The elevator’s LCD screen displayed Wenren Lian’s death clearly for Jiang Luo to see.
Wenren Lian could have passed the level, but he chose death.
Jiang Luo’s expression kept shifting—it was hard to describe the feeling.
The elevator’s surveillance camera was aimed directly at him, as if watching with interest the way the black-haired youth’s face was changing. Even though Jiang Luo knew that Chi You might be watching his reaction from behind, he couldn’t stop his expression from changing.
He felt agitated—deeply conflicted.
Because Wenren Lian’s death was different from the previous three companions.
But it was also a choice Wenren Lian made himself. Jiang Luo couldn’t oppose it or stop it. Wenren Lian must have had his reasons.
At the very least, he died with a smile on his face.
But watching someone die right before his eyes, Jiang Luo still couldn’t suppress his discomfort.
Chi You was an evil ghost. He grew up in an environment full of malice. Everything dark and painful he had experienced dragged him into the abyss, soaking him in a filthy swamp.
In this process, he came to understand the law of the jungle—and this dream vividly embodied his deranged mental world. People struggled in a sea of suffering, becoming ugly in their fight with human nature. This was the world Chi You was most familiar with.
Jiang Luo was becoming increasingly aware of how dangerous this world really was.
Especially for kind people.
Soon, another companion’s figure appeared on the LCD screen: Kuang Zheng.
Perhaps because of Wenren Lian’s death acting as a buffer, Jiang Luo quickly calmed down and focused intently on Kuang Zheng’s every move.
Like Wenren Lian, Kuang Zheng had also stepped into a dream within a dream.
But unlike him, Kuang Zheng’s dream was warm and harmonious.
A small house was divided into several spaces by curtains. Jiang Luo knew Kuang Zheng had a younger sister, but this was the first time he learned that Kuang Zheng’s father was disabled.
On the bed, the thin middle-aged man had a left leg amputated at the root, and the muscles in his right leg were atrophied. He was trying hard to get off the bed, and Kuang Zheng’s little sister, face flushed, was doing her best to help him. Just beyond the curtain, at the door, Kuang Zheng’s mother was gently cooking.
After Father Kuang returned from the bathroom, sweating and leaning on his crutch, he stood behind Mother Kuang and watched her for a while. His face, though weathered, held a positive and relaxed expression as he smiled and said, “Making sweet pancakes this morning? Smells wonderful.”
Mother Kuang chuckled, “Your daughter stared longingly at a cake shop yesterday, nearly drooling. I was going to grit my teeth and buy her one to try, but she absolutely refused. So I thought, I’ll just make her some sweet pancakes at home—it’s all flour and sugar anyway, probably tastes about the same.”
Father Kuang turned to his daughter and gently patted her head. “You want cake? At the end of the month, your brother can take you to buy one.”
The little girl stared at the pancakes and swallowed hard. Her voice was childish but unusually considerate: “I don’t want cake, I want sweet pancakes.”
Father and Mother Kuang exchanged a look and smiled together.
The house was shabby and cramped, but the Kuang family kept it spotless. The window was open, letting in morning light. A few wildflowers sat on the windowsill, still dewy. The curtain was a handmade string of yarn bells from the sister.
The breeze made them chime melodiously—ding-a-ling, clink-clank.
Mother Kuang served the dishes on the table, where a vase of fresh forsythia stood.
The front door was opened for ventilation. Inside the home, the family of three laughed warmly together. The pain of poverty and the decay of life seemed defeated by their earnest respect for living, leaving not even a trace of darkness on their faces.
Jiang Luo was a little dazed watching this.
With a family like this, it was no wonder Kuang Zheng was such an honest person.
Kuang Zheng stood at the door, smiling as he watched this scene. His gaze was gentle. The parents and little sister inside saw him and quickly called him over for breakfast.
He walked in, sat beside his sister, and quietly lowered his head to eat. Kuang Zheng wasn’t one to speak much, but his hands silently passed things his family needed to them.
Everything was warm and beautiful.
But Jiang Luo knew that this warmth was sure to be broken.
Sure enough, a group of people soon broke into the Kuang home. They smashed the steaming dishes on the table, shoved the panicked parents to the ground, and tried to take Kuang Zheng’s sister.
“Wow, this little girl’s a looker. She’ll sell for a good price. Since your family has no money to pay off your debts, don’t blame us for taking your daughter!”
Father Kuang curled up on the floor in pain, and upon hearing this, grew both angry and anxious. “We’ve never owed anyone money!”
The thugs, armed with kitchen knives and axes, laughed carelessly, not caring what he said. After circling the house and seeing nothing worth stealing, their faces darkened.
“D*mn it, what bad luck! How can a family be this poor—what a waste of time!”
“Sh*t, nothing here. No wonder they dared to open the door and eat like that.”
“Brother Liu, should we move on to the next house?”
Brother Liu, irritated, said, “Take the girl. Let’s go.”
The sister screamed and struggled desperately, while Mother Kuang clung to the man’s leg and cried out, “Help! Somebody help! They’re kidnapping a child!”
