Chapter 365: Strategic Plan

The USB drive had no energy.

Chen Chen sighed to himself, then plugged out the USB drive listlessly and tossed it back into his pocket.

Although the rules about the USB flash drive that appeared in his mind were extremely outrageous and even his knowledge about the USB drive itself was a very outrageous thing, the fact that the USB drive had no energy left caught Chen Chen unprepared.

He must not panic, there must be a solution...

Chen Chen took a deep breath and leaned back on the sofa. At the same time, his brain began to spin at an extremely fast pace.

“First of all, the reason why I have a lot of strange knowledge about the USB flash drive in my mind — maybe because I own the USB flash drive, so just like in fantasy novels, the USB flash drive recognizes its master?

“Of course, this explanation isn’t reliable. Even if it has to acknowledge its master, it should be Zhou Jie. After all, he was the one who copied the movies in and he also played the movies to release those eerie beings...”

Chen Chen narrowed his eyes and supported his forehead with one hand, and gradually fell into thought.

“Even putting this aside for now, according to the rules in my mind about the USB flash drive, once the movie you put in is played, you can extract substances from it... But strangely, among all the rules, there are no rules about ghost movies at all. That is to say, in terms of what happens when you play a ghost movie, even the USB flash drive itself doesn’t know...

“But the other rules and our encounters in the afternoon can tell us that — if you play ordinary movies, you can take out ordinary movie props. If you play sci-fi movies, you can take out the sci-fi props inside. Then, if you play ghost movies...”

Erm...

“Could it be that the ghosts themselves will come out of the movies?

“However, Final Destination isn’t a ghost film, but a special kind of...”

Chen Chen’s heart throbbed. He suddenly raised his head and stared at the screen in front of him.

“Rule?”

Chen Chen’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“If Final Destination features a kind of rule, then Ju-on, Ring, and One Missed Call, are they also manifestations of a certain rule?”

Thinking of this, Chen Chen turned on the computer again and watched the four horror movies in the cinema of the Internet cafe.

Final Destination was a movie that told of a classic Chinese fatalistic narrative —”If the Reaper wants you dead at midnight, who would keep you alive until dawn?” If one was on Death’s list, then no matter how one fled or hid, one would ultimately be unable to escape the fate of death. One might try various methods to escape death but the irony was that these methods seemed to stack up coincidentally and became the way that Death killed one.

If this rule appeared in reality, that would be truly interesting...

Chen Chen only felt a chill in his heart. He did not think there was an entity such as Death in this world. The so-called Death in the movie was a special “rule”. Strictly speaking, this was like the law of cause and effect —

As the group of main characters in the movie was set to experience the “effect” of dying, any action to save themselves would become the “cause” of death.

If this rule was unleashed, then the entire world was probably going to collapse...

At that time, besides Newton’s law, thermodynamics law, mass-energy conservation law, and other scientific laws, there would be another “Death’s law” in the world?

‘F*ck that sh*t...’

Chen Chen only felt a pain in his brain but he had to continue hypothesizing. In his mind, a brainstorm had gradually started...

The movie Ju-on told the story of a middle-aged woman Kayako with a grievance. She lived a difficult life since she was a child. When she grew up, she was mistaken for being unfaithful and killed by her husband, so everyone who entered her house would be killed by her and her son Toshio.

The core of this movie was very simple. As long as anyone stepped into this house, they would become entangled with Kayako and eventually die.

If it was also regarded as a rule, then “enter and die” was the rule of the entire movie.

If this was the case, the instant this rule was unleashed, the entire Dorm 404 was already contaminated by this rule.

Chen Chen felt a greater ache in his heart. He was not afraid that Death’s law was unleashed. After all, Death’s law only killed people who were supposed to die but did not. He would not be implicated. However, if it were the rule of Ju-on, he would be at a dead end.

This was because Ju-on was a completely unsolvable horror movie. What did unsolvable mean? That was, people who had entered the house must die and there was no solution!

It was not just Ju-on. In addition to this unsolvable horror film, Zhou Jie had also released One Missed Call and Ring.

One Missed Call was about a mental disorder called “Munchausen syndrome”. A girl named “Mimiko” suffered from asthma herself and because her mother suffered from Munchausen syndrome, she was implicated in further suffering and eventually died. At the same time, she was filled with incomparable resentment after her death and her spirit was attached to her phone.

