"The Zhang Ya I met in the door world loves to smile. She looks beautiful when she does, but I always felt a hint of sadness hidden behind her smile."
"Did she recognize me or not?"
"Was this Zhang Ya's appearance an accident, or was it influenced by that storybook?"
"The turning point in Yu Jian's life came when his homeroom teacher resigned — that was when he fell out with Ming Tai. In other words, the most important person in Yu Jian's door world might be the 'teacher,' the only one who helped him when he was in deep trouble."
"Does he want me to experience the things he went through before?"
"Using my memories to relive his past?"
Leaning against the billboard, Chen Ge gazed at the fitting rain. "Either way, this might be a chance for me to truly understand Zhang Ya."
He lightly slapped his own face, pulling himself back to focus. "Stay calm! Right now it might have that youthful, inspirational campus-life feel, but at any moment it could shift into a bloody survival game with vengeful ghosts coming for your life."
The rain showed no sign of stopping. Chen Ge "borrowed" an umbrella from a passerby and headed back to the school.
It was already dark. This door world seemed to have no concept of time — everything happened in a daze, shifting far too quickly.
He took out the Skull Crushing Hammer and wandered through the campus.
"Night has fallen, but the ghosts and all sorts of filth still haven't appeared. Is this really the Liwan Town I remember?"
No murderers, no Red-clothed ghosts — before him was just an ordinary little town.
"Wu Shing had his voice stolen, so in his door world everyone's mouth was sewn shut. Jiang Ming had his hearing stolen, so his world was completely silent. Fang Yu had her memories stolen, so her door world was a blank gray. Every child chosen by Ming Tai has an incomplete door world — whatever the child was stripped of, the passersby in the door world would be missing. But this world is clearly different."
"Everyone looks perfectly normal. They don't seem to be missing anything." Chen Ge stood dazed in the empty corridor with his umbrella when his phone suddenly vibrated.
"Zhang Ya? Why is she calling me?" Chen Ge glanced at the caller ID and picked up.
"Where are you? Why haven't you come home yet!" Zhang Ya's voice came through the phone, and she sounded furious.
"How do you know I haven't gone home?" Chen Ge found it strange and instinctively shot back the question.
"Your dad's going crazy with worry! He's out looking for you everywhere! He's been calling tons of people!"
"My dad?" Chen Ge had never expected his father to appear. His eyes went wide in an instant. "Where is he? I'll go find him right now!"
Every drop of blood in his veins seemed to accelerate. Clutching the umbrella, Chen Ge sprinted out of the school. A fire blazed in his heart: "Could it really be my dad who's come to find me? Could this door world be a trap he set for Ming Tai?"
"He's on his way to the school right now. A student said you came back after classes ended."
"Thank you." He hung up, clutching that slender thread of hope like a child cradling a candle flame, and charged into the pouring rain.
He ran out through the school gate, past the bus stop and the convenience store, and came to a halt at an intersection.
Cars streamed back and forth. The road you chose would lead you to a different place.