In the dim bathroom, Chen Ge sat alone in the bathtub, breathing steadily to expel the residual air from his lungs.
3:44 AM was the inflection point between night and dawn. He had only one chance, and he had to be meticulous.
The room was silent. There was no movement in the hallway either. The monster in the mirror seemed not to have come.
Time trickled by. Chen Ge placed the digital watch he'd specifically obtained beside him. When the numbers on the screen ticked down to forty-three, his focus sharpened to a razor's edge. He opened his mouth and began to inhale slowly.
The candlelight flickered. Chen Ge's body tilted gradually downward, his gaze locked on the digital watch the entire time — more focused than he had ever been.
The moment the numbers on the screen changed again, Chen Ge didn't hesitate. He tilted his head back and sank into the bathtub.
3:44 AM!
The frigid water rushed in from every direction, swallowing him whole.
Submerged in water deep in the night — the sensation was unlike anything else.
Absolute darkness, as though the world had been reduced to just himself, sinking ceaselessly. Absolute silence, with the only sounds coming from within his own body — the beating of his heart.
The icy water stimulated every nerve. Chen Ge lay at the bottom of the tub, banishing all stray thoughts, silently counting his heartbeats.
"Sixty seconds. I just have to hold on for sixty seconds."
He had never experienced anything like this. The night and the water's surface seemed to merge into one, the faint candlelight like a lighthouse drifting ever further away, while he himself seemed to be sinking endlessly into the deep sea.
"One, two…"
After the first ten seconds, time seemed to slow dramatically.
The sound of water flowing filled his ears. Darkness pressed in on all four walls. Chen Ge silently recited his parents' names, maintaining his original position, both hands gripping the handle of the kitchen knife, letting his body drift with the current.
The oxygen in his lungs was slowly being consumed. Chen Ge felt a faint discomfort, as though something heavy was pressing down on him.
"Fifteen, sixteen…"
Each heartbeat consumed more oxygen from his lungs. As his heartbeat slowed, time seemed to stretch even longer — every second splintered into countless fragments.
The discomfort grew steadily stronger, as if a pair of hands were gradually settling on his neck, tightening bit by bit.
Lying underwater, Chen Ge opened his eyes. He could see nothing through the surface of the water. It felt as though he had been locked away in another world.
After perhaps another three or four seconds, his complexion had worsened considerably — not merely pale in the ordinary sense.
"How long have I held on? It should be almost over, right?"
Water slid past his ear, and in the dead silence, a strange sound suddenly appeared.
It seemed to come from the hallway beyond the door. Chen Ge didn't know why he could hear it so clearly. Perhaps the other party was making the noise deliberately, just to distract him.
"Footsteps? Someone is pacing back and forth in the hallway?"
His slowed heartbeat began to race again, and his body tensed involuntarily. "It might be the monster from the mirror coming for me. I hope the dolls can hold it off. Thirty more seconds at most and I'll complete the mission!"
His thoughts were growing sluggish. A buzzing static began to fill his ears. Chen Ge's condition was deteriorating. The footsteps in the hallway kept him wound tight, but he forced himself to stay focused, continuing to recite his parents' names while keeping count of his heartbeats.
"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine…"