University X.
Someone died today… the victim passed away right in the middle of the school grounds on the first day of school.
As a young woman with many dreams and aspirations, this freshman seemed about to welcome a new future.
But now, she is nothing more than a cold corpse on the hard concrete, alone amidst the bustling atmosphere of the first day of school, where everyone around her is happily laughing and joking.
Suddenly, a loud noise rang out, startling everyone. They turned around to see what had just happened.
Then, what caught their eye was a lifeless body lying in a pool of blood. The bustling first day of school suddenly came to an end, giving way to the police and forensic team taking over the scene.
One hour has now passed since the incident occurred.
Inside the cordon, police officers and forensic experts are discussing the victim's death.
"The deceased has been provisionally identified as Lona, 18 years old, who died from severe head trauma. The incident occurred at 8:27 a.m."
Two police officers stood next to the patrol car, looking towards the body covered with a white sheet that the forensic team was handling.
They both puffed on cigarettes, chatting thoughtfully with each other.
"Do you think this was a suicide or a murder?"
"Suicide is more likely. At the time of the crime, no one with a close connection to the victim or exhibiting suspicious behavior was found around her."
"But if that's the case, it's really strange. Why would she commit suicide, and on today at that? A freshman with a bright future ahead of her, why would she do something like that?"
"Who knows? You can't predict human psychology. Maybe she's mentally unstable all along?"
The murmurs and whispers suddenly fell silent when a powerful figure appeared at the scene.
Criminal Investigation Team Leader: Jonn Carter.
Stepping across the cordon, he casually lit the cigarette he had in his mouth. The captain pointed toward a young police officer snapping photos around the corpse.
"Hey Alex, how many cases have there been this week?"
Officer Alex stopped taking pictures, turned around and reported, "This is the 318th case this week, sir."
The captain approached the body, knelt on one knee, lifted a portion of the tarp, and began to examine it carefully.
"The initial conclusion was suicide, but sir, there were a few grayish-white threads stuck under the victim's fingernails."
"I suspect the victim scratched someone's shirt during the struggle. The marks are relatively fresh and show clear signs of a struggle, making it highly likely this was not a typical suicide."
As he spoke, Alex took out a close-up photo of the victim's right hand's fingernails and held it up to the captain.
The captain turned around, his expression unperturbed: "Okay, file the case, Alex. The case is from May 24, 2026, the female victim is Lona, she committed suicide on campus..."
Officer Alex leaned slightly to look behind the Captain. He immediately understood the implication and obeyed the order: "Oh, I see, yes sir, I will complete the case file right away."
Only after Alex had gone did the Captain turn back to look at the body, right where Alex had pointed and where he had examined it very carefully.
That was the victim's right arm.
Clearly, the captain noticed something amiss from the start, but he ordered Alex to conclude it was a suicide.
The young police officer understood his superior's intentions and didn't question anything further. He feared that even a moment of curiosity would make him the 319th case of the week.
One week later…
"What?".
"Are you asserting that the case of the female student jumping from a building at University X was a murder and not a suicide?"
Officer Alex was utterly astonished when a young man suddenly showed up at the police station to reopen an old case.
"Okay, first sit down here and tell me the whole story."
Let's start by asking: Who are you?
In the dimly lit, stuffy interrogation room, two men sat opposite each other across a long table. The young man, wearing a white hooded jacket and possessing a handsome face, faced Officer Alex, who held a small notebook and pen in his hand.
The young man took a deep breath to calm himself and then began to speak: "My name is Henry James, a student at University X and Lona's childhood best friend."
"Here is my whole story."
I was originally from another world. One morning, I woke up and realized I was no longer in my old world.
I transmigrated to this world in the body of an 18-year-old named Henry James. Thanks to the memories retained by this body, I know I have a childhood friend named Lona.
Lona is an exceptionally brilliant girl; she always gets perfect scores on every test at school. She seems to understand everything in the world—I'm not exaggerating.
She really does know everything, even… even gives me the feeling that she can foresee the future. I'm not sure, but many times she's whispered in my ear events that will happen precisely in the next few minutes…
Like the teacher suddenly entering the classroom, a classmate slipping and falling, or a pigeon being snatched away by an eagle. She gave me an incredibly frightening feeling, which was completely contrary to the original memories of this body.
In my old memories, Lona was a gentle, intelligent girl, but not at all as strange as she is now. Even more coincidentally, I discovered that the time Lona started acting strangely perfectly matched the time I arrived in this world.
Things were spiraling out of control. Suddenly, she jumped to her death before I could even ask her anything.
While cleaning out her belongings, I discovered a strange item in Lona's house.
The young man placed a telephone on the long table. It was an old-fashioned phone from the 2000s. Alex approached to examine it.
He picked it up and turned on the screen, but so far everything was perfectly normal, nothing seemed strange at all.
"What does this prove?"
Alex frowned and pushed the phone back to the young man. The young man looked confused, then repeated Alex's action exactly.
He turned the computer on, then turned the screen around for Alex to see.
"What the hell is this? Why is this happening? What did you do to the phone?"
