This was the first time Xiao Li intervened in another world through a request for help. He experienced a sensation like bungee jumping and then his feet were standing on the ground.
Xiao Li opened his eyes and found himself standing in a small living room. The decorations weren’t luxurious but it was warm. Xie Zeqing was also standing beside him. The two men were standing in front of a girl and there was another man behind the girl, staring at them.
The person requesting help, Luo Dian stepped forward. Her face was full of worry but she managed to squeeze out a smile towards the two men. "Fortunately, someone came or else we would die here. What are the two of you called?"
There was Xie Zeqing so Xiao Li kept using ’Moriarty.’ Xie Zeqing was still called ’Yu Luo.’
Luo Dian said nothing when she heard the names of the two men while the man behind her showed a sense of disappointment visible to the naked eye.
This was the second time Xiao Li had used this pseudonym and Xie Zeqing was the same. In the early stages, he was called ’Devil King’ and in recent times, he had used his real name because of his brother. It was only when he met Xiao Li that the new nickname ’Yu Luo’ came into being. It didn’t sound like a top ranker.
"My name is Luo Dian and this is my teammate Han Jin." Luo Dian briefly introduced herself and her teammate. She wasn’t in the mood for greetings so she immediately shifted it to the right track. "We aren’t very optimistic about the current situation."
Xiao Li looked around and didn’t find any snacks. Finally, he sat down on the sofa of the living room. "Tell us. We only saw the introductory CG when we entered."
Luo Dian and Han Jin glanced a each other. Han Jin took out a video recorder from his pocket, opened a video and handed it to Xiao Li.
Luo Dian said, "This was taken by Xu Chenfeng’s pinhole camera."
Xie Zeqing took the camera with shaking hands. "You installed a camera in people’s homes?"
"Her family had it." Han Jin explained. "She was afraid and took the initiative to show us. After coming to this world, we rented a house opposite her and went to talk to her every day. Xiao Qing also applied to be a teacher at her school..."
Han Jin’s voice choked up when he said ’Xiao Qing.’
Xie Zeqing pressed the play button. The image on the camera shook and finally, Xu Chenfeng appeared.
Luo Dian added, "This was the day after the CG. She hasn’t realized there was a ghost."
On the camera, Xu Chenfenghad changed into pyjamas and was sitting at the table to do homework. The mobile phone was placed by her hand. From time to time, it would shake and Xu Chenfeng would write down a few things before looking at her phone.
She did her homework and the clock in the living room quickly passed 11 o’clock and it was almost midnight. Xu Chenfeng stood up, stuffed the homework that wasn’t easy to write into her bag and covered her yawn.
The phone call with no answer last night didn’t give her any special feelings. Xu Chenfeng just thought it was an accident and she forgot about it in the blink of an eye. Then once the clock hand pointed precisely to midnight and there was no one else at home, the landline once again rang."
Xu Chenfeng’s figure clearly stopped and her neck shrank back with fear.
For two days, the telephone ringing broke the quiet at exactly midnight. This made Xu Chenfeng, who was home alone, begin to feel uneasy. She gripped her mobile phone and walked slowly to the landline to see the caller ID. It was a strange number and the form was also strange: 4444444.
Xu Chenfeng stared at the string of numbers for a long time before the ringing of the phone stopped. She sighed with relief and walked towards her bedroom with her mobile phone. Just as her feet were entering the bedroom, her phone started to vibrate along with shrill music.
Xu Chenfeng looked down and found that the phone display showed the number calling was ’4444444’!
She was startled and nearly threw her phone. Then she thought about it and perhaps it was a classmate’s prank?
Xu Chenfeng still hadn’t thought in the direction of a ghost. She pressed the answer button and asked, "Who is it?"
The other side remained still at first.
Xu Chenfeng once again asked, "Are you sick? Why are you calling me in the middle of the night? How do you know my mobile number? Once I find out who you are, you are dead! Is it Brother Xiong?"
She tried several of her friends’ names but there was no sound from the phone. A ’hissing’ sound came from the phone occasionally and in the midst of the complaints, a voice whispered something.
Xu Chenfeng didn’t hear it a first. "What did you say? Louder, I can’t hear you."
There was a snicker from the phone and the voice didn’t repeat their words. Xu Chenfeng asked twice and in the absence of a reply, she angrily hung up her phone. Xu Chenfeng turned away from the bedroom and went back to the living room. She wasn’t sleepy anymore so she pulled up her list of contacts and asked them if they just called her. The answer was a no.
She told her best friend and the other person comforted her. "I must be a boring man. In order to attract your attention, he did this prank. The number is probably some item he used. Are you okay?"
"I don’t dare to go sleep... can you come with me tomorrow? There is no one at home and I’m a bit scared."
