novelraw Chapter 12 : Li Ming’s Cry for Help
Chapter 12 : Li Ming’s Cry for Help
Chapter 12: Li Ming’s Cry for Help
On the first day that Wang Defa’s curse took effect, Li Ming merely felt a little fatigued, his head spinning and his vision blurry.
He thought it was because he had been too “active” in the previous few nights and had exhausted himself. He didn’t take it seriously, even going to a pharmacy to buy several boxes of kidney tonic supplements.
The next day, he began suffering from sleepless nights, drenched in cold sweat, his heart throbbing with occasional sharp pain.
Looking into the mirror, he saw his face pale as paper, his eye sockets sunken, and his dark circles so deep it looked as if someone had punched him.
Panic began to spread within Li Ming’s heart.
He no longer dared to peep on anyone. He shut himself inside his rented room all day, trying to restore his strength through sleep.
But no matter how long he slept, that bone-deep weakness clung to him like a shadow—and only grew worse.
By the third day, his hair began to fall out in clumps, his skin turned loose, and his gums started to recede and bleed.
In just three days, he looked as though he had aged twenty years.
Now, lying on the bed, Li Ming felt even lifting a finger took effort, his entire being as if drained of all vitality.
It was only at this moment that he finally awoke from the frenzy of having gained extraordinary power.
This was definitely not an ordinary illness!
This was an extraordinary attack!
Another player was killing him through supernatural means!
“Game of Gods” was not a divine blessing!
It was truly a bloody slaughter game that demanded life as its price!
The shadow of death, like freezing seawater, completely engulfed Li Ming.
Overwhelming fear gripped his heart, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
“Help… help…”
He didn’t want to die!
He had only just begun to taste the joy of being a “god”. He didn’t want to die so meaninglessly in this dark little rented room!
Driven by sheer survival instinct, Li Ming used the last trace of his strength to roll off the bed, struggling to crawl toward the phone on the nightstand.
His trembling hand, guided by instinct, pressed those three numbers—110.
The call was quickly connected.
“Hello, Jiang City 110 Command Center.” A calm female voice came from the receiver.
“Help… help me…”
Li Ming forced out a few words from his throat with all the strength he had left.
“Sir, please calm down. Tell me your location and what’s happening.” The operator immediately sensed something was wrong.
“I… I’m dying…”
Li Ming’s consciousness was already fading. He screamed incoherently, “...‘Game of Gods’...【Shadow】... they’re killing me... extraordinary... it’s extraordinary...”
Li Ming’s words were vague and broken, mixed with heavy breathing and groans of agony.
The operator frowned.
She received plenty of such unclear distress calls every day—most from drunkards or people with mental issues.
But the word “extraordinary” instantly jolted her nerves!
She remembered the top-level directive personally issued days ago by Captain Chen Mo of the Criminal Investigation Division—any emergency call mentioning words such as “extraordinary” or “supernatural abilities,” regardless of authenticity, must be reported immediately to the “Task Force 815”!
“Sir! Sir, are you still there? Please tell me your exact location!” The operator’s voice suddenly rose, urgent and strained.
However, on the other end of the line, only faint breathing remained—soon, even that disappeared.
Beep… beep… beep…
The call was disconnected.
Without hesitation, the operator activated the emergency protocol.
“Track the origin of that distress call immediately! Now!”
At the same time, she picked up the red emergency line and directly connected to the task force office.
“Report! We’ve received an urgent distress call. The caller appears to be in critical condition and mentioned the word ‘extraordinary’ during the call!”
…
“Move out immediately!”
The moment Chen Mo heard the report, he sprang from his chair, his eyes flashing with a terrifying gleam.
“All units! Fully armed! Target—Building 3, Room 404, Desheng Community, South District!”
“Tech team! Hack into the community surveillance right now! Seal all entrances and exits!”
“Notify the nearest patrol units! They must reach the site within five minutes!”
Command after command shot from Chen Mo’s mouth, and the entire task force instantly went into high-speed operation.
Chen Mo grabbed the bulletproof vest hanging on the wall, pulling it on as he shouted into his radio, “This is not a drill! I repeat—this is not a drill!”
“All units, be advised! The target is extremely dangerous! The opponent may possess attack methods beyond our understanding!”
“Maintain maximum alert!”
Inside the police headquarters, the piercing alarm blared through the air.
Dozens of police cars, lights flashing and sirens screaming, shot out from different directions toward Desheng Community like arrows released from a bow.
Chen Mo sat in the passenger seat of the lead car, eyes locked on the tablet in his hands.
On the screen was the live surveillance feed of Building 3 in Desheng Community—everything appeared normal.
His heart pounded violently.
This was the only opportunity he had to glimpse the “truth” of this world!
…
“Bang!”
With a deafening crash, the door of Room 404 was smashed open by a breaching hammer.
“Police! Don’t move!”
Several SWAT officers armed with Type-95 automatic rifles and wearing heavy bulletproof armor stormed in, guns aimed at every corner of the room.
However, the room showed no sign of struggle.
Only a human-shaped figure lay curled up on the floor beside the bed.
Yes—a human-shaped figure.
Because the body had already lost the form of a normal human being, appearing horrifyingly mummified.
Li Ming’s clothes were disheveled, his eyes closed, his face pale as gold paper, lips purple, and his chest barely rising with faint breaths.
If not for that weak breathing, everyone would have thought he had been dead for hours.
Everyone gasped at the sight of Li Ming’s miserable state.
Chen Mo rushed in right after. When he saw the scene before him, his pupils shrank sharply.
“It’s him! Li Ming!”
Before coming, Chen Mo had already seen this man’s photo in the database—a somewhat dull but otherwise healthy programmer.
But now, the man before him looked completely drained of life, his body shriveled and thin, his face creased unnaturally like a dying centenarian.
“There are no signs of struggle, no gas leakage, and no external injuries on the victim…”
After a quick examination, the forensic officer reported gravely, “Captain, his vital signs are extremely weak. Multiple organ systems are failing!”
“Quick! Call an ambulance!”
Chen Mo ordered decisively, “At all costs, he must be kept alive!”
Chen Mo understood that this man named Li Ming was their only key to uncovering the truth of the “extraordinary” world!
Soon, Li Ming was carefully lifted onto a stretcher and carried to the waiting ambulance downstairs, which sped toward Jiang City First People’s Hospital with its siren wailing.
Chen Mo stood amid the chaotic scene of the rented room, his eyes sweeping over every corner.
The room was small, messy, filled with the aura of a single programmer’s life.
Everything appeared so normal.
But it was precisely this normality that made it all the more disturbing.
What kind of power could torture a living man into this ghastly, inhuman state—without leaving a single trace behind?
As the thought crossed his mind, a chill surged from Chen Mo’s feet up to the crown of his head.
Could it be that beyond the scientific world they knew, there truly existed another—utterly incomprehensible, filled with the unknown and the terrifying—hidden realm?