Darkness in room after lanterns exploded.No one moved. Somewhere nearby wood creaked softly. Then came the slow scrape of a chair dragging across the floor. Everyone froze immediately. No one had touched the chairs again. Lin Chen's voice cut sharply through the darkness first, "Xu Yang?" No answer came. The silence in room then from somewhere deeper inside the dark, another voice replied quietly. "Which one?" The room went completely still.
Lin Chen's entire body stiffened instantly while Chen Yu's expression sharpened in the darkness beside him. Zhao Ming's usual relaxed smile vanished entirely. Yan Luo slowly narrowed his eyes toward the direction the voice had come from, though there was nothing visible there except suffocating blackness. Lin Chen spoke again immediately, voice colder now. "Who said that?"
Then somewhere farther away another chair scraped softly across the floor. Xu Yang stood motionless near the center of the room while the rose mark beneath his sleeve burned sharply against his skin again, though this time the pain felt different. It was not violent it was reacting to him as if something inside the darkness had recognized him. His fingers tightened slightly at his side.
Zhao Ming muttered quietly, "Please tell me this house isn't talking now." "That would actually be the less concerning possibility," Chen Yu replied calmly, though even his voice sounded tighter than before. Another faint creak echoed somewhere nearby. Wood bending slowly beneath invisible weight. Yan Luo's gaze remained fixed on the darkness ahead while spiritual energy flickered faintly around his fingertips. "Something is moving around us." Lin Chen immediately stepped slightly closer toward Xu Yang without fully realizing he had done it. Protective instinct had long since overridden rational thought at this point. "Stay close!" he said quietly, eyes still scanning the darkness.
Xu Yang glanced toward him briefly but didn't answer immediately. His own thoughts were becoming harder and harder to control now beneath the growing pressure inside the room. What is all this? The question repeated itself endlessly inside his mind while the unnatural darkness pressed heavier around him.
Ever since arriving in this world, chaos had followed me everywhere.
(...)
Threads, heaven,distortions and missing memories and now this rose marks. None of it made sense anymore. (....)
Xu Yang swallowed slowly, unease twisting deeper in his chest.I really regret not reading that novel properly. (...)
If i had paid more attention before everything happened before becoming trapped inside this world wearing someone else's name and someone else's fate maybe i would understand what was happening now but I didn't read. (...)
I knew fragments.some incomplete pieces. I can survive ordinary danger but not this.
(....)
His fingers tightened slightly at his side.
Why does everything connect back to Xu Yang? Not me. 'Xu yang.' (...)
The original character. The one this world seemed unable to let go of. The thought unsettled him more than the darkness did.
What exactly was wrong with this character? Why did every answer seem buried somewhere inside memories he couldn't access? Xu Yang forced himself to stay outwardly calm despite the growing panic scratching quietly beneath his thoughts now. Seriously… where did I end up? Someone help me. The silent plea crossed his mind so quickly he almost looked embarrassed by it himself.
Then suddenly footsteps echoed nearby. One step then another but the sound arrived strangely delayed,Chen Yu's voice remained calm when he spoke, though quieter than before. "Nobody move." Another footstep echoed directly behind them. Lin Chen turned instantly toward the sound despite the darkness. "Who's there?" No response came then laughter drifted softly through the room.
Zhao Ming's expression hardened at the sound while Yan Luo slowly lifted his gaze toward the ceiling as though listening to something beyond the room itself. "This isn't ordinary distortion anymore." Yan Luo said quietly. "The spatial structure already collapsed." Zhao Ming folded his arms tightly, all traces of humor gone from his face now. "Collapsed?" he repeated. "This feels more like something was sealed improperly." That sentence made Chen Yu look toward them sharply. "What do you mean sealed?" Yan Luo remained silent for several seconds before answering carefully. "There are forbidden correction techniques Heaven stopped using long ago." Another soft laugh echoed through the darkness closer this time. Zhao Ming's eyes narrowed faintly. "Not stopped," he corrected quietly. "Hidden."
Silence settled heavily after that even Lin Chen looked toward them now despite the tension tightening visibly across his expression. "Can someone explain what any of you are talking about?" His voice carried genuine frustration now beneath the unease. "Ever since we entered this place everyone keeps speaking like they already know something." No answer came. Lin chen exhaled sharply, exhausted irritation finally surfacing properly beneath the fear. "Seriously what now?" He looked around the suffocating darkness, jaw tightening visibly. "First Threads start destroying villages then Heaven gets involved then erased memories and now this cursed house appears out of nowhere." His voice lowered slightly. "I don't even understand why we entered this place anymore."
