"I'm sorry, I dragged you into this." Huai Yi looked at the increasingly faint figure, his lips trembling. He didn't know if this guy would have had a chance to escape if he had abandoned him at the beginning.

He really hoped so.

It would be better than both of them dying here.

But the reality was that the illusory figure, knocked to the ground again, struggled to get up. As if sensing what Huai Yi was thinking, it turned its head to look at him. A hint of human emotion actually appeared on that face where the features were not even clear, as if it was saying goodbye to him.

With the last impact, Huai Yi's connection with it in his heart was severed.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a pain in his heart, as if a piece had been dug out. Images flashed through his mind: Jiang Cheng carrying that shaky table lamp, resolutely going back to save Wu Shi's back.

And at the edge of the Gga-Wuzhangde Snow Mountain cliff, Wu squatting down and extending his hand to Jiang Cheng.

The door was indeed a curse, but some people were seeking salvation in the curse.

In this instant, he understood everything, but it was too late.

Halsen was already standing in front of him, his bluish-green palm reaching out and grabbing his neck, lifting him up and slamming him against the wall. His feet dangled in the air, and he didn't even have the strength to struggle.

His face was twisted with pain, but the eyes he looked at Halsen with carried a contemptuous smile. Although he was going to die, they had ultimately won this game.

Jiang Ge (brother Jiang) and Fugui Ge (brother Fugui) would leave here alive and return to that small but cozy studio. Their lives would continue in that small, home-like place.

His eyes finally dimmed, and Huai Yi lowered his head, losing consciousness.

...

At the same time, Wu, in another room far away, seemed to sense something. His arm trembled slightly, and slowly, he released Jiang Cheng's hand.

Then he slightly moved his body, which was blocking the door, to the side.

Jiang Cheng looked into Wu's eyes, but the latter subconsciously avoided his gaze.

"Creak—"

A rubbing sound came from the corridor. Jiang Cheng heard it very clearly. It was a door opening.

Reaching out and gripping the doorknob tightly, it was several seconds before Jiang Cheng had the courage to pull the door open a crack. Through the gap, he saw Halsen, and the corpse he was dragging behind him.

Huai Yi was dead.

From the first moment Jiang Cheng saw the corpse, he confirmed this fact. Huai Yi's head hung limply to the ground, his neck twisted. Halsen had broken his neck, leaving him no chance at all.

Anger, regret, a strong desire for revenge, to tear Halsen into pieces—these emotions, which should have appeared, were frozen at this moment. Jiang Cheng silently watched Halsen drag Huai Yi's corpse. He just stood behind the door, silently and indifferently.

It was too late. No matter what he did now, he couldn't change the outcome.

Wu stood beside him, and the two of them seemed to be watching a silent movie.

The only sound in the entire corridor was the friction of dragging a heavy object. Halsen walked very, very slowly, as if he was deliberately doing all this for someone to see.

This was bait. Rushing to grab the body now would not only be useless, but would also invite Halsen's attack.

It wasn't that Jiang Cheng didn't dare, but he thought that if Huai Yi was still conscious, he definitely wouldn't want him to do that.

He wanted him and Fatty to live well.

Another door not far from Jiang Cheng opened, also a small crack. Through the gap, he could see Fatty's face, his expression gradually changing from doubt to fear, and finally swelling and turning red. An uncontrollable anger finally erupted. "Huai Yi!!"

Jiang Cheng immediately opened the door and rushed out, but he was still one step too late. Fatty raised a large vase from behind the door and smashed it at Halsen.

Fortunately, Wu caught the vase in mid-air.

"Fatty!" Jiang Cheng rushed over and hugged him. "Listen to me, don't be impulsive. Huai Yi, he..."

Fatty couldn't listen to Jiang Cheng's words at all. He only knew that if he didn't stop Halsen, Huai Yi would be dragged away and taken into that room full of corpses.

"What exactly is going on?" Fatty grabbed Jiang Cheng's arm, his tongue trembling with anxiety. He couldn't understand why Halsen had targeted Huai Yi.

Seeing Wu, a glimmer of hope appeared in Fatty's eyes. He grabbed Jiang Cheng's arm. "Doctor, quick, let's save him! Please beg him, he can save Brother Huai Yi, he definitely can!"

"Fatty..." Jiang Cheng grabbed his shoulders, worried that if he let go, he would rush forward recklessly. Looking at Fatty's expectant eyes, Jiang Cheng couldn't bring himself to say the rest of the words.

"Too late." A line of words appeared on the wall beside Fatty. Wu just looked at him, his eyes calm and firm.

Fatty's body began to tremble.

"Fatty, pull yourself together. Huai Yi, he... he's already dead. He was the second room, he lied to us." Jiang Cheng turned his head to look at Huai Yi's corpse, his voice choked with sobs. "If he was still conscious, he definitely wouldn't want to see you like this. He wants the two of us to live well."

"Dead..." Fatty's body suddenly staggered backward. Jiang Cheng grabbed him to prevent him from falling.

Looking at Huai Yi's motionless corpse, it took a long time for Fatty to accept this fact. Large drops of tears welled up from his eyes. His lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't utter a single word.

The two of them followed behind Halsen, watching as he dragged Huai Yi's corpse from the corridor to the stairs. Every time Huai Yi's body bumped on a stair, Fatty's shoulders would tremble.

Fatty didn't even know what he was doing. He was completely being led by the doctor, his mind blank. Only the phrase "he's dead" echoed repeatedly.

Wu followed behind the two of them. Fatty was stumbling along, and Jiang Cheng was supporting him. Looking at their lost and dejected appearances, he didn't get too close, because there was nothing he could do.

Arriving at the third-floor corridor, sure enough, a door appeared at the end of the corridor.

The moment he saw that door, Jiang Cheng was stunned. Then, an unspeakable anger and regret surged into his heart. That door wasn't on the wall at the end, or at least, not exactly.

It was in the painting.

That old oil painting hanging on the wall.

Now Jiang Cheng finally realized where that strange sense of familiarity came from when facing the painting left by the psychic—it was the oil painting in front of him!

The two paintings were almost identical. The only difference was that this painting was larger, and more importantly, it was hung upside down on the wall, covered in a layer of dust. He hadn't recognized it.

If he had been more careful at the time, perhaps he could have deciphered the mystery, and Huai Yi wouldn't have died.

But now, it was too late. He could only watch Halsen drag Huai Yi's corpse into the painting, into that dark wooden door.