The World Below Surface

The hostile glares of the other elderly folk pierced through Xi Men Yuan as they gradually formed a circle around him.

"How long will you persist with this nonsense? You keep babbling about disappearances, but who are these missing people? Where is your proof?"

"You have no proof, and yet you dare to slander us!"

Xi Men Yuan felt a surge of panic, and hastily corrected himself, "No, you misunderstand me. My friend didn't vanish here, but somewhere else."

He knew it was futile. The stubbornness of these old-timers and the guide from yesterday, who insisted that nothing strange ever happened in this town, made them impossible to reason with.

They were hiding something, he was sure of it. And this thing... it might have something to do with his mission.

What was the dark secret that bound these people together in silence?

He wondered, but he knew he wouldn't get any answers from them. He needed to take some drastic measures, if he wanted to uncover the truth about the missing persons.

Xi Men Yuan realised that he needed to change his strategy, as his previous attempts had failed miserably.

The elderly folk still wore sour faces, clearly unconvinced by his words.

"You lot came here pretending to be tourists for a jolly holiday, but you're nothing but troublemakers." One of the elders grabbed a cane and swung it at Xi Men Yuan with a menacing force.

Xi Men Yuan dodged the blow, holding back his urge to fight back. The old man soon ran out of steam, and rested on his cane, gasping for air.

"Keep spewing nonsense, and we'll kick you out of this town! We don't want your kind here!"

"We're not, we're not! We're just looking for our friend."

"Is that so? Looking for your friend, are you? Then tell me, what's your friend's name? What does he look like? I bet you can't even give me a clear picture, can you?"

Xi Men Yuan kept his cool, and replied, "His name is Lu Yan. He's a traveller, who has been to many places. He told me that he had been to the Spirit Vale Town before."

He made up some details on the spot, hoping to appease the old man. His expression softened slightly, as if he was considering his words.

As the last traces of Xi Men Yuan's group faded into the distance, the old man finally shifted his gaze, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. "Lu Yan... that name rings a bell."

The others shook their heads. "You must be mistaken. Lu is not a common surname around here, and we don't know anyone by that name."

"Where did you hear it? And please don't spread it around. This group has been bothering us for too long, when will they leave us alone?"

**

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of town, Yi Zhen Zhen and her companions walked leisurely.

She had received a sudden "hint" about the mission, and for the time being, she was the "only" one who had caught a glimpse of Lu Yan's face. Shen Zhu had given them strict instructions to protect her with their lives.

Of course, they all understood that once Lu Yan appeared, Yi Zhen Zhen's special status would become irrelevant.

Lin Chu stayed close to Yi Zhen Zhen.

Her face resembled that of a delicate doll, and her newcomer status made Yi Zhen Zhen lower her guard around her, finding Lin Chu quite friendly. The two quickly developed a good rapport.

"Is it true that you saw Lu Yan?" Lin Chu asked, her tone filled with concern.

Yi Zhen Zhen nodded with conviction, "I saw him, I'm positive it was him."

Her gaze burned with loathing, "He's the monster who took my mother's life, I'll make him pay."

Lin Chu offered her sympathy and then queried, "Can you recall the surroundings?"

Yi Zhen Zhen had answered this question many times, but faced with Lin Chu's gentle inquiry, she complied without hesitation.

Lin Chu mulled over her words, her expression impassive.

An ancient tomb, murals, shadowy figures...

Hold on, if in the scene she witnessed, Lu Yan had transformed into a hideous creature with rotting flesh, how could she still be so confident she could identify him?

Yi Zhen Zhen shook her head, "I have no idea, but I can recognise him, even if he crumbles to dust!"

Her eyes overflowed with intense hatred.

At that instant, they reached the amusement park in the town.

One end of the small town was dominated by a shopping mall and a market, where an inflatable castle served as a convenient dumping ground for parents who wanted to shop in peace. Numerous children frolicked on it, having the time of their lives.

