Soul Hunting

I jerked my eyes open.

In that instant, I felt my pupils contract violently, and my heart seemed to skip a beat. On the ceiling above me, dense blood - red words were wriggling. Each stroke was like a living tadpole, constantly squirming, distorting, and finally forming the same sentence:

"DON'T LET THEM KNOW YOU CAN SEE!"

"DON'T LET THEM KNOW YOU CAN SEE!"

"DON'T LET THEM KNOW YOU CAN SEE!"

Those words were as bright red as blood, exuding a viscous texture, as if they might drip down at any moment. I instinctively dodged to the side, but my mind went blank, unable to even think about what this strange scene meant.

I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again, the blood - red words on the ceiling had disappeared without a trace. The morning light filtered through the slits of the blinds and cast strip - shaped spots on the floor. This was a strange room, with simple white walls, ordinary furniture, and a half - open suitcase in the corner.

Memories came flooding back.

This was the staff dormitory of Oak College in Evergreen, Michigan. I was Alex Foster, a high - school dropout working as a salesperson to recruit students for the college. But at the same time, I clearly remembered being a student at an ordinary university. The two sets of memories intertwined in my mind, like two streams winding around each other, both independent and inseparable.

The only common point was that I was an orphan in both.

What's going on? Did I time - travel? I tried to sort out my thoughts. In my previous life, I was worrying about the final exams, and the next second, I was in this strange world. The memories of both worlds were incredibly clear, and I could recall even the tiniest details: the posters on the wall of the university dormitory, the coffee machine in the sales department of Oak College, the sales record I completed just yesterday...

Maybe I'm better off in this world? I thought with a bitter smile. At least Alex Foster here had started working and making money, even though he was a high - school dropout. But right now, none of this mattered because —

"Honey, breakfast is ready!" A sweet female voice came from outside the door.

I turned my head and saw a young woman standing at the door. She was wearing a white silk camisole nightgown, her skin so pale it was almost transparent. Her perfect body curves were like a work of art carefully carved by an artist. Her face was so exquisitely beautiful that it didn't seem real, more like a delicate art piece. What was most disturbing was her smile, a fixed smile that seemed to be frozen in a certain moment, lacking any vitality.

Is this what they call a morning surprise? A ridiculous thought flashed through my mind. If it were on a dating app, this creepy smile would definitely get a left - swipe.

But then I immediately remembered that in this world, I didn't seem to have a wife. Confusion and fear filled my heart.

"Who are you?" I asked, at a loss. The education from both worlds made me maintain basic politeness towards a beauty of this level, because beautiful women always gave people the illusion of being kind.

Suddenly, the woman's smile distorted. Her mouth split open, stretching almost to her ears, revealing rows of white teeth. Her eyes widened to an incredible extent, and a crazy light danced in her pitch - black pupils: "YOU CAN SEE ME! YOU CAN SEE ME! YOU CAN SEE ME!" she shrieked, her voice filled with a sick sense of joy, like a madman who had been searching for a thousand years in the dark and finally found the light.

Her body began to twitch spasmodically, and with each tremor, her form became more and more distorted. I watched in horror as her skin started to crack, like parched earth, splitting into layers and peeling off. Dark liquid oozed from the cracks, exuding a nauseating stench of decay. Her hair danced wildly, like a group of frenzied black snakes, each strand writhing wildly in the air, emitting a spine - chilling hissing sound. Amidst the shrill laughter of joy, there was a kind of twisted sobbing, as if she was crying frantically for finding someone who "could see her".

I wanted to scream, but the sound didn't come out. Those dark hairs suddenly straightened like steel wires and stabbed into my skin like lightning. Intense pain swept through my whole body in an instant, as if countless tiny blades were flowing in my blood vessels. I could feel those hairs spreading inside my body, tearing every inch of my flesh.

My vision began to distort, and the room became blurred and distant in my eyes. The Wife's smile magnified in front of me, and her cracked face was covered with winding black lines. She opened her mouth, revealing white teeth that far exceeded the human limit.

A tearing pain came from my neck. I felt my head being slowly separated, as if someone was cutting it with a blunt knife. I wanted to move, but all my muscles were immobilized by those black hairs. Warm liquid flowed down my neck, pooling into a dark red puddle on the floor.

My consciousness gradually blurred in the intense pain, and the last image was that eternal smiling face, slowly approaching my face...

I jerked my eyes open again.

So this is what they call traveling to a parallel world? I swallowed a mouthful of bitterness. Ending up in a life - threatening situation on the first day. What a "perfect" start.

