Ch.02

Chapter 2

No worries—there was still pumpkin soup.

He stood up, waved at the camera, and then turned to walk into the kitchen to bring out the pumpkin soup.

He wasn’t a picky eater—meat or veggies, he liked it all. He figured since he’d just eaten a plate of chicken wings, a bowl of light pumpkin and vegetable soup would be just right.

But things took a weird turn. The freshly served pumpkin soup smelled delicious, but his appetite just vanished.

As the mild aroma of pumpkin wafted over, Shi Yu frowned slightly. He still felt somewhat hungry, yet the thought of eating it was unappealing.

After a long stare-down with the soup, he decided he wasn’t about to force himself.

Eh, whatever, he thought, shrugging it off. He’d just save it for tomorrow.

Maybe he just wasn’t feeling veggies today.

So the soup was left to cool, then tossed in the fridge.

After a pause, the stream chat heard the host say, “Nah, just messing—not in the mood today.”

“We’ll have it tomorrow.”

The chat went quiet for a beat.

“You had me for a sec—thought you were gonna chug that soup!”

On screen, fans joked in relief.

Shi Yu’s face twitched weirdly for a second. Honestly? He could’ve powered through if the soup didn’t seem so blah. But the thought passed quickly, and he didn’t voice it.

Seeing that the host wasn’t eating anymore, the chat drifted to gossiping about recent stuff. Then, one fan suddenly remembered:

“Yo host, you’re in City B, yeah?”

Since his livestream displayed his IP location, Shi Yu didn’t deny it.

“What’s going on in City B?” someone asked.

“I’m in City B too.”

“Kinda complicated.”

An anime-icon fan dropped a warning in chat:

“I have a relative with insider info. They said something about delivery guys around Chenghua Road slipping sketchy stuff into packages. Authorities are checking deliveries one by one. Anyway, host, if you receive anything strange lately, be careful.”

Dangerous items in packages?!

Chat exploded instantly.

“Who’s messed up enough to tamper with deliveries?”

“No wonder my last package got searched like contraband—this explains it.”

Chat went full outrage mode.

Shi Yu blinked at that. Though he hadn’t heard about this, his Horrors-world instincts kicked in—he trusted that warning on sight. He grabbed his phone to dig up the deets.

As he scrolled through the shopping pages one by one, he glanced at his shopping list.

Discover more

Books & Literature

Books

book

Well, he hadn’t done much online shopping in the past month, and the delivery tracking page showed no items on their way.

Still, because of what people were saying online, Shi Yu was more cautious. After hesitating for a moment, he set up call screening for unknown numbers on his phone before finally relaxing and setting it down again.

That way, nothing should happen while he slept at night.

As long as he didn’t answer calls, any dangerous package shouldn’t be able to reach him, right?

...

Nearly midnight, Shen Yan checked the time and frowned slightly after wrapping up searching the south building.

"Dr. Shen, we still haven't found it."

Earlier, going door to door had allowed them to trace signs of the "Undiscardable Package," but after the Horror fed on a person's flesh, it had recovered significantly, and its hiding ability had gotten way better.

It wasn’t just hiding in residents’ homes—even sewer pipes and wall crevices could be its hiding spots.

Discover more

Books & Literature

Books

book

What made it even worse was that the "Undiscardable Package" had one nasty habit: it needed to take another life every other day. It had devoured a middle-aged man living alone yesterday, and before noon tomorrow, it would definitely strike again.

From past cases, Horror Items rarely returned to places they had already visited, so the next victim was likely in one of the buildings they hadn’t searched yet.

Moreover, since the Undiscardable Package hadn’t fully recovered, its next target would most likely be another person living alone.

"Pick up the pace," Shen Yan urged.

Everyone understood the severity of the situation. With a nod, they scattered to search the remaining two buildings.

Shi Yu had always stuck to a strict sleep schedule—waking at 8 a.m. and asleep before 11 p.m. After finishing his live stream that night, he tidied up his apartment, took a shower, and got ready for bed.

His phone was on silent, as usual, resting on the bedside table. But just as he closed his eyes, the previously empty tracking page suddenly displayed a red alert, as if a courier was on his way to deliver a package.

But it was already midnight!

In the darkness, the screen flickered slightly. Just as the red light blinked on, signaling an incoming delivery call, it suddenly went silent after a single flash.

Shi Yu had enabled call screening, and the delivery system seemed caught off guard, making its first mistake.

Outside the security door, across the living room, a 25cm cardboard box sat silently on the red carpet. No one knew who had delivered it in the dead of night, but under the harsh white hallway lights, it looked downright creepy.

After a minute, the delivery notification reappeared—this time, the Horror Item’s properties had overridden the call block.

Yet, just as the knocking was about to begin, the scuff of footsteps echoed from downstairs.

"Old Wang, hurry up."

"You really need to exercise those old legs of yours."

The voices floated up from below, and with the reply, their steps quickened.

The sound reached the 19th floor, where the Undiscardable Package had been facing off against the security door. Reluctantly, it had no choice but to retreat from the doorway and hide itself once more.

But before vanishing completely, the cardboard box on the ground burned the apartment number into its memory.

After being assigned to this building, Zhao Wen and Wang Shan carried out their routine inspection. As they reached the 15th floor, their scanner started pinging again.

It felt a lot like the building where they had discovered the victim earlier that day.

The two paused for a moment, exchanged glances, and quietly sent a message to Dr. Shen before cautiously proceeding upstairs with Wang Shan, both on high alert.

