A cement truck overloaded and running a red light skidded sideways, smashing into the wall of a coffee shop and leaving a gaping hole in it.
The driver passed out on the spot, blood pouring from his fractured skull.
The overturned cement truck pinned a man underneath, leaving everyone utterly helpless.
The moment she heard the commotion, smile felt a chill wind. A figure had bolted past at lightning speed, his hair flying in disarray from the rapid movement.
Hú Qiáo was terrified as well, and the two newly acquainted sweethearts rushed out too. Before running out, Hú Qiáo finally remembered she still had a roommate inside, so she told the man to go check while she went to look for smile.
Outside the display window, she spotted smile. She and another refined-looking man were standing before the wrecked vehicle, pulling open the cab door alongside some kind-hearted passersby.
"One, two, three, four!" smile's eyes widened. She instinctively grabbed the arm of the person next to her and screamed, "The car's going to explode, run!"
Boom! The blast wave drove the two of them outward as billowing smoke engulfed the entire vehicle, and clown-like, comical laughter rang in her ear.
"Life is an explosion, pop! Hahahaha."
The belated ambulance wailed with its siren, and several people at the scene suffered extensive burns.
Beyond the wall smashed through by the truck, someone was screaming at the top of their lungs.
smile was covered in sweat, and her newly bought clothes had a large hole burned into them, exposing the somewhat charred skin beneath.
The pain made her dizzy. Before closing her eyes, she caught sight of the man's anxious gaze.
Opening her eyes again, she was greeted by a sea of white. She was lying face down on a bed, with a beautiful bunch of sunflowers beside her.
"You're awake?"
smile tried to turn her head, but the pain in her back made her take a sharp breath.
"Don't turn around." It was the man from the coffee shop. In the ward reeking of disinfectant, the man, dressed in a hospital gown, was peeling his third apple; the apples already placed on the table had turned brown from oxidation.
"Thank you for saving my life. If not for your warning and a helping hand, I might have perished in the sea of fire."
The man smiled, saying that brushing so close with death hadn't changed his mindset much. He finished peeling the fruit, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and offered them to her on a toothpick.
"To repay your help, I'll cover your medical expenses for the next few days."
"What about that driver?" smile felt she had suffered sheer unprovoked disaster, nearly ending up as a first-degree disabled patient.
"Burned to death in the fire, couldn't be saved," the man said with a tone of regret.
smile felt a deep sense of sorrow. A living, breathing person had vanished right before their eyes, and even with them lending a hand, they themselves could easily have been consumed by the catastrophe.
Scratch, scratch. Amidst smile's brooding, a soft yet rapid scraping sound interrupted her self-pity.
The man reached out, his knuckles lifting slightly as he handed her a slip of paper. smile looked up and saw a string of numbers along with a name: Liánchéng.
Such lovely handwriting, she thought.
"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm a professional photographer, and this is my phone number. If you feel any discomfort, feel free to contact me anytime. After all—" He blinked, the tear mole at the corner of his eye dancing up and down with the motion, his peach-blossom eyes glistening. "You're my little savior, and since I have no other way to repay you, I can only be at your beck and call~"
smile said helplessly, "You don't have to go this far. Just paying my medical bills is enough, and I have friends to take care of the rest. Besides, even without my help, you would have been able to dodge it." She recalled the scene back then, feeling as though she had been like a heroine in a novel who moves herself with misplaced heroism while making the wrong choice.
"Not at all, I'm just a fragile photographer," he said, throwing in a wink and smiling like a sweet girl.
"Hold your camera and say that again," smile retorted.
The oppressive atmosphere in the ward vanished completely, and she broke into a genuine smile.
"Little smile, you're awake." A head peeked in through the hospital doorway—it was Hú Qiáo, who should have been out on a blind date.
But with a car accident happening right there, no matter how congenial the blind date was, it ought to be put on hold for now, especially since the friend she brought along had been injured.
