The computer went black.
Nobody moved.
The silence that followed was worse than the message itself.
CHOOSE WHO YOU TRUST.
The words were gone now, but Lin Xia could still see them.
Not on the screen.
In her head.
She looked at Yue Ning.
Then Mei Chen.
Then Bai Shuying.
For the first time since they had entered Room 318, Lin Xia didn't immediately know what to say.
Because the message wasn't asking them to solve a puzzle.
It wasn't challenging them to a game.
It wasn't threatening punishment.
It was doing something much more dangerous.
It was putting the four of them against one another without giving them a reason.
Mei Chen slowly stepped away from the computer.
"Don't look at me like that."
Yue Ning frowned.
"Like what?"
"Like you're wondering whether I'm hiding something."
Yue Ning's expression hardened.
"I wasn't."
"You were."
"I was looking at the computer."
"No, you weren't."
"Stop."
Lin Xia's voice cut through them.
Both girls stopped.
Lin Xia stared at the dead screen.
"That's what it wants."
Mei Chen went quiet.
Lin Xia pointed at the computer.
"It doesn't need to lie to us."
She looked at Bai.
"It just needs to make us wonder whether one of us is lying."
Bai's face remained unreadable.
Lin Xia continued.
"Once we start suspecting each other, it doesn't have to control anything anymore."
The old room seemed to become smaller around them.
The scratched numbers on the wall.
The abandoned projector.
The three names that no longer existed.
The recording from twelve years ago.
All of it suddenly felt connected.
Yue Ning whispered,
"So the message is the trap."
Lin Xia shook her head.
"No."
She looked toward the locked door.
"The message is the invitation."
Mei Chen stared at her.
"To what?"
Lin Xia didn't answer.
Because at that exact moment—
click.
The door behind them unlocked.
All three girls turned.
Nobody had touched it.
The handle moved slightly.
Then stopped.
Bai looked at the door.
Her expression changed.
"Don't open it."
Lin Xia looked at her.
"Why?"
Bai didn't answer.
The handle moved again.
Click.
This time, the door opened by itself.
Only a few centimeters.
The corridor outside was completely normal.
Students walked past.
Someone laughed.
A classroom door slammed somewhere down the hall.
Everything looked ordinary.
That was what frightened Lin Xia most.
The game hadn't opened some dark passage.
It hadn't revealed a monster.
It had simply opened the door and waited.
As if it knew they would eventually walk through.
Lin Xia looked at Bai.
"You've seen this before."
Bai's eyes stayed on the doorway.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Yue Ning's head snapped toward her.
"You've been here before?"
Bai finally looked at them.
"Yes."
"And you never told us?"
"I didn't know I would remember."
Mei Chen stared at her.
"What does that even mean?"
Bai's answer was almost a whisper.
"I remembered the room."
She looked at the old walls.
"But I forgot what happened inside."
Lin Xia's eyes narrowed.
"Until now?"
Bai shook her head.
"No."
She looked at the open doorway.
"Until you brought me back."
The four of them stood in silence.
Then the projector turned on.
Nobody touched it.
A blue glow filled the room.
One sentence appeared.
OBSERVATION CONTINUES.
The screen flickered.
FOUR SUBJECTS.
Another flicker.
ONE WILL BREAK.
Mei Chen's face tightened.
"That's enough."
She grabbed her bag.
"We're leaving."
She walked toward the door.
Lin Xia caught her wrist.
"Wait."
Mei Chen looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because it wants us to run."
"Then what do you suggest?"
Lin Xia looked at the projector.
"We walk out normally."
Yue Ning nodded.
"Don't give it the reaction it's expecting."
Bai stared at Lin Xia.
"You really think you can control the situation?"
"No."
Lin Xia released Mei Chen's wrist.
"I just don't want it controlling our decisions."
They walked out together.
The projector remained on behind them.
And just before Lin Xia crossed the doorway, she heard a faint electronic sound.
A notification.
She turned.
The screen had changed.
Only she could see the final message.
PRIMARY VARIABLE — LIN XIA
OBSERVATION LEVEL: INCREASED
Then:
DO NOT ALLOW SUBJECT TO EXIT.
The screen went black.
Lin Xia stood frozen.
Yue Ning noticed.
"What?"
Lin Xia looked at her.
For half a second, she considered telling them.
Then she remembered the message.
CHOOSE WHO YOU TRUST.
She said nothing.
And that was the first mistake the system had been waiting for.