No matter which way he chose, his life would be in danger. Chen Ge found himself in a rare state of indecision.
The woman's cries grew louder, yet oddly, there was no echo of her voice inside the tunnel—it was as if only Chen Ge could hear her.
"The person who tried to save you died in the tunnel. The person who didn't save you might not have made the news, but their fate probably wasn't much better."
Chen Ge took a deep breath and decided to ignore the woman for now. He would deal with this deadly question after completing the nightmare-level mission.
He took his forty-first step, and the wind whistling past his ears seemed to grow a bit quieter—whether because so many vengeful spirits had gathered around him or for some other reason, he couldn't tell.
The light from his phone began to distort, and he could clearly feel the darkness closing in around him.
Steel himself, Chen Ge called out his own name.
"Three steps left."
The red-clothed woman on the left side of the tunnel had drawn dangerously close. Every manner of vengeful spirit pressed in around him. Eyes fixed on the depths of the tunnel, Chen Ge took his forty-second step without wavering.
The moment his front foot touched down, the phone's built-in flashlight cut out.
Without any warning, no matter how many times he pressed the switch, the phone wouldn't respond.
Darkness descended, swallowing Chen Ge whole. Even with his Yin Eyes, he could see only two or three meters farther than an ordinary person.
There was absolutely no light. Chen Ge stood rooted in place, not daring to move carelessly.
In total darkness, the senses became muddled. With nothing to reference, it was easy to lose all sense of direction.
He worried that if he stumbled and got back up, he wouldn't be able to tell which way he was facing.
That was a terrifying prospect inside a tunnel—one wrong turn could send him even deeper into its depths.
Everything fell silent. The red-clothed woman had shut her mouth as well.
But the feeling was deeply unpleasant—knowing vengeful spirits lurked on every side, yet being unable to see a single one.
Chen Ge's breathing grew labored. A crushing pressure pressed in from all around his body. "I can't stay here any longer."
He lifted his leg and took his forty-third step.
The tunnel grew even quieter. The vengeful spirits seemed to have vanished entirely. Stranger still, a faint glimmer of light flickered somewhere deep within the tunnel.
It was incredibly faint, impossible to make out clearly.
"Am I about to leave the tunnel?"
The light in the distance wasn't stationary. It was slowly drawing closer, as though someone were approaching with a lantern in hand.
Chen Ge didn't act rashly. He focused every ounce of his attention on that light, feeling his body pressed upon from all sides, as though he'd squeezed into an invisible wall of air.
As the light crept nearer, the pressure bearing down on Chen Ge grew heavier and heavier.
"Forget it—one last step, just get out first!" He felt as though his body was about to be torn apart. He forced his leg up, preparing to take his forty-fourth step.
The light was closing in, and the figure hidden behind it gradually came into focus.
Eyes locked straight ahead, pupils contracted to pinpoints, Chen Ge's left leg hung suspended in the air—he almost forgot to put it down. He could scarcely believe what he was seeing.
"That's…"
Behind the light stood a boy. He wore a school backpack, its zipper half-open, and inside was a crudely made cloth doll.