Chapter 25: The Capitalist's Deception

An hour later, Fang Xiu lay on the bed with lifeless eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling as if he had lost his soul.

He had died dozens of times and been driven mad and broken by the bizarre, but in the end, he had survived.

Madness and hatred had pulled his sanity back from the brink of hell.

From then on, revenge—revenge on his wife, revenge on all the strange phenomena in the world, making them feel pain—became the meaning of his existence, just as his name suggested: "Rest in Peace."

Now that the strange phenomena were gone, what would he do with his burning hatred? What was the meaning of his existence?

Thus, he stared at the ceiling all night long.

Until the next day, Zhao Hao called.

"Xiu Ge! Look at the news!" His tone was urgent.

But Fang Xiu showed no reaction.

"Xiu Ge, the news reports that Bai Liu Academy caught fire!"

Upon hearing the words "Bai Liu Academy," a glimmer of life returned to Fang Xiu's eyes as he began to check the news on his phone.

The first news article he saw left him speechless.

It read: At 7:49 PM yesterday, a major fire broke out at the sales office of Bai Liu Academy in the Green Vine City Development Zone, with an affected area of approximately 1,000 square meters. The fire department responded immediately upon receiving the report, and the fire was extinguished by 10:00 PM.

According to statistics, the accident resulted in 11 deaths.

The list of deceased is as follows....

A fire at the Bai Liu Academy at 7:49 PM yesterday?

How could that be possible?

At that time yesterday, Fang Xiu clearly remembered that they were fleeing through the mysterious realm. Since they frequently checked their phones for the time, he remembered it clearly.

Additionally, when they left the Bai Liu Academy around 9:00 PM yesterday, they did not see any signs of a fire.

He hurriedly looked at the list of deceased, only to find his own name listed.

He even saw a string of familiar names.

Zhao Hao, Wang Ziting, Wu Dahai...

On the phone, Zhao Hao's anxious and terrified voice rang out.

"Xiu Ge, did you see it? Our names are on the death list. Does that mean... we're all dead?"

Fang Xiu didn't speak, but the sparkle in his eyes was returning at a visible pace.

"Xiu Ge, Xiu Ge, are you listening?"

"Huh... Hahaha..."

Fang Xiu suddenly burst into a suppressed, excited laugh.

"Hahaha... This is amazing, truly amazing. I knew they hadn't disappeared; they were just playing hide-and-seek with me."

"Xiu Ge? What are you talking about? Don't scare me!"

Dong!

Fang Xiu hung up the phone. Seeing the news of his own death was too exciting for him. This meant that the strange events hadn't ended, and the strangeness hadn't disappeared. What could be more exciting than that?

Just then, ding!

The WeChat notification sound rang out.

It was the sales office work group.

Manager Wu Dahai was tagging Fang Xiu.

"Fang Xiu, why aren't you coming to work yet?"

"Why aren't you coming to work yet?"

"Why aren't you coming to work yet?"

A barrage of messages came flooding in.

Seeing this strange scene, Fang Xiu laughed.

The deceased Wu Dahai was telling him to come to work?

Hahaha.... Interesting, really interesting.

He's dead and still telling me to come to work?

It seems that after Wu Dahai died, he turned into a capitalist ghost.

This was the first time in his life that Fang Xiu was so eager to go to work, but he didn't reply in the group chat because he wanted to see what else Wu Dahai could bring him.

As Fang Xiu didn't reply for a long time, the ding-ding-ding sound of the phone became more and more frequent.

Finally, a line of blood-red text appeared.

"Do you think I don't know where you are just because you're not talking?"

The blood-red characters spread across the screen, eerie and bloody.

Then, the blood-red text began to slowly change, gathering together as if a pool of blood had suddenly appeared on the phone screen, a crimson stain.

Gurgle, gurgle...

The blood began to boil, like boiling water, and gradually, an eyeball rose from the blood, accompanied by countless blood vessels, growing out of the phone screen.

That eerie eye stared straight at Fang Xiu.

"Fang Xiu, I see you!"

Wu Dahai's eerie voice emanated from the eyeball.

The scene was utterly eerie, enough to drive a normal person mad.

But Fang Xiu was an exception. After thinking for a moment, he calmly asked, "When will my commission be paid?"

The eyeball seemed to pause, clearly not expecting Fang Xiu's reaction.

"It will be paid as long as you come to work." The eyeball replied.

"Alright."

After saying that, Fang Xiu suddenly reached out, grabbed the eyeball connected by blood vessels, and pulled it off the phone screen with force, as if pulling out a weed.

"Sorry, this is my only phone. Please don't take it."

The eyeball let out a painful wail and then vanished into thin air like a bubble.

Fang Xiu spread his hands, which were empty—no eyeball, no bloodstains.

"An illusion?"

"Things are getting more interesting. Let's go to work."

So Fang Xiu set off again for the Bai Liu Academy.

Upon arriving at the Bai Liu Academy, he was astonished to find that the entire sales office had been burned to a crisp, clearly having suffered an extremely severe fire. The area was cordoned off with caution tape.

He walked straight through the caution tape and entered the sales office. The moment he stepped through the door, the scene underwent a miraculous transformation.

In a daze, he seemed to have returned to the sales office of the past, with its golden splendor, gleaming marble floors, and huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

Even Li Feifei, who had long since passed away, was there, dressed in a business suit and black stockings, chatting with her colleagues.

They even greeted Fang Xiu when they saw him arrive.

Li Feifei teased, "Oh, Little Fang is here. You're here pretty early today."

Fang Xiu walked up to her, pinched her cheek, which was warm, plump, and elastic.

"Is that true?"

Li Feifei screamed, slapped Fang Xiu's hand away, and began to scold him.

Fang Xiu ignored her and walked straight up to the second floor.

As soon as he reached the second floor, Zhao Hao rushed over.

"Xiu Ge, were you also forced to come to work?"

"No, I like coming to work. Where's Wu Dahai?"

Zhao Hao paused for a moment before replying, "He's in the office."

Fang Xiu nodded and went to find Wu Dahai. Along the way, he passed through the office area, where his deceased colleagues were all at their desks, either working or goofing off, just as they had before.

Just as he was about to enter Wu Dahai's office, Wu Dahai came out first.

Upon seeing Fang Xiu, he immediately began to curse, "Fang Xiu! Why did you come to work so late? I tagged you in the group chat, why didn't you reply? Do you know... ..."

"When will my commission be paid?" Fang Xiu's calm words interrupted Wu Dahai's rant.

Wu Dahai snorted coldly, "Commission? You have the nerve to ask me for commission? With your work attitude..."

"Even if you're dead, you're still so annoying."

"What did you say! Who died! Can you speak properly? I'm alive and well, you..."

Wu Dahai's anger flared up. He pointed his finger at Fang Xiu's nose, his mouth firing like a machine gun, and his loud voice attracted the attention of all the colleagues in the office area.

Swish!

A silver light flashed.

The whole world fell silent.

Under everyone's shocked gaze, a shiny silver surgical knife was firmly embedded in Wu Dahai's thick neck.

The handle of the knife was firmly gripped by a large hand—it was Fang Xiu.

Fang Xiu's calm gaze met Wu Dahai's wide-eyed glare, and he said calmly, "Aren't you dead now?"