In a daze, Luobing felt two slaps on his face, and he couldn't help but tremble, suddenly waking up.

A familiar feeling.

He wasn't lying in his warm bed at home or sitting in his office chair at work. He was lying on the hard floor, his back aching from the contact.

Not far away was the big gate with the word "Exit" written on it, beside which were some white stones and powder. The wall was in chaos, with traces left by dried-up liquid...

Only then did Luobing remember that after pushing open the door, he was inexplicably suspended in mid-air, and then lost consciousness.

There was a slight pain in his neck, but no wounds or marks. Luobing felt himself all over and was relieved to find that nothing was missing.

Where is Gu Xi? Where is Mom?

Luobing lifted himself up and stood up, looking around. There was no one to be seen, not even a ghost. It was eerily quiet.

"Gu Xi!! Mom!! Where are you?"

No response.

Realizing his situation, Luobing felt a dizzy spell — characters in horror movies often get separated from their teammates before they die. Was he going to die? Would a plaster figure pop out from the darkness later?

The exit door was tightly closed, and Luobing dared not open it again.

Luobing picked up his clothes from the floor and prepared to go elsewhere to take a look when he suddenly noticed marks on his clothes. They were black carbon marks burned into the fabric, forming characters.

"I am Gu Xi. I am currently in an invisible state where I cannot speak or be touched, so I can only communicate with you in this way."

"Due to some special circumstances, your mother has returned to the real world ahead of us, but we haven't left yet. Don't worry, I will escort you back. Those plaster monsters have already been dealt with, so we are temporarily safe."

Seeing this, Luobing was certain—so that person went invisible, didn't tell him in advance, and just watched him panic in place, quite sadistic.

"Next, follow what I say as much as possible. Don't make any sound, as it will attract those things."

Luobing instinctively covered his mouth. Oops, he had just shouted several times...

"Take out your phone or watch and check. You will find that time is reversing. Our current time is going backward."

Time going backward?

At first, Luobing was somewhat skeptical, but when he saw time change from "10:46" to "10:45" with his own eyes, he became completely convinced.

As for the reason for time reversal, Luobing didn't know, but since it was what Gu Xi said, he would do as she instructed. Whatever she told him to do, he would do.

"Do you see the exit gate in front? If you push it open again, I won't be able to save you. Our only way out now is to go back."

"Pay attention, from now on, keep an eye on the time on your phone. Your actions will be based on the time. Now, go back to the white gate from before at 10:13, and then push the gate open at 10:12. I will be following behind you, but please don't talk to me."

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Somewhere in the mirrored world.

Bai Wenqiu was dead. She lay on the ground, her eyes wide open, her face pale. There was no sign of life from her body. But as time passed, something unimaginable happened: she gradually woke up, her breathing and heartbeat returning to normal.

When Bai Wenqiu woke up, she was dazed for a while, then let out a frightened scream as she searched for Luobing and Xu Fang's figures, but found nothing.

She tried to call Luobing but had no signal.

Bai Wenqiu took out the white diary that Xu Fang had returned to her, trying to find some clues from it, even though she had already read it many times.

When she opened the diary, a small note fell out from it.

"Ms. Bai Wenqiu, I am Gu Xi. If you see this note, it means we have been separated. Stay calm. Now, you need to find the owner of this diary—Pan Pan—and return the diary to him. Try to get Pan Pan's help. Only then will you have a chance to leave here. Luobing and I are waiting for you in the real world."

Did that little girl anticipate this situation and left this note in advance? Is Luobing with her now?Bai Wenqiu was not only worried about her own life, but also about Luo Bing's safety.

"Luo Bing, you must wait for mom to come back!" Bai Wenqiu's eyes gradually became determined, and she mustered up the courage to walk deep into the corridor.

Panpan's diary was very important; he had almost written down all the dead ends in the symmetrical world.

1. Red is the most dangerous, followed by gray, and white is the safest.

2. Staring can restrict the movements of ghosts.

The clue to leaving the symmetrical world must also be hidden in the diary. Unfortunately, they didn't have the headless ghost's diary, and perhaps that headless ghost was Panpan's father - the one with symmetrical compulsive disorder. The symmetrical world might have been created by it, and that "Devil's Diary" also piqued their curiosity...

Bai Wenqiu wasn't sure if Panpan would harm her. According to the diary, Panpan was already dead. Would Panpan, who had turned into a ghost, still help outsiders?