The inflatable castle was rather spacious, with a little girl in a red dress as its main attraction. Her face was deathly pale, except for two round rosy cheeks that were painted on, and she sported a wide grin with her arms outstretched. A longue colossal slide protruded from her open mouth to the second floor. Countless children delighted in sliding down from her mouth, giggling as they went.

Yi Zhen Zhen felt a pang of envy. She was still in high school and had a soft spot for things that appealed to younger children. But she was aware that it was not the time for fun and games now, so she could only steal a wistful glance before looking away.

Lin Chu casually purchased a bottle of drink and handed it to a young boy nearby. Noticing the boy's flushed and sweaty face, Lin Chu smiled and dabbed his sweat for him.

"Where are your parents?" she inquired.

The young boy, without much wariness, responded, "They're out shopping."

"Well, you stay safe, okay? Don't go off with strangers. If you disappear, your parents will be frantic."

The young boy eyed her. "Adults always tell me not to drink water from strangers."

Lin Chu replied, "But I'm not a wicked person. If I were, I wouldn't have cautioned you."

The young boy gulped down most of it, peeled off a sweater and placed it next to his shoes. He also put the drink bottle beside them and then dashed off to the toilet.

As a result of her earlier action of purchasing a drink, several other kids also clustered around, keenly observing Lin Chu.

Lin Chu beamed at the group of children and gestured. "Come, come, please help yourselves to some drinks."

The kids glanced at each other, enticed. With one child acting as the leader, the rest trailed behind, leaping down from the edge.

The edge was not high, and kids are tough. They landed unscathed. Lin Chu ignored them and turned to cross the road to find the drink vendor who was guarding her stand.

Hence, she failed to notice that when one of the kids jumped down, he inadvertently toppled over the drink bottle that the young boy had left on the ground.

The bottle was not securely closed, so it tipped over, rolling a few times before halting near an electrical outlet, liquid seeping out, with a few drops splattering into the outlet.

A cluster of power strips supplied the inflatable castle with the energy it needed to stay afloat. But as water seeped into the sockets, a faint trail of smoke curled up from the cords.

No one noticed it.

Inside the castle, a group of children huddled against the walls, gazing out of the windows, eagerly anticipating Lin Chu's comeback.

Hiss... hiss...

The smoke thickened, and sparks flew from the wires. In a matter of seconds, the sparks turned into a fiery blast, sending electric currents along the severed cords. The air pump sputtered and died, leaving the castle to deflate slowly.

It all happened so fast, and no one noticed.

The children kept on laughing and jumping, sliding down the red girl's mouth.

Lin Chu returned with some drinks, and glanced at the inflatable castle across the street.

Something was wrong with the slide. It looked smaller than before, and the arms on either side sagged down.

Was it leaking?

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the entire castle began to crumble, dragging down the children who had scaled its heights along with it.

"Ah—"

A violent blast of wind swept through, stinging their eyes and making them squint. The castle was hurled several metres away, lurching to one side and rolling over and over before smashing into the ground.

The shrieks intensified, and several tiny bodies were flung into the air, only to plummet onto the merciless concrete below.

To compound the horror, Yi Zhen Zhen was standing close by, barely a metre away, and was instantly swallowed by the mayhem.

It was as if this calamity, a concatenation of freak occurrences, was designed to snuff out her life alone.

"Quick, get her out! She's important!" Shen Zhu's face drained of colour, and she darted towards the scene, but was forced to halt.

In the wake of the sudden upheaval, several children had been tossed onto the roadside. A car, oblivious to their plight, ran them over, causing the driver to slam on the brakes. This sparked a series of crashes right in front of Shen Zhu, barring her way.

Something sinister had ensnared her from within, rendering her immobile despite Lin Chu's strength. She strained to lift the fabric once more, but it stubbornly adhered to the ground, as if cemented there by some invisible force.

Lin Chu knew then that Yi Zhen Zhen's fate was sealed.

But she could not afford to let her guard down.

The chaos around her was punctuated by the shrill sound of police sirens, drawing nearer by the second.

Through the fabric, Lin Chu glimpsed the faint twitching of the body underneath.

