tactics employed during this period have been quite effective.

This is what Du Tingfeng taught him: don't pay attention to the pen unless necessary, just let it air out, because he discovered that the pen actually loves to talk to people.

【^^】

Unaware of Chen Ji's thoughts, the pen quickly drew an expression.

"Haha."

Chen Ji smiled, watching the pen dance happily in response to the praise.

Suddenly, the pen, which had been twisting, froze instantly.

"What's wrong?" Chen Ji was taken aback; the pen's attitude had changed too quickly.

The next second, his vision suddenly blurred.

A large, blood-red character filled Chen Ji's entire field of vision.

This word did not exist in reality, but was suddenly imprinted in Chen Ji's pupils.

The red ink drops, like bloodstains, are filled with extreme horror and urgency!

【die! 】

【die! 】

【die! 】

The word was flashing rapidly at a frequency of once per second!

Chen Ji suddenly took a step back, his blood freezing as if it had been frozen in place.

In that instant, he suddenly understood.

That's the pen's passive ability, a death warning.

In other words, seven seconds later...

He will die!