“What the hell? An Instance? A game? Do you think I'm some kid you can scare?!”
Zhang Chao was the first to rush off the bus. “Who's playing tricks? Show yourself! Stop playing these ghost games!”
Wang Lei looked around in panic, trembling as he said, “This has to be some horror prank show. Where are the cameras? Come out! I'm not playing anymore! I want to go home!”
They would rather believe this was a prank than accept that they had actually entered some bizarre Instance.
Supernatural Instance?
Death game?
Those were things that only existed in novels and anime.
But no matter how much they shouted, there was no response.
The cold wind blew through the wild grass, producing a continuous rustling sound that echoed across the empty mass grave, sounding like the whispers of countless people.
“Maybe... maybe we should just do what it... what that thing said—”
Su Ya also got off the bus. With a tearful face, she pointed behind them at the bus, which had vanished at some unknown point:
“I've been to Taiping Cemetery with my family before. This is definitely not it. And look, our phones... there's no signal at all.”
Only then did the others snap out of it. They scrambled to check their phones, but as expected, they couldn't even dial emergency services.
The air was filled with a foul, rancid stench like rotting rats, perhaps mixed with the lingering smell of burnt joss paper.
Su Ya instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, goosebumps spreading from the backs of her hands all the way up to her neck.
The countdown numbers still floated in the upper-right corner of everyone's vision.
“What on earth is this crap?!” Zhang Chao suddenly clutched his head, his face pale. “Did you guys see that? Who is talking in my head? Show yourself! Stop playing these ghost games!”
He spun around frantically, trying to find whoever was hiding in the shadows, but there was nothing around them except desolate graves and withered trees.
“My mom was right... nothing good ever happens when you don't go home by two-thirty in the morning—”
Wang Lei collapsed directly onto the ground, tears and snot streaming down his face in a somewhat comical manner. “It's over... it's over... we really entered a haunted place... I don't want to die... I haven't even been in a relationship yet...”
“It's over. Why did the bus leave? Lao Hei is still on it.”
“Lao Hei, the two of us are so sorry... Don't come looking for us when you're dead... We didn't mean to do this...”
The only two adults, Old Zhang and Old Zheng, also felt their legs go weak, their entire bodies trembling uncontrollably.
They had lived for over forty years and had never encountered anything so bizarre.
Words appearing directly in their heads and a death countdown—this was completely beyond their realm of comprehension.
Only Su Ya and Lin Hao could barely maintain their composure.
...
“I... I think since they threw us into this place, they probably won't kill us right away.”
Su Ya's face was somewhat pale, but she still suggested in a quiet voice:
“The rules are very clear. Only by finding our own tombstones and wiping them clean can we survive. I think... I think I'll go look for my tombstone...”
“Look for tombstones?”
Lin Hao pointed at the grave mounds covering the hills. “With so many graves—there must be at least several thousand here—and we have less than four hours, how are we supposed to find them?”
“What if... we split up to look?”
Su Ya carefully suggested, “There are so many of us. If we gather everyone's names and let each other know if we find someone else's name, that would be the most efficient way.”
“Why should we? I don't even know those two old geezers. They're slow and will only drag us down. Besides, haven't you watched horror movies? The first to die are always the idiots who go off on their own.”
Zhang Chao immediately retorted loudly, spitting on the ground. “Lei-zi, let's go together.”
“Alright, alright, alright!” Wang Lei couldn't wait to leave this creepy place and immediately followed. “Let's search together.”
Thus, only four of the six people remained.
“L-Little girl, m-my name is Zhang Dong. Zhang as in 'archers' and Dong as in 'east.' I'll head east. This is my friend Zheng Zhi, named after that singer who sang 'The Sailor'...”
Perhaps because he was too terrified, Zhang Dong became somewhat long-winded. He could also tell that among this group, Su Ya was the only relatively smart one:
“I'll go east, and Zheng Zhi will go south. Write your names on my phone. If I see yours, I'll come and tell you. If you... if you see our names, you must, must come and call us. Please. My daughter is about your age... I can't die here.”
“Okay, I understand. I'll head north then.”
