Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

If a person is awakened from sleep.

Then, he suddenly realized that he would die in ten seconds.

What would he do?

Logically speaking, it takes two seconds to open your eyes.

Eight seconds left.

Afterwards, in such a short time, some people may not be able to react and waste all their time.

Others will choose to run away.

However, eight seconds was only enough time for him to get up and take a step or two.

Moreover, no one knows why he died or who killed him.

Because... the available time is simply too short.

The last type of people choose to stay put.

Eight seconds is not enough time to escape.

But that was enough for him to take out his pen...

Record everything you observe.

Who killed him?

This is the message he left for the survivors.

But even he himself didn't expect this...

The recipient of this reminder... is still himself!

.......

Wang Lijun's body was as thin as a piece of paper, and Chen Ji rolled it up and carried it on his shoulder.

Pry open the elevator door, confront a vengeful ghost, and face all sorts of dangers...

He just wanted to find the second half of the photo to verify his inner suspicions.

Having achieved his goal, Chen Ji immediately stood up and patted Zuo Shiming on the shoulder:

"Mr. Zuo, you can go now."

Above them, the elevator ghost grew increasingly impatient; its previously greedy expression had completely transformed into one of rage!

The dumpling's protective shield was already on the verge of collapse.

Without a moment's hesitation, the four rushed out the door.

Fei'er was on the left, and Chen Ji and Zuo Shiming were on the right. The three of them grabbed the elevator door and pushed it towards the middle with all their might!

"Meow~"

At that moment, the silver chain on Zuo Shiming's body moved slightly.

Tuanzi opened her mouth and yawned widely, her eyes seemingly about to close up.

"Tuanzi is going to fall asleep!"

"hurry up!"

Zuo Shiming's expression changed. The door on Fei'er's side had been pushed to the middle, but he and Chen Ji were still a little short.

crunch--

The old elevator door groaned in pain, and at the same moment, Tuanzi suddenly curled up.

The protective shield vanished suddenly, like a balloon being punctured.

"Oh!"

squeak-

As the elevator doors finally closed completely, the sound of fingernails scratching against the steel plate immediately came from inside.

The sound was chilling, making everyone think about what would happen if it hit them...

What will happen!

Zuo Shiming was covered in cold sweat; it was only a second or two away!

"Xiao Chen."

He turned around, leaned against the wall, utterly exhausted, his expression complex:

"We've taken such a great risk; hopefully what you find will be valuable."

However, Chen Ji remained silent.

He was holding another torn photograph.

"As expected..."

Chen Ji murmured, taking out the photos from the basement as well. The two photos fit together perfectly.

In the complete photo, there is a stroller in front of Wang Lijun and Wang Su.

Inside, a baby wearing an old-fashioned bib was fast asleep.

It's a baby boy.

Who is this child?

Hu Li was a little puzzled. She stared at the photo carefully. The buildings in the background were gray and dull, clearly in the style of the 1980s and 90s.

"Chen Zhiyuan?"

Hu Li murmured, but then suddenly felt something was wrong.

Chen Zhiyuan is clearly the child of Wang Lijun after her divorce and remarriage.

Normally, given the abnormal relationship between the Wang siblings, they wouldn't take photos with one of their children.

"No."

Chen Ji said.

"He is the biological child of Wang Su and Wang Lijun."

"They are also the murderers who killed us and the entire Wang family."

"what?"

Hu Li looked bewildered. Where did this new child come from?

The crucial point is that this has been going on for five cycles, yet no one has discovered a single piece of information about the child!

It was as if he had completely disappeared from the entire family.

Although Zuo Shiming had some vague guesses, Chen Ji's last words shocked him!

"how do you know?"

He immediately looked at Chen Ji, his expression very serious.

Chen Ji pointed to his neck, where there was a horizontal pen mark and a number 3.

"The abilities of the strange creatures."

Chen Ji said simply, without explaining too much, and continued his analysis.

"In short, I only discovered this notification this morning."

"Both Wang Su and Wang Lijun had this hereditary birthmark, but their child after their divorce and remarriage did not."

"So my first thought was, is there another person who also inherited this birthmark?"

3.

It can represent too many meanings.

Chen Ji was initially puzzled as well.

Three people with birthmarks?

Or are there three children?

