The World Below Surface

As death approached, Wen Qing's body stiffened in fear. She closed her eyes, scared to look at the terrifying face before her.

But the next second, she was hurled to the ground.

Despite the excruciating pain that coursed through her body, she was alive. Meanwhile, Little Mimi's piercing and shrill screams echoed in the distance, sending chills down her spine.

Wen Qing opened her eyes and saw a monstrous creature: a giant black cat, now transformed before her eyes, howling as it fought fiercely with a huge female ghost. The ghost's skeletal frame was visible, and pieces of rotting flesh occasionally fell to the ground.

It should have been a horrifying sight, but she felt incredibly relieved at that moment.

"Little Mimi, thank you..."

Wen Qing scrambled away from the commotion and suddenly remembered the talisman her grandmother had given her for protection. She quickly ran back to the spot where she had dropped it earlier.

"Little Mimi, don't be afraid; I'll return to help you..."

The female ghost had carried Wen Qing far away, and now she had no idea where she was in the pitch—black forest. She could not find any sign of the road's direction.

What could she do?

What could she do?!

Despite Wen Qing's usual composed demeanour, she was just an ordinary high school girl. The death of her friend had dealt her a significant blow, and now her mind was consumed with the urgent need to rescue her cat. Earlier, during the life—and—death situation, she had been able to remain composed, but now, as she ran through the pitch—black forest, unable to see more than a few inches in front of her hand, she couldn't help feeling disoriented. She had been running for what felt like an eternity, but she still hadn't found the road.

Wen Qing's thoughts were in disarray. "What should I do?" she asked herself.

After running for a long time, Wen Qing finally stopped and leaned against a tree, where she broke down in tears. It was then that she caught a whiff of a sickly sweet smell, the stench of a dead cat's decaying body.

In shock, Wen Qing lowered her head and saw the tiny, black cat's corpse lying on the ground. Its limbs were still tied up with the rope she had used to bind it.

"What's going on?" she asked herself.

Little Mimi was here, but the cat that had transformed into a monstrous creature was also Little Mimi. Wen Qing was absolutely sure of it.

As the day slowly brightened, the sun rising rapidly to light up half the sky, Wen Qing searched around and discovered that she had been circling the road all along. The protective talisman had fallen to the ground not far from the dead cat's body.

Wen Qing had spent the entire night without rest, constantly running around. Her body was in a terrible state as she approached to pick up the protective talisman. She gazed towards the crossroads, her heart heavy with grief.

"Yun Qian...she's dead. She's turned into a vengeful ghost."

"If those people hadn't coerced her into playing that game, and if they hadn't abandoned her...Yun Qian would still be alive."

"If I hadn't brought Yun Qian here, she wouldn't have died."

A surge of intense hatred welled up in her heart as she gazed towards the direction where the car had left last night, her eyes filled with a bitterness she had never felt before.

She couldn't forgive herself, but those four people deserved to die even more!

"I will never, never forgive them!" she thought.

As the day began to break, the howling ceased. Wen Qing limped back to the road and hung the cat back up on the tree before hobbling back home to her grandmother, who was eagerly waiting for her. She boarded the bus, feeling unsteady.

**

The small room was dimly lit, and the idol was a deep shade of red.

The old woman's body lay on the ground, bloody and mangled. It appeared shrivelled and bony, resembling a skeleton. Suddenly, it began to inflate like a balloon, and within a short time, it had reverted to its original human shape.

As it opened its eyes, an eerie smile spread across its face as it rose from the ground. It meticulously adjusted its facial features, gradually revealing a benevolent smile identical to its original appearance.

The idol on the shrine had shattered into numerous pieces, utterly devoid of its former shine and glory.

**

"This game is really creepy. You must lock yourself alone in a room after midnight and peel an apple while staring at a mirror. If the peel breaks, the task is considered a failure," Nie Yun Zhen explained while he continued to peel an apple.

This game was well—known, and the tasks they were required to complete were supernatural games that actually existed in legends and could attract ghosts.

Nie Yun Zhen had watched some videos uploaded by up—and—coming content creators before, but after watching too many, he made a terrifying discovery — without exception, all the content creators had omitted some steps during the game.

However, they couldn't afford to skip even a single step if they were to complete the task. Otherwise, they would undoubtedly face an unbearable fate.

Neither Nie Yun Zhen nor Ye Sheng Ke were proficient at peeling apples, let alone peeling them without breaking the skin. They had gone out early in the morning and bought three boxes to practice.

"Next door, the person hasn't left the house," Shi Yan said as she gazed at the computer screen, but the man's figure did not appear.

