I created a foundation

At the same time, on the other side of Tokyo, in Itamaki Motoyo's room, there was a festive atmosphere full of excitement and stimulation, which was in stark contrast to Eriri's despair.

The lights in the room had been turned off, leaving only a few fragrant candles, flickering a dim glow on the table. The shadows of the three girls were cast on the wall, stretching and deforming them, adding a bit of the atmosphere that a "horror game" should have.

"Hey, hey, do you really want to play? I... I'm a little scared." A girl with short hair said pretending to be afraid, but the gleam in her eyes revealed her inner eagerness to try.

"What are you afraid of?" Itamaki Kiyo, the organizer of this "suicide conference," seemed the most excited. She placed her phone in the middle of the table and assured him, "It's just a phone game, what's the big deal? The more people there are, the stronger the yang energy. With the three of us here, no ghost would dare approach!"

She picked up her phone, found the seemingly ordinary phone number she had copied from an urban legend forum, and pressed the dial button.

To increase the excitement, she even turned on the hands-free mode.

"Beep...beep...beep..."

After the call was connected, a mechanical, emotionless electronic message prompt tone came from the other end.

The three girls looked at each other and couldn't help laughing. They felt that the atmosphere was a little funny.

Itamaki Kiyo cleared his throat and, according to the "rules of the game" in urban legends, spoke into the microphone of his mobile phone with a hoarse, self-proclaimed cute voice and a smile.

"My name is Mary, and I'm playing a game now."

After saying that, she quickly hung up the phone.

"That's it? How boring." The girl with short hair curled her lips in disappointment.

"Don't be impatient, this is just the beginning." Itamaki Kiyo said mysteriously.

As soon as she finished speaking, the screen of the phone in the middle of the table, which had just been hung up, suddenly lit up, and a shrill ringtone rang out without warning in the silent room!

The caller ID shows an unknown number.

The three girls were frightened by the sudden ringing of the bell and screamed at the same time. Then they burst into laughter because of the perfect stimulation and hugged each other tightly.

"Answer it! Answer it!" the friends urged.

Itamaki Kiyo suppressed his smile, took a deep breath, and pressed the answer button.

From the other end of the line came a strange, synthesized voice that seemed to have been interfered with by a strong electric current and could not be distinguished between male and female.

"Hello... My name is Mary... I'm..." The voice was intermittent and full of noise, "...at the garbage dump."

After that, the phone was hung up unilaterally.

"Wow! Amazing! This game is so realistic!" the short-haired girl exclaimed excitedly, "They even have the sound of electricity!"

"Yeah, yeah! I told you it was super exciting!" Itamaki-Kiyu also felt extremely satisfied because of this expected "horror".

However, their excitement did not last long.

Less than a minute later, the cell phone on the table rang again with a sharper and more urgent ringtone!

This time, the girls' laughter died down, and the air in the room seemed to become stagnant due to the rapid ringing of the bell.

Itamaki Kiyo hesitated for a moment, but still answered the phone.

"Hello... My name is Mary..."

This time, the voice on the other end of the phone was much clearer, the noise of the electricity almost disappeared, and the cold voice of a little girl could be heard.

“…I’m in front of the station now.”

In front of the station?

There is a 24-hour bus stop not far from Kiyo Itamaki's apartment building.

An inexplicable chill began to creep up from the girls' hearts. The smiles on their faces vanished, replaced by a mixture of unease and awkwardness.

"It...it should just be a coincidence, right?" a friend said uncertainly.

No one answered her.

Because, the phone rang for the third time. The ringing sounded like a death drumbeat, hammering heavily on their hearts.

This time, Itamaki Kiyo's hands began to tremble slightly. She looked at the "unknown number" on the screen and felt that it was no longer a game, but an invitation from hell.

Under the gaze of her friends, she gritted her teeth and answered the call.

"Hello...my name is Mary...I'm downstairs at your house."

The voice had become as clear as if it were spoken right next to my ear. It was cold, resentful, and devoid of any emotion.

The three girls could no longer remain calm. They huddled together, rushed to the window in fear, opened the curtains and looked downstairs.

The street below was deserted, with only the streetlights casting a dim light.

Nothing at all.

"Look... look, there's nothing, it must be a prank..." Itamaki Kiyo's voice was already filled with unconcealable tears.

