The World Below Surface

"Hey? What are you doing upstairs?" Mrs Lu queried with an edge in her voice.

Lu Yan disregarded her and made a beeline towards the attic, driven by a strong desire to return. The atmosphere in this place was too overwhelming. He'd rather face the phantoms outside his desolate apartment than confront the scenes of tranquillity that were masking everything that had happened before, making him feel compelled to remain recklessly.

As he ascended the stairs, he was taken aback. The attic was a modest space with no remarkable features, and the lengthy hallway and elevator he had used to get there had vanished without a trace.

He spun around suddenly, and Mrs Lu, clutching a ladle, followed him upstairs, taken aback by his expressionless face. "I told you to go back and change your clothes. What are you doing up here?" she queried, clearly bewildered.

Lu Yan stayed quiet, submitting to her as they descended the stairs together. He was yearning to uncover the enigma of this world.

And where was the way out?

Lu Yan meticulously searched the entire house but to no avail. He defied Mrs Lu's request to change his clothes.

The more he becomes entangled with the world, the harder it becomes to extricate himself. He stood in the living room, scrutinizing his surroundings, trying to distinguish between the present and his recollections.

"What are you up to?" Mrs Lu's voice interrupted his thoughts as she stepped out of the kitchen with a dish.

Lu Yan remained silent.

"What's wrong with you today? You haven't said a word. Is there something bothering you?" Mrs Lu's concern was evident in her voice.

In fact, the previous Lu Yan, whose parents had gone to great lengths to name, had a completely different demeanour. He had always lived recklessly and fearlessly, relying on his wit and intelligence to act with impunity. However, unless necessary, he could go an entire day without speaking a word, even though his striking red hair still stood out. His demeanour had become subdued, like heavy ash residue after a fire had burnt out.

He looked directly at the image of his mother in his mind as if committing it to memory and then resolutely stepped out of the door, ignoring the frantic calls behind him and heading towards the street.

The owner of the house returned. His father's car stopped in front of him.

Lu Yan took note of the route and increased his pace towards the exit without sparing a glance at his father.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?!" His father's voice trailed behind him.

But he had already walked away without turning back.

The street was still the same as he remembered, but the flow of people became less and less until no one was left. Lu Yan noted the route and walked straight for about a kilometre before stopping.

As soon as his father arrived, Lu Yan realized there was no turning back, but as he walked down the road, the world around him transformed into something increasingly strange. The bright sky gradually darkened, and the middle of the street lifted into a high arc, causing the buildings above to rise and fall. Even the ground developed intricate patterns.

Lu Yan could sense the eyes of the missing people fixed on him through the windows as though they had seen something unusual. Strangely, instead of fear, he felt a sense of relief. This world was indeed abnormal, not just a figment of his imagination.

Now his priority was to find a way out of this dangerous place. Even though it was relatively calm, the lingering dead air made him uneasy. Lu Yan quickened his pace, trying to find the entrance he had come from. However, before he could take two steps, the sky dimmed perceptibly.

The darkness was absolute, with no stars or moon, and he couldn't even tell where he was going. Suddenly, lantern polls began to rise from the ground, along with paper lanterns, their thin paper trembling in the chilly wind. Childlike graffiti smiley faces were drawn on the white background, but their feeble light barely illuminated the dark night sky.

As Lu Yan walked on, the people hiding in their homes came out, their eyes filled with obsession and joy. They stared blankly at the white sky lanterns, vainly reaching out to grab them, but they were always out of reach. Only pairs of pale arms waved incessantly from the windows.

As he passed a small hill, a massive crack appeared in the road. The scenery had become so unfamiliar that Lu Yan had to choose one of the paths to continue on. The road had narrowed, and he had to avoid the arms reaching out from both sides, preventing the fanatics from scratching him.

Just then, a sound came from above, making Lu Yan stop.

Lu Yan struggled to articulate the otherworldly sound that had infiltrated his ears. It was as though some ethereal entity was attempting to communicate, yet the noise was composed of frequencies beyond human capability. It was a blend of rasping, icy notes, like being enveloped in a thick, impenetrable fog with only the occasional fragmented utterance discernible from a great distance.

This was a language beyond human comprehension.

Upon hearing this enigmatic noise, the throng of individuals already enraptured with the edifices lining the road became even more frenzied. Their cheering amplified with each undulation as if they could break through the brick walls before them.

Lu Yan stood at the street's terminus, gazing stoically at the frenzied mob.

