After comparing their accounts and confirming that nothing had been left out,
"Little Cloth, open the door."
Apart from her two arms, Little Cloth had recovered most of her body. She stood before the door, and all manner of unpleasant memories flooded back into her mind. The blood mist covering the entire Liwan Town was drawn in, surging madly into the basement.
Vessel-like tendrils reached out from the crimson ground and plunged into the half-open door.
After only ten-odd seconds, the battered, incomplete door slowly began to mend itself, leaving just two gaps.
"Get ready. We only have one minute. If we don't leave now, we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
The thick blood mist would vanish the instant it touched the door, but those two gaps were visibly closing on their own.
The blood mist condensed into blood-red threads, then, like needle and thread, stitched the openings shut.
The moment both gaps were sealed, the entire door flushed blood-red and was slowly pulled open from the other side.
It was clear that opening a door that had lost control cost Little Cloth a tremendous amount of effort, so Chen Ge and the others all tensed up.
The blood-red door merged with the ground beneath it. The blood threads on its surface seemed to come alive, and strange sounds drifted from the buildings above. It was under these conditions that the "door" was finally wrenched open.
"Hurry!"
The drunk carried Li Zheng out first, followed by the doctor and Fan Cong. Chen Ge stood at the back, holding two bags.
As he left, he glanced at Little Cloth. "If you run into something you can't handle, come find me. I'll be at New Century Amusement Park in the western suburbs."
Stepping through the door felt like bursting up from the deep sea. His body experienced a brief sensation of weightlessness, and his eyes took several minutes to adjust before returning to normal.
When Chen Ge opened his eyes again, the "door" behind them had long since closed. The handful of survivors were crammed together in the cramped basement.
"Hey! Wake up!"
Having escaped from a world drenched in despair and negativity, all of them felt the bone-deep relief of survivors. For ordinary people, this night had been far too much.
"What happened on the other side of the door must never be told to anyone else. If the police ask, you all remember what to say, right?"
"Don't worry."
The group climbed out of Jiang Long's basement and into his bathroom. The glass that Chen Ge had smashed last time still hadn't been repaired — the community had simply hung a wooden sign over the gap.
"I'm going to talk to the police. You all head home first. If everything goes smoothly, we'll meet at the haunted house entrance of New Century Amusement Park at noon today." Chen Ge hoisted Li Zheng onto his back. The detective had saved his life before — now that the man was in trouble, he certainly wasn't going to stand by and do nothing.
"Wait." Fan Cong looked a little sheepish. "Boss Chen, could I come with you? For one thing, I'm worried about my brother. For another, I really don't dare go home. What if there's some maniac waiting for me inside? Or something pops out from under the bed again…"
The night's ordeal had left a deep psychological shadow over Fan Cong. At this rate, he probably wouldn't dare play online games for a long time.
"Fine, stick with me for now. And if you can't find work for the time being, you're welcome to help out at the haunted house." He and Fan Cong had cooperated before, and though this chubby shut-in had no particular talents, he was a good-natured person.
After leaving Jiang Long's house, Chen Ge's phone buzzed incessantly in his pocket. Signal had been restored, and both the black phone and his personal phone had received a mountain of messages — but now was not the time to read them.
The rain that had poured all night had finally stopped, but the clouds had yet to clear, and fine threads of drizzle still drifted through the sky.
"Our phones are working again. It's five thirty in the morning. We'll regroup at noon, so get some rest while you can." With that, Chen Ge turned and headed deeper into Liwan Town with Li Zheng on his back.