But, once he realized that everyone had died once, he immediately began to suspect that Wang Lijun and the ghost old woman were hinting at something.

The most eye-catching items in the basement that the old woman led everyone to were the letter addressed to the child, the marriage certificate, and half a photograph.

These three combined...

The answer is ready to come out.

The letter Wang Lijun sent must have been related to that marriage certificate.

In other words, it was sent to the child of the brother and sister!

Starting with this conjecture, all the details that had not been noticed before were connected.

In the storage room of room 201, there was an overly old blue baby stroller.

Vera Wang is a girl, and given her age, the stroller she used as a child would not have been so dilapidated.

But all of this was just unfounded speculation. It wasn't until the second half of the photo was found that Chen Ji was completely certain!

The stroller in the photo is the same one from the storeroom.

But more importantly...

“Look at this child’s neck,” Chen Ji said, pointing to the photo.

A thin black line was clearly visible on the baby's chubby neck.

This is something that none of them saw in Wang Weiwei and Chen Zhiyuan.

Zuo Shiming stared intently at the photo, his eyes gradually narrowing.

He initially thought the black line was because the old photo hadn't been properly developed.

Besides, the child's body is still too small, and it's hard to find unless you specifically look for it!

Chen Ji touched the pen in his hand, his expression very calm.

The pen mark on his neck, appearing alongside the pen's ability to alter fate, could only mean one thing: it was a hint...

Who is it that keeps attacking them before the cycle ends?

"Then why is this child doing this?" Phil asked.

The mystery surrounding the Liting Apartments has been largely dispelled, but the most critical issues remain unresolved.

The motive for the murder.

And all of this, and its connection to the path of survival.

"Before answering that question, let me explain why the bodies are still there, but we are not dead."

Chen Ji said, then pointed around. The decorations in the lobby were exactly the same as on the first day.

"In each cycle, there is a set rule: all items will be refreshed."

"Regardless of what we have changed in the past."

Hu Li nodded. She immediately thought of cleaning up the clutter in room 305 before, and how everything returned to normal after the cycle ended.

"So do we."

"Even if we are killed, we will still be [refreshed] back at the start of the next cycle."

"This is the meaning of the first half of the sentence."

Zuo Shiming was taken aback, and unconsciously murmured:

"The past... has never truly passed away."

"Every cycle that ends is the 'past' in this sentence."

“Yes,” Chen Ji said.

"Now that you know this principle, have you noticed that there's another person... who also participates in this cycle?"

Hu Li's eyes suddenly widened.

As soon as Chen Ji finished speaking, she immediately realized the key point!

That person... who has always been treated as an NPC.

Everyone assumed that he was just someone who reminded them that the cycle had begun.

"Elevator repairman".

Chen Ji said in a low voice, looking at the freight elevator on the left.

"I've been wondering why he's able to show up at the same time every morning?"

“But…” Hu Li hesitated.

"But the repairman left through the main gate after he appeared, didn't he?"

“That’s true,” Chen Ji continued.

"That's because his cycle time is different from ours!"

“We work from 8:15 a.m. to 11:13 p.m.”

"And he, from 11:13 to 8:20 the next day!"

Zuo Shiming stood up abruptly. Chen Ji's words had almost completely untangled the tangled threads in his mind!

"You mean, we and the repairman are experiencing the same day?"

"No."

Chen Ji shook his head: "I think our cyclical pattern is that it follows the calendar on the three rooms where the murders occurred, pushing it forward."

"The repairman was trapped on the night of June 6th and 7th."

"That is, the date on the electronic clock in the lobby."

He pointed to the clock on the wall, where the seconds were still changing.

"The night he killed three households of the Wang family."

Now everything is connected.

All the clues in the apartment are meaningful, and only by connecting them can the truth about the Liting Apartment be revealed.

Why do maintenance workers come out of the elevator every day?

Because that's where he hid the body!

And if the next cycle ends, the dates on the calendar and the digital watch will align...

So after 11:13, the four people left in the apartment will be transported back to the night of the murder and truly slaughtered!

"Why......"

Why would he do that?

Hu Li murmured, finding it hard to believe that the repairman would so cruelly murder her own parents and half-siblings!

Chen Ji remained silent for a moment.

After a long while, he spoke:

"Because of the curse of this apartment."

"And because of that, Wang Lijun's letter in the basement... was never sent."