Chapter 1050 - Red Spectre Zhang Ya [2 in 1] (2/2)

“Have you really lost all hope in this world? Do you not wish to see your own teacher one last time? There are many people like her in this world. The ghost fetus hid them away from you. He only showed you the darkest side of the world. But you must understand that with darkness comes light. Without the light to shine, where does the shadow come from!”

1As if hearing the term teacher, Yu Jian’s eyelids flickered slightly. His brows slowly moved into a V. He seemed to be struggling in a nightmare.

“Yu Jian, if you really believe that you have encountered love, it is time to stop letting yourself sink behind the door. Do not let her down and use every inch of power that you have to change yourself into someone that would make her proud.” Chen Ge picked Yu Jian up from the ground and gave him a powerful slap. “Snap out of it! Perhaps she is just waiting for you on the other side of the door!”

The flesh that caved in slowly recovered. Yu Jian’s eyelids moved slightly, and then he slowly opened his eyes. Chen Ge picked up the phone from the ground and showed the picture of the screensaver to Yu Jian. “Live! I beg you to give life another chance! It is not that hard. In the future, you might have a chance to see her again!”

The fuzzy eyes started to focus. The past incidents crossed Yu Jian’s mind. The boy’s hands reached out to grab the broken phone, and his expression stopped being so blank. Chen Ge removed his jacket and placed it around Yu Jian. The boy was a prideful man, but he was completely naked behind the door. This was probably a symbol of his once state of mind.

“The ghost fetus infested himself inside you and kept luring you to the edge of the darkness. He blotted out all the light and only allowed you the glimpse of darkness and despair. Thankfully, you ran into that teacher.”

“Miss Zhang…” Light started to gather at the bottom of Yu Jian’s eyes. The connection between the ghost fetus and the world behind the door was weakening. He found it more and more difficult to summon energy from Yu Jian’s world.

“Yu Jian!” The ghost fetus’ body was disformed and covered in wounds. He was wailing like a wounded animal. “It was me who accompanied you when you were all alone! It was me who stood by your side when your father abandoned you and your mother blamed you! When the adults were fighting and shouting in the name of ‘love’, it was also me who was shielding you from all the pain!”

A shrill voice was coming out from the ghost fetus’ lips. He had shed the disguise of Du Ming’s mother but started to remind Yu Jian of the things that they had gone through together. From what Chen Ge gathered, Yu Jian appeared to be a b*stard son. His mother fell in love with a man who already had a wife. The argument between his parents and the whisperings of the neighbors twisted Yu Jian’s understanding of ‘love’ from the moment he was born. Combined with the influence of the ghost fetus, Yu Jian gradually lost the power of love.

“He was not protecting you. He merely wanted to turn you into his tool, to turn you into a machine who would not know what love is.” Chen Ge guarded Yu Jian behind him. “If you still retain the memory of the period after I entered your door, you should think about it. What is love? What should you do when you really love a person?”

The ghost fetus was unable to get any more help from the world behind the door. At that moment, he looked aggressive, mad, and crazed. Compared to the physical wounds on his body, he was more angered by Yu Jian’s attitude toward him.

Seeing the ghost fetus in this state, Yu Jian’s lips were pressed in a thin line. His hands that were raised earlier were finally lowered again.

“Yu Jian! Yu Jian!” The ghost fetus’ body was torn into pieces by the Red Specters. All the black threads were washed away by the wave of blood. Du Ming’s mother, who was disguised by the ghost fetus, disappeared, and what remained on the terrifying distortion of a mother’s love was a watercolor painting of a child.

A family of three stood before a haunted house with happy smiles on their faces. In the sky was a sun that was painted red. Around the house were green trees with brown trunks. The family wore colorful clothes, and the whole picture was filled with various bright colors. Chen Ge remembered painting this when he was young. In fact, he noticed his name was signed in his still untrained handwriting in one corner of the painting. It was a homework assignment that had been given by the teacher. It was to draw a painting with theme of family.

“The ghost fetus is also in possession of this drawing?” The painting looked normal, but after Chen Ge studied it closer, he noticed that something was off. There was a small part on the painting that he did not remember putting in. The family of three stood before the haunted house happily. Under the blazing glaze of the sun, behind the caricature that represented Chen Ge, there was a dark shadow that was added by someone other than Chen Ge.

“The shadow?” Chen Ge placed the painting inside his backpack. He carried Yu Jian, and with the accompaniment of the Red Specters, they walked out from the teacher’s lounge.

“It is time for us to leave this place.” The small town no longer looked like the idyllic place that it appeared to be. The dream had turned into a nightmare. Chen Ge looked blankly out the window as if looking for someone. The streets were filled with cracks, and the rain continued to pour. This world was about to collapse. Chen Ge still did not see the person that he was looking for. He walked to the black door that was in the school’s equipment room.

Just as he was about to push the door open with the rest of his employees, his phone suddenly rang. Chen Ge did not hesitate and answered it immediately. He placed the phone next to his ear and held his breath. Moments later, Zhang Ya’s voice came through the phone. “I promised you that I would definitely tell you before I leave, Chen Ge…”

“Where are you now?” Chen Ge grabbed the phone and ran to the nearest window. “I will meet you now!”

Without taking the umbrella, Chen Ge grabbed the backpack and rushed into the pouring rain while holding the phone. He ran down the cracked street, flying through the crumbling world. Finally, he saw that lonely shadow standing at the crossroad. Zhang Ya stood by the road, holding a red umbrella. She still had not hung up the phone that she was holding. Gasping for air, Chen Ge’s body was soaked by the rain.

“I did not want to call you, lest I interrupted your study, but once I have decided to leave, I seemed unable to control myself.” Zhang Ya pushed the red umbrella over Chen Ge’s head and stood beside him. “Will you ever forgive my selfishness?”

The gray town started to crumble and fall. The black cracks were tearing through the world. Chen Ge did not answer Zhang Ya. This was the first time that he had been able to be so close to her. “If the incident at the dance studio did not happen, if we were not teacher and student, if you were just Zhang Ya and I was just Chen Ge, how good would that be?”

Zhang Ya did not say anything once she heard Chen Ge. She took another step forward. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned lightly against Chen Ge. Raising both of her hands, Zhang Ya whispered in Chen Ge’s ears, “Hug me.”

Under the red umbrella, before Chen Ge could raise his hands, Zhang Ya’s body had started to turn illusory. The red umbrella tumbled to the ground. Chen Ge hugged nothing but air. He stood alone silently as the rain poured down around him.

The world behind the door collapsed. The Red Specters herded Yu Jian and Chen Ge to the iron door, and they worked together to push it open. Just as they left the world, droplets of red rain fell on Chen Ge’s backpack. They seeped through the material and finally dyed Zhang Ya’s book red.

…

After stepping out from the iron door, gravity pulled him sideways, and he stumbled into Yu Jian’s bedroom. His eyes were red. Without missing a beat, he pulled open his backpack and took out Zhang Ya’s bedtime story. He flipped through the many pages until he found the last page.

“X Year X Month X Day, I had a dream today. In the dream, I was a teacher, and he became my student.

“I dreamed that we shared the same umbrella going home. I dreamed that we stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus together. I dreamed that we were living and cooking together.

“I dreamed that I hugged him, and he returned a tight embrace.”