The sound of the wooden door shattering against the wall echoed through the still night.
Splinters and dust filled the air, stinging her nose. The woman in the white dress, gripping a sharp knife, had cornered the elderly woman. The flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows on her thin body as she slowly turned her head. Her messy hair obscured her face, and her bulging eyes locked onto Tong Yang. Her pale, cracked lips curled into a disturbingly sinister smile.
The woman stared at Tong Yang, raising the knife high above her head, ready to stab the terrified elderly woman.
“Stop!”
Tong Yang charged forward, slamming into her with all her strength. “I’ve already called the police! They’ll be here any minute!”
She stood in front of the elderly woman, gripping the screwdriver tightly with both hands. Sweat poured down her face from the intense fear and tension, hoping that her words would scare the woman away.
The woman in the white dress slammed into the wall with a heavy thud, but it seemed like she didn’t feel any pain. A hoarse, grating laugh escaped her throat as she threw her head back, laughing maniacally. Then, in the next moment, she lunged at Tong Yang with the knife raised high.
Tong Yang quickly dodged, but the woman didn’t give her any time to breathe, relentlessly chasing after her.
“Murder! Murder!” The elderly woman, who had collapsed on the ground, finally snapped out of her shock and started screaming in panic.
The woman’s target had always been Tong Yang. Her steps were quick and precise as she pursued Tong Yang, the knife in her hand raised high, never tiring.
As the woman closed in, Tong Yang found herself cornered in the narrow bathroom. She shouted toward the door, “Go call the police!”
The elderly woman, clearly terrified, scrambled to her feet, shouting as she staggered out of the room.
“Help! There’s been a murder!”
Tong Yang watched the old woman leave, secretly letting out a sigh of relief. But the woman had already reached the bathroom door. As if knowing that Tong Yang had nowhere to run, she didn’t immediately attack. Instead, she stood there with the knife raised, smiling eerily at her.
Tong Yang pressed her back against the sink, holding the screwdriver in front of her. Sweat dripped from her forehead, stinging her eyes, but she didn’t dare blink.
“Don’t come any closer!” Tong Yang gripped the screwdriver tightly. Even though she was trapped with no way out, she still tried to put as much distance as possible between herself and the woman.
“Tong Yang… go die…”
The woman muttered like a madwoman, “You should die!”
In the next instant, she lunged at Tong Yang with the knife.
In that critical moment, Tong Yang bent down, ducking under the sink, barely avoiding the sharp blade. As the woman missed her target, Tong Yang gritted her teeth and stabbed the screwdriver into the woman’s thigh. Blood spurted out, splashing onto Tong Yang’s face.
“Ah!” The woman screamed in pain. Tong Yang took the chance to push her away and run toward the door. But just as she was about to escape the bathroom, a hand grabbed her hair from behind, yanking her back forcefully.
The searing pain of her scalp being torn apart nearly suffocated her. Warm blood trickled down her forehead and into her temples.
Ignoring the pain, Tong Yang desperately clawed at the door frame, her nails digging into it so hard that blood started to seep from under her nails. She gritted her teeth and, in a sudden move, twisted around and kicked backward. The woman grunted in pain and released her grip, causing the knife to clatter to the floor.
Tong Yang bolted for the door, but before she could get far, the woman lunged forward, grabbing onto her leg. Blood slicked the floor tiles, leaving a long smear as the woman dragged her back.
“Let go of me!” Tong Yang kicked the woman’s shoulder repeatedly. Her right hand, which still held the screwdriver, trembled uncontrollably. Looking down, she saw blood seeping from between the woman’s teeth as she stared at her with a chilling expression.
“Get off me! Get off!” Tong Yang raised the screwdriver, her heart pounding wildly, but she hesitated to strike.
She didn’t want to become a murderer.
With a sickening squelch, Tong Yang drove the screwdriver into the woman’s shoulder. Blood instantly soaked the white dress, turning it crimson. Yet the woman seemed impervious to the pain, refusing to let go. She yanked on Tong Yang’s leg, trying to pull her down to the ground.
The blood on the tiles made everything slippery, and Tong Yang’s feet slid out from under her. The woman seized the opportunity to climb on top of her, grabbing a spittoon from the floor and smashing it against Tong Yang’s head.
Tong Yang cried out in pain. Her ears rang loudly, and her vision went black as blood streamed down her forehead. Her limbs went limp, the screwdriver slipping from her hand and clattering onto the floor.
The woman tossed aside the spittoon, grabbed Tong Yang by the hair, and lifted her head, slamming it down onto the floor. The impact left her mind blank, and she almost lost all consciousness.
Is this it? Do I really have to die?
She hadn’t even taken the college entrance exam yet. She had never even left Yaocheng…
Why?
Why does it have to be me who dies?
Even knowing the future and getting a second chance, was she still destined to die?
No… this can’t be it… I don’t want to die yet!
A fierce will to survive triggered a rush of adrenaline. Tong Yang’s eyes snapped open, despite the blood blurring her vision. She grabbed the fallen spittoon and smashed it into the woman’s temple with all her strength.
“Ah!!”
The woman let out a pained scream. Her body, which had been pinning Tong Yang down, went limp. Tong Yang used the last of her strength to flip the woman over and pin her beneath her, grabbing the spittoon and hitting her in the face again and again. Blood splattered everywhere, raining down on her. Her palms were already cut open from gripping the spittoon so tightly.
