The sound of the wooden door shattering against the wall pierced the silent night.
Splinters and dust filled the air with a pungent odor as the woman in the white dress, gripping a sharp knife, backed the Old Man into a corner. The flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows on her frail frame. Slowly, she turned her head, tangled hair obscuring her face, her bulging eyes fixed on Tong Yang. Her pale, cracked lips curled into a grotesque smile.
The woman stared at Tong Yang, raising the knife high before plunging it toward the Old Man, who stood frozen in terror.
"Stop!"
Tong Yang lunged forward, slamming into her with all her strength. "I’ve already called the police! They’ll be here any second!"
Clutching a screwdriver in both hands, she shielded the Old Man, her body drenched in sweat from fear and tension, hoping to intimidate the woman into retreat.
The woman in white crashed hard against the wall with a heavy thud, yet she showed no sign of pain. Instead, a hoarse, grating laugh escaped her throat. Her mouth stretched unnaturally wide as she threw her head back, cackling madly. In the next instant, she brandished the knife and charged at Tong Yang.
Tong Yang dodged, but the woman gave her no respite. Missing her target, she immediately pursued, relentless.
"Murder! Murder!" The Old Man finally snapped out of his daze, scrambling to his feet and screaming in panic.
From the start, the woman’s target had been Tong Yang. Her steps were swift, matching Tong Yang’s every move, the knife in her hand tirelessly tracking her.
Cornered in the cramped bathroom, Tong Yang shouted toward the door, "Go! Call the police!"
The Old Man, visibly shaken, staggered to his feet and stumbled out, wailing, "Help! Someone’s killing people!"
Relieved to see him escape, Tong Yang exhaled imperceptibly—only for the woman to appear at the bathroom door. Seemingly aware that Tong Yang had nowhere to run, she didn’t rush in immediately. Instead, she grinned eerily, knife still raised.
Tong Yang pressed her back against the sink, screwdriver held defensively in front of her. Sweat dripped from her forehead into her eyes, the sting so intense she didn’t dare blink.
"Stay back!" she warned, gripping the screwdriver tighter, her body instinctively recoiling even though there was no more room to retreat.
"Tong Yang… die…" the woman muttered, her voice deranged. "Just die!"
In a flash, she thrust the knife forward.
At the last possible second, Tong Yang ducked beneath the sink, narrowly avoiding the blade. Seizing the moment, she gritted her teeth and drove the screwdriver into the woman’s thigh. Blood sprayed across Tong Yang’s face with a sickening squelch.
The woman shrieked in pain. Tong Yang shoved her away and bolted for the door—only for a hand to seize her hair from behind, yanking her back with brutal force.
Her fingers, slick with blood, clawed at the doorframe. The agony of her scalp tearing nearly choked her as warm blood trickled down her temples.
She ignored the pain, nails digging into the wood until they bled. Then, with a sudden twist, she kicked backward. The woman gasped, loosening her grip, and the knife clattered to the floor.
Tong Yang sprinted for the exit—but the woman lunged, wrapping her arms around Tong Yang’s legs. Blood smeared across the tiles in a long, gruesome streak.
"Let go!" Tong Yang kicked wildly at the woman’s shoulders, her right hand trembling around the screwdriver. She looked down to see the woman grinning up at her, blood oozing between her teeth.
"Get off me! Get the hell off!" Tong Yang raised the screwdriver, hesitating as she took in the woman’s bloodied form. Her heart pounded violently.
She didn’t want to become a murderer.
With a grunt, she plunged the screwdriver into the woman’s shoulder. Crimson instantly saturated the white dress, yet the woman showed no reaction to the pain. She clung stubbornly to Tong Yang, dragging her down with terrifying strength.
The blood-slicked tiles betrayed Tong Yang. Her feet slipped, and she crashed to the ground. The woman pounced, snatching up a chamber pot and smashing it against Tong Yang’s skull.
A cry of pain tore from Tong Yang’s throat. Her ears rang, vision blacking out. Blood gushed from her forehead, her limbs going numb. The screwdriver slipped from her grasp, clattering to the floor.
The woman discarded the chamber pot, grabbing Tong Yang’s hair and slamming her head against the ground. The impact wiped her mind blank, nearly robbing her of all sensation.
Damn it… was this really how she’d die?
She hadn’t even taken her college entrance exams yet. Hadn’t seen anything beyond Yaocheng…
Why?
Why did it have to be her?
Even if she knew the future, even if she could start over—was death inevitable?
No… no! She didn’t want to die!
A surge of adrenaline flooded her veins. Tong Yang forced her blood-caked eyes open, seized the chamber pot beside her, and smashed it against the woman’s temple.
"Ahhh!" The woman howled, her body sagging momentarily. With the last of her strength, Tong Yang flipped their positions, pinning the woman beneath her. Again and again, she brought the chamber pot down on the woman’s face. Blood sprayed like rain, coating them both. Her palms split open from the force, but she didn’t stop.