Brother Liu, furious, kicked her. “You old hag, still yelling?!”
Kuang Zheng was being pinned to the floor by two of Brother Liu’s men. He struggled violently, finally flipping them off and snatching his sister back from Brother Liu.
Brother Liu sneered, “Boy, you going to stand against me?”
Kuang Zheng helped his parents up and pushed his sister behind them. He guardedly faced the intruders. “I won’t let you hurt my family.”
Brother Liu, clearly enraged, raised his kitchen knife. Kuang Zheng launched himself forward first and managed to seize Brother Liu’s arms and disarm him. Just then, he saw a line of text appear on the ceiling:
[Close the door and leave. You’ll pass this level and reach the 18th floor.]
Leave?
Kuang Zheng froze, staring blankly at the words.
Was it telling him to just stand by while his family was humiliated—and pretend it never happened?
He was silent for a brief moment, then resumed his actions.
Even if he knew it was all fake… he just couldn’t stand by and do nothing…
***
Jiang Luo closed his eyes. He could already guess Kuang Zheng’s ending.
Moments later, he opened them—and indeed saw Kuang Zheng’s body pierced with kitchen knives and axes, dead.
Like Wenren Lian, Kuang Zheng also chose death—but both of them died with satisfied smiles on their faces.
Jiang Luo’s heart was already calm.
He patiently waited for Ye Xun to appear.
Soon after, the monitor showed what happened when Ye Xun entered the elevator.
Ye Xun’s ending was the same as Wenren Lian and Kuang Zheng’s. In order to protect his dying mother, he refused the opportunity to reach the eighteenth floor, and died within the illusion.
Jiang Luo didn’t know why Chi You wanted him to watch this live broadcast, just as he didn’t know whether he felt frustrated by his companions’ stubborn adherence to their values—even at the cost of their lives—or secretly pleased.
Jiang Luo pressed his lips together. After the monitor went dark, he quietly waited for his own dream within a dream to begin.
From what happened to Wenren Lian, Kuang Zheng, and Ye Xun, it was clear that what each person saw in the elevator was their most terrifying inner nightmare. Wenren Lian saw the return of the stepfather he had killed, Kuang Zheng saw his beloved family being destroyed, and Ye Xun faced his mother’s death.
From another perspective, these scenes were also the deepest desires in their hearts.
Wenren Lian wanted to be sure his stepfather was completely dead, Kuang Zheng wanted to protect his family, and Ye Xun wished to save his mother.
So, what each of them saw was a vision woven from fear and desire?
Jiang Luo seemed to realize something. He was prepared to see that pair of garbage parents of his.
A few seconds later, the elevator doors slowly opened.
Jiang Luo lifted his eyelids and glanced out lazily—but when he saw what was outside the elevator, his eyelid twitched.
It wasn’t those garbage parents he saw.
It was Chi You, slumped in the corner, on the verge of death.
Chi You was only two or three meters away from him, leaning against the wall, head hanging low, his life or death uncertain.
His long legs stretched across nearly the entire elevator corridor. One pale hand pressed against his abdomen, the other dangled powerlessly at his side. Blood streamed from his wrist, soaking a large patch of floor.
His usually immaculate suit was slightly disheveled. Jiang Luo could only see Chi You’s pale jawline and bloodless lips.
The blood beneath him looked like a rotting flower blooming on the floor. Even in this weakened state, the evil ghost slumped in the corner had a contradictory yet irresistible allure.
His posture was wretched, yet strangely elegant and captivating. Dangerous, yet enticing.
It was as if the moment someone approached, they’d find the evil ghost had never truly lost consciousness. His eerie dark eyes would snap open with a twisted, icy smile, waiting for them to step right into his trap.
But it also seemed like he had lost all awareness—inviting others to do whatever they pleased.
Like torment him, tame him or kill him….
Jiang Luo’s throat bobbed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.
Once he recovered, his expression grew odd.
If his earlier assumption was correct—if everyone saw a hallucination of their deepest fears and desires—then what did it mean that he saw Chi You?
Was his greatest fear Chi You’s death?
His deepest desire… to do whatever he wanted to Chi You, or become Chi You’s savior?
Jiang Luo: “…”
He shivered.
Impossible.
How could that be?
At that moment, the blood on the floor beneath Chi You slowly formed a familiar line of text:
[Ignore him. Close the door and leave, and you can pass this level to reach the eighteenth floor.]
Jiang Luo didn’t hesitate for even a second. He immediately pressed the “close door” button in the elevator. Worried it was too slow, he jabbed the button four or five more times in a row.
The elevator doors slowly shut, carrying the black-haired youth toward the eighteenth floor.
And the evil ghost sitting against the wall outside slowly lifted his head.
His tightly closed eyes opened, watching the ascending elevator. His lips curved upward slowly, and he casually rested his arm on his knee.
The blood beneath him was gradually absorbed into the floor. The evil ghost lazily wiped the blood off his hand, his eyes gleaming like a serpent flicking its tongue.
“Not even a second of hesitation. Just left, huh?”
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