She walked along the corridor for a long time, avoiding the red and gray paths, and only taking the white passageways. But as she walked, she slowly discovered that the white paths were becoming fewer and fewer, while the gray and red paths were increasing.

Finally, she stopped at a intersection because all the branching paths ahead were gray.

After hesitating for a moment, she turned back. But to her horror, she discovered that at some point, the path behind her had turned gray, and faint bloodshot lines were emerging in the gray.

She panicked for a moment, standing still and unsure of what to do.

The red bloodshot lines spread in the gray, not only on the floor but gradually covering the walls as well.

Bai Wenqiu was on edge, every hair on her body standing up. She felt that something was approaching, but she didn't know from which direction.

From the side? From behind? Or from above?

"Is... is it Panpan...?"

"I... I'll give you back the diary..."

"Panpan...?"

The floor beneath her feet had already turned blood red, and she was in imminent danger.

Suddenly, her shoulder felt a slight weight, as if... as if something was standing on her shoulder...

"Ah!!"

A person's endurance is limited, especially when alone in such an environment. Bai Wenqiu couldn't bear the pressure anymore. She threw away the diary, followed her instinct to escape, and desperately ran towards the areas with less red. Due to excessive fear, her throat uttered incomprehensible words.

The white diary lay alone in the sea of red. After a while, a withered hand picked up the diary. It looked at the direction Bai Wenqiu had left and muttered to itself, "Why run away? You are already... a part of this world..."

- - - - - -

- - - - - -

After coming out of the elevator, Luo Bing first checked the color of the floor ahead, confirming it was white before glancing at his watch - 9:30.

"How did she know that these elevators or doors can be opened again? They couldn't open before. Could these doors be related to time flowing backwards?"

Luo Bing had figured out the plan to leave. At 9:02, the time he entered this world, he would return to the meeting room, thus being able to leave this place.

The previously destroyed chair, disrupted by Xu Fang, was nowhere to be seen. It seemed that under the correcting force of the symmetrical world, it had returned to its original position.

Luo Bing quietly stayed in the rest area until 9:05, then he stood up and walked towards the meeting room door.

This was the final barrier, life or death, now was the time!

Luo Bing looked back towards the empty space, imagining that small but powerful little guy stealthily watching him. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

If he encountered the plaster monster again, he could only rely on himself.

Luo Bing slowly opened the door to the meeting room, holding his breath as he looked inside, prepared to close the door and flee at any moment.

Luckily, he didn't see the plaster person, and the floor of the meeting room was white.

Safe.

Luo Bing breathed a sigh of relief and sat in the middle of the meeting room, recalling his initial state when he entered this place.

At that time, he seemed to be dozing off, exhausted from a sleepless night. He never expected to enter this place as soon as he snapped out of it.

Luo Bing adjusted himself, slightly lowered his head, and closed his eyes. He entrusted his safety to the invisible Gu Xi.The exhaustion from last night combined with the tension of being in a different world, everything erupted at this moment. In the meeting room, the disheveled man sat alone in the center, like a statue.

The clock's hands pointed to 9:02.

...

As Bai Wenqiu, who was in the midst of fleeing, suddenly sensed something, she looked up and saw a blurry figure of a woman in front of her. This figure was very familiar, she had definitely seen it somewhere before!

Who could it be? Who was she?

Bai Wenqiu's head throbbed, she desperately tried to think, but couldn't figure out who the person was.

Probably a human, right? There were no signs of change in the floor. As long as... as long as she got closer, she would definitely remember.

The person seemed to notice someone following her and stopped in her tracks.

Bai Wenqiu didn't dare to get too close, she was afraid that person might be a ghost, so she stopped as well and hid in the darkness.

The person stopped for a moment, then continued walking forward, and Bai Wenqiu followed behind.

Like this, Bai Wenqiu trailed that person for a long time, and the memories in her mind became clearer and clearer. She was very excited because she was about to remember, remember the forgotten memories. However, she didn't notice that her body was becoming fainter and fainter...

"I remember now, that person is..."

Bai Wenqiu couldn't speak anymore because she disappeared. The person in front turned her head, glanced at the direction Bai Wenqiu disappeared, and hurriedly continued walking forward.

"What the hell is following me? It's so scary!" The person quickened their pace, ran along the corridor for a while, and found a room to hide in before their energy ran out.

Time had already returned to normal, and in the flowing river of time, some people left while others would forever stay here in the symmetrical world.