Su Ya nodded after noting down their names. Lin Hao also came over to record them, then picked up a stone and headed west.
Soon, the four of them walked in their respective directions, vanishing into the vast expanse of desolate graves.
...
In the graveyard to the southeast, most of the grave mounds had collapsed, and many tombstones were shattered. The wild grass grew taller than a person, almost completely swallowing the path.
“Damn it, what kind of crappy path is this? The grass is sharp as hell.”
Zhang Chao walked ahead, wildly swinging a wooden stick. The grass rustled loudly, startling a few snakes that quickly slithered away.
“Chao-ge, Chao-ge, wait for me.”
Wang Lei followed behind, taking every step with extreme caution. “Don't walk so fast. We still have to look for our tombstones.”
“You actually believe that crap? What ghosts? If there were ghosts, my deadbeat dad would've blessed me to win the lottery by now.”
Zhang Chao spat on the ground. “Hurry up.”
He still didn't believe this was some bullshit game Instance.
For all he knew, it was a prank show set up by some production crew, designed to film them making fools of themselves to get views online.
“If you ask me, we shouldn't have gotten on that crappy bus. Once I get out of here, I'm going to sue them for everything they've got!”
Zhang Chao grumbled, “They owe me at least a million in mental damages. Walk faster, are your legs broken or something?”
Just then, his foot seemed to kick something hard.
“What is this?”
Zhang Chao looked down and saw a tombstone half-buried in the dirt.
The tombstone was very short, only about thirty centimeters high. It was covered in moss, making the inscription illegible.
“Fucking hell, what bad luck!”
Already harboring a surge of anger, Zhang Chao instinctively raised his foot and kicked it.
Crack... clatter...
The already decaying tombstone was kicked over by his foot. The stone slab fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces. Wang Lei leaned over to take a look, and his face instantly turned as white as paper:
“Chao-ge, Chao-ge, h-how... how is Hao-ge's name written on this tombstone?”
—On the broken tombstone, the words were clearly visible: 【Tomb of Lin Hao, Born in 2001, Died in ...】
“I'm already pissed off, and they're pulling this crap?! Aren't we supposed to wipe the tombstones?”
Zhang Chao was stunned for a moment, then let out a bizarre laugh. “A tombstone, huh? A death game? I'm messing with this crappy tombstone, so what? What can you possibly do to me—”
He raised his foot again and kicked hard at the shattered tombstone.
Bang!
The moment the tombstone shattered, Zhang Chao suddenly felt a sharp, agonizing pain shoot through his right foot.
He noticed that Wang Lei's expression had turned into one of absolute terror, as if he were looking at something incredibly horrifying:
“Chao-ge! The letters... they changed! They changed!!”
On the tombstone, the name "Lin Hao" seemed to be wiped away by an invisible hand. In the next instant, it turned into "Zhang Chao."
The year of death on the tombstone suddenly became clear. Blood slowly seeped out from the stone, eventually forming a bright red 【Died in 2026】.
Zhang Chao looked down.
His right foot, from the ankle up, began to develop dense, spiderweb-like cracks.
His entire foot had cracked open like stone.
There was no blood inside the cracks, only a white, stone-like powder.
“W-What's going on?”
Zhang Chao's voice began to tremble. He wanted to lift his right foot, but found he couldn't move it at all. “Lei-zi, Lei-zi, h-help me—”
The cracks spread upward at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Ankle, calf, knee, thigh...
Wherever they passed, flesh, bone, and blood vessels all turned into a stone-like texture, cracking apart with a rustle before crumbling into tiny fragments and falling to the ground.
“Ahhh—!!!”
“No... please... I don't want to die... Lei-zi, go find Su Ya! Go find Lin Hao! I was wrong, I was wrong!”
Zhang Chao's upper body collapsed to the ground. He desperately clawed at the dirt to gather the shattered pieces of his tombstone, his face filled with terror and despair, tears and snot mixing together:
“Go! Fucking go! Otherwise, I won't let you off even as a ghost!”
“It wasn't me! I didn't do this to you!”
