97 Sacrifice Corridor 11||Midnight Bell 2
Yan Shuang and Jing Ning looked at each other, already having the answer in their hearts. Then they suddenly stood up, picked up the receiver, and the deafening ringing stopped abruptly.
Yan Shuang held her breath and put the receiver to their ears.
There was complete silence on the other end of the line, save for the rustling of normal electricity. However, when I listened more closely, I could hear a strange whirring sound mixed in with the rustling, as if the person on the other end was standing in a windy place, and the wind was whistling through the receiver.
"Hello?" Yan Shuang asked tentatively.
There was a faint breathing sound from the other end of the phone, but still no one spoke.
"Excuse me, who are you?" Yan Shuang asked again.
"Click...click...click..." This time there was a different sound on the phone, as if someone was talking, but the sound was short and intermittent and could not be heard clearly.
Yan Shuang held the receiver close to her ear, but still couldn't hear what was said on the other end.
Suddenly, a crying voice came from the other end of the phone. It was hard to tell whether it was a man or a woman, but it made people's scalp tingle.
"Help...help...help...help me..." The man's voice gradually became clearer. "Ghost! A ghost is coming!!!"
Yan Shuang's hand holding the receiver tightened involuntarily, a cold sweat broke out, and a visibly stiff look flashed across her face for a moment. The voice on the other end of the phone couldn't be more familiar.
Ye Jing'an seemed to have not heard a response and became more and more anxious. His voice trembled with extreme fear, "Yan Shuang...you...where are you?"
The dark room was already very dark, and suddenly an even thicker darkness silently enveloped everything.
"Are you in the room?" He didn't have time to think. When he heard his friend's cry for help, all his rationality disappeared.
Just then, the line started to buzz again. Yan Shuang was so anxious that her mouth was dry. She forced herself to remain calm and said, "Hello? Hello, Ye Jing'an? Are you listening?"
In the darkness, Jing Ning grabbed him and found that his hands were cold and wet.
It seemed like not much time had passed, yet it also seemed like a long time had passed before the call finally returned to normal. Ye Jingan's voice continued to be heard, "There was something outside the door just now. You..." He paused, feeling a little embarrassed. He did not continue the rest of the sentence, but changed the subject to say, "I... I'm afraid..."
"Find a place to hide. It's okay, don't be afraid. I'll go down to find you now." Yan Shuang licked her lips, comforting him while also comforting herself.
Ye Jingan's voice on the phone was clearly filled with joy after being frightened. "Okay, I'll wait for you. Hurry up."
Yan Shuang stopped talking for a moment, put down the receiver, and waited quietly without making any movement.
After a long time, the phone was still connected, so Ye Jingan had no choice but to ask, "Yan Shuang?"
"Yeah." Yan Shuang responded, but his tone was unusually calm.
"Why haven't you come yet? Hurry up, the thing outside the door is about to come in!" Ye Jing'an was a little annoyed and said in a stern tone.
"Then let him in." Yan Shuang sneered, "You won't be afraid if you take a closer look."
"Yan Shuang!" Ye Jing'an seemed really angry. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, don't you have any idea?" Yan Shuang said.
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
Then he asked doubtfully, "Yan Shuang, you don't think I'm lying to you, do you? Why would I lie to you? We've been friends for so many years, don't you know me well? I'm really scared!"
Yan Shuang didn't directly answer Ye Jing'an's series of questions. She responded coldly, "Do you know about systematic desensitization? The core theory behind it is exposure therapy. The essence of fear is a 'conditioned reflex'. You just need to repeatedly stimulate your brain to accept this information, so as to achieve the effect of not being afraid. Oh, sorry, I forgot. It seems you don't need it."
"To put it bluntly, you still don't believe me." Ye Jing'an sighed, "How did you become like this?"
"There's no way. I have to be cautious in this situation," Yan Shuang said.
"Okay..." Ye Jing'an said, "I can prove it. We were roommates in college, and later we worked in the same company. Later, I found a girlfriend and was about to propose, but then I ended up in this damn game. The first game I entered was at school, and it was called 'Taboo'."
"Oh, by the way, you weren't with the boss back then. We even went to Suzhou together to attend a funeral before entering the game recently. Can you prove this?"
"You're really persistent." Yan Shuang smiled. "Even if what you said is true, then let me ask you, where is Doctor Lin, who was in the same room with you?"
"I don't know. It's dark and I can't see." Ye Jing'an answered quickly.
"Look, I've been chatting with you for such a long time without being interrupted by ghosts. Ghosts don't have the patience to wait for you to finish your call." Yan Shuang said.
"You! Are you kidding me!?" Ye Jing'an finally reacted.
"Yes, aren't you fine now?" Yan Shuang sneered.
The darkness was so thick that it could not be dissolved, as if everything had stopped, with only the sound of two people talking.
"Say... maybe the ghost is hiding there waiting for me." Ye Jing'an stuttered.
"I admit that. You're really patient." Yan Shuang said bluntly without any nervousness or hesitation. "But you're the one waiting for me, right? Let me guess. If you want to wait for me to tell you the room number or open the door and walk out, then I'll be the next one to die."
"Although you can read Ye Jing'an's memories and imitate his voice, there is one thing you will never understand: human emotions."
"Honestly, I did believe it at first, and I almost opened the door impulsively. You should never have said that last sentence. The real Ye Jingan is very timid, but he would never force me to take risks to save him knowing there was danger. It was a very stupid mistake."
"It's true that close people can make us relax our guard and act impulsively and irrationally. However, the most fundamental difference between humans and other things is that they have self-awareness and the ability to think. We can reflect on our own behavior, analyze the pros and cons, and learn and grow from it. This self-awareness and reflective ability enables us to be aware of our own impulsiveness and irrationality and work hard to restrain ourselves."
"In addition, humans have emotions and moral values. We experience emotional reactions to our own actions, such as guilt and regret, which motivate us to correct our mistakes. At the same time, moral values constrain our behavior, making us more cautious and rational when dealing with those close to us."
"People close to us may let us down, but we shouldn't lose sight of our own essential qualities. We should leverage our human strengths, using our self-awareness, thinking skills, emotions, and moral values to control our behavior and avoid impulsive and irrational decisions."
Yan Shuang leaned back in his chair, yawned, and said, "I've been talking so much nonsense with you just to buy time with you. You're welcome."
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