Breath Holding

"You're a lucky Ghost Favored, and your courage is astonishing. This nightmare mission is both a test and a reward!"

"The game below is called Breath Holding. It can take you across the divide between life and death, letting you see someone who has passed away."

"Mission requirements: At 3:30 a.m., enter the bathroom alone, lock the door, and turn off the lights. Light a candle nearby, then lie in the bathtub and hold your breath."

"From 3:30 to 3:44 a.m., the night is at its darkest. It is also the point when yin and yang shift. At 3:44, you must hold your breath, sink to the bottom of the tub, and silently repeat the name of the person you most want to see."

"When the time comes to the narrow gap between night and dawn, you'll be able to see him on the boundary between life and death."

"See the person you miss, and the mission is a success. If you still haven't seen him, the mission will automatically succeed after you hold your breath for sixty seconds."

After reading the mission details on the Black Phone, Chen Ge felt conflicted.

Compared with the first nightmare mission, this one seemed much simpler. Keeping his eyes closed for thirty minutes in a terrifying setting would require strong nerves and exceptional courage, while most people could hold their breath for sixty seconds.

But it was precisely because most people could do it that he felt uneasy. This was a nightmare-level mission, after all, so there had to be some unknown danger lurking within it.

"Just like the last nightmare mission, this one takes place in a bathroom. The difference is, this time I have to lie in a bathtub and hold my breath for sixty seconds." He carefully considered the entire process. Including the preparation, it would only take a little over ten minutes. What terrifying thing could happen in such a short time?

Chen Ge was tempted, not only because the mission seemed relatively simple, but also because of one line in its description: it could take him across the divide between life and death, letting him see someone he missed who had passed away.

The more dangerous the situation, the calmer Chen Ge became. Sitting in a chair, he considered a possibility.

His parents had disappeared at an abandoned hospital in the suburbs, leaving behind the Black Phone and a Ragdoll. He had activated the Black Phone just as he was preparing to give up on the Haunted House.

During the first nightmare mission, the Ragdoll became key to stopping the Mirror Monster from coming out. What was worth pondering was that both the Ragdoll and the Black Phone were keepsakes from his parents. Could they have deliberately left those things behind?

If they really had arranged everything, then there was more to this second nightmare mission than met the eye.

"Could they be trying to see me this way, and tell me more?" Of course, this was only Chen Ge's guess. In any case, whether or not his parents had arranged the nightmare missions, he would still take this one.

For Chen Ge, crossing the divide between life and death to see someone he longed for was a chance to find out whether his parents still existed in this world.

If he didn't see them, that meant they were merely missing and still alive.

If he did, it would prove his first guess: his parents had left the Black Phone because they had something to tell him. Perhaps the phone held their true final message.

"Looks like I don't have a choice." Chen Ge glanced at the clock. It was 2:55 a.m., and the mission would begin in thirty-five minutes. "I wasted too much time smashing the mirrors on the third floor. This is going to be tricky."

The mission required him to lie in a bathtub and hold his breath, but the only room in the entire Haunted House with a bathtub was inside the Midnight Escape scene.

At the end of the employee passage was a room with a bathtub. When he had scared He Shan and the others earlier, Chen Ge had gone in and out of the scene through there.

"With only thirty-five minutes left, there's no way I can find a hotel with a bathtub. I'll just have to face the monster in the mirror head-on." Once Chen Ge had made up his mind, he didn't hesitate. He put all four Ragdolls on him, ran out of the Haunted House, and sneaked into the Paradise Park staff cafeteria in the middle of the night. He came back with two kitchen knives.

"These kitchen knives may never have butchered pigs or sheep, but I've seen the Chef use them to kill chickens and fish, so I guess they've taken lives." He held the blades near his nose and sniffed. There was no trace of bloodlust, only a strong smell of green peppers that made his eyes water.

Back at the Haunted House, Chen Ge carried an iron bucket, ready to fetch water from the bathroom. Then he remembered what the phone had said. "The mission is called Breath Holding. It says to lie in the bathtub, but it never says I have to fill it with water. I should only need to hold my breath."

The front entrance to the Midnight Escape scene was locked, so Chen Ge went in through the employee passage. Following the Black Phone's instructions, he stood alone in the bathroom.

Chen Ge had already smashed the mirror in this room. Shards covered the floor, crunching beneath his feet.

"I made a lot of noise just now. The monster in the mirror should know I'm here, but it doesn't matter. I only need to last through that one minute holding my breath to be safe."

As Chen Ge saw it, the mission was strange, but not all that dangerous.

He locked the bathroom door from the inside and set the Ragdoll his parents had left him behind it. Then he placed the four Ragdolls, each holding a victim's Lingering Spirit, around the bathtub.

"Everyone, I'm counting on you. Whatever happens, buy me one minute!"

As before, he opened his phone's camera and set it at a suitable angle to record. But the room was so dark that the screen showed almost nothing. He could barely make out a figure.

With three minutes left, Chen Ge took everything out of his pockets and set it on the sink. Following the Black Phone's instructions, he lit a candle beside the bathtub.

The wavering candlelight became the room's only source of illumination, shining on the shards of mirror scattered across the floor. Chen Ge's reflection appeared in every shard.

He took off his shirt and walked over to the bathtub.

The tub was clearly shallow, but the light was so dim that he couldn't see its bottom at a glance.

He reached into the tub. Though there was no water, a chill crept up his body from his fingertips, making him shiver. "This mission is seriously creepy."

After checking the time one last time, Chen Ge climbed into the bathtub with the two kitchen knives in hand.

As he settled in, he felt a chill. It was as if something had spilled out and begun flowing over the mirror shards.

"So cold..."

Chen Ge felt the warmth drain rapidly from his body. Even his heartbeat slowed.

Water dripped steadily from the edge of the sink. Other than that, the room was silent.

"One minute. If I can last just one minute, I'll get a reward and confirm my suspicion!"

Chen Ge kept adjusting his breathing as he waited for 3:44 a.m.