11 The seeker's appearance

After pressing on the lift button, Jian Sheng ran and hide in room 410 beside the lift. He squatted and peered out into the lift. He did not see Wilbert inside the lift, he looked at the timer and there were still about 8 minutes left.

'Damn it, where could he be? I already looked everywhere.' Jian Sheng's index finger drummed on his knee unconsciously. 'Wait, I did not look around the hotel room after he disappeared. Could he be…'

Jian Sheng looked out and did not see the seeker. He made his way out and moved towards the hotel room as quickly but quietly as possible.

When he reached the hotel room door at the centre of the corridor, he looked around and still did not see the seeker. He looked at the timer and there was still less than 3 minutes left.

'If Wilbert is not here, then I'm doomed to fail.'

Jian Sheng quietly opened the door with both hands and slowly looked inside. It was still empty and silent. He walked in and closed the door behind him. He walked into the room and towards the wardrobe.

He put his right hand firmly on the wardrobe and slide the door to the side. Inside was someone but that someone was not Wilbert.

The person inside had a disfigured face like it was melted by acid. He was bulky with a hunched back and messy curly black hair. His clothes were covered by a bloodied apron like those butchers in wet markets. He was also wearing waterproof boots.

Jian Sheng slammed the wardrobe door. He had just turned around when he heard the wardrobe door open with a cracking sound. He rushed towards the bathroom and once he opened the bathroom door, he saw Wilbert sitting on the toilet seat with a newspaper in his hand.

"Oh, you found me just in time. I was just finished." Wilbert looked up from his newspaper and said to Jian Sheng. Jian Sheng's mind just went blank.

'Was he there the entire time? For 3 hours, he had been sitting on this toilet seat reading this newspaper? Isn't he afraid of getting hemorrhoids? How can a person stay in the toilet for almost 3 hours? Even if you have diarrhea, you don't stay there for 3 hours straight."

For some reason, even though Jian Sheng did not know what to think, this appeared in his mind. He just shut the door behind him and locked it like it was the only thing to do.

Was he going insane? Was he going crazy? Why would he suddenly think of this kind of thing? It should be serious at the moment but what is with this kind of idiotic thought?

Jian Sheng really wanted to believe in himself as a man of science and maths. Even now, he wants to think that this is actually an ultra-high-tech virtual simulation project hidden by the leaders of countries.

However, he knew deep down that these things exist. That was because he had seen them on multiple occasions throughout the 24 years of his life.

The earliest was when he was still a child. He vaguely remembered that there was a person standing outside his bedroom door when his mother wanted to leave the room after tugging him in. His mother walked right through the person and Jian Sheng started crying to get his mother to come back in. This went on for about a week before the person disappeared.

He would still check below the door crack from time to time for a few months after that person disappeared. When Jian Sheng turned 7 and was about to start elementary school, they sold the house and moved away. When Jian Sheng was 13, he heard the building was demolished because someone found the remains of a few people in the building walls when doing a renovation of the room. Apparently, there was an accident during the time of construction and the investors covered it up to continue with the construction.

The one that left him with the deepest impression and he still remembered vividly was the incident that happened during his final year of high school. It was when his extracurricular society was having a 4 days 3 nights camping session in school. Well, that's actually a story for another time.

Jian Sheng did not want to believe in these things because everyone around him doesn't. Many around him are religious but they believe in gods, not ghosts. This made him feel like he's different from others.

Someone different will be seen as a misfit in society. Someone who doesn't fit in will be left out, someone who has a disability will be left deprived of the respect that they should get. In society, everyone has to fit in with others, everyone has to put on a standard mask when around people. Everyone has to be normal.

Jian Sheng on multiple occasions lost "friends" whenever curiosity took over him and he did things out of the norm.

Once he tried to dip fries into coke at a party when he was a child and the parents there started making their kids stay away from him. During his time in middle school, he once tried licking blood from his palm that was scratched by broken glass. After that, his classmates started to look at him weirdly.

He moved to Country M after middle school and from then on, he tried his best to be like the other kids, to fit in with people who knew close to nothing about him, to be normal.

His view of the world start to narrow and he started to only focus on things that are normal. Hanging out with friends, skipping classes, playing games at home, even though he sometimes still sees things that others can't, he ignored their very existence.

He had just wanted to stay normal for the rest of his life. Even though he has a system, it would not have been a problem as long as it is hidden well enough. But now, everything is shattering apart.

First, the system seemed like it became another person, then he was thrown into this crazy kid's game that will make all the children cry. Now his mind took a hit because his target was in the bathroom the whole time and the seeker was still outside waiting.

He looked at Wilbert as he folded the newspaper and put it on the sink, got up from the toilet seat.

"Huh? Aren't you going to wash your hands?" Jian Sheng felt slightly disgusted seeing this.

"I was just sitting there reading the paper, there is no reason to wash my hands just from reading. Besides, everything on me will be cleaned automatically." Wilbert said while walking towards the door behind Jian Sheng.

"Wait. The monster is still out there." Jian Sheng turned around wanting to stop Wilbert from opening the door but was slightly too late. Wilbert had already unlocked and opened the door and was walking out.

The seeker was currently sitting on the bed looking at the bathroom entrance. He looked at Jian Sheng in the eye and Jian Sheng stood there terrified looking back.

Wilbert walked over to the seeker and put his hand on the seeker's shoulder. "You can return to your original appearance now. Our friend here looks a little scared of your current creation. We still need to talk so cut him some slack."

A crooked smile appeared on the seeker's melted face and a bright light shone from his body. The light got brighter and brighter.

Jian Sheng stretched his arm out to cover his eyes while he turned to the side. The brightness was like having a flashlight shoved to your face just when your eyes are getting used to the darkness.

The light lasted for a few seconds and vision slowly returned to Jian Sheng. He looked at the place the seeker was sitting and a handsome man was sitting there with his legs crossed on the bed. His hands were holding on to his crossed legs like how a kid who couldn't stop moving usually sits during morning assembly in school.

The man looked like he was in his mid-20s to late-20s. He has black hair with a few visible stands of white hair. His eyes looked sleepy, he has an upturned nose, his thin lips were pulled into a smirk. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a black overcoat, black slacks, and a pair of black sneakers with white soles. There is also a necklace with a silver cross around his neck.

"Hey there, sorry if I scared you a little just now. But how would you rate that creation of mine?" The man asked after changing the smirk into a smile on his face.

"It surprised me. How did such a huge thing hide inside the wardrobe in the first place? The wardrobe should not be large enough for it." Jian Sheng answered and shot a question of his own.

The man smiled and said, "Easy, all you need… is magic"