The sun dipped below the horizon, terror drawing near. The group had already gathered before the asylum’s main gate, eyes locked on the clock.

“Six o’clock,” Glasses said.

*BANG!*

The heavy iron gate slammed shut on its own.

They exchanged bewildered glances. The asylum gate—thick, fully welded metal designed to prevent escapes—was nearly impossible for an ordinary person to budge.

“Locked from outside. Won’t move,” Stoneface grunted after shoving it hard. The door didn’t shift an inch.

“In haunted hotspots like this, day and night are two worlds. Honestly? We’ve fallen into their dimension—the ghosts’ realm,” Creep declared with deliberate mystery, hands not-so-subtly groping Glasses Girl.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s only six. Just look outside.”

Taking the hint, Dr Chen and the others peered out. The last sliver of twilight had vanished. Pitch blackness swallowed the grounds. Flashlight beams cut through the dark—revealing nothing. Logically, pine trees stood right beside the building. They should’ve been visible.

It felt as if the entire building had been swallowed by darkness.

“Ever played *Silent Hill*? ‘Otherworld,’ ‘Real World’? We’re already in another dimension. We planned to wait past eight—but we move now.”

“What?! Wasn’t this a Level-1 VIP mission? How powerful must the ghost be to warp space? I don’t want to die!” Glasses Girl deliberately clung to Creep’s arm, pressing her chest against him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. Level-1 missions have their logic. Plan unchanged: three stay, three search the director’s office. Monitor cameras. Report anomalies immediately.”

They unpacked gear: bells tied to wrists, walkie-talkies on chests, glow sticks stuck front and back, flashlights in hand.

“What’s the glow stick for?” Dr Chen finally spoke—and earned instant disdain.

“Listen, rookie. Ghosts disrupt electronics. Flashlights fail. Glow sticks? Safe. They emit light in all directions—front, back, sides—so you see everything. Hope you live long enough to use this.”

The glow sticks cast an eerie blue halo. Dr Chen felt creeped out. *Isn’t this just amplifying the horror?*

“If electronics fail, what’s the point of walkie-talkies?”

“That’s why you’re new.” Glasses chuckled, pulling a megaphone from a prop-filled backpack.

“Uh… you guys are something else.” Dr Chen’s worldview shattered. He’d expected peach wood swords, talismans, chicken blood—not this random assortment.

“Xiao Chen, what’d *you* bring?”

“A wrench, hammer, screwdriver, cake… and a few talismans.” He listed everything except the jar.

“Hahahaha… Can’t believe you survived two events. Stay here. Don’t slow us down.”

Creep led Glasses Girl and Stoneface upstairs, leaving Dr Chen with Busty and the bespectacled tech geek to watch the monitors.

The pair clearly disliked being near him. They huddled together, chatting to calm their nerves.

After all, Dr Chen lacked even basic common sense—worse than a typical newbie.

“Don’t they know the cardinal rule of horror movies? *Never split up*,” Dr Chen muttered under his breath, then sat alone on a stool in the corner.

The infrared cameras saw clearly in total darkness—but the footage looked unnervingly sinister, like a ghost movie scene. *Was this place trying to be scarier?*