Zzz...

"Madam, would you please repeat what you just said?"

Zzz...

Zzz...

"...Okay, but please... please don't tell anyone, especially my husband, and my daughter!"

"I understand. Then... can we begin?"

"It all started with a phone call.

The call was from my sister, three nights ago.

She sounded strange, her teeth were chattering, and her voice was squeezed out of her throat bit by bit.

I asked her if she was feeling unwell, but she didn't answer. She just kept repeating a dream she'd been having."

"A dream?"

"Yes, a dream.

She said that recently she kept dreaming that she woke up at night, got out of bed, walked down the stairs from the attic where she lived, and finally stopped in front of the basement door.

It felt so real, especially real, real to the point that... it didn't feel like a dream."

"But your sister still described it as a dream. Why?"

"Because... there's no basement in her house!

What's even scarier is that when she faced that strange door, she felt an urge to open it."

"And then?"

"She's gone. She disappeared the night she called me."

"So, you came to me today because..."

"Doctor Jiang!"

"Yes... please go on."

"I dreamed of a door too, just yesterday."

......

Turning off the recording pen in his hand, silence fell in the small room.

Jiang Cheng sat at his desk, his eyes lowered. On the desk was a copy of that day's Rong City Evening News.

"Missing Person Notice: Hu Yan, female, 47 years old, 160 cm tall, rectangular face, fair skin, recently lost after leaving home late at night on the 13th due to poor mental state, wearing a light pink silk pajamas when lost, hoping anyone with information..."

His gaze skipped over the contact information. To the left of the missing person notice was a photo, a photo of a woman of a certain age.

The woman who came to him yesterday and left the recording.

Jiang Cheng wasn't in the habit of reading the newspaper. The newspaper was brought by the police, about an hour ago.

Based on clues, they knew that Hu Yan had been here the day before she disappeared.

He truthfully stated Hu Yan's mental state and the story she told him.

He also handed over the recording, which he had left with Hu Yan's permission.

After taking the statement, the two police officers, a man and a woman, left with the recording. The female officer with the neat ponytail couldn't help but look back at Jiang Cheng a few more times.

This man, about her age, seemed too calm, whether he was being questioned or telling that bizarre story.

After politely getting up to see them off, Jiang Cheng sat back in his seat.

The crisp sound of keyboard taps rang out from time to time, everything was proceeding normally and orderly.

The night deepened, and the distant neon lights lit up one by one.

Jiang Cheng glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer screen, stood up, walked to the door of the studio, first closed the glass door outside, then closed the door inside, and then locked it.

After doing all this, he took the time to make himself a cup of coffee.

Holding the coffee cup, he walked to the sofa and sat down.

The sofa was prepared for customers who came to his studio. Madam Hu Yan yesterday, and the two police officers an hour ago, had both sat here.

The originally shiny sofa leather had become dull, and wrinkles had appeared on the armrests.

Jiang Cheng reached into the gap between the armrest and the sofa, and skillfully took out a recording pen.

The indicator light representing activation was on. After slightly fiddling with it, the voices of the police officers began to be heard.

Followed by his own voice.

Jiang Cheng listened while taking small sips of coffee.

After finishing a cup of coffee, the conversation between the police officers and him also ended. Until he got up from the sofa, there was no special expression on his face.

He hung the coffee cup, washed with clean water, upside down on the drying rack, wiped his hands dry, and walked towards the desk.

He picked up the recording pen while passing by the sofa.

Business hasn't been good recently. The recording before this was the woman named Hu Yan. Jiang Cheng had a deep impression of her.

Although the story she told was bizarre, Jiang Cheng, who had come into contact with a considerable number of patients with mild to moderate delusional disorders, was more concerned with the integrity of the story.

In his opinion, unlike ordinary patients who exaggerated a certain difference in results in order to gain the attention of others, and thus blurred or even ignored the details.

Hu Yan's description was relatively complete, and the details were also well handled. In Hu Yan's own dream, she even remembered stepping on her daughter's plush slippers when she went downstairs.

The police visit also brought some new information to Jiang Cheng.

In their communication, they vaguely mentioned that they suspected Madam Hu Yan's disappearance was related to a relative, and in Hu Yan's story, her sister disappeared before her.

Confirming each other, the disappearance of Hu Yan's sister should be credible.

Furthermore, the missing person notice posted by Hu Yan's family stated that Hu Yan only wore pajamas when she left home late at night, and they were thin silk pajamas.

In the late autumn season, Jiang Cheng, based on his own understanding of the person involved, felt that she didn't seem like the type of person who would do such a stupid thing.

Combined with Hu Yan's bizarre disappearance, and her sister who disappeared before her, Jiang Cheng felt that this matter was not so simple.

Therefore......

Therefore......

In order to save brain cells for dealing with possible business tomorrow, and to conserve the collagen on his face, Jiang Cheng hastily went to sleep after applying a facial mask.

His studio was divided into two floors. The first floor was used to receive customers, and the attic upstairs naturally became his living space.

It was about 30 square meters, but he forcibly divided it into two rooms.

Going up the narrow stairs was the living room, and further inside was the bedroom.

There was no bed in the bedroom, only a thin mattress spread on the floor.

At this moment, Jiang Cheng was lying in the center of the mattress, with the quilt pulled up to his chin, sleeping meticulously.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but Jiang Cheng on the mattress suddenly opened his eyes.

He stared straight at the ceiling, his eyes gradually becoming unfocused. After a moment, they suddenly narrowed into slits.

His upper body left the mattress, and he slowly sat up.

What's going on...?

His thinking was clear, and he could feel the feedback from every part of his body, but he couldn't control this body.

A strange palpitation surged from the bottom of his heart, as if... something had been opened.

First his left leg left the mattress, then his right leg. He stood up, his movements stiff and mechanical.

Just as his brain was still frantically thinking, his body began to move on its own again.

Forward.

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

One step, two steps......

He walked towards the bedroom door like a walking corpse.

Then the living room.

Finally, he walked down the wooden stairs step by step.

The old stairs, which should have been creaking constantly, didn't make a sound.

Not only the stairs, but Jiang Cheng, after waking up, hadn't heard any sound at all.

The night was as quiet as death.

His eyeballs rolled within a limited range. The current situation was undoubtedly strange and dangerous.

Through the night, the originally familiar environment also became strange.

As the last foot landed, he saw a door standing in front of him.

A pure black door.

A door embedded in the wall.