Sleep paralysis often occurs when a person is about to enter deep sleep or is about to wake up. It frequently affects teenagers and is most likely to happen to people who often stay up late, are under great stress, and don’t rest well.

Because consciousness remains clear while the body cannot move—like having a thousand-pound boulder pressing on the chest—combined with hallucinations created by merging with dream states, people vividly call it “ghost pressing bed.”

Strangely enough, the doctor had never experienced sleep paralysis before.

So when he first realized what was happening, the doctor seriously reflected on whether he’d been too busy lately, his body unable to cope and subtly protesting to him.

But as the bodily pain became completely unbearable, he couldn’t help but panic.

Moreover, he clearly saw that crimson figure flashing by in the dark corner of the room.

The doctor recalled Chun Ge’s words—in his description of what he’d experienced, he never mentioned seeing a red dragon!

Could it be from the wooden box… No, that was a tiger! Not a dragon!

The more the doctor thought about it, the more confused he became.

He told himself this was just sleep paralysis, and the pain was because the blanket still had fleas despite being aired out… No wait, due to temporary limb paralysis and being in a numb state, he shouldn’t be able to feel bodily pain at all!

So all of this should be hallucinations produced by his brain waves during rapid eye movement sleep. To be precise, what he was seeing was all his dreams.

Day thoughts become night dreams. Recent research supposedly shows that dreams might be formed by the brain based on events from the past week. Perhaps it was things he’d seen in daily life projecting into his mind.

Right, in that previous elevator crash incident, the Tang-suited man who appeared was wearing Tang clothing embroidered with a red dragon.

Perhaps because this person had saved him once, in his subconscious, he was the first person he thought of.

Look, looking more carefully, there really was someone there. That red dragon was embroidery on that person’s Tang suit. Because the fabric was black and there were no lights on in the room, at first glance he only saw the red dragon.

The doctor almost gave himself a thumbs-up for his rigorous logical reasoning, but he also felt that the imagined figure wasn’t very useful—the sensations in his body were getting more and more painful, even making him want to scream.

Just like what Chun Ge had experienced, he couldn’t make a sound either.

The doctor felt anxious. Though his rational analysis was sound, having never experienced sleep paralysis before, he inevitably felt frightened. Whether due to Chun Ge’s previous dramatization or the unbearable pain in his body, he always felt that if this continued, he might never wake up.

Just as he was feeling restless and uneasy, he vaguely heard someone murmuring softly in his ear.

“Strange, with a longevity lock protecting the body and vigorous yang energy, there should be no encounter with such supernatural events…”

Longevity lock? How did someone know he wore a longevity lock? Or was he fantasizing that the longevity lock he’d worn since childhood was some special protective amulet, creating auditory hallucinations?

The doctor stared blankly at the young man slowly approaching, the handsome face in his vision becoming clearer and clearer.

How had he even imagined the other person’s appearance?

This Tang-suited man seemed to take out something and wave it. The doctor instantly felt sensation return to his hands and feet, and the bone-deep pain receded like a tide.

The doctor sat up with a sudden movement, staring directly at the young man standing by his bedside, talking to himself: “Huh? Still here? So I haven’t woken up yet?” As he spoke, he reached out to grab the other’s hand.

Look, ice cold, indeed no temperature.

He squeezed it. Huh? This feeling, this was… a real person?

The doctor quickly released his hand, shocked, rubbing his eyes and putting on his glasses from the bedside table. He even pinched his thigh, grimacing in pain while not forgetting to question: “You… how did you get in? I clearly locked the door!”

The Tang-suited man didn’t respond to his question, instead looking around the room.

The doctor jumped out of bed and went to press the wall switch, but there was no response—it remained pitch black. “How is there a power outage now?” The doctor laughed awkwardly twice to ease the frightening atmosphere.

The Tang-suited man frowned and was about to say something when a muffled sound came from the living room, like something bursting open, shaking the floor.

“Could the new thermos I bought have exploded? Online purchases really aren’t good!” The doctor guessed dryly, but actually even he didn’t believe these words. That sound wasn’t at all like what a single thermos explosion could produce.

