A huge steel plaque smashed onto the ground, accompanied by a loud noise and a strong cloud of smoke. If a human was trapped underneath, they would not only be turned into minced meat, but would also definitely experience multiple fractures throughout their body.

Xu Fang sat on the edge of the plaque, still trembling in fear.

At a critical moment, Luo Xiaoming grabbed him from behind and saved his life.

"Xu Fang, are you okay?" Luo Xiaoming asked urgently.

"I, I'm fine. What about you? Are you hurt?"

"No," Luo Xiaoming helped Xu Fang up.

"Let's get out of here quickly," Xu Fang held onto Luo Xiaoming's hand.

"Okay."

The two of them left the scene as if they were escaping for their lives, until they crossed two blocks and arrived near an open park. They let go of each other's hand and gasped heavily for breath.

"That scared me. I thought we were going to die," Luo Xiaoming patted his pounding chest.

"Xiao Ming, have you ever experienced something like this in that world? Gas stations exploding, and giant objects falling?" Xu Fang asked.

"Never. I've never heard of anything like that. However, I have encountered another accident before, where a bridge on Hongqi Road collapsed and vehicles exploded," Luo Xiaoming replied.

"I've heard you mention that, but it didn't happen in reality."

"The development of this world is different from what it used to be." Luo Xiaoming sighed and then smiled, "As long as you're not injured, we should stay away from construction sites in the future."

Was that accident just a coincidence?

What was that sense of discordance all about?

Xu Fang felt inexplicably heavyhearted.

At this moment, both of them no longer had the motivation to go shopping or sightseeing. They were covered in dust and just wanted to find a place to take a shower.

Luo Xiaoming didn't know where she rented a place in this world, and Xu Fang didn't know either. The timeline had changed, and the once familiar Blue Sky Apartment was no longer an option for them.

Therefore, they found a nearby five-star hotel to stay in for two days and slowly consider the matter of renting a place.

Front desk.

"Are you alone? We have a luxurious single room available," the receptionist said.

"Two people," Xu Fang replied.

"Okay, please register your information. The other person hasn't arrived yet, right?"

"He's right here," Luo Xiaoming shouted.

The receptionist was taken aback, seemingly only just realizing Luo Xiaoming's presence. She quickly said, "Sorry, I didn't notice you."

Xu Fang frowned, feeling a sense of déjà vu from their conversation.

After completing the registration and deposit, Xu Fang took the keys and Xiao Ming towards the elevator. Their room was on the 13th floor, quite high up.

"Xu Fang, I've thought about it. We should buy clothes online. I suddenly feel like the outside world is too dangerous," Luo Xiaoming said.

Xu Fang nodded and comforted Xiao Ming, "After surviving a great disaster, blessings will surely follow. Don't worry too much, we will figure things out as we go."

While waiting for the elevator, Xu Fang noticed a dispute happening nearby.

A woman with a golden retriever and a security guard were arguing.

"Ma'am, it is against the hotel regulations to bring pets inside."

"This is unfair. My friend also keeps a dog here, why is it allowed for her and not me?"

"We will discuss your friend's situation later. Please take your dog away immediately."

"I've already paid, and now you want me to leave? Are you going to refund my money?"

"There's a pet storage nearby. Take the dog there!"

"I won't go. Why is my golden retriever being treated differently? You people ignore others but target me!"

The security guard was getting angry, but he didn't want to lose his temper since the other person was a woman. He emphasized again, "We treat everyone the same. No pets allowed means no pets allowed. It's hotel policy!"

Xu Fang glanced at the golden retriever, which was already fully grown and about one meter long, with an iron chain around its neck.

Golden retrievers are usually gentle, friendly towards humans, and have an appealing appearance. Although they are large in size, most people are not afraid of them.

At that moment, the elevator arrived. Xu Fang, Luo Xiaoming, and an elderly person entered.

The woman seemed to want to go in as well, but she was stopped by the security guard.

"Inappropriate! Inappropriate!" the woman shouted angrily.

"Damn it, if you cause any more trouble, I'll call the police!" The security guard had a volatile temper.

"If you dare to call the police, I will complain to your manager! Is this how this hotel treats its guests?"

"Miss, are you coming in or not? If you're not, we're going up."

