Wang Ziteng, seeing Wu Dahai drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, his white dress shirt crumpled and missing two buttons, cursed, "You useless piece of shit!"

  Then he turned his fury toward Fang Xiu.

  "Fang Xiu, what the hell do you think you're doing? Do you even know who I—"

  Before Wang Ziteng could finish, Fang Xiu shoved him to the ground, revealing the trembling, terrified Li Feifei behind him.

  "Ow! You dare push me?!" Wang Ziteng roared in outrage.

  "Ah!" Li Feifei screamed, thinking Fang Xiu was about to assault her.

  But the next second, she felt a force yank her off the desk, her slender body tumbling to the floor.

  With the two of them out of the way, Fang Xiu’s gaze locked onto the parchment on the director’s desk.

  One gnce, and his mind reeled.

  It read:

  "To the one favored by fate—

  Do you wish to know the truth of this world?

  Do you wish to know what the supernatural truly is?

  If you’ve made it here, you must be full of questions. Don’t rush, my friend. I’ve left everything you seek in Room 520, Building C of Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital. There, you will find all the answers.

  Go. Seek it out.

  When you uncover the truth, it will also be time for you to make a choice.

  Follow your heart and accept destiny’s gift."

  At the bottom was a signature:

  Zhou Qingfeng.

  Fang Xiu read every word, his mind sinking into shadow.

  So it’s true. The psychiatric hospital hides a major secret!

  This Zhou Qingfeng must be the director of Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital.

  But who was this letter meant for?

  Was it addressed to him, or someone else? Did Zhou Qingfeng know he would come?

  Old questions remained unanswered, and new ones surged in his mind.

  Building C, Room 520... Perhaps all the answers lie there.

  Fang Xiu turned to leave.

  But Wang Ziteng, now back on his feet, blocked his path, seething.

  "You think you can just push me and walk away? Today, I’ll—"

  Before he could finish, the lightbulb above them flickered with a sharp crack!

  Then—darkness.

  The entire room plunged into bck.

  Wang Ziteng, who had been ready to throw a punch, suddenly lost his target.

  "Fuck! A power outage? Wu Dahai! Turn on the backup generator! And you—don’t you dare run, you bastard!"

  In the darkness, Fang Xiu ignored Wang Ziteng’s threats. His mind was already in turmoil.

  Because the moment the lights went out—**Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital had vanished.**

  His vision was pitch bck, but the disappearance of the psychiatric hospital wasn’t due to the darkness.

  The power outage had happened in the *real world*, not the psychiatric hospital.

  The psychiatric hospital was always dimly lit. Logically, even if the real world lost power, he should still be able to see the hospital in his vision.

  Yet now, it was gone—as if swallowed by the dark.

  The sudden change filled Fang Xiu with a deep unease.

  He quickly pulled out his phone and turned on the fshlight.

  But all he could see was the real-world office. There was no trace of the psychiatric hospital.

  *What the hell is going on?*

  Fang Xiu rushed out the door and sprinted toward the second floor. He needed to check if the hospital had disappeared elsewhere too.

  Seeing Fang Xiu "flee," Wang Ziteng cursed and chased after him.

  Wu Dahai, fearing something might happen to Wang Ziteng, followed closely behind.

  As for Li Feifei—she wasn’t about to stay alone in the dark.

  Soon, the entire group was surging toward the second floor.

  Once there, Fang Xiu moved swiftly, scanning every corner with his phone’s fshlight.

  *Nothing. Nothing. It’s nowhere.*

  The psychiatric hospital had vanished like a mirage.

  The second-floor employees remained calm. After all, it was just a power outage, and with so many people around, even the female staff weren’t scared.

  Except for a few who were "screaming."

  "Ah! The report I just finished! I didn’t save it! Why did the power have to go out *now*? If I have to redo this, I’ll be stuck working overtime all night!"

  Around them, voices chimed in with schadenfreude.

  "Lucky I saved mine."

  "Me too."

  Then Wu Dahai’s voice cut through the dark: "Stop whining! Someone go check if it’s just a tripped breaker!"

  "I’ll go find out what screwed up my report!"

  The wailing employee volunteered, turning on his phone’s fshlight before storming off into the darkness.

  Perhaps because this world had so many supernatural legends, one colleague joked, "Want me to come with? Don’t want you running into a ghost alone."

  The employee heading to check the power scoffed. "A ghost? The thought of working overtime tonight fills me with more resentment than any ghost. If one shows up, it’ll be calling me ‘big bro.’"

  With that, his figure faded into the dark.

  The office erupted in ughter.

  "Hey… why is my phone’s fshlight so dim?" A female employee suddenly murmured in confusion.

  Her coworker replied, "Maybe it’s dusty. Try wiping it."

  "I did. Doesn’t help. Stupid phone."

  "Wait, mine’s dim too."

  "Mine as well."

  In the darkness, multiple employees holding up their phones voiced the same issue.

  Fang Xiu’s attention sharpened. He studied them—and his pupils constricted.

  The employees stood or sat in the dark, nearly all holding up phones for light. Normally, the combined glow should have been enough to illuminate the entire office.

  But now, the light seemed suppressed by the darkness, barely extending half a meter in front of them.

  And eerily, while fshlight beams usually weaken with distance, here, there was a clear boundary at the half-meter mark—as if the light had been severed by the dark.

  Within that darkness, something intangible seemed to writhe.

  Supernatural entities.

  Fang Xiu’s instincts screamed. This familiar sensation couldn’t be wrong!

  Then—

  "AHHHHH!!!"

  A blood-curdling scream tore through the dark.

  The voice was unmistakable—it was Zhang Bo, the employee who had gone to check the power.

  The scream sent chills down everyone’s spines.

  "Zhang Bo! What happened? Did you get electrocuted?"

  "Zhang Bo, quit screwing around!"

  THUD.

  The sound of something heavy hitting the floor.

  "Ahhh!" Several female employees shrieked.

  "Stop screaming! Xiao Zhao, go check it out. Now!" Wu Dahai barked urgently.

  Xiao Zhao—the security guard Fang Xiu had encountered earlier, whom Wu Dahai had summoned—hesitated. But under his boss’s gre, he reluctantly obeyed.

  Fshlight in hand, he crept forward into the dark.

  Seconds ticked by.

  Five minutes passed.

  Xiao Zhao didn’t return.

  The darkness remained silent.