When they went to buy apples, Shi Yan disguised herself as a hotel staff member and entered the room with a small gift, claiming it was a prize. While there, she installed a few gadgets to aid their surveillance. However, due to the other party's strong vigilance, she could only place the miniature camera at the entrance. Although the camera had a limited angle and couldn't capture the entire room, it was enough to detect any movement in or out of the room.

**

Inside the room, Lu Yan gave the entrance a cold gaze. He knew he was likely being monitored by one of the task takers. But he had no idea what their mission was or how many people were involved. He wondered whether he could survive this.

With a few clicks of his computer, Lu Yan pulled up all the surveillance footage inside the hotel. He scrutinized the elevator footage, and his pupils contracted in surprise. It wasn't that there were only four people in the footage, but a woman in a white dress sitting on one man's shoulder!

Actually, it should be said that a female ghost in a white dress was perched on his shoulder. Due to the height restriction of the elevator, the spirit had to twist her body at a strange angle, with her pale, long arms tightly wrapped around the man's neck.

After calculating the time, Lu Yan wondered if they had really been tormented by a female ghost in just one day.

Seeing that they seemed oblivious, Lu Yan had no intention of reminding them. He identified the man's appearance through the surveillance camera and decided to avoid him later.

Aside from the female ghost, the surveillance footage showed that the other three people subtly differentiated themselves. The tallest man, sporting a leather jacket, led the group, though he remained taciturn.

As Lu Yan hacked into the hotel's system to check the surveillance, the manager bowed and apologized to a man.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr Wen. We'll immediately retrieve your belongings through the surveillance footage. Please don't involve the police yet. You can trust us..."

"Do I trust you? Will it help to trust you? Do you even realize the value of that thing? Do you know how many people want it? It's only been a day, and it's gone. Ha—ha, let me tell you, if you can't find it, we'll all die together!" Mr Wen shouted in anger.

"I'm really sorry. We'll do everything we can to retrieve it..."

"Don't make promises to me. Check the surveillance now. I'm telling you, if you can't find it today, we'll all die together!"

Mr Wen couldn't calm down. His agitation didn't seem to stem from losing a priceless treasure but rather from fear and anxiety. Judging from his expression, no one would doubt that his words about everyone dying together were false.

"Absolutely, the control room is right here. Would you like to come along?" the lobby manager asked.

"Hurry, take me there. Quick!" Mr Wen demanded.

They arrived at the control room in no time, but it was empty. The lobby manager seethed with frustration. Someone must have gone somewhere without informing anyone.

Mr Wen's cold gaze made the manager nervous, and he hastily retrieved the list of customers who checked in from last night until today, trying to calm himself down.

"Yesterday, seven new guests checked in. Three of them are a family staying in a double room on the third floor. The other four checked in together, but each booked a single room."

As the manager spoke, he noticed Mr Wen's eyes widen in disbelief. He pointed at the screen, his fingers shaking as he asked, "What is this?"

The manager turned around to see the footage and was immediately petrified. A woman in a white dress was sitting on the man's shoulder!

"It's a ghost...a ghost!" the manager exclaimed in horror.

Suddenly, the split—screen zoomed in, taking up the entire screen as if someone was manipulating it. The ghostly woman on the man's shoulder twisted her body and slowly lifted her head, making eye contact with the terrified men outside the screen.

The woman's hands, wrapped around the man's neck, immediately loosened and released in circles. Her abnormally long, soft and pale arms hung down. They were so long that they could hardly be contained by the entire picture frame.

Almost instantly, her hands wiped like two wip and penetrated through the screen and gripped the necks of the two men. With a powerful yank, the sound of bones cracking filled the air.

Everything happened so quickly that the men had no time to react. They were pulled into the screen and sat motionless in the elevator's corner. Blood poured from the broken neck area and quickly filled the elevator.

The monitor screen returned to its densely gridded appearance, and the elevator grid disappeared without a trace. It appeared normal to anyone who looked at it.

"Phew, that was close. Thank goodness no one came to check. If the manager had seen it, I would have lost my monthly bonus again," thought Security Guard Xiao Li, who had gone to the toilet and returned to an empty room. "Just now, a guest even offered to peel me an apple, hehe..."

As he sat in front of the monitor, watching the screen, he felt his eyelids growing heavy. Before he knew it, he had dozed off in the monitoring room.

Black hair fell thickly from the ceiling, almost touching the man's neck when suddenly a figure walked in from the door. It was the same guest who had offered him an apple earlier.

The guest opened the door and found the security guard slumped over the table.

"The sleeping pill dosage I injected into the apple was indeed just right," the person exclaimed as they dragged the security guard and his chair away from the surveillance station. They settled in front of the computer and prepared to tamper with the footage.

