While on a business trip, I couldn't sleep. I was scrolling through Reddit in my hotel room when I stumbled upon a bizarre post on a true-crime forum: [Billionaire Secrets Exposed: On July 30, 2025, at 10:30 PM, the sole heiress of W Enterprises was brutally decapitated while on a business trip in Chicago. Her head was hidden in the mini-fridge. The killer was the late billionaire's illegitimate son, who disguised himself as a delivery driver to infiltrate her room.] I stared at the title, slightly stunned. I am the sole daughter of W Enterprises. I am currently on a business trip in Chicago. But my dad doesn't have an illegitimate son. And more importantly, today is July 30th, but it's only 10:00 PM right now. Why was the algorithm feeding me breaking news about a murder that wouldn't happen for another half hour? I brushed it off as a sick prank by some internet troll. But then, feeling thirsty, I walked over to the mini-fridge to grab a sparkling water. I froze. The interior of this hotel fridge was completely identical to the crime scene photo attached to the post. And the exact spot where the severed head was placed in the photo... was perfectly empty in my fridge right now. At that exact moment, the doorbell rang. "Hello, UberEats delivery." 01 My heart skipped a beat. The very next second, I dialed my private security detail. First of all, I haven't ordered food delivery in years. For privacy during business trips, I exclusively book Presidential Suites and only eat the meals prepared by the hotel's private chef. Even if I did order room service, it would be brought up by the hotel staff. A random delivery driver would never be allowed up here. My mind flashed back to that Reddit post. As absurd as it seemed, the people, the events, and the objects in that thread matched my current reality flawlessly. Was this a genuine premonition of my death? When I didn't open the door, the person outside started pounding on it heavily. Bang! Bang! Bang! "Hello, delivery! Please come out and get your food!" The voice was raspy and rough, sounding like a middle-aged man. Recalling the post—which stated the heiress was killed by her father's illegitimate son—I let out a tiny sigh of relief. The guy outside sounded like he was practically my dad's age. How could he be his son? Thankfully, my security team was stationed in standard suites just a few floors below. It would only take them a couple of minutes to get up here. Thinking of this, my tense nerves relaxed slightly. Listening to the incessant knocking, a morbid curiosity crept into my mind. I softened my footsteps and moved silently toward the heavy security door. But the second I got close, the knocking abruptly stopped. The hallway was dead silent. I held my breath and carefully pressed my eye against the peephole. There was no one there. Just an empty, dimly lit corridor. But the next second— BANG! BANG! Two deafening strikes hit the door! And then! A face shot up from below, instantly filling the entire field of vision of the peephole! The face was wrinkled, the skin gleaming with a greasy sheen. A thick double chin squeezed against the high collar of a delivery uniform. A pair of cloudy, bloodshot eyes stared dead at me through the glass. His mouth curled upward, agonizingly slow and stiff, stretching into a grotesque, exaggerated smile. Bang! Bang! Two more heavy knocks. It was as if he knew I was standing right behind the door. He slammed his thick, meaty palm against the wood with all his might! The sound was so terrifyingly close that I stumbled backward, nearly collapsing onto the floor. Just as I thought he was going to break the door down, a completely different voice came from outside. Unlike the violent banging, this voice was deliberately lowered and soft: "Hello, delivery... I'll just leave it at the door for you." Soon after, the sound of footsteps echoed. Step, step, step... Moving further away until they completely disappeared at the end of the hall. Did he really just leave? Not long after the footsteps faded, my security team finally arrived. Seeing the row of muscular men in black suits lining the hotel corridor, I finally let out a massive breath of relief. But I was still furious. How could the security of a five-star hotel's Presidential Suite be this garbage? Any random creep could just wander up here. I immediately called the front desk to demand answers. After checking the security footage, the receptionist sounded baffled. "Ma'am... first, I am so incredibly sorry for this experience. But we have thoroughly reviewed the footage from the past thirty minutes. The elevators, the hallway corridors, the fire escapes... there is no record of anyone wearing a delivery uniform entering the Presidential floor! The only people captured by the cameras were your bodyguards arriving just now. The corridor cameras didn't catch anyone suspicious going up or down..." The receptionist paused, a slight tremor in her voice. "And... there's no footage of the 'delivery driver' you described leaving the floor, either." Buzz— A rush of ice-cold dread shot from the soles of my feet straight to my brain. No footage? No one went up, and no one went down? That meant the "delivery driver" had been hiding on this floor from the very beginning! A deep sense of unease settled in my gut, and without hesitation, I called the police. Looking at the group of bodyguards standing outside my door, I felt slightly reassured. I had handpicked every single one of them. They were all decorated martial arts and combat champions. At the very least, until the police arrived, I was absolutely safe. After all that panic, I was covered in a thin layer of cold sweat, so I went into the bathroom to wash up again. When I finished, I sat on the sofa to wait for the cops. Out of habit, I unlocked my phone. That bizarre Reddit post was sitting at the very top of my feed again. This time, I didn't treat it like a prank. I began to read it meticulously. But when I saw the timestamp of the post, my mind went blank. July 30, 2035. 