You may not believe it, but I actually don't know what this title means. It just came to mind and I thought it sounded good, so I went with it. Maybe it's just because I went crazy, after all, it's hard not to go crazy after experiencing something like that. Even if I didn't actually go crazy, people wouldn't believe it, and they would rather believe that I did.
That thing happened, and then I became the only survivor. Of course, it's not as simple as that. There are only two reasons why I became the survivor. One is that he needed a survivor, and the other is that I was lucky. I am the only survivor, so the other eight people in the editorial department died - their luck wasn't as good as mine. Some of their family members even resented me and thought that I should have died too, just like the others, with a bullet through the head or stomach.
You've probably read about this on the internet, maybe even seen some nitpicking comments that quoted Freud and Cork Schneider. I think you probably didn't understand them, but you still liked or shared them to show that they wasted a few minutes of your time.
He came in through the front door. It was after work hours, but we were all still there, you know, even though there wasn't anything important to do, everyone was in the office. I was standing at the door, next to the water dispenser, about to get my last cup of water for the day. He stood next to me, pointing a gun at my head.
I put down the cup, not knowing what he wanted to do.
"You're fine, with two years of work experience, it's you. Write about what happened today."
"What happened?" This was the first time I had a real gun pointed at my head, so I was especially scared and didn't know what to do.
"It's about to start." It was only then that I started to shift my attention from the gun to the person holding it. Obviously, it was a man wearing a brown head covering that seemed to leave no space for his eyes. I didn't know how he could see.
"There's not much money here." Maybe there was, but I didn't know.
"Money isn't my goal." He pulled out another gun and shot the head of Xiao Zhun, who was standing next to me in shock. The new recruit who had just been here for three months struggled on the ground for a few moments before going still. Blood and brain matter stained her light green dress. I actually quite liked her and wanted to sleep with her.
"Move forward." The killer ordered me.
I stepped back, thinking that I would probably die here. It's a pity, I haven't accomplished anything yet.
The killer fired another shot, killing Dun Ge, who often went out for interviews but unfortunately was in the office today. The bullet pierced his chest, and his eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't believe it.
Next was Kevin. He was probably gay, although he never came out to us, but you could tell he was gay, and he probably had a boyfriend. He wasn't interested in me. He was a helpful guy, and it's a shame he died too.
By then, I was already crying. "Why are you doing this?" I was being forced to move forward with a gun to my head, and I didn't expect that I would later realize that I could have resisted unexpectedly. Although I had never touched a real gun, it didn't seem difficult in the movies - but I never resisted, not until he killed everyone except me.
Teacher Liu wanted to fight back, but he wasn't faster than the bullet. He died too.
"You reported on Li Yiyun's case."
"Are you Li Yiyun?" Did this serial killer escape from prison?
"I'm not. Li Yiyun is so old, are you an idiot?" The killer said, then fired another shot, but missed Lin Na, who was hiding behind a desk. "Because of your reporting, he was caught."
"He's a murderer, and you want to avenge him?" I guessed that this person was his friend or admirer, imitating his killings.
"He hasn't been a murderer for many years." This time, he hit Lin Na. "It's been over twenty years."
"But he still killed people." I almost fell to the ground. I had never seen someone die in front of me, let alone so many. But the gun pressed against my head kept urging me forward, and I couldn't kneel down.
The editor-in-chief, Tian Ge, fell to the ground. He was the one who brought me in.
"Even if I kill you, it won't let him out."
"I never said I wanted to let him out."
"Then what do you want?" I finally peed my pants and almost vomited. The air was filled with the smell of blood and excrement.
"I just want you to write today's story."
"Why should I do that?"
"Because you don't want to die." The killer obviously thought my question was unnecessary. "I know everything about all of you. Your mother's name is Yang Huifen, she's fifty-two years old."
Zhou Xun probably knew she couldn't escape. The bullet followed her sobbing and went into the desk, then into her ear.
"Stop, I beg you." This was the first time I truly begged someone, but I did it well, almost instinctively.
"Begging me? Unless you replace him." The killer waved the gun and pointed at Super Ge, who was lying on the ground, already unconscious.
Replace him? I didn't want to die yet. I was very scared.
"Do you want to replace him?" The killer's voice seemed triumphant. "Not answering is considered agreement." The gun pressed against my head tapped my skull.
Sure enough, I knelt down on the ground. "Kill him, please let me go."
"Are you sure? Then it's you who asked me to kill him."
"Kill him, don't kill me."
"Then I'll listen to you." The killer shot Super Ge in the head, and his fat body twitched for a moment, releasing a loud fart.
The gun pressed against my head tapped my skull again, and the killer prepared to leave.
"Listen, the reason I kill, you must write it clearly." He threw the gun into the trash can by the door, then adjusted his pants. "The real reason is that I read the report you wrote about Li Yiyun. It was well-written, so I decided to kill all of you."