Strange sounds drifted from somewhere in the room, as if a tiny insect were crawling past his ear.
Chen Ge's eyelids fluttered. In that hazy state between sleep and wakefulness, he saw a pale light emanating from the screen of his black phone.
He had received a new message. Since he hadn't opened it, all he could see was the first line of text.
"Warning! Unforeseen complications in Left Eye task! Four-star scene: Nightmare Academy..."
His head felt impossibly heavy, as though something massive were pressing down on him. Chen Ge tried to roll over and reach for his phone, but the moment he lifted his head, he saw a "door" standing between the two hospital beds.
Five fingers were draped over the doorknob, and as they strained with increasing force, that ordinary-looking door was pushed open.
A figure crawled out from beneath the hospital bed. All he did was lean forward, and his body was yanked straight through the "door."
"Chang Gu?"
Chen Ge's body was paralyzed — it felt like a ghost pressing him down in his sleep, or as though something else had locked its gaze on him.
He could hear familiar voices emanating from beyond the door, someone calling his name over and over. At the same time, he could hear several other distinct voices within his own shadow, as if trying to wake him up.
"Am I dreaming?"
Waking in the middle of the night to find a door standing beside your bed — one that was slowly drifting toward you — anyone would panic.
Chen Ge wanted to scream, wanted to struggle, but he quickly realized he couldn't do anything. He couldn't even bite through his own tongue.
He watched helplessly as the door drew closer. Several hands reached out from within and seized his neck and head.
At the very last moment, a scream erupted from Chen Ge's shadow, and a sliver of strength returned to his body.
There was no time for any further reaction. Chen Ge simply clutched the black phone tight in his palm.
In the next instant, he was dragged into the world beyond the door — a realm that even the Yin Eyes could not penetrate.
The door gradually closed. The last thing Chen Ge saw was his backpack sitting on the hospital bed and Chang Wenyu, who had appeared beside his bed at some unknown moment.
She reached into Chen Ge's backpack and pulled out the diary that had been brought from the basement of Nightmare Academy.
Her pale fingers turned the diary to its last page. Her hollow eye sockets stared blankly at the empty page, her face devoid of any expression — like a puppet that had lost its soul.
The last sliver of light vanished. The door sealed shut completely.
……
"Xiao Lin? Lin Sisi? Wake up! The teacher's coming!"
Someone patted his shoulder. Chen Ge slowly opened his eyes to find himself slumped over a classroom desk.
Without a word, Chen Ge immediately bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The metallic taste of blood saturated his taste buds, and the pain jolted his brain.
"Not a dream?"
Maintaining his original posture, Chen Ge slowly turned his head, eyes narrowed, scanning his surroundings.