Chapter 1: The Outsider

Five forty-five PM. Fifteen minutes left until the workday ended.

The office was filled with the clatter of keyboards. Looking around, everyone wore blank expressions, working with quick, mechanical movements.

Xu Xiye was no exception.

He sat at his workstation, his head facing the computer screen without the slightest deviation, his elegant fingers tapping away at the keyboard.

On his right shoulder sat another head. Its neck was slender and long, its eyes narrowed into slits, also staring at the screen. “Mm, good! Well written, keep it up!”

Xu Xiye paused his movements, feigning surprise. “Supervisor? Yes, Supervisor!”

The Supervisor was satisfied. He watched for a moment before removing his head. He circled around behind a neighboring colleague’s workstation and once again stretched his neck over to bring his head close.

Xu Xiye was unfazed. The Supervisor hated people slacking off, and everyone was used to these sudden inspection rounds.

But with quitting time so close, please don’t say there’s a sudden need for overtime.

Xu Xiye’s mind wandered, but his hands didn’t stop:

[Delicious, delicious, Delicious Food Company’s food is the most delicious! The most delicious food, delicious! Delicious!

Tasty food, tasty food! Delicious, delicious! Food, food!

Tasty Food, have you tried it yet? Once you try, it’s delicious, delicious…]

Their Delicious Food Company’s main focus was on “Tasty” and “Food.” The Supervisor said he wrote well, and Xu Xiye himself thought so too.

One minute before clocking out, the Supervisor walked out without leaving any instructions for overtime.

The sounds of busyness ceased. One by one, the colleagues’ movements slowed, becoming sluggish, numb as corpses.

A common state for corporate slaves.

The male colleague next door knocked on the partition panel. His head stretched over to Xu Xiye and said, “Have you heard? A batch of new hires starts tomorrow.”

Xu Xiye also turned his head. They locked eyes. “Really? I hope they can help share the burden.”

“This crappy job… who’d want to work it if they weren’t broke?”

“Sigh, stable jobs are hard to find these days. Just bear with it.”

His colleague sympathized deeply. He swayed his stiff body as he stood up. “Time to clock out, clock out. Only the night belongs to us workers.”

This time, it was Xu Xiye who sympathized deeply.

Tai’an Residential Area was where Xu Xiye lived. The complex had quite a few years on it. The ceramic tiles on the outer walls were dirty, their color faded. Everything looked old and worn.

It might have been old, and the occupancy rate wasn’t high, but the neighbors were harmonious and familiar with each other. Xu Xiye liked it here.

After work, carrying the spicy noodles he’d just bought, he greeted the old man watching the gate of the complex.

The old man’s face was pressed against the security booth window, his features squashed and deformed, barely human. Hearing Xu Xiye’s voice, the old man remained still and silent for a moment. Then, he used his hand to shift his mouth and said, raspingly, “Hah, hah, off work? Having noodles tonight? I have two apples here. Take one back to eat with your noodles.”

As he spoke, a hand, as withered and dry as old tree bark, reached out from a small window below, holding a plump, glossy, bright red apple.

Oh my, so enthusiastic.

Xu Xiye still waved his hand and refused. The old man, at his age, was still guarding the gate, working even longer hours than him. The sky wasn’t even fully dark yet, and he already couldn’t maintain his human form, which showed how tough things were for him.

“You eat it. I have some at home.”

“Oh, you kid, always so polite.”

The old man withdrew the apple and sat down inside the booth. Xu Xiye carried his spicy noodles and walked inside.

He lived in Room 514. Glancing at the elevator, which was under repair again, Xu Xiye took the stairs directly.

The apartment had a living room and two bedrooms. It was furnished with old furniture. Not many belongings, not a large space, but more than enough for one person.

He placed the spicy noodles on the table and turned on the bulky TV on the TV stand. After a burst of static, a screen full of snow appeared.

Xu Xiye smacked it with his hand. Fixed.

He was used to eating dinner while watching TV. The show he was following recently was called “Love You Till My Heart Explodes.” Last night, to save the second female lead, the male lead asked the female lead to give him her heart. The female lead wept bitterly but couldn’t refuse the man she loved so deeply. In the end, she clawed out her own heart with her hands and handed it over.

The male lead took the heart and left. The female lead was heartbroken and walked alone into the rain.