He had arrived at his destination, where an abandoned structure stood. It was challenging to discern in the darkness, but it was approximately two or three stories tall, with a black metallic entrance facing him. The door bore no designs, only rust and an extremely menacing, sinister atmosphere.

For now, Lu Yan did not push open the door. However, he moved closer to avoid the maniacal crowd that abruptly poured out of the building.

On the opposite side of the road, music resembling a music box tinkled. It was melodious and gentle, but even the most enchanting melody seemed eerie within the context of this unending night and creepy street.

Subsequently, an enormous white object materialized in the distance. The road was excessively long, and the night was interminable. Lu Yan could only perceive the thing from a distance, but it seemed to be a colossal spherical entity, it's surface writhing.

As it drew closer, the crowd cheered again, dashing toward the object with all their might.

What was that?

As it approached nearer and nearer, Lu Yan gradually widened his eyes--

A colossal ball of flesh, composed entirely of human bodies, emerged on the street. It resembled a swarm of ants wrapping themselves into a ball in the face of a fire. The tangled mass of limbs rolled forward, and more people joined in, swelling the already massive ball. It grew in size until it towered above the buildings on either side.

The monotonous melody of a music box played on while the individuals trapped within the flesh ball continued to laugh. Their faces were contorted into silly grins as their bodies intertwined.

From a distance, the magnitude of this grotesque spectacle was apparent, and as it neared, the reality of its enormity was overwhelming.

Lu Yan gazed at the spectacle and discerned two familiar faces amid the horde. They were among the people caught up in a frenzy, their limbs entangled with those of strangers. The monstrosity was now within a hundred meters of him, and Lu Yan found himself frozen, unwilling to open the door and confront the beastly mass.

Despite the chaos, he remained composed. He surveyed the buildings nearby and discovered a narrow alleyway between two edifices on the brink of collapse from the rolling ball's weight. He darted into the alley, and just as he entered, the immense flesh ball, accompanied by deafening laughter, rushed by. Faces atop the ball sneered down at him, but he remained resolute. Once the ball had passed, he emerged from the alley and sprinted towards another street on the opposite side of the collapsed houses.

As he ran, the pavement's strange patterns became more apparent, and the road's colour deepened into a dark red like an old bloodstain. He kept running for what seemed like an eternity until he reached the end of the road. He stopped, confronted by an obstacle he could not overcome.

There was no road ahead.

A precipitous slope loomed at the end of the road, with an incline of at least sixty or seventy degrees. Beyond it lay an opaque, inky expanse. Descending that slope blindly in the dark seemed like a recipe for disaster, as he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't end up with broken bones.

However, the situation behind him was equally dire. The monster had rolled to the end of the road and rolled back again, closing in on him rapidly. Gritting his teeth, he flung himself down the slope, moving sideways desperately to avoid injury.

The sensation of tumbling head over heels was sickening, and Lu Yan struggled to shield his head from the impact. When he came to a halt, he was battered and bruised in several places. The slope gave way to a raised platform about half a meter high, and he plummeted onto it, hitting the ground hard.

His eyes widened in shock, but he didn't waste any time. Springing up, he bolted out of there like a man possessed. He spotted a car parked nearby and, without a second thought, picked up a brick and smashed the windows. Terrified, the driver cowered in his seat as Lu Yan hauled him out and took off, flooring the accelerator and leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

The car hurtled down the road at breakneck speed, covering an incredible distance that spanned an entire city before abruptly stopping. But Lu Yan still couldn't shake off the horror that had seized him. Since the world had been thrown into chaos, he hadn't felt so out of control. This sense of unease was unfamiliar to him.

However, if his suspicions were correct if what he had witnessed was real, then...

Stepping out of the car, Lu Yan surveyed his surroundings slowly. His hunch had been correct. On the opposite side of the city stood a towering statue, its colossal size dwarfing the surrounding buildings like playthings. Even though he had driven for what seemed like an eternity, he could only make out the lower half of the statue, its upper regions obscured by a thick shroud of clouds.

The statue's shadow cast the entire city in a perpetual darkness that never lifted.

So, the place where he had landed after his frantic escape was the foot of this gargantuan statue.

Lu Yan shuddered involuntarily. He was still in the other world. How was he ever going to find his way back?

In the presence of gargantuan objects, people are often struck by their insignificance; some may even experience extreme fear or fainting. Lu Yan was not afflicted with a fear of enormous monsters, yet he felt a sense of hopelessness deep within.