Their attention was drawn to a white figure in the corner of the camera footage. "Oh, what's this?" they wondered aloud, clicking on the monitor.

"This...this is..." the person's face was horrified as they realized what they saw. They turned to run, but the long hair that burst forth from the screen wrapped around them tightly. In the person's unbelieving gaze, they were sucked into the screen.

On the screen, the elevator had one more person in it.

The hotel lobby on the first floor was bustling with guests waiting for the elevator. When it finally arrived, they all rushed in. But to their surprise, the elevator alarm beeped even though they were nowhere near the overload limit.

"That's strange. None of us are overweight," the guests murmured, stepping out and waiting for the next elevator.

As the elevator doors slowly closed, the people waiting outside watched in amazement as the number on display rapidly dropped.

"What's happening?"

"Why are they going down? Call them back up!"

"That's not right. Does this hotel have so many underground levels?"

"It's impossible! I was responsible for the construction of this hotel, and there was only one parking level. This..."

In a matter of seconds, the elevator plunged to the negative eighteenth floor. The bright red number, combined with the number eighteen, immediately evoked thoughts of the eighteenth level of hell.

The display paused on the negative eighteen momentarily before slowly ascending, stopping at each floor as if passengers were getting on and off.

"Ahhhhh—!"

The people waiting at the elevator were terrified. Some called the police, while others sought the hotel manager. Most ran out of the hotel in a hurry, seeking refuge elsewhere.

The elevator eventually came to a steady stop on the first floor.

The people downstairs had already fled, but some upstairs remained oblivious and continued to wait in front of the elevator. They were also drawn in and plunged into the depths of hell.

Finally, the police arrived, and with their assistance, the hotel staff opened the elevator.

To their horror, they found it was filled with countless body parts. The corpses were pale, stiff, and covered in bloodstains, emitting a putrid, rotten stench.

When the door opened, the pile of corpses collapsed outward, burying the staff member standing in front of the elevator.

However, when the police finally managed to remove the pile of corpses, they found that the staff member who had been buried was nowhere to be found. It was uncertain whether he had also become a part of the corpse pile.

The people present had never witnessed such a horrific tragedy before, leaving them all scared out of their wits. The police bravely attempted to move the body parts onto their vehicles, but before they could do so, they poured out of the elevator again, burying them all.

"There's still more... it's haunted! Help!"

"Quickly! Get out of here!"

"Who locked the door? Don't do this! Let us out!"

A few onlookers ran to the door, desperately tapping on the glass and asking for help from passers—by. To their disappointment, even if there were passers—by, they only glanced quickly and did not pay much attention.

"Help! It's haunted!"

As they desperately pounded on the glass door, the disembodied limbs behind them surged forward, enveloping them in a macabre embrace. The muffled screams of the onlookers faded into nothingness.

The severed body parts poured out of the elevator, and a relentless tide of horror filled the lobby. No escape was possible as the limbs pursued their prey with an unwavering, eerie determination. Soon, even the ceiling was dripping with blood.

As the last corner of the lobby was filled with gruesome remains, the elevator door flickered and then opened. The limbs and blood seemed to take on a life of their own, moving of their own accord towards the elevator door. The darkness of the elevator consumed the remains until nothing was left.

The lobby returned to its previous state, clean and tidy, as if the horrific events of moments before had never occurred.

The elevator doors creaked shut, the dimly lit numbers flickering erratically as if possessed, and a haunting hum echoed throughout the empty lobby. Soon enough, they opened again, and individuals with rigid, pallid expressions shuffled out one by one. The elevator seemed like a bottomless pit, letting out people without pause until the people filled the entire lobby. Each person was indistinguishable from those who had vanished before them. Standing in the lobby, their ashen faces bore a disturbing grin in unison. Gradually, the people reverted to their original expressions before parting ways.

Nie Yunzhen descended the stairs, searching for someone who had yet to return from downstairs.

As he entered the lobby, he encountered his partner, who was about to board the elevator.

"Why did you take so long? We've been waiting for you for ages," Nie Yunzhen inquired.

"Don't even mention it. I was about to change the surveillance footage when the lobby manager suddenly appeared. He claimed that a guest had lost something essential, and he needed to review the surveillance footage. He didn't even seem upset when he saw the security guard sleeping and took the guest to look for the missing item. I had to lurk on the sidelines and wait for nearly an hour," the person explained.

"Alright, let's head back now."

The individual quickly assented and trailed behind him as they climbed the stairs towards their room.

The sky grew dim, and the stroke of midnight approached rapidly.

Their second game was about to commence.