Xu Xiye thought the female lead was already pitiful enough. He never expected the preview for the next episode to show the male lead saying that one heart wasn’t enough and asking the female lead for a second one.

Xu Xiye felt this was going a bit too far. He hoped the female lead wouldn’t give it.

She’d just clawed her heart out a day earlier. A second one couldn’t possibly grow back that fast.

They were really abandoning common sense just for the sake of melodrama.

While eating his noodles, Xu Xiye waited for the show to start. Thankfully, the female lead didn’t give a second heart. She decided to leave the city and leave the male lead behind.

Xu Xiye was very relieved.

At night, the darkness grew deeper and deeper. Sounds gradually emerged from the originally silent corridor.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

It was a muffled sound, like something colliding with a hard surface wrapped in flesh—like a human head being slammed against the floor, over and over.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound drew closer, becoming clearer. Xu Xiye, lying in bed asleep, was awakened by the noise.

He didn’t even need to think to know what was happening outside.

In the dim corridor, a woman with disheveled hair was upside down, her head going “thump, thump, thump” on the ground as she bounced from one end of the hallway to this end.

That was the Miss Neighbor living in Room 512. Opposite him was 513, which was empty. Across the elevator and hallway were 511 and 512. The staircases were at both ends. Miss Neighbor hopping this way… was the elevator fixed?

Xu Xiye didn’t resent Miss Neighbor for waking him up. These days, everyone was under a lot of pressure, and staying up late was the most comfortable way to release it. After eleven at night, people seeking to decompress were everywhere.

Xu Xiye was one of them. So even without Miss Neighbor, he would have gotten up on his own when the time came.

Not going out to crawl around in the darkness on such a fine night meant it would be very hard to maintain his human form during the day.

Besides, as neighbors, they should understand and tolerate each other. He also disturbed others sometimes, and Miss Neighbor never said anything to him about it.

On the other side, beneath the Delicious Food Company Building, the dim, hazy streetlights couldn’t dispel the darkness one bit. Wang Xiaodian and Little Li huddled in a corner, trembling.

They didn’t know where this place was, nor how they’d gotten here. In the blink of an eye, their surroundings had suddenly changed. This was absolutely not normal.

Had they encountered a supernatural event?

Wang Xiaodian didn’t know if ghosts truly existed in this world, but all the ghost stories he’d heard since childhood, and the vividly detailed accounts of real supernatural events online, now surged through his mind.

He didn’t dare to wander around. He felt that if he stepped out of the building’s boundary, he’d be finished.

He cautiously looked toward the distance. Under the deathly pale moonlight, the entire city appeared eerie and sinister. He constantly felt something was watching them from the invisible shadows.

Wang Xiaodian didn’t dare look more. In a fleeting glance, a flash of white seemed to appear in his vision, but when he looked back, there was nothing.

Maybe he was mistaken, he comforted himself.

But the moment he lowered his head, that white figure appeared again. It seemed… seemed closer to them.

Wang Xiaodian remembered a story. A woman in a white dress was murdered on her way home. After death, she floated along the streets, searching for her way back. Once discovered as being able to be seen, she would find you and make you take her home.

Wang Xiaodian shuddered. He felt he shouldn’t look, but he couldn’t help it. What if the female ghost reached them while he wasn’t looking?

“Creak, creak.”

A chilling sound came from beside him. It took Wang Xiaodian a stiff moment to realize it was the sound of Little Li’s teeth chattering.

The white figure wasn’t an illusion, wasn’t a mistake. Little Li had seen it too.

Wang Xiaodian gritted his teeth and looked in that direction again. That single glance chilled him to the bone.

It really was a woman, wearing a white dress, with disheveled hair. She lay prone on the ground, crawling toward them in a twisted, grotesque posture.

“Ahh!!”

The scream that had been about to escape Wang Xiaodian’s throat was squashed because someone else beat him to it. He hurriedly covered Little Li’s mouth and made a gesture for silence.

Very clearly, after Little Li’s cry, the gazes watching them grew more numerous.

Little Li was trembling all over. He finally covered his own mouth and didn’t make another sound.

Wang Xiaodian was trembling too. He was just as scared. Just as he wondered if they should run before the female ghost crawled over, she vanished.

