020 The Ring

Although the sudden downpour was brewing a terrible disaster for City C, at that moment, aside from Anirudh, who had a sense of impending danger, no one else had noticed the approaching threat. In fact, many people were cheering with joy as the fog lifted, thinking that the situation would improve as the mist dissipated.

 But things were not that simple.

 "Boss, what's wrong?"

 Seeing Anirudh's furrowed brow, Chandan, who was celebrating the clearing of the fog, was stunned for a moment. Then he shook his head and comforted him, saying, "I know you're worried that the prophecy from that post will come true, but the event hasn't happened yet. There's no point in worrying. What you really need right now is to rest. If you keep this up, your health will suffer."

 To alleviate Anirudh's anxiety, Chandan changed the topic. "By the way, looking back on the data you've gathered, there are actually quite a few pieces of information that weren't necessary. If we'd realized that earlier, we could've saved a lot of effort."

 "Why?"

 The data Anirudh had collected was very important to him, so when he heard Chandan's words, he was puzzled.

 "Because a lot of the information you've gathered involves things that can't possibly happen, or even if they did, they wouldn't pose a threat to humans."

 Chandan shrugged and pointed to the information about the long-haired female ghost on Anirudh's computer screen. "For example, this one."

 "Why?"

 Hearing Chandan's words, Anirudh was even more confused. "Isn't this female ghost, Sadako from the mountain village, quite famous? And the movie Ringu with her as the main character is a classic horror film, even remade overseas several times."

 "Sadako and Ringu are indeed famous, but the problem is, she can't actually appear."

 Chandan shrugged again. "If you'd watched the movie, you'd know that Sadako can only appear if you've watched the cursed videotape. But these days, nobody even uses video recorders anymore. So even if someone found the cursed tape, no one could watch it."

 "I see now..."

 Anirudh finally understood after Chandan's explanation. The movie Ringu was from an era long past, and with video recorders almost obsolete today, even if a cursed videotape appeared, it would be useless.

 Ding dong!

 At that moment, Chandan's phone suddenly rang.

 "Huh, who would send me a video this late?"

 Noticing the message notification, Chandan raised an eyebrow in curiosity, picked up his phone, and opened the video.

 However, the moment he saw the video, Chandan's face turned ashen, and his body began to tremble.

 "What's wrong, did you see a ghost?"

 Seeing Chandan's pale face and trembling hands, Anirudh walked over to check. On the phone screen, a strange video was playing.

 In the video, a beautiful woman dressed in a kimono was combing her hair in front of a mirror. But the next moment, a long-haired ghost appeared in the reflection. Before Anirudh could make sense of the ghost's appearance, the woman in the video suddenly began to laugh eerily, and the scene changed.

 This time, the video displayed a news report about a volcanic eruption, but it quickly switched to a close-up of an eye. In the pupil of that eye, the word "Sadako" appeared, slightly distorted.

 Finally, the screen flickered and froze on a dark, dried-up well.

 Then, the video ended, and for some unknown reason, Chandan's phone screen suddenly went black.

 However, just then, through the reflection on the blackened screen, Anirudh suddenly noticed a figure standing in the shadow behind them. A woman dressed in white, with her face completely covered by long hair, was staring at them intently!

 In an instant, a sense of danger more intense than the one Anirudh had felt when encountering the "lickers" surged within him.

 The sense of danger was so overwhelming that it felt as though his whole body had frozen. He couldn't even move, let alone breathe!

 Ding ling ling!

 Suddenly, Chandan's phone rang again. As the ringtone sounded, the ghostly figure in the reflection seemed to vanish, and the suffocating sense of pressure also disappeared, allowing Anirudh to finally take deep breaths.

 Only then did Anirudh realize that, during those few brief seconds, his back had become completely soaked in cold sweat!

 At the same time, the ringtone continued to ring.

 "Hello..."

 In a daze, Chandan hesitated for a long time before finally answering the phone with trembling hands.

 But when he picked up the call, a hoarse, low voice—almost like a demonic whisper—came from the other end.

 "Ahhhhhhh!"

 Hearing the sound, Chandan finally broke down. He screamed and threw his phone at the wall, then crouched down, trembling uncontrollably.

 "What happened? What was that video just now? Why are you so scared?"

 Seeing Chandan's terrified state, Anirudh urgently asked, raising his voice.

 "It's impossible, impossible..."

 At that moment, Chandan seemed to have lost his mind. No matter what Anirudh said, Chandan only trembled, muttering to himself, tears flowing from his eyes.

 Slap!

 Seeing Chandan in such a state, Anirudh hesitated, then clenched his teeth and slapped Chandan hard across the face.

 "Boss... we're doomed!"

 The slap was powerful, leaving a large mark on Chandan's face and finally snapping him out of his stupor.

 But once he regained his senses, Chandan couldn't help but grab Anirudh, crying hysterically. "Why? Why did Sadako's cursed video appear on my phone?"

 "The cursed video from Sadako? You mean the video we just saw was from that cursed videotape?"

 Anirudh immediately understood and opened the detailed information on Sadako and Ringu from his computer.

 Sure enough, the video they had seen on the phone was identical to the footage from the cursed videotape!

 According to the description in Ringu, once someone watches the cursed videotape, Sadako's vengeful spirit would come to take their life seven days later.

 This was the infamous seven-day death curse!

 But why had this cursed video suddenly appeared on their phones?

 Was it a prank?

 That thought barely crossed Anirudh's mind before he dismissed it. Even if the video might have been fake, the ghostly figure he saw and the suffocating sense of danger were far too real to be a trick.

 The cursed video had to be real!

 At the same time, more questions arose in Anirudh's mind.

 As Chandan had mentioned, the Sadako in Ringu used a cursed videotape to kill, but now it had turned into a phone video. Could the vengeful spirit have adapted to new technology?

 "Wait!"

 At that moment, a sudden realization flashed in Anirudh's mind. He finally found the answer. "I know why this is happening!"

 "Why?" Chandan asked, clinging to hope.

 "Because we're no longer dealing with the fictional Sadako from the movie, who was limited by the plot!"

 Anirudh took a deep breath, his expression serious. "If the prophecy in that post is true, and this new monster is Sadako, then she will become a real vengeful spirit. And for a real Sadako, the cursed videotape no longer holds any power."

 He clenched his fists. "After all, the cursed videotape was just one of the methods Sadako used to kill. Since that method is outdated, she can easily use new ways to kill... like this phone video!"

 "If Sadako can really kill through phone videos, that's terrifying..."

 Chandan's hair stood on end.

 Given that smartphones were now an essential part of everyone's life, and videos could spread rapidly, if Sadako could use this method to kill, humanity would be doomed before the zombie apocalypse even began!

 After all, anyone who had watched the movie knew that the only way to break Sadako's seven-day curse was to copy the videotape and share it with others. This would lift the curse.

 That meant once Sadako's curse began to spread, people would likely share these cursed videos to save themselves.

 Before long, the number of cursed videos would reach a terrifying level, capable of destroying all of human civilization!

 No wonder the system said that zombies were just the beginning of the apocalypse...

 Now that he thought about it, Sadako's new method of cursing humans was just as dangerous as the zombie threat!

 But, in comparison to the future of humanity, they now seemed to be more concerned with their own fate.

 After all, they were already cursed by Sadako. That meant, unless they could find a way to break or transfer the curse, their lives had only seven days left!

 However, at that very moment, the air raid sirens in City C suddenly blared loudly!

 Soon, gunfire erupted!

 As if things weren't bad enough, just as Chandan and Anirudh were entangled in the curse, the disaster spawned by the rainstorm finally erupted!