Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Inside the accounting office.

Night had fallen, and Chen Ji was idly twirling his pen in a daze, while Lao Yang was dozing off beside him.

Since the mine was full of ghosts, the four of them discussed it briefly and decided to take turns keeping watch at night.

Chen Ji and Lao Yang were responsible for the first half of the night, each watching for two hours.

"what time is it?"

Nearby, Lao Yang woke up groggily and saw Chen Ji yawning.

"There's still half an hour before it's time to change."

Chen Ji said, but Lao Yang stretched and stood up from his chair.

"Go get some sleep, I'm almost rested."

As he spoke, he patted Chen Ji on the shoulder, signaling him to take his post.

Chen Ji did not refuse. In the dim light and complete silence, he was already feeling sleepy.

After giving a brief explanation, he closed his eyes and immediately drifted into a dream...

In his dream, everything was bizarre and fantastical. Chen Ji was still trapped in a maze of ghosts in the mine. No matter which way he went, he couldn't escape the eerie "tap tap" sound.

Tap tap.....

Tap tap.....

Chen Ji suddenly woke up!

A chill ran through me; the room felt drafty, with piercing cold air constantly wafting in.

At the same time, whether it was because he had bumped his head earlier or because of the nightmare he had just had, his mind went blank for a moment.

"woke up?"

Old Yang said, looking at a magazine on the side.

"I'm going to wash my face..." Chen Ji mumbled wearily.

He slowly walked towards the back toilet, and as he passed the inner room, he saw that the other two people were still sleeping.

slam-la-

The water was icy cold, and Chen Ji splashed it on his face, then suddenly felt something was wrong.

Something seems to be missing from the toilet.

He immediately looked around; it was the same layout, but it gave him a strong sense of unease.

The squat toilet, the sink, and the few red basins—it seems nothing has changed.

Chen Ji cleared his throat, and without saying a word, immediately left the restroom.

His experience of entering the toilet multiple times told him to trust his intuition; there was definitely something wrong with it.

He heard the rustling sound of pages turning, and Old Yang seemed to have heard the noise and asked:

"what happened?"

Chen Ji did not answer him immediately.

Instead, he glanced into the inner room, but found nothing unusual; the other two were sleeping peacefully.

“…”

He went outside and saw Lao Yang looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Did something happen while I was asleep?

"No ah?"

Old Yang said, pointing to his watch, "It's only two o'clock now. You woke up on your own after sleeping for half an hour."

As they were talking, the two of them suddenly paused in surprise.

Footsteps sounded outside.

Someone is walking on the snow.

Chen Ji's heart tightened immediately; he knew something bad was going to happen!

Who's outside?

Contrary to Chen Ji's guess, the footsteps outside did not come towards the cave dwelling, but maintained a regular pattern, as if they were standing still.

Chen Ji and Lao Yang exchanged a glance, and simultaneously moved to the window to look outside.

Two figures were on the snow.

One after the other, not far apart, they circle in a clockwise direction with a large arc.

Like a headless fly, they just walked stiffly.

Chen Ji observed for a while and noticed that the distance between the two people was gradually increasing.

The people in front seemed unwilling to let those behind catch up, so they walked faster and faster.

The people behind were chasing after them.

The people behind were muttering something.

The person behind seemed angry.

The person behind moved their hand slightly—

"call!"

Chen Ji suddenly opened his eyes!

He was drenched in cold sweat, as if he had just had a nightmare...

Immediately afterwards, he heard Lao Yang's voice:

"woke up?"

Chen Ji felt a chill run through his entire body!

He turned his head sharply and found Lao Yang flipping through a magazine next to him!

The table shows... it is exactly two o'clock at this time.

Time has reversed... or is it a dream?

The image of the two figures chasing each other reappeared in Chen Ji's mind. It wasn't scary; at most, it was a little eerie.

But... Chen Ji touched his chest and felt that the skin there was extremely cold.

Why is his heart beating so fast?

"Are you sure nothing just happened?" Chen Ji asked immediately.

Old Yang across from him looked bewildered, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, "...I'm sure."

Why did you suddenly wake up?

Old Yang has no memory of the last time.

Could it really be time travel? Or was it the work of those two figures outside?

Chen Ji frowned. If he wasn't mistaken, the rewind couldn't have happened only once.

There are now three questions:

1. The toilet is unusual.

2. Two figures outside, or ghostly figures.

3. After the regression ended, my body's reaction was not right.

"I'm going to the restroom," Chen Ji said, before any footsteps could be heard.

Old Yang seemed frightened by Chen Ji's expression and hesitated before saying, "I'll go with you."

Chen remained noncommittal.

The two passed through the inner room again, and the two figures on the bed remained calm and undisturbed.

Nothing has changed.

As soon as Chen Ji entered the restroom, he felt that intense, strange sensation again!

"Don't you feel like something's missing here?" He turned to Lao Yang. "Has anyone been in the restroom before?"

Old Yang shook his head.

He looked around, his expression growing increasingly confused: "Are you too nervous? This place looks the same as before."

Chen Ji remained silent, simply staring intently inside.

He quickly realized that the strange feeling came from the wall. Something was missing from the wall.

A large piece of something.

He even had a vague feeling that he knew what it was, but he couldn't put his finger on it, as if it were covered by a thin film.

And it was at this moment...

The sound of footsteps came again from outside.

Chen Ji immediately darted out, and sure enough, just like before, the two of them were still circling around in the snow!

