Chapter 2: A Stranger in the Hall

Chapter Two

This AI chatbot is the hottest thing right now. It’s all over TikTok—people ask it everything from breakup advice to how to cheat at Wordle. It can simulate and analyze questions using big data, then give you an answer.

Tonight's takeout was even recommended by the AI.

But what’s going on now? My predicted time of death just increased by 3 minutes.

Was it just because I didn’t open the door myself to get the food?

Did the AI think the delivery was the cause of my death? Or was it the grumpy delivery guy?

Just to be safe, I held my breath and checked the peephole.

Nothing but the faded EXIT sign and the echo of my own breath out there.

In the lower right corner, I could just make out the bag he’d left on the faded carpet.

I took a deep breath and suddenly felt a bit ridiculous.

I’d only started chatting with the AI out of boredom, asking it a totally absurd question without believing any of it.

Now, this death countdown was actually making me nervous and paranoid.

If AI could really predict when someone would die, wouldn’t it be even easier to calculate lottery numbers?

If that were the case, the whole world would be in chaos.

I raised my hand, about to open the door.

But the next second, the AI updated its answer again.

[4 minutes and 21 seconds]

I pressed my palm against my chest, trying to quiet the drumbeat of my heart. My mind raced—maybe it was all a prank? Or maybe I'd just watched too many true crime documentaries. The flicker of the hallway light through the peephole made everything outside look ghostly, warped.