She extended her hand, groping blindly, until she found the other's neck beneath the thick layers of cloth. She pressed her fingertips gently, feeling the pulse throbbing weakly, before she slowly applied pressure.

'I never meant to kill you. But you shouldn't have seen Lu Yan's face.'

He must have discovered the secret that put the shadowy entity behind him in danger, causing a mission to release a swarm of pursuers.

He couldn't die. Not yet.

She had to keep him alive, at least for a little while longer.

Time was not an issue for this task, as long as Lu Yan drew breath, she could linger indefinitely until a clue surfaced.

Still clutching the other person's throat with one hand, Lin Chu feigned a look of distress and sorrow and twisted her head to scream for help.

It took some time, but eventually a group of individuals arrived and started to lift the weighty fabric that had buried them. It was an inflatable castle, once a joyful plaything for children, now a perilous snare. A few fortunate ones managed to escape, but the majority met their demise in the ensuing mayhem. Some had their necks snapped upon impact, while others had their lungs crushed under the sheer weight.

Shen Zhu was late. She had been held up by a series of bizarre events that seemed to conspire against her. But when she got there, she saw only death. Yi Zhen Zhen lay motionless on the ground.

Shen Zhu felt a surge of anger and frustration. She had failed.

Yu Huai Yao was also late. He had faced similar obstacles on his way, as if someone was deliberately trying to stop him. He reached the scene just after Shen Zhu, and his face darkened when he saw the carnage. He knew what this meant. Their chances of finding Lu Yan had just dropped significantly.

"What do we do, Sister Shen?"

Without Yi Zhen Zhen, they had lost their only clue to Lu Yan's face. The town was not too big, but not too small either. It was the perfect place to hide someone, especially if you didn't know their appearance.

Lin Chu echoed his question, pretending to be as worried as him. "Yes, what do we do?"

Shen Zhu's eyes fixed on Yi Zhen Zhen's neck for a while, until the body was zipped up and carted away.

Shen Zhu had no choice but to say, "Let's go somewhere else first."

She had noticed the bruise on Yi Zhen Zhen's neck, a clear indication of strangulation. Yi Zhen Zhen hadn't died from suffocation as they initially believed. Someone had murdered her.

But who?

Shen Zhu had arrived late. Upon her arrival, she witnessed a group of anxious townspeople attempting to assist the survivors of the inflatable castle collapse. The only individual near Yi Zhen Zhen was Lin Chu.

Could it be Lin Chu? Could she have killed Yi Zhen Zhen and pretended to be innocent?

Shen Zhu dismissed the thought, but not entirely.

Or maybe it wasn't a person at all. Maybe it was a ghost.

She stayed silent, keeping her thoughts hidden from the others. But she couldn't hide her gaze, which occasionally darted towards Lin Chu.

Lin Chu noticed her gaze, but didn't say anything. She maintained the same look of anxiety and panic, just like everyone else. She played the role of a newcomer perfectly, blending in with the others.

**

The night passed.

The morning sun broke through the clouds, scattering the gloom that had enveloped the town. It brought some relief to Lu Yan, who had been running for his life all night.

One peril after another, he had skillfully avoided, narrowly escaping with his life intact.

Finding a spot by the roadside, he sat down to catch his breath, keeping a vigilant eye out for any indication of trouble.

In this moment of reprieve, he seized the opportunity to contemplate and reflect upon his predicament.

In his current existence, there were three versions of himself - his own corpse and two other selves from an unknown future.

A total of four.

Can the same person truly exist in the same time and space?

He felt the weight of the jade pendant in his pocket, wrapped in a piece of cloth. He dared not touch it, but instead, he opened his collar and examined the mark on his chest.

Were the others still alive?

For some reason, a pang of unease gripped him, forming a knot in his stomach. He didn't care much about his future selves, whether they lived or died. But he cared about the jade pendant.

He took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm himself. Slowly, he rose to his feet, ready to move forward.

