At that moment, footsteps came from the outside corridor. Someone came to his room and started to tear off the talismans on the door. Hearing that, Gao Ming slammed harder into the door. Compared to the chains, the talismans affected Gao Ming even greater. As the talismans were torn off, the lock shook, and the old door loosened.
Perhaps it was a bond or a mistake by the person outside, and he shoved the bat through the gap in the door. Gao Ming turned back to look after he grabbed the rusted bat. His grandmother’s bedroom was open. The corpse in red appeared to have left her chair. The red twines that enshrouded the ceiling swayed. The bells knocked into each other. Gao Ming took in a deep breath. He smelled the stinging smell. He saw his grandmother’s purplish, bloated face at the bedroom door. The bells chimed loudly. There was a wet slushing sound against the white rice. Something was crawling towards him on four limbs.
Without any hesitation, Gao Ming shoved the bat into the lock. With a crack, the door finally opened. Without wasting any time, Gao Ming, who was covered in words, rushed out. He bumped into the person who was standing outside the door.
“Close the door!” The door closed. Gao Ming held the bat and looked up. Two identical faces stared at each other.
Gao Ming, with the words, grabbed Gao Ming, who was expelled. Fan Li waved at them from the distance. A few of them went back into the first room to hide.
“What is happening?” The expelled Gao Ming stared at the other him with a deep frown. “I thought I was the most rebellious one, but I was wrong. You have a full-body tattoo. Didn’t your parents say anything?”
“They went missing when I was very young. I was raised by my grandmother.”
“What was there in your room?” Liu Yi was suspicious.
“My grandmother’s corpse. She trusted this Sensei with her life. In the end, she gave him her life and changed into a ghost.” Gao Ming sat on the ground. He had been trapped alone for so long that conversations felt new to him.
“The other versions of yourself are all alone. Why do you have a grandmother?” Liu Yi didn’t waste time. She took out the different diaries and updated Gao Ming on the situation.
After listening to Liu Yi, Gao Ming covered in words had a complicated expression. He exchanged information with everyone and used five whole minutes to digest everything. “There are only other Gao Mings in the other rooms, but I have a grandmother in my room…” Gao Ming held his heart as the memory pieces appeared in his flesh. He had a guess. “They said I’d be very scary in the future and the strongest horror game player. This matches the memory fragments I have.”
“Do you have other memories?” The expelled Gao Ming widened his eyes. They were both Gao Mings. How were they so different?
Gao Ming, covered in prayers, nodded and said, “The memory fragments are like glass shards lodged inside my flesh. They’d prick me occasionally.” He thought about it and continued, “If I string the fragments together, it goes … As a horror game player, I entered Everlasting Life Apartments. Two Gods were hidden there. One God trapped my flesh in the worst future, and the other God tore apart my memory and soul so that I’d be lost in the past…”
“That sounds harrowing.” Fan Li had survived anomalies, but he had never been targeted so badly. “How can we help you?”
“Life consists of endless choices. This Gao Ming and I might have chosen the wrong paths. If I want to become the strongest version of myself, I need to follow the right script from this moment on. Either that, or we need to find a version of Gao Ming who can always make the right choice!” The prayers on Gao Ming’s body were like blessings and curses.
Staring at Gao Ming, Liu Yi pondered, “The last room has a new character in the grandmother. Do you know the exact God she worships?”
Gao Ming shook his head. “I only know she calls them Sensei and his God.”
“Do the two names correspond to different Gods?” Liu Yi held Gao Ming’s face. They were very close. “I suspect the grandmother is the manifestation of the two Gods, and you are the flesh version of Gao Ming. Your grandmother has been torturing you in the name of helping you. She trapped you in the home and forbade you to leave. If you really stayed for seven days, you would never leave again.” Liu Yi pointed at the clock. “Have you noticed this? Every room has a working clock. Time is instrumental to this anomaly!”
“As expected of someone from Class 13.” Fan Li didn’t even notice that. “What should we do now?”
“Gao Ming and I are classmates. I don’t know what he was doing on the night of July 14th, but I know that we were supposed to gather at school at 7 am on July 15th. We would take a bus to participate in some event. It was that event that changed the fate of everyone in our class! That was the turning point of Gao Ming’s life!”
“Does that mean we have to leave this place before 7 am? Can we escape this anomaly in a few hours?” Fan Li didn’t have confidence.
“I lived close to Gao Ming. I remember very clearly that we waited for the bus outside our neighbourhood at the bus station of Route 27 at 6.30 am. Coincidentally, there is a station for Route 27 outside Everlasting Life Apartments.” Liu Yi said, “If we don’t want to make the wrong choice, we have to bring the correct Gao Ming to the station outside the apartments before 6.30 am.”
Liu Yi’s logic was clear. Both Gao Mings were persuaded. The Gao Ming, covered in words, were about to say something when something slammed into the door.
“The ghost has never knocked before this.” Fan Li stood up when Gao Ming’s phone vibrated. His grandmother was calling. He answered the video call. He saw his grandmother standing outside the room. “Gao Ming! Come home with me!”
The door shook, and their faces paled. The grandmother’s corpse could sense Gao Ming’s location. This meant that they had to split up.
“This door can’t hold up much longer. If she makes more noises, more ghosts will come!” Fan Li said through gritted teeth. “I’ll lead her away, and you’ll run out of the apartment building!”