Phone scammer
The whole wasteland was covered with thick snow. The storm was gathering momentum, preparing to demolish every living thing in its path at any moment. All the forest creatures hid in their caves a long time ago, fearing the destructive messenger of winter. And only one creature failed to escape on this cold day.
A lone figure loomed in the middle of a deserted field prepared for execution. Her hair clung treacherously to her face, making it difficult to see anything in her already tear-stained eyes. The hot wind hit my face and burned my throat painfully. Her blue legs were already barely carrying her, but she couldn't stop. To stop fighting is to give up the slack.
Dressed only in a torn robe and on bare feet, she ran through the prickly snow, barely catching her breath. But there was no escape. She was destined to die today.
"You'll all regret this," she whispered with eyes full of resentment and anger.
She had been repeating that phrase too often lately. This time she was not allowed to finish. The verdict has already begun to be carried out. The girl felt an arrow fly into her back. Then the second, the third. Falling on her stomach, she tried with the last of her strength to lean on the snow with trembling hands, but it was too late. When the fourth arrow arrived, she was already dead. Viscous, dark blood poured incessantly from his back and stomach, staining the snow in the color of despair and death. The body was frozen in the cold. The eyes have finally lost their living spark. This day was her sad end.
***
A small room in the cheapest apartment in the city was illuminated by the first rays of the warm morning sun, casting light on a skinny wooden chair that was holding on with the last of its strength from the weight of a pile of dirty clothes.
What a tragic death for such a young beauty, concluded the girl lying on the bed with another book in her hands – She died being accused of all imaginable and unimaginable sins, and even her own family did not try to save her.
However, Xinling wasn't going to feel too sorry for her. The villain got what she deserved. While she was alive, she repeatedly tried to prevent the main couple on the way to their "happily ever after". By scheming around the crown Prince in order to take over the throne, she has not a little stained her hands with blood. Being terribly jealous and insidious, she hated the bright and pure main character, who immediately fell into the soul of the young prince. However, the main character, a commoner named Mei Baijie, revealed her machinations and, after learning about the villainess's connection with enemy demons, defeated her, after which she entered into a happy marriage with the prince.
"Eh..This is true love, for which no obstacles are terrible," Xinling thought and finally closed the book with a sense of accomplishment. In order to find out the ending of this novel, she did not sleep all night and regained the appearance of a half-dead creature. Her bruises under her eyes were so dark that anyone who saw her at that moment would think that she was seriously ill with something. And although this novel, like many others that she read, was only a poorly written cliched passage, she was quite happy with her leisure time, because it helped her to distract from other more serious problems in her life.
Xinling was already 27, but she absolutely did not know what she wanted from this life. Living alone in a small apartment and earning only temporary part-time jobs, she was completely disappointed in this life. Earlier, when she was younger and practiced archery, she was sure that this would become her vocation. Winning international competitions turned her head, and she dropped out of school, dreaming of achieving great success and becoming a world champion. But what happened was what she was most afraid of–she just got tired of it. She no longer enjoyed shooting as much as before. Therefore, after getting a regular job at the store, she spent her days reading romance novels. Meanwhile, the bow and all her ambitions with dreams for the future remained gathering dust in the closet.
After taking an extra glance at her watch, just to make sure that she was already late for work, Xinling began to think of other things for herself for the current day. You can, for example, eat or search the Internet for some novelties in the world of web novels. However, when Xinling was about to go to the store to buy groceries, the phone rang. The girl was almost sure that it was her boss. He was probably going to tell her off again for absenteeism, and maybe even fire her. But there was nothing wrong with that. She will lose one unsuccessful job and quickly find another, and she will not be able to restore her peace of mind and nerves in a hundred years.
Picking up the phone from the bedside table, she glanced at the screen. The number was unfamiliar. However, Xinling still decided to pick up the phone.
– Hello, dear one – a slightly mechanical male voice came from the other side – Today, in honor of the thousandth love story you have read, we are giving you a gift. You can get into any novel of your choice..
Before the man could finish, the girl immediately turned off the call. She didn't need to listen to scammers anymore. It wasn't that she hadn't sinned in dealing with people like that before. From loneliness, you can't do that. But she wasn't in the right mood today. She filled the gap of loneliness with a good book.
The phone rang again, an unfamiliar number, but a different one.
– Hello, dear –
And having started his hurdy–gurdy again, the scammer was going to continue his speech, but the girl, not eager to go into angry tirades, answered as calmly as her patience allowed her
-I'm sorry, but stop calling me. I am well aware of all your fraudulent schemes, and I would be happy to help you in your difficult case, but not now. I'm going to eat now.
There was an indignant exclamation at the other end.
– How dare you! We are a very respected company. If you are so skeptical, you can try it first. Name any novel.
Xinling rolled her eyes and was about to reset the call again when she suddenly became curious about how it might end. This thought flashed through her mind very quickly, but managed to imprint itself in the head of a bored girl. Looking at the book in her hands, she answered uncertainly.
– Well, let's say "The beloved wife of the Crown Prince"
– Accepted!! We'll put your name in the database for now, and you try to die in the meantime.
– Excuse me? Xinling thought she didn't hear her interlocutor well.
– Yes, didn't I say that before? Then, as if grinning, he continued, "Oh, right, you didn't let me finish.
"Does this scammer still dare to be indignant?"
– Right!! – a little later, he continued, – We need to get you out of this reality, so be kind enough to kill your old body soon.
Goosebumps ran down Xinling's spine.
"This is not good. The man on the other end is clearly some kind of madman. And maybe even a murderer."
All the documentaries about serial killers that she had abused when she was younger flashed through Xinling's mind.
After turning off the bell and turning off the phone, she closed the door and all the windows and decided to stay at home until the problem settled down. It took several hours before the girl's stomach rumbled as if her owner hadn't eaten in the last few years.
"I need a snack,"
However, there was no food in the refrigerator.
"Which is more terrible – to die at the hands of a madman or from starvation?" Quickly coming to the obvious answer, Xinling threw on her jacket and went out into the hallway.
"Quickly to the nearest store and back."
Then she was going to go down the stairs, but it turned out that the door there was locked. The girl turned and hesitantly entered the nearest elevator. At that moment, she felt a little uneasy.
And her feelings didn't let her down. When the girl pressed the lower floor, the elevator for some reason quickly went up. Greatly frightened, Xinling was about to press the button to call the dispatcher when the elevator suddenly stopped and flew down with great speed.