The girl's face appeared even more ethereal and otherworldly, accentuated by the vivid crimson of her outfit that seemed to glow faintly against the surrounding darkness. Her long black hair floated and fluttered around her as though stirred by an unseen wind that existed only for her. Zhang Ya stood directly in front of Chen Ge, so close that less than thirty centimeters separated their faces. The cold radiating from her body seeped through his clothes and skin like icy water poured directly into his veins. His lips quickly turned purple, and small clouds of breath escaped with every shallow exhale as the temperature around him plummeted.
Even the man who claimed he feared nothing felt genuine fear coil tightly around his heart in that moment. Instinctively, every fiber of his being urged him to lean backward, to put distance between himself and the red-dressed specter. But he found himself completely unable to move. The crying-face candy he had swallowed seemed to have melted into a flowing river of ice inside his bloodstream, freezing his blood vessels, locking his muscles, and rooting him in place as though his body had turned to stone.
A spirit's desperate cry for help surged through his veins like a second heartbeat. Waves of negative energy gathered and pressed around his heart, constricting it like a pair of invisible hands squeezing with merciless force. The candy was impossible to swallow now; it lodged in his throat, choking him. Chen Ge felt the air being squeezed from his lungs, darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision as though he might faint from lack of oxygen.
Zhang Ya moved toward him with agonizing slowness, her presence radiating pure, unrelenting cold. She finally stopped directly in front of him. That face—beautiful yet utterly without warmth—hovered so close that Chen Ge could feel the chill radiating from her skin. Her beauty was overwhelming, breathtaking, the kind that could stop the breath in a person's throat and leave them frozen in awe and terror.
His throat refused to produce any sound. The candy had fully melted now, its bitter-sweet taste spreading across his tongue like poison. Chen Ge could feel a powerful spirit surging and coiling within his own body, fighting for control. Looking at Zhang Ya—now only six centimeters away—his calves began to quiver involuntarily, small tremors that spread upward through his legs despite his best efforts to stay steady.
This is not what I had in mind at all! Someone stop her! The thought screamed inside his skull, raw and panicked.
Perhaps the title of "Specter's Favored" finally activated in that desperate moment, because the blind, wounded monster—still reeling from the Pen Spirit's attack—suddenly surged forward at full speed. Its thin, serpentine body slithered and writhed across the floor like a giant snake desperate to reclaim its prey. Its bony, shriveled hands clamped onto Chen Ge's shoulders with bruising force. The lower half of its elongated body arced upward, coiling and preparing to leap onto his back and claim him completely.
The sharp pain exploding from his shoulders snapped Chen Ge out of his fear-induced trance. He whipped his head around to look at the monster—and, in that split second, gave it an appreciative nod. A small, grim acknowledgment of gratitude.
Appreciation?
The gesture seemed to offend the monster deeply. The head that hung high above suddenly went mad with rage. It abandoned any intention of confronting Zhang Ya directly and instead chose a vulnerable spot on Chen Ge's neck to bite. The twisted human head opened its jaws impossibly wide—but stopped abruptly half a meter from its target.
It wasn't that the monster wanted to stop. It was forced to.
In the darkness, long strings of bloody hair had whipped out like living ropes and bound its body tightly, wrapping around its thin limbs and elongated torso. The monster screamed in fury and glared resentfully at Zhang Ya. It had not attacked her earlier—not out of fear—but that did not mean it respected her power.
The three monsters quickly communicated in some silent, unspoken way. Their focus shifted instantly to Zhang Ya. Chen Ge did not know exactly what she intended to do, but he saw her beautiful face suddenly drop into an expression of pure, murderous intent. Her black hair drilled forward like thousands of needles, piercing directly into the monster's body. Her slender arms reached out, gripped the creature's head with terrifying strength, and slammed it violently against the nearest wall.
The monster wailed for the second time that night. The first had come when Chen Ge drove the Pen Spirit's pen into its eye. This second scream was deeper, more guttural, filled with genuine agony.
This is so cruel, Chen Ge thought, watching in stunned silence.
As Zhang Ya began her brutal assault on the monster, the suffocating chill that had paralyzed Chen Ge finally eased enough for him to move. He quickly stepped backward, putting distance between himself and the fight. The screaming spirit inside his body weakened as the crying-face candy continued to dissolve completely on his tongue. The cold around his eyes receded slightly, and his vision sharpened once more. He could see clearly in the darkness again, every detail of the corridor and the battle standing out in sharp relief.
The three monsters now fought desperately against Zhang Ya. Her red outfit blazed like fresh blood in the darkness, a vivid signal of her burning anger and bottomless resentment. It looked as though she intended to tear the creatures apart piece by piece and consume whatever remained.
