Chapter 1 The Beginning

Li Cheng颐 simply selected a self-service dessert套餐, placed his order, paid, and then got up to get a plate, preparing to get his desserts.

"...I can't take it anymore, really, I really can't take it anymore!"

As he walked to the self-service dessert counter, he suddenly heard a sobbing voice.

"...It's okay, you just didn't rest well last night, and the exam pressure is a bit too much. Rest well these days, do the meditation I told you about before, adjust your mindset, and you'll definitely be fine," another female voice whispered in comfort.

"It's useless... I said it's not a hallucination, not a dream!" the previous female voice continued.

"I cut myself at the time, look, the wound is still there, it's all real! Really!" The girl's voice was very young, probably only seventeen or eighteen years old, and her emotions were clearly on the verge of collapse.

"Have you seen any online psychologists? You can find the best ones to register for consultation. Tell them about your situation, maybe they have seen a lot 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's emotions began to get agitated.

"I'm going to die... Waa... If I go in there again, I'll definitely die..." she cried.

"You're just too nervous, too tired, nothing will happen, don't worry, I'll be with you," the other woman comforted her earnestly and gently.

Li Cheng颐 picked up a yogurt cake with strawberries on it, put it on the tray in his hand, and glanced at the direction of the sound.

Right next to the self-service dessert counter, on the second table counting from the right, sat two young women.

The one who was crying was a delicate girl with a white sweater with black dots, black curly hair draped over her shoulders, and white glasses.

Her fingers were tightly pinching the coffee spoon in front of her, her knuckles were white, almost as if she was about to break the porcelain spoon, and her whole body was shaking.

Across from her, a short-haired girl in a dark blue hooded coat was comforting her softly with a worried expression.

The two seemed to notice Li Cheng颐's sidelong glance, and their voices quickly lowered.

Li Cheng颐 quickly took another small cake shaped like a banana, turned around and got a glass of milk, and instead of returning to his previous position, he walked to another table not far from the two girls and sat down.

He was very interested in the topic they were talking about just now. What the girl in the white sweater was experiencing reminded him of what he was currently experiencing.

However, his actions seemed to attract the attention of the two girls, who also glanced at him out of the corner of their eyes, consciously lowering their voices to the point where they were almost inaudible.

Li Cheng颐 lowered his head, eating the cake while hesitating in his heart.

He was wondering whether to take the initiative to talk to them and ask about the situation.

But whether everything he saw was good or bad was still unknown, and after hesitating for a while, he remained seated and didn't move.

Before long, the two girls at the next table got up, picked up their small bags, and quickly left.

Li Cheng颐 didn't say anything to them in the end, he just sat there.

Recalling what the girl had cried out just now, he frowned slightly in silence, and suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind.

'I'm really stupid.'

In the information age, he was still sitting there foolishly doing nothing. Since there was a problem, the best way was naturally to...

Taking out his phone from his pocket, Li Cheng颐 skillfully unlocked it and opened the browser.

Then he searched: Dreaming of entering a strange place.

With a tap to confirm, a row of information links immediately appeared on the screen.

'Dream interpretation fee.'

'Complete dream interpretation, membership version.'

'North School psychology master Su Lun answers unknown...'

'Dreaming of my dad wanting to chop me.'

'Dreaming of falling into a strange toilet.'

The messy search results made Li Cheng颐 feel a little dizzy. A quick glance down showed that they were all irrelevant to what he was looking for.

But that's how information is, like searching for a needle in a haystack, you can only screen it bit by bit.

He patiently clicked on the ones that seemed most likely and checked them.

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

More and more people were coming after getting off work.

Li Cheng颐 finally drank the milk in his cup, got up, and picked up his phone.

There were too many people around, which wasn't conducive to him quietly searching for information, so he decided to go somewhere else.

With a creak, he pushed open the door of the cafe. As he passed the cluster of white flowers by the door, a black mark flashed across the back of his right hand, and a line of clear words appeared on the back of his hand.

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

The content of the writing was quite concise.

'Loading is starting... Please touch continuously for ten seconds and then release.'

Except for Li Cheng颐, no one else could see the black writing.

But he was holding his phone and constantly searching, completely unaware of the changes on his hand.

As he walked further away, his distance from the cluster of small flowers also gradually increased, and the words on the back of his right hand faded quickly.

'Activation failed, please continue to contact for ten seconds...' The writing quickly disappeared, as if it had never appeared, like it had run out of power.

At this time, Li Cheng颐 was slowly concentrating his attention. He clicked on the links on his phone one by one, and he actually found some unusual things.

'Dead Angle Forum?'

'Dead Angle Club.'

'Dead Angle Research Institute.'

One related website after another came into his view.

He casually clicked on a Dead Angle Club.

Immediately, a pitch-black webpage automatically popped up on the screen.

'If you encounter a dead angle, don't be afraid. Because whether you are afraid or not, you will die.'

A line of red words slowly emerged.

'Dead angles cannot be escaped. They are like shackles, forever binding your neck, making you unable to breathe, and leading you step by step into despair.'

After the red words finished displaying, a row of news links appeared.

'A couple in Wanxi City mysteriously disappeared from their home. After the disappearance, there was still freshly cooked hot noodles on the table.'

'An elderly person in Jiaxin City went out to throw garbage late at night and never returned. The surveillance did not find anything unusual, and it was suspected that the elderly person had never left the stairwell.'

'A student in Yiyang City mysteriously disappeared while walking home from school, and no clues were found on the surveillance cameras on the roads before and after.'

A row of news, all of which were missing persons cases collected from various places.

At the bottom was an entrance button for common knowledge exchange.

