Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

The three of them sat on the ground for a while, enjoying the refreshing breeze from the rooftop, feeling quite content.

Although Ding Xiang's legs were in so much pain that they were almost numb, she didn't care much anymore.

Once you leave this place, all your injuries will disappear.

Chen Ji kept his back to the two of them and didn't say anything, no one knew what he was thinking.

A few minutes later, he suddenly waved, signaling Du Tingfeng to go aside with him alone.

Ding Xiang glanced at the two of them curiously, but didn't ask any more questions. She was too tired and just wanted to close her eyes and rest quietly.

"what happened?"

Du Tingfeng followed Chen Ji to a corner of the rooftop, leaned against the railing, and asked.

"After this mission ends, will I be directly transported back to the place I was in before in the real world?"

Chen Ji was very direct; this was a crucial question for him.

If that's the case, he must prepare in advance.

From Tang Qin's obstruction before entering the domain, Chen Ji was certain that she knew of its existence, and that she herself might even be a domain entrant.

She will surely lay a trap in the mental hospital, just waiting for Chen Ji to come back and take the bait.

Du Tingfeng was taken aback, but he had already figured it out. Chen Ji knew he wasn't a newcomer, so he didn't try to hide it.

He thought for a moment before saying:

"It is, and it isn't."

"Once the mission is over, we will be teleported to a river, which is the Domain River."

"As a newcomer, you will not experience a 'drifting' phase when you first enter the domain; instead, you will be directly transported to the domain's world."

"But on the return journey, everyone who has passed through this checkpoint must 'drift' to the end of the river, where there is a door. Only by passing through it can one return to the real world, which is, of course, the place where you were before you came in."

""drifting"?"

"Yes, it's literally drifting. We'll board a small boat on the Yu River."

“Personally, I feel that,” Du Tingfeng added, “this process is like the loading screen of a game; it’s just a pathway between the real world and the domain.”

Chen Ji nodded: "I understand."

Without pausing, he threw out another sentence.

"I want to ask you to do me a favor."

"What is it?" Du Tingfeng asked with a hint of interest. "You want me to help you escape from the mental hospital?"

"Yes." Chen Ji didn't hide anything; the plan had already taken shape in his mind yesterday.

“I can tell you’re from Tianhai City too; our accents are very similar.”

“I do live in Tianhai.” Du Tingfeng chuckled. “You’re quite observant.”

"But why should I help you?"

Chen Ji's voice was unhurried: "When you were trapped in the dormitory manager's room, I was the one who led the dormitory manager away."

“I know, but that’s not enough.”

Du Tingfeng picked up Chen Ji's hand; the burns and sores on it revealed the tender flesh beneath.

"I saved you too, in the equipment room."

"We're even now."

Chen Ji remained expressionless and continued, "The fountain pen has no negative effects on me."

"Don't you want to know how to suppress the bad luck that inevitably follows your good fortune?"

Du Tingfeng withdrew his hand, his expression froze for a second, then returned to calm in an instant.

He didn't ask Chen Ji how he judged the hidden dangers of his chips; instead, he lowered his head and pondered for a while.

After a long while, Du Tingfeng finally raised his head, his usual carefree smile returning to his face.

"Okay, I can help you."

He took out his chips and tossed them in his hand; they were blank, with no numbers on them.

"But it's not just because of that."

"More importantly, someone once told me that I don't have a mental illness at all."

"So I believe what you said at the beginning."

"What you killed was not your mother, but a ghost."

He grabbed the coin, a rare seriousness in his voice.

Chen Ji remained silent for a few seconds. In the past two weeks, Du Tingfeng was the first person to believe him.

His fingers gripped the hem of his clothes tightly for a while before he loosened them. Chen Ji cleared his throat before saying:

"After you get back, how quickly can you get to the Third Mental Hospital of Tianhai City?"

"Fifteen minutes. My home is a bit far, on the east side."

Chen Ji was a little skeptical: "Is it possible?"

Tianhai City Third Mental Hospital is located in the westernmost suburbs.

"Of course." Du Tingfeng rolled his eyes. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"From the moment we return to the real world, you must be at the main entrance of the hospital within twenty minutes to pick me up."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Ji added, "The timing must be extremely precise."

"no problem."

After they finished speaking, they both fell silent. Chen Ji leaned against the railing, his brows still furrowed.

Du Tingfeng, however, turned around and looked downstairs.

"Holy crap, Fang Jia is ruthless."

He exclaimed in surprise and called Ding Xiang over as well, asking her to look down.

On the ground floor, the female teacher's body was completely hidden by layers upon layers of students' corpses; below was practically a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​bodies.

"Even if she becomes a ghost, will she still repeat her previous actions and kill everyone...?"

Ding Xiang looked at the horrific scene below with a complicated expression.

Du Tingfeng said, "This is her obsession."

"Obsessions don't just disappear easily."

The three of them looked downstairs for a while, and every now and then, corpses in school uniforms were thrown to the ground from the upstairs corridor.

After a while, Ding Xiang felt a little nauseous and went back to rest.

Time flew by, and there was only one minute left before the mission was over.

Just then, the three of them changed their expressions at the same time and saw the rooftop door being pushed open.

Fang Jia walked in from behind the door.

Ding Xiang immediately stepped back, her face full of panic, looking at Chen Ji and Du Tingfeng with extreme tension and fear in her expression.

Fang Jia's body was covered in blood and some sticky, disgusting human tissue.

She carried a schoolbag and ignored the three people beside her, as if she couldn't see them.

The sound of flowing river water came from behind the three of them. Du Tingfeng said softly:

"The mission is over."

Ding Xiang glanced at Fang Jia, still somewhat frightened. She turned around, stepped into the small river that appeared out of nowhere in mid-air, shimmering with endless starlight, and left this area directly.

"Let's go too."

Du Tingfeng tugged at Chen Ji, turned around and was about to step into the river, but then his expression froze.

Fang Jia suddenly walked towards them, her long eyelashes stained with blood, but her eyes looked completely different from before.

Her eyes were clear and bright, showing absolutely no trace of madness.

The Fang Jia on the rooftop was completely different from the one who had gone on a killing spree just hours before.

This is what she truly was before everything happened...

Fang Jia didn't say a word. She walked up to Chen Ji and took out the pen that had been stuck in the student's corpse from her schoolbag.

She handed the pen to Chen Ji, then turned and walked away to the corner.

There, four dilapidated chairs appeared out of nowhere.

Chen Ji gripped his pen, his eyes filled with an indescribable emotion, as he watched Fang Jia sit in one of the chairs, carefully taking three heads out of her bag and placing them one by one in the remaining seats.

It's Li Xiaoli, Guan Meng.

And... Wu Yan.

Wu Yan's face looked somewhat strange, sometimes resembling her own features, and sometimes showing a hint of Meng Yue.

"gone."

Du Tingfeng said softly, pulling Chen Ji across the river.

The rooftop behind them was quiet, with only a gentle afternoon breeze blowing.

Fang Jia's hand gently stroked the corners of the mouths on the other three faces.

She smiled the same way.

"Finally, we can get together again."

In the empty campus, the silvery laughter of four girls drifted away on the wind...