Chapter Two

The bodies of her parents and younger brother were scattered on the floor, their bodies covered with knife wounds, the deepest of which was in the throat, still gushing blood. The three pairs of eyeballs protruded abnormally, as if they had experienced extreme fear before death.

Aileen covered her mouth and couldn't speak. The clock on the wall ticked, and it sounded particularly quirky in such silent air. She couldn't hold back the fear in her heart and turned to run.

Before she could take a few steps, in the next second, a hand suddenly grabbed her, and a huge force at the neck strangled her, making it impossible to breathe.

A few meters away, a door had been opened. The hunched, old figure stood at the door. Aileen couldn't see her face in the backlight, but she could hear her cold and strange voice: "I told you not to go out, didn't I? You're too disobedient." She laughed more and more, and staggered towards Aileen ...

At the last moment before losing consciousness, Aileen saw the clock on the wall, and at that moment, the second hand just pointed to 12 o'clock.

Aileen opened her eyes, again.

The suffocating pain had disappeared.

She found herself standing in the elevator again.

She quickly took out her phone, and sure enough, the death notice news was there again. The time on the phone still showed 11:30 in the evening. Looking back at the news, it was exactly the same as before.

It seemed that she had died and returned to half an hour ago, just when she got off work and took the elevator home. Aileen immediately looked up at the elevator floor. The elevator floor showed the 15th floor, and the only lit button in the elevator was the 25th floor that she had pressed, but at this moment, the elevator was not moving downward.

Looking at this again, Aileen assured that it really didn't seemed like an illusion. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Aileen forced herself to calm down, and while pressing all the floor buttons from the 15th to the 5th floor, she quickly called the police. After hearing the police's confirmation that they would arrive at the scene within 20 minutes, she hurriedly called her mother.

After hearing the familiar voice on the other end of the phone, she finally caught her breath. Aileen cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound as calm as possible, and said to her mother in the obscure dialect of their hometown: "Mom, listen, what I'm going to say next may sound strange, but you must believe me and do exactly what I say."

Before her Mum could reply, Aileen quickened her pace: "There are some criminals in our building now, who specialize in kidnapping other people's children. Now these criminals may have already entered our home, hiding somewhere, and they may have bribed our familiar neighbor, Granny Wong."

"You should do this now, turn on all the lights in the house, and then take Dad and my brother to wait in the living room, remember, act as usual, talk and laugh as usual."

They could manipulate the elevator at will, which means they had already seized control of the elevator in the community, and forced the elevator that was moving well to go down twice. Since they had the control, they naturally knew what was happening in the elevator through the surveillance camera.

That's why Aileen chose to communicate with her mother in her hometown dialect.

Because a few years ago, there were too many incidents in their community's elevator, which hit the news, so now the surveillance was bound to an alarm system. As long as the surveillance video in the security room was disconnected, the whole building would immediately sound an alarm. That was why they could watch the monitor, but they were also afraid of the monitor. They dare not commit a crime under the monitor, and they dare not directly destroy the monitor.

The reason why Aileen told her mother that there were criminals who broke into her home, not murderers, was because now Aileen was very sure that the killer had already been hiding in her home in advance. The hand that stretched out from behind, that fierce strength, was still unforgettable. That person must have been hiding in her home for a long time!

Her mother was timid and had a long reflex arc. If Aileen directly told her that there was a killer, she would be frightened and lose her mind, and may even scream directly, which would alarm the murderer in the dark. But Aileen's mother was also a person who loved her children like her life. No matter what the truth of the matter was, as long as she said that there was someone who wanted to rob her child, she would immediately become a protective mother wolf, and would be a hundred times more calm than usual.

As expected, after hearing what Aileen said, there was no panic in her mother's voice on the phone. She was very calm. Aileen's mother laughed and chatted with Aileen on the phone, urging her to go home quickly, and naturally hung up the phone.

At this time, the elevator had already reached the 10th floor, and Aileen rushed out without hesitation and went down from the safety passage.

There are no monitors in the stairwell, and the 10th floor was far enough from either the 1st or the 25th floor, they wouldn't have time to find her.

Aileen stopped on the 8th floor and hid in the utility room at the end of the corridor. Aileen quickly took out her cell phone and found the chat history of the landlord group. Without saying a word, Aileen first directly sent a total of 20,000 yuan in a group red packet, and then edited a message she had thought about for a long time to send out.

2501: "Dear neighbors, our family is planning to immigrate to the United States, thank you for your care over the years, this small red packet is my sincerity, because we are leaving in a hurry, all the furniture and jewelry in our home will be given out for free today, In addition, our home also prepared 10 red packets, each with an amount of 50,000 yuan, before 12 o'clock, first come first served."

The red packets were quickly snapped up. The neighbors in the group immediately exploded.

409: "Damn it, I didn't go blind? I just stayed up late, and I actually got a red packet of 4,000?"

2102: "Is it true or not, 2501, did you drink fake alcohol, when did your family say you were immigrating. Your brother is still going to the same school as I am, right?"

605: "Yeah, even if you immigrated, you don't have to give out money, right? 2501, what is actually in your mind right now? "

409: "You guys are alright? It's free money. What are you guys complaining about? It is such a big red packet. It must be true. It would be better if you gus didn't want to go. if you don't want it, I'll go!"

