Zhang Ju had long realized that
Truth be told, he was afraid of people like that. But it was precisely because of that fear that he chose to follow and obey.
Standing before the photographs, Zhang Ju opened his remaining right eye and silently studied Chen Ge's face.
Ordinary features — the kind that would be impossible to pick out in a crowd. And yet, this very person had just let slip an expression that had terrified even himself.
It was hard to describe. It was as if a vengeful ghost steeped in resentment had merged with a deranged lunatic. From that face one could see madness, depravity, cruelty — but absolutely no trace of fear or dread.
Zhang Ju knew what he himself looked like. He had always considered himself a horrifying monster, but Chen Ge's momentary lapse had made him realize that there were even more terrifying "monsters" out there.
"Yes… I suppose we're the same kind of people."
He believed Chen Ge's words, because that kind of expression could only belong to someone who had been through hell. The other man was just like him — his past erased.
"Sorry, Teacher Bai. I remembered some very unpleasant things just now, which is why I lost control." Zhang Ju's voice was harsh and grating, but his attitude had improved considerably.
"It's fine. When would a teacher ever truly blame a student?" A smile sat on Chen Ge's face, giving off a gentle, warm impression — it was hard to believe that the same person had just been speaking to Zhang Ju the way he had. "What did you remember? Don't hold back. Tell me everything."
"It's nothing, really. Just painful memories." The wounds on Zhang Ju's body were still seeping blood, his clothes staining red little by little. "I remembered witnessing a murder — how weak and cowardly I was. I remembered the feeling of the fire burning my skin, like needles being driven into my flesh one by one, until I could no longer feel pain. And I remembered lying in a sterile ward, struggling desperately, as despair took root and sprouted inside me. I didn't want to die, but I had no idea how to go on living."
"During the final stage of your life — did anything unusual happen to you or around you?" Zhang Ju had appeared inside the world beyond the "door," yet he had already lost the ability to push that door open at the time. What Chen Ge wanted to know was how he had ended up in this school. Only by understanding the method of entry could there be any hope of deducing a way out.
In three-star scenarios, the "door" was the sole point of entry and exit. But four-star scenarios seemed to be different somehow.
"The final stage of my life…" Zhang Ju reached up and touched his own face. "I think I fell into a coma, but I could still perceive the outside world. I couldn't tell reality from nightmare, but I clearly remember one thing: every time night fell, a door would appear in the ward."
"A door?"
"I was in the hospital for seven days. That door would appear every night, drawing closer and closer to me, until in the end it was right beside my bed." Zhang Ju tilted his head back, his face covered in blood. "It was a door that moved on its own. The more afraid I was, the more desperate I became, the nearer it would get. I couldn't call for help. On the eighth night, the door was pushed open from the inside. Hands reached through the gap, and they dragged me in."
The situation Zhang Ju described was identical to what had happened to Chang Gu. Both of them had encountered a "door" that moved by itself. Every night at midnight, the door would slowly approach a sleeping person until it stood at the bedside. Then the door would open from within and take away the living person on the bed.
"Is this school what's behind that door?" Chen Ge was more curious about what had happened afterward. He wanted to know the process by which Zhang Ju had lost his memory — how this student, disfigured in a fire, had gradually become a half-red-robed ghost.
Zhang Ju shook his head. "I had a dream — an incredibly vivid dream. In the dream, everyone called me Lin Sisi. I kept telling them my name was Zhang Ju, that they had the wrong person, but they thought I was joking."
"Nobody believed me. I had no choice but to live in the dream as Lin Sisi, experiencing everything Lin Sisi went through. After a while, I even started to doubt myself — was my name actually Lin Sisi?"
"Being bullied, being given the silent treatment, being ignored — it wasn't pleasant. But on the other hand, the real me had already become a monster. Living in a dream wasn't so bad."
His voice flat and emotionless, Zhang Ju spoke as if recounting someone else's story. "I had no friends. The whole world hated me. The combined toll of mental and physical torment gradually numbed me, until one day a girl walked into my dream."
"It was a rainy day. Someone had stuffed a frog into my deskmate's school bag, and she suspected I'd done it. But why would I do something so pointless?"