Another footstep echoed nearby. Lin chen's expression darkened further. "I'm really getting tired of this." he muttered quietly. "What exactly is all this?" Nobody answered him.Xu Yang's breathing tightened faintly without him realizing it.
Then all at once the lanterns reignited. Weak golden light flickered unevenly overhead one by one, illuminating the room again in fragments.But the room was no longer the same. Lin Chen's expression changed immediately the moment the light returned. "What the hell…" The walls had moved farther away. The ceiling looked higher now, disappearing partially into shadow above them while the entire structure stretched unnaturally large around them. The long wooden table from before was gone completely so were most of the chairs.
Zhao Ming slowly turned in place, gaze sweeping carefully across the room while unease replaced the calm amusement he normally carried so easily. "This isn't a distortion anymore."Chen yu's eyes narrowed slightly. "No." His voice remained calm, but sharper now. "This is reconstruction." Lin Chen immediately looked toward him. "Can you stop saying terrifying things like they're normal?" Chen Yu ignored the complaint completely, his attention remaining fixed on the room itself. "The dimensions changed without transitional movement," he said quietly. "Which means either reality here is unstable…" Small pause. "or this place never had fixed structure to begin with." "That somehow sounds worse," Zhao Ming muttered.
Xu Yang remained silent near the center of the room, though his gaze kept drifting upward toward the dark ceiling disappearing above them. The deeper they moved into this house, the more suffocating the atmosphere became.
Yan Luo suddenly spoke quietly from nearby. "Look at the walls." Everyone turned immediately. In place of solid wood now stood doorways.Old wooden doors lined the walls in every direction where smooth walls had existed moments earlier, stretching endlessly beneath flickering lantern light. Some remained tightly shut while others hung partially open, revealing only suffocating darkness beyond.
Several doors were cracked deeply from top to bottom with black marks spreading across the wood like burned veins beneath skin. One looked partially melted near the handle as if exposed to unbearable heat long ago. Another had deep scratch marks carved violently across its surface, enough to nearly split the wood apart entirely. Lin Chen stared at them for several seconds before finally saying quietly, "There definitely weren't this many doors before." "There weren't any doors before." Zhao Ming corrected grimly.
The lantern light flickered again overhead. For one brief second some of the doors looked different.Chen yu noticed "They're changing." Xu Yang's expression shifted faintly. "Changing how?" Chen Yu slowly pointed toward a door near the far wall. "That one was closed a moment ago." Everyone looked toward it. Now it stood slightly openinside. Lin Chen's jaw tightened visibly. "No." His voice lowered slightly. "I was watching that side of the room." "So was I." Yan Luo replied quietly. Silence settled again after that.
Lin Chen rubbed one hand roughly across his face, exhaustion and tension finally surfacing openly now beneath his composure. "Seriously what even is all this?" His voice echoed faintly through the enlarged room. "We came here looking for answers about Threads and now we're trapped inside some nightmare house that keeps changing every five seconds." "Not changing." the masked figure corrected quietly from near the entrance. Everyone looked toward him .
Then after few seconds others dozens of them. Old wooden doors lined the walls in every direction now where solid wood had existed moments earlier. Some remained shut tightly while others stood slightly open, revealing only darkness beyond. Same as before.Lin Chen stared at it for several seconds before frowning sharply. "Why is this similar to the last one?"Zhao Ming said quietly, though for once no humor remained in his voice. "It's same! There is nothing normal here." Lin Chen Snapped.Xu Yang's gaze remained fixed on the damaged doorway while unease settled deeper into his chest.
Yan Luo slowly pulled his hand away from the wood, eyes still fixed on the blackened surface while thoughts moved rapidly behind his calm expression. "Why is it repeating?" he said quietly, almost to himself. "These distortions shouldn't be able to reconstruct identical damage patterns unless…" He stopped speaking abruptly. Chen Yu looked toward him immediately. "Unless what?" Yan Luo's jaw tightened faintly. "Unless we never actually left the same structure." Silence crashed heavily across the room.
Lin Chen stared at him for a second before frustration finally surfaced openly across his face. "No." He shook his head immediately. "No, don't say things like that casually." His voice grew sharper now beneath the fear he was trying very hard to suppress. "This is already the third room we've entered." He looked around at the endless doors lining the walls, breathing visibly tighter now. "Why does the same thing keep happening?"
His eyes moved quickly across the room searching instinctively for Xu yang before visibly relaxing slightly once he found him still standing nearby.Xu Yang himself remained silent, staring at the doors while unease settled slowly into his chest. Something about them felt familiar in the worst possible way like standing outside memories he was never meant to reach again.