2401: "I'm closer, I'll go! Heh, for 2501, I am their wechat friend, and I've seen photos of their home in their Moments, and that furniture is all high-end goods!"

...

Granny Wong, because she can't read, never use a smartphone, so she's not in the landlord wechat group.

After the message was sent out, the people in the elevator all became neighbors who wanted to get the red packet from my home, and those people couldn't find Aileen through the elevator. When her home was full of people, the murderer would not have the opportunity to make a big move.

Even if the murderer was hiding among the neighbors in the group, with the 25th floor full of people, he would not be able to escape.

The neighbors in the group who were skeptical at first gradually began to be eager to get the money, and even the corridor on the 8th floor began to ring with the sound of doors opening and closing, and I finally let out a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Aileen suddenly realized that after her mother hung up the phone, she also sent me a WeChat message.

"my dear, I didn't dare to tell you on the phone just now. You mentioned Granny Wong is the accomplice of the criminal in our building. But Granny Wong passed away a few days ago."

After reading this message, Aileen felt like she had fallen into an ice cave, even her toes felt cold. Granny Wong, already dead?

But the person she saw just now, from her face to her clothes, and then to her voice, was definitely Granny Wong. But... thinking back to Granny Wong, her condition, her pale face, her black lips, her body was soaked in water, and even her personality was completely different from before. Thinking about it, Aileen shuddered all over.

It's already 11:45, and there are only 15 minutes left until 12 o'clock.

Aileen didn't dare to think about Granny Wong's matter anymore, and she trembled as she replied to her mother, asking her to turn on her mobile phone and pay attention to the surveillance at the door, and when the people gathered, to take her brother and father to leave home at the fastest speed.

This time, her mother quickly replied to me: "Okay, my dear, we are already at the door, very safe, where are you now?" She also sent over a photo of the door. In the photo, there were already more than a dozen people gathered at the door, and they were discussing something with ruddy complexions. When Aileen just wanted to reply to the message, her finger tips suddenly paused on the screen.

It couldn't be.

The person at the other side of the screen wasn't the mother. Her mother had a very stubborn habit. She always took photos in landscape mode. It was no way to see a portrait photo from her phone. In addition, this photo was not only in portrait mode, but also from the angle, the person taking the photo could not be taller than 5'9. But her mother was a big size woman over 6 feet. Now it can only be the killer who was vicious and ruthless, and he has taken over her parents' mobile phone!

He already noticed the change in the situation, and Aileen knew that the plan would not go as originally intended. As a result, he would take advantage of the situation, first controlled and threatened her parents, used their mobile phones to reply to Aileen's messages, pretending that her parents had already escaped. Then he tried to get Aileen's specific location from her own mouth, then caught Aileen, the single person who was left behind, in the first place.

Since they can't kill her parents and brother now, they would only deal with Aileen first, and after those people who could not get the money on the 25th floor leave. Then they will deal with her parents later.

Aileen tried her best to calm down and replied: "Mom, the elevator just had a malfunction, I'm worried about an accident, so I got out on the 10th floor and took the stairs, and now I've just reached the 14th floor."

If Aileen didn't reply to the message now, they would definitely realize that she has seen through their disguise. They would kick the can down the road. Aileen didn't know how many people they had and how long it would take for them to find her. Therefore, she might as well play along with them, tell them the fake location and behavior. Allowed them spend time looking for her between the 14th and 25th floors, and she will run down from the 8th floor.

Anyway, as long as Aileen could delay for 20 minutes, the police would come later then all problems would be solved.

Aileen didn't dare to delay any longer, got up and rushed out. Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the door. Accompanying the two coughs.

Aileen stood still, her heart almost bumping into her throat. The footsteps got closer and closer. Aileen bit her lip tightly, not letting herself make a sound. She tried her best to stop having a bee in her bonnet. Maybe it was just the sound of someone on the 8th floor walking loudly.

Aileen tiptoed to the door and tried to observe the situation outside through the peephole. As soon as Aileen got close to the door, the footsteps suddenly disappeared. Aileen pressed her eye to the peephole and looked outside. But it was just pitch-black outside.

Aileen looked down at the door crack. The sound-activated light in the corridor outside was on and the warm yellow light was shining through the crack into the room. But from the peephole, it was dark outside.

Aileen was slightly stunned and took a step back suddenly! What she saw from the peephole was not the corridor without light, but someone's eye. Someone outside was pressing his eye to the peephole looking in.

Suddenly, a sharp and strange laugh came from outside the door. That familiar old voice came through the door: "I've finally found you."

[Bang! Bang! Bang!]

There was a heavy knock on the door. With the old, sharp voice, the knocking became heavier and heavier, and the door frame almost shook.

Thinking back to the message from her mother, saying that Granny Wong had already passed away. Aileen couldn't stay calm anymore and ran to the balcony, wanting to climb down the pipe. But looking at the height of the 8th floor below, Aileen was still afraid.

The knocking gradually turned into door smashing, bang! Bang! Each knock was like a direct hit on her skull.

How can she explain that an old woman can have such great strength? But if what her mother said was true, Granny Wong must be a ghost. Why did she still knock on the door and take the elevator? Why did she not just pass through the wall and kill her? Isn't that how it is shown on TV?

The door-smashing sound was deafening. The door of the utility room was an old wooden door that hadn't been replaced for a long time. The lock was old and couldn't hold on for long.