Because the woman was blocking the elevator entrance, the elevator couldn't close, and the old man was getting impatient.

"Fine, I'll come in," the woman said as she brought the dog inside.

The golden retriever leisurely walked into the elevator.

"Get out!" The security guard pulled out his baton and forcibly chased away the golden retriever.

Seeing the man being so aggressive, the dog got scared and suddenly broke free from the woman's leash and ran out of the elevator.

Just at that moment, an accident happened.

The iron chain fell to the ground and quickly slid to Luo Xiaoming's ankle.

"Ah!"

Caught off guard, Luo Xiaoming was pulled down and stuck at the elevator entrance. At almost the same time, the elevator door closed.

Normally, the elevator would only start going up after the door was completely closed, but this elevator was acting abnormally.

The door hadn't fully closed yet, but the elevator had already started going up!

Meanwhile, Luo Xiaoming was still stuck in the middle of the elevator door, with half of her body inside and half outside the elevator!

If it continued like this, the rising elevator would crush her to death!

"Xu Fang!" Luo Xiaoming struggled in fear, her ankle still entangled by the iron chain, and the elevator door pressing against her waist, leaving her unable to move, only able to watch as the gap between the elevator and her waist grew closer and closer.

The owner of the dog screamed in panic, while the security guard and the old man stood dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.

"Quick, help her! Security guard, pull the elevator door open, and I'll push her out!"

Xu Fang's voice snapped the security guard out of his daze, and without thinking, he hurried to pull the elevator door with Xu Fang.

The door didn't budge.

"You two, come and help!" Xu Fang shouted at the old man and the woman.

"Oh, oh."

The four of them exerted their strength together, and finally, there was some movement in the elevator door. But time was running out, and Luo Xiaoming was less than 20 centimeters away from being caught between the elevator and the floor above.

Without thinking too much, Xu Fang took the security guard's baton and wedged one end into the gap between the elevator and the floor, while the other end was pressed against the ground.

The elevator groaned, and the baton gradually bent under the immense force, showing the tremendous shearing force of the elevator.

"Xu Fang, the chain loosened!" Luo Xiaoming urgently cried out.

"We can't push her out anymore, hurry and pull her in!" the security guard shouted.

"Okay!" Xu Fang embraced Luo Xiaoming from behind and used all her strength to successfully drag her inside.

The moment the person was freed, the bent baton snapped, and the elevator reached the second floor.

Due to the rough action, one of Luo Xiaoming's shoes fell down, and her heel was scraped. At this moment, she couldn't care about that, she just lay trembling in Xu Fang's arms.

If it had been one second slower, she would have been split in half by the elevator.

It was too dangerous.

Xu Fang looked serious.

The first time could be called a coincidence, but what about the second time?

Xu Fang had a vague sense of malicious intent from the world.

It was as if there were invisible hands manipulating the things around her, wishing to bring her to her death.

...

The hotel contacted maintenance personnel to investigate the malfunction and discovered that the elevator's door holding device had a fault, causing the elevator to go up without closing the door.

From the surveillance video, Luo Xiaoming was indeed in extreme danger and narrowly avoided being cut in half.

Since its establishment, the hotel had regular inspections of its internal facilities and had never experienced such an incident.

The manager was afraid of a potential scene, so he personally came over to apologize.

Feeling unsafe riding the elevator and even more unsafe staying on the 13th floor, Xu Fang requested to change their room to the 2nd floor and only take the stairs.

Booking a room on the 2nd floor required an advance reservation, but the manager was willing to accommodate the request and even offered a 50% discount.

The corridor was spotless, and the floor was so clean it reflected light.

Xu Fang protected Luo Xiaoming and walked cautiously, afraid that the floor was too slippery and that he might slip and hit his head on a sharp corner.

He also avoided walking under the chandelier, fearing that it might suddenly fall down.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened, and the two of them arrived safely in the room.

The room itself might not be safe, as the kitchen and bathroom were considered high-risk areas.

Xu Fang checked all the facilities to ensure that there were no flammable or explosive items such as gas canisters or oil drums. There were no electrical appliances near the sink, and the bathroom was separated into wet and dry areas.

It seemed safe here, with no apparent dangers.