But then, he remembered. He recalled what had transpired yesterday when he encountered his future self. He remembered the words whispered in his ear, words that had erased his memory until he felt secure enough to recall them.

Yesterday...yesterday...

His future self had hypnotised him, planting a message in his mind. A message that he would remember only when he felt safe again.

Immediately, he rushes back.

"Head to Spirit Vale Town and then proceed to the ancient tomb," his future self had instructed him.

Why that particular town, he wondered.

What had he discovered there? What secrets had he unearthed?

As the city awakened to a new day, its slumbering streets came to life. The air filled with voices, intermingling with the sounds of bustling traffic and commerce.

People hurried along the streets, tending to their daily affairs. Some cast curious glances at the man who appeared to have endured a harrowing ordeal. His clothes were tattered and stained with blood, his hair unkempt and dirty, his face bruised and weary. They whispered among themselves, but none dared to approach him.

Lu Yan paid no mind to the inquisitive stares and hushed comments.

He felt a momentary sense of relief, a brief respite from the relentless threat that had pursued him since the previous night.

Yet, he remained vigilant, knowing that he had not yet escaped danger. Someone was orchestrating events, leading him towards Spirit Vale Town.

What awaited him in that town?

With his last bit of money, he purchased a bus ticket to Spirit Vale Town.

Boarding the bus, he found himself alone in the vehicle. Lu Yan settled into his usual seat by the window and the door, pulling back the curtains to observe the changing landscape outside.

The driver struck up a conversation. "You're not the first person recently heading to Spirit Vale Town. Just the other day, a whole crowd of people filled this bus, all excited to get there. I don't know what they were searching for, but they seemed unafraid of the disappearances that have been occurring there."

Lu Yan frowned at the word choice. "A crowd of people?"

The driver nodded. "Yeah, a whole busload of them, all heading to Spirit Vale Town. What do you think they were looking for? They didn't seem concerned about the danger of disappearing like the others who came before them."

Lu Yan felt a wave of alarm. "Disappearing? What do you mean?"

The driver began to explain.

As he spoke, the bus approached Spirit Vale Town, drawing closer and closer.

**

"... Lost civilization? A recent discovery by an archaeological team in a newly unearthed ancient tomb has stunned the world..."

Chu Xiu was scrolling through the website news while the television blared the news in the background. He gave it a cursory glance, uninterested, and resumed his own activity.

This website was a miracle, a mystery. How had no one in authority noticed it yet?

A flash of inspiration crossed Chu Xiu's mind, but it quickly dimmed and disappeared, as if an eraser had wiped it out. He scowled, writing it down anyway, wavering before finally choosing to post about the website on a well-known public forum.

The outcome? The post refused to be sent.

No matter what he tried - screenshots, text, even phone calls to the officials - he failed to expose this secret to the public. After several fruitless attempts, his account was even locked. Chu Xiu had no choice but to abandon his efforts.

It appeared that sharing this with a few select people was acceptable, but revealing it to the masses was forbidden.

In the meantime, the television continued to air the news.

"... Experts are working hard to decode the new type of writing and murals in the ancient tomb. They believe that this discovery will surely become one of the major breakthroughs in the archaeological field..."

By chance, at that moment, An Ru rang.

"Was what you showed me that day really real?" An Ru still doubted it.

He had finally uncovered the truth behind the sinister case he was investigating, but he also wished he could erase it from his mind.

In this world... ghosts were real! And there was another world beyond this one, a world that shattered his long-standing faith in science.

Chu Xiu said, "I'm not lying to you."

A heavy silence hung on the other end of the phone, then An Ru said, "I got a mission too."

Chu Xiu feigned surprise, "Really? What kind of mission?"

He knew what was going on. Lin Chu had informed him about the chance to enter the mission, so he realised that she was giving him a hint on how to handle An Ru.

If he was curious about his son, then he should see for himself.

Chu Xiu deduced Lin Chu's intentions, admiring her cold-bloodedness. But as part of the bargain, he had to keep quiet and conceal it.

Only this way could he lure An Ru into it.