Liu Yi never stopped asking when they cooked and cleaned. Gao Ming silently enjoyed this calm moment. The present from fate was so beautiful that he didn’t dare to accept it lest he couldn’t part from it.

The television broadcasted a variety program that Liu Yi liked. The dining table was filled with piping hot porridge and delicious dishes. The tired Fa Cai curled up in its bed. Gao Ming chewed slowly as if masticating the memory he shared with Liu Yi.

“I might need to leave again after dinner. Don’t worry about me. Stay at home.” Gao Ming glanced out the window. “Xin Lu might not be safe at night recently.”

Xin Lu might become unsafe because he might be forced to do scary things.

“I’ll go with you.” The food in Liu Yi’s bowl hadn’t moved. She had no appetite because she felt like she’d lose something significant to her that night.

Gao Ming shook his head. He looked at the picture of him and Liu Yi on the wall. If Liu Yi had never participated in any tests related to the brain realm game, who was the Liu Yi he encountered in Han Hai?

After the dream ended, all his classmates from Class Thirteen disappeared, except for Liu Yi. Other than Liu Yi, he had imagined the rest. Which side was real? Which side was fake? Who was losing their minds?

“There will be an answer soon. Wait for my good news at home.”

After dinner, Gao Ming cleaned up with Liu Yi. He returned everything to the state it was before he came home. Then, he picked up his bag and left. He took the train to the intelligent city. Gao Ming started to throw himself into the plan to reach Han Hai before Immortal Pharma realised something was wrong.

Gao Ming reached Shang Hai Mental Hospital Haunted House before eight pm. He purchased another ticket. In just a stunning six minutes and eleven seconds, he entered the so-called inner dream.

Chased by four workers, he returned to the classroom, where he obtained the walkie-talkie. He attempted to connect to No. 2. He tried divine communication, curses, supernatural commune and even blood sacrifice. No. 2 didn’t react. If anything, he scared the workers half to death.

“This place is built by Tang Ling. Did she do this to help you? Or to use you as bait to capture everyone who comes to find you?” Gao Ming stood at the lectern and looked at the 30-plus seats. He scanned the scratch marks and the kids' doodles. “She mentioned that she helped you find many people who could fit your mental constitution to fight against Immortal Pharma together. However, I did not encounter a single one of them. In fact, I saw many innocent people who were turned into sacrifices at Dream Break Town.

“Do you know about this? Is the walkie-talkie a trap or a hint?”

Gao Ming mumbled to himself. The children in the class never reappeared.

“Has everything been staged after I woke up at the hospital? I saw the notice for the recruitment of brain realm gamers when I was looking for a job. The person who came to intercept me was Tang Ling’s brother, Tang Qing.

“A pair of eyes has been following my every move to gain something from me. However, they do not know what I’ve experienced in the nightmare. They have greatly underestimated me.”

Gao Ming didn’t sense any negative energy in the haunted house. This hidden room had more positive energy than some places of worship.

“Has the bait been retrieved after the fish took the hook? Or No. 2’s lingering consciousness also felt that something was wrong and retreated?” Gao Ming cleared the haunted house. Dong Gua rushed forward to present him with the reward, but he went into the elevator and headed to the Ninth-Sense Sensory Centre.

The elevator doors opened. Gao Ming studied the normal-looking reception and appeared to witness the gate to hell.

“So you’re the one hiding in plain sight.” Gao Ming walked to the entrance but realised he couldn’t cross the threshold. A deep malice targeted him. If he took another step, something terrible would happen. “Why did you stop me? Aren’t we supposed to be colleagues?”

A fashionable lady strode out of the corridor. A stitching-like tattoo decorated her neck. She held an unlit cigarette.

“So the cigarette is used to maintain your rationality. Did you get the tobacco from the nightmare realm?” Gao Ming’s eyes flashed. He carried his bag and said lightly.

“You have something incredibly dirty hiding in you!” The lady was no longer as casual as before. Her eyes were sharp.

“Don’t call yourself that.” Gao Ming’s insouciance made the lady wary.

“I am different from the thing in your heart. Red Spectres are the purest among all the powerful ghosts.” The light around the lady started to distort. She had no shadow. “You weren’t like this several days ago. What happened to you?”

“Don’t you want the current me?” Gao Ming ignored the warning and strode towards the lady. At the same time, he took out his phone to call the number of the Haunted House boss. “After I woke up from the nightmare, three forces had been trying to attract me: Immortal Pharma’s brain realm games, this strange Haunted House from Jiujiang, and a curious death livestream. I’m curious. How did you know so much about me? Did your divine ghosts stop me when I tried to exit the tunnel?”

Gao Ming thought that the system kept showing him the same few vacancy notices because the database had an issue. He realised something had been manipulating them.

“You sure are self-absorbed. We never specifically target someone. All the supernatural visitors are our potential workers. They can see our hiring flyers.” The woman lit up the cigarette and moved a chair over to sit down. “Are you calling my boss?”

“I have some questions for him.”

“I don’t mean to rain on your parade.” The woman didn’t smoke but merely observed the wisp of cigarettes. “You are not qualified to get the boss to rush back from behind the door. He will not answer.”

At that moment, Gao Ming’s phone turned bloodred. Black hair crawled through it. The call was connected.

The two parties were too far apart. Despite the intense hatred from the number, it couldn’t carry over the other party’s voice. It only formed a ghastly sentence in blood in the end: Come behind my door.