Chapter Five

Aileen quickly got up and walked to the corner, her back tightly against the wall, her eyes staring at the corner of the corridor. Soon, three figures ran past the end of my sight towards this side. Seeing these people, Aileen was stunned on the spot. It was my parents and brother? They actually ran down from home?

But isn't there still a killer hiding at home? How could the killer let them escape?

The three of them stopped in front of the security room window, panting. Aileen's mother urgently knocked on the window: "Aileen, come home with us quickly, it's not safe for you to stay here any longer." Her father also said with a serious face: "Aileen, how could you lie to your parents that you are at the company, and you are hiding here by yourself secretly? Do you know how dangerous this is?" Even her brother looked at her fiercely: "Sister! You have to be obedient. It's late. Come home, and don't let mom and dad worry!"

Aileen haven't recovered from the shock just now, and she didn't know what to say: "It's not that, mom and dad, I have a reason for doing this." Upon hearing this, her mother seemed to think of something and suddenly became more anxious. She leaned her head closer: "Aileen, I ask you, have you seen Granny Wong just now?"

I nodded.

Hearing this, she seemed frightened and suddenly looked around vigilantly.

She trembled and put her hand on the window: "Aileen, you must get out of here now, Granny Wong is already dead! A few days ago, a neighbor said that they often saw Granny Wong's ghost in the middle of the night!"

"And it is said that this ghost can bewitch people and make them see Hallucinations."

"Because of this, your father, your brother, and I can't bear to worry about you, so we came down to pick you up!"

Hallucinations?

Could it be that everything Aileen has experienced before was a hallucination? But … Aileen frowned tightly and hesitated: "But mom, I didn't tell you that I have returned from the company, how do you know that I am already here?" Her mother snorted: "Silly girl, as soon as you entered the community door, your brother saw you from the window, and he ran to the elevator to wait for you happily, but he didn't see you. But you entered the building and didn't come out, and the elevator floor number kept showing the 1st floor in the building. So we guessed that you are still in the building and at the 1st floor."

Aileen nodded thoughtfully: "So that's how it is."

Her mother looked at her watch and her voice became more urgent: "Oh, my god! There are only three minutes left until 12 o'clock, Aileen, you must get out of here and go home with us. It is said that after 12 o'clock, Granny Wong's ghost power is the strongest, and no one can run away at that time."

Her father: "Yeah, Aileen, get out of here, go home with us, it's too late to leave!"

Looking at the three people outside the window who have been with her day and night, Aileen hesitated for a while, then decisively opened the door.

"Get out of here quickly, Aileen, let's go home quickly!"

"Aileen, hurry, we can still make it home now!"

Aileen still stood in place, unusually calm, looking at the three people outside the door: "Mom and Dad, I just twisted my ankle carelessly, can you come in and help me?"

Inside the security room, the yellow paper was blown by the wind.

Aileen's mother's face expression changed slightly, but she still maintained a smile: "Don't make jokes at this time, Aileen, why are you standing there so firmly? Hurry up, it's too late, get out of here!"

Aileen didn't make a move: "Mom, I'm serious, can you come in and help me?" The three people stood at the door, never taking a step forward. Her mother finally couldn't hold back her temper: "At this kind of time, how can you still have time to make this kind of joke? The ghost of Granny Wong is here, we must hide at home quickly, your father, your brother, and I risked our lives to come down to find you, how can you be so unreasonable!"

Aileen countered: "But mom, if Granny Wong's ghost is so terrible, it would be safer for us to leave this building and run away rather than to go home, after all, our home is in this building."

Her mother suddenly screamed: "I tell you to go home with me, and you go home with me, what does a child know?"

"Go home! Do you hear me! Get out of here now!"

"If you don't go out now, I will consider that I have never had a daughter like you!"

Aileen was shocked on the spot. In her memory, her mother has never spoken to her so impatiently. She was very gentle and loved her children very much. The woman in front of her who was so hysterical is really her mother?

[Tick, tick.]