Anyone targeted by Mimiko would receive their own death call a few days in advance. When the call came, those phones would ring with a special nursery rhyme ringtone.

Of the content in the incoming call, some would be their voices before their death and some would send an MMS with the scene of their death. Moreover, the date of death was the date displayed on the call.

What was more terrifying was that this kind of death was contagious. After being killed by Mimiko, their mobile phone would randomly select a person from the address book to continue this relay game of death...

This was the killing method in One Missed Call.

To put it simply, the ghostly call first informed one that one would die and told one the method and date of one’s death. However, the truly despairing factor was that, even after knowing all this, one would still experience the exact manner of death, at the exact time, as given by the call, for one reason or another. There would not even be the slightest discrepancy.

This was the same as Final Destination.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen suddenly recalled that he did not seem to have received any strange calls. That was to say, he might not have been targeted by Mimiko.

With this in mind, Chen Chen could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, he did not let down his guard but swiftly took out his mobile phone, pulled out the SIM card, and then turned off the phone directly. After that, he threw it to the ground and gave it a few good, heavy stamps.

He did not stop until he heard a crunch from the phone.

If the phone was broken, he should not receive the curse of One Missed Call, right?

As for the last movie, Ring, Chen Chen had not watched it directly, but he knew the rules of death in this movie. After all, this movie was too famous and the rules in it were simpler. If anyone watched a recording of the videotape, they would be haunted by a female ghost named Sadako.

Still, it was obvious that Chen Chen had not watched any videotapes. In terms of rules, perhaps Ring was the easiest one to avoid.

In other words, among the four horror films, the only one that threatened him at present was Ju-on.

Chen Chen did not know whether to cry or laugh for a while. Although to him, he would have ended up dead no matter how many female spirits were haunting him. Now that he knew he was only cursed by one, he was surprised to feel a little relieved...

Chen Chen smiled bitterly.

“But even so, this matter is still very serious.”

Chen Chen murmured, “Because this means that the rules of Ju-on will start with Dorm 404 and spread around little by little since Dorm 404 dormitory is often visited by people. As long as they enter, they’ll be on Kayako’s kill list. The room of anyone killed by Kayako will also become a new place of the grudge-curse. The people entering that room will also be hunted down by Kayako...”

Compared with the other killing rules, Kayako’s rules were like a kind of spiritual calamity, enough to result in a destruction that was thousands of times worse than that of other rules!

“At the end of the day, the world will only have one ending — that is, houses all over the world can no longer house people and the entire human civilization will be destroyed because of Kayako’s curse.”

Thinking of this, Chen Chen could not help inhaling sharply. At this moment, his entire back was almost drenched in a cold sweat.

“This is beyond the scope of what I can solve.”

Chen Chen slowly shut down the computer. If there was still energy in the USB flash drive, even if he had to take a gamble, he would still find a way to solve Kayako’s curse.

What a shame the odds were not in his favor. The USB drive had run out of energy.

In that case, if he wanted to survive, Chen Chen had only one path left...

With this in mind, the computer was shut down fully. Chen Chen was about to stand up when suddenly, through the reflection of the computer screen, he saw a pale boy passing behind him.

At this instant, Chen Chen only felt that his blood was about to freeze. He stiffened his neck and slowly turned around, but found that there was nothing behind him.

“Toshio...”

Chen Chen’s lips turned blue and he quickly stood up. Without even cashing in his remaining balance, he staggered out of the Internet cafe.

Chen Chen did not realize until he had left the Internet cafe that the sky was completely dark.

In the entire sky, only a small flaming cloud drifted in the western vista, like a bonfire about to go out, leaving only a final spark.

Darkness was coming.

Chen Chen’s heart was icy. At this point, he even felt a kind of confusion, an overwhelming confusion that he did not know how to face all of this.

However, at this moment, out of the corner of Chen Chen’s eyes, he saw a dark shape at the corner of the Internet cafe door.

Chen Chen, who had been nervous for a long while now, jumped in fright. He turned to look instinctively, only to see a dainty, dirty beggar curled up in front of the Internet cafe, looking at him pitifully.