10:45 PM. Ten years from now?! How is that possible?! I quickly backed out and checked the other posts on my feed. Everything else had today's normal date. But when I refreshed the page for that specific post, the timestamp remained 2035. Which meant, exactly ten years from today, this post was analyzing a murder that was going to happen tonight at 10:30 PM. I read through the entire true-crime breakdown and discovered that the murder wasn't solved until a decade later. For ten years, no one knew the billionaire heiress was killed by her illegitimate half-brother. During that decade, the illegitimate son inherited the corporate empire, liquidated the company and all its assets for cash, and quietly fled the country. The police still hadn't found his hiding spot. As for my mother, the billionaire's legal wife—after losing her only child, the illegitimate son gaslit her into a psychiatric hospital, claiming she had gone insane from grief. She committed suicide six months later. A sickening, overwhelming sense of dread rose in my chest. My thumb instinctively scrolled down to the comment section. When I read the top comments, my heart seized: "OP got it wrong. The illegitimate son didn't disguise himself as a delivery driver to kill her. He hired a guy to be the delivery driver, but when the cops finally solved the case years later, they realized the driver was just a decoy." "Yeah, the victim was a billionaire heiress in a Presidential Suite with her own security team. A random delivery guy couldn't have pulled that off." "Exactly. The real killer was hiding inside her hotel room the whole time." "Hiding inside her hotel room..." Hiding inside her hotel room! Those words drained every ounce of warmth and strength from my body. An unprecedented, bone-chilling terror swept over me, soaking my silk pajamas in a cold sweat. Acting on pure instinct, my eyes darted to the clock in the top right corner of my phone screen— 10:29 PM. The murder in the post happened at 10:30 PM. The moment that thought crossed my mind, before I could even react— THUD! A heavy, sickeningly blunt impact struck the back of my skull without warning! Warm, thick liquid carrying the heavy stench of iron burst forth, blurring my vision and running wildly down my cheeks and neck. Then, I felt the icy edge of a blade slicing into my throat. I used the last remaining shred of my consciousness and strength to turn my head, desperate to see the face behind me. But a hand, gripping like an iron vice, clamped down on my head, covering my nose and mouth. So the post was real. The person in the thread really was me. I collapsed into a pool of my own blood. Despite my overwhelming unwillingness to die, I could only helplessly close my eyes. 02 When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying perfectly fine on the hotel bed. The phantom pain lingered on my head and neck, but when I reached up to touch them, there wasn't a single drop of blood. My eyes fell on the phone clutched in my hand. The screen was still stuck on that bizarre Reddit post. The title was identical: [Billionaire Secrets Exposed: On July 30, 2025, at 10:30 PM, the sole heiress of W Enterprises was brutally decapitated while on a business trip in Chicago. Her head was hidden in the mini-fridge. The killer was the late billionaire's illegitimate son, who disguised himself as a delivery driver.] The time on my phone read exactly 10:00 PM. I had looped! I went back to half an hour before my murder! I looked around the room nervously. The killer was hiding in my room right now. I forced myself to stay calm. Knowing the killer was inside, I chose a less conspicuous method this time. I texted my security team to come up, and then I texted 911. Almost exactly as I sent the texts, the doorbell rang. "Hello, UberEats delivery," the raspy male voice echoed. Knowing the guy outside was just a decoy, my first instinct was to ignore him. But to keep up the act for the person hiding inside my room, I couldn't appear too calm. I put on an annoyed voice and yelled toward the door, "Sorry, I didn't order anything! You have the wrong room!" Then, I put in my AirPods, pretending I couldn't hear the knocking, while my eyes frantically scanned every corner of the room—the curtains, the wardrobe, the bathroom... Where the hell was he hiding? Soon, the pounding stopped, and the footsteps faded away. My bodyguards arrived at my door right on schedule. Everything was playing out exactly like the previous timeline. I practically lunged to open the door, quickly inserting myself into the wall of muscle made up of my men in black. As I rushed out into the hallway, I