Chapter 16 Fundamental Abilities: The Dad and Mom Delivering the Cake

Jogging downstairs, Gao Ming didn't even bother to use an umbrella, braving the rain as he returned to his home.

His day had been incredibly fulfilling, far more exhilarating than a day's work at the maximum-security prison.

After closing the door, Gao Ming laid out a few black and white photos on the coffee table, "When the horror game fully merges with reality, can the people in these obituaries come back? But by then, will they still be themselves?"

Gao Ming's gaze shifted to Teacher Yao, feeling a bit worried that the latter might not adapt well to the environment there. He decided to bring Teacher Yao and Zhao Xi's black and white photos the next time he triggered the Abnormal Event game.

Night fell dark as ink, the downpour was relentless, and Gao Ming, who had been starving all day, opened the fridge. However, he was somewhat reluctant to eat anything from home; the first game had left a deep psychological scar.

"I might as well order takeout. Once disaster strikes in full force, even if someone dares to deliver, I wouldn't risk eating carelessly." After placing his order, Gao Ming stared at his phone's standby screen, falling into silence.

On his phone's wallpaper was a photo taken in a suburb of Xinhu, showing him and his parents at a dining table, from a day he had taken time off work to return home.

His mother, apron still on, was serving freshly made dishes – she seemed to be nagging him, mentioning the neighbor downstairs who planned to introduce him to potential partners once Gao Ming's job was stable.

His father, seizing the opportunity when Gao Ming drew his mother's attention, sneakily took a sip of wine.

Gao Ming himself, with a face full of resignation, nodded in agreement, his attitude as perfunctory as it gets.

The photo on his phone's background was lovely and warm, but it made Gao Ming grip his head in slight pain.

The three people in the photo looked very normal, but the question was, who took the picture?

The phone was at a considerable distance, not looking like it was set to take the photo automatically. At the time, there appeared to be a fourth person in the house, but Gao Ming couldn't remember.

"The investigator said the Abnormal Event would disrupt all communications, yet during the three days I was trapped, I definitely received calls from Dad and Mom. Their voices and tones were as usual..." Gao Ming was truly afraid to continue the thought.

"The Abnormal Events started appearing in Xinhu half a year ago. Could it be that in the past six months, the ones calling me were other entities?"

Gao Ming knew his family very well. As a psychological counselor, he was adept at perceiving people's inner thoughts. It was extremely difficult to deceive him.

The torrential rain blocked the roads. Unable to travel to Xinhu, Gao Ming clasped his hands together, his knuckles cracking with anxiety.

After hesitating for a long time, Gao Ming picked up his phone and dialed that all-too-familiar number.

A busy tone beeped incessantly, leaving him tenser than when inside the Strange Occurrences game.

"No answer?"

Pacing back and forth in the house, Gao Ming called several times but with no response, "How come it suddenly can't get through?"

Sitting back down on the sofa, Gao Ming stared at the black and white family portrait with the cake on the table and dialed his home number for the seventh time.

Beep, beep, beep...

The sound of raindrops falling on the window grew fainter, and a light chill, like a tiny snake slithering out from the shadows of the room, slowly coiled around Gao Ming's ankles.

As he felt the temperature dropping, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw the mother in the black and white photo beginning to smile.

The busy signal on the phone suddenly stopped, and the call was connected at that moment.

"Hello?" Gao Ming stood up abruptly as he heard the sound of static and heavy objects being dragged on the other end of the line, as if someone was approaching.

"Can you hear me? It's me, Gao Ming!"

The living room lights began to flicker with the static, and inexplicably, footsteps echoed in the hallways at this very moment. Gao Ming felt his body's warmth swiftly draining away.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Stay here..." came a faint voice from his mother, barely audible from the phone, as more and more shadows began to swirl in the corners of the room, like tree roots breaking through the earth from beneath.

The temperature dropped faster, and Gao Ming tried to hang up the phone, but the voice on the other end was becoming clear.

"Stay here, stay here, STAY HERE!!!"

