But the girl seemed not to notice and continued speaking on her own.
“Big sister.”
“If you really want to stay alive.”
“Whatever you do, don’t…”
Her voice suddenly cut off……
Her entire face turned terrified in an instant.
She whipped her head toward the door.
As if she had seen something horrifying.
The next second—
Bang!
The entire door suddenly shook violently.
Someone had started knocking.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
This time, there was no shouting from outside.
No name.
Only three knocks, delivered with precise rhythm.
And for the first time, the Night Watchman’s wooden token in Su Nian’s palm began vibrating wildly.
On the back of the token,
four blood-red ancient characters slowly surfaced—characters that had never appeared before.
“DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!”
The knocking outside stopped.
Su Nian stood where she was without moving.
She stared at the four blood-red characters on the token in her palm.
Do not open the door.
This time, there was no room for ambiguity.
It was a warning left by the Night Watchman.
And it had been written directly onto the token.
“Big sister…”
The little girl by the bed suddenly spoke again.
Her voice was very soft.
Su Nian turned to look at her.
At some point, the girl had retreated into the corner, clutching the rag doll tightly with both hands.
“That person……has come.”
“Who?”
“The person outside the door.”
The girl raised her head.
“Not a person.”
Knock.
Another sound came from outside.
It wasn’t a knock.
It sounded more like someone gently bumping their forehead against the door.
Knock.
Once more.
Su Nian said nothing.
The third knock never came.
Instead, a man’s voice drifted in from outside.
“Su Nian.”
The voice was deep.
Calm.
Even somewhat familiar.
Su Nian frowned.
She didn’t answer.
The person outside spoke again:
“I’m Gu Shen.”
Su Nian froze for a moment.
Gu Shen.
She was certain this was the first time she had ever heard the name.
But strangely…
Her heart gave a completely inexplicable beat.
Like a forgotten name gently knocking on a door in the deepest part of her memory.
She immediately grew alert.
Something was wrong.
Gu Shen didn’t exist in this world at all.
At least, not yet.
She didn’t even know who this person was.
The voice came from outside again.
“Open the door.”
“I know you’re in there.”
Su Nian remained silent.
The little girl, meanwhile, had curled into a ball in terror.
She shook her head frantically.
Her lips silently formed the words:
Not him.
Su Nian understood.
The thing outside the door wasn’t Gu Shen.
But why…
Did it know that name?
More frightening still,
that name clearly did not belong to the current scenario.
And yet it knew it.
Su Nian slowly walked to the table.
She didn’t approach the door.
Instead, she picked up The Night Watch Record.
She flipped to the final few pages.
The pages that had originally been burned away slowly began to reveal a new line of writing when her fingers touched the cover.
It was as if someone were writing on the back of the paper.
Stroke by stroke,
line by line,
a complete sentence slowly took shape.
“When it begins calling you by names beyond your memories, it means it has already noticed you.”
Su Nian’s heart sank.
Another line surfaced.
“Do not answer.”
A third line.
“Do not open the door.”
A fourth.
“Above all, do not believe any name it gives you.”
The space outside fell silent.
A few seconds later,
that voice suddenly laughed.
“So you did see it.”
Su Nian’s gaze sharpened.
It knew about The Night Watch Record.
It even knew that she was reading it.
“Good.”
The voice outside became even gentler.
“Now this is interesting.”
The next second,
the light in the entire room
went out.
Darkness descended.
The girl suddenly let out a cry.
Su Nian immediately reached out.
“Don’t move.”
“Stay beside me.”
She pulled out the Night Watchman’s wooden token.
But this time,
the token did not light up.
The black chess piece on the back of her hand, however, began to glow faintly.
An extremely thin black line extended from the back of her hand to her wrist.
Then…
it stopped at her fingertip.
As if pointing the way.
Su Nian followed the line with her eyes.
Under the bed.
The girl saw it too.
Her face instantly went deathly pale.
“Big sister…”
“Under the bed…”
Su Nian lowered her head.
In the darkness,
beneath the bed,
a pair of shoes had appeared at some point.
A pair of black men’s dress shoes.
Their toes pointed outward,
as if someone were hiding under the bed.
Su Nian didn’t move.
Every possibility flashed rapidly through her mind.
There was one “thing” outside the door.
And another beneath the bed.
Then…
How many things were actually in the room now?
At that moment,
the person under the bed suddenly spoke.
Its voice was very soft.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m here to save you.”
Su Nian’s pupils contracted slightly.
The same voice.
The same tone.
Exactly the same as the “Gu Shen” outside the door.
Two voices…
appearing at the same time.
One outside the door.
