There were suspicious points both before and after, giving Jiang Cheng the feeling that both directions were a path of no return. At this moment, Jiang Cheng took a deep breath and made a bold decision. He decided to turn around and see what the mysterious dark figure was up to. After all, he had waited so long, and the other party hadn't harmed him.

Turning around, the dark figure stood in front of a door. It was a double door, standing at the other end of the corridor. It didn't look like a room door, but more like an emergency exit.

More importantly, Jiang Cheng didn't remember a door being in this location.

To be precise, his memory of this end of the corridor was very vague, as if something was preventing him from recalling the layout here.

And on the door, there were three clear scratch marks.

The dark figure didn't make any movements, just stood firmly, its body not very clear, its face blurred, just like before. But the difference was that this time, the dark figure's face wasn't directly facing him, but slightly turned to the side.

Jiang Cheng quickly understood that the dark figure was looking at Fatty and the others at the other end of the corridor.

Almost unconsciously, Jiang Cheng picked up his phone and took a picture of what was behind him. When he saw the photo, Jiang Cheng's heart jumped. Fatty and the others had all changed their faces, their complexions ashen, and a pair of milky white eyeballs were embedded in their eye sockets, staring straight at what was behind him, the resentment in their eyes seeming to be able to drill holes in his back.

Just as Jiang Cheng was hesitating, the dark figure seemed to break through some kind of restriction and made an incomprehensible movement towards Jiang Cheng.

The dark figure laboriously raised his right hand and made a cutting motion diagonally at a point slightly above his waist.

In an instant, Jiang Cheng's pupils trembled, and then even his breathing stopped. The next second, Jiang Cheng suddenly raised his head. He recognized it, he really recognized it. The dark figure in front of him was none other than himself!

Wu…

There was no mistake, it must be him!

This action was the one where Wu was slashed diagonally by the killer, and this slash should have landed on him. It was Wu who blocked it for him!

He had even drawn this scene in his sketchbook.

The dark figure and Jiang Cheng seemed to be telepathically connected. After seeing Jiang Cheng's constantly trembling lips, the dark figure slowly retreated, passing through the door behind him like a ghost, and his figure disappeared.

Jiang Cheng no longer hesitated and immediately followed, reaching out his hand to push open the unfamiliar door. Now that he had confirmed the identity of the dark figure, Jiang Cheng had nothing to worry about. Wu wouldn't harm him.

At the same time, Fatty shouted from behind, telling him to wake up and not do anything foolish, but Jiang Cheng completely ignored him.

After pushing open the door, everything before him made him feel恍惚 (huanghu) – dazed. It was actually a stairwell, and even more unbelievable, there was a staircase that went upwards.

But this Hengtong Inn only had two floors, and he was now on the second floor.

In a daze, a flash of lightning streaked through Jiang Cheng's mind. He remembered that on the first night he and Fatty and the others checked in, the landlady took them to a room not on the second floor, but on the third floor!

It was the room at the end of the third floor!

Number 2 and Number 13 lived next door, also on the third floor!

But when he woke up the next day, the inn was filled with fog and there was no one around. He groped his way out of the room in the fog, not paying attention, only focusing on moving along the corridor. He walked down two flights of stairs and arrived at the lobby on the first floor of the inn.

Down two flights of stairs… that meant that the room he was in at the time was indeed on the third floor!

And this memory seemed to have been erased invisibly. It wasn't until he pushed open this door that it resurfaced in his memory.

In this instant, Jiang Cheng's thoughts raced. He finally understood what Wu wanted to tell him. His room was on the third floor, so he naturally wouldn't find it by looking on the second floor!

It must have been hard for these guys, not only putting on a good disguise, but also setting up two identical rooms on the second floor to confuse him…

How dangerous, almost, almost fell for their trick!

Jiang Cheng ran up the stairs quickly. To be on the safe side, he didn't immediately open the door to his room, but first pushed open the door to the room next door.

This time, there were people in the room. In the dim environment, Number 2 and Number 13 were lying on two single beds, respectively. There were scattered wine bottles on the floor. They were closing their eyes, seeming to be asleep.

The two of them were motionless, but Jiang Cheng was sure that they were only asleep, and they must still be alive. The feeling this room gave him was like time had been frozen. Everything here was frozen in the night two days ago, the night they had just arrived in town and checked into this inn.

Without touching anything here, he turned around, went out, and after calming down, Jiang Cheng pushed open the door to the room next door. This was his and Fatty's room.

And this time, even the calmest person couldn't help but be suppressed. Jiang Cheng clearly saw another version of himself lying on the bed, with the quilt covering the lower half of his face.

And on the other bed was Fatty.

The situation was completely consistent with the room next door. The two of them were completely still. This scene was frozen. The clock on the wall pointed to 4:04, and the slender second hand was motionless. The picture was full of a strange religious mysticism, like a ritual.

The dark figure stood beside the version of himself on the bed, looking down at the version of himself on the bed.

At this moment, without anyone needing to teach him what to do, Jiang Cheng took a step and walked to the bed, lying down very naturally, inch by inch, his soul and body completely fitting together. This was an experience that couldn't be described in words. Many scenes he had seen and hadn't seen instantly flooded his mind. The scenes were fragmented and full of an incredible beauty. Some belonged to him, while others were of mysterious origin.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Cheng slowly opened his eyes.

At first glance, it was relatively dark around. Fatty was still sleeping on the other bed, and there were empty beer bottles on the floor. Everything around was the same as before.

But Jiang Cheng knew that everything had changed. Fatty's slight snoring, and the second hand on the clock moving in stops and starts, were all telling him that this world was alive, and he was back.

Without waking Fatty up immediately, Jiang Cheng collapsed on the bed, not wanting to move at all. It was difficult to describe the complexity of his feelings right now. He had walked through the gates of hell again.

Exhaustion, pain, helplessness, fear… different emotions tormented him in turn. He thought of Wu and really wanted to thank him in person, but Wu didn't appear.

After he successfully escaped from the dream, Wu disappeared.

An instant of panic made him suddenly sit up in bed. His first reaction was that Wu was lost. In order to save him, Wu had used some special method, and the price was that Wu was left alone in that strange dream. He was about to immediately find Number 2 and Number 13 to find a way, until a hand stretched out from the darkness behind him and gently rested on his shoulder.