The World Below Surface

Ghosts were notorious for their tricks in horror movies and stories. They could invade the minds and memories of the living, twist their senses and perceptions, and even warp the fabric of space and time.

So when Lu Yan’s death resulted in two identical copies of himself, he didn’t find it too bizarre.

But something was off. Why had they stormed into that store without hesitation? It was the only one open on the deserted street, a glaring anomaly. And they had acted so recklessly, so unlike their usual cautious selves.

“Can we… Can we get out of here?” Jin Fu Gui’s voice trembled as he spoke. The store was engulfed in darkness, and he could barely see his own hand. It was unnatural, this absence of light in the middle of the day.

No one replied. He squinted his eyes, trying to discern any shape or movement. He called out softly, “Jiang Bai? Jiang Bai?”

A chill ran down his spine as a cold hand gripped his shoulder, and a colder voice hissed, “Shut up.”

He recognized Jiang Bai’s voice, and felt a flicker of relief in his chest.

He glanced around, and realised something was wrong. “Where… where is the door? How did it shut?”

“It didn’t shut. It disappeared. There is no exit in this store,” Jiang Bai answered him.

He should have known better than to enter the odd shop without a second thought. It was like plunging into a pitch-black chamber where light and shadow clashed, leaving no trace of an exit.

Lu Yan had always avoided such encounters with the unknown, the ones that could muddle his mind and trap him in a hopeless situation. And yet, here he was, surrounded by darkness that held no apparent threat, but radiated a bone-chilling presence, as if it came from the very bowels of hell.

To his surprise, even his keen eyes could not pierce the gloom. He could barely distinguish a few shapes that loomed in the dark, motionless and silent.

He felt a surge of dread and kept his distance from those shapes, instinctively backing away.

They had barely crossed the threshold, but Lu Yan had already retreated several metres, without finding any wall or limit.

He wondered: Could this be a trick of the mind, or had he been spirited away by some malevolent force?

Jin Fu Gui was about to utter a word when he suddenly whipped his head towards a certain direction—though his vision was obscured, he could sense the overwhelming, frosty aura that came from there.

What was going on outside…?

Had Lu Yan, now a vengeful spirit, returned to haunt them from beyond the door?

Lin Chu cowered against the wall, too scared to make a sound, barely breathing. Jiang Yu was close to her, his body rigid with anxiety.

They all felt the unnatural coldness, as if the street outside the wall had turned into a frozen wasteland.

Slowly, faintly, light started to filter in.

A faint glow from the shop window pierced the gloom, casting a dim light over the room.

But as their eyes adjusted to the sight, they recoiled in horror.

They had stumbled into a wax museum! How could such a vast space be hidden behind the modest shop facade?

And in the centre of the museum, a macabre spectacle awaited them. Rows of wax figures, each one portraying a gruesome death scene—heads severed, limbs torn, flesh flayed, bodies crucified, and every imaginable torture inflicted.

Lu Yan's gaze fell on some familiar faces among the agonised statues—many of them were his fellow townspeople.

But there was more... A sudden jolt of pain shot through Lu Yan's brain, making him stagger. He clenched his teeth and fought the vertigo. When he looked again, the recognition was gone.

What was that? Why did these wax figures seem so familiar? Lu Yan examined them closely, but he was sure he had never met them before.

These solitary figures encircled a colossal display at the heart of the hall.

There, a scene of infernal carnage was depicted in vivid red wax, with flames engulfing the floor and a lake of blood filling the ceiling, where countless bones and souls writhed and screamed in the crimson tide, and in the middle, the most dreadful sight of all, a mass of white, twisted limbs, mutilated beyond recognition, that made him avert his gaze.

It was like... a vision of hell.

This scene struck a chord in their memories.

Lu Yan felt a surge of familiarity, while Lin Chu felt a wave of coldness wash over her. Never had she experienced such a deep sense of hopelessness and despair.

Lu Yan was drawn to the statue in the middle, like a moth to a flame. Lin Chu saw him from a distance and ran after him, calling out his name.