One beneath the bed.
She suddenly understood.
The truly terrifying part of this stage had never been figuring out “who the ghost was.”
It was that—
the ghost could become anyone at the same time.
She slowly raised her head.
She looked toward the door.
Then beneath the bed.
Finally, she smiled.
Barely.
“I get it now.”
Both voices fell silent at the same time.
Su Nian tightened her grip on the token.
“Neither of you is Gu Shen.”
Outside the door—
silence.
Beneath the bed—
silence too.
She continued:
“Because the real Gu Shen…”
She paused.
She had no idea why she had said that.
But in that instant,
an unfamiliar yet familiar scene suddenly flashed through the depths of her mind.
A massive throne.
A sea of flowers stretching across the sky.
And a man standing beneath the moonlight.
The man lowered his head
and looked at her.
There was no coldness in his pale golden eyes.
Only a sorrow she couldn’t put into words.
Su Nian stared blankly.
She didn’t know where that was.
Nor did she know who the man was.
But she suddenly knew one thing.
That person would never use this method to force her to open the door.
So she raised her head,
looked toward the door,
and said each word clearly:
“A real person doesn’t need to force me to believe him.”
The instant her voice fell,
the entire room shook violently.
A shrill roar came from outside the door.
The pair of black dress shoes beneath the bed vanished in an instant.
The girl stared blankly at Su Nian.
On the pages of The Night Watch Record,
the final line slowly surfaced.
“Congratulations.”
“You didn’t believe the illusion for the first time.”
“Mind’s Eye awakened: 5%.”
At that same moment,
a sliver of dawn appeared in the sky outside the window.
The first night
had finally ended.
However.
Had the first night really ended?
Su Nian stood where she was.
She didn’t move.
She watched the sky outside gradually brighten, but felt no relief at having survived.
Because she knew perfectly well:
That thing from earlier…
hadn’t truly left.
It had only temporarily retreated.
Or rather,
it was waiting.
Waiting for the next nightfall.
Waiting for her to make a mistake.
Waiting for her to open a door that should never be opened.
“Big sister…”
The girl’s voice came from behind her.
Very softly.
Su Nian turned around.
The girl in red was still curled up in the corner.
She hugged the rag doll.
The black liquid on her body had stopped flowing.
Her drenched hair had slowly returned to normal as well.
Only her face
was still so pale that she looked hardly alive.
“You’re still here?”
The girl nodded.
“Yeah.”
“It’s daylight.”
“I know.”
“Then why aren’t you leaving?”
The girl didn’t answer.
She only lowered her head and stared at her feet.
Only then did Su Nian notice.
The girl’s feet…
had no shadow.
The soles of her feet weren’t even touching the floor.
Her entire body seemed to be floating.
“You’re not human.”
Su Nian said it calmly.
The girl fell silent.
After a long time,
she finally answered softly:
“I used to be.”
Su Nian didn’t ask anything else.
She could more or less guess.
There was nothing truly clean in this hotel.
Including this girl.
And including herself.
“What’s your name?”
The girl raised her head.
“Xiao Yu.”
“Xiao Yu?”
“Yeah.”
She hugged the rag doll in her arms tighter.
“That’s what someone used to call me.”
“Who?”
“Lin Xunye.”
Su Nian’s gaze fell once more on the brass key.
“He really died on the third floor?”
Xiao Yu nodded.
“Yeah.”
“You saw it happen?”
“I…”
Her voice suddenly began to tremble.
“I saw him walk inside.”
“And then?”
“The door closed.”
“He never came back out.”
“I waited for a long time.”
“But he never came back.”
“Until one day…”
Xiao Yu stopped.
Su Nian didn’t rush her.
“Until one day, I saw him on the third floor.”
“He was standing at the end of the hallway.”
“But…”
Xiao Yu raised her head.
Her eyes were filled with terror.
“He had no face.”
Su Nian’s gaze darkened.
“No face?”
“Yeah.”
“His face…”
Xiao Yu raised a hand
and pointed at her own face.
“There was nothing there.”
“It was like someone had wiped it away.”
The room fell silent.
Su Nian lowered her head and stared at the key.
A thought suddenly occurred to her.
“What exactly is on the third floor?”
Xiao Yu shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Did Lin Xunye leave anything behind before he went in?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Xiao Yu reached out
and pointed at The Night Watch Record in Su Nian’s hand.
“That book.”
“He said if there was ever another Night Watchman,
I was to give it to them.”
Su Nian frowned.
“Did he say anything about the third floor?”
“Yes.”
“He said…”
Xiao Yu bit her lip.
“The third floor isn’t a floor.”