thought I heard a faint rustling sound coming from inside my room. I whipped my head around. In a dark corner of the living area, I felt an intense, burning gaze locked onto me. "Go! Move out, now!" I ordered, not daring to look any longer. My team instantly formed a protective circle around me, ushering me toward the elevators. We rode down to the basement garage. I didn't let myself breathe until I was sitting inside my stretch limousine and the heavy door slammed shut. The car sped away from the hotel. Was I safe? My frayed nerves relaxed slightly. As the car drove off, I glanced at my phone. Driven by some morbid compulsion, I opened the Reddit app again. To my horror, that post was hanging at the very top of my feed again! A bad feeling gnawed at my stomach. I quickly scrolled down to the comments. When I read them, my heart nearly stopped. The comment section this time had new replies that weren't there in the first timeline. And their contents were suffocating: "Man, this heiress was actually pretty smart, but alas... she still died." "She thought she was safe once she got in the car, but..." "It's a pity she still died..." "She really thought she escaped..." A freezing chill instantly turned my blood to ice! Fighting back my terror, I slowly turned my head to look at the people inside the limousine. I silently started counting heads. One, two, three... six, seven. A cold sweat broke out on my back. Seven people. Why were there seven people? My security detail only consisted of six men. Everyone was wearing identical black suits and sunglasses. I stared hard, desperately trying to find the unfamiliar face among them. But strangely... I recognized all seven faces. How was this possible? I forced myself to think rationally and quickly made a decision. "Stop the car," I said, keeping my voice as steady as possible. "Except for Marcus, everyone else get out and head back to the hotel. Wait for the police and help them catch the decoy delivery driver on the Presidential floor." Marcus was a bodyguard assigned to me when my parents were still alive. He had been with me for ten years and was fiercely loyal. In a situation like this, he was the only one I dared to trust. The doors opened, and the other six bodyguards hurriedly got out, forming a line and jogging back toward the hotel. None of them looked suspicious, except... one of them glanced back at the car while running. That look was bizarre. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the vehicle. I didn't have time to dwell on it. I told Marcus to get in the driver's seat and floor it to the nearest police precinct. I slumped into the back seat, drenched in cold sweat. It was just me and Marcus now. The car drove smoothly down the road. Was I... temporarily safe? I checked the time on my phone: 10:28 PM. Two minutes left! I leaned back against the leather seat, trying to steady my racing heartbeat. The interior of the car seemed completely normal. Marcus's focused profile in the driver's seat, the pale reflection on the window... Just as my guard dropped for a fraction of a second— A freezing breath of air brushed against the back of my right ear! My pupils dilated! There was someone else in the car!! Before I could even process the thought, a hand covered in rough fabric, cold and hard as a vice, shot out from behind the seat and locked onto my throat! Another hand, holding a gleaming hunting knife, struck with cold precision, plunging deep into the left side of my neck! Squelch! Agony exploded! Warm blood sprayed everywhere! His movements were so incredibly fast that even Marcus, my most skilled bodyguard, didn't have time to react. My vision instantly turned red and blurry. I saw Marcus whip his head around, his face contorted in absolute horror. The phone slipped from my paralyzed hand. The screen was still lit. The time read: 10:30 PM. 10:30. It was always 10:30. Besides me, there was clearly only one other person in the car. Marcus didn't attack me. So who was the second person, and how did they get inside my car? The freezing cold completely swallowed my consciousness. Everything faded to black. 03 The icy grip of suffocation vanished, and I opened my eyes again. I was back in the hotel room. I quickly checked the phone in my hand. The time had reset to 10:00 PM exactly. The browser was still parked on that thread. But when I looked closely, the title had changed: [Billionaire Secrets Exposed: On July 30, 2025, at 10:30 PM, the sole heiress of W Enterprises was brutally decapitated while on a business trip in Chicago. Her head was discarded under the east pillar of the Riverwalk Bridge. The killer was the late billionaire's illegitimate son.] It changed. The Riverwalk Bridge. I quickly recalled my last timeline and realized that was exactly where we were driving when I was murdered in the car. So, my actions were changing things! There was hope! This time, I still texted the police and my bodyguards. But I only told Marcus to come up. Because in the last timeline, I saw with my own eyes that he definitely didn't attack me. Right now, he was the only variable I knew was safe. Just like before, I ignored the fake delivery driver at the door. When Marcus arrived, I quickly slipped out of the room, making absolutely sure no one followed me out. Then, I grabbed his arm and sprinted for