Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

At 8:15, Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes.

The fifth cycle officially begins.

He touched his head and felt a sharp pain coming from the back of his head.

My back also felt sore and numb from the stairs.

last night......

The scenes before he lost consciousness flooded into Chen Ji's mind like waves.

Chainsaw, deformed ghost, Murong Qing cut in half at the waist...

As if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, Chen Ji suddenly sat up, his whole body instantly on alert!

However, the hallway was quiet and peaceful.

The chainsaw ghost didn't chase after them.

Beside him, Zuo Shiming kept his eyes tightly closed, the fear left over from last night still lingering.

"call....."

Chen Ji breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He understood that the chainsaw ghost couldn't have entered the stairwell, otherwise he would never have woken up alive.

But... something just doesn't feel right.

Chen Ji frowned deeply, a sense of confusion passing through his mind, a very peculiar feeling.

It was as if he had forgotten something.

This feeling was very familiar; during the week he was deceived by the ghost disguised as his mother, he had the same strange feeling from time to time.

Just in case, Chen Ji took out a pen from his pocket and went down to the second floor.

There was no one there; the others had probably already hidden in the lobby and were still asleep.

"Is there anything unusual about the pen last night?" he asked softly.

The pen is not responding.

Chen waited patiently, while the pen often pretended to be dead.

Half a minute passed, and there was still no response.

"Tsk."

Chen Ji was getting impatient. He shook his pen and called out softly a few more times.

Silence reigned. The pen remained completely still, as if it were dead.

An extremely unsettling guess gradually surfaced in Chen Ji's mind.

Moreover... under the light of the hallway, the pen's body appeared noticeably dull.

Chen Ji's breathing became rapid. He held the pen in front of his eyes, and the image reflected on the stainless steel cap made his eyes widen suddenly!

neck.....

A long black line had appeared on Chen Ji's neck at some unknown time!

Those were ink marks from a fountain pen, completely dry, and their shape was almost exactly like the birthmark that the Wang family had inherited!

There is also a simple mark next to it, also drawn with a pen.

3.

Almost the instant he saw the handwriting, Chen Ji felt a chill run down his spine; he realized something!

The fountain pen... has entered a dormant period.

This proves that he used his ability to change his fate last night!

why?

Why does he have no recollection of this?

Moreover, Chen Ji should have already lost consciousness at that time, so how did he manage to use the pen?

His thoughts surged instantly, and a guess gradually became a fact in his mind.

Two minutes after 11:13 last night, something must have happened that threatened his life!

Perhaps it was because of the death warning that he suddenly woke up and subsequently changed his fate.

But... the missing memories prevented Chen Ji from knowing what he was facing, let alone which part of his fate he had changed.

Zuo Shiming had experienced the same thing before...

Who exactly is able to act freely and attack them before the cycle ends?

A thousand guesses flashed through Chen Ji's mind. He touched the ink stains on his neck, and the confusion in his eyes gradually turned into clarity.

Although Chen Ji didn't know how to interpret it for the time being, this mark that looked very much like a birthmark, along with the markings next to it, must be very important.

His mind raced, and Chen Ji went upstairs to find Zuo Shiming for analysis.

But even after he went up a whole floor, he still couldn't see Zuo Shiming.

The figure that was sleeping soundly on the stairs has completely disappeared!

Moreover... Chen Ji didn't hear a single sound!

Even more bizarrely, the stairs seemed to never end; even after reaching the second floor, the steps that should have reached the top still seemed endless!

There was also no...door leading to the stairwell.

There are only endless steps, platforms, and more steps.

A cold sweat broke out on Chen Ji's back; he clearly realized...

I've encountered a maze!

This is the fifth cycle, and the new ghost has been added!

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Ji immediately stopped going upstairs and turned to go downstairs.

A few minutes later.

Just as he expected, the staircase formed a loop with no end in sight.

Chen Ji frowned deeply. How should he break this deadlock?

Without the pen, he was just an ordinary person, unable to use any supernatural abilities.

He was squatting at the top of the stairs, his mind racing, when suddenly his ears twitched.

Two footsteps came from upstairs.