Su Nian froze.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“That was all he said.”
“The third floor isn’t a floor.”
“It’s a…”
Xiao Yu suddenly stopped.
Her body began to tremble faintly.
As if some kind of fear were drawing near.
Su Nian immediately asked:
“It’s a what?”
Xiao Yu clamped her mouth shut.
No matter how Su Nian questioned her,
she refused to say anything else.
Until a few seconds later,
she suddenly raised her head.
“Big sister.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t go to the third floor.”
Su Nian didn’t answer.
But Xiao Yu seemed to know what she was thinking.
“I know you’ll go.”
“Every Night Watchman goes there.”
“But…”
“When they go,”
“they never come back.”
Su Nian looked at her.
“Including Lin Xunye?”
“Including him.”
“Then why did he leave the key behind?”
Xiao Yu froze.
It seemed she had never considered that question.
Su Nian lowered her head
and turned the brass key over.
On the back of the key,
a tiny character was engraved.
“Lin.”
It wasn’t one of the symbols in The Night Watch Record.
Nor was it System script.
It was a person’s surname.
Su Nian suddenly thought of something.
If this really had been left behind by Lin Xunye,
then…
why had he engraved his surname on it?
Unless
this key wasn’t meant for the next Night Watchman.
It was meant for someone…
he knew.
“Xiao Yu.”
“Yeah?”
“Did Lin Xunye ever tell you a name?”
“What name?”
“Gu Shen.”
The color drained from Xiao Yu’s face.
Su Nian noticed.
“You know it?”
Xiao Yu didn’t answer.
She only shook her head frantically.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not!”
Xiao Yu suddenly screamed.
The next second,
the temperature in the entire room dropped again.
Su Nian immediately went on alert.
“Xiao Yu.”
“Don’t say it.”
The girl curled into a ball.
“Can’t say it.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’ll hear.”
“Who?”
Xiao Yu raised her head.
Tears slid from the corners of her eyes.
“Gu Shen.”
Su Nian’s pupils contracted slightly.
That name again.
Why?
What exactly did this name represent?
Outside the door,
a faint sound suddenly rang out.
Like someone stepping on a floorboard in the hallway.
Creak.
Su Nian immediately turned her head.
There was no sound outside the door.
But she could clearly feel it.
Someone was standing outside.
And…
there wasn’t just one.
She slowly walked to the door.
She didn’t open it.
She only pressed her ear against the door.
No breathing.
No footsteps.
Nothing.
But just as she was about to leave,
a hand suddenly pressed against the other side of the door.
Bang!
Su Nian jolted backward.
The hand didn’t knock.
It simply rested against the door in silence.
Five fingers.
Completely still.
Then,
a voice came from outside.
“Su Nian.”
It was still that same voice.
“I know you’re in there.”
Su Nian didn’t answer.
“Don’t you want to know who Gu Shen is?”
Her fingers tightened slightly.
She didn’t answer.
“Don’t you want to know…”
“Why you came to this place?”
Su Nian’s expression changed instantly.
The thing outside knew too much.
It didn’t just know her name.
It even knew things she herself didn’t know.
“Do you think this is your first time entering this world?”
The voice slowly deepened.
“It isn’t.”
“You’ve been here many times.”
“It’s just that…”
“You forgot every time.”
Su Nian’s breathing stopped for a moment.
“Impossible.”
Laughter came from outside the door.
“Impossible?”
“Then tell me.”
“Why did the black chess piece feel familiar when you saw it?”
“Why did you know The Night Watch Record was important the first time you saw it?”
“And why…”
The voice suddenly stopped.
The next second,
it said softly:
“How do you know the name Gu Shen?”
Su Nian didn’t answer.
But her head began to throb violently.
Countless fragmented images suddenly surged into her mind.
A long hallway.
A light flickering on and off.
A man standing in front of her.
In his hand…
was a black chess piece.
“Su Nian.”
“If one day you forget me,”
“don’t trust anyone.”
The image flashed.
Then vanished.
Su Nian suddenly clutched her head.
“Ah…”
Xiao Yu hurried over.
“Big sister!”
Su Nian didn’t answer.
Her vision began to blur.
But just before her consciousness sank into darkness,
she saw another person.
A completely different person.
He stood amid a sea of flowers.
Long black hair.
Pale golden eyes.
He looked at her quietly.
The man said nothing.
He only reached out his hand,
as if waiting for her to return.
Su Nian didn’t know who he was.
But the instant she saw him,
an indescribable pain suddenly spread through her chest.
As if…
she had been searching for him for a very long time.
So long
that even she had forgotten.