The fluorescent lights echoed softly through the empty office. It was very late, the kind of late where even the vending machines had gone quiet. It was already past midnight, and the cold, pale glow of the office lighting made the rows of identical cubicles feel like a ghost town. Once filled with busy workers typing away, answering phone calls, and laughing at casual jokes, the place now seemed deserted, lifeless, except for one solitary figure sitting in the far corner of the room.

  Su Wei, 28 years old, sat hunched at his desk, eyes fixed blankly on the outdated monitor in front of him. The cursor on the spreadsheet blinked rhythmically, waiting for his input. But his mind was somewhere far away, detached from the meaningless numbers and endless columns. He rubbed his eyes, tiredness weighing heavily on him, like chains he couldn't break free from.

  He leaned back in his creaky office chair, staring up at the ceiling. Everything around him felt familiar, unbearably familiar. The same four gray walls, the same buzzing of the lights, even the faint scent of cheap coffee lingering in the stale office air. Eight years he'd spent here. Eight long years, doing the same repetitive tasks, day after day, week after week.

  He wasn’t special or noteworthy in any way. Su Wei knew he had an ordinary face, the kind you'd easily forget after a casual encounter. His short black hair always seemed slightly messy, no matter how often he combed it. His dark eyes, once full of youthful ambition and dreams, had long lost their shine. They now appeared hollow, empty of the joy and curiosity he'd once felt.

  He sighed deeply, glancing at the clock on his computer screen. It blinked quietly, showing 11:59 PM. Another day had slipped by unnoticed, lost forever. A bitter laugh almost escaped him as he reflected on his monotonous life.

  “Time really does fly when you're having fun…” he muttered sarcastically to himself, the words sounding empty in the silence.

  He stood up slowly, his joints protesting with faint cracks as he stretched. He turned off his computer, gathered up his things, and headed toward the exit. His footsteps echoed gently through the empty room, making the silence feel even heavier. He swiped his access card, listening to the soft beep that unlocked the door, and stepped out into the hallway.

  Outside, the city was quiet but not entirely asleep. Neon signs flickered softly in the distance, the few cars still on the streets passing by lazily. The air was cooler now, refreshing but lonely. He walked toward the bus stop, hands tucked into his pockets, lost in thought.

  His life had always been like this. From his childhood, Su Wei remembered his parents being endlessly busy, rarely spending time with him, always working late. Family dinners were rare, replaced by quiet evenings alone, with textbooks and instant noodles. He wasn't unhappy exactly, he had simply grown accustomed to loneliness, numb to it. But tonight, for some reason, it stung more than usual for some reason but he didn’t dwell on it far more than needed.

  He arrived at the crosswalk and waited quietly for the signal to change, staring blankly at the blinking light. Life stretched ahead, day after day, year after year, an endless loop of the same dull routine. He adjusted his shoulder bag absently, exhaling a heavy sigh that felt as though it carried all the burdens he’d held for years.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Then, suddenly, everything changed.

  A loud blaring horn shattered his thoughts, pulling him sharply back to reality. Bright headlights pierced his vision, blinding him. A massive truck barreled toward him, dangerously close, moving too fast to stop in time.

  Su Wei froze, his heart thumping violently in his chest. Instinctively, he tried to move, but his body reacted too slowly. Time felt both impossibly fast and painfully slow. He saw the terrified expression of the driver, his eyes wide in panic.

  Then the impact came, brutal, violent, sudden.

  The front bumper slammed into Su Wei’s left side with horrific force, instantly shattering his ribs like fragile glass. Bones cracked audibly, piercing sharply into his organs, sending an explosion of unbearable pain throughout his entire body. His left arm twisted grotesquely, snapping backward with a sickening pop, the bones inside tearing through muscle and skin. Blood sprayed violently outward, staining the truck's windshield in a gruesome splash of crimson.

  Su Wei’s entire body bent unnaturally around the massive vehicle’s frame, his spine twisting sharply. In the instant he was lifted from the ground, his right leg folded beneath him, crushed and mangled beyond recognition by the massive, spinning tires. His skin shredded as he was dragged momentarily, ripping open deep wounds across his shoulder and face, bits of gravel and asphalt from the embedding painfully into his raw flesh.

  Miraculously, his body did not explode upon impact, nor did his limbs separate and scatter, though it seemed impossible given the brutal speed of the collision. Instead, he was flung through the air, a broken, bloody ragdoll spinning violently, leaving a horrifying trail of blood droplets behind him. He landed with a sickening, wet crunch several meters away, his body sprawled and contorted grotesquely on the unforgiving pavement, blood pooling rapidly beneath him in a widening circle.

  He gasped desperately, each breath agonizingly painful, feeling life diminish away rapidly. Warmth spread around him, staining the sidewalk beneath. He couldn’t move nor could he even scream. Yet, amidst the unbearable pain, he felt something strange, a sudden clarity, as if seeing his life truly for the first time.

  All those years spent doing meaningless tasks, all those lonely nights, all those missed chances flashed briefly through his mind. Regret filled him, not regret for dying, but regret for never truly living. He had existed, yes, but had he ever truly lived?

  As darkness began to claim him, he felt oddly calm. The noise of distant sirens and panicked voices faded away, replaced by gentle silence. The pain dulled, slipping further away. A peaceful nothingness enveloped him like a comforting blanket, drawing him into its embrace.

  Yet within this darkness, something stirred,distant warmth. It felt gentle, comforting, completely unlike anything he had ever experienced. Was it an illusion, a trick of his dying mind?

  Then, a voice he couldn’t hear whispered something. Su Wei began growing confused, he couldn't hear anything yet he knew something was whispering to him, maybe not to his ears but somewhere else, he could feel something calling him, more like pulling him towards somewhere.

  Su Wei would have laughed bitterly at the cliché if he could still move, Was this what death was like? Or was it something else entirely?

  Suddenly, Su Wei no longer felt pain or sadness, only calmness, a kind of tranquil acceptance. He no longer felt trapped by his past regrets or fears.

  Slowly, awareness returned to him, accompanied by a strange feeling, like an invisible thread softly tugging at his very core, pulling him through the void. He resisted at first, weakly, but the pull was impossible to fight.

  Then he heard the voice of a woman, her voice, sharp and clear.

  “Another worthless soul… but I suppose you'll do.”