"...Okay, I said we should dance together." The other side hesitantly replied.
Xu Chenfeng took a deep breath and went into the bedroom. The video stopped here. Luo Dian pressed on the second video. "This is the third day. Xu Chenfeng’s friend came to accompany here."
Xie Zeqing looked at the video and asked, "How many days are there? Can’t you tell us? Do you want to waste time watching a horror movie?"
"I can do that if you want but I’m afraid that I’ll miss some clues." Luo Dian hesitated. "There are always limitations to retelling. I have watched these videos for a long time and also went to Xu Chenfeng’s school, but there were no clues."
Xiao Li silently played the video of the third day.
In addition to Xu Chenfeng, there was a girl in the video. This was her best friend, Lin Xiangyi. Lin Xiangyi was a long-haired beauty wearing a shawl. She held a white cloud pillow in her arms and looked up at the clock in Xu Chenfeng’s living room. "It is 11 o’clock, almost midnight. Will there be a phone call?"
Xu Chenfeng took two pieces of cake and handed the one with red bean stuffing to her friend. "I don’t know if it will come today but my heart isn’t steady."
"Don’t be afraid, I’m here. I can’t wait to call the police." LIn Xiangyi took the cake and placed the fork into her mouth.
Xu Chenfeng sat down on the soft carpet and watched the TV. She looked down at her phone and couldn’t say anything. She didn’t want to hear the ringing from last night so she turned off her phone.
They watched a movie together that was an adaptation of a recently hot idol drama. Halfway through the movie, midnight arrived. The strange telephone call didn’t spare Xu Chenfeng and it rang again.
"It really came..." Lin Xiangyi also shook. Previously, she had comforted Xu Chenfeng on the phone because she wasn’t present. Not that she was on the scene, she couldn’t help being afraid.
She subconsciously looked at Xu Chenfeng. Xu Chenfeng’s expression at this time was somewhat strange. She had a bad feeling in her heart and walked over to the landline. She didn’t dare to directly answer the phone. She just grabbed the telephone line and pulled it out.
"Chenfeng..." Lin Xiangyi called out her friend’s name.
Xu Chenfeng threw away the telephone line. "Let me see how they will call this time. I should’ve done this earlier! No one calls me on the landline anyway."
Lin Xiangyi said, "Yes, you did—"
She hadn’t finished her words when the phone rang again. Lin Xiangyi and Xu Chenfeng looked up at the same time. It was the mobile phone that Xu Chenfeng had already turned off! It was clearly off but it still showed the call number: 4444444.
"A ghost...?" Xu turned pale and she fell to the ground, moving her arm in the opposite direction of the phone. "I won’t answer, I won’t answer!"
Lin Xiangyi also started to panic. She bowed her head and fumbled for her mobile phone. "I... I will call my parents and ask them to come and deal with it."
The mobile phone’s ringtone continued to play. The vibration persevered but there was no answer. After a minute, it changed from the mobile phone to... the landline. The unplugged phone rang constantly, its tone high and almost disturbing. Xu Chenfeng’s face was becoming worse and worse. She finally covered her ears and ran straight out the door.
The third day video ended here.
Luo Dian talked about the follow up to the video. "She ran out but no matter where she went, the public phone on the street or the phone in the stores kept ringing. Finally, she picked up."
Xie Zeqing asked, "Picked up? Was there anyone on the other side of the phone?"
Luo Dian replied, "Yes, this time the ghost said..."
"You will be with me in seven days! Come to me!"
Luo Dian’s last words were so perfect that Xie Zeqing couldn’t help feeling the ghost’s resentment.
"Then what?"
Luo Dian replied, "We also started receiving calls. There was no way not to answer. It kept ringing around us and created all types of accidents to make us answer the phone. Once you answer the ghost’s call, the curse will soon start."
Xie Zeqing wondered, "Curse... is that how your teammates died?"
"Some died because of the phone ghost and some because of the university." Luo Dian’s face seemed a bit bleak. "This instance world is terrible. It seems there are two evil spirits. I didn’t realize it at first and thought there were no ghosts at the school. Therefore, they weren’t prepared. I am sorry towards then. It was my fault and they died in front of me. I..."
She choked up and wanted to cry. It seemed that Luo Dian’s teammates weren’t randomly assigned. She had probably brought them together using the Team Symbol and their feelings were deep.
Xiao Li hadn’t spoken and was looking at the time on his phone. Midnight was coming. There were three, two, one second—
The landline phone in the living room rang on time. There was a sense of time.
The Luo Dian duo looked directly at Xiao Li and Xie Zeqing. "You..."
Xiao Li moved and reached out his hand to directly pick up the phone. "Hello?"
The author has something to say:
Xiao Li: Hello?
Caller: I’m sorry, wrong number.
Xiao Li: ????
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