Lin Xi stood in front of the door.
It looked normal at first glance—an ordinary classroom door, plain wood, no decorations. But as she stared at it, she realized the surface was too smooth, almost like polished stone. The grain was wrong. The edges were too perfect. It didn't feel like wood at all.
She reached out and touched the door.
It was cold.
Not just cold, but alive cold, like touching a frozen lake that had been hiding something beneath the surface.
Her phone screen continued to stream, and the chat messages scrolled like a river of whispers. Some were mocking, some were excited, and some… felt strangely quiet.
"Don't touch it, it's cursed."
"Just open it, streamer. You're overthinking."
"Maybe it's a puzzle door."
"Maybe it's a trap."
"Don't listen to them, Lin Xi. You're gonna die."
Lin Xi stared at the door, then at her phone.
The chat had become too loud, too many voices. She had never felt this overwhelmed by her own viewers before. Usually, the loud chat meant popularity, attention, gifts, likes. But this felt different. It felt like the chat was a crowd of strangers in a dark room, all watching her make a decision.
She swallowed.
"Okay," she whispered, "I'll do it."
She raised her hand and pressed her palm against the door.
Nothing happened.
She pushed harder.
The door didn't budge.
Lin Xi stepped back, her breath shaky. She tried again, pushing with all her strength.
Still nothing.
The door didn't open. It didn't even move.
She looked around the room, searching for something else—something she had missed. Her eyes landed on the chalkboard again. The word "BETTER" was still written under her name, like a reminder. She stared at it, trying to find meaning.
Better than who?
Better than what?
Better than the person she used to be?
She remembered the night she lost her voice, the shadow behind her, the feeling of being watched. She realized she had been running from that moment ever since. She had turned it into a joke, into a story she never told anyone, into a fear she pretended didn't exist.
The Live World had forced her to face it.
The door didn't open because it wasn't meant to be opened by force.
It was meant to be opened by understanding.
Lin Xi looked at the door again and took a deep breath.
She whispered, "What do you want?"
The chat went quiet.
Then, slowly, the messages began to appear again, but the tone had changed.
"Ask the door."
"Tell it your name."
"Tell it your truth."
"Doors respond to honesty."
Lin Xi frowned. "My truth?"
The chat responded immediately.
"Your truth is the thing you hide."
"Your truth is the thing you fear."
"Your truth is the reason you became a streamer."
Lin Xi's heart hammered.
She swallowed hard and said, "My truth is… I don't know who I am without being watched."
The door remained still.
The chat erupted.
"Wait, what?"
"Is she serious?"
"Lin Xi, you're giving the door your emotional energy."
"STOP. THAT'S A BAD IDEA."
Lin Xi's face flushed. "Okay, fine. I'm not doing that again."
She stepped back, but the door remained the same. Still cold, still smooth, still unopenable.
She looked down at her phone, at the streaming interface. The seven-pointed star symbol glowed faintly. The viewer count was still at six.
Six viewers.
The chat was filled with messages that seemed to come from a different place than usual—like they were not typed by human hands.
"Do you know why the door won't open?"
"Because it is not locked."
"It is waiting."
"It is waiting for you to admit the truth."
Lin Xi's breath caught.
She stared at the chat.
The messages were not from normal viewers. They were from the system.
She felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
The voice on the microphone spoke again.
"Remember," it said, calm and almost gentle. "The door is not a barrier. It is a choice."
Lin Xi's heart pounded. "A choice for what?"
The voice replied, "A choice for who you will be."
Lin Xi's hands trembled. She turned the phone camera toward herself and looked at her own reflection.
The ring light made her face look pale, almost ghostly. Her eyes looked too bright, like they were too awake for the darkness around her.
She whispered, "Who will I be?"
The voice on the microphone responded, "Someone who can be seen without losing herself."
Lin Xi frowned. "That sounds like a riddle."
The voice replied, "It is. The Live World is a world of riddles."
Lin Xi stared at the door again. She had a sudden thought.
If the door wasn't locked, then maybe it wasn't meant to be opened physically.
Maybe it was meant to be opened mentally.
She stepped closer to the door and looked at it like she was looking at a mirror.
"Okay," she said quietly. "I'm going to try something."
She lifted her phone and turned it to face the door, as if she was recording a video of the door itself.
Then she spoke to the camera.
"Hey," she said, trying to sound normal. "If you're watching me, if you're the first viewer, if you're… whatever you are… I want you to know something."
She paused, her heart pounding.
"I'm scared," she admitted. "But I'm also… tired. Tired of pretending I'm not. Tired of pretending I'm okay when I'm not. I don't want to be famous. I don't want to be popular. I just want… to be normal."
The door remained still.
The chat messages appeared again, but this time they were different.
"Normal is boring."
"Normal is a lie."
"Normal is what you want, but you can't have it."
"Normal is the thing that got you here."
Lin Xi swallowed hard.
She realized the chat was right.
She had wanted to be normal, but the only way she knew how to feel alive was through being watched. She had turned herself into a performer because she didn't know how to exist otherwise.
The door wasn't just a door.
It was a test.
The door was asking her to choose between being normal and being seen.
She looked at her phone again.
The viewer count ticked up.
Seven.
Lin Xi's stomach dropped.
Seven viewers.
The final judge was here.
She didn't know who the seventh viewer was. She didn't know if it was the shadow, the system, or something else. She didn't know if the seventh viewer was even human.
