Opening the Door

Lin Qiye was truly exhausted.

Both mentally and physically.

He had never imagined that something like this would happen on his first day after transferring schools: encountering a monster, being betrayed by a classmate, fighting for his life, inexplicably opening his eyes, then having some superhero-looking uncle suddenly appear before he slipped away in secret...

Lin Qiye was not stupid. He knew that what he had experienced tonight definitely involved the hidden side of this world: the face-eating monster, the golden light that had emerged from his body, and the man who had taken down the monster single-handedly.

That man was no ordinary person. And judging by the way he had reported in through his radio, there had to be a massive organization behind him, one that might be hidden in the world and specialized in handling such bizarre incidents.

He had seen the light on Lin Qiye's body. Maybe he had even seen him kill the monster alone, which was why he wanted to recruit him...

It would be a lie to say he was not curious about the hidden side at all. He wanted to know what exactly he had encountered tonight, and what exactly had happened to him, but he did not want his curiosity to drag him into this vortex.

Some secrets, once known, made it impossible to ever get away.

He did not want to be some hero who protected humanity. What he wanted to protect...

Was only this family of his.

Before long, he sank into sleep.

The familiar mist descended once more.

Dream-Lin Qiye looked around and sighed helplessly. "Still refusing to let me go? I fight monsters when I'm awake, and when I'm asleep, I still have to come knock on doors. What a miserable life..."

Lin Qiye took two familiar steps, and soon the outline of a psychiatric hospital appeared before him.

On the ancient plaque to his right was engraved a line of large characters.

—Psychiatric Hospital of the Gods.

Lin Qiye stopped before the main gate and reached for the ring on it. The instant his fingertips touched the ring, the entire ground trembled faintly!

The surrounding mist suddenly began to churn.

Lin Qiye held the ring, completely dumbfounded.

What the hell? I haven't even knocked yet. Why is it already shaking?

It wasn't like this before, was it?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

Could it be because... he had opened his eyes today?

Lin Qiye lowered his head and looked at his body within the dream, his eyes gradually lighting up.

In the past, Lin Qiye's dream body had been translucent, as fragile as drifting mist.

But today, his body was clearly much more solid. Though it still lacked physical substance, it was no longer transparent.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the gate that had blocked him for five years, his gaze growing increasingly fervent.

Today... it might actually work!

He took a deep breath, gripped the ring tightly, and slammed it hard against the gate!

"Clang—!"

An ancient bell rang out from within the psychiatric hospital, several times louder than before. Fortunately, Lin Qiye had no physical body now, or his eardrums would surely have ached from the shock.

The moment the bell sounded, the entire psychiatric hospital began to shake violently again!

There was hope! Lin Qiye's eyes lit up.

"Clang—!"

"Clang—!!"

"Clang—!!!"

Lin Qiye did not stop. He struck it three more times in succession, and the psychiatric hospital shook as though an earthquake had hit it!

Finally, after the last knock, a loud crash sounded from within the psychiatric hospital, and then everything fell silent again...

Just as Lin Qiye was about to knock once more, the gate before him let out a dull creak and slowly began to move.

The door opened.

"Buzz—thud!"

Once the gate had fully opened, an ancient, dim corridor was revealed before Lin Qiye.

The corridor floor seemed to be made of some unknown material and gave off a faint glow. Burning clusters of light hung from the surrounding walls, mysterious and eerie.

Lin Qiye walked down the corridor, and before long, he reached a fork. Above it hung a sign with a distinctly modern feel.

"The wards are on the left, and the activity area is on the right..." Lin Qiye murmured as he looked at the sign. "Why is this layout exactly the same as the psychiatric hospital I stayed in back then?"

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Qiye entered the activity area first.

There were not many rooms in the activity area, but it had everything it should: a multimedia room for watching television and movies, a lounge for playing chess and relaxing, a study for reading and learning... There was even a circular open-air lawn inside the building, filled with all kinds of exercise equipment.

"It really is exactly the same. What a strange dream." Lin Qiye frowned and shook his head in confusion.

After looking around the activity area, he turned back and headed toward the ward section on the other side.

When he reached the entrance to the ward section, Lin Qiye suddenly stopped.

"This place... is different." Lin Qiye looked at the dark, monotonous corridor before him and muttered to himself.

He clearly remembered that Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital had several floors of wards. Though the facilities had not been especially advanced, they had at least been clean and tidy.

But the ward section before Lin Qiye had only one floor, and only six rooms.

The doors of those six rooms were covered in strange symbols and patterns, densely packed like some kind of seal. Just one glance made Lin Qiye dizzy.

Lin Qiye forcibly tore his gaze away from the doors, steadied himself, and looked elsewhere.

In the upper-right corner of the ward section hung an ancient doorplate. Each room had a different pattern on its doorplate.

For example, the doorplate of Ward One, where Lin Qiye was currently standing, bore the image of a large black circle.

The doorplate of Ward Two, meanwhile, depicted something that resembled both a staff and a pen.

Lin Qiye walked farther down the corridor until he reached the Sixth Ward, but he still could not make sense of the doorplates.

He stared at the eerie doors before him and fell into thought.

In this psychiatric hospital within his dream, only the ward section differed from the Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital he remembered.

Then did these wards truly contain patients?

Or, just as the name of this psychiatric hospital suggested, were the ones living inside... gods?

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Qiye slowly reached for the handle of the Sixth Ward.

It was not that Lin Qiye was reckless. On one hand, this was his dream, so even if something went wrong, it would not have much of an effect on him. On the other hand, he had knocked on the doors day after day for five years just to enter this psychiatric hospital. He did not want to leave in complete confusion.

And deep in his subconscious, he felt that perhaps this psychiatric hospital held some secret connected to him.

Otherwise, why was this place laid out exactly like the Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital where he had once lived?

Lin Qiye's hand slowly drew closer, his fingertips lightly touching the handle. A faintly cool sensation traveled through them.

There was no imagined repulsion or stabbing pain. His hand simply settled naturally around the handle.

Lin Qiye yanked hard!

The door did not budge.

He steadied himself and used all his strength to pull again!

It still did not move.

Lin Qiye gave up on that door and went to the entrance of the Fifth Ward, pulling hard on its door.

It still would not open.

The Fourth Ward, the Third Ward, the Second Ward...

Lin Qiye tried them one by one, but not a single door would open. Finally, he arrived at the entrance of the First Ward.

Certain that it would fail, Lin Qiye gave the door of the First Ward a hard pull.

"Crack—!"

A soft sound came from the handle. The complex lines and patterns carved into the door suddenly shattered, then gradually dissipated into the air.

Lin Qiye jumped in fright, retreating several steps as he stared fixedly ahead!

The door had opened.