Staring at his backpack, Chen Ge realized that since the moment he'd stepped through the door, he hadn't been this careless before.
In Jinhua Community Building A, he'd gambled against countless deranged killers, worrying about how to survive. After escaping Jinhua Community, he'd thrown himself wholeheartedly into uncovering the truth.
The door had placed enormous pressure on him, leaving him no room to be distracted—and as a result, he'd completely forgotten about the white cat.
"Poor little kitty." Xiao Sun muttered beside him. "Come to think of it, why were you carrying a cat around with you in the first place? I've heard black cats ward off evil, but white cats don't really have that function…"
"You know about the white cat? That means when I first met you, the cat was still with me?" Chen Ge looked at Xiao Sun.
"That cat was pretty well-behaved. It followed you everywhere, never letting you out of its sight, like it was afraid the rest of us would hurt it or something." Xiao Sun had no idea the white cat hated them because they were all dead people from behind the door. He just sighed wistfully: "I'm kind of jealous. I actually wouldn't mind having a cat like that—obedient and clingy."
"Obedient, my ass. That cat only sticks to me behind the door." Chen Ge shook his head. "Do you remember the last time you saw the white cat?"
"When you went up to the rooftop with your sister. Li Popo and I were waiting on the third floor at the time. The cat was still with you when you left, but when you came back… I don't remember. Seems like it was gone." Xiao Sun's words gave Chen Ge an important lead.
"So it really was when I first entered the black fog that I lost track of the white cat. Did it get lost in the fog? Or did it never follow me in at all?" Given the white cat's cowardly nature, Chen Ge thought the latter scenario was more likely. But if that was the case, why hadn't the white cat chosen to stay with him after he left the black fog?
Chen Ge turned the question over in his mind. The white cat was extremely clever—it knew that staying with him in the deadly world behind the door was the safest option. Yet at some point it had chosen to leave. Did that mean there was something near Chen Ge that made it uneasy?
His brow furrowed slightly. Chen Ge recalled what had happened in Room 504 of Building 1 in Jiuhong Community. The ghost children on the walls had all been staring directly at him—they hadn't given Xiao Sun or Wen Qing even a second glance, and that had baffled him greatly.
"Why am I being targeted?" Chen Ge's stamina refused to recover. His body was growing weaker by the hour. "Could there really be something parasitizing me, constantly feeding on my body?"
Most of the ghost children in Room 504 had been missing parts of their bodies. The ragdoll had stripped away pieces of them to make itself a "new outfit." Those ghost children should have hated the ragdoll more than anyone.
"Could the ragdoll be on me?"
Activating his Yin Eyes, Chen Ge scanned his entire body once more. Aside from his back, he'd checked everywhere—nothing abnormal. "Xiao Sun, can you take a look at my back? Is there something on it?"
"Nothing! If something as big as that cat were lying on your back, you really wouldn't feel it?" Xiao Sun didn't understand what Chen Ge meant.
"I'm not talking about the cat. There might be something else on my back. Keep an eye on any mirrors we pass, all right?" Chen Ge dragged the Skull-Shattering Hammer along, feeling that the grotesque iron weapon in his hand had grown heavier.
"Sure." Xiao Sun curled his lip. "You looked so tense—I thought you were worried about your cat."
"It should still be in Jinhua Community Building A. Probably hiding somewhere. When it comes to self-preservation, I actually have a lot of confidence in it." The white cat had no virtues to speak of, but keeping itself alive was its greatest talent. "It should be able to hold out until we go back for it."
The white cat was a coward, but it could be remarkably useful at times. Its ability to sense danger far exceeded Chen Ge's—at the slightest hint of trouble, it would give him a warning.
"After the white cat got separated from us, that invisible hand started appearing more and more frequently. Was it afraid the cat would discover something?"
"Chen Ge…" Wen Qing, standing at the stairwell entrance, gently tugged on his sleeve.
"What is it?"
"This building isn't the same as the residential building we entered before."
Chen Ge had been so preoccupied with thoughts of the white cat that he hadn't properly examined the building. At Wen Qing's words, he activated his Yin Eyes and swept his gaze across the surroundings.
A sign hung on the wall near the stairwell entrance. It had once read "Jiuhong Community, Building 2," but for some reason most of the characters had been scratched away with a blade.
Stepping inside, the interior was different from Building 1 as well.
The walls were painted a ghastly white. A faint, strange smell hung in the air, and sheets of yellowed white paper lay scattered across the floor.
"Jinhua Community Building A holds Xiang Nuan's memories. Jiuhong Community Building 1 holds the Nether Fetus's earliest memories. Then whose memories does this building contain?" Based on Chen Ge's earlier theory, he'd assumed that all the buildings in Jiuhong Community held the Nether Fetus's memories, but now it seemed that wasn't quite right.
"It's cleaner than Jinhua Community, and it doesn't look nearly as rundown. There's not even dust on the handrails—someone's been living here." Xiao Sun managed a few genuinely useful observations for once. "Back in Jinhua Community Building A, they mentioned that the landlord occasionally went out to meet with the landlords of the other buildings. That means there should be living people in the other buildings too—not all of them are like Building 1."
"Xiang Nuan's world behind the door is different from any I've entered before. The black fog engulfs everything, but only these buildings remain untouched. So his memories must have been split into several parts and stored in different buildings." Chen Ge's head began to spin. He had to stop using his Yin Eyes.
"I don't really understand what you're saying?" Xiao Sun thought for a moment, then answered honestly.
"You don't need to understand. Just help me find a mirror as fast as you can." Chen Ge leaned against the wall. He knew perfectly well that the Nether Fetus's memories were hidden within these buildings—exploring them meant exploring the Nether Fetus's past.
He desperately wanted to know what had happened before. This was an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss.
"You don't look good." Wen Qing walked over to Chen Ge, worry in her voice. "Let's find a safe room and take a proper rest."
"I'm fine. Let's keep moving." Chen Ge dragged the Skull-Shattering Hammer up the stairs.
The layout of Jiuhong Community Building 2 was entirely different from Building 1. Above each door was a palm-sized glass window that allowed you to see inside the room without entering.
"Why does this feel like the specialized wards in a hospital?" Chen Ge walked over to one of the windows and peered inside. The room's interior was just as strange—the walls were all painted white, and the floor tiles, furniture, and ceiling were predominantly white as well. "A room this white—imagine how visible blood would be if it splashed on those surfaces."
"Big bro, maybe the owner just likes things clean." Xiao Sun found some of the things Chen Ge said genuinely terrifying—the casual, offhand things that slipped out always seemed to invite darker thoughts.