But she knew one thing.
If she didn't do something soon, the Live World would end her game.
She felt the air grow colder.
The shadows in the corners moved closer, as if they were listening.
The door still didn't open.
Lin Xi's mind raced.
What was the clue? What was the second clue? The chat had said the second clue was in the room she feared most.
What room did she fear most?
She thought of the room she had avoided for years.
The room she had locked away in her mind.
The room she had never told anyone about.
Her childhood room.
The room where she had first started streaming.
The room where she had lost her voice.
Lin Xi's heart pounded. She turned around.
The classroom was empty, but the door at the back—there was another door. A smaller door, a storage room door.
It was slightly open.
She hadn't noticed it before.
She walked toward it, the floorboards creaking under her feet.
The storage room was dark. It smelled like dust and old paper. There were shelves filled with boxes, forgotten books, and old classroom supplies. The light from the hallway barely reached inside, but the phone camera could see more.
Lin Xi shone her phone light into the room.
She saw a small desk at the back.
On the desk was a laptop.
And on the laptop screen, there was a live stream.
It was her.
Her own face was on the screen, looking terrified.
But the weird part was that she wasn't holding the phone.
She was sitting at the desk, staring at the camera, as if she was watching herself.
Lin Xi's hands trembled.
She walked closer.
She stared at the laptop screen.
The chat on the laptop was the same chat she was seeing on her phone.
The same messages.
The same warnings.
The same system.
It was like a mirror inside a mirror.
She looked at the laptop screen again and noticed something else.
On the laptop, behind her, there was a figure.
A girl with long hair and a hoodie, holding a phone.
The same shadow.
The same first viewer.
The shadow was standing behind her on the laptop screen.
And on the laptop screen, the shadow's phone screen showed another live stream.
Another layer.
Another mirror.
Lin Xi's mind spun.
It was like an infinite loop.
The Live World wasn't just a room.
It was a maze of mirrors.
She felt her stomach twist.
She realized something horrifying.
If she was watching herself on the laptop, then maybe the first viewer was not just a shadow behind her.
Maybe the first viewer was the version of her that had been watching herself all along.
Maybe she had been watching herself without realizing it.
Maybe she had been the first viewer from the start.
Lin Xi's heart hammered.
She looked at the chat on her phone.
The messages were now urgent.
"STOP LOOKING."
"STOP WATCHING."
"YOU ARE FEEDING IT."
Lin Xi's hands shook.
"What is it?" she whispered. "What am I feeding?"
The voice on the microphone spoke again.
"Your attention," it said. "Your fear. Your desire to be seen. Your need to be watched."
Lin Xi's eyes widened.
The Live World was not just a game.
It was a trap built from her own desires.
She looked at the door again.
The door didn't open.
But she understood now.
The door wasn't meant to be opened.
It was meant to be ignored.
The Live World wanted her to keep trying to open it, to keep trying to force her way through, to keep feeding the system with her fear.
But if she ignored it, if she stopped giving it attention…
Maybe she could break the loop.
Lin Xi's heart pounded.
She turned her phone camera toward herself again.
She stared into the lens.
"Okay," she whispered, voice shaking. "I'm going to stop."
The chat messages erupted.
"No, don't!"
"Don't stop streaming!"
"Don't do it!"
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Lin Xi's hands trembled.
She looked at the laptop screen again.
The shadow was still there, smiling.
The shadow raised its phone, and the screen on the shadow's phone showed Lin Xi's stream again.
The viewer count ticked.
Eight.
Lin Xi's heart stopped.
Eight?
She had only seven viewers.
But the number was rising.
The system message appeared.
[ERROR: VIEWER COUNT EXCEEDS LIMIT]
[THE LIVE WORLD IS UNSTABLE]
[YOU MUST CHOOSE]
Lin Xi's vision blurred.
She felt like the room was spinning.
The shadows in the corners moved closer, pressing in like a tide.
She whispered, "Choose what?"
The voice on the microphone replied, "Choose the viewer you will become."
Lin Xi's mind raced.
The first viewer. The second clue. The door. The mirror maze.
She realized the Live World wasn't just a challenge.
It was a transformation.
If she didn't choose, the Live World would choose for her.
She looked at the chat again.
The messages were now quiet, almost respectful.
"Choose yourself."
"Choose the one who isn't afraid."
"Choose the one who can stop watching."
Lin Xi took a deep breath.
Her hands shook, but her eyes were steady.
She whispered, "I choose… to stop being the audience."
The room went silent.
The shadows froze.
The door stopped glowing.
The laptop screen flickered.
The chat messages disappeared.
For a moment, everything was quiet.
Then the door, which had never opened, slowly creaked.
The sound was soft, like a whisper.
Lin Xi's heart hammered.
She stepped back.
The door opened just enough for a sliver of darkness to appear.
A thin line of black.
It was not a room.
It was a corridor.
A long hallway that stretched into nothingness.
The air from the hallway felt colder than the classroom.
Lin Xi stared at it.
She realized she had just made a choice.
The Live World had accepted it.
The door had opened.
The voice on the microphone spoke one last time before the screen went dark.
"Good," it said. "Now you may proceed. But remember: every door you open brings you closer to the truth… and closer to the watchers."
Lin Xi swallowed hard.
She stepped into the darkness.
The hallway swallowed her whole.
And the chat messages, now gone from her screen, still echoed in her mind like a warning.