You had all grabbed the WeChat red packet? We were so overjoyed and never got tired of it even with just cents in it. Especially when it was from somebody unknow. It was that pleasing that you felt like gaining some real advantage over others.
With that said, what I wanted to stress was that, not all WeChat red packets were great.
Sometimes your craze for the few cents could render you in everlasting perdition, or even death.
I, the unlucky one, experienced it once…
It happened when I was back in high school. We were having night cla.s.s and enjoyed quite some fun with the teacher’s absence. My phone rang amid the amicable atmosphere of freedom in cla.s.sroom. I unlocked my phone, only to find the WeChat group of our cla.s.s quite lively.
Somehow, a stranger was admitted into the WeChat group.
The stranger’s nickname was Netherworld Gatekeeper, who typed, “I have a thrilling game. Anyone in? WeChat red packet is rewarded for winners.”
I was intrigued by his words as, you know, we were under great pressure with the increasingly onerous courses and school work in Senior Two. Now a chance for fun was right in front of us, who could resist that?
A cla.s.smate was quick in response, “Really? What about you send one first?”
The Netherworld Gatekeeper agreed without hesitation and posted a grouped red envelop, which we all hurried to grab. I got five Yuan, amazing!
Everyone was excited about it and urged him to send some more.
However, Netherworld Gatekeeper refused and told us that he would only deliver new red envelop on the condition that we played his game.
So, we all agreed, expectantly with not a single one exception.
“Now that you’re all in, I’ll make clear the rules. I’ll release tasks and pick one student to complete it. For example, I would tell student A to finish task A, the one who gets the task must finish it in a limited time. Completion of the task will be awarded with a red envelop, or there will be punishment.”
We all urged him in the WeChat group, “Let’s get the ball rolling. We couldn’t wait.”
The Netherworld Gatekeeper messaged as we discussed heatedly, “Task one: Zhang Fan will kiss Liu Ying’s hand. Allotted time: two hours. Now the game begins.”
Reading the message, I was in a bit of a daze as I was Zhang Fan.
Well…I meant, I’d very much like to kiss Liu Ying, who, on the contrary, would by no means agree. I was a loser liked by none of the girls in the cla.s.s.
Many began to boo and pushed Liu Ying to me while I hesitated. I sat there and stared at Liu Ying’s face, unable to manage a word.
Liu Ying shot a glance at me and fell silent.
Cla.s.smates around me all looked at me with daring gaze and some began to shout,
“Kiss her!”
“Kiss her!”
“Kiss her!”
In the whoops of the cla.s.smates, I finally plucked up some courage, took over Liu Ying’s hand and kissed. Liu Ying shot a glance of disdain at me, lowered her head and began to wipe her hand with handkerchief.
I felt upset yet I just walked back to my seat in silence.
There the Netherworld Gatekeeper appeared again, “Congratulations! Mission completed. A red envelop of 500 Yuan has been sent to Zhang Fan’s WeChat.”
I was ravished with joy and immediately took my phone to check it.
It was true. 500 Yuan in my WeChat!
All was thrilled as that was quite a sum of money for a high school student. Now we itched to take tasks.
“Task two: Liu Meijia sings a song in public. Allotted time: One hour.”
Liu Meijia walked to the lectern and sang a song in a rather natural manner. Her voice was soft and sweet, quite pleasing to the ear.
Many applauded when she got off the lectern, bringing a rather enthusiastic air to the cla.s.sroom.
She also got 500 Yuan.
Then Netherworld Gatekeeper messaged the third task, “Li Guo’an must smash his phone. Allotted time is 12 hours or he will die from bleeding from seven orifices.”
“What the h.e.l.l!” Li Guo’an shot up before we could react. He fumed with his fiery eyes scanning around, “Who is this Netherworld Gatekeeper? Get the f.u.c.king out. I know you’re here in the room.”
I also realized it upon hearing his words. Li Guo’an was right. This Gatekeeper must be among us or he couldn’t have known our name.