The second hand of the clock on the wall was still moving. Only half a circle left, it would be 12 o'clock.

30 seconds, 29 seconds, 28 seconds ...

The shouting at the door was getting more and more urgent. Aileen looked at the three people outside the door. Their faces twisted with anxiety and anger. Aileen felt like she was looking at a completely unfamiliar stranger at the moment.

10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds ...

At the moment when the second hand turned to 12, the noise suddenly stopped. Right at that moment, the most bizarre thing happened. Looking at the scene outside the door at the moment, Aileen was so scared that her legs went soft, and she fell to the ground uncontrollably. At that moment, just after 12 o'clock, those three people who were shouting outside the door suddenly had knife wounds all over their bodies. The deepest one was on the neck, and blood was still gushing out. At that moment, the front of me was a sea of red.

What's going on! Why is this happening! Just now, there was no one outside. How could they suddenly have so many knife wounds on their bodies?!

Aileen couldn't control her suppressed emotions and shouted: "Who is it! Who killed them! Come out! No matter if you are a person or a ghost, Come out!"

Beside Aileen, an old, low voice suddenly appeared: "Look down at your own hand." Aileen looked at Granny Wong who appeared beside me again, hesitated to lower my head. At that moment, Aileen's heart almost jumped out of her chest! In her hand, Aileen was holding a knife covered in blood. Her clothes, pants, and shoes were all soaked in blood!

What's going on?!

Aileen looked at the bodies of the three people outside the door, and her heart trembled! She threw the knife in her hand far away. In an instant, her mind was chaotic.

"Did I... did I kill someone? Did I kill my parents and brother?"

Granny Wong pulled Aileen into the security room and sat her down at the table in the innermost side. Her face was paler than a few minutes ago, but at the moment, Aileen could see a trace of relief in her face. She asked Aileen to sit under the brightest light in the room. "What do you mean, child? What do you remember?"

The white light above Aileen's head was dazzling and made her eyes sore, and even her head began to feel dizzy. What did she mean, what did Aileen remember? The light above Aileen's head was getting stronger and stronger, and it even began to emit a scorching temperature. Aileen's whole body began to ache uncontrollably, and her heart was tightly wrung in pain.

Aileen curled up in pain, trying to crawl outside, but found that she couldn't move a step. Slowly, it was as if a clear stream suddenly surged into her brain. At that moment, the pain on my body gradually disappeared.

Aileen opened her eyes, and only her heart was still slightly aching. She remembered. Her parents were dead, her brother was dead too. They were not hit by something. They were killed by knives.

The murderer was Aileen, herself!

But why Aileen lost all her memories, and then she started a cycle of death. But now that she remembered these lost memories, all the emotions just now have disappeared completely, and Aileen only felt that her heart was only a pool of still water. A pool that will never ripple again.

Aileen glanced at the side and saw the old woman standing there, speaking word by word: "Granny Wong, do you want to use me to save your granddaughter? Let's start our life exchange now, I am willing to exchange my life for your granddaughter's life." Anyway, Aileen felt that her life has been superfluous in this world. As the culprit of killing several people, Aileen didn't have the slightest desire to live. She clearly experienced three death cycles just now. Maybe it's a parallel world, or maybe it's a ridiculous dream.

Aileen didn't know why. But here, the selfish and brutal mother has become a gentle mother who values her child's life above all else. A family that once favored boys over girls to the extreme has become a harmonious and happy family.

Aileen, who was forced to drop out of high school and sold at a high price to an old bachelor as his wife, here could actually have a job of her own. Aileen couldn't help recalling those real moments she spent with her mother with her hysterical expressions:

"You wretched girl, how could I have given birth to someone as shameless as you? What's the point of a girl studying? Hurry up and get married, your brother is still counting on your dowry to go to college!"

"Bastard! Slut! This meat is for your brother to eat, he's growing, how dare you touch his meat, I'll beat you to death!"

"Worthless bitch! Get off the table and eat!"