I gasped for breath, my vest soaked with cold sweat. The memories of my previous life were still vivid. The ordinary and somewhat boring college life now seemed so nostalgic. At least in that world, I only had to worry about failing exams, not about being torn apart by some supernatural being.

The line of blood - red words on the ceiling was still wriggling, its glaring red color like a silent warning. This time, I chose to pretend I didn't see anything and stared straight at the alarm clock by the bedside. Pretending to be dead is a skill I mastered in school to avoid troublemakers. I cheered myself up in my heart, thinking somewhat ironically that this skill was useful in both worlds. I hope it works against supernatural beings too.

"Honey, breakfast is ready!"

The familiar voice sounded again. I forced myself to keep my eyes level and not look in the direction of the door. But I could feel that presence approaching. An icy aura enveloped the entire room, as if the air had solidified at that moment.

A pale face suddenly appeared in my line of sight. Those pitch - black eyes stared straight at me, and the corner of her mouth still maintained that strange smile. I couldn't help but meet her gaze — my heart was filled with fear. But the fear I showed didn't slow down her crazy actions.

This time, death came more slowly. Her fingers turned into sharp black claws, and starting from my chest, she sliced through my skin inch by inch. Black liquid oozed from each wound, and the liquid was corrosive, causing the muscles at the wound to fester.

Wave after wave of intense pain hit, but I found I couldn't pass out. Whenever my consciousness was about to blur, a piercing chill would pull me back to reality, forcing me to clearly feel every bit of pain. My hands and feet were held down by an invisible force, and I could only watch as my body was gradually disintegrated.

The Wife leaned down, close to my ear, and let out a wild laugh. Her voice fluctuated, as if multiple people were speaking at the same time: "You shouldn't have seen me...but I'm SO HAPPY you did!" she said almost obsessively, her voice filled with sick love. "Finally...FINALLY someone can see me!" Black tentacles grew frantically from her fingertips, like some kind of deformed plant, eagerly burrowing into my flesh, as if they wanted to taste every inch of me carefully.

The process of death was as long as eternity. When the last trace of vitality was drained away, I saw the line of blood - red words on the ceiling of the room slowly disappearing...

When I woke up for the third time, I no longer screamed.

The memories of the two worlds intertwined more closely in the death loop. I remembered the single bed in the university dormitory, the sales meeting at Oak College yesterday, and the empty seats of my parents in both worlds. Perhaps it was this loneliness that made me so quickly accept my new identity after traveling.

This experience of dying and coming back to life, I thought self - mockingly, is probably what gamers call "reloading and starting over"? Unfortunately, the pain in the real - world version can't be turned down. In my previous life, at least I could experience the invincible mode in games. In this world, it's like a hell - level difficulty right from the start.

I picked up the phone by the bedside and pretended to be browsing the news. The date on the screen made me feel dazed. The time here was two years ahead of my original world. Maybe in some parallel universe, another me was worrying about the upcoming final exams instead of experiencing supernatural horror here.

That voice sounded again, but this time I decided to fully immerse myself in the phone. Please, let me die at least a bit like Henry Cavill. I prayed while scrolling through meaningless news. Dying from social media addiction is better than being eaten. Besides, I'm a social media expert from two worlds now.

However, at that moment, the phone screen suddenly went black. On the pitch - black reflective surface, I saw her reflection. That pale face was smiling at me on the screen.

An uncontrollable anger suddenly welled up in my heart. I 猛地 turned around and swung a punch at that figure. But my arm just passed through a mass of cold air, and then, countless black tentacles surged from all directions, wrapping me tightly.

The Wife's body suddenly split into countless pieces like broken glass, and each piece reflected the same hideous smile. These pieces circled in the air, forming a closed vortex, trapping me in the center. Countless pale hands stretched out from the darkness, their fingernails black and long, glinting with a metallic cold light.

The first hand grabbed my arm, and the moment the fingernails pierced my flesh, a piercing chill spread throughout my body along the wound. Then came the second, the third... More hands grabbed my torso and legs, pulling me in different directions. I could clearly feel my joints being dislocated one by one under this tugging.

Blood formed tiny droplets in the air, glistening with an eerie light in the reflection of those pieces. The intense pain made my consciousness begin to blur, but that voice still echoed clearly in my ears: "Thank you for seeing me..."

In the last moment before my consciousness completely dissipated, I finally understood the meaning of that line of blood - red words. But this realization came too late, because she already knew — I could see her.

In the darkness, countless eternal smiles were the last images. They overlapped, distorted, and finally merged into a bottomless void.