Inside the silent train carriage, crimson blood fanned out like a macabre fountain, painting the floor. In the midst of it all, only the sound of chewing remained.
In the next instant, space twisted and time reset.
The male specter seemed to notice something, his hollow eyes glancing upward.
Agony tore through her, enough to rip a scream from deep within.
Ye Shu wanted nothing more than to break down and wail. She opened her eyes to the same murky gray train, the same boy sitting beside her in a black hoodie and a low-slouched, gray hat that cast his face in darkness.
Wasn’t she dead?
Maybe it had all just been a dream.
[The final stop for this train is the Demonic Realm. The next station is Ruyue. Passengers disembarking, please prepare to exit in an orderly fashion from the left doors.]
A syrupy announcement came over the speakers, and Ye Shu noticed a scrolling line of text on the screen, just as she’d seen in her dream.
Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. She opened the luminous interface with a thought.
[Player: Ye Shu] [Age: 20] [Game Identity: Freshman, Southeast University] [Current Survival Game Participants: 1,000,000/9,999,998] [Skill: SSS-Rank Regression, Level 1. Rewinds to thirty minutes before death (Upgradeable). Cooldown: once every three days (Time remaining: 71:58:43)]
The moment she saw the number of survivors and her skill description, Ye Shu's expression darkened almost imperceptibly.
This wasn’t a dream. It had truly happened.
She had really died once—her head savagely torn away by something unnatural.
So, it was her regression ability that kept her barely clinging to life.
Yet, she couldn’t shake the sense that more than half an hour had passed... The skill’s cooldown was a brutal three days.
Before she died, she remembered the string of cinnabar beads scattering across the ground—a scene that left her deeply unsettled.
Beside her, she could feel a gaze as cold and sticky as a viper. Ye Shu felt as if she was sitting on pins and needles, staring hard at her toes, barely daring to move. In her mind, she recited the game's gentle reminders:
Do not meet their gaze.
Do not let them know you can see them.
They cannot be killed.
In other words, the male specter needed to confirm she could see him before he could act. As long as she feigned ignorance, she'd survive.
“You can’t see me... You can’t see me…” Ye Shu squeezed her eyes shut and prayed silently.
She didn’t know how long it lasted—finally, the oppressive, slithering presence faded. Still, Ye Shu didn’t dare relax, keeping her eyes tightly closed, feigning blindness.
A screech of metal on metal grated from overhead—a sound so shrill it set her teeth on edge. Ye Shu’s heart clenched. She gripped her string of cinnabar beads. Originally cool and smooth as jade, they now seared her hand, growing hotter and hotter as if about to scorch her.
“Leave, demons, leave!” she begged inwardly. Her nerves felt stretched to the breaking point. No matter how many times the intercom urged passengers for the final stop, she remained silent, motionless.
She kept telling herself: It’s all just a hallucination. Once she woke up, everything would go back to normal.
[This train has arrived at its final destination. Next, it will depart for Jinshan Temple, transferring at Bailu Pavilion. Passengers, please prepare to disembark accordingly.]
Through her stupor, that frigid, sticky feeling finally receded from her body. Her shoulders relaxed, feeling lighter than before.
A shudder jolted Ye Shu back to herself, the surrounding noise of other passengers charging around her ears. Still, she kept her eyes closed.
It couldn’t be helped—Ye Shu had been thoroughly frightened by the male specter.
“Shu Shu? Shu Shu?”
Someone was nudging her. Ye Shu kept up her pretense, acting asleep. A hand crept onto her wrist, brushing the cool beads. Her heart finally eased. After confirming nothing was wrong, she cracked open her eyes the tiniest bit.
The harsh overhead lights stabbed into her eyes, making them ache.
All around, the carriage was full of passengers—men, women, the old and young, laughter echoing from random corners. Ye Shu glanced quickly about, spotting no sign of that sinister figure. Only then did the alertness in her gaze soften.
“Shu Shu, did you fall asleep?”
Jiang Ying waved her hand in front of Ye Shu’s face, scrutinizing the dazed girl seated opposite her. Envy flashed in Jiang Ying’s clear eyes, especially as she took in Ye Shu’s milky complexion and gentle features—a beauty she longed to claw apart.
Ye Shu rifled through her memories before she finally placed Jiang Ying.
Garbed in a veneer of warmth, Jiang Ying had been hostile ever since the Ye family’s fall. Behind the scenes, she’d gossiped, spread rumors, and even convinced their dormmates to ostracize Ye Shu...
Ye Shu’s response was deliberately cool, a curt “Mm,” infuriating the girl before her.
Jiang Ying remembered: Ye Shu’s family had collapsed, dragging her down to the same ignoble status. A sly, insincere smile crept across Jiang Ying’s lips.
“Shu Shu, where are you going?”
“Didn’t you promise to… well, to come shopping for a Nelxiang purse with me?”
The Ye family’s empire might have toppled, but a dead camel is still bigger than a horse. Jiang Ying refused to believe they hadn’t squirreled something away.
The odd looks from the crowd made Jiang Ying blush with embarrassment.
Confirming there were no more uncanny beings nearby, Ye Shu wanted nothing more than to escape the subway. The last tip echoed in her mind: stay away from the darkness; only light brings safety. It was a stark warning—she couldn’t stay in the dark for long.
She didn’t even spare Jiang Ying a glance, simply turned and walked away.
If her memory served right, it was Jiang Ying who’d dragged her to the subway in the first place. Without her Regression card, she’d have died here before she could even begin to resist—and somehow, Jiang Ying expected Ye Shu to sacrifice herself.
Ye Shu strode quickly ahead, Jiang Ying’s high heels clacking on the floor as she tried—and failed—to catch up.
Jiang Ying spat in frustration, cursing Ye Shu under her breath, over and over again.
Suddenly, the lights snapped off with a sputter.
No one noticed the silken web strung across the subway’s ceiling, at the center of which the Black-Eyed Spider Woman hungrily eyed her prey, fangs spreading in silence.
The carriage doors slid open. A shadowy figure gazed out at the exit.
====================
Emerging from the subway.
The fierce sunlight warmed Ye Shu’s skin. She felt as if she was truly alive again, a sensation so comforting she couldn’t quite describe it.
She opened the interface, her gaze darting to the world chat feed:
[A boy called Lightly Broken: Heavens! Who can relate? Three Lucky Draws—one blank, two paper notes for the Underworld—and boom, I get transported straight into the haunted house from the start!]
[Mad But Helpless Boss: Ha! Three blanks here. What did I say?]
[I’m a Cattle Horse: I was still lying in bed (message censored), all naked and soft, then got snatched away. What did I say?]
[Miss Rabbit: What is this place? I was just at home, then everything shifted. Can we go back? I have two hungry kids at home.]
[Peach Plum: Damn! If it weren’t for the peach-wood sword I drew, I’d be dead. Who knew the gorgeous woman next to me would turn into a specter in seconds—scared me to death! ]
Ye Shu scrolled rapidly through the player comments. One message stood out:
[Maoshan Daoist: Don’t meet their eyes. Don’t look. The uncanny have no shadows. Find somewhere safe and quiet—survive for ten days, and you win.]
[Orange Fragrance: No way, right? Where even is this?]
[Noodle Club Will Multiply: Holy crap—the Daoist’s right! I’ve got a handsome guy with no shadow standing next to me. I guess I have to pretend I can’t see him.]
Ye Shu watched the rapidly dwindling survivor count, her face growing tense.
It was clear she couldn’t return to the university. She’d have to find somewhere relatively safe and lie low.
As she turned, she caught a fleeting chill beneath the burning sun.