Those eyes felt inexplicably familiar to Chen Chen.

“You are...”

Chen Chen subconsciously took two steps forward and then immediately realized that he did not even know this beggar.

Something was off about this.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen immediately turned around and left without looking back. When he learned that he had become a protagonist of a horror movie, he knew that he must not take even the slightest risk. He had all the more reason to stay far away from this weird incident!

What Chen Chen did not know was that, after he turned and left, the beggar still stared at his back and did not want to leave for a long time...

“If I go directly to the police, they’ll only treat me as a basket case. Therefore, I must produce strong evidence to get my voice heard by those at the top as quickly as possible and attract official attention...”

Along the way, while observing his surroundings, Chen Chen kept thinking about the next step. Chen Chen, who was at the end of his rope, understood that he had only one way to survive now and that was to cooperate with the authorities.

That was right, he had to rely on the authorities!

If there were enough energy in the USB flash drive, Chen Chen would never choose this path because he did not want to pin his destiny on the conscience of others. Only heavens knew how he would be dealt with after handing over the USB flash drive.

Imprisoned? Ignored? Exterminated?

Nonetheless, Chen Chen understood that it was impossible for him to charge the USB flash drive for now. There was one rule in his mind about the USB flash drive. The USB flash drive required 1200 kWh of electricity to extract one gram of material, so whether it was in terms of time or money, Chen Chen had no means to get this done.

The only way was to inform the authorities of the function of the USB flash drive. After verifying the authenticity of the USB flash drive and acknowledging the tragic situation that would result from the spread of Ju-on’s rules, the authorities would naturally use electricity from the whole country to charge the USB flash drive to protect themselves.

In this way, it would only take one night at most for the USB drive to receive a lot of energy and thus they could find a way to stop the grudge-curse!

Therefore, what Chen Chen had to do now was to check the situation in the dormitory building. He did not know whether Dorm 404’s grudge-curse had spread in the course of one afternoon...

However, when Chen Chen returned to campus in a nervous mood and came to the front of the dormitory, all of a sudden, the hairs on his body stood up.

He did not know when but the dormitory building that was supposed to be exceptionally lively at this time, appeared particularly eerie and quiet. It was clear that most of the dormitories were still lit up but he could not sense any human activity at all.

No, the entire dormitory building had been infected...

Chen Chen took a deep breath. His feet that had just stepped on the stairs were immediately drawn back. He understood that the dormitory building No. 1 of his school and the hundreds of students in the building, were essentially done for. Even if they did not die now, their time would eventually come.

“Chen Chen, so you’re here?”

Just as Chen Chen’s heart was shivering and he was about to leave, a middle-aged male voice suddenly came from behind him.

Chen Chen turned his head quickly and suddenly saw his tutor, Wang Yi, standing behind him, staring at him anxiously.

“Tutor Wang!”

The thoughts in Chen Chen’s heart flickered by. He even spoke before the other man spoke, “Tutor Wang, did something happen to our dormitory?”

“You know as well?”

At this time, the middle-aged man’s face was ashen and when he heard Chen Chen’s words, he suddenly spoke agitatedly, “How many times did I call you? Why didn’t you answer any of them?”

“Tutor Wang, my phone is broken...”

Chen Chen showed a look of embarrassment. “What the h*ll happened? I noticed Zhou Jie was acting weird today. Did something happen to him?”

“Zhou Jie, Zhou Jie...”

However, as Chen Chen said the name Zhou Jie, the middle-aged man’s face suddenly turned even bleaker. He took a deep breath and suppressed the rage in his heart. “When did you last see Zhou Jie today?”

“At the end of the first class in the afternoon.”

Chen Chen said immediately, “I had just returned to the dormitory at that time and Zhou Jie came back behind me. Then I went to the cafeteria with Wang Wei and Li Bo for dinner before I went out of campus and returned just now.”

As he spoke, Chen Chen suddenly felt a jolt in his heart. As he was reminded of the killing rules in Ju-on, he immediately asked, “Tutor Wang, is Zhou Jie missing?”

“Not only Zhou Jie.”

Tutor Wang looked extremely grave at this point. “In the entire dormitory building No. 1, a total of five people are missing. Someone saw that they all disappeared after entering Dorm 404!”