And here, the "worthless" and "slut" had become "my dear". The hysterical scolding had turned into gentle and considerate care. It seems so real, yet it's laughably fake.

Originally, Aileen might have just endured all this and lived her life in silence. After the old bachelor died, all his property was taken by her parents and the money had been deposited under her brother's name for him to spend recklessly. Aileen managed to get by on odd jobs at home, supporting herself.

But her brother, spoiled from a young age, became even more unruly with money. He spent all the money in just half a year. This time, he demanded to study abroad. Her mother, in order to raise money for him, found a Taoist priest to arrange a posthumous marriage for Aileen.

After the deed was done, they would receive a large sum of money from the man's family. Meanwhile, Aileen was meant to be secretly transported into the deep mountain with the already stiff corpse for a 'burial'. Upon accidentally discovering their plan, Aileen could no longer control her emotions, drugged their water, and then with a knife, hacked the unconscious trio to death.

Aileen did not regret any of it. They didn't deserve to live, and even if it cost Aileen her own life. She had to make them pay the price!

Beside me, Granny Wong was silent for a long time before she spoke: "I am here to save my granddaughter. I can die, but she must live."

Aileen laughed at herself in self-mockery. So many people were loved, yet she was the one who had long been abandoned.

"Child, look at me," the old woman's hoarse voice sounded from above.

Aileen looked up and met her gaze.

Granny Wong's expression had softened significantly, with the corners of her mouth always slightly raised.

But ...

Those features that were once unfamiliar gradually transformed into the most familiar face in her memory. Aileen was instantly filled with joy. Her community didn't have a regular cleaner. In reality, there was no such person as Granny Wong!

Aileen hugged the old lady excitedly: "Grandma! Is it really you!"

There was no Granny Wong! It was her grandmother! Her grandmother gently stroked Aileen's head: "It's me, I'm here to save my granddaughter." Tears burst from Aileen's eyes like a broken dam, unstoppable.

Before junior high school, Aileen had lived in the countryside with her grandmother. After giving birth to Aileen, her mother, disdaining that she was a girl, left Aileen in the countryside. Since then, Aileen had lived with her grandmother in the countryside for more than ten years. She supported Aileen's studies by selling vegetables. Aileen studied very hard, hoping to be successful one day and be able to repay her grandmother. During those more than ten years, her parents hardly ever set foot here.

When Aileen started junior high school, her parents suddenly took her back to the city without warning. From then on, they forcibly cut off Aileen's contact with her grandmother.

On the day Aileen was forced to drop out of school and get married, she found out that as early as the day they took her back to the city, they had already planned to marry her off at this time.

Over the years, Aileen had been trying to contact her grandmother but had never succeeded. Aileen always had thought that her grandmother didn't want her either.

But now, the grandmother has appeared right in front of her! Her grandmother gently wiped away Aileen's tears, her eyes also filled with tears: "Don't cry, grandma is here, no one can hurt you."

Aileen nodded excitedly, but in the moment when she lowered her head, she noticed ... On the stomach of her grandmother, there was actually a big black hole, as if something had been hollowed out. Aileen thought of that ten minutes her grandmother had just disappeared. The purpose of the grandmother's trip was to save her. The hidden killer was her, Aileen. Now her parents and brother were on the first floor. So, where would the grandmother have gone? Aileen suddenly recalled the face of 902 in the last cycle. In the last cycle, it was this 902 who instigated her to rush back to her home on the 25th floor before 12 o'clock.

Err … 902 …

Aileen remembered now! That face was clearly the Taoist priest who arranged her posthumous marriage! Did the grandmother get hurt on the way to find 902?

Such a big wound, what should she do, what should she do?

"Child, don't be afraid," the grandmother said with a smile, her voice gentle. She took Aileen's arm and pulled her under the brightest light.

" Don't be afraid, it's all a dream, everything will be fine."

Under the harsh light, Aileen's eyes were sore and she couldn't open them. And her head became dizzy in an instant. At the last moment of losing consciousness. That old and warm voice whispered in my ear:

"Child, live on, grandma loves you forever."