the private elevator. When we reached the underground garage, just to be safe, I didn't take the stretch limo from the previous loop. I chose a compact sedan instead. I had Marcus circle the car, using a high-powered flashlight to meticulously inspect the undercarriage, the tires, the door seams, and even the hood and trunk locks. We made sure there was nowhere a person could hide. "Ms. Vanderbilt, the exterior is secure. No tracking devices, no signs of tampering," he said, pulling open the car doors. He thoroughly checked under the seats, the trunk partition, the glove box, and even scanned the ceiling. "Interior is clear! No one is hiding here! We're safe!" My tense nerves finally relaxed. The space in this sedan was limited; you could count the hiding spots on one hand. "Drive! Head to the nearest police station," I commanded, getting into the passenger seat. Marcus immediately jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine. We pulled out of the garage and merged into the late-night traffic, speeding toward the precinct. The car was dead silent. Only the low hum of the engine could be heard. I stared intensely at the backs of our seats, the gaps between them, the roof, the doors... Marcus focused on driving, occasionally casting a vigilant glance in the rearview mirror. Suddenly remembering something, I quickly pulled out my phone. When I opened Reddit, I found that the post was finally gone. It hadn't reappeared. My heart leaped with joy. Had I finally escaped? Phone time: 10:28 PM. 10:29 PM. The silhouette of the police precinct appeared at the intersection ahead! Red light! The car slowly came to a halt. Just as the red light counted down to '3', and Marcus prepared to step on the gas— A hot, damp breath brushed against the back of my neck from directly behind me. Without any warning whatsoever. Then, I heard a low, raspy male chuckle from right behind my seat. Every hair on my body stood on end! My heart stopped! Impossible! It was only me and Marcus in this car! And Marcus was driving! The very next second, a pair of ice-cold hands violently thrust through the narrow gap between my seat's headrest and the backrest! They locked onto my throat in a death grip! "Ghk—!" The sensation of suffocation overwhelmed me instantly! I saw Marcus react immediately. He looked behind me in sheer terror, unbuckled his seatbelt, and lunged toward the back seat. But it was too late. The sharp blade had already plunged into my neck. In the final second before losing consciousness, I saw my phone screen light up. The browser had automatically redirected back to that bizarre post. I saw the comment section constantly refreshing: "Man, the heiress was so vigilant this time, but she still died." "So tragic. The killer originally just wanted to behead her, but her running away pissed him off, so he ended up dismembering her and tossing her in a thousand pieces." ... 04 I opened my eyes again. Still in the hotel room. The time was 10:00 PM. I instinctively looked down at my phone. The page was still on the death premonition thread. But upon closer inspection, the title had changed again. Originally, the killer's method was decapitation. Now, it had become "Billionaire Heiress Dismembered into a Thousand Pieces." Just like the comments said, my attempts to escape had enraged the killer, making his methods even more brutal. A dull ache radiated through my body, and my eyelids felt incredibly heavy. For some reason, after respawning this time, I felt profoundly exhausted. Despair almost swallowed me whole. I had exhausted almost every option, yet I still couldn't escape this loop. I even began to wonder if the thing killing me was human or a ghost. But the post explicitly stated the killer was my dad's "illegitimate son." That meant it was a living, breathing human being. But how the hell was he doing it? Forget it! Since I can infinitely loop, let's go big this time! I sent the emergency texts again. Once all my bodyguards arrived, I took the entire squad down to the hotel's grand lobby. I had the front desk call every single guest staying at the hotel who was still awake to come down to the lobby. I offered them a deal: Anyone who went live on Instagram or TikTok and kept their camera pointed at me for the rest of the night would receive an immediate wire transfer of $10,000. Soon, the lobby was packed. A cleaning lady looked at me in disbelief. "A little girl like you, handing out ten grand? I don't buy it!" I immediately asked for her Venmo and transferred her $5,000 on the spot. "Whoa—!" The crowd erupted! Countless phones were raised high, lenses aimed right at me, flashes blending into a continuous strobe light. I casually started giving a makeshift seminar on corporate business strategies, while my eyes scanned the room like radar. Time ticked away. 10:15... 10:28... 