Cai Wen Shang stared blankly at the shattered computer screen, a baseball bat clutched in his hand, his chest rising and falling noticeably, clearly having just engaged in strenuous activity.
"Impossible, it must all be a hallucination. I just watched a video and voted a few times, how could I be dying?"
All the education he had received told him that everything he had seen before was false.
This world had no demons, ghosts, or any of that nonsense. He had to believe in science…
However, the black hourglass in his hand, along with the black number, told him it was all true!
The number in his hand was 'six,' meaning his life could very well end tonight!
"No, I need to find someone for help… call the police, yes, I'll call the police."
But as soon as he picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons, his expression turned blank.
He didn't want to seek help.
Although his reason told him he absolutely had to find someone for help, that this was beyond his ability to handle alone, there seemed to be an unseen force urging him to abandon any thought of seeking help, to simply wait at home to die.
He crouched miserably in the corner, pressing his lips together tightly, trying not to cry.
From childhood to adulthood, Cai Wen Shang had always believed he was a strong person because he had 'seen through' the darkness of society.
The news was filled with negative reports: a rich second-generation heir in one city had run over and killed an elderly person without facing any punishment; urban management officers in another city had smashed a vendor's stall with steel pipes…
Therefore, he concluded that this world was corrupt, everyone was selfish, not only was human nature inherently evil, but the very existence of the Federation was a breeding ground for sin and injustice.
Thus, he attributed all his setbacks to the distortion of society, rather than his own inadequacy or his own laziness and lack of effort.
When he couldn't find a good job, he would curse online. When he made mistakes at work and was reprimanded by his supervisor, he would also curse online, as if this would allow him to find excuses for his failures, enabling him to persist better in his identity as a failure.
Until one day, he saw the videos of the Arbitrators. In that moment, it was as if he had seen a savior.
This society needed people like the Arbitrators. Those who broke the law should die; the wealthy and unjust should die. As long as they lived better than him…
For the half month that the Arbitrator’s videos were playing, Cai Wen Shang was like he had been injected with adrenaline, until he witnessed Ning Zhe Wan shooting himself.
In that instant, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been doused over Cai Wen Shang's head.
He realized the foolishness of his own actions, he understood whose fault it was that he had become this way.
But soon, he subconsciously rejected those thoughts.
He was not wrong; the world was wrong!
Under extreme mental stress, Cai Wen Shang soon felt a deep exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.
"Welcome to the Qisivore dazzling wireless speaker, Qisivore brand has been…"
Suddenly, the speaker on his computer desk made a sound, causing Cai Wen Shang, who was squatting on the ground, to jump violently and wake up instantly.
It took him two seconds to recall what had happened before falling asleep, and his face immediately turned pale, the fat on his chin trembling rapidly as if it had been massaged.
This Qisivore speaker was a high-tech product he had purchased at a high price, and it could connect wirelessly via mobile signals.
But later, somehow, his neighbor managed to connect to his speaker using their phone, playing some strange little movies every night, disturbing the sleep of the single Cai Wen Shang.
So he had to disable the speaker’s wireless connection function and connect it directly to the computer, so he wouldn't have to listen to horror movie sounds every night.
That's right, the neighbor enjoyed watching horror movies late at night.
However, the neighbor's hobby was not the key point. The key point was that Cai Wen Shang had already unplugged the computer and smashed the casing. Why was the speaker still playing?
A chill spread through Cai Wen Shang's body, not out of fear, but because the mark on his hand rapidly grew colder. The bone-chilling cold made his brain feel somewhat stiff.
"Sizzle, sizzle…" The sound of electricity crackled, and then a man’s voice came from the speaker: "You are target number six, right? What's your name?"
"Cai, Cai Wen Shang…"
"Do you regret the votes you cast before?" Su Dan Novel Network
Cai Wen Shang nodded vigorously, bean-sized beads of sweat dripping from his chin: "I regret it, I repent, I shouldn't have voted casually, I should have…"
"You seem sincere… but even if you regret it, I won't come back to life!"
A cold hand gently reached into Cai Wen Shang's collar, touched a handful of sticky sweat, then disdainfully wiped itself on Cai Wen Shang's hair, leaving another hand covered in hair oil.
Cai Wen Shang's body stiffened. He slowly looked up, only to see a dark shadow crawling over his head like a spider.
Although the figure was blurry, Cai Wen Shang was very sure that it was Ning Zhe Wan, who had died in the video before.
He had become a monster!
Then Cai Wen Shang felt a burning pain on his back. He reached up and felt a cold and indescribable stinging sensation.
The spot on his neck where Ning Zhe Wan had touched him now had a slightly swollen handprint. The skin in the area of the handprint had all peeled off, but no blood flowed, as if it had been frozen.
Then his hair also fell off…
Where Ning Zhe Wan had touched him before, all the hair had fallen out, and the scalp, with its oil, appeared purplish-blue and had small areas of cracking.
"Ah… Ah! Ah…"
"Let me go, what do you want… I'll give you anything!"
Cai Wen Shang screamed miserably, his words stuttering. He begged for mercy while grabbing the baseball bat he had earlier, ran out of the living room, and hid in the bedroom, barricading the door tightly.
He peered through the crack in the bedroom door, and a pair of bloodshot eyes suddenly appeared, startling Cai Wen Shang into sitting on the floor.
"Are you scared? Are you terrified?"
"Then… do you know how desperate she was, when she was cornered by your 'righteous' words, when no one cared even when she tried to prove her innocence, and the whole world wanted her dead?"
"No one can punish you, so only I can, even if I myself become scum!"
Two fingers tapped on Cai Wen Shang's shoulder. Cai Wen Shang turned his head numbly.
He saw Ning Zhe Wan standing upside down behind him, his feet on the ceiling, a grinning smile revealing a blurry gun barrel in his mouth.
Then Ning Zhe Wan’s head spun violently, and the back of his head, blown off by a bullet, was presented to Cai Wen Shang.
Cai Wen Shang scrambled backward on the floor, gripping the baseball bat and staring intently at Ning Zhe Wan. He was on the verge of fainting.
Just then, the phone suddenly rang.