Li Cheng颐 clicked it, and the screen immediately switched to another webpage.

This was an interface similar to a forum. Above a row of posts, there were several bright red titles pinned to the top.

'1: A list of community rules, how to earn points.'

'2: Must-read for newbies.'

'3: Be sure to protect your personal information when posting and communicating to avoid being deceived. Recently there have been unscrupulous people...'

Li Cheng颐 quickly clicked on Must-read for newbies.

With a swoosh, a row of text popped up, hundreds of words in total.

'No one has ever seen a dead angle. Perhaps it is just a legend, but the increasing number of missing persons cases makes us believe that there must be some kind of force constantly approaching and constantly appearing.'

'Dead angles are difficult to detect and can easily be mistaken for dreams, but unfortunately, you wake up from dreams, but once you enter a dead angle, you will definitely die and will never reappear.'

'If you encounter a dead angle, please do not contact us, try to enjoy the last of your beautiful life. Dead angles generally approach slowly and will completely pull you in on the third foreshadowing. Go and do everything you want to do but don't dare to do.'

Li Cheng颐 frowned slightly.

The information on this forum conveyed a sense of decadence and a "what the hell" attitude.

He quickly looked at the location of the commenter, where there was a name and nickname.

'--Know-it-all.'

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

'Nickname: Know-it-all. Real name: Zhang Xieying. Mysteriously disappeared from home in June 22, whereabouts unknown. If found, 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 was more like an extremely strong and fierce buzz-cut man than a woman.

Her eyes were sharp and unruly, she had a scar on her forehead, and her neck was as thick as a bucket. Even through the photo, you could see strong muscle lines.

She was wearing a military green tight-fitting t-shirt with military insignia, and she was likely a former soldier.

Li Cheng颐 looked at the current time: Thursday, May 13, 2024.

'She's been missing for almost two years?'

He sighed inwardly. If he had some doubts before that what he was experiencing was a hallucination or dream, but now, seeing so much real evidence, he understood that what he was experiencing was not a hallucination.

He continued to search the forum. Besides getting some hints, the entire forum was mostly filled with hobbyists discussing and bragging about their dreams.

Having not obtained more information, Li Cheng颐 reluctantly closed the website.

At this time, the sky was gradually darkening.

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

As he stood there, he vaguely felt a little tired, perhaps because he had eaten too many sweets.

Taking out his phone, he continued to browse the web, looking for information about dead angles.

Click, click.

Suddenly, the phone screen froze for a moment, and then suddenly turned into a cartoon image of a little yellow dog wagging its tail and sitting.

Below it was a line of words.

'Sorry, your network signal is not good, please check and try again.'

"Huh?"

Li Cheng颐 quickly glanced at the phone signal bar in the upper right corner. Sure enough, the previously full signal was now completely empty, turning into a red X.

He shook the phone, guessing if there was a malfunction, but suddenly felt something was wrong, it seemed a little 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 he had been in before!!

Inside the dim parking lot.

In the square and empty space, there were no cars, like a closed long box, extending to the end of the line of sight.

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

On the right was a long straight line of light tubes, lit all the way to the end of the line of sight.

On the left were sections of horizontal light tubes, one-meter-long fluorescent lights, hung every five meters, also extending to the end of the line of sight.

'...!!'

Li Cheng颐 stood frozen in place, his neck stiffly looking slowly to the left and right.

On both sides were gray-white lime walls, red fire cabinets and gray small doors to the repair room were clearly visible.

But there was no one.

Not a single person.

Li Cheng颐 quickly glanced behind him.

Behind him was a very solid white wall, the bus stop advertising sign from before had disappeared.

Dim lighting, black ground with blurry parking lines painted on it.

No wind, no sound, only himself.

Click.

Just then.

A faint sound suddenly came from a small repair door on the right.

It seemed to be the sound of the door lock being turned and opened.

Li Cheng颐 looked into the distance. He was about twenty meters away from the small door, and he could clearly see the doorknob slowly turning.

Some of the rust on it also fell off slightly as it turned.

Glug.

Li Cheng颐 unconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Even if he had lived two lifetimes, when faced with danger, he was still just an ordinary person without the strength to truss a chicken.

And now...

Click.

Suddenly, the small repair door slowly opened.

The door opened slowly, revealing a small, dark gap.

The gap was illuminated by the light, and it was empty inside, with nothing.

It seemed to be just a repair room used as a storage room.

Li Cheng颐 still didn't dare to relax, he stared at the door gap, not daring to move his eyes at all.

Click.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from behind him!

'!!?' Li Cheng颐 was startled, he didn't expect the wall behind him to make a sound, and quickly turned his head to look behind him.

There was nothing behind him, still a white wall.

Suddenly he realized, and quickly turned his head again to look at the small repair door.

A face!!!

He saw a huge face!

At the door gap, a giant human face as tall as a door was quietly watching him through the gap.

The human face was completely black and white, as if it had been forcibly extracted from an old-fashioned video recorder, without any color tone.

The human face looked wooden, with a few strands of black hair sparsely topping its forehead.

It had no body, its entire head was like a balloon, and it squeezed out of the door gap with a gentle squeeze.

Li Cheng颐 stood there dumbfounded, his whole body numb and unable to move.

He stared at the human face, wanting to move, but the skin all over his body seemed to have lost sensation and he couldn't move at all.

Cold sweat slowly oozed from his forehead, temples, and back.

Small specks of blood, red dots, began to emerge from the skin of his legs and gradually spread upwards.

The nearly two-meter-high human face slowly floated closer, approaching him.

Closer and closer...

Closer and closer...