But the woman was far more resilient than she had imagined. She grabbed Tong Yang’s wrist, tearing at her clothes, and instinctively tried to strangle her, refusing to give up until she had killed her.
“Police! Stop!”
“Raise your hands!”
The chaotic sound of footsteps approached from the doorway. The officers who rushed in were shocked by what they saw. The bathroom was drenched in blood, and two figures lay on the floor, their features unrecognizable, still grappling with each other despite being soaked in blood.
Hearing the police, Tong Yang’s last bit of strength gave out. The woman pressed her down by the neck, slamming her head against the ground. There was a loud gunshot, and Tong Yang felt the impact of the bullet pass close by. The woman’s body stiffened, collapsing onto Tong Yang. Even in death, her hands remained tightly wrapped around Tong Yang’s neck.
“Child? Child, are you okay?” The elderly woman, ignoring the officers’ attempts to hold her back, rushed to Tong Yang’s side, her face filled with horror as she looked at Tong Yang’s injuries.
“Quick! Call for an ambulance!”
“What happened here? This is terrifying!”
Tong Yang weakly opened her eyes, staring at the chaotic scene around her. The last thread of tension in her mind finally snapped.
Did she survive? Did she kill someone? Would she go to jail?
She wanted to take the college entrance exam…
Her body had lost too much blood, and she felt her temperature dropping little by little. Her consciousness began to fade, and her eyelids grew heavy.
Can I rest now? The police are here, so I’m safe now. I can finally rest. I need to recover in time for the exam…
Tong Yang let her eyes close, feeling like she was drifting into a warm, peaceful place.
“Don’t sleep! Child, don’t sleep!”
“You can’t sleep! Keep your eyes open! Please don’t sleep!”
She vaguely heard someone shouting desperately by her ear.
But she was so tired.
She vaguely remembered hearing that if you fell asleep when seriously injured, you might never wake up again. Could she be that unlucky?
She would definitely wake up…
“Hurry! Get the defibrillator!…”
No, I can’t sleep!
I can’t sleep right now!
Tong Yang’s remaining consciousness suddenly struggled desperately, as if she were drowning. She mustered all her strength and forced her eyes open. Her body jolted, and she abruptly sat up!
The light around her flickered, and in front of her, the math test papers filled with formulas were neatly spread across her desk. Her pen rolled to the edge of the table, and the faint light of her phone screen illuminated the [Melon Eating Netizen 007] group chat.
Tong Yang stared blankly at the familiar scene before her. She lifted her hand—her clean, uninjured hand. No sticky blood, no wounds, no searing pain. The chat on her phone still displayed the message she had sent, and the time showed 12:13 AM.
She was back at this time again? Did that mean she had died once more?
Tong Yang’s heart still raced with fear.
Even though the police had arrived, she hadn’t survived?
But why was her death repeating? And who was that woman trying to kill her? Why did she have a key to her house? Why did she want to kill her?
It was all too strange. Too eerie.
Ding-dong—
At 12:14 AM, the group chat sent another news link. But this time, the headline had changed to [Prodigy Tong Yang Sacrifices Herself for Justice, Ten Days Before the College Entrance Exam].
At the same time, the signal bars on her phone disappeared again.
The news had changed? Now it said she died heroically instead of in a home invasion.
Had her actions changed the future?
That meant she could change her fate if she acted differently.
There were still five minutes until the killer would enter her home. She still had at least four minutes to escape.
But simply running out of the residential area wouldn’t work. If she avoided the killer by leaving through the south stairwell, the killer would eventually find the old woman downstairs, and she would be the one to die instead.
Having survived a deadly struggle, Tong Yang was much calmer now.
If she remembered correctly, according to the law, if a killer enters your home with a weapon to rob and attack you, causing them serious injury or death during self-defense is considered legitimate and wouldn’t result in criminal charges.
She couldn’t wait for the police, nor could she count on help from others. If she wanted to survive, she would have to incapacitate the killer—or even kill them—in self-defense.
Of course, she could also just try to escape. Even if she ran into the killer face-to-face, she could try to survive.
But if the confrontation happened in her own home, no matter whether the killer lived or died, she couldn’t be charged with excessive self-defense.
Tong Yang gripped the screwdriver tightly, taking a deep breath. She didn’t know why her death kept looping, but there was no guarantee there would be a third chance. This might be her last opportunity.
For the college entrance exam, for her life, for the future she had been looking forward to, her death couldn’t happen.
No matter who the killer was or what their grudge against her was, she would fight back with everything she had to stay alive!
Thinking this, Tong Yang cursed under her breath.
Damn it, I’m just an ordinary third-year student. Why do I have to deal with such bizarre and terrifying things?
Couldn’t a lightning bolt just strike down all the garbage getting in the way of my exam?
If only she hadn’t hesitated earlier and just killed her. Maybe she could have gotten a reward for stopping a criminal or something.
—Time: 12:16 AM. Three minutes until the killer enters.
Tong Yang was ready to fight back.
Be my Patron ~ Buy me Ko-Fi
✨Be a part of the story – support my translations✨
✨Buy me some Ko-FI | Paypal to support my effort✨
✨✨Advance chapter at Patreon✨✨