Who is it?

Helmet Ghost? What about the other one?

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said softly, "Uncle Yang, go and wake up Four-Eyes and see if he recognizes these two people."

There was no response from Lao Yang.

After a few seconds, he said solemnly, "No need..."

"The one behind is Xiaofei."

what?

Chen Ji was startled and squinted to look carefully, but he was too far away and could only see a blurry shadow.

At the same time, a strange feeling rose in his heart again.

"His schoolbag," Old Yang pointed out the window, "look at his back."

Chen Ji was almost pressed against the window when he finally saw that there was a reddish bulge on the back of the person behind him, which was Xiao Fei's dark red schoolbag!

Chen Ji's gaze sharpened.

Ghosts with "waste" are more powerful than those without; Xiao Fei must have already become a vengeful ghost.

Moreover, it is extremely difficult to deal with.

But who's in front of them? Their clothes are dusty and gray; are they the miners chosen as the target?

"..."

Chen Ji pondered for a while.

Old Yang, standing to the side, looked tense and pulled Chen Ji close, whispering, "Xiao Fei died so tragically, his resentment must be very strong."

"That person is not going to survive, don't even think about saving him."

"...I didn't." Chen Ji was taken aback.

"That's fine then." Old Yang gave him a serious look, as if he felt that Chen Ji's silence just now was because he was thinking about how to save people.

The feeling of something being different is getting stronger.

Several thoughts were trapped inside the membrane of his brain, unable to escape, and Chen Ji had a headache.

Outside, Xiao Fei's voice was carried away by the wind and snow and was not clearly heard.

Chen Ji knew that in two minutes, he might have to go back in time again.

We need to figure out what Xiaofei is talking about.

He opened the window a crack, listened intently for a while, and vaguely heard:

"Ming... is gone."

"tomorrow......"

"It'll be gone tomorrow!" Chen Ji repeated softly.

"What?"

Old Yang looked at him, puzzled: "What's gone?"

"Xiaofei keeps repeating this phrase." Chen Ji was equally puzzled. "Did you hear it?"

Old Yang shook his head: "There's only the sound of the wind."

It'll be gone tomorrow! What's gone tomorrow? Waste?

Chen Ji was suddenly taken aback; it really might be waste material!

After all, the helmeted ghost had already taken Liu Er's scrap materials, knew that the second forging ghost had appeared, and even released one...

But why tomorrow?

and.....

"Am I the only one who can hear this?" Chen Ji muttered to himself.

"He's trying to lure you out!" Old Yang's expression suddenly changed: "I know, that person in front was drawn out by that sound!"

Sweat immediately beaded on Lao Yang's forehead, which even Chen Ji noticed.

“…”

Chen Ji didn't speak.

He turned around and watched the two people grow further and further apart until the person behind waved.

A surge of intense fear overwhelmed Chen Ji, and once again, his heart pounded wildly!

Darkness descended once more.

Chen Ji did not open his eyes immediately.

He discovered that in the brief moment he regained consciousness, the membrane in his brain had temporarily disappeared.

"call!"

"woke up?"

Lao Yang sat to the side looking at a magazine, then turned his head to look at Chen Ji.

"Um....."

Chen Ji nodded, then suddenly shrank back: "Uncle Yang, don't you feel that it's particularly cold in the room, and there's always a draft?"

Old Yang hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.

"I'm going to get a blanket from the closet," Chen Ji said, preoccupied. "I have something to tell you when I come out."

"Row."

Chen Ji sighed softly and went into the inner room.

He first glanced at the bare walls of the bathroom, then pulled on the cabinet door, but did not take out a blanket from inside.

Instead, they took the blanket off the bed.

"..."

Chen Ji stared quietly at Lili's pale face.

The other person's eyes were not closed; they were open stiffly like a puppet's.

There are footsteps outside!

Old Yang said from the outer room.

Outside the window, the two people were still circling.

Chen Ji silently threw the blanket on the ground, opened the door, and went out.

He could feel a hand reaching out from behind him, but it couldn't touch him.

A venomous and cold gaze pierced Chen Ji's back like a thorn.

"The Helmet Ghost can actually enter my dream... Is it because I dreamed about it before?"

That's right, this isn't a flashback, it's a dream.

There were only two characters in my dream:

Chen Ji and the Helmet Ghost.

The dream would automatically maintain order, preventing Chen Ji from noticing anything unusual here.

Chen Ji could only regain consciousness during the very short intervals between two dreams.

It was then that he realized he was dreaming...

Because what toilets lack is mirrors.

Mirrors don't appear in dreams.

But the most important point is—

Chen Ji gradually approached the two people outside the house and saw the face of the person in front clearly.

That was Chen Ji himself.

That's why he was so terrified every time he woke up from a dream—

Because the dream ended with Chen Ji being killed in the snow, and people cannot dream about what happens after they are killed.

Just as the two identical faces came face to face, Chen Ji's vision went completely black—

When he opened his eyes again, his expression remained calm.

The boundless cold wind, just like the one he had experienced in his dream, lashed against his face.

Chen Ji's legs kept moving forward uncontrollably.

His entire dream was while he was circling in the snow.

Old Yang too.

The real Lao Yang was also ahead, spinning in circles with his eyes closed... He hadn't woken up yet.

The footsteps behind him carried a hint of anger; Chen Ji knew it was Xiao Fei.

Now it's time to deal with this ghost.