Li Chengyi simply chose the buffet dessert set and paid for it. Then he got up to get a plate and prepared to get some desserts.

“… I can’t take it anymore. Seriously, I really can’t take it anymore!”

When he reached the self-service dessert counter, he suddenly heard a sobbing voice.

“… It’s fine. You’re just not resting well at night. The pressure of exams is too great. Rest well for a few days, do the meditation I told you before, and adjust your mentality. You’ll definitely be fine,” another female voice comforted softly.

“It’s useless… I said it’s not a hallucination or a dream!” the first female voice continued.

“I cut myself during it. Look, the wound is still there. It’s all real! Really!” The girl’s voice was very young. She was probably only seventeen or eighteen years old. Her emotions were clearly on the verge of collapse.

“Have you seen a psychiatrist on the internet? You can find the best consultation. Tell them about your situation. Perhaps they’re knowledgeable and have seen all kinds of illnesses. They should be able to—”

“I said it’s not an illness! It’s all real! Really!!” The girl became agitated.

“I’m going to die… Woo… If I go in there again, I’ll definitely die…” She started sobbing.

“You’re just too nervous and tired. You’ll be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll accompany you,” the other woman comforted sincerely and gently.

Li Chengyi picked up a piece of yogurt cake with strawberries and placed it on the tray in his hand. From the corner of his eye, he glanced in the direction of the voices.

Just to the right of the buffet dessert counter, there were two young girls sitting at the second table.

The one crying was a pretty girl wearing a white sweater with black spots, curly black hair trailing past her shoulders, and white glasses.

Her fingers were holding the coffee spoon in front of her tightly, her knuckles white, almost breaking the white porcelain spoon. Her entire body was trembling.

Opposite her, a short-haired girl in a dark blue hoodie was comforting her softly with a worried expression.

The two of them seemed to notice Li Chengyi’s gaze from the corner of their eyes, and their voices quickly became softer.

Li Chengyi quickly took a small, banana-shaped piece of cake, turned around, and got a glass of milk. Instead of returning to his seat, he walked to another table not far from the two girls and sat down.

He was very interested in the conversation between the two of them. What the girl in the white sweater was experiencing reminded him of what he was experiencing.

But his actions seemed to attract the attention of the two girls. The two of them glanced at him from the corner of their eyes and lowered their voices to the point of being almost inaudible.

Li Chengyi lowered his head and hesitated while eating the cake.

He was thinking about whether he should talk to them and ask about the situation.

But it was unknown if what he saw was good or bad. After hesitating for a moment, he remained sitting.

Before long, the two girls sitting next to him stood up, picked up their small bags, and quickly left.

In the end, Li Chengyi didn’t speak and only sat on the spot.

Recalling what the girl was crying about just now, he frowned slightly in silence. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. I’m so stupid.

In the Information Age, he was actually sitting here foolishly without moving. Since there was a problem, the best way was naturally…

Li Chengyi took out his phone from his pocket, unlocked it, and opened the browser.

In the search bar, he entered: Dreaming about entering a strange place.

He clicked search, and rows of links immediately appeared on the screen.

[Paid Dream Interpretations]

[Complete Dream Explanations for Members]

[Su Lun, Master of Psychology of the North, will answer the unknown…]

[I dreamed that my dad wanted to chop me up.]

[I dreamed of falling into an unknown toilet.]

The messy search results made Li Chengyi feel a little dizzy. At a glance, they were all unrelated to what he was looking for.

But information was like this. It was just like finding a needle in a haystack. It could only be sifted through bit by bit.

He patiently clicked on the links that seemed the most relevant one by one.

The light outside the windows gradually dimmed, and the sunlight became slanted. The number of people in the cafe gradually increased.

More people started coming after getting off work.

Li Chengyi finished drinking his glass of milk and stood up with his phone in hand.

There were many people around, so it wasn’t conducive to him investigating quietly. He planned to change places.

Creak. He pushed open the door of the cafe. When he passed by the small white flower bush by the door, a flash of black appeared on the back of his right hand, and a clear line of words appeared on the back of his hand.

It was written in the language he had learned in his previous life.

The writing was quite concise.

[Loading in progress… Please touch continuously for ten seconds and then let go.]

Other than Li Chengyi, no one else could see the black words.

But he was holding his phone in his left hand and searching, so he didn’t notice the changes on his hand at all.

As he walked farther away, he gradually moved away from the small flower bush, and the words on the back of his right hand quickly faded.

[Activation failed. Please touch continuously for ten seconds…] The words quickly disappeared, as though they had run out of power and never appeared.

At this moment, Li Chengyi was focused on clicking the links on his phone and actually saw something unusual.

[Dead End Forum]

[Dead End Club]

[Dead End Research Institute]

Relevant websites entered his eyes one after another.

He randomly clicked on the Dead End Club link.

Immediately, a black web page popped up on the screen.

[If you encounter a Dead End, don’t be afraid. Because whether you’re afraid or not, you will die.]

A line of red words slowly emerged.

[There is no way to escape from the Dead End. It is like shackles binding your neck forever, making you suffocate and leading you step by step into despair.]

After the red text, there were rows of news links.

[A couple in Wanxi City mysteriously disappeared from their home. After they disappeared, there were still freshly cooked hot noodles on the table.]

[An old man in Jiaxin City took out garbage in the middle of the night and did not return. The surveillance cameras did not capture anything unusual. It is suspected that the old man never left the stairwell.]

[A student from Yiyang City mysteriously disappeared when she returned home from school. There was no discovery from the street surveillance cameras.]

The rows of news lines were all missing person cases collected from all over the world.

At the bottom was a common sense exchange button.

Li Chengyi clicked on it, and the screen immediately transferred to another webpage.