When they reached the 19th-floor security door, they noticed the red carpet seemed to have shifted. Wang Shan held his breath and approached.

His pupils shrank in an instant—he spotted an eyeball rolling across the carpet.

In that instant, Wang Shan and Zhao Wen both thought the resident inside had been killed, just like the middle-aged man they encountered in Building 8 earlier.

"We should've moved faster just now," Zhao Wen said, face pale.

If only they hadn’t sent that message to Dr. Shen and had rushed up immediately.

Wang Shan patted his shoulder. "Rushing in wouldn’t have helped."

"Let’s wait for Dr. Shen to take a look first."

Any leads?

Dr. Shen had just gone downstairs when he received the message. When he arrived, he saw Wang Shan and Zhao Wen waiting at the door, looking guilty.

"The 'Cursed Package' was here?" He glanced at the doorplate.

Zhao Wen nodded. "It vanished just a second before we got here."

"What about the person inside..." His voice dropped.

Dr. Shen looked at him. "The person inside is fine."

While coming upstairs, his sixth sense had picked up on it—there was someone alive in Unit 1903, unlike the deathly quiet homes of past victims.

Someone?!

The situation suddenly changed. Neither Zhao Wen nor Wang Shan expected the resident to still be alive after encountering the Cursed Package.

Dr. Shen also found it odd, but considering how close Zhao Wen and Wang Shan had been when they came up, the Cursed Package likely didn’t want a direct confrontation and hid shortly after selecting its target.

"So what now, Dr. Shen?"

With Captain Fu away, the association team on this field operation usually took orders from Dr. Shen.

Dr. Shen narrowed his eyes. "Knock and check inside."

Wang Shan: "I’ll do it."

"I’ve got more muscle."

Shi Yu had shut his door tight and was dead asleep behind drawn curtains when he faintly heard knocking.

Imagining things?

Who would knock at this hour?

He blinked at the ceiling for a second, then flipped over, turning his back to the door and pulling the covers over his head, clearly not planning to get up.

Even if it wasn’t imagined, opening the door in the middle of the night in this nightmare world would be suicide.

Stop thinking. Just sleep.

--- The knocking went on for ten solid minutes, but nothing stirred.

Wang Shan was completely stunned. If they didn’t know Dr. Shen’s perception couldn’t be wrong, they would’ve thought the person inside had actually been harmed.

"Sleeping this soundly?"

"Dude’s basically the god of sleep."

Shen Yan was speechless too, though he thought: maybe the resident was spared from the cursed package precisely because he was sleeping so deeply.

"Whatever, if they’re not answering, we’ll wait."

After all, once the cursed package chooses a target, it won’t give up—it’ll definitely come back for 1903 later.

...

Early in the morning, as the sky just began to brighten, Shi Yu was woken by the bright sunlight streaming through the curtains.

Huh?

What time is it?

He burrowed deeper into his blanket, hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep, when suddenly he heard persistent banging on the door.

The knocking echoed clearly through the living room.

Shi Yu frowned, figuring it was the building manager or something. Unable to rest with all the noise, he reluctantly got up and slung on a hoodie before walking over to ask through the door:

"Who is it?"

His sleepy voice came through the security door, and Wang Shan—who’d been waiting forever—almost sobbed in relief.

Finally! He’s up!

This guy was finally awake. If he hadn’t gotten up by morning, they would’ve busted the door down.

"Dr. Shen?"

He glanced at Shen Yan beside him.

Shen Yan moved right up to the peephole.

"Hello, is this Mr. Shi?"

"We need to talk to you. Could you open the door?"

While waiting for the resident to wake up, Shen Yan had already gotten Shi Yu’s file from Han Chuyi, who was still at the association, and looked it over in the hallway.

Shi Yu, male, twenty-one years old, orphan. Parents passed away, leaving him this apartment. After college, he became a live-streamer and had been doing that ever since.

The file included a grainy old photo, the face barely visible. Shen Yan frowned slightly, figuring Han Chuyi sent it on purpose.

Yesterday’s argument in front of Sang Huaiyu had put Shen Yan in a bad mood.

Han Chuyi always sided with Huai Yu—it wasn’t new—but this was serious. No time for games.

Just as Shen Yan was about to message him for a clearer picture, noise came from inside the apartment.

He tucked his phone away and looked toward the peephole.

Shi Yu, just woken up at the crack of dawn, was totally thrown off by the sudden info dump.

What the heck?

Not from the property management?

He peeked through the peephole and saw a young man in a white trench coat standing right in view of it. He had refined, handsome features, with striking eyes that gave him an air of aloofness.

Behind him, there seemed to be a few other people who fell silent when he spoke.

Shi Yu: ...

As anyone knows, in a popular novel, no one with such good looks would appear without purpose. This man wasn’t just good-looking—he was cool and untouchable, like an alpine bloom.

Shi Yu took another glance. His sluggish mind slowly connected the dots. He had a vague sense this person resembled someone from the story.

But what did this guy want with him?

He remained silent for a long time, still looking through the door.

Shen Yan understood the resident’s wariness at having strangers knock on his door, so he pulled out his ID.

"My name is Shen Yan. I'm a doctor from City Fifth Hospital. You can verify with the photo."

Shen Yan?

So it matched—he was the second male lead from the book!

Shi Yu: ...Wait just a minute—what kind of mess had he gotten himself into?!

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***