Chapter 7

Luckily, Mr. Preston wasn't dead.

He was covered in cuts, drenched in blood.

They laid him on a lounge chair, and he gasped for air for a good while before he finally recovered.

Thank goodness.

If two people died within such a short time, everyone would probably freak out.

Colleagues exchanged uneasy glances.

I forced myself to stay calm and restarted my computer.

After the computer rebooted, several windows popped up from the internal software again.

Without exception, they were all from the VP of Human Resources and Finance!

**@everyone: [There's an unexpected situation at the company. Everyone stay calm and don't move. Someone will handle it!]**

**@everyone: [Tonight's project *must* launch on time. Any slip-ups will be traced to individuals!]**

**@everyone: [Considering tonight's special circumstances, the company has decided to give every employee who clocks out after midnight a $2000 cash subsidy. $200 will be paid directly after logging off, and the remaining amount will be deposited into your bank account along with your salary over 9 months.]**

**@everyone: [After power is restored, ensure orderly work. Strictly forbidden to take photos or videos. Do NOT leak videos or images outside the company. Violators will be held accountable!]**

...

"Tsk, I knew it! The higher-ups are all the same, aren't they? Two thousand bucks, and they're paying it in installments? Why don't they just go broke themselves!"

Chad muttered beside me.

"Alex, let's go grab a smoke! It's too stifling in here."

Chad stood up, motioning for me to come with him.

He was right. All this back and forth had my nerves shot. I needed a break.

"Let's go, let's just tough it out until midnight, then I'm taking five days off tomorrow and just chilling!"

As Chad and I walked past the door, we got a pretty good idea of how Mr. Preston got his injuries.

"Ugh! Serves him right!" Chad spat.

He'd disliked Mr. Preston, our department head, for a long time.

To the left of the company entrance were the restrooms and the smoking lounge.

Straight ahead was the corridor and the shared elevator lobby.

To the right was the fire shutter leading to the stairwell.

We smokers sometimes used the stairwell when we were too lazy to go to the smoking lounge.

Normally, the fire shutter wasn't lowered.

But now, it was not only half-lowered but severely damaged.

The rolled-up metal sheets were covered in blood, and there were blood spatters on the floor and walls.

Several grotesque bloody handprints were slapped on the wall, tearing chunks out of the drywall.

"Mr. Preston must have tried to go to the stairwell for a smoke and got hit by the shutter. He got caught in it, but luckily, he didn't die."

I felt a surge of relief for Mr. Preston.

I glanced at Chad and whispered: "It might be that what the group message said is true…"

"Alex, don't scare me. Dude, I'm a millennial barely making rent, the only thing I'm terrified of is going bankrupt. You think I'm scared of a prank?"

"I was just saying."

Chad cursed: "You watch. That idiotic rule said the smoking lounge was dangerous, right? I'm gonna go try it! It's all just the higher-ups messing with us!"

*Flick!*

Chad lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

Suddenly, I vaguely thought I saw a red dot on his forehead, which then vanished.

I shook my head, assuming I'd imagined it.

The red dot must have been the lit end of his cigarette…

It was then that I felt something like a gust of wind on the back of my neck.

But when I turned around, there was nothing there…

"Don't smoke here! Let's walk to the bathroom, quick, hurry!"

At this point, I was subtly starting to believe the anonymous rules in the group chat!

Rule 2: **[No smoking in public areas! Warning: The former smoking lounge poses extreme danger and is currently unusable!]**

I pulled Chad along, heading from the corridor towards the restroom, which was right across from the smoking lounge.

Chad, true to form, refused to believe in bad luck. He took a step and walked right into the smoking lounge.

"Ha, Alex, just watch. Nothing's gonna happen. I bet Chloe was scared for nothing, hahaha."

I paused for a few seconds. Seeing Chad was fine, I didn't think much of it and started lighting my own cigarette as I walked in.

But…

*CRASH!*

A grating sound tore through the air!

And then, I noticed Chad wasn't moving!

His eyes were slits, and a faint tremor ran through his jaw.

The cigarette clenched between his lips dropped.

"Chad?"

The source of that horrific crashing sound was the metal trash can in the corner of the smoking lounge.

The trash can was bouncing wildly on the floor, completely split open, its metal sides covered in blood.