The piercing screams almost ruptured Gao Ming's eardrums. If he continued, he might encounter those "Dads" and "Moms" again.

His body felt as if it was being grasped by invisible arms from within the shadows, and just as Gao Ming was about to be completely devoured by the darkness, a sudden knocking erupted!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Your delivery is here!"

"Is anybody in? Your food delivery! Answer the phone!"

Some of the shadows crawled toward the doorway, and Gao Ming, struggling with all his might, finally managed to hang up the phone.

The temperature inside the room rose rapidly, and warm light appeared within, Gao Ming rushed to open the living room door and burst out!

The delivery guy, still knocking, had no time to react when he saw Gao Ming tumble into the corridor, disheveled, with an expression of terror, gasping for air.

"When did the phone start getting replaced? Have I been chatting with Weird for the past half a year?!" Gao Ming could still feel the pain all over his body as his hands uncontrollably trembled.

Seeing him in this state, the deliveryman holding a bag of Huangmen chicken and rice was also dumbfounded, not daring to urge him loudly. He stood in the corner, speaking with caution, "Brother... your food has arrived."

"Sorry for the trouble," Gao Ming finally regained his senses. He got up from the ground, looking at the deliveryman with gratitude. If it weren't for the deliveryman knocking on the door, who knows what might have happened next, "What's your name? How long have you been knocking? If I delayed your other deliveries, I can tip you."

"My name is Su Mo. A good review will do if it's not too much trouble." The deliveryman raised his hand to hand over the Huangmen chicken, but Gao Ming reached into his pocket instead. He took out two hundred yuan and handed it to the deliveryman.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

"I can't let kindness go unrewarded." Gao Ming searched for a while longer, then finally pulled out his phone, "I rarely use cash. Here, add me as a friend and I'll transfer the money to you."

"That's not necessary, it was only five minutes overtime, it's really not needed." The deliveryman kept waving his hands, trying to give back the chicken and the two hundred yuan to Gao Ming.

"You deserve this." Gao Ming, having escaped death, was now overtaken by fear, "Did you see anything strange outside just now? Or hear any eerie sounds?"

"No," the deliveryman shook his head, puzzled.

"It seems that as long as Weird Dad and Weird Mom don't step out of the obituary, the 'call' can be stopped." Gao Ming unlocked his phone, checking the indoor surveillance footage.

"Ghosts?" The deliveryman wasn't sure what he heard, his curiosity piqued as he glanced at Gao Ming's phone screen.

After a busy day, Gao Ming returned home and made a phone call, but suddenly he stiffened, his limbs spasming.

Then he seemed to go crazy, wildly flailing his hands at the air, his expression hideously distorted!

The deliveryman's expression subtly changed as he saw this, his hand trembling involuntarily with the chicken dish and the cash in it—the man in front of him seemed to be possessed!

The sound-activated lights in the corridor went off at that moment, and the dim glow from the phone screen illuminated Gao Ming's face as the two of them made eye contact.

"..."

"..."

"Bro, don't look at me like that, I'm scared," the deliveryman was on the verge of tears, "I'm a college student from a nearby university, it's my first part-time job delivering food. If I was rude in any way, please don't take it to heart."

"Don't be afraid, I'm a normal person."

"What kind of normal person emphasizes that they're normal while chatting!"

The deliveryman was truly scared. He had heard that the Lijing Apartment had bad feng shui and was the site of numerous crimes. His visit today had indeed lived up to its "infamy."

Before Gao Ming could continue explaining, the deliveryman put down the chicken dish and the money and sprinted downstairs.

"Are college students nowadays this introverted?"

Picking up the delivery and the money, Gao Ming went back inside the apartment, thinking back over everything that had just happened.

"While calling my home and looking at this obituary, Weird Dad and Weird Mom in the black-and-white photo seemed to change and walk out of the shadows."

"Although the scene was terrifying, if used wisely, it could also become a potential weapon."

A scene flashed through Gao Ming's mind of him and Zhao Xi having a standoff in a room, while his parents came in one after another, knocking on the door with cakes in hand.