The Tang-suited man headed toward the living room. The doctor looked around the pitch-black bedroom, feeling it would be more terrifying to stay here alone. Not even having time to put on slippers, he immediately followed.

Strangely enough, although this person had inexplicably broken into his home with an unclear identity, the doctor instinctively felt the other wouldn’t harm him, instead giving him a sense of reliability and security.

After all, if this Tang-suited man wanted to do something to him, he could have done it already. And the previous elevator incident, though it could be called a coincidental accident, the doctor felt the other had deliberately saved him.

Walking out from the bedroom, he could see faint warm light coming from the kitchen area, breaking through this eerie darkness.

“So there is electricity. Looks like the bedroom light is broken.” The doctor sighed in relief, feeling that keeping the revolving lantern on all night as a night light was a very wise decision. He glanced around the living room, found no one, and headed toward the kitchen.

That Tang-suited man was indeed standing next to the revolving lantern. The warm yellow light fell on his handsome face, making him appear even more refined and elegant, with bright eyes and sparse brows. Hearing the doctor’s footsteps, he didn’t turn around but sighed softly: “So it’s a revolving lantern, no wonder…”

This voice was like a gentle breeze caressing the ears, captivating the soul. The doctor was stunned—so the voice he’d heard while half-asleep was indeed from this person. He quickly pressed: “This revolving lantern really has problems?”

The Tang-suited man lowered his eyes, pondering for a moment as if hesitating whether to tell the truth. The melancholy accumulated between his brows finally transformed into helpless regret as he sighed: “Misfortune is where fortune depends; fortune is where misfortune hides. This Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern is a masterpiece made by a folk master of revolving lanterns. It depicts the story of ‘The Old Man at the Frontier Lost His Horse—Who Knows if Misfortune Is Actually Fortune,’ originally intended to teach people to take worldly matters lightly and face life with equanimity.”

“Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern…”

“But as time passed, this Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern’s paper became damaged for various reasons. When it came into someone’s possession, they were instructed to cover five sides with dark glass, leaving only one side visible. This Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern then completely became an evil object.”

“Evil object?!” The doctor was shocked and instinctively stepped back, but feeling it wasn’t safe to be far from this Tang-suited man, he quietly moved a small step closer.

“This lamp only shows one paper picture at a time, predicting whether the owner of this Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern will encounter misfortune or fortune. Misfortune is followed by fortune, fortune is followed by greater misfortune, like a snowball rolling, becoming increasingly unbearable.”

The doctor recalled that the first misfortune he encountered was merely not being hired by the hospital. The second misfortune would have broken his leg. By this logic, wouldn’t the third misfortune cost him his life?!

The Tang-suited man turned to look at the doctor. As if guessing his thoughts, he nodded: “That’s right. Since this Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern was modified, it has never turned to the sixth paper picture. No one has been able to complete a full cycle. Sadly, the original owner, hoping to possess the greatest fortune, died due to his greed.”

The doctor was about to blurt out that he was lying when he suddenly remembered this Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern was Yin Han’s relic. And the latter had also died in an accident after being accepted to the provincial hospital…

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. The doctor immediately stepped forward and unplugged the power cord, but the revolving lantern remained lit even without electricity. The light that had seemed warm and gentle now appeared as terrifying as ghostly fires in the doctor’s eyes.

“This… it’s unplugged…” The doctor’s voice trembled.

“Unplugging it won’t help. Once this Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern reaches the fifth paper picture, it can no longer be stopped.”

The doctor stared wide-eyed at that picture depicting famine, then looked at the Tang-suited man, hoping he could deal with this matter.

The Tang-suited man reached out and, under the doctor’s hopeful gaze, picked up that revolving lantern and walked toward the kitchen exit.

The doctor quickly followed, but saw that the Tang-suited man didn’t head for the front door but toward the living room instead, occasionally lifting the revolving lantern up and down, with some inexplicable mysterious meaning.

Finally, the Tang-suited man crouched in front of a wall and frowned: “This wall is cracked.”

The doctor was shocked—so this guy was really just using this terrifying Fortune and Misfortune Revolving Lantern as lighting! Hey! Is being so careless really okay?!