"How are you feeling now? Do you want some water? You have no idea how panicked I was when I heard you got into an accident. Good thing you woke up, or I'd die of guilt..." She chattered on like a machine gun.
Liǔ Cháoquè strongly suspected the game was padding its word count. After quickly skipping through it, she reached Liánchéng's voice line: "Do you want to watch some TV, or would you like to sleep a little longer?"
smile shook her head. "I'm not tired at all right now, and I'm not in the mood for TV either."
"Then let's get some food."
smile shook her head again.
Seeing her completely lacking in enthusiasm, the two said they would step outside first and for her to call if she needed anything.
This time, smile agreed.
Once the ward door closed, the young girl lying in bed covered her face. The silent voice line revealed her inner turmoil: "Just a few days, and already two murder cases, both happening right to me. Last time it was the neighbor, and this time I even got myself hurt."
She suspected she was being targeted. When there are too many accidents, they stop being accidents.
The screen suddenly went black. An emaciated old woman revealed her bloodshot eyes, and her low, elderly laughter echoed from the screen—so chilling and evil that it made one's hair stand on end.
Liǔ Cháoquè curled up under the blanket, her eyes wide open, paralyzed.
When the image returned to normal, she realized she was drenched in a cold sweat.
She turned her phone face down, terrified that something terrifying might crawl out of it.
Snap. The light was switched on. Liǔ Cháoquè stared at the white wall in front of her for a long time to calm down before finally picking up her phone, exiting the app with a single tap, opening her messaging software, and frantically calling her best friend.
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Have you actually played the latest storyline of this game?"
Ten minutes later.
Wáng Qígē: "Yeah, I have. The heroine runs into another case again. I don't get it—they call this an Otome Game, but every single male lead she meets is involved in all sorts of cases. Can romance even bloom out of this?"
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Forget romance! Did you see the black screen and the emaciated old woman?"
Wáng Qígē: "What old woman? Cháoquè, did you click on some weird video by accident?"
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Then tell me, what's the very last scene of the latest plot?"
Wáng Qígē: "Probably the heroine and the male lead exchanging names, and agreeing that next time the male lead can take photos of her."
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Not at all in my case. Even though they exchanged names, after the heroine's friend came over and said a bunch of things, the male lead asked her what she wanted to do, and the heroine turned him down on everything. In the end, she was left sitting alone on the hospital bed, and then I saw that emaciated old woman."
The two compared each other's choices. Wáng Qígē re-opened the game following Liǔ Cháoquè's choices, and another dozen minutes passed.
Ding-dong. Wáng Qígē replied: "Nope, I didn't see the old woman. Damn, this is so creepy! I didn't even turn down the male lead's questions; I just watched TV with them. On the TV, we saw the follow-up report on that car accident."
Liǔ Cháoquè: "What was it?"
Wáng Qígē: "Let me check... Due to the truck driver's fatigue driving, coupled with a gas tank leak, a secondary explosion occurred. The scene resulted in five deaths, three people severely injured, and one slightly injured..."
Five minutes passed.
Wáng Qígē: "Are you asleep already?"
Liǔ Cháoquè: "No. I think this game is toxic. I'm going to uninstall it. It's not otome at all, it's downright terrifying."
Wáng Qígē: "Fine, uninstall it then. We'll play other games. If this one isn't fun, we'll switch to the next." She didn't ask why her attitude had changed so abruptly, but she respected every decision she made.
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Well, good night."
Wáng Qígē: "Good night."
The chat interface lingered on that final message. Liǔ Cháoquè sat motionless for a long time until her body felt slightly chilled and sleepiness crept back into her mind. Only then did she snap out of it. Her chaotic thoughts settled down the moment she lowered her head. With a reluctant twitch of her lips, she had already exited the chat interface and tapped straight back into the game.
Right there on the screen was the male lead's note: "If you want to know what happens next, you can also call this number, Liǔ Cháoquè..."