Ye Shu swept through the convenience store, buying up every flashlight and first aid supply she could find. Under the astonished gaze of the clerk, she hauled her purchases out the door.
The prompt had said: Stay away from the darkness. Only light, only light will protect you!
Last night the uncanny thing had targeted her—was it because the lights in her room had gone out? For two days before, she’d been left in peace.
She didn’t know if this little bit of illumination would help, but at least it offered some psychological comfort.
There’d been a subway accident in F City—a hundred or more people vanished without a sound, not even enough remains to piece together a single corpse. The news had been suppressed swiftly, but even so, rumors began to leak out.
The moment Ye Shu entered the lobby, she noticed the front desk now manned by the same young man who’d helped her with deliveries earlier in the week. She gave him a polite nod.
The cavernous lobby was nearly deserted; only a handful of people lingered, the place felt desolate.
"Miss Ye, you’d best not go out these next couple days," the young man whispered, drawing close. Nervous tension trembled in his expression.
Ye Shu glanced at him, brows rising. "...What?"
"There's a ghost in F City! I swear, I saw it myself last night."
Ye Shu was a strikingly pretty university student—well-off, courteous, generous to a fault. The tip she’d given him was enough to cover a few days’ wages. She was, by any measure, one of his biggest customers.
"Last night... I saw old Lady Wang at the gate, singing opera! It was the strangest thing. I’ve worn this jade pendant for more than a decade, and this morning, I found it shattered…"
Lin Shen shivered, eyes wide in fear as he recounted his story.
He lived with his grandfather in an old neighborhood on the city’s edge, mostly occupied by elderly people with children who rarely visited. Granny Wang had no family, and had doted on him in life as though he were her own grandson.
If not for that jade resting on his chest, he might well have been claimed by whatever malignant force haunted the night.
"You’re saying the ghost disappeared?"
Ye Shu studied the dull, ashen jade clutched in Lin Shen’s hand, lost in thought.
So they could be destroyed, after all…
"In that case, if it’s so dangerous outside, why aren’t you at home?"
Lin Shen gave a rueful smile, helplessness etched deep. He still had a sickly grandfather to care for; the old man had raised him with painstaking effort, and couldn’t go a day without medicine.
Ye Shu slung her rucksack of supplies over her shoulders, heading for the elevator.
As the metal doors closed, a chill seeped up her spine—an unshakable, formless cold.
"Zzzt—"
The bulb overhead shattered, plunging the elevator into darkness. Somewhere in the black, a young couple cursed under their breath.
In the gloom, fingers clawed fitfully at the elevator door.
"The hell is this place? When I get out, I’ll file a complaint!"
"Gege, I’m scared… It’s so stuffy in here, you know I’m claustrophobic…"
"Shut up. Just don’t talk."
Ye Shu ground her teeth, the girl’s plaintive whine sending a vein throbbing at her temple. She shot back in a low, venomous hiss.
The scratching at the doors grew louder, unwavering now. Ye Shu dared not make another sound.
"Who the hell do you think you are, telling me what to do?"
"Let Xiaodie talk if she wants. You got a problem with that?"
The boyfriend’s retort was gruff and impatient—a fragile ego flaring up in front of his girlfriend. When Ye Shu ignored him, he lost interest and let silence reclaim the space.
The scratching faded at last, but unease gnawed in Ye Shu’s gut.
Suddenly, a harsh male voice shattered the tense hush: "Bro! Call the cops! Get us out of here!"
"Didn’t I already say the emergency line doesn’t work? Are you thick?"
"This is insane—no signal, right when we need it!"
Ye Shu’s heart hammered. When she’d entered, there had been only the couple. Now suddenly there was another man?
The boyfriend frantically hammered the touchscreen, but not once did the emergency call go through.
By the weak glow of his phone, they could see, standing in the corner, a man in a business suit and gold-rimmed glasses, clutching a briefcase—a perfectly civilized image.
Annoyed, the boyfriend snapped back at him, but the suited man’s eyes lit up with delight, repeating, "You see me! You see me!"
That handsome face split into a maw crammed with jagged teeth, and he bit through the boyfriend’s throat in a single snap.
"Ahhh—"
"Help! He’s killing him!"
"No, please—don’t eat me! Eat her, I’m rotten!"
"Crack... you see me! Cr-crack!"
Ye Shu’s expression soured.
What she’d most feared was happening.
There were still twelve hours left before her timeline would reset, and she was trapped here, in the elevator.
The suited ghoul ignored Ye Shu, turning instead toward the woman.
The girlfriend, stark with terror, banged on the doors and shoved at the apparition, the elevator filling with an acrid, nauseating stench.
Her shrill screams echoed as Ye Shu let the blood spray across her own face, not daring to move an inch.
Within that cramped space, the gnashing and chewing made her teeth ache.
Ye Shu gripped her prayer beads, forcing her frozen body to relax, if only a little.
It’ll be okay! So long as you play blind, the uncanny won’t make a move unless it’s sure you see it.
Time crawled past. Again and again, the suited phantom probed for a reaction, but Ye Shu held onto her blank mask.
"She can’t see me?"
The suited fiend bared its fangs, those void-black eyes boring into Ye Shu’s face. Suddenly, bloody worms began to ooze from its sockets; its bronzed skin tore apart, revealing black, splintered veins.
Ye Shu: "..."
"She can’t see me! She can’t see me!"
Those midnight eyes radiated nothing but malice.
"Ding!"
The elevator jolted back to life, and the suited specter vanished.
Ye Shu sagged in relief—until she saw the blood-red -4 on the elevator readout. Her face went ashen.
The orange light inside flickered, threatening to die. Outside, a thick gray fog pressed in; no sane person would step out there.
Ye Shu certainly didn’t intend to.
Yet, a second later, a mechanical voice sounded in her ear.
"Ding! Congratulations, player Ye Shu, you’ve triggered the hidden quest—The Paper Bride."
"Reminder: Stay away from the darkness. They fear the light; there is only the light, only the light!"
Ye Shu pulled out her first aid kit. In addition to the twenty high-powered flashlights she’d bought, she’d stocked a whistle, two fire masks, a fireproof suit, a safety rope, a hand axe, an entrenching tool, ten glow sticks, rations, and purified water.
She tossed out a glow stick, and after confirming it was safe, peeked her head out.
An endless expanse of gray fog—it seemed empty, as though nothing lived there.
Then, something shoved her from behind, sending her tumbling out of the elevator.
"Ding!"
The crisp chime jarred her thoughts. Spinning around, she saw the elevator doors snap shut and vanish at a preternatural speed.
Ye Shu flipped the sky the finger and cursed, "Inhuman, garbage game! Drop dead, trying to outsmart me, are you?"
After a muttered string of curses, Ye Shu caught sight of her glow stick glimmering on the ground. She dashed over to retrieve it.
Nothing could be wasted in a place like this—every scrap was precious.
With a flick of her brightest flashlight, the gray mist recoiled, shrinking back to leave a small, fragile circle of safety.
Only then did she notice—where the elevator had been, there was now nothing but a solid cement wall. Even if she swung her axe until it sparked, she’d manage no more than a few fresh scratches.