The scalpel clattered to the floor with a crisp ring. Dr. Gao clutched his chest, and as life drained from him bit by bit, the black threads in his eyes resurfaced.
"The stronger the resentment on a Door Pusher before death, the more terrifying the fierce ghost they become after dying. I've spent five years cultivating the world behind the door, filling every inch of this place with flesh and despair, all for this day." Dr. Gao cradled the woman in his arms. "Human strength has its limits, and I've already reached those limits. To find her, I need even greater power."
"So you already had the idea of becoming a fierce ghost five years ago?"
"Remnant souls, fierce ghosts, Red Dress — over the years, I've been pondering what lies above Red Dress. Perhaps reaching that level would allow me to do what I've set out to do." The black threads in Dr. Gao's eyes had grown beyond his control; he could barely suppress them any longer. "Chen Ge, in the last moments I can still keep my sanity, I want to make a deal with you."
"You still want me to help resurrect your wife?"
"It's something else entirely — it won't go against your own will."
"Go on." Dr. Gao's condition was clearly deteriorating, and Chen Ge had no idea what this madman might do next, so it was better to agree to the request first.
"After you came out of the Third Ward, you must have noticed that many of the Odd Talk Association's numbers are tied to the number three. That number is very special to me. It represents Room 3 of the Third Ward, the three people I carry in my heart, and the three doors the Odd Talk Association possesses."
"Three doors?!" Chen Ge drew a sharp breath. Ever since he'd first crossed paths with the Odd Talk Association, he'd always believed they had two doors — he never expected that, in addition to the Underground Corpse Library and the Third Ward, they possessed a third.
"That door is in Liwan Town, in the eastern suburbs. It's a completely uncontrolled door." Dr. Gao's body was trembling, threads of despair and negative emotions writhing inside him. "One-third of everything the Odd Talk Association has accumulated over five years lies behind that door. I can give it all to you."
"You're joking, right? That door has already lost control. Even if there are good things buried inside, I'd need to make it out alive first." The offer to hand over five years' worth of the Odd Talk Association's accumulated resources was tempting, but Dr. Gao's remark about the door being completely out of control sobered Chen Ge up.
"That's the deal. I'd like you to look after Gao Ruxue, and then, within your ability, shut that door." Dr. Gao didn't seem worried that Chen Ge would refuse. "In return, besides everything the Odd Talk Association has gathered, I'll also tell you the method for completely closing a 'door.'"
There was a door inside Chen Ge's haunted house as well. To him, that door was a ticking time bomb, and he had been searching for a way to shut it all along. "Looking after Gao Ruxue isn't a problem — her living expenses, tuition, even her future employment, I can handle all of it. As for shutting that uncontrolled door… I'll need to think about it carefully."
"You'll agree." Dr. Gao looked at Chen Ge, those eyes seeming to peer straight into his soul. "Your parents knew the person who pushed open that door. She knows your parents' whereabouts."
Dr. Gao had used the Odd Talk Association's resources to investigate Chen Ge's past.
"How do I know you're not lying to me?" The trail regarding his parents had gone cold more than once; Chen Ge hadn't expected to receive new information from Dr. Gao.
Reaching into a pocket close to his chest, Dr. Gao produced a photograph.
"This was taken by the Odd Talk Association while they were hunting that Door Pusher. The date is one week before your parents disappeared."
The photo's background was a grim, narrow alley flanked by perfectly ordinary buildings, yet something about the whole scene felt deeply unsettling.
A couple stood with their backs to the camera, and facing them was a little girl in a red dress.
From the moment the photo was taken, the girl appeared to have spotted the photographer, pointing toward the end of the alley and shouting, while the couple was turning their heads.
From their silhouettes alone, Chen Ge was certain those were his parents. Dr. Gao had no reason to deceive him about this.
"Where was this photo taken?"
"In Liwan Town, after midnight."
"I've been to Liwan Town too. The streets there don't look like this. But the week before my parents vanished, they did go out every night — as if they were searching for something." Chen Ge stepped forward, wanting to get a closer look at the photograph, but his legs were entangled by black hair. Zhang Ya wouldn't let him leave her side; there was still hidden danger nearby.
Seeing this, Dr. Gao pressed the photograph into Gao Ruxue's hands. "That door has lost control now. No one knows what will happen next, or what kind of monster might come pouring out."
"Dr. Gao, there's something I can't quite figure out." Chen Ge cut him off. "From where I stand, you've never cared whether others live or die. So why are you so insistent on having me shut that door? What's in it for you?"
"Once you step behind that door, you'll understand." At this point, Dr. Gao seemed to have already confirmed that Chen Ge would agree, and he went straight to revealing the method. "The only method I've verified for closing a door is this: find the Door Pusher, make them bear the full weight of all the despair in the world behind the door, and then bring them outside and imprison them. The world behind the door exists because of the Door Pusher's despair. Once it's stripped of all those negative emotions, the door's appearances grow further and further apart, until eventually it vanishes entirely."
"So you have to find the Door Pusher to close the door? But what if the Door Pusher has already become a Red Dress fierce ghost, or their soul has been completely scattered?"
"A Red Dress fierce ghost can still bear the despair behind the door. As for soul dispersion — that's a situation I haven't encountered yet." Dr. Gao's voice grew weaker by the second. The black threads in his eyes surged ceaselessly, as though they were trying to bore their way out of his body. From a distance alone, Chen Ge could feel the agony Dr. Gao was enduring.
"Take Gao Ruxue and leave. This world is about to be destroyed. After that, I will go looking for another way to shut the door."
Flesh and organs rained down from above as the Underground Corpse Library began to collapse in massive sections. The despair and negative emotions that had been propping up this world had all poured into Dr. Gao's body, and the world was now disintegrating.
The passageway swayed. Dr. Gao reached out and patted Gao Ruxue on the head. "Go home. I've opened the door for you."
Before Gao Ruxue could respond, the woman lying in Dr. Gao's arms suddenly raised her head. Her eyes met Gao Ruxue's, and after a single glance, Gao Ruxue collapsed unconscious to the ground.
The woman's body grew even more translucent. At Dr. Gao's command, she knocked out the two crematorium workers who had escorted Gao Ruxue inside as well.