Just as Kuang Feifan felt he was on the verge of utter collapse, a stream of icy cold water shot out from the showerhead hanging above the bathtub. The fine spray hit his head, causing Kuang Feifan to jolt violently, his whole body trembling sharply, and he instinctively wrenched his gaze away from the tub.

He quickly stepped back two paces. The sudden deluge instantly cleared his head, and in that moment, he realized there were no open eyes in the bathwater, only the murky liquid slowly receding. On the inner wall of the tub, the residue left by the draining water formed a circle of sickening blackness against the once pristine white porcelain.

Kuang Feifan suppressed his wildly hammering heart. When the darkness had first encroached, there was a period when he truly believed he would be consumed—a pressure so intense he had never known before, as if hands had plunged into his chest, forcefully squeezing his very heart.

He suddenly understood that even seeing ghosts daily, that abrupt wave of terror could never be extinguished; no matter how often he encountered it, fear remained.

Instinctively, Kuang Feifan turned and staggered to the sink by the door, bracing his hands on either side of the basin, catching his breath before reaching out to turn the faucet.

He immediately leaped aside, staring at the sink with a look of profound alarm.

Scalding hot water, issuing forth in plumes of white steam, shot from the spout. Droplets splashed onto Kuang Feifan’s face and hands, the stinging heat provoking an instantaneous reaction that outpaced even his thoughts.

He couldn't help feeling a spike of panic and subsequent relief; had he been a moment later, swathes of his body would have been badly burned—a consequence unthinkable to contemplate.

Fumbling hastily, he leaned sideways to shut off the faucet, then turned to find the bathroom door closed, momentarily freezing him. He couldn't recall if the door had been shut when he entered.

After a moment's hesitation, he reached for the spherical doorknob and gave it a twist.

Normally, a twist and a pull would open the door. But now, as he turned it, the knob wouldn't budge, as if it had been locked from the outside.

The problem was, the bathroom door couldn't be locked from the outside.

Kuang Feifan felt a surge of alarm, but he quickly forced himself to calm down. Unlike others who might panic in such a sudden predicament, he didn't yank at the door or pound on it. Instead, he stopped all movement, carefully assessing the environment within the bathroom.

Unexpectedly, just as he was preparing to turn back, the overhead light sputtered with a sharp crack and promptly went out.

The bathroom was instantly plunged into darkness.

Save for the ventilation shaft, there was no other way out of the bathroom; for some reason, not even a small transom window had been installed.

Thus, when Feng Tian had set up the props, the bathroom floor had only been dusted with a layer of ash in the tub, but now it contained murky sewage. He wondered if that ash had played a part in the current situation.

Kuang Feifan closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, then slowly exhaling, regulating his breath.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt he was gradually adapting to the dark, able to discern the general layout of the room at least.

He scanned the area and noted that the condensation on the mirror seemed to have receded slightly, but it remained too hazy to see clearly.

But as his gaze drifted past the mirror toward another area, he abruptly paused.

In that split second of distraction, he thought he saw two red pinpricks of light reflected in the glass, like a pair of eyes blinking slowly.

He held his gaze for only a second or two. When he looked back at the mirror’s surface, the red dots were gone.

Kuang Feifan walked over softly, staring at the faint reflection in the mirror for a while, then turned and snatched a towel from the side, raising it to wipe the glass.

Once the moisture was completely scrubbed away, the mirror clearly reflected the interior of the bathroom.

He tried to recall the position of the red dots and searched the reflection for their corresponding location within the room. Slowly, he turned his head toward the toilet, an object he hadn't paid much attention to before.

It was a sophisticated toilet, even an electronic, high-tech model, reportedly capable of flushing itself.

Kuang Feifan chuckled softly. He had just seen in the mirror that the two red dots were merely the indicator lights on the toilet flashing. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed them earlier. But when he turned his head to look at the toilet itself, he saw that the indicator lights on the control panel above the toilet behind him were not illuminated.

"Gulp..."

He involuntarily swallowed the saliva in his mouth.

In the dark, looking at the toilet he had just deemed advanced, he no longer saw any high technology in it. Instead, it resembled a monster, and he felt a chilling certainty that the closed lid would spring open at any second, swallowing everything like a monstrous maw.

Perhaps due to the odor emanating from the murky water in the tub, a pungent, indefinable strange smell permeated the air, choking his throat until it constricted, and leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

Suddenly, a sound echoed from the bathtub again: "Glug-glug-glug..." For some reason, Kuang Feifan perceived a tone of absolute despair in the noise.

Immediately following that, he heard a "Pff... pff..." sound, like bubbles bursting.

A thought abruptly struck him: if he drained all the water from the tub, would all this cease? Or, his gaze dropped to his own wrist.

Lifting a leg, he prepared to walk toward the bathtub.

But as his foot landed, he suddenly slipped. He instinctively reached out to steady himself against the wall, but instead of solid tile, the surface against his palm was fuzzy, both sticky and greasy. He was instantly reminded of oily ointments covered in hair, and an uncontrollable wave of nausea washed over him, raising goosebumps across his entire body, even making him feel on the verge of vomiting.

However, that momentary brace had allowed him to regain his balance. He looked down carefully and saw he had stepped on a bar of soap.

There certainly hadn't been anything there before. He couldn't help glancing back at the sink. There had indeed been a deep soap dish on the wall beside the sink; although he hadn't noticed if there was soap in it, with a dish that deep, it shouldn't have fallen out easily even if soap had been present.

He considered kicking the soap aside, but after a moment's thought, he bent down, picked it up, and tossed it into the sink.

Better safe than sorry.

He grabbed the towel and vigorously wiped his hands. Sure enough, there were dark smudges on the wall. He had no desire to analyze what they were right now; his entire focus was on the bathtub.

Mindful of his footing, he made his way toward the tub.

As he drew closer, the scene inside the tub gradually came into view.

By now, his eyes had fully adjusted to the bathroom's darkness, making it easy to discern what lay within.

In the nearly empty, black water, a corpse lay starkly visible, its eyes fixed blankly upon him.

Simultaneously, Kuang Feifan seemed to hear an extremely faint, ethereal voice whispering by his ear.

"I... am... watching... you..."