All Chapters of Deadline Is Death: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Huff—"The eye in the ventilation opening blinked. A dull thud sounded from inside.My legs gave out. I collapsed against the door of Unit 703, flinging the bloodstained photo aside.There was no time to think. I scrambled to my feet and ran. The stairwell filled with the pounding of my footsteps and my ragged breathing.When I burst out into the lobby, my phone screen read 02:08.Seven minutes left.I remembered now.The first three times, I had received a pickup task at exactly two in the morning, one that sent me to Unit 704, Building 7 in the apartment complex next door.However, that building never had a Unit 704.What was worse was that every time I tried to abandon the delivery, I would die on schedule at 2:15 a.m. sharp.This time, though, I made it back to my rental four minutes early.02:11.I locked the door, splashed cold water on my face, and forced myself to stay awake.When I looked up at the mirror, I froze.At some point, a thin scratch had appeared at t

Chapter 2

The key turned in the lock.I pressed my back hard against the door, the fruit knife trembling in my hand.Half a minute earlier, someone in the work group chat had shared another news article. It said the killer would dismember me.Was he really going to do it?Click.The lock opened.A violent force slammed into the door. I went down with it, door and body crashing backward together.The instant the back of my head hit the floor, I saw him step inside. He was wearing the same gray pajamas as me. Without a word, he reached straight for my throat.I was hauled up off the ground. His other hand lifted as well.What he was holding came clearly into view. It was a semi-transparent supermarket plastic bag, stretched out of shape by the weight inside.Dark liquid had pooled at the bottom, dripping down in slow drops, splashing onto my slippers.My eyes widened. There were chunks of flesh inside.The flesh had wrinkled, aged skin. Strands of gray-white hair stuck to shattered bon

Chapter 3

"No… that’s impossible… I was almost strangled to death! Look at my neck!"They had clearly seen the marks on my throat. Unfortunately, in the face of concrete evidence, every argument I made sounded futile."We need you to come back to the station and cooperate with the investigation," Officer Cross said. "And the news website page on your computer… We’ll need to examine that as well."I sat in the police car, staring out at the empty streets before dawn. My mind was a mess.While I hadn’t died, Mrs. Calder had died in my place.Had the rules changed? Or had the slot for death been transferred?Because there was no direct evidence and the injuries on my neck were real, I was allowed to leave at daybreak, but only on the condition that I remain available for questioning at any time.When I returned home, the stains on the floor outside my door had been collected as evidence, but a faint, fishy stench still lingered.I stood in the hallway, staring at that door. Just yesterday a

Chapter 4

I flipped the newspaper clipping over.On the back was a one-inch ID photo.The man in the photo was wearing a courier uniform and a cap. Despite his young features, his eyes looked worn and exhausted. He was forcing a smile at the camera, the curve of his mouth stiff and unnatural.That face…The features, the contours, even the distance between the brows and eyes, were identical.The mirror slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor.Was it really… me?Fragments scattered everywhere, each shard reflecting my stunned expression.That afternoon, I went to the police station.The officers told me that Mrs. Calder’s grandson had already identified the body."We'll have to wait for the autopsy to determine the exact cause of death, but the family doesn’t seem to want to pursue it further. They’ve already signed off.""The family?" I froze. "Didn’t she live alone?""Her son is overseas. He authorized a friend to handle the arrangements." Officer Ward pointed toward the end

Chapter 5

After leaving the police station, I went straight to the old warehouse district on the west side of the city.Three years ago, Eric had been a regional dispatcher. Any abnormal package that passed through his hands should have been logged. If the records hadn’t been destroyed, they would still be stored in the old archives here.The warehouse manager was an elderly man, dozing off with a radio playing beside him.I slipped inside and found the section labeled "2019–2021 Incident Parcels".My flashlight swept across the labels on the boxes and stopped on one number: FL-190915.Hawthorne Ridge Apartments.September 15, 2019.The same day I was fired.I pried the box open. Inside was only a thin folder. The first page was the package detail sheet.Sender: Blank.Recipient: Noah Vale (signed for by courier himself).Item description: ToyBut the weight column read clearly: 4.7 kilograms.What kind of toy weighed that much?The incident report stated that at 3:00 p.m., I had col

Chapter 6

"Because you’re easy to bully," he laughed."No connections. No friends. If something happened, no one would have your back. That batch of goods needed to be moved fast, and someone had to take the fall. You took it, I got promoted. Simple as that."On the phone, Eric spoke with complete confidence, mocking and sneering without restraint.I hung up.At nine that night, I went to a bar in the north called Night Harbor. Eric often entertained clients there. He had posted about it on his feed.I spotted him right away. His arms were around two women as he laughed loudly in a booth at the bar."That idiot actually called me to ask about it. I nearly died laughing." He shouted to the people beside him. "That was three years ago. What’s the point of digging it up now?"A bald man leaned closer. "Hey, Dawson, what’s the story?""Just a former subordinate who isn't right in the head." Eric waved his hand dismissively. "I cleaned up his mess back then, and now he’s trying to bite me bac

Chapter 7

"Joe Mack? Is that you?" Eric’s voice started to shake. "Don’t fool around with me…"Footsteps drew closer. I didn’t dare take a single breath."Noah!" he shouted my name. "Noah, are you still here?"I didn’t answer."Noah, I know this is your doing!" His voice cracked, on the verge of tears. "Get the hell out here!"I had already backed into the innermost stall. The door was ajar, and I watched the outside through the narrow gap."Open the door! Open it!" He slammed against something, his voice hoarse.I couldn’t see what was happening. I could only hear struggling. Muffled grunts. The dull thud of a body hitting a wall.It lasted about a minute.Holding my breath, I peered through the crack again. I pushed the stall door open and stepped out.Eric lay on the floor, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. There was a dark gash across his neck. The blood had nearly stopped flowing.The position of his right hand was strange; his fingers curled as if trying to grasp something

Chapter 8

I looked at the man on the floor.The knife was in my hand. For a moment, it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.The man woke up. When he saw me and the knife, he was so terrified that he lost control of himself.I lowered the knife. In the end, I said, "Get out."He scrambled away, crawling and stumbling as he fled.The other me looked at me. "Why?""He wasn’t on the list," I said.He was silent for a moment, then nodded. "The last one. Tomorrow night at the old house."He vanished into the night."Substitute death successful. Remaining loop time: 72 hours."For the first time, that message on my phone made my skin crawl. There was no one else at the old house, only my mother.The rain came down harder.Standing in the rain, I received a photo of a birth certificate.Twins.Noah Vale.Peter Vale.The word "stillborn" was circled in red. My mother had never told me I’d had a twin brother who died at birth.Rain splattered across the screen, mixing with my tears.At th

Chapter 9

At 1:00 a.m., the lights came on in the main hall of the old house.My mother was sitting in a chair. When she saw me, her eyes lit up."Noah…"The other me stepped out from the inner room, a knife in his hand.My mother dropped to her knees, crying and begging. "I was wrong… please save me…""When you sold him back then, did you ever think about today?" I asked coldly. "Answer me."She only cried, refusing to respond.The other me raised the knife, aiming it over her head."Wait," I said. "If you kill her, will you really be free?""I don’t know. But I have to try." After saying that, he lowered his head in silence.My mother seized the chance and ran for the door. She stumbled, hit her head on the doorframe, and collapsed unconscious. Blood seeped from her forehead.I immediately called an ambulance.The other me dropped the knife and knelt on the floor. "You win.""What?""For the first time, someone chose not to kill," he murmured. "The loop is about to break."The s

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