Ten minutes later, the corridor had become a scene of absolute slaughter. The monsters were increasingly wounded—limbs torn, bodies shredded, their once-cohesive forms fraying at the edges. When they remained joined to their human hosts, these thin monsters were at their strongest. Detached from their anchors, however, their power weakened dramatically. Even with the advantage of numbers, they could do almost nothing against Zhang Ya's overwhelming force.
The difference in power is so huge? Chen Ge stared in disbelief. The thin monster had been the most terrifying ghost he had ever personally encountered—until now. He had initially assumed it would be a near-equal match for Zhang Ya. Clearly, he had underestimated her strength by an enormous margin.
She is definitely unique, he realized. To have earned her own dedicated page inside the black phone, she must be far beyond ordinary ghosts.
Chen Ge tightened his grip on the cleaver, refusing to let his guard down even for a second. At most, Western Jiujiang Private Academy had been a three-star scenario—but after witnessing Zhang Ya's dominance here, he now suspected it had only truly been a two-star threat. As a ghost born from that academy, she was effortlessly handling monsters from the genuine three-star Third Sick Hall. This could only mean one thing: something far scarier than the thin monster still hid somewhere deeper inside this wing. Something that had yet to reveal itself.
"You cannot tell me anything more?" Chen Ge asked, his voice low and careful as he watched the boy closely. The child's presence filled the room with an oppressive weight that made every breath feel heavier.
"I can only say that this world is the reflection of human beings' darkest secrets," the boy replied slowly, his voice carrying an eerie calm that did not match his young appearance. "It is filled with sin and terror. It is similar to the real world but fundamentally different—just like day and night." With those words, he turned and walked toward the open doorway. The red shirt he wore was blinding in its intensity, appearing almost liquid, as though fresh blood were continuously dripping down the fabric and pooling at his feet with every step.
"I still have two more questions," Chen Ge called out quickly. "Don't move so fast." He hurried forward, his agility returning fully now that the blood vessels that had previously invaded his limbs had mysteriously withdrawn and vanished. The strange paralysis that had gripped him earlier was gone, leaving only the lingering chill in his veins as a reminder.
The boy stopped and slowly turned around. His empty eye sockets fixed on Chen Ge with unnerving focus. "Aren't you afraid of me?" The question hung between them, simple yet loaded with unspoken threat.
"I am," Chen Ge admitted honestly, meeting that hollow gaze without flinching. "But I have questions that need answers." The appearance of Men Nan's real, original persona carried enormous significance for Chen Ge. "I want to ask about someone. Your second persona refers to him as Doctor Chen."
"Haven't heard of him," the boy answered flatly, without hesitation or emotion.
"Your second persona once told me that you returned to the Third Sick Hall because you were invited by two individuals," Chen Ge pressed gently. "One was the old director, and the other was this Doctor Chen." His tone grew more earnest, almost pleading. "This man is very important to me. He might be part of my missing family."
Perhaps the word "family" touched something deep within the boy. He slowly shifted his empty gaze away from Chen Ge, as though the subject carried weight even he could not fully ignore. "This Doctor Chen is very common-looking but has a special pair of eyes," he said after a long pause. "He's similar to you—the exact type of person that I detest."
"That's all?" Chen Ge asked, momentarily speechless before pressing forward with his second question. "This door that connects the two worlds—how can I close it completely and permanently?"
"Very simple," the boy answered with a small, chilling smile. "Keep a living person behind the door and ask him to guard it for you."
"What kind of solution is that?" Chen Ge demanded, frustration rising in his voice. He wanted to ask more—about the door's origin, about the boy's long imprisonment, about the monsters—but the child vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only the echo of his final words hanging in the crimson air. "Is he deliberately hiding important information from me?"
Chen Ge immediately worried that the boy might seek out Zhang Ya and provoke a dangerous confrontation. Without hesitation, he hurried after the child, unwilling to let him disappear completely.
After stepping out of the electroshock therapy room, Chen Ge realized the boy had not gone far. He stood only a short distance down the corridor, his small brows deeply knitted together. His dark, empty eyes stared fixedly forward at something farther ahead.
The red on the old man's coat had almost completely faded, leaving only faint crimson stains across what remained of his form. His body was barely recognizable as human anymore—torn and shredded, held together by the thinnest threads of lingering will. Zhang Ya's black hair surrounded him like a living cage, tightening with every passing second. In just a few more moments, he would disappear entirely.
"Leave me the old man's body," the boy said suddenly, his voice small but carrying unmistakable menace. "And I'll let you go."
Zhang Ya's slender finger danced lightly over her blood-bright lips in a gesture that was both playful and terrifying. She did not acknowledge the boy's demand at all. Instead, she placed one delicate foot on the director's broken, fading body and slowly turned her head toward the child. Her gaze settled on him with predatory focus, as though she had just spotted a new, intriguing ingredient for her next meal.