Yet the woman was far more tenacious than she’d imagined. She clawed at Tong Yang’s wrists, tearing at her clothes, her hands instinctively seeking her throat—determined to kill her no matter what.
"Police! Freeze!"
"Hands where we can see them!"
Chaotic footsteps stormed in. The officers froze at the sight—the bathroom drenched in blood, two unrecognizable figures still grappling in the carnage.
At the sound of the police, Tong Yang’s last ounce of strength vanished. The woman seized her throat, slamming her down—just as a gunshot rang out.
The close-range blast sent a shockwave through Tong Yang. The woman’s body stiffened, then collapsed atop her. Even in death, her hands remained locked around Tong Yang’s neck.
"Kid? Are you okay?" The Old Man pushed past the officers, his face twisted in horror at her injuries.
"Quick, call an ambulance!"
"What the hell happened here? This is horrifying!"
Tong Yang weakly opened her eyes, watching the frantic movements around her. The last taut thread in her mind finally snapped.
Had she survived? Had she killed someone? Would she go to jail?
She still wanted to take her exams…
Her body had lost too much blood. The warmth drained away, her consciousness growing heavy. Her eyelids drooped.
Maybe… she could rest now. The police were here. She was safe. She needed to recover before the exams…
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Tong Yang closed her eyes in relief, feeling as though she were in an incredibly warm place.
"Don't sleep! Kid, don't sleep!"
"You can't sleep! Open your eyes! Whatever you do, don't sleep!"
Tong Yang faintly heard someone shouting frantically by her ear.
But she was so tired.
Hadn’t she heard somewhere that if you’re badly injured, you shouldn’t fall asleep—otherwise you might never wake up again? Surely she wouldn’t be that unlucky?
She would definitely wake up...
"Quick! Bring the defibrillator!..."
No—she couldn’t sleep!
She couldn’t sleep now!
Her remaining consciousness suddenly fought back wildly. Tong Yang felt like she was drowning, struggling with every ounce of strength before finally forcing her eyes open. A sudden sense of weightlessness jolted through her body, and she sat up abruptly!
The light before her flickered. A math test paper covered in equations lay flat on the desk, a pen rolling to the edge. Her phone screen glowed faintly, paused on the group chat titled "Gossip Squad 007."
Tong Yang stared blankly at the familiar scene. She lifted her clean, unharmed hands—no sticky blood, no wounds, no searing pain. The chat log still showed her last sent message, the time displayed as 00:13.
Had she gone back to this moment? Did that mean she’d died again?
Her heart still pounded with lingering fear.
Even after the police arrived, she hadn’t survived?
But why was her death looping? And who was the woman who killed her? How did she have the key to her home? Why was she so determined to kill her?
It was too strange, too eerie.
[Ding—]
At 00:14, the group chat sent another news link—only this time, the headline read: "Underprivileged Genius Tong Yang Dies Heroically, Just Ten Days Before College Entrance Exams."
At the same time, the signal bars on her phone vanished again.
The news had changed. Instead of dying in a home invasion, she’d died saving others.
Had the future shifted because of her actions?
Did that mean she could change her own fate—if she acted decisively?
Now, the killer would break in in five minutes. She still had at least four minutes to escape.
But fleeing the neighborhood wouldn’t work. If she took the south stairwell to avoid the killer, the woman would just find the Old Man on the first floor—and he’d die instead.
Maybe after fighting for her life once, Tong Yang had grown calmer.
If she remembered correctly, under Chinese law, if an armed intruder broke in and attacked, causing serious injury or death to the assailant in self-defense, it wouldn’t count as a crime.
She couldn’t wait for the police. She couldn’t rely on anyone else. To survive, she had to incapacitate the killer—or worse—within the bounds of self-defense.
Of course, she could also choose to go downstairs now, even if it meant running into the killer face-to-face.
But if the fight happened in her own home, no matter the outcome, she wouldn’t be charged with excessive force.
Tong Yang tightened her grip on the screwdriver and took a deep breath. She didn’t know why her death kept looping, but there was no guarantee she’d get a third chance. This might be her last opportunity.
For the college entrance exams, for survival, for the future she’d dreamed of—she couldn’t let herself die.
No matter who the killer was, no matter what grudge they held, she would fight with everything she had. She would live!
At that thought, Tong Yang cursed under her breath.
Damn it, I’m just an ordinary high school senior! Why am I caught up in something this bizarre and terrifying?
Why couldn’t a bolt of lightning just strike down all the trash ruining my college prep?
If only she hadn’t hesitated earlier—she should’ve just stabbed the woman to death. Heroically fighting off an attacker might’ve even earned her a reward.
—Time: 00:16. Three minutes until the killer breaks in.
Tong Yang was ready to fight back.