Before she finished speaking, the phone rang for the fourth time!

This time, the three girls screamed in fear at the same time, like cats whose tails had been stepped on, and huddled together at the foot of the bed. No one dared to answer the phone again.

But the phone kept ringing, like the sound of a Buddhist chant demanding death, echoing in the small bedroom.

Finally, the ringing stopped.

Just when the girls thought everything was over and were about to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

A clear, slow and rhythmic knock suddenly sounded from the front door of their apartment.

At this moment, the room fell into absolute, suffocating silence.

It's her! She's really here!

At this moment, the girls' sanity was completely destroyed by fear.

The knocking on the door stopped, and everything returned to the maddening silence.

After a long time, a girl asked in a trembling voice that was almost inaudible and contained tears.

"Is...is...it over?"

The moment she finished speaking.

Just when they thought the crisis was over.

The phone on the table, which had been black all this time, suddenly lit up, displaying the call interface.

The call was automatically connected at some point.

This time, the cold, resentful voice belonging to a little girl no longer came from the speaker of the mobile phone.

Instead, it seemed to come from all directions, from every corner of the room, three-dimensionally and clearly, ringing in the ears of each of them at the same time.

"I lied to you."

"My name is Mary, and now..."

"…right behind you."

Chapter 0024: Don’t cry, I am the expert you mentioned

Early the next morning, when Eriri was drowsy and unconscious due to a high fever and nightmares, the doorbell of her villa was rang frantically and continuously in an almost crazy manner.

The rapid and shrill ringing of the bells, like a series of alarm bells, forcibly pulled her out of her chaotic sleep.

"Who is it..." She struggled to sit up from the bed. Her bones felt sore as if they were falling apart, her throat was dry and burning, and her head was aching from the high fever.

The doorbell continued to ring persistently and relentlessly, mixed with the faint sound of knocking on the door with a crying tone.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Eriri's heart. She forced herself to support herself, holding onto the wall, and slowly made her way downstairs, opening the door to the villa.

Standing outside the door were three figures that she was very familiar with.

Itamaki Kiyo and her two friends, pale as a cadaver, huddled in front of her home like three frightened quails. Their faces were devoid of the usual vibrant, exuberant energy typical of hot girls. Instead, they were filled with dark circles, bloodshot eyes, and expressions of haggardness and daze from a sleepless night and sheer terror.

As soon as Eriri opened the door, Itamaki Motoyu, who was leading the group, burst into tears from her delicately made-up eyes. She cried out, "Wow!" and, like a lost child who had found its mother, she rushed over and hugged Eriri's arms tightly.

"Xiao Yingli! Save us! Save us!"

Her body was shaking violently, her voice was hoarse from crying too much, and filled with heart-wrenching despair.

"That thing... Mary... is real! She followed us last night... all night long! We could hear her voice wherever we went! The phone would ring by itself! She said... she said she was right behind us! I turned around! I really turned around! I seemed... seemed to see... wuwuwu..."

Itamaki Kiyo cried incoherently, her spirit clearly on the verge of collapse. The other two girls were in a similar state, leaning against each other, crying bitterly, their bodies shaking like leaves in the wind.

Seeing her friends in such miserable states, Eriri's heart was filled with extremely complicated emotions.

There are the helplessness and sighs of "I warned you long ago", the sympathy and reluctance to see friends fall into such a situation, but more importantly, there is the chilling fear that can be empathized with them.

Her friends' cries and pleas were like red-hot needles, piercing her nerves. They were also like a mirror, clearly reflecting the same helplessness and despair she had felt last night in the alley when she was being chased by the parasitic beast.

She was also very scared.

Just by listening to her friends' descriptions, she felt her hands and feet starting to feel weak again, and the dizziness caused by the high fever became more severe.

But she suddenly realized a problem.

Among all the people present, she was the only one who knew the "truth".

Only she has the ability to contact the mysterious and powerful organization that can solve all this.

SCP Foundation.

Trainee investigator.

The identity that made her feel a little ashamed, unwilling, and a little ridiculous yesterday, now appeared clearly in her mind like a brand.

It turns out that this is not just an identity or a title.

It also means a responsibility.

She has a responsibility to stand up when ordinary people are facing incomprehensible terror, trembling and falling into despair.

Fear and responsibility were fighting madly in her heart.