Alex turned on the phone with the same motion, but just now he couldn't see anything, yet now this young man had opened a hidden messaging interface.
Alex squinted, carefully reading each line of text displayed on the screen:
[You want to kill me? Why?]
9 : 14 – 5/22/2026.
[Even now you're still pretending to be innocent and pitiful? That look of yours makes me nauseous.]
9 : 16 – 5/22/2026.
[Why did things turn out this way? Calm down, we can sit down and talk.]
9 : 17 – 5/22/2026.
After that, no more messages were sent. The timestamp of the conversation is from two days before the victim's death.
The young man handed the phone back to Alex. But the moment it touched the officer's hand, the entire messaging interface vanished without a trace, returning to the normal home screen.
"It seems only you have the authority to view this."
Alex returned to his seat, pulled out his phone, and started calling someone. Sitting opposite the young police officer, I couldn't understand how he could remain so calm in such a bizarre situation.
It was as if he had experienced these supernatural events many times before.
A few minutes later…
The interrogation room door swung open, and the Captain entered with a warm smile, his eyes fixed on the young man.
The young man looked curiously at the strange device the man was holding in his hand. It resembled a walkie-talkie, but also had features of a telephone and an old radio.
"So, Mr. Henry James, I want to confirm once more: You want to report that case number 318, the case of the schoolgirl who jumped from the building, is a murder, right?"
I nodded vaguely, even though I didn't understand what they were plotting. Immediately afterward, the captain grabbed my hand and placed that strange device on it.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. I had absolutely no time to react to his terrifying speed.
By the time I regained my composure, a sharp, needle-like projectile shot out from that strange device and pierced my arm.
"Damn it! What the hell are you doing? Let go of me!"
I struggled with all my might, but the policeman's arm was too strong; I couldn't budge.
After a few brief seconds, the needle retracted to its original position, carrying with it a small amount of my blood.
The captain finally released my wrist. A long red mark was visible on my skin, and my bicep was bleeding.
But he completely ignored my hateful gaze, focusing only on the small screen of that strange device.
On the screen, the numbers were jumping up frantically: 10 – 28 – 34…
The numbers were increasing uncontrollably. Initially, the captain's expression was calm, but as time passed and the sequence of numbers showed no sign of stopping,
His expression began to change, albeit only a slight raise of the eyebrow.
When the number surpassed 100, the policeman seemed to lose his composure. He immediately dragged the young officer sitting opposite me out into the hallway to discuss something.
When he returned to the room, the numbers on the screen continued to rise sharply, surpassing 200 and then 300…
At this moment, the Captain truly lost his initial composure. Although I didn't understand anything, I vaguely guessed that the number represented something extremely special.
"Ahhhhhh…".
The policeman gasped in astonishment when the number on the screen reached 500. His eyes lit up, staring at me so intensely that it gave me goosebumps. But the number stubbornly kept jumping, refusing to stop.
When the number crossed the 700 mark, the policeman's expression turned grim, as if he had just seen something utterly disgusting. After three minutes of continuous running, the number on the screen finally stopped at an absolute maximum: 999.
The captain's smile was completely frozen. His gaze now held pity, as if he were looking at a pathetic loser.
"What exactly is going on? What does that number mean?"
The policeman didn't answer my question; he put away the device and coldly said, "It's nothing. If you're still alive, you'll find out."
"Okay, you can go now. We will reopen the case as you requested."
Alex watched the young man's bewildered figure walk out of the police station. When he entered the interrogation room, the captain was still sitting there, his fingers tracing the number 999 still displayed on the screen.
"Are you going to let him leave so easily? What kind of terrifying concept is a level 999 skill? Sir, why would you do that?"
The captain's eyes remained fixed on the number 999 as he said in a low voice, "A level 999 skill is indeed incredibly powerful, but it's so powerful that he himself will be destroyed by it."
"Okay, let's just say we're unlucky. Now, let's create a new case file, Alex."
Alex looked bewildered and asked, "Is there a new case, Captain? I haven't received any notification from headquarters yet."
"Not yet, but it'll be soon."
"Case number 319, victim: Henry James. Cause of death: unknown."
…
On the walk home, my mind was a jumble of questions about the strange things that had happened at the police station. I couldn't understand anything, but I had done everything I could.
Now all we can do is wait and see what the police say. While my mind was still wandering, I didn't even realize I had arrived home.
Walking down the old corridor on either side, I stood in front of my door and gently turned the doorknob, making a "Click!" sound.
I had just stepped into the house when, suddenly! A dark figure emerged from the corner of the room and lunged straight at me at breakneck speed.
He grabbed me by the neck and pinned me to the ground. Completely taken by surprise, I couldn't react in time, and my head hit the wooden floor hard and painfully.
In a state of extreme dizziness, my vision blurred. I struggled desperately, trying to escape the powerful grip of the man before me.
I repeatedly kneed him in the back, but it was completely useless. My throat was constricted, and I could only utter broken, guttural sounds like a fish out of water.
I can't breathe anymore… I have to do something, I have to do something quickly before I suffocate to death here.