My heart was full of fear, my hands even started to tremble. I hurriedly said to Captain Smith, “Officer, you have to help me! The hell money was picked up by me and Old Smith together, and now Old Smith is dead too. That means the next one will be either me or Little Clark.”

To be honest, I was almost in tears at this point, because I was truly scared.

But Captain Smith said that although he believed I wasn’t lying, this kind of thing was too supernatural and couldn’t be put on record for investigation. However, he also told me that he would privately help look into the matter of picking up the hell money, and he also registered the information of me and Little Clark, saying that if anything turned up, he would let me know immediately.

I nodded. Although the police couldn’t officially investigate, the fact that Captain Smith was willing to help us look into it privately made me feel a little more at ease.

At that moment, Captain Smith suddenly seemed to remember something and said, “Oh right, a month ago, there were actually five people who picked up the hell money, but only four died. There’s still one person who’s alive and well, so don’t overthink it.”

“One didn’t die?” I was stunned. Five people picked up the money, four died, but one is fine? How did he escape?

Suddenly, it was as if I saw a glimmer of hope. I hurriedly asked Captain Smith what the name of the person who was still alive was, where he lived, and how to contact him.

At first, Captain Smith didn’t want to tell me, saying that this information was someone else’s privacy. But after I pleaded for a while, maybe he felt sorry for me, so out of sympathy, he gave me the person’s information.

He told me that the person who picked up the hell money half a month ago was called John Thompson, a truck driver, and he lived in a neighborhood not far from me. The reason Captain Smith knew about the hell money was because he heard it from John Thompson.

This news was like a lifeline for me. I decided to go find this John Thompson and ask him how he managed to escape death. Maybe, there was some way he survived.

After that, seeing how anxious I was, Captain Smith tried to comfort me, saying that maybe their deaths were just a coincidence, that there couldn’t possibly be any omen of death in this world, and besides, William Clark, who picked up the money with you, is still fine, so don’t be too superstitious, kid.

William Clark is Little Clark’s name. As for Captain Smith’s comfort, I couldn’t listen to it at all, because in my mind, Old Smith’s death was definitely related to picking up the money.

Since Old Smith’s cause of death was suicide, there wasn’t much to investigate. Not long after, the police left, taking Old Smith’s body from next door with them, waiting for Old Smith’s family to claim it.

For a while, only the landlady and I were left in the rental place. The landlady’s face was still full of lingering fear, but she also looked a bit angry, cursing, “That Old Smith is really something. If he wanted to die, why couldn’t he do it somewhere else? Why did he have to hang himself in my house? So heartless.”

Now that someone had died in the house, it naturally felt very unlucky. Let alone selling it in the future, even renting it out would be hard if people knew someone had hanged themselves here. No wonder the landlady was so angry.

The landlady left grumbling, and after everyone was gone, I was still in a state of panic.

My mind was a complete mess, and the first person I thought of was Little Clark, who had picked up the money with me that night. I immediately took out my phone and called Little Clark.

Chapter Four Little Clark

The call was quickly answered. It was Little Clark on the line. Hearing his voice, I felt a bit relieved—at least he was still okay for now.

I told Little Clark directly that Old Smith was dead.

Little Clark was a bit surprised and asked me, “Wasn’t Old Smith playing mahjong with us just yesterday? How could he suddenly die?”

I said, “Don’t worry about how Old Smith died for now. Let me ask you, do you still remember the money we picked up at the intersection last night? What about your share? Do you still have it?”

Little Clark said, “Yeah, I was worried the owner might come looking for it, so I’ve kept it in the cabinet all day and haven’t dared touch it. Why?”

I said, “Why? The money we picked up wasn’t real money at all—it was hell money!”

“Huh? What did you say? The money we picked up last night was hell money?” I couldn’t see Little Clark’s expression, but I could hear the shock in his voice.

I asked him where he was. Little Clark said he was at home, so I told him to quickly go check if the money was hell money.

Little Clark panicked too. He didn’t even hang up the phone and went straight to check his money. After a while, I heard Little Clark’s terrified voice on the phone: “Ergou, what the hell is going on? How did this money turn into funeral money!”

Hearing this, I sighed. Clearly, his twenty thousand yuan had also turned into hell money.

Seeing that things were just as I expected, I said, “We’re in big trouble now. Do you know how Old Smith died?”

“How did he die?” Little Clark’s voice was full of fear.

“It was because he picked up this hell money!” I said.