10:30! My heart pounded wildly! I survived past 10:30! Just as I suspected, the killer had absolutely no way to commit the murder under the watchful eyes of a hundred live-streaming cameras. Soon, the police arrived. Though I had looped several times and called the cops each time, this was the first loop where I actually lived long enough to see them. Since the real killer hadn't made a move, I only informed the police about the decoy delivery driver hiding on the Presidential floor. It didn't take long for the cops to escort the greasy, middle-aged fake delivery driver out of the elevator. The crowd naturally parted to make way. But as the driver walked past me, his cloudy eyes suddenly darted up. His lips twisted into an icy, grotesque smirk as he stared at me, full of mockery. It was the look you give a dead person. A deep sense of unease settled in my chest. I didn't dare relax. Even though 10:30 had passed, I insisted on sitting in the lobby, keeping myself exposed to the live-stream cameras. The streams lasted until dawn. I transferred the promised money to everyone present without hesitation. I was exhausted beyond belief, but I couldn't stay here. "To the police precinct," I told Marcus. Because the trauma from the previous two loops was too intense, I was terrified to take a private car. So, I opted to take the early morning public bus. The first bus of the day was mostly empty. Marcus and I sat in the back row. Watching the steam rise from the breakfast carts out the window, my frayed nerves finally eased a bit. The bus came to a halt at the precinct stop. I stood up and walked toward the back doors with Marcus. The police station was in a slightly secluded area, and the streets were dead quiet. The exact moment I stepped out of the bus doors and my feet hit the pavement— Squelch! That familiar, agonizing pain! A cold blade precisely sliced my throat open! My vision instantly turned red and tilted sideways. Belated screams erupted around me. Using my last ounce of strength, I desperately twisted my nearly severed neck to look behind me— All I saw was a hand bearing a crescent-moon-shaped scar. Marcus stood right next to me, staring in sheer terror at the space behind me. As he lunged backward to catch the attacker, I lost consciousness and collapsed heavily. 05 The icy grip of suffocation faded. I opened my eyes. It was 10:00 PM again. With trembling hands, I opened my phone to check the title of the post. Sure enough, it had changed again. This time it read: [Billionaire Heiress Brutally Murdered Years Ago; Killer Remains at Large, Case Unsolved!] Because the time, location, and method of the murder kept changing, it was drastically altering the police's ability to investigate the case in the future. This time, they never even found out who killed me. My heart plummeted. I forced myself to calm down and think. At least from the previous loop, I learned that the killer had a crescent-moon scar on their arm. In the loop where I gathered the crowd to live-stream, I managed to survive past 10:30 and even made it to dawn. But even so... as long as I didn't drag the killer out into the light, I would always be a fish on a chopping block. I could survive the night, but I couldn't survive a lifetime! I couldn't live my entire life in front of a camera. I would inevitably die by this person's hands. I took a ragged, heavy breath and tried to lift my arm, only to realize my entire body felt like lead. I could distinctly feel that my physical condition was significantly worse this loop than the last. Perhaps my chances to loop were running out. If I failed again, I might never wake up. So even if the odds of survival were slim, I had to catch the killer with my own hands. ... This time, after sending the emergency texts, I decided to follow the exact path I had taken in the second loop: fleeing in the stretch limo with my entire security detail. Because that was the only time the killer had exposed a flaw. When the number of bodyguards in the car went from six to seven, the killer was absolutely hiding among them. Once all six bodyguards arrived, I casually scanned their exposed forearms. No crescent-moon scars! "Everyone, follow me. We're going to the precinct!" I ordered sharply. The garage. The stretch limousine. I sat in the middle of the back row, with Marcus sitting close to my left. The other four men sat on the side benches and individual seats, with one driving. Once the car started, I stared intensely at the rearview mirror. Still only six men. And the spacious, brightly lit interior left absolutely nowhere for an extra person to hide. Time slipped away: 10:25... 10:28... A deep sense of unease filled the car. I swept my gaze to the rearview mirror again—and this time, I locked eyes with someone in the reflection! It was the bodyguard sitting in the independent seat across from me! He was staring straight at me! His eyes were complex—there was no loyalty in them, only suppressed... struggle? And pity? I remembered now! In the second loop, when I ordered everyone out of the car, he was the one who cast that bizarre, lingering look back at the vehicle! This guy was definitely the problem! My heart hammered in my chest! I was just about to scream at him— At that exact millisecond— An indescribable, agonizing pain exploded from deep within my throat! "Ghk!" My throat convulsed as if flash-frozen. A blade was violently driven through the back of my neck, piercing straight through! "Squelch—!" Blood mixed with shattered tissue sprayed from my mouth! My vision went instantly red! The bodyguard in the independent seat looked at me with sheer terror. I stared dead into his eyes. He wasn't the killer. But I finally knew exactly how to catch the monster. My consciousness sank into the dark once more.
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