At this moment, another person’s cell phone suddenly rang.
Beep beep beep.
After everyone heard the notification sound, the room suddenly became quiet. It was so quiet that everyone’s breathing and heartbeats had become audible. No one dared to speak, and no one dared to take out their cell phones to read their messages.
Everyone wore frozen expressions on their faces.
Finally, after the silence, someone could not hold it in anymore. He took out his phone and looked at the messages.
“Death Notice!”
“What? What did you receive?”
“What did you receive?”
“I. . . Death Notice.”
“Me too!”
“Me too!”
“F*ck! Are We being targeted?”
“Could someone be pranking us? Didn’t they say that the Death Notice was a card? Why has the Death Judge suddenly started texting?”
“Yeah, it must be fake. Someone must be messing with us!”
“Once I found out who it is, I’ll definitely kill him!”
Despite saying that, they were still very nervous, afraid, and terrified.
Marcellus, who had been silent the entire time, had a dark expression on his face. He looked extremely ugly as he slammed his phone onto the table.
He had received a short eye-catching message:
—
Death Notice!
Subject: Marcellus
Crimes: drug trafficking, kidnapping, detention, rape, murder
Execution Date: April 21, 2021
Executor: Death Judge
—
Marcellus glanced at it coldly and snorted disdainfully.
“Those who are not afraid of death, feel free to come.”
It was seven in the morning.
The Empire State Building started to become noisy.
Groups of white-collar workers swarmed in. Everyone greeted and chatted with each other. They were all in a good mood.
“Hey, did you watch the death broadcast yesterday?”
“I had to watch it. I can watch anything now, but I just have to watch the death broadcast!”
“Me too! But my girlfriend doesn’t dare to watch it. She says it’s too scary and too bloody, but last night’s episode scared me so much that my heart hurt!”
Everyone was talking about the broadcast. They were all very excited about it.
Jack listened to them for a while and sat there with a normal expression, as if this had nothing to do with him. Then, he yawned lazily.
Soon, his colleagues came. After a short conversation with them, Jack left.
“Hey, handsome!” Jack frowned. It was Ayesha’s voice.
“You didn’t expect this, did you?” Ayesha ran to Jack and raised her exquisite little face to ask.
Today, Ayesha was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a loose white hoodie. It tightened and loosened, perfectly displaying her petite and slender figure. She was very beautiful!
Jack glanced at her and coldly said, “You’re really annoying! I see you everywhere!”
Ayesha pouted angrily and said, “Who told you to be so handsome and so cool? Let me guess. Are you working at the Empire State Building?”
“Take your time and guess. I’m going to eat!” Jack said as he turned to leave.
“Hey, don’t go. I haven’t eaten either. Let’s eat together. It’s my treat. I still owe you fifty yuan.” Ayesha quickly caught up to Jack.
Jack entered a fast-food restaurant. Aisha followed closely behind him. He was a super-handsome man and she was a super-beautiful girl. When they walked inside, hundreds of people turned their heads.
Jack walked straight to the ordering area. He had been to that restaurant more than once. He knew all the locations very well. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still complete the ordering process.
Rib-eye steak, a cup of black coffee, and a sandwich—this was Jack’s breakfast.
Aisha only ordered a sandwich, which cost 42 yuan in total.
“This meal is on you, and we have nothing to do with each other anymore. From today on, don’t bother me anymore. Understand?” Jack said.
Aisha snorted and said, “What do you mean? I still owe you eight dollars. Besides, we are not just exchanging benefits, right?”
“What else? Do you want to have physical contact?” Jack said.
Aisha’s little face suddenly turned red, and her big watery eyes avoided Jack’s bright gaze.
Jack deliberately said that to make her back off and stop coming up to him. Seeing that she was so embarrassed that she didn’t know what to say, he said, “Eat quickly, then go back to school and study hard. Get into a good university and stop following me.”
Aisha rolled her eyes resentfully.
After breakfast, Jack took out a fifty-dollar bill from his wallet. “Take a taxi to school, or you’ll be late!”
He turned his back and left.
When Aisha had returned to her senses, Jack had already left the restaurant.
“Thank you!” Aisha picked up the bill and left with a smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Marcellus and the others had not slept for the whole night. They smoked silently until dawn. Seeing that it was already daytime outside, they heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed their tense nerves.
Marcellus glanced at everyone and coldly said, “Useless thing!”
The bald man suddenly shouted, “Big Brother! We were all wrong!”
Marcellus’s body shook. “What’s wrong?”
“Big Brother Marcellus, look. It’s stated here that the time and date of execution is on the 21st. Today is only the 17th!” The bald man turned the phone around for Marcellus to see.
Marcellus flew up and kicked him to the ground.
“F*ck you! Do you want to die by shouting so loudly? I don’t care when he comes. I’m not afraid!” Marcellus cursed angrily, his heart beating wildly.
“Yes! Yes, Big Brother Marcellus! I was wrong.” The bald man’s face was dull. He got up, bent his body, and retreated to the side.
Everyone took out their Death Notices and read carefully. It was indeed the 21st. There were still a few days left. In the beginning, they had simply ignored it. They only thought about whether it was true or not. They had been nervous the whole night. However, what about the 21st? Would they really die then?
No one knew the answer.
Their fear of death did not disappear. Instead, it was postponed. Their painful waiting had to be prolonged.
As to why they had received the Death Notice in advance, they weren’t sure. They had to wait until the 21st to know if they would be executed.
Jack wanted to torture them mentally before the live broadcast, so he sent their Death Notices ahead of schedule. He wanted them to understand that they would die in a few days and that they could not do anything about it. This would make them paranoid, and they would end up being terrified of their surroundings and being wary of everyone and everything around them. It was a different kind of mental torture.
The second reason was the Grim Reaper. It was quite a difficult execution, especially since there were many subjects. He needed to carefully plan every detail—how each person would die, technically—and then add variables. Changing things up and relying on the law of things to influence the outcome was a very big project. It was not something that could be completed in a few hours.
For both of these reasons, Jack finally set the date for the 21st.
Four days passed quickly.
Soon, the clock hit 12 AM. A new day arrived.
It was April 21, 2021.