One cannot deny feeling nervous in this situation. Being alone, locked in a confined space, and cutting an apple in front of a mirror was already unsettling. Who knows what might appear in the mirror once the apple is sliced?

Ye Shengke voiced his frustration. "Where do all these strange paranormal games come from? And now they're actually coming to life. This game is obviously trying to summon ghosts, isn't it?"

Shi Yan replied, "Well, aren't all games just trying to summon ghosts? It's only the second day." She turned to glance at Chu Xiu, whose face was stoic and inscrutable. Unable to resist her curiosity, she asked, "Brother Chu, what do you think of these games?"

Chu Xiu replied, "At present, it's just speculation, and we cannot confirm anything."

"In that case, let's all share our thoughts and ideas," suggested Shi Yan.

"I have no objections," agreed Chu Xiu. "Based on all the information we've gathered, the games we've played for the past seven days can all be classified as summoning rituals. As for ghosts, no one truly knows what ghosts are, but when you mention ghosts, most people imagine some kind of intangible entity. After what happened yesterday, I suspect the ghosts we've summoned may possess someone, perhaps even without their knowledge." Chu Xiu's words cast a dark shadow over everyone's hearts.

If what he said was true, who among them was possessed?

Although Chu Xiu had just dropped a bombshell, he remained unfazed. He glanced down and noticed some stains on his navy blue denim jacket. With a nonchalant expression, he lightly patted them off.

"On the contrary, this is one of the ways to survive. Remember Yun Qian yesterday? She didn't die after being possessed, did she?" he said.

In other words, even if something goes wrong while playing these paranormal games, there won't be any fatalities until the seventh day. However, what happens during the possession was uncertain.

As the sky outside gradually darkened, Chu Xiu opened the door. Everyone knew where he was headed, and Nie Yunzhen and Ye Shengke silently trailed behind him.

"No need; you guys can go back," Chu Xiu said.

According to the surveillance footage during the day, the man inside was just an ordinary young man. One person with a gun was enough; too many people would only arouse his suspicion, and he wouldn't want to open the door.

Chu Xiu turned left after stepping out and knocked on the middle door. "Who's there?" A young man's voice came from inside.

Then, the sound of light footsteps could be heard. Chu Xiu could even imagine the man's cautious expression as he approached the door.

He knocked on the door once more and took a step back. "Police. A guest at the hotel has reported missing a valuable item, and we need to ask you a few questions." He displayed his counterfeit police badge next to his face so that the person on the other side of the peephole could see it clearly.

The person inside muttered something, likely a complaint, but opened the door nonetheless.

The young man stiffened as soon as the door opened.

A gun was pointed at his head.

Lu Yan stood frozen with his hands raised in front of his chest, looking terrified. As the man outside the door moved closer step by step, Lu Yan had no choice but to retreat until Chu Xiu entered the room and used his free hand to pull the door shut.

"What do you want?" the young man asked tremblingly.

"Don't worry, we just want you to play a game with us," Chu Xiu said.

"A game? What kind of game?" the young man asked, fear still evident in his voice.

Chu Xiu was adept at intimidating people with his cold expression. He should have been satisfied with the effect he had achieved. But looking at the fear on the young man's face, he felt that something was amiss.

So he didn't lower his gun.

No, something wasn't right...

Based on his observations, the young man was very cautious, and many details suggested that he was calm and collected.

He shouldn't have panicked so quickly.

Lu Yan noticed the doubt on Chu Xiu's face.

In a split second, this idea came to Chu Xiu; the young man opposite turned his head at lightning speed, dodging the gun. He then grabbed Chu Xiu's wrist and struck him in the abdomen with his elbow.

Chu Xiu felt a sharp pain in his stomach, but he used his free hand to strike the man's neck with force despite being caught off guard. However, the man was too quick and dodged to the side, causing Chu Xiu's chop to hit his shoulder blade. Before Chu Xiu could react, the man forcefully knocked him down to the ground and hit his forehead hard on the floor.

The gun slipped out of Chu Xiu's hand and landed on the floor outside the door with a "crack."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Lu Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief and held the man's hands to prevent him from struggling. Then, he noticed the man had passed out due to the collision.

Lu Yan turned the man over, being extremely careful not to let go of the wrist he was holding. However, the man remained unconscious.

He hesitated for a while, then hit the man's neck again before releasing him from his restraints and getting up to pick up the gun.

As Lu Yan stood up and walked towards the door, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

Chu Xiu had another gun in his hand, and the butt hit the man's occiput before catching the unconscious man.

It seemed Chu Xiu's suspicion was correct; this man had a strong sense of vigilance.

Chu Xiu squatted to pick up the gun and carried the unconscious man back to his room.