Chapter 3
"Stop it, I'm leaving, I'm leaving..."
Chen Jiahao chickened out. He was unwilling but not daring to cause any more trouble.
The drunk woman, stark naked, scrambled out of bed and forcefully pushed Chen Jiahao, who was in the middle of putting on his pants, out the door. As she pushed, she scratched and clawed at him, completely hysterical.
"Get out... GET OUT!!!"
"Wah... why are you doing this to me? I love you so much."
"No one can replace you, why are you doing this to me..."
The door slammed shut with a deafening bang, loud enough to be a public nuisance. It probably woke up the neighbors in the adjoining rooms.
Even after the door was closed, the woman's hysterical cries could still be heard. She was clearly drunk and now completely throwing a tantrum.
Chen Jiahao finished pulling up his pants, checked that his phone was still on him, and fearing he'd get dragged into the mess, quickly bolted.
"Jiahao, you're not back yet?"
A chubby guy from his team was already yawning. He mumbled, "I really don't get what you're thinking. You're doing fine in university, why take a late night food delivery job of all things?"
"Nah, I'm just one order away from completing the bonus."
The chubby guy asked curiously, "What's wrong with your face?"
That drunkard had been vicious when she flipped out. Chen Jiahao had a few scratch marks on his face.
So feisty. I wonder if she's that wild in bed, too.
Savoring the soul-stealing memory of her oral skills, Chen Jiahao said nonchalantly, "It's nothing. Just brushed against a tree branch."
"You wait it out, then. I'm going back to sleep."
Just one more order to complete the bonus. When he cashed it out, plus his savings from other part-time jobs, he'd have ten thousand yuan (1400$). Add a swipe of his credit card, and he could buy the iPhone 16 that Tian Tian had been dreaming of.
After an agonizing wait, a 'ding' finally signaled a new order. It was an errand running job.
Chen Jiahao, as if injected with adrenaline, rushed to an old residential community. There was no elevator, so he had to take the stairs.
The entire building had no security door, so he entered smoothly. Chen Jiahao arrived at the 8th floor, where there was only one apartment.
A kind looking old man had opened the door early and was waiting. Seeing Chen Jiahao, he smiled and said, "Thanks for your trouble, young man. It's so late, and I had to bother you."
"It's no trouble. This is my job. You should get some rest, grandpa."
"Alright. I wish you all the best, lucky one."
Food delivery and errands were always a frantic rush, a race against time. Chen Jiahao grabbed the package and dashed down the stairs so fast he was practically teleporting, just a hair's breadth slower than if he'd jumped.
Chen Jiahao didn't notice at all the look of extreme disappointment on the old man's face as he closed the door, nor did he hear him shake his head and sigh, "Another carbon-based lifeform. What a waste of a system."
"Damn it!!!"
He hopped on his electric scooter, but when he opened his phone, he was stunned.
Following the app's procedure, after tapping 'Item Collected,' the delivery address should have appeared smoothly. But unexpectedly, the system froze at that moment.
This was a Xiaomi 6, a phone he'd been using for six years. The screen was shattered, and even the microphone was finicky, but Chen Jiahao had been saving up and couldn't bear to replace it.
He had no choice but to restart it. The restart was agonizingly slow. Chen Jiahao rode over to the gatehouse.
The night watchman was just killing time. Chen Jiahao went over, greeted him, and offered him a cigarette.
The gatekeeper said warmly, "You're a hardworking young man, still out delivering food this late."
Chen Jiahao said with a smile, "Just got an order. An old man on the eighth floor asked me to deliver a phone. Once I finish this one, I'm off for the night."
The gatekeeper froze when he heard this, his expression instantly turning strange. Pinching the cigarette, he said, "Young man, you must be mistaken."
"No, I'm not!"
Just then, his phone finished rebooting. Chen Jiahao immediately opened the app and showed it to him, saying, "See? It's Building 11, Room 801, right here. Look!!!"
The gatekeeper's scalp instantly went numb. Trembling, he quickly pulled out a protective talisman and said hoarsely, "This is a company dormitory. They were all built uniformly back in the day. The top floor is the 6th."
"Grandpa, it's the middle of the night. Don't joke around like that."
"If you don't believe me, count for yourself."
Chen Jiahao turned to look at the old buildings behind him. As he counted, his entire scalp went numb.
Just as the gatekeeper had said, these buildings were only six stories high. Where did a 7th or 8th floor come from?
The most terrifying part was that Chen Jiahao had counted the floors both on his way up and down. The stairwell also had clear floor indicators. Chen Jiahao was 100% certain he had picked up the package on the 8th floor.
Ding...
At that moment, the app's information also finished updating. Chen Jiahao, almost out of professional habit, glanced at the delivery address.
One look, and his scalp went completely numb. His vision even started to darken.
Recipient: Chen Jiahao, Phone number: ... And the address that followed was his own dorm room number at Guangcheng University.
"Holy shit!!!"
Chen Jiahao jumped in fright, immediately threw the terrifying box in his hand into a trash can, hopped on his electric scooter, and fled without looking back.
"Third Brother is back!!!"
The dorm management at Guangcheng University was always biased. They were stricter with freshmen, but for juniors and seniors, they basically turned a blind eye.
The curfew was practically nonexistent. The dorm auntie was too lazy to get up and just left the door unlocked. Chen Jiahao sped all the way back to his dorm.
The living conditions here were pretty good. It was a four-person room, but one of them had moved out to live with his girlfriend, leaving only Chen Jiahao and his two other roommates.
They were in the middle of a game of League of Legends, their faces greasy from staying up late, a clear sign of night owls.
The eldest, Zhang Jiaqiang, didn't even turn around. The second, Zhang Wei, saw that Chen Jiahao's hands were empty and said gloomily, "Damn, no midnight snack tonight? Then don't even think about me calling you 'daddy'!!!"
It was too late to turn on the lights. Chen Jiahao trembled as he walked back to his bed and sat down, feeling as if all his bones had fallen apart.
Seeing that Chen Jiahao didn't answer, Zhang Jiaqiang and Zhang Wei also sensed something was wrong. They immediately put down their game and crowded over.
They saw Chen Jiahao's face was ashen, covered in cold sweat, and his whole body was trembling.
"Third Brother, are you okay!!"
Zhang Jiaqiang was the first to press his hand to Chen Jiahao's forehead. Not only was he not feverish, his skin was ice-cold.
Zhang Wei also said with concern, "Are you sick? Why is your face so pale?"