This webpage was like a forum. At the top of the rows of posts were a few bright red titles pinned.

[1. Check out the community rules and how to earn points.]

[2. Must read for newcomers.]

[3. Be sure to protect your private information when posting to avoid being deceived. There have been criminals recently…]

Li Chengyi quickly clicked on ‘must read for newcomers’.

With a swish, rows of text popped up, totaling hundreds of words.

[No one has seen a Dead End. Perhaps they’re just legends, but the increasing number of missing persons cases makes us believe that there must be some kind of force constantly approaching and appearing.]

[Dead Ends are very difficult to detect, and it’s very easy for others to misunderstand them as dreams. Unfortunately, you will wake up from dreams, but after entering a Dead End, you will die and never appear again.]

[If you encounter a Dead End, please don’t contact us and try to enjoy the final moments of your beautiful life. Dead Ends will generally approach slowly. During the third indication, you will be drawn in completely. You should do everything you want to do but don’t dare to do.]

Li Chengyi frowned slightly.

The information on this forum carried a flavor of depression and giving up.

He quickly looked at the poster of the message.

[The Learned One]

He quickly clicked on this name, and a small box popped up on the screen.

[Nickname: The Learned One, Real Name: Zhang Xieying. She mysteriously disappeared from her home in June 3222. Her whereabouts are still unknown. If anyone finds her, please contact this number.]

Below was a black and white photo of a woman and a line of phone numbers.

The woman in the photo looked closer to a strong and fierce man with a crew cut.

Her eyes were sharp and arrogant, and there was a scar on her forehead. Her neck was as thick as a bucket, and her strong muscle lines were apparent through the photo.

She was wearing a close-fitting army green T-shirt with a military logo. It was very likely that she had been in the army.

Li Chengyi looked at the time: Thursday, May 13th, 3224.

She’s been missing for almost two years? He sighed inwardly. If he had suspected that what he was experiencing was hallucinations or dreams, now that he saw so much real evidence, he knew that what he was experiencing was not hallucinations.

He continued searching the forum. Apart from some tips, the entire forum was mostly filled with hobbyists discussing and bragging about their dreams.

Without getting any more information, Li Chengyi closed the website helplessly.

The sky was gradually turning dark.

He walked to a bus stop, stood still, and waited.

While standing, he vaguely felt a little tired, perhaps because he had eaten too many sweets.

He took out his phone and continued browsing the web to check the situation regarding Dead Ends.

Crack. Crack.

Suddenly, the phone screen froze, and then it turned into a cartoon of a little yellow dog sitting with its tail wagging.

There was a line of words below.

[Sorry, no network signal. Please check and try again.]

“Huh?” Li Chengyi quickly glanced at his phone’s signal bar in the upper right corner. Sure enough, the originally full signal bar had become empty and turned into a red cross.

He shook his phone, wondering if it was malfunctioning. Suddenly, he felt that something was wrong. It seemed too quiet around him.

He looked up.

His eyes widened in horror.

The surroundings were no longer a bus stop!

It was the underground parking garage that he had entered before!

In the dark parking garage, there were no cars in the spacious open space. It was like a long, closed box that stretched all the way to the end of his vision.

White light tubes divided the parking garage into two sides from the center of the ceiling.

On the right was a long, straight light tube that shined all the way to the end of his vision.

On the left were sections of horizontal light tubes and one-meter-long electroluminescent lamps hanging every five meters, also extending to the end of his vision.

…! Li Chengyi stood frozen on the spot, his neck stiff as he slowly looked left and right.

On both sides were grayish-white concrete walls, and the red fire extinguisher cabinet and small gray door of the maintenance room were clearly visible.

But there was no one.

Not a single person.

Li Chengyi quickly glanced back.

Behind him was a solid white wall, and the bus stop billboard had long disappeared.

There were dim lights and blurry parking lines on the black-painted floor.

There was no wind, no sound, only him.

Click.

Suddenly, a slight sound came from the small maintenance door on the right.

It sounded like the lock being turned and opening.

Li Chengyi looked over. He was about twenty meters away from the small door, and he could clearly see the door handle slowly turning.

Some rust on it fell off as it rotated.

Gulp. Li Chengyi swallowed the saliva in his throat subconsciously.

Even though he had lived two lifetimes, he was still just a powerless, ordinary person in the face of danger.

And now…

Click.

Suddenly, the maintenance door slowly opened.

The door slowly opened, revealing a small dark gap.

The gap was illuminated by the light. It was empty inside.

It seemed to be just a maintenance room used as a storeroom.

Li Chengyi still didn’t dare to relax. He stared intently at the gap in the door, not daring to move his gaze at all.

Click.

Suddenly, a slight sound came from behind him!

?! Li Chengyi was startled. He didn’t expect the wall behind him to make a sound. He quickly turned his head to look behind him.

There was nothing behind him. It was still just a white wall.

Suddenly, he reacted and turned around to look at the small maintenance door.

Face!!!

He saw a giant human face!

Through the gap of the door, a giant human face the height of the door was looking at him quietly.

The human face was entirely black and white, as though it had been forcibly cut out from an old-fashioned video recorder. There were no colors at all.

The male face was expressionless, with a few strands of sparse black hair on its forehead.

It didn’t have a body, and its entire head was like a balloon. With a light squeeze, itsqueezed out of the door.

Li Chengyi stood rooted to the floor in a daze, his entire body numb and unable to move.

He stared at the human face and wanted to move, but his skin seemed to have lost all feeling, and he couldn’t move at all.

Cold sweat slowly seeped out from his forehead, temples, and back.

Tiny blood spots and red dots began to appear on the skin of his legs and gradually spread upward.

The nearly two-meter-tall human face slowly floated closer to him.

Closer and closer…

Closer and closer…