Wan Jie Hospice Care Company

"..."

Just as the two policemen were in a panic, Xiang Yu yawned.

He's so sleepy, like he hasn't slept for two days.

He glanced at An Ling and saw her huddled in a corner of the sofa, her head nodding. She wanted to sleep, but was forcing herself to stay awake, her eyelashes trembling incessantly.

can not sleep.

Xiang Yu bit his tongue, using the sharp pain to pull himself out of the mire. He forced back his sleepiness, letting his thoughts race like a rusty machine.

Most of the words carved on my neighbor's body were on his arm.

The area that the arm or hand can reach.

In other words, those words were most likely carved on their own bodies by hand.

Xiangyu tapped his knee lightly with his fingertips.

If they really carved it themselves, what are these words meant to remind them of? A reminder to run away?

...No, why would someone carve words into their own flesh to remind themselves to run away? The time it takes for the blade to slice through the skin is enough for him to run three blocks.

So, is it to remind others to run?

He shook his head. That didn't make sense.

Having already encountered something so bizarre that could have been fatal, a person, in the last moments of their life, still had the mind to endure excruciating pain and carve words into their flesh, just so that a stranger could escape.

This is too much like a saint.

While the possibility of doing so cannot be ruled out, it is ultimately a low-probability event.

Suddenly, a thought arose from the bottom of my heart and then I couldn't shake it off.

Once this question is answered, the mystery surrounding that strange ability can be unveiled.

Xiang Yu stood up, walked over to An Ling, and patted her on the shoulder.

The girl jolted, opened her eyes groggily, her gaze still somewhat half-asleep.

Do you have coffee at home?

"...Yes, I think coffee seems to be very helpful for Brother Xiang. I bought some when I went to the morning market to buy groceries before." An Ling rubbed her eyes, her voice soft.

It must be said that Anling is very meticulous in her work, and she often remembers some small details that Xiangyu would never think of.

Anling jumped off the sofa, ran barefoot to the kitchen, and took out a large bucket filled with coffee powder.

"I rode my bike around the county town several times, and there were only a few places selling coffee... and they were all selling it in bulk, so this was the only kind I could buy." An Ling pouted. "I wonder where the teacher got that nicely packaged coffee. It must be sold in big cities, but unfortunately, I can't buy it there."

Xiang Yu was stunned when he saw the huge barrel that looked like an oil drum.

The older generation doesn't know how to weigh things carefully; they even sell coffee powder by the barrel.

But now is not the time to worry about these things. Generally speaking, these bulk products are very potent, and as long as food safety issues are disregarded, the effects are quite good.

"It's fine, this is what I want. It's large, chewy, and has the right flavor."

Xiang Yu scooped coffee powder directly into his mouth with a spoon, and An Ling thoughtfully brought him warm water to help him make coffee using his stomach as a container.

After finishing half a bucket, Xiang Yu took a deep breath and returned to the sofa.

He could taste the bitterness, a burning sensation in his stomach that traveled up his veins to the top of his head.

At this moment, Li Yiheng looked at the rising sun outside the window, shivering, while Ji Zhuo prepared to call his teammates with the walkie-talkie.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

Interference came from the walkie-talkie. Ji Zhuo tapped the walkie-talkie with his finger, but the interference did not improve.

"What's going on?" Ji Zhuo thought he had seen a lot and was always calm and composed, but now he was starting to panic.

"Section Chief Xiang...we need to contact the headquarters and ask them to send more men. Will you come with us?"

As he spoke, he pulled Li Yiheng up. Since the walkie-talkie was already useless, staying here would only bring danger, with no hope of even getting to the front line of rescue.

Xiang Yu was about to speak...

A voice drifted in leisurely from outside the window.

"In the eastern sky grows the Ruomu tree, beneath which rests a candle-holding dragon—"

"What was that sound?!" Ji Zhuo exclaimed in surprise. He couldn't care less about anything else now and could only quickly lead Li Yiheng downstairs and leave. "Section Chief Xiang, you should go too!"

