There Is a Sea Beyond the Wall

Basement B2, third pillar on the east side: the red pattern is cool, 14°C.

Shen Tinglan from property management entered a note on Form B: "Anomaly. Temperature 14°C. Further inspection required."

Assistant manager He Xiaoyao felt the pattern, took a photo, and sent it to the work group: "It's here."

That night, the copper lamp at the south gate went out. A voice came from inside the wall, speaking one word: "Shen."

The next day, a child who called himself "Iron Pot" squatted beneath the lamp and said, "It's asleep."

Three days later, the copper lamp spontaneously caught fire. It burned a line of words into the wall: "Each time the lamp burns, the door opens an inch."

Beyond the door was a passage. Carved into its walls were the words: "Death is the way home. Life is entering the cage. Dreams are seams. Death is the door."

The door opened two inches. Three people walked out of the passage. One of them was He Xiaoyao's mother.

He Xiaoyao gripped his knife. The blade was half an inch out of its sheath, and his hand trembled. His mother said, "Don't go down there alone."

Shen Tinglan opened to the third page of Form B and made an entry: "Door open two inches. To be continued."

Inside the wall was air. Outside the wall was the sea. The door opened. The wind came in.

But the wind only came through the door. Everywhere else, the wall remained dead.