How could he discover any clues in the face of such a colossal statue? And where had the path he had taken led him?

As he stood there momentarily, unsure of what to do next, he noticed a long procession approaching from a distance. A woman dressed in a red robe led the group, her face exuding a serene and pious expression. Her followers wore either red or white robes and chanted in unison as they moved steadily forward. In no time, they arrived beside Lu Yan.

"Are you troubled, sir?" inquired the woman at the head of the group.

Lu Yan remained silent, but his demeanour betrayed his inner turmoil. Without waiting for a response, the woman gestured to someone behind her, who quickly brought forward a red statue. She gazed upon him with a compassionate and benevolent look. "Place your faith in my Lord, and you shall never be cast into the depths of despair, never be entangled in worldly affairs, and all your heart's desires shall be fulfilled."

The omniscient God? The deity whose name transcends the two worlds? Could they be one and the same?

Lu Yan's eyes locked onto the red statue. It was identical to the one that Wen Zhengxin had lost.

A suspicion took root in Lu Yan's mind, like a ray of sunlight piercing through the fog of his confusion after many days. He finally spoke up. "All wishes come true?"

Noticing his interest, the woman's smile became even gentler. "Indeed, those who put their faith in my Lord shall have all their wishes granted."

"What if I wished to bring someone back to life?" Lu Yan queried.

The woman's smile widened slightly, losing some of its sanctity and taking on a hint of something more peculiar. "God can do anything," she replied.

"What price must I pay to bring someone back from the dead?" Lu Yan pressed.

"Although my Lord is merciful, we must not be greedy or squander God's grace. We must offer the Lord his favored offerings," she replied, her smile turning upwards once more at the corners of her lips.

Lu Yan accepted the situation without further inquiry, thanked the woman, and turned to leave. The woman stood silently, watching as his figure gradually disappeared into the distance. She lingered there for a while longer before turning around and joining her group to continue spreading the gospel of the divine abode.

**

Meanwhile, Chu Xiu stood in the darkness, his senses heightened. As a figure approached him, he felt an eerie sense of familiarity. Gripping the knife tightly in his hand, he remained still, cautious not to make a sound. He knew that even the slightest noise could give away his position in the pitch-black.

As the figure drew nearer, Chu Xiu's eyes adjusted, and he finally saw the man's face. To his surprise, the man recognized him too, and they both froze in place.

Chu Xiu's mind raced with countless thoughts, but he quickly regained his composure, realizing what to do. Without hesitation, he thrust the knife into the man's neck, his movements swift and precise. As the man took his last breath, Chu Xiu gently lowered him to the ground.

The shock of what had just transpired left Chu Xiu momentarily dazed. He watched as the man whispered something to the beyond, his eyes wide with disbelief. But there was no time to dwell on it. Chu Xiu dragged the body aside and continued in the direction that the man had come from.

It wasn't until he arrived at the factory at the Yin-Ming Road intersection that it hit him. This was where he had played the four-corner game! It all came rushing back to him in a split second, and he realized he had come full circle.

Had the darkness not obscured his features, someone would have noticed that the man lying on the ground and walking away were one and the same - Chu Xiu.

After playing two rounds, Chu Xiu immediately announced, "Game over!" according to the rules, and then bolted out of the building where he met Lu Yan, who had come to check on them by car.

Upon leaving, they saw Chu Xiu's figure through the rearview mirror. He wasn't a phantom, but the same Chu Xiu who had exited the elevator and fled the factory but hadn't crossed paths with Lu Yan. He would have to find his way out alone.

The Chu Xiu who left with the three others the night before was also Chu Xiu! It was only the Chu Xiu who departed early, sensing that something was amiss.

The remaining individuals still engrossed in the Four Corners game within the room were still Chu Xiu! Bewildered, they continued to tread in circles, unaware they would soon fall prey to the new arrival.

Chu Xiu wasted no time attacking his former self upon sight. He reckoned that if his future self confronted a similar predicament, he would do the same. Only then could the Four Corners game persist, and he could escape and discover a genuine means of breaking the cycle of reincarnation.

Chu Xiu did not observe or comprehend the ever-growing heap of Chu Xiu corpses in the house.

No matter how Chu Xiu perished, there was always a never-ending supply of new Chu Xiu to take his place. Unless... he could avoid that elevator, regardless of whether he chose to accompany Lu Yan or his three companions, he would end up here.