Immediately afterwards, Yuanyuan's surprised voice rang out:

"Xiao Chen!"

"You're here too!"

Chen Ji immediately stood up. After seeing the platform with a dozen or so steps above him, Hu Li pulled Yuan Yuan along, both of them with a sense of relief at surviving a disaster on their faces!

"Yuanyuan, Huli, did you also encounter a ghost wall?" Chen Ji asked immediately, finally meeting his companions.

“Last night, Fei’er left too quickly. As soon as Li-jie and I got to the first floor, I suddenly fell asleep.” Yuan Yuan nodded, her eyes red.

"As soon as we got up, we realized we couldn't get out."

Hu Li, who was standing next to her, also looked flustered, but still tried to remain calm and patted Yuan Yuan's shoulder to comfort her.

"Don't worry, we'll definitely get out."

Chen Ji suppressed his unease and spoke calmly, his reassuring tone putting Yuan Yuan at ease a little.

Now that at least three people have gathered, and given that Fei'er is not in the stairwell, she should not have been pulled into the ghost wall.

The primary task now is to find Zuo Shiming, and then we can discuss things together after we all get together.

Perhaps, since Tuanzi can already be used, the group will have another way to save their lives.

"Let's go find Mr. Zuo first."

Chen Ji pondered for a moment, then stepped onto the stairs: "We—"

A series of footsteps, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, came from behind him.

On the steps below Chen Ji, a familiar voice, filled with doubt and surprise, rang out:

"Xiao Chen!"

Chen Ji suddenly stopped.

His blood seemed to freeze, and his eyes widened in disbelief!

Chen Ji stiffly turned his head...

A dozen or so steps down the stairs, Hu Li peeked out with her fair and beautiful face, a relaxed smile on her face.

"finally found you!"

The stairwell was completely silent.

Chen Ji did not respond to her, but slowly turned his head to look upwards.

There, Yuanyuan stood frozen in place.

Standing beside her was... Hu Li.

Chen Ji took a step back and returned to the platform. The scene in the stairwell was extremely bizarre!

He stood in the middle, with Hu Li and Yuan Yuan above him, and another Hu Li coming up below him!

One of these two... is a ghost!

who is it?

Is it the one who's always been with Yuanyuan, or the one who suddenly appeared downstairs?

This scene immediately reminded him of that painted-skin ghost wearing his mother's face!

Who is the real one?

Hu Li, who was below Chen Ji, paused for a moment and tentatively called out, "Yuanyuan?"

Upstairs, Yuanyuan was trembling all over. She slowly turned her head to look at the person next to her, only to find that Sister Li, whom she had always relied on, was keeping her head down and not saying a word.

Chen Ji took a deep breath, his bad premonition growing stronger. He stared straight at Hu Li upstairs, sensing something amiss.

"Sister Li...why aren't you saying anything?"

Yuanyuan's voice already trembled with a hint of a sob; she realized it even before Chen Ji...

The person next to me doesn't seem to be Hu Li!

The next second, Hu Li, who was next to her, slowly raised her head and opened her mouth.

Yuanyuan was terrified!

The mouth was split open at an impossible angle, and the teeth were as sharp as shark teeth. It seemed to be amused by them, and made a few extremely hoarse and piercing noises!

It's like sandpaper rubbing against a wall.

The next second, it turned its head, and to Chen's horrified gaze...

They grabbed Yuanyuan's head.

Then, he ripped it off.

Just then, the real Hu Li walked up behind Chen Ji and witnessed this incredibly bloody and cruel scene!

"Ah, ah..."

Her mouth was open, but she couldn't utter a single word, only managing a few terrified syllables.

Blood gushed onto the ground like seawater!

The slit-mouthed demon raised its round head, as if displaying a trophy, facing Chen Ji and his companion downstairs.

In Hu Li's wide-eyed stare, a round face was clearly reflected...

That face she had seen since childhood, that had been with her for over a decade, a face more familiar than any of her own family.

Just a few days ago, she was laughing and joking with me, her face beaming with carefree joy.

At this moment...

Blood splattered on it, and its expression was filled with endless fear.

This is Yuanyuan, the one who left the deepest impression on Hu Li...

That was also the last impression.