The throbbing headache still lingered when An woke up. The Memory Crystal lay on the floor, its crystal dull, as if it had absorbed too much energy. An knew that accessing My Tam's memories was a fatal mistake he had risked. The images, sounds, and especially the horrifying emotions from the girl's memory, from Dr. Minh, and Nguyen Duc Duy, continued to haunt and tear at An's mind. He felt as if he carried the weight of three tragic deaths on his shoulders.
Throughout that day, An lived in a hazy state. Between normal classes, An would catch glimpses of the Shadow Demon's black tendrils out of the corner of his eye, or hear the whispers of "Suffering... Loss..." echoing in his head. He constantly startled, panicking, making Hong Anh even more worried.
"An, you're not well at all. Are you sure you don't have a fever? Or are you just overly stressed? You need to see a doctor!" Hong Anh said, her eyes pleading as she watched An sitting absentmindedly during lunch, not touching his food.
An just shook his head, forcing a weak smile. "I... I'm fine. Probably just lack of sleep."
The lie became increasingly difficult to utter. An knew Hong Anh would never understand what he was going through. How could he tell her that he was seeing tortured souls, and demons waiting to devour them, or even transmute human flesh? He didn't want to drag Hong Anh into this dark world.
In the evening, An returned to his room. He knew he couldn't go on like this. Accessing My Tam's memories too deeply without proper preparation had left him almost mentally exhausted. An decided he had to find Thanh Lam.
He messaged her: "I need to see you. Urgent."
Thanh Lam replied a few minutes later: "Hospital X. Old outpatient clinic area, basement. Midnight."
The location sent shivers down An's spine. Hospital X... where My Tam died, where Dr. Minh was murdered. And the basement, where the darkest and most horrifying things could happen. But An had no other choice.
Precisely at midnight, An sneaked out of the dormitory. Saigon's streets at night were unusually deserted, with only faint streetlights and sparse motorbike sounds. Every step An took felt heavy, not just from physical exhaustion but also from the fear crawling in his mind.
Upon reaching Hospital X, An found the main gate closed. He had to find another entrance. Relying on intuition and vague instructions from Thanh Lam, An groped his way to a side entrance at the back, near the waste disposal area. The old, rusty iron door was slightly ajar. An pushed it gently; it let out a horrifying creak, then slowly opened.
The smell of disinfectant, the stench of death, and the musty odor of old age assailed An's nose, making him want to gag. The corridor was pitch black, with only weak red emergency lights flickering in the distance. An's footsteps echoed, bouncing off the cold walls.
An descended the stairs leading to the basement. The deeper he went, the colder and denser the air became. Something was waiting for him. An gripped the Memory Crystal necklace, feeling it gradually become warmer in his palm.
Finally, An reached a long, utterly dark corridor. Thanh Lam stood at the end of the corridor, her shadow cast long under the emergency light. Beside her, something was manifesting.
A colossal "mirror stain," not on glass or a phone, but seemingly "hovering" in the air, on an old, stained wall. It wasn't a mere reflection. It was a gateway opened to the Mirror World, a rupture in reality.
From within the mirror stain, a pitch-black, viscous mass, writhing slowly, extended outwards. It was The Shadow Demon, the demon that had haunted My Tam, Dr. Minh, and Nguyen Duc Duy. This time, it was more clearly present than ever, not through a small reflective surface, but as an entity struggling to break free. It had sharp, jagged contours, as if formed from fragments of pain and death. From the black mass, the distorted faces of the victims flickered, sinking in and rising again, like souls trapped in a bubbling tar pit.
Thanh Lam turned to An, her eyes sharp and cold. "You came. I knew you would. You were too reckless. You opened the door for it."
An gasped, feeling an extreme fear envelop him. "What... what is it?"
"It's the Shadow Demon whose memories you accessed, through My Tam," Thanh Lam replied, emotionlessly. "When you delve deeply into the memories of a soul already tormented by a Shadow Demon, especially one with a connection to multiple deaths like My Tam, you inadvertently create a stronger bridge, pulling it closer to this world."
An felt a chill run down his spine. He had caused this.
"It's trying to break free. It has absorbed enough energy from My Tam's, Minh's, and Duy's pain and despair. It's seeking a new host to fully materialize in this world." Thanh Lam stepped closer to the mirror stain, her hand held in the air, as if feeling an invisible wall. "Its target... is you."
An was stunned. Its target was him?
"You have The Inverse Eye. Your soul's energy is a feast for entities like it. You have seen it, felt it, and more importantly, you have affected it. Now, you are the fattest prey in its sight."
The Shadow Demon in the "mirror stain" seemed to sense An's presence. Its pitch-black tendrils stretched out, extending beyond the boundaries of the mirror stain, directly towards him. An backed away, his heart pounding wildly.
"We don't have time. I need you to do one thing. You must 'close' it. Close this gateway completely. Only you can do it, because you were the one who opened it." Thanh Lam said, her voice resolute.
"But... how?" An stammered.
"With your willpower. With every ounce of strength you have. Use the Memory Crystal, focus all your energy into it, and visualize a massive, heavy stone door slamming shut, locking this mirror stain completely. You must sever the connection entirely. Otherwise..."
Thanh Lam didn't need to finish the sentence. An knew what would happen. He would be the next victim, another body decomposed or frozen, another soul devoured.
An looked at the reaching Shadow Demon, the tormented faces of My Tam, Minh, and Duy flickering on its surface. The whispers of thousands of tortured souls echoed, pulling him into the abyss.
He had no other choice.