The two rushed out of Anling's house and found a man and a woman walking down the stairs, chatting and laughing. They were probably residents of the sixth floor.

Ji Zhuo shouted at the two men, "Run! Something's happened in this building!"

The two men were initially puzzled by what they heard, but when they saw that the person who had spoken was wearing a police uniform, they immediately believed him and stumbled downstairs.

Ji Zhuo watched them go downstairs before turning around and preparing to continue down.

But the very moment he took that step...

He froze.

The couple who had just run downstairs were now walking down again, chatting and laughing.

"..."

Li Yiheng, standing to the side, turned pale with fright. He had clearly seen the two of them run downstairs just now, so why were they back?

Then Ji Zhuo shouted, "Why are you two back again? Don't be so stingy with your belongings, there's danger now!"

"What are you talking about..." the couple said, sounding annoyed. "We just came downstairs, what's this about coming back or not?"

"!!!"

Ji Zhuo was completely stunned.

The two ignored his advice and went downstairs once again.

About half a minute later, they came downstairs again.

This cycle repeats itself, over and over again.

Startled, Ji Zhuo took two steps back, his back hitting the cold wall. When the couple came downstairs for the fourth time, he gritted his teeth, pounced on them, grabbed them, and dragged them to An Ling's door.

Seeing Ji Zhuo and the others return, Xiang Yu raised his eyelids slightly and asked, "You're back? You're not leaving again?"

"We can't leave." Ji Zhuo sighed.

The couple, who had been inexplicably dragged here, were extremely unhappy. The woman yelled, "What are you trying to do by suddenly pulling me here? Let me tell you, what you're doing... is indecent assault!"

Xiang Yu didn't respond. He simply said slowly to Ji Zhuo, "Actually, you shouldn't have come here in the first place. When that sound rang out just now, everyone in this building was already trapped."

"...I never expected this case to be so bizarre." Ji Zhuo gritted his teeth.

"It's not just this case that's strange; the whole world is starting to go strange. What you just experienced is probably happening all over the world." Then Xiang Yu muttered to himself, "It's just that communication isn't very advanced yet. In twenty years, it should be all over the internet."

"Then...where can I run to escape this disaster?" Ji Zhuo's Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice began to ache. He hadn't expected that this bizarre case would drag him into it...and the other party even said that the whole world was no longer safe.

"It's no use running away. It won't help you survive any longer, at most it will only give you ten more days." Xiang Yu took a deep breath. "Running away won't get you anywhere. Only by facing it and solving these strange phenomena will you have a chance to survive."

"..."

The two policemen nodded silently, then stood aside without saying another word.

Only the woman on the sixth floor continued her incessant chatter: "What nonsense are you spouting? Let me tell you, stop playing the mystic! Are you trying to swindle money by pretending to be masters?" She got more and more excited, spitting as she spoke, "One group pretends to be police, another group pretends to be masters, and they came in here to scam people as soon as a case happened. Let me tell you, I've seen more scammers in my life than you've eaten salt! You can't fool me!"

"Shut up!" Ji Zhuo shouted from the side.

"..." The woman was startled and almost collapsed to the ground.

Xiang Yu ignored the surrounding distractions and focused on what had just happened.

"In the east of the sky grows the Ruomu tree, beneath which sits a candle-holding dragon... These are lines from a poem lamenting the shortness of the day."

In other words, the strange phenomenon that protected the students with a time loop in the previous incident has reappeared.

Its appearance is always accompanied by a distinct sign, as it softly murmurs Li He's poem "The Day Is Short" while dragging the surrounding time into an endless loop.

What is its purpose? Is it appearing again to protect others?

Xiang Yu still doesn't know whether this being is friend or foe, but it's clearly not the most important thing right now.

Rather, it is the being that has been stealing my time.

—No, if my guess is correct, then its method is not stealing time at all!

He closed his eyes, his breath hitched, and he plunged into that clear and cold current of his heart.

There, the world fell silent, and he questioned:

"Is the strange thing in Anling's house the same strange thing that killed her entire neighbor's family?"