Luo Xiaoming's face turned pale, still shaken by the experience.

"Xu Fang, is it possible that there are still ghosts in this world?"

"That question is beyond my expertise, at least I haven't encountered any." Xu Fang helplessly replied, "I used to deny it, but now I can't say for certain."

"...Is it possible...that it's still alive?"

Of course, Xu Fang knew what "it" referred to, the vengeful ghost that had haunted the Luo family for over ten years in the previous world, ultimately defeated by "Xu Fang". Luo Xiaoming was worried that the ghost might still exist in this world.

"Xiao Ming, did I ever tell you about any distinguishing features of that ghost?"

"Features?"

"Yes, like its method of killing, for example."

"It could possess humans, attack people through phone calls, and make people experience bizarre events - that's what you told me." Luo Xiaoming replied.

Although Xu Fang felt that he wasn't the previous "Xu Fang", he still had to put himself in that person's perspective.

"Can the ghost appear in public?"

"No, absolutely not, it seems to have something to do with the Force of Existence..."

"Then it's clear that what attacked us wasn't a ghost." Xu Fang vividly remembered that there were many people around when they were in danger, which didn't fit the conditions for a ghost's attack.

"What attacked us was not a ghost, but more like...a reaper."

"A reaper?"

"Have you watched the movie 'Final Destination'?"

The movie didn't have ghosts, but it had something even more terrifying.

Certain individuals who were supposed to die but didn't end up dead would mysteriously die one after another, each death appearing as a coincidence.

The so-called "reaper" in the movie was more like some kind of abnormal rule in the world.

Xu Fang felt that they were currently facing such a situation.

Luo Xiaoming rarely watched horror movies, but she had heard of this movie before.

She took a deep breath.

A sense of panic spread.

"Calm down, things aren't that bad yet. We need to analyze the patterns to stay safe. Let's assume that what's attacking us is the 'reaper'."

Xu Fang took out his phone and wrote down two times in the notes - 13:36 and 14:42.

These were the times when Xu Fang and Xiao Ming encountered danger today.

"The reaper attacked us twice with an interval of one hour and six minutes. It's currently 15:40, following this pattern, in eight minutes, the reaper might attack again. For safety's sake, let's not do anything for now and stay here."

Looking at Xiao Ming's pale face, Xu Fang reassured her, "It's safe here, even if a fire breaks out, we can quickly escape on the second floor. Unless a plane crashes or a super-disaster occurs, there's nothing that can threaten us, and I don't think the reaper will necessarily come."

"Okay." Luo Xiaoming nervously held onto her own clothes, as if it would give her some sense of security.

Eight minutes passed quickly, and nothing happened.

"Obviously, the reaper doesn't attack at a fixed time." Xu Fang said, "There must be certain conditions that trigger its attacks. Did anything special happen to you today, something out of the ordinary that didn't happen during your time in the hospital? Think, did you feel any sense of unease?"

"Something special?"

"Or, did you have any abnormal feelings, like a sense of 'dissonance'?"

After careful consideration, Luo Xiaoming furrowed his brows and said, "It seems like something is a little off, but I don't know exactly what the problem is... What could be wrong?"

"Attention?"

"Yes!" Suddenly, Luo Xiaoming realized, "When I went out today, I felt like I was constantly being ignored. Even the waiters at the restaurant wouldn't look at me. It's not just today, it happened at the hospital yesterday too. The nurses never noticed me until I mentioned that I wanted to leave and the doctor finally examined me."

"Do you feel any sense of unease? Like feeling anxious when seeing certain objects?"

"I don't really feel anything like that."

Xu Fang pondered.

There are several points of suspicion at the moment.

Firstly, Luo Xiaoming has a lack of presence, but what does it have to do with the attacks by the "Grim Reaper"?

Secondly, Xu Fang's inexplicable sense of dissonance. Before the first attack, the sense of dissonance was extremely strong. However, during the elevator attack, the dissonance didn't appear in advance. Why is that?

Thirdly, why did the "Grim Reaper" come after them? Luo Xiaoming didn't survive because of a premonition of death, but rather was luckily discovered and rescued by his roommates. Nobody has the ability to predict death like the protagonist in "Final Destination", nor has anyone seen the future of death.