Knocking on the Door

Back in his room, Lin Qiye closed the door.

He did not turn on the light.

It was already late at night. Faint starlight from outside the window spilled across the floor. In the dark room, Lin Qiye sat before his desk and slowly removed the Black Ribbon Blindfold from his eyes.

The mirror on the desk reflected the face of a handsome young man.

Lin Qiye was very good-looking. If he took off the black ribbon over his eyes, tidied himself up a little, and paired that with his inexplicably aloof and unfathomable aura, he would definitely be handsome enough to be the school heartthrob.

Unfortunately, the black ribbon had covered his eyes all year round, and his identity as a disabled person had completely concealed his brilliance.

In the mirror, Lin Qiye's eyes were closed.

His brows furrowed slightly. The eyelids covering his eyes trembled as though he were desperately trying to open them. Even his hands clenched into fists with effort.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

His body trembled for a long while before he finally could not endure it any longer. He suddenly relaxed and gasped for breath.

A few drops of sweat slid down Lin Qiye's cheeks, and anger appeared between his brows.

So close... just a little more!

Why was he always just a little short?

When would he be able to open his eyes again and see this world for himself?

He had said he could see now. He had lied.

His eyes simply could not open, not even by the tiniest crack.

But he had not lied, either.

Because even with his eyes closed, he could clearly "see" everything around him.

The feeling was strange, as if every inch of his body had grown eyes. He could perceive everything from every angle without a single blind spot, and he saw more clearly and farther than he ever had with his own eyes.

At first, he could not do this. During the first five years after he went blind, he had been no different from any other truly blind person. He could only use sound and the cane in his hand to perceive the world.

But for some reason, starting five years ago, his eyes seemed to have undergone some changes, and he had gradually begun to sense his surroundings.

At first, it had only extended a few centimeters in front of him. Later, as time passed, he could "see" farther and more clearly. Five years later, his range had reached ten meters.

If an ordinary person could only see ten meters, their eyes would practically be useless. But to a young man who had once lost the light, those ten meters meant everything.

Most importantly, the ten meters he could "see" ignored all obstacles.

In other words, within ten meters of Lin Qiye, he possessed absolute vision. Put crudely, he had X-ray vision. Put more grandly, he could see every speck of dust drifting through the air, every component inside a machine, every tiny movement a magician made beneath the table...

And the source of this ability seemed to be the eyes that had remained shut beneath the black ribbon for ten years.

Despite possessing this nearly supernatural power, Lin Qiye was still not satisfied. Having absolute vision within ten meters was certainly useful, but he wanted even more to use his own eyes to see this world for himself.

It was a young man's stubbornness.

Although he had failed to open his eyes today, he could clearly sense...

The day he truly opened them was not far away.

After washing up, Lin Qiye went to bed early as usual. So many years of living as a blind person had not been entirely bad; at least, he had developed the good habit of going to bed early.

But the moment he lay down, that scene surfaced in his mind again.

Beneath the dark vault of the cosmos lay the silent surface of the moon. The gray-white ground reflected bleak starlight, and at the center of the highest, largest lunar crater stood a figure like a statue.

That figure stood there silently, as though it had existed since time immemorial. Sacred golden radiance bloomed around it, and its divine majesty was enough to make all living things prostrate themselves.

Behind him, six enormous feathered wings spread open, blocking the sunlight shining from behind and casting a massive shadow across the silver-gray ground.

But what had truly been branded into Lin Qiye's mind, impossible to dispel, were His eyes.

Those eyes, filled with divine majesty and burning brightly like furnaces, were as blinding as the sun at close range!

The moment he saw those eyes, his world had been left with nothing but night.

Ten years ago, he had spoken the truth, only to be diagnosed with mental illness.

But he knew better than anyone what was real and what was delusion.

Ever since seeing the Seraph on the moon, he had known that this world... was far from as simple as it appeared.

Gradually, Lin Qiye fell into a deep sleep.

What he did not know was that the instant he entered his dreams, two strands of dazzling golden light shot from the slits of his eyes in the dark room, then vanished in a flash.

Tap, tap, tap...

In a world of mist, Lin Qiye walked alone.

The fog around him churned endlessly. Though he was clearly walking through the void, each time Lin Qiye set his foot down, a crisp collision rang out, as if there were invisible ground beneath his feet.

Lin Qiye lowered his head and looked at himself, then sighed.

"Another one of these dreams... Knocking on the door every night is exhausting, you know?" Lin Qiye shook his head helplessly and stepped forward.

The next moment, the surrounding mist rolled back, revealing a modern building of bizarre design before Lin Qiye.

It was bizarre because, though it was clearly a modern-style building, certain details were steeped in an air of mystery.

For example, the massive iron gates carved with a sky full of gods; the electric lamps that burned like fireballs; the engraved tiles floating beneath his feet...

It was as though modern architectural styles had been mixed with elements of ancient mythological temples. It was neither here nor there, yet possessed an indescribable beauty.

Lin Qiye recognized this sort of building, and it looked very familiar.

It was extremely similar to the Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital where he had once lived for a year. The strongest proof was that where the words "Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital" had once been written above the entrance, there was now another line of text.

—Psychiatric Hospital of the Gods.

"What a baffling place." Lin Qiye shook his head and walked forward until he stood directly before the massive iron gates.

Five years ago, it was not only his body that had suddenly begun to change. His dreams had changed as well.

For five years, he had dreamed the same dream every night, and the protagonist of those dreams was this mysterious Psychiatric Hospital of the Gods.

But the gates of this psychiatric hospital had always remained tightly shut, impossible to open no matter what he did.

Lin Qiye had circled the psychiatric hospital countless times. There was only one entrance: the massive iron gates at the front. The surrounding walls were not particularly high, but the most absurd thing was that whenever Lin Qiye jumped, the walls would grow taller as well.

As for brute force... even if Lin Qiye smashed his entire body to pieces against them, those massive iron gates would not so much as budge.

There seemed to be only one way inside.

Knock on the door.

Lin Qiye grabbed the ring on the massive iron gates, took a deep breath, and slammed it heavily against the iron surface.

Clang—!

A sound like the hum of an ancient bell echoed through the psychiatric hospital. The gates shook and swayed, but did not open.

Clang—!

He struck them again, but the gates still did not open.

Lin Qiye did not seem surprised by this, nor did he get angry. He patiently continued knocking.

Over the past five years, he had come to deeply understand the rules of this dream. Other than knocking, no other method could open the massive iron gates. And in this dream, apart from knocking on the door... he seemed unable to do anything else.

Fortunately, he would not grow tired in the dream. Otherwise, his body would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

And so, like a diligent laborer, Lin Qiye conscientiously spent another night knocking on the door...