Deadly Apartment

No Weaknesses Allowed

Anyone familiar with mystery thrillers knows that a signal jammer is one of the most dangerous weapons. A killer could block all communication, turning my home into an information black hole. To counter this, I took a trip to a camping gear store and bought two satellite phones. Now, if the killer tried anything funny, I could simply watch them struggle from behind my reinforced door and call the police.

Next, I had to prepare for combat. In these stories, fear often comes from being outmatched physically. I needed weapons.

• A baseball bat

• A butcher’s machete

• A scythe

• A riot shield

• An anti-riot fork

A chainsaw? No. Fun fact: many modern chainsaws have built-in safety features that automatically shut off when they come into contact with fabric or human tissue. In a life-or-death fight, that could be a fatal flaw. Pass.

Of course, these weapons were only for emergencies. I had no intention of using them unless absolutely necessary.

Do you think that’s all? No!

When science fails, mysticism takes over. What if this killer wasn’t even human? I had to be ready for that too.

I visited ten temples and ten Taoist monasteries, each time requesting 100 talismans from the head monk or priest. A total of 1,000 talismans, ready to ward off evil.

But what if the killer wasn’t bound by Chinese spiritual laws? If they were some foreign supernatural entity beyond the jurisdiction of local exorcisms?

Simple.

I wholesale ordered 10 kilograms of crucifixes and garlic. If the killer really turned out to be a vampire or some Western ghost, I’d simply bury them under an avalanche of holy symbols.

After carrying all my supplies home, I did another full security scan. Everything was clean. Finally, I downloaded dozens of TV shows and over a thousand books onto my tablet, including my all-time favorite, The Legend of Zhen Huan.

With that, I finally felt at peace.

I closed the curtains, lay down on my mattress, and slept through the entire afternoon.

As night fell, the shadows grew darker.

The killer is coming.