60 Seconds

In the dim bathroom, Chen Ge sat alone in the bathtub, breathing repeatedly to expel the stale air remaining in his lungs.

Three forty-four a.m. was the point where night met dawn. He had only one chance, so he had to be cautious.

The house was quiet, and nothing stirred in the hallway. The monster in the mirror didn't seem to have come out.

Time passed second by second. Chen Ge set the electronic watch he'd specially brought over to one side. When the digits representing the time changed to forty-three, he focused intently, opened his mouth, and began to inhale slowly.

The candle flame flickered. Chen Ge's body gradually tilted downward, his eyes fixed on the electronic watch the entire time, his concentration deeper than ever.

When the digits on the screen changed again, Chen Ge didn't hesitate. He leaned back and lay down in the bathtub.

Three forty-four a.m.!

A chill seemed to come from every direction, swallowing him whole.

Holding his breath in the middle of the night was a strange sensation.

Absolute darkness, as if the world had been reduced to himself, sinking endlessly; absolute silence, with only the sounds from inside his body reaching his ears, his heart beating.

The cold stimulated every nerve. Chen Ge lay at the bottom of the bathtub, banishing all distractions as he silently counted his heartbeats.

"Sixty seconds. I just need to last sixty seconds."

He'd never experienced anything like this. The night and the air seemed to merge into one, and the faint candlelight was like a lighthouse drifting farther and farther away, while he seemed to sink ever deeper into the sea.

"One, two..."

After the first ten seconds, time seemed to slow considerably.

He heard the sound of running water. Darkness surrounded him on every side. Chen Ge silently recited his parents' names, maintaining his original position. He gripped the handle of the Kitchen Knife with both hands and let the ripples sway his body.

The oxygen in his lungs was slowly being used up. Chen Ge felt slightly uncomfortable, as though something heavy were pressing down on him.

"Fifteen, sixteen..."

Every heartbeat consumed oxygen in his lungs. As his heartbeat slowed, time seemed to slow as well, each second breaking into countless fragments.

The discomfort gradually intensified, as if a pair of hands were slowly pressing down on his neck, tightening their grip little by little.

Lying in the bathtub, Chen Ge opened his eyes. The night was so dark he couldn't see anything. It was as if he'd been locked away in another world.

Another three or four seconds passed. His face grew even more ghastly—not merely pale.

"How long have I held on? It should be almost over, right?"

Water droplets went drip, drip, as they ran past his ear. In the utter silence, a strange sound suddenly appeared.

It seemed to come from the hallway outside. Chen Ge didn't know why he could hear it so clearly. Perhaps the other party had deliberately made noise to distract him.

"Footsteps? Is someone pacing back and forth in the hallway?"

His slowed heartbeat began to quicken again, and his body tensed involuntarily. "Maybe the monster in the mirror has come for me. I hope the Dolls can hold it off. I'll finish the task in thirty seconds at most!"

His thoughts grew slower and slower, and a buzzing noise began to fill his ears. Chen Ge wasn't doing well. The footsteps in the hallway had put him on edge, but he gritted his teeth and refused to lose focus. He continued silently reciting his parents' names while counting his heartbeats.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine..."

There was no water around him, yet Chen Ge felt as though it were pouring into his ears, distorting the sounds. The footsteps grew more hurried. The other party seemed to be trying to get in.

A few seconds later, Chen Ge felt as if a boulder were crushing his chest. The veins in his neck slowly bulged, his hands and feet turned cold, and weakness washed over his body.

His brain was reacting more and more slowly. Chen Ge was now relying entirely on his willpower to hold on.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Without warning, something slammed into the door.

Chen Ge's heart leaped. Whatever was outside had lost patience!

Perhaps because a Ragdoll was positioned behind the door, the other party stopped after slamming into it three times and failing to open it. The pointless pounding ceased, and the house fell quiet again.

The situation was much the same as before. The only difference was Chen Ge himself. Under normal circumstances, he could easily hold his breath for a minute, but the footsteps in the hallway and the pounding on the door had made his heart race. A person used far more oxygen when tense.

He felt he was at his limit. The last trace of oxygen in his lungs had been wrung out, and every second was agony.

"Thirty-nine, forty..."

When he counted to forty, a wave of dizziness swept through Chen Ge's mind. His body could no longer keep counting.

Unable to spare any attention, he felt the suffocation growing ever more intense. His consciousness began to blur, and he couldn't remember much of anything. He could only instinctively think back to his parents.

Veins stood out against his pale skin, and the thick cords in his neck twitched. His fingers gradually loosened around the Kitchen Knife.

He felt he was on the brink of death. At the same time, he finally understood the line in the task.

When time reached the gap between night and dawn, he would be able to see the people he wanted to meet at the boundary between life and death.

The meaning was clear: at the moment day and night changed places, anyone on the verge of death could catch a glimpse of the other world!

Chen Ge stared without blinking at the bathroom ceiling. His pupils were unfocused, and everything drifted farther and farther away. He saw none of the people he wanted to meet. Before him was only darkness, a profound darkness that filled him with despair.

It felt as though his lungs were being squeezed flat, a suffocating oppression beyond description.

"No, if I keep this up, I might actually suffocate."

The forty-fourth minute of three a.m. was already more than halfway over, but the person Chen Ge wanted to see still hadn't appeared. He no longer clung to hope—or rather, he felt a sense of relief deep down. His parents hadn't appeared, which at least meant they were still alive.

His cold arms braced against the bottom of the bathtub. With the last sliver of reason he had left, he decided it was time to give up.

He pushed with both hands and was about to stop holding his breath when he suddenly sensed something was wrong!

Something covered his mouth and nose, stopping him from leaving.

His unfocused pupils shrank to pinpoints. Chen Ge stared at the space above him, where there was clearly nothing!

The Dolls had blocked off the bathroom door and the area around the bathtub. The monster in the mirror shouldn't have been able to get in. So who was responsible?

The veins in his neck stood taut. Chen Ge's face was terrifyingly pale. With life and death hanging in the balance, he summoned the last of his strength, gripped the Kitchen Knife, and swung it overhead and in front of him.

After being deprived of oxygen for so long, his body and will had reached their limits. He was like a spring stretched to the breaking point, ready to snap at any moment.

The Kitchen Knife swung up. In a daze, Chen Ge seemed to strike something. He heard a crisp "smack," and the force pressing down on him vanished instantly.

With nothing blocking him, Chen Ge sat up in the bathtub and gulped down air!