Truly vanished.

In that silent, oppressive atmosphere, Wang Xiaodian’s nerves were stretched taut, waiting for whatever might appear. A long time passed, and still, he saw nothing.

Just as he was about to relax, a strange set of footsteps came from another direction.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

It sounded like footsteps, yet not quite. It was too fast, not like something two legs could produce. But maybe the person just walked quickly, like a speedwalker.

Wang Xiaodian comforted himself again.

Little Li, trembling, tugged at his sleeve. “It’s an old woman.”

Wang Xiaodian saw her too. The old woman had already passed in front of them, moving very fast. She was hunched over, her hands drooping to the ground.

Was this… was this really human? Where had she come from at this late hour?

“Young man.”

Wang Xiaodian and Little Li stiffened simultaneously.

The old woman twisted her head rigidly. Under their terrified gazes, she walked backward toward them.

Aahhh—

Only at this moment did Wang Xiaodian see clearly that the old woman was walking on all four limbs. Tap tap tap tap, her four limbs moved alternately, incredibly fast. Her wrinkled face had no facial features.

“Young man, out for a stroll or waiting to go to work?”

“Ah!” Little Li screamed again. This time, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Wang Xiaodian: “…” He was envious.

Wang Xiaodian didn’t faint. The one with chattering teeth was now him. The old woman’s face loomed closer and closer. Even though she had no eyes, he felt a powerful sensation of being watched.

“Young man, out for a stroll or waiting to go to work?” The eerie voice asked again.

“Go-go-go-go to work! Work! I’m a new employee starting at this company tomorrow, waiting to go to work!”

The old woman’s face, which was about to press right up against him, stopped short. “What a diligent young man.”

The old woman left. Wang Xiaodian collapsed limply, gasping for breath. When he’d first arrived, a piece of information had appeared vaguely in his mind: You are a new employee who will be starting at Delicious Food Company tomorrow.

At the time, he was terrified and didn’t take this thing in his head seriously. Thank goodness, thank goodness, he remembered it when the old woman asked her question. He still had some quick wits about him.

He fumbled for his phone to check the time: three AM. At least two hours until daylight. The phone had no network, no signal. Emergency calls wouldn’t go through. And his battery wasn’t far from dying.

Glancing at Little Li, breathing but lying motionless on the ground, Wang Xiaodian felt envy again. Closing and opening his eyes to find daylight—wasn’t that a better situation than his?

Just as Wang Xiaodian was hesitating whether to knock himself out with a blow to the head, a piercing wail rang out.

Not… not again?

Wang Xiaodian fought the urge to look. The more he resisted, the more terrifying his imagination became. In the end, he looked anyway.

It was a small, green-skinned creature on all fours. Attached to it was a strange cord. At the other end of the cord was a woman in red with a pale, greenish face.

The woman’s belly was crudely ripped open. Thick, viscous blood flowed from it onto the ground. The next second, he met the woman’s gaze as she looked directly over.

A resentful, completely cold gaze.

It was too much stimulation. Wang Xiaodian finally let out the scream that had been trapped in his throat. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted, just as he’d hoped.

Xu Xiye didn’t like crawling on the ground. He’d found a Glass Flower House. It was very beautiful. He was crouched on the roof, wanting to embrace the entire flower house. Just as he was halfway done, a prolonged scream rang out.

Xu Xiye paused. The night wasn’t completely silent. It was very normal for people releasing stress to cry, howl, or shout. But he’d never heard this kind of shout before.

It was filled with terror, sounding shrill to his ear.

He ignored it, continuing to expand his body to embrace the Glass Flower House he’d set his sights on.

Under the chilly moonlight, the transparent roof of the Glass Flower House seemed shrouded by a dense black fog, like someone had splashed a bucket of ink on it. The ink flowed down, forming countless tentacles of various lengths.

The tentacles were still extending when another shout came, startling the tips, making them tremble slightly.

Xu Xiye: “…”

Xu Xiye was a little unhappy now. What kind of person was this? This type of shouting didn’t relieve stress; it only added to it.

He’d heard people say that recently, some people who screamed at the slightest provocation had come to the city. He hadn’t seen any himself. Could these be them?

Xu Xiye decided not to embrace the flower house anymore. He planned to go check out those Outsiders first.