"Jiang Bai, stop! Don't go there!" She reached for his arm, but he shrugged her off, oblivious to her voice. She spun around and yelled at the others, "Help me, someone! He's not himself!"

Jiang Yu looked on with a sneer, unmoved by the scene. He wondered what horrors awaited Jiang Bai among the wax figures, and felt a twisted satisfaction.

Qiu Zhi, however, was concerned. He rushed to Lin Chu's side and helped her pull Lu Yan back. Jin Fu Gui also joined them, adding his bulk to the effort. They barely managed to hold Lu Yan in place.

"What's the matter with him?" Qiu Zhi asked, his voice trembling.

Lin Chu shook her head, unable to answer. Her eyes were fixed on the wax figures in the centre, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

This scene... it was exactly how she had lied to Chu Xiu.

She had made up a story about the wax museum to fool Chu Xiu, and even painted a picture of what it looked like inside. How could it be... that it was all true?

Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was one of those twisted things that were mostly true, but with a sliver of falsehood. And that silver was where the real danger hid.

"Jiang Bai, please, snap out of it!" Lin Chu pleaded, her voice cracking. She couldn't confide in Jiang Yu, who hated her, or Qiu Zhi and the others, who didn't know anything. She had to rely on Lu Yan, and hope that he could help her find out what had caused this disaster and destroy the existence behind it all.

"Jiang Bai? Jiang Bai?!" Lin Chu's voice was frantic as she shook his limp body, hoping for a sign of life.

Lu Yan's eyes stared blankly ahead, unblinking and untroubled, as if they had pierced through the veil of reality and beheld a realm beyond human comprehension.

"Come on, wake up!" Lin Chu gave him another violent shake, but his eyes only dilated further, revealing a dark and empty abyss that chilled her to the bone.

He's not human anymore!

The thought flashed through her mind, unbidden and terrifying. She looked around, but saw no help from Qiu Zhi or Jin Fu Gui. She didn't have time to think about what had happened to him. Acting on instinct, she slapped his face hard, then pinched and scratched his skin. "Snap out of it!"

The pain seemed to reach him, somehow. Lu Yan blinked, then gasped, as if he had just returned from a long and dreadful journey. He caught Lin Chu's hand as she raised it for another blow. "That's enough."

He was sweating profusely, his forehead glistening. Avoiding her gaze, he didn't mention his ordeal. Scanning the room for a distraction, he suggested, "Wax Museum? Let's find a way out of here. There has to be one."

Jiang Yu and his companions approached cautiously, seeing Jiang Bai's eyes regain some focus. "It's no use. Even if we get out, we don't know if Lu Yan's ghost is still lurking outside."

Lu Yan turned his head and looked at him.

It was a brief and casual glance, but it made Jiang Yu recoil, as if he had felt a cold and sinister presence emanating from those black orbs. He shuddered, not knowing what he had sensed, or why he was afraid.

The only source of light was a pale sliver that seeped through the curtains of the display window, barely enough to illuminate the dark interior of the wax museum. But there was something else that glowed in the shadows, something twisted and bloody that stood among the lifeless figures. A candle flickered in its hand, casting a sinister light on its features. No one could tell how long it had been burning.

Lu Yan felt a surge of recognition and dread as he gazed at the crimson statue. He knew it well, too well. A cold shiver ran down his spine, as if a blade had sliced his skin.

The others, oblivious to Lu Yan's horror, squinted their eyes in the dimness. Something was wrong with the wax figures. They seemed to be shifting, stirring, moving. Was it a trick of the light?

Jin Fu Gui blinked hard. He swore one of the statues had moved closer to him.

He was not imagining it. They were moving!

"Move, now!" Qiu Zhi yanked him out of harm's way.

A statue let go of the knife it was holding and hurled it at him. The blade whistled through the air, aiming for his throat. Qiu Zhi's quick reflexes saved him from certain death.

Jin Fu Gui wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked around. The scene was terrifying.

The wax figures had changed!

Behind Jiang Bai, a ghost bride emerged from the darkness, a masterpiece of wax and horror. She was dressed in a scarlet gown, the colour of blood and fire, and at her feet lay a headless rooster, its neck a jagged stump. Her complexion was ashen, her lips crimson, and her eyes hollow, almost black. In her hand, she clutched a needle and thread, a long red thread that stitched her lips together, as if to silence her forever.

