Chapter 0042: 60 Seconds

　　In the dimly lit bathroom, Chen Ge sat alone in the middle of the bathtub as he repeatedly breathed in and out, expelling the remaining exhaust from his lungs.

　　Three forty-four in the morning was the intersection of night and dawn, he only had one chance, he had to be careful.

　　The house was silent, and there was no movement in the corridor; the monster in that mirror didn’t seem to be coming over.

　　Time passed by the minute, Chen Ge put aside the electronic watch that he had specially found, when the number representing the time on the screen changed to forty-three, his attention was highly focused, he opened his mouth and began to inhale slowly.

　　The candle flame pulsed as Chen Ge’s body slowly tilted downwards, his gaze on the spreadsheet from the beginning to the end, unprecedentedly focused.

　　When the numbers on the screen changed again, Chen Ge did not hesitate and tilted his head back to lie down in the middle of the bathtub.

　　Three forty-four in the morning!

　　The ice-cold water seemed to come from all directions, drowning him.

　　Sinking into the water in the dead of night was a peculiar feeling.

　　Absolute darkness, as if the world was left with only himself, sinking; absolute silence, the only sound that could be heard in his ears was the sound coming from his own body, his heart beating.

　　The ice-cold water stimulated every nerve, Chen Ge lay at the bottom of the bathtub, discarding all distractions and silently counting his heartbeat.

　　”Sixty seconds, just need to hold on for sixty seconds.”

　　He had never had such an experience before, the darkness of the night and the water seemed to merge into one, the iffy candle flame was like a lighthouse that was getting farther and farther away, and it was as if he was sinking continuously into the middle of the deep sea.

　　”One, two ……”

　　After the initial ten seconds, time seemed to slow down a lot.

　　The sound of water flowing resounded in his ears, and the four walls were all dark, Chen Ge silently recited his parents’ names and maintained the movements he had made at the very beginning, he held the hilt of the chopper with both hands and let his body be driven by the water waves.

　　The oxygen in his lungs was slowly being consumed, Chen Ge felt a slight discomfort, as if something heavy was pressing down on his body.

　　”Fifteen, sixteen ……”

　　Every beat of the heart consumed the oxygen in the lungs, and as the heartbeat slowed down, time seemed to become slower as well, with each second being split into countless segments.

　　The feeling of discomfort gradually became stronger, as if a pair of hands was slowly pressing on the neck and was choking it a little.

　　Lying in the water, Chen Ge opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anything through the water, it was as if he was locked into another world.

　　After about three or four more seconds, his face became more and more ugly, not pale in the usual sense.

　　”How long have I lasted? Shouldn’t I be almost done?”

　　The water ran over his ears, and a strange voice suddenly appeared in the dead silence.

　　It seemed to be coming from the corridor outside the door, and Chen Ge didn’t know why he could hear it so clearly, perhaps the other party had deliberately made the noise just to distract him.

　　”Footsteps? Someone pacing back and forth in the hallway?”

　　His slowed heartbeat began to speed up again, his body involuntarily tensed, “It’s probably the monster in the mirror coming for me, I hope the dolls can hold it, thirty seconds at most and I’ll be done!”

　　Thoughts were running slower and slower, a buzzing murmur began to appear in his ears, Chen Ge wasn’t in a very good condition, the sound of footsteps in the corridor was making him highly tense, he was carrying on hard without distraction, continuing to recite his parents’ names silently while calculating his heartbeat.

　　”Twenty-eight, twenty-nine ……”

　　Water poured into his ears, the sound was somewhat distorted, that footsteps gradually became urgent, the other party seemed to be trying to come in as well.

　　After a few more seconds, Chen Ge felt as if his chest was being pressed by a boulder, the blood vessels on his neck slowly protruded, his hands and feet were cold, and a sense of powerlessness appeared in his body.

　　The brain’s reaction was getting slower and slower, Chen Ge was now relying on his own will to hold on.

　　”Boom! Boom! Boom!”

　　Without any warning, something hit the door.

　　Chen Ge’s heart instantly lifted, that thing outside the house couldn’t help itself!

　　Probably because of the fact that there was a muppet behind the door, after the other party slammed it three times in a row and realized that it couldn’t open the door to the room, it stopped this meaningless move and the house was quiet again.

　　It was still more or less the same situation as before, the only difference was Chen Ge himself, normally he was perfectly capable of closing his breath for a minute, but the footsteps in the corridor, as well as the sound of the door slamming just now, made his heart beat faster, and the oxygen consumption of a person in a state of nervousness would be dramatically increased.

　　He felt like he was already reaching his limit, the last trace of oxygen in his lungs was being drained, and every second was a kind of torture for him.

　　”Thirty-nine, forty ……”

　　When he silently counted to forty, Chen Ge’s brain produced a wave of dizziness, and his physical condition no longer allowed him to continue counting silently.

　　Unable to be distracted, that sense of suffocation grew stronger and stronger, Chen Ge’s consciousness began to blur, he couldn’t think of many things, only instinctively recalling memories of his parents.

　　Blood vessels were outwardly visible, bulging on the pale skin, a large tendon on his neck was moving, and his fingers holding the kitchen knife were gradually loosening.

　　He felt like he was on the verge of death, and at the same time he understood the words in the middle of the mission.

　　When time goes between the gap between night and dawn, one can see the person who meets on the edge of life and death.

　　The meaning of this sentence was clearly that at the moment when day and night switched, those who were on the verge of death would be able to see the sights of the other world in advance!

　　Chen Ge’s eyes looked at the water without blinking, his pupils were lax, the water seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him, nothing of the meeting person was visible, there was only a darkness in front of him, a darkness so deep that it was despairing.

　　Lungs seemed to be squeezed flat, it was an indescribable suffocating feeling.

　　”No, if this keeps up, I might actually drown in the bathtub.”

　　Most of the forty-fourth minute of 3:00 a.m. had already passed, the person Chen Ge wanted to see still hadn’t appeared, he no longer had any illusions, or rather he felt grateful from the bottom of his heart that his parents hadn’t appeared, at least it meant that they were still alive.

　　Cold arm supported the bottom of the bathtub, he used the only trace of reason to make a decision, it’s time to give up.

　　With both hands, Chen Ge was about to get out of the water when he suddenly felt something was wrong!

　　Something was pressing down on his head, preventing him from leaving.

　　Lax pupils plummeted to a point, Chen Ge looked above his head, where there was clearly nothing!

　　The muppets blocked off the door to the room and around the bathtub, the monster in the mirror shouldn’t be able to get in, who was doing this?

　　A blood vessel on his neck was taut, Chen Ge’s face was ugly and scary, it was a matter of life and death, he exerted his last ounce of strength, holding the kitchen knife in his hand and waving it towards the top of his head.

　　Prolonged lack of oxygen, his body and will have reached the limit, like a spring that has been pulled to the top, may break at any time.

　　The kitchen knife swung up, splashing water, Chen Ge seemed to have cut into something in a trance, and only heard a crunch in his ears, the force above his head instantly disappeared.

　　With no further obstruction, Chen Ge sat up from the bathtub and swallowed the air in one big gulp!