Chapter 183: Doctor Chen
A torrent of black hair crashed into the old man like a flood. A slender, pale arm reached out from within the hair, grabbing the old man’s shoulder as if to drag him into the darkness.
Trembling at the touch of that hand, the old man clearly had suffered from it before. “I already sent you away. Why did you come back?”
In response, he was ruthlessly slammed down, his body hitting the blood-red ground with a heavy thud, the crimson of his robe fading noticeably.
“Zhang Ya is here!”
From the old man’s words, it seemed he had already sent Zhang Ya away, but she had broken back in and returned.
“She came back specifically for me?” A flicker of warmth stirred in Chen Ge’s heart. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhang Ya step out from the black hair, not even glancing at him, and walk straight toward the old man.
In the quiet world behind the door, the sound of brutal tearing echoed. Chen Ge’s teeth chattered. “Are all vengeful spirits this grudging?”
The old man might have stood a chance at his peak, but first, he had been terrified by the boy’s awakening, then robbed of half his blood threads. Facing Zhang Ya, he was utterly crushed.
“There must be stronger and weaker among the red-clad. This old man is probably among the lowest tier.”
Seeing Zhang Ya, Chen Ge’s tense heart slowly relaxed. In this unfamiliar place, she was the only one who could give him a sense of safety.
With the situation stabilizing, he wanted to sheathe his knife and find a more comfortable position, but looking down, he saw a pair of eerie eye sockets staring at him.
The little boy in his arms had his clothes stained red at some point. His face was pale, his eye sockets pitch black—no whites, no pupils.
Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Chen Ge stared at the wound on the boy’s neck, where countless blood threads were surging.
“Everything I did back there was to wake you up. I was forced into it. I never meant to hurt you from the start.”
The boy clung to him, as if slowly climbing upward.
The sensation of a child crawling on him was unsettling. Chen Ge wanted to shake him off but feared deepening the misunderstanding.
“Men Nan, I know your name. I came to save you. Your alternate personality was attacked by a monster, and I helped him.” Chen Ge wasn’t boasting; at this moment, he had to say something, or risk the boy getting angry and not giving him a chance to speak.
Earlier, the red-clad old man had called the boy a demon. Being called a demon by a red-clad showed how deeply the boy had scarred him.
The boy didn’t stop his movements. He climbed up to Chen Ge’s face, their faces nearly touching.
Up close, Chen Ge saw clearly: the boy’s eye sockets held no eyes, only two unsettling holes.
Chen Ge didn’t know what the boy was looking at. Goosebumps rose on his neck. He quietly reached into his pocket, pulled out the photo of Men Nan and his mother, and placed it between their faces.
“I know your past. I understand your pain. If you have no one to talk to, you can tell me everything.” Chen Ge repeated the same words he had said to Men Nan’s alternate personality. “We’ve had similar experiences. Maybe we can become friends.”
Fortune favors the bold—this saying fit Chen Ge perfectly. Clinging to a sliver of hope, he tried to win over the boy, even harboring a faint fantasy of recruiting him as a haunted house employee later.
Seeing his mother’s photo, the boy’s attitude softened. He let go and jumped to the ground. “Where did you find this photo?”
The boy’s question was the same as his alternate personality’s. Their thought patterns were very similar.
“In the wardrobe of the director’s office.”
“He still kept a photo of my mother.” The boy looked up. “Can you give this to me?”
“No problem.” Chen Ge handed the photo to the boy, clearly sensing a decrease in hostility.
Crouching down, Chen Ge looked the boy in the eye. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked quietly, “That old man said this world is your nightmare. If you wake up, the passage to the outside will close forever?”
“This world existed long before me. It has nothing to do with me. I’m just the first person to discover it.” The boy tucked the photo close to his chest, his empty eye sockets fixed on Chen Ge. “Don’t ask me anything about this world. The more you know, the harder it is to leave.”
The boy’s wisdom belied his appearance. As soon as Chen Ge spoke, he guessed his true intent.
“Can’t you reveal even a little?”
“All I can tell you is that this world is the deepest darkness of the human heart, reflecting fear and evil thoughts. It’s similar to the normal world yet completely different, like day and night.” With that, the boy walked toward the door. His red robe was glaring, drenched in blood, looking terrifying.
“I have two more questions. Don’t go so fast.” Chen Ge stepped forward, moving nimbly, his body feeling perfectly normal. The blood threads that had burrowed into his arms and legs seemed to have vanished.
The boy stopped and turned back, his dark eye sockets studying Chen Ge seriously. “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“I am, but I want answers more.” The appearance of Men Nan’s main personality was significant to Chen Ge. “I want to ask about someone. Your alternate personality called him Doctor Chen.”
“Don’t know him.”
“Your alternate personality told me that you came to the Third Ward to help the old director seal the door because two people invited you back then—one was the old director, and the other was Doctor Chen.” Chen Ge’s voice was earnest. “This person is very important to me. He might be my missing family member.”
Whether it was the word “family” that struck a chord, the boy averted his empty eye sockets. “This Doctor Chen has an ordinary face but a pair of striking eyes, somewhat like yours—the type I absolutely despise.”
“That’s it?” Chen Ge was a bit exasperated. He asked his second question. “That door connecting the two worlds—how do I close it for good?”
“Simple.” The boy smiled. “Lock a living person inside the door and have them guard the entrance for you.”
“What kind of method is that?” Chen Ge wanted to ask about the door’s origin, but the boy had already darted out in the blink of an eye.
“Did he hide something important?”
Afraid the boy and Zhang Ya might fight, Chen Ge quickly chased after him.
Leaving the room, Chen Ge found the boy hadn’t gone far. The child’s brow was tightly furrowed, his dark eye sockets fixed ahead.
The old director’s red robe had faded. He was barely human anymore, his missing body wrapped in Zhang Ya’s black hair, disappearing within seconds.
“Give me the rest of this old man’s body, and I’ll let you leave.” The boy was short but felt the pressure.
Zhang Ya ran her finger across her blood-red lips, utterly disregarding the boy’s words. She stomped on the director’s half-corpse, her eyes locked on the boy, her gaze as if she had spotted fresh prey.