A series of images flashed through my mind: the girl's wailing, the beatings, the girl standing naked in the water room, drenched by a bucket of water. The girl's face kept changing, and I couldn't see it clearly, but it felt like Li Qing, like Xiao Xiao, like myself.

I arrived at the entrance of the water room, and I knew it was starting again.

When I woke up again, I was still outside the dormitory, but my coat didn't come back.

The fifth death: I tried to run to the end of the corridor, but the female ghost caught up with me.

The sixth attempt: I tried to jump out the window and climb down the water pipe, but the female ghost grabbed my ankle and I died from the fall.

The seventh time: I forcibly entered the dormitory and was discovered by the hanging female ghost.

The eighth time: Lin Zihan strangled me to death.

I've returned to the entrance of the dormitory for the thirty-first time now. I've died thirty-one times in the corridor.

My memories have become blurry. I remember many names: Li Qing, Xiao Xiao, Bai Qi. I forgot which one is my own name.

I'm almost forgetting why I'm here. I only remember that I need to save someone.

This time, when I was caught by the girl ghost who was combing her hair, I closed my eyes, accepting my fate. But after closing my eyes, the imagined pain didn't come. Instead, before me was a girl, a girl with a shaved head. She had two dimples on her face, and her smile was sweet.

I called out her name, "Zhang Xiaoxuan."

My lips were parched from the long absence of water, but I continued, "Zhang Xiaoxuan, I died thirty-one times to save you."

"You didn't do it to save me, you did it for us."

Zhang Xiaoxuan grabbed my hand and smiled at me, so familiar.

"Bai Qi, don't close your eyes when it's dark."

The survival rule told me to close my eyes, but Zhang Xiaoxuan told me to keep them open. The survival rule would let me live, and I also believed Zhang Xiaoxuan wouldn't harm me.