Then Yan Luo looked toward the masked figure near the entrance. The masked figure still stood silently in shadow near the back wall, dark robes nearly blending into the dim light.He was watching all this stuff.His expression had changed like but he was not surprised.Yan Luo noticed "You knew this would happen." The masked figure did not answer right away. Lin Chen looked toward him sharply. "What is this place?" Silence stretched briefly. Then the masked figure spoke quietly without taking his eyes off the doors. "It's waking up."
Chen Yu stepped forward slightly, gaze still fixed on the surrounding room while his voice remained measured and careful. "This house changes according to perception." The masked figure finally looked toward him. "No." Small pause. "According to memory." The room fell silent again afterward.Xu Yang's expression shifted faintly at those words.' Memory.' The rose mark beneath his sleeve burned sharply again, heat spreading violently across his skin before settling into something stranger this time not pain, but recognition like something inside the house had heard the word too and answered.
Xu Yang's breathing tightened faintly as overlapping sounds suddenly crashed through his mind without warning. Laughter echoed somewhere close then someone crying softly beneath it. Then the clear voice of a child whispering quietly near his ear, "You promised." Xu Yang's fingers twitched sharply at his side before he instinctively pressed a hand against the mark hidden beneath his sleeve. Why does it feel like this place knows me? The thought unsettled him.
"Xu Yang?" Lin Chen's voice came quietly beside him.Xu Yang blinked once before turning slightly toward him, though his expression remained tense. "What?" Lin Chen hesitated briefly because Xu Yang looked disturbed in a way he rarely allowed others to see. "Your hand." Lin Chen said quietly, eyes lowering toward the sleeve hiding the mark. "It's happening again." Xu Yang immediately lowered his arm slightly. "It's nothing." "You keep saying that." Lin Chen replied before he could stop himself. Frustration slipped into his voice now beneath the concern. "At some point you're going to have to explain what's wrong with you." Xu Yang's gaze shifted away almost immediately after hearing that.
Chen Yu slowly stepped forward, gaze fixed carefully on the surrounding room. His calmness remained intact outwardly, but his expression had sharpened considerably now that he finally understood the pattern surrounding the distortions. The doors lining the walls were moving not openly but subtly. Every time someone looked away, their positions shifted slightly. One doorway appeared older than before, the wood darker and partially rotten now. Another looked newer and cleaner. One further away appeared badly burned along the edges while black cracks spread slowly across its surface like old veins beneath dead skin. Chen Yu watched the changes silently for several seconds before finally speaking in a low voice. "This isn't haunting us." Everyone looked toward him immediately. Chen Yu's eyes remained fixed on the doors. "It's remembering us."
Yan Luo slowly turned toward the nearest cracked doorway, his gaze narrowing faintly. Something about the symbols carved above the frame had begun bothering him several minutes ago. At first they looked like random scratches hidden beneath dust and age. But now that he focused properly, recognition settled coldly into his chest. His expression changed immediately. "…No way." Zhao Ming noticed at once. "What?"
Yan Luo walked toward the doorway slowly without answering immediately, one hand brushing lightly across the old wood beneath layers of dust. The moment his fingers cleared the surface properly, faded silver markings emerged beneath the grime. Ancient Heaven script, broken deliberately. Yan Luo froze completely. "These are archive seals." he said quietly. Lin Chen frowned immediately. "What kind of seals?" Yan Luo did not answer right away because the realization settling inside him was far worse than he expected. These were not ordinary Heaven markings. They were classification seals used only for forbidden records. Records marked for correction.His hand moved lower across the wood, brushing away more dust carefully until one final word slowly appeared beneath the faded markings. 'CORRECTION.'
Zhao Ming's relaxed expression disappeared entirely now as he stared at the word. "You've got to be kidding." Chen Yu's gaze sharpened instantly. "Correction?" Yan Luo stepped backward slowly, his face visibly colder now than before. "These seals were used on records Heaven wanted removed completely." Lin Chen looked between them with growing frustration and unease. "Removed why?" Zhao Ming spoke quietly while staring at the faded word across the doorway. "Heaven tried to erase this place." "No." The masked figure's voice cut through the silence softly from the far side of the room. Everyone turned toward him. He remained standing motionless near the entrance while shadows moved faintly beneath his robes, his hidden gaze fixed silently on the cracked doorway. Then after a long pause, he said quietly, "They tried to erase what happened inside it." The room fell silent again afterward.