Chapter 1

The first death came without warning.

I got off work at five, joking and chatting with a few colleagues as we walked to the elevator lobby.

The elevator doors opened with a “ding.”

Because I was standing in front, I stepped in first.

Before I could even turn around, a huge sense of weightlessness surged up from beneath my feet. The elevator, with me inside, plummeted from the eighteenth floor at free-fall speed.

A mist of blood filled the air-a gruesome death.

When I opened my eyes again-

What I saw was my familiar white office desk.

On it sat a basket of soup dumplings and a cup of steaming soy milk.

Outside the window, the morning sun was bright red. Around me, colleagues were energetically greeting each other good morning.

The world was just as usual.

In a daze, I picked up my phone. The screen showed: Friday, July 19th, 9:00 a.m.

I shook my head, convinced that what I’d just experienced was a hallucination.

Across from me, Li Qianxue frowned as she looked at me.

“You look terrible. Did you stay up late again?”

I stuffed a soup dumpling into my mouth. “No choice. The bonus for this project is two hundred thousand.”

“Is money more important than your life?”

Li Qianxue was fair-skinned and beautiful, the goddess of our company, pursued by plenty of wealthy men. She didn’t care for any of them, finding them too materialistic.

“Pretty much.”

I didn’t have any other hobbies-just loved making money.

Watching my savings grow bit by bit, feeling dopamine and endorphins rush through my body from all directions.

“You really have money on the brain.”

She teased me openly, then elegantly handed me a Xiangjia compact powder. “Cover up those dark circles. You still have to report to Manager Lan later. A woman can’t let her image slip.”

I took it and patted my face, saying gratefully, “You really are beautiful inside and out.”

She smiled faintly. “You sure know how to flatter.”

Half an hour later, the secretary from the general office called to say Manager Lan could see me now.

As I picked up my report materials to leave, I realized I was missing a page of key data. With an “oh no,” I rushed to the printing room.

The moment my hand touched the copier, I felt an indescribable sense of unease.

But before I could figure out exactly what that feeling was, a violent electric current shot through my entire body.

I stared in shock as my hand, resting on the copier lid, started to smoke and blacken, turning into a piece of charcoal.

……

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the soup dumplings and soy milk on my desk.

“You look terrible. Did you stay up late again?”

Stiffly, I raised my head. Li Qianxue was frowning at me.