In the pitch-black night, there was not a sound to be heard. It was freezing cold, enough to make one's teeth chatter.
At this moment, Fatty held a flashlight in one hand and a diary in the other, shivering uncontrollably. It was hard to tell whether it was due to the cold or fear. His teeth desperately wanted to chatter, but Fatty gritted them and held back. He stared intently at the three words on the diary in his hand, too afraid to make a sound or move.
Above... What was there?
He strained his neck to look up, but just then, something fell out from between the pages of the diary.
The crisp sound of metal hitting the ground made Fatty shiver violently again. He glanced sideways at the floor. A key lay quietly by his foot, glistening.
This must be the key to this door! Fatty thought. If I get this, I can open the door. As he thought this, he suddenly bent over and snatched the glistening key at his feet with lightning speed.
At the same time, he heard a rustling sound from above, as if something were crawling across the ceiling. After quickly picking up the key, Fatty's peripheral vision caught his reflection in the window opposite him. In the reflection, he saw a human-like figure crawling on the ceiling directly above him, like a spider, its deathly pale face staring intently at him.
Catching sight of this twisted figure, Fatty finally screamed, "Holy fuck!"
He then darted towards the door, dropping the flashlight on the floor in his haste.
From behind him, above, came the sound of furious crawling, as if the twisted figure on the ceiling had followed him.
Fatty reached the door in just a couple of strides and jabbed the key towards the keyhole. But it seemed he held the key the wrong way; he fumbled several times without managing to insert it. In that instant, the sound from above seemed to have already reached right behind his head. His scalp and the back of his neck even felt an eerie chill, as if that face was pressing close.
Just at that moment, Fatty finally found the keyhole and twisted the key vigorously. The door immediately swung open.
He rushed out and then slammed the door shut behind him.
The flashlight had been left in the room; now, he could only rely on the light seeping in from the window to see. Fatty's eyesight wasn't great, and it was very dark, so he could only faintly make out the silhouette of the living room.
One thing was certain: this environment was the complete reverse of before. He had now emerged from the World in the Mirror.
Without hesitation, Fatty bolted towards the front door.
Since I've already left the World in the Mirror, rushing out the front door now means I've completed the mission!
At this moment, a CREAK came from the door of the room behind him, as if someone inside was trying to open it. Hearing this sound, Fatty scrambled forward, hugging the wall. Zhao Lei's room was at the periphery; not far from its door was another wall, and looking further ahead, there was a toilet.
He now somewhat regretted not having added his Attribute Points to "Agility." Even a few seconds faster could save my life now!
Just as he ran out another two steps, the door to the room behind him swung wide open. Fatty was still a considerable distance from the front door. The crawling sounds resumed, but this time, they came from the floor. The ghost had come down from the ceiling and was now right behind him!
I'm done for, done for! Fatty despaired as the sounds behind him rapidly approached.
But just then, the adjacent toilet door suddenly opened, and a hand, seemingly lying in wait, shot out and yanked Fatty inside.
As he was pulled in, Fatty let out another shocked cry, "Fuck!"
Only when he clearly saw who had pulled him in did he calm down. The person was none other than Chu Changge, who had been missing for a long time.
After pulling Fatty in, Chu Changge swiftly shut the door and locked it from the inside. The ghost outside seemed to want to pounce but was blocked by the door.
Seeing Chu Changge, Fatty's first reaction was to exclaim, "I thought you were dead, Brother Chu!"
Then his thoughts shifted, Can this door block the ghost?
The doorknob was being furiously twisted from the outside; it was the ghost. Fatty swallowed hard, instinctively moving a little further from the door.
Chu Changge pushed up his glasses. "You could say all the doors in this building can block the ghost, but not for long."
Fatty's eyebrows twitched. "What do you mean?"
He spoke as he looked around.
There were no lights in this toilet. Luckily, Chu Changge had a flashlight, so Fatty could generally make out the toilet's condition. It seemed quite old. The mirror looked like it hadn't been wiped in a very long time and was also cracked, making it quite unsightly. The floor tiles were dirty, as if trampled by many people. The air was filled with a strange stench—not the usual odor of a toilet, but more like something rotting.
Looking further in, there was a commode. Next to it was a sliding door; many homes like to use a sliding door in the toilet to separate the bathing area from the toilet area. This sliding door was currently open a crack. Looking through it, he could see the corner of a bathtub... and a deathly pale hand.
"Shit!" Fatty couldn't help but curse. "Run!"
"Calm down," Chu Changge said, holding back the panicking Fatty. "It's okay."
Fatty stuttered, "O-Okay?"
With that deathly pale hand sticking out, it's okay?
"Brother Chu, instead of learning anything useful, you had to pick up the Doctor's brand of reckless bravery—as if his very courage was bloated with obesity!" Content originally comes from NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Chu Changge shook his head again. "It's fine. It's just a dead person in there."
Just a dead person? Fatty wanted to say more, but Chu Changge cut him off, "We can't hold out here much longer."
Fatty was confused. The ghost outside has gone silent; it's not even trying to break down the door or anything. How can we not hold out much longer?
"I'm not wasting any more breath on you," Chu Changge said. He listened intently to the sounds outside for a moment, then, apparently having confirmed something, he suddenly pulled open the door, to Fatty's astonishment.
Fatty desperately wanted to yell, "What are you doing opening the door?! There's a ghost outside!" but he managed to restrain himself.
It was worth noting that the ghost outside had indeed vanished without a trace, not even a strand of hair left behind.
After confirming the ghost outside was really gone, Chu Changge grabbed Fatty. "Quick, run! It's about to come out."
With that, he pulled Fatty out and ran, shutting the toilet door behind them.
Fatty was completely bewildered as Chu Changge dragged him towards the stairs. Instead of heading for the main entrance, they ran up to the second floor.
And just as they reached the second floor, Fatty heard the toilet door on the first floor open, as if something had come out from inside.