Then, he would kill his past self, flee under his identity, and attempt a new strategy.

What he remained oblivious to was that every self he slayed would contemplate the omniscient and omnipotent God before dying and then make a wish, yearning to start anew and genuinely escape.

But God's deals were never fair or just. "Starting over" could take many forms, like making time and space chaotic and observing ants crawling in a twisted Mobius ring to give Him a little amusement.

Sadly, Chu Xiu had yet to grasp this. He was solely focused on starting over and escaping the elevator game.

That night, he took Lu Yan captive into the elevator, repeatedly ascending and descending according to the regulations, until a peculiar woman entered.

Both parties refrained from speaking or moving, and later, they opted not to depart the elevator. But this, too, was a dead end.

As the figure outside the door approached, the gap in the elevator door slowly closed. When they reached the 12th floor, the hand crept into the shrinking opening.

Suddenly, the elevator plunged, and the hand was severed, thudding to the ground with a sickening thud, exposing a bloody cross-section.

The hand split open, revealing deep red and brownish crevices that quickly widened. Tentacles emerged, their blood-red hue pulsating as they twisted and turned with deadly intent. The tentacles effortlessly struck the two occupants of the elevator, ending their lives.

Before Chuxiu met his demise, he desperately wished to start anew. He returned to the same small black room, compelled to repeat the elevator game with Lu Yan as his captive. However, this time, he stepped out of the elevator.

"What should we do? Should we leave now?" Ye Sheng Ke's voice trembled with fear as the frigid air inside the elevator intensified. He couldn't stop shaking, feeling that his neck was getting heavier, and he could barely hold it up.

"Perhaps we shouldn't," Shi Yan said, trying to calm him down. "They say the world outside the elevator is a different realm, and once we leave, we may never return."

Chuxiu nodded in agreement. "We cannot leave."

Nie Yun Zhen's heart raced with unease.

"I wonder what the other world looks like," Nie Yun Zhen mused aloud. "Hey, have you guys noticed the old man? He seems suspicious. The odor emanating from his room is definitely that of a dead body, and his demeanor seems guilty. Maybe he's the killer, but I'm not sure who he murdered."

Shi Yan fixed him with a stern glare. "Stop trying to provoke trouble."

Nie Yun Zhen shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't you find him odd though? I can't shake off this feeling that something isn't right."

The putrid scent of decay had lingered in the room's air, an odour that had become familiar to the players who had spent countless hours surrounded by blood and corpses. Though nobody mentioned it before, it was an unwritten rule to ignore the stench and continue the game.

Nie Yun Zhen broke the silence, and Shi Yan's memory was jolted. With a shake of her head, she decided not to dwell on the unnerving odour any further. "Let's talk about it outside. What good would it do to discuss it now?"

The elevator opened again, revealing a dark corridor emanating an aura of malevolence and doom.

Each time the elevator stopped, they remained silent, wary of drawing attention to themselves. Only when the doors closed would they dare to chat.

Shi Yan stood before Ye Sheng Ke, feeling an unexpected itch on her neck. Bewildered, she turned around and saw that Ye Sheng Ke's hands were idle and still.

She immediately sensed something was off. Her voice trembled as she asked, "Did you touch my neck just now?"

Ye Sheng Ke's neck was tilted at an almost burdensome angle as if he were carrying a heavy load. He tried to shake his head but couldn't, so he spoke in a strained tone, "No, I didn't."

"Then what just touched me?" Shi Yan's voice quivered in the elevator's confined space.

The air suddenly grew colder, and Nie Yun Zhen's voice faltered. "Please don't frighten me on purpose. It's not funny."

"I'm not joking," Shi Yan insisted. "I felt something on my neck."

Chu Xiu interjected, "What kind of feeling?"

After contemplating, Shi Yan replied, "It was like...human hair."

Upon the utterance of her words, a vivid image of a female ghost hanging upside down with her long hair brushing against her neck immediately came to Nie Yun Zhen's mind. The thought frightened him, and he rubbed his arms for comfort. "Perhaps it's just your imagination?" he suggested, trying to calm Shi Yan down.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Shi Yan's eyes widened, and she looked directly behind him. The other two followed suit, huddling together instantly, leaving Nie Yun Zhen standing alone in the centre of the elevator.

Slowly turning his head, he saw a ghastly pale face and the long hair he had imagined hanging down, brushing against his neck and causing an unbearable itch.

With a "ding", the elevator door opened.

It goes without saying that they all rushed out.

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