The bustling K City was wrapped in deep night.
Starlight barely squeezed through the smog, only to be drowned out by brighter neon.
After her shower, with her hair blown dry, Luo Xiaoming changed into clean pajamas. Then she lazily flopped onto the bed.
The mattress was soft. She threw herself down hard, her body sinking in and springing back up again. The springs of the Simmons mattress were so quiet they were almost inaudible.
During the day, Luo Xiaoming had replaced everything with the latest furniture. From the bed to the bathroom, every daily necessity was in place. If it wasn’t such a hassle, she would’ve wanted to renovate the whole place from scratch.
The room was spacious, with a balcony and a private bathroom. This way she could shower every night before bed. The guy next door, Xu Fang, didn’t have it nearly this good.
After lying there a while, Luo Xiaoming didn’t feel sleepy at all. She checked the time—exactly midnight. She lifted one fair long leg, resting it on the knee of the other, her small foot swinging lightly. With the back of her head casually propped on her arm, she stared at the white incandescent bulb on the ceiling, zoning out.
Life in K City wasn’t bad, it seemed—aside from the whole transformation thing. But once she got used to it, it wasn’t that different from before. It was just that her identity was a hassle… If she couldn’t ever change back, was she going to stay like this for life?
Back in those first few days after she transformed, just thinking about that would’ve made Luo Xiaoming anxious and miserable. Now, she was a lot calmer. Maybe it had just become natural with time. She was slowly getting used to her new body, gradually trying out this other way of living.
Leaving the family behind felt lonely, but it was also freeing.
Xiao Ming thought of her father.
Toward him, she always carried a faint hint of resentment. But she knew she had no right to really hate him. In a way, he’d already done enough. He’d given what should be given—everything except a father’s love. For an illegitimate child like her, he’d already fulfilled his duty.
The only pity was that her mother had passed away early, leaving her to face all those cold, judgmental stares alone.
At that thought, Luo Xiaoming felt a sour ache in her chest, her eyes growing moist. She hurriedly forced the tears back.
…Her tear ducts seemed way more sensitive than before. Just recalling a few sad memories, and she was on the verge of crying. She absolutely could not let Xu Fang and the others see her like this…
But thinking of Xu Fang made Luo Xiaoming remember their awkward encounter earlier that day. That was definitely going into her black history.
“By the way, you look really good in that.”
Remembering Xu Fang’s line, she got flustered all over again. It had to be just a joke, right? Maybe with a bit of praise mixed in, but definitely not some heartfelt confession. So why did just that much make her feel shy? And what was with that tiny flicker of secret delight?
Her heart was racing.
Luo Xiaoming buried her face in the blanket. She couldn’t understand this strange version of herself at all. It even made her a little afraid.
The incandescent light flickered once. Something made a sound.
Luo Xiaoming blankly poked her head out from under the covers and looked around.
The light was bright. The only darkness came from Xu Fang’s room. But that weird noise just now hadn’t come from his side. It had come from the bathroom.
Illusion. It had to be an illusion.
But when she really listened, the strange sound came again. It was like teeth quietly chewing food, small and crisp, and chilling.
The light in the bathroom was on too. From where Xiao Ming was, she couldn’t see anything inside.
A strong feeling of being watched washed over her—something was staring at her.
Xiao Ming felt her whole body go cold, not from fear, but from weakness. That illness was acting up again.
It was a psychological disorder. The doctor had said it was similar to “persecution delusion,” just much more extreme. Whenever the patient was alone late at night, they’d start hearing things, accompanied by intense palpitations.
After a series of therapy sessions and medication, the symptoms had gradually faded. So why were they back now? She’d felt something similar at the end of last month, but this time it was even stronger.
“Xu Fang! Xu Fang!!”
Luo Xiaoming squeezed her eyes shut and shouted at the top of her lungs.
She was terrified that the Xu Fang next door wouldn’t respond, that he wouldn’t hear her voice.
—
“What’s wrong, Xiao Ming?”
That warm, familiar voice. As it reached her, all of Luo Xiaoming’s anxiety and fear seemed to vanish.
Wearing pajamas and yawning, Xu Fang stood at the doorway, clearly dragged out of sleep.
“T-There’s… a ghost!”
Ghost?
Xu Fang glanced at Xiao Ming, who was curled up under the blanket and shaking, then looked around the room—and froze.
Could it be the little demon?
He hurriedly pulled out his phone and opened the Horror Novel Web author page. Seeing Gussy lying quietly in the box, he finally relaxed.
If it wasn’t Gussy, then what was Luo Xiaoming talking about?
Following Xiao Ming’s gaze, Xu Fang walked toward the bathroom. Other than the harsh glare of the light, he saw nothing. No ghost anywhere.
“Xiao Ming, are you sure you didn’t hear wrong?”
Xu Fang asked seriously. Before he’d run into Horror Novel Web, he hadn’t believed in ghosts at all. But now it was different. If something really was off, he’d go talk to customer service.
“…Probably,” Xiao Ming said, unexpectedly not denying it.
“Then I’m gonna head back and sleep. You should crash early too, don’t overthink it.”
“Wait!” Luo Xiaoming sat up.
“Yeah?”
“Sleep here.”
“Huh? Why?”
“No reason. Just get over here!”
“Then I can’t promise I won’t try anything…”
“What are you thinking? Move your blanket over and sleep on the floor!”
“…”
After all that fuss from Luo Xiaoming, Xu Fang’s sleepiness was gone.
On the other hand, because Xu Fang was close by, she quickly drifted off. Wrapped up in the blanket, she curled herself into a ball, only her small head peeking out, completely defenseless.
Lying on the floor, Xu Fang glanced up at Xiao Ming on the bed, feeling a little depressed. Looked like… he wasn’t getting any advantage out of this at all. Xiao Ming was technically still a guy at heart, but Xu Fang felt there was barely any difference between her and a girl now. As a mentally sound young man, it was impossible to say he didn’t have any thoughts.
Xu Fang sighed and thought back to what Xiao Ming had said earlier.
Ghost.
He’d already heard that word from Xiao