Jin Fu Gui knew the dark legend of the ghost marriages, where the groom's kin would sew the bride's mouth shut, lest she haunt them with her grievances in the afterlife.

And now, that bride, with her needle and thread, was creeping closer to Jiang Bai.

Her body was motionless, her eyes lifeless, but Jin Fu Gui felt a piercing stare from her, a cold and hungry gaze that locked on Jiang Bai.

"Jiang Bai, run, for God's sake, run!" Jin Fu Gui screamed in panic.

Lu Yan wanted to run, but he couldn't. His feet were trapped in a pool of molten wax, sticky and hot, that glued him to the ground. But he did not panic, he did not flinch. He reached for the axe in the hand of the wax figure next to him, lifted it with ease, and waited patiently for his moment.

As the wax figure drew near, he struck with no mercy.

"Ahhhh—"

The shrill cry made them shudder as the wax figure split in two, the upper half falling to the floor, the lower half still standing. From the cut, red wax poured out like blood, making it look like he had killed a living being.

The severed halves of the wax figure melted into the thick pool of wax on the ground, viscous and slippery, slowly merging again.

With a swift turn, Lu Yan sliced through the wax figure that had sneaked up behind him. He felt a surge of adrenaline and dread, knowing that he was only delaying the inevitable. As the wax figure crumbled to the floor, he wasted no time and slammed the axe into the ground, hoping to free himself from the sticky trap.

But the wax was too soft and pliable, offering no resistance to the blade. The axe sank deep into the ground, and Lu Yan struggled to pull it out.

“Jiang Bai, catch!” A voice called out from his side.

He glanced over and saw Lin Chu, who had at some point slipped away, holding two lit candles in her outstretched hand. She tossed one to him.

Lu Yan caught the candle and noticed something strange. A wax figure that had been inching towards Lin Chu suddenly changed its course and avoided her. He realised what she had discovered and gripped the candle tightly.

The wax figure of the ghost bride, its face twisted in a grotesque smile, was ready to pounce on him. But as soon as Lu Yan held the candle, it recoiled and moved away. Lu Yan seized the chance and lowered the flame to the wax that had hardened around his legs. To his amazement, the small flame melted the wax like butter, turning it into a pool of oil. Lu Yan stepped out of the puddle and breathed a sigh of relief.

The others saw what he did and understood. The candle was the key!

Jiang Yu’s loud voice pierced the gloomy silence, startling Lin Chu and the others. “Where did you get those candles, Lin Chu?”

His shout was like a signal for the wax figures to attack. They stirred from their frozen poses, their faces twisted in grotesque expressions. They lurched towards the sound, their limbs cracking and creaking.

Lin Chu cursed under her breath. She had no time to play nice anymore. She snapped back at Jiang Yu, loud enough for him to hear over the commotion. “Use your eyes, you idiot!” She spat, then clamped her mouth shut.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a candle. She flicked a lighter and ignited the wick. She passed the candle to Qiu Zhi, who was struggling to fend off a wax man with a hook for a hand. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Look at the ones in the middle. Some of them have candles too. Grab them if you can.”

Qiu Zhi nodded, taking the candle from her and asked her, casually, as if they were not in mortal danger. “How did you figure that out?”

Lin Chu shook her head, unwilling to reveal her secret. She lied, “I just noticed. Now be quiet, they can hear us.”

Lu Yan heard her and agreed. He whispered to the others, “She’s right. We need to get more candles and get out of here. The light scares them, but the noise attracts them. And they’re getting faster and stronger by the minute.”

He looked at Jiang Yu, who was dodging and kicking the wax figures with remarkable agility. But even he had some close calls, as the wax figures clawed and bit at him with savage force.

They had to be silent. Or they would be dead.

With a quick snap, Lu Yan broke off a segment of his candle and ignited it. He passed the meagre light source to Jin Fu Gui, who clutched it nervously. Together, they inched their way towards the hall’s centre, where they hoped to find an exit.