Wang Lei fell to the ground. Completely ignoring the dirt, his legs kicked wildly as he scrambled backward. “Don't come near me! Don't come near me! Don't come near me—”
Zhang Chao reached out, wanting to grab onto something, but cracks began to appear on his arm as well.
It was entirely in vain.
Crack... crack...
The sound of shattering echoed continuously.
Arm, shoulder, neck, and then his head.
Accompanying the shattering sounds, Zhang Chao's entire body turned into a pile of white gravel, scattered among the wild grass.
The expression on the stone man's face was frozen in a moment of mingled terror and rage.
Wang Lei's mind went completely blank. Immediately after, he let out a blood-curdling shriek:
“Ahhhhh—!!!”
...
Lin Hao suddenly turned around.
“...Did I just hear that kid Wang Lei screaming?”
His heart drummed in his chest. He felt that the surroundings were far too quiet.
It was so quiet that he could only hear his own heartbeat and footsteps.
An occasional chilly wind blew past, kicking up pieces of white joss paper. The wild grass rustled, sounding as if someone were walking right behind him, pressed against his back.
Lin Hao constantly felt like something was following him.
But there was nothing—only rows of cold tombstones and grave mounds from different eras, spanning from ancient to modern times, standing silently in the grass.
“This place is way too creepy.”
He shuddered, quickly turning back and quickening his pace to search.
Fortunately, the goddess of luck was still smiling upon him.
After searching for nearly an hour, Lin Hao finally spotted a small tombstone in an inconspicuous corner.
The tombstone was very short, and the grave mound behind it was pitifully small. The tombstone looked quite new, with a line of words pasted onto it:
【Tomb of Lin Hao, Born in 2001, Died in ...】
It was his tombstone!
Lin Hao breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the tombstone was smaller than he had expected, it also meant he could save a lot of effort.
Lin Hao looked around but couldn't find any suitable tools. He had no choice but to take off his short-sleeved shirt, bunch it into a ball, and use it to wipe the tombstone.
As he wiped, he noticed something off.
On the back of the tombstone was a series of palm prints that wouldn't come off no matter how hard he wiped. The five fingers seemed underdeveloped, resembling the paw prints of a small beast, or perhaps the tracks left by a baby's tiny feet.
【Hehehe... hehehehe...】
A sudden giggle sounded behind him. It was extremely close, as if whispered right against his ear.
Lin Hao's movements instantly froze.
His scalp went numb, and every hair on his body stood on end.
“Who... who's laughing?” he asked in a trembling voice, slowly turning around.
There was nothing around him.
No child, no shadow.
“I misheard... I must have misheard...” Lin Hao swallowed hard, comforting himself.
He lowered his head and continued to wipe the tombstone with his shirt, putting extra effort into every stroke.
But after only two wipes, the giggling sounded abruptly once more.
This time, it was even closer.
He even could feel the tiny claws of some unknown creature lightly brushing against his forehead.
【Hehehe... Mister... what are you wiping...】
A gust of icy breath blew against Lin Hao's ear.
He shuddered violently, and his hands froze.
Something small and icy was clinging to his back.
Then, a pair of cold, tiny hands covered his eyes.
【Mister... guess who I am...】
The childish voice, laced with a bizarre hint of amusement, echoed inside his mind.
Lin Hao's mind instantly went blank.
Wipe the tombstone!
As long as he wiped the tombstone clean, the task would be complete.
Driven by pure survival instinct, Lin Hao unleashed his last ounce of strength. He fumbled around until he located the tombstone, then began wiping it frantically—
“It's fake, it's all fake. Once it's clean, everything will be fine.”
“It's fine. Once it's clean, everything will be fine!”
In the next second, he froze on the spot.
Beneath his palm, the cold, hard tombstone seemed to take on a certain curvature. A sticky, foul-smelling liquid dripped onto the back of his hand, making a drip-drop, drip-drop sound.
Lin Hao slowly looked up.
An unformed infant, still wrapped in a placenta, floated above his head, staring down with pitch-black eyes.
And the umbilical cord extending from the infant's belly was attached to Lin Hao's wrist.
【Daddy, don't you recognize me?】
Rate on N.U.
