Chapter One: Companion? Foe?

If heaven granted him another chance, perhaps Chen Qing would choose to flee far away, rather than appear here.

He was like a man out of place, at the wrong time, in the wrong location, meeting... the wrong person.

He stared at the pitch-black corridor before him; his legs were numb.

"I shouldn't have come... I shouldn't be here." His face was pale, and blood dripped from his sleeve onto the floor.

"Drip... drip..."

The blood poured like a spring, and the sound of droplets landing on the floor was so clear in the hallway.

Creatures of the night... those things. They wriggled closer to the end of the corridor.

Chen Qing lowered his eyes; several ghastly figures crawled onto the eaves in the darkness.

He could hear the sound of fabric scraping against the walls.

A rustling, right beside his ear...

Right beside his ear...

His heart beat wildly, but those pale faces—one familiar face—hung upside down, bodies sprawled on the eaves, necks dangling beneath the doorway curtain.

They grinned, and a frontal visage appeared on the inverted heads.

They looked at Chen Qing; their skin rippled in waves, and then the skin, like loose flesh on a thigh, slowly slid downward...

It slid to Chen Qing's feet, with eyeballs suspended in the skin staring at him.

They gazed at him, their slack jaws tearing into several chunks, opening and closing, swallowing their own blood.

They extended hands, stroking the boy's arm with fractured, sharp fingertips, then laughed.

"Let’s die together... Why should only I be denied life?"

...

Four hours earlier, as usual, Chen Qing was walking home, holding a skewer, savoring the two-yuan treat from the roadside.

"To be fair, the snack stalls by the school are getting pricier..."

He regarded his food with regret, hesitated a moment, then popped it into his mouth.

"No way around it, fewer and fewer people around school... damned monopoly."

Beside him, another youth walked, arm draped over Chen Qing’s shoulder, eyes half-closed, face pale.

"I heard something happened..." he sighed, ready to turn into the smoky, black internet café. "What could be more important than making money? Hell with it."

"Something happened?" Chen Qing was curious; he'd heard rumors elsewhere.

"Lots of people disappeared..." The youth frowned, pulling Chen Qing deep into the café.

No one paid attention to students in the corners of the café, except the cops.

"What do you mean, how do you know?" Chen Qing lowered his voice, face tense.

He shouldn’t know.

Chen Qing thought.

"I haven’t heard about these things, not around here... it couldn’t have escaped notice."

He watched his companion turn paler, face stiff with a deathly rigidity, every twitch at his eye made his mouth involuntarily convulse.

But he didn’t notice.

He looked at Chen Qing and said, "You don’t remember... you don’t remember Rong An... you don’t remember... but you have to help me."

Chen Qing frowned, feeling more uneasy. "Seriously... are you having a hysteria attack? You haven’t even graduated yet."

---

"I’m not kidding!"

He gritted his teeth, lowering his voice, "You have to help me... you must help me! I’ll be next!"

He grabbed Chen Qing’s hand, and only then did Chen Qing see the pale mark on his wrist.

It was a bone, tattooed diagonally.

As if the bone was piercing his wrist, the broken tip facing the palm, crawling inward bit by bit.

"You..."

Chen Qing hesitated, but didn’t ask.

He looked at his longtime friend, who now seemed utterly unfamiliar.

"Tonight... come to the school tonight... you’ll know everything..."

He whispered to Chen Qing, picked up his backpack, and left through the back door.

"Huh? Which part of the school?"

Chen Qing waited a moment, then noticed something pressed beneath his keyboard.

Underneath his own keyboard.

"Tonight at nine, in front of Room 301 in the girls' dormitory—Wu Cheny."

He stared at the note, his expression growing stranger.

"But our school dorm only has two floors..."

He muttered, glancing up at the air conditioner.

On a midsummer evening, the air seemed a bit too cold.

...

That night, Chen Qing gazed at the silent campus, feeling a vague unease.

With the vendors gone, the already isolated school felt even more lifeless.

He listened to the guard’s phone, gritted his teeth, but finally stepped through the gate.

There were few boarders, two floors each for boys and girls, yet even the first floor was rarely filled.

Because of this, most nights the dorm doors were locked early, no teachers assigned to manage them.

And when he reached the girls’ dormitory, Chen Qing’s frown deepened.

"So few people?"

Two floors, but only a handful of rooms lit.

Judging by the clothes outside, the number of boarders barely reached ten.

"Is our school this deserted?" he muttered, feeling a bit relieved; at least, on his way upstairs, no one would notice him.

With this thought, Chen Qing hurried toward the rooftop.

"There are only two floors... is this the top?" he whispered, and upon reaching the second-floor corridor, he saw the rooftop lock had already been opened.

He ascended to the roof, and there, in the corner, he finally saw his classmate who had been waiting.

The student stood, arms trembling uncontrollably.

As he walked, his steps faltered.

Chen Qing was surprised, hurried forward and supported him, "Hey, what’s with you? You’ve been here since afternoon?"

He nodded, a grim smile on his face, "Yes... yes... no one else came... This time... I’ll be safe for sure."

---

He steadied himself with Chen Qing, but before the other could speak, he interjected, "There are ghosts in our school... ghosts."

"You..."

"Let me finish." He widened his eyes, gripping Chen Qing’s face tightly, staring directly into his eyes, mere centimeters away.

"Listen... listen... don’t interrupt!" He gritted his teeth, baring them, blood seeping from his gums.

"Someone... someone killed. Cast a curse. I don’t know what it is... it keeps chasing me...

I must bring someone along... only if I bring someone... will I have a chance to survive."

"What are you talking about!" Chen Qing pushed away his hand, the metallic stench of blood in his mouth sickening him.

"Ever heard of urban legends?" His teeth chattered as he continued, "Earlier... we explored here together. But you left."

Chen Qing paused.

"You and I... were the only survivors that night. But yesterday... it came for me."

Wu Cheny rolled up his sleeve; the white bone tattoo had pierced even deeper into his skin.

It was a flat design, but it stabbed into his palm like a spike.

"They’re here... they’ve come for me. I can’t face them alone! I’ll die, I’ll definitely die..." His face trembled.

"You... you must come with me." He smiled.

"Come on, you’re out of your mind." Before Chen Qing could finish his retort, determination flashed across Wu Cheny’s face.

"You will come with me."

He muttered, his trembling eased.

"You must... save me."

He smiled, and from a hidden wrist, produced a sharpened spike.

He wept, and the sharp spike pierced Chen Qing’s arm.

"What’s gotten into you!"

But before Chen Qing could finish, he saw the spike aimed at Wu Cheny’s own palm.

"They’re calling me... they’re already calling me... we’re members of the same team, the two of us... how could we ignore them?"

He watched the blood soak the ground, watched Wu Cheny’s face grow even paler.

He saw the tattoo sink completely into his palm.

He saw the moonlight vanish, the youth’s figure swallowed by mist and shadow.

The ladder down became stairs, stretching beyond sight.

The night was never this dark.

He tried to jump from the second floor, but the moment his hand touched the rail, a force shoved him back to the ground.

He reached for where his companion had been, but after a few steps, all he saw was the blackest staircase.

Retreating, moving left or right, whichever way he tried.

The stairs drew ever nearer, and his own shadow, step by step, entered the blood-red and pitch-dark staircase.