“s.h.i.t! You’re just envious about the new iPhone 7 I bought. You really think that I would smash my phone just to get 500 Yuan? Sorry, I’m not that brainless.” With that, Li Guo’an stared us all in fury and cursed out loud, “No way! Kill me if you dare!”
“Alright! It’s just a joke. Don’t get so angry.” The cla.s.s president came to ease the tension, followed by other cla.s.smates’ comforting. Li Guo’an then sat down, still cursing.
Netherworld Gatekeeper went silent, so all took it as a joke and soon forgot it.
In the second day, like always, head teacher flew into a temper because of the noisy cla.s.sroom, which we all took lightly.
I looked at my phone in my seat, only to find the Netherworld Gatekeeper still in our WeChat group, who was now somehow forgotten by all. Yet I felt somewhat disturbed as if something bad was around the corner.
I involuntarily stole a glance at Li Guo’an, who, looking quite normal, was not a bit haunted by something bad. Thinking of that, I just managed a self-deprecating smile and let it go.
I was chatting with my desk mate during the break when a girl screamed in fright, “Li Guo’an, what happened to you?”
All turned to look at Li Guo’an upon the girl’s shriek, only to find him pale and in trance.
Li Guo’an shook his head, “I’m fine. Just feeling a bit under the weather.”
“I’ll ask for a leave for you, now go home and get some rest.” The cla.s.s president offered.
Li Guo’an nodded then the girl next to him pointed at his face and shouted before he could say anything.
“You have a nosebleed.”
Li Guo’an touched his nose with his finger and felt the blood. Shaking his head, he said with a relaxed face, “Not a big deal. It must be the internal fire.”
However, the girl looked even more frightened after his words. In fact, we were all terrified as blood began to ooze out from his nose, eyes, corners of mouth and ears.
A scene spooky to all.
“Li Guo’an, what’s wrong with you?” asked the cla.s.s president who immediately took a step back in fright.
As for the rest of us, we all stared at Li Guo’an in disbelief.
Faltering, Li Guo’an pulled himself up. His face was ghastly pale with unceasing blood oozing out, which made him look extremely hideous.
Trembling, he stretched his hand out, looked at us with terror and pleaded with a quivering voice, “Please! Help me!”
“Call 120, now!” cla.s.s president shouted. Other cla.s.smates finally came to themselves and began to call for the ambulance.
But it was too late. Li Guo’an stood there, drenched in blood. I had never seen a man bleeding so much. Soon, he fell to the ground after a slight twitch on face and turned still.
Blood was everywhere.
“Ah!” The girl next to him screamed after realizing something and paralyzed to the ground in terror.
Overwhelmed by fear, cla.s.s president’s face turned extremely pale.
“Someone dead! Li Guo’an is dead.” Some girls screamed in fright, some even fainted. Boys were also stupefied by what happed. Not until quite a while later did some students finally come to themselves.
“Anyone with a phone? Call the police.” A male student reminded.
In the time of extreme terror, all phones rang.
The Netherworld Gatekeeper messaged in the WeChat group, “Li Guo’an just got his punishment for not completing the task. Now here comes the new task.”
“Mi Qiqi must take off all her clothes in front of the whole cla.s.s, or she’ll be executed. Allotted time: one hour.”
All were dumfounded by the message in WeChat. The Gatekeeper meant it real. And the task this time was even more horrifying. It was way too excessive to let a girl undress in public.
Mi Qiqi was overwhelmed with shame and horror upon reading the message. She shouted in terror after quite a moment, “No! I will not do it.” With that, she cried with her head buried in her arms.
Eyeing anxiously around, cla.s.s president hastened to stand up and quivered to ask, “Who is this Netherworld Gatekeeper in the WeChat group? Get the f.u.c.king out.”
His voice quivered so much that sounded like he was almost crying. While all other students looked one another with terror in eyes. Now one knew who the h.e.l.l this Gatekeeper was.
In despair, Mi Qiqi burst into tears, her face suffused with fright. Other girls hurried to comfort.
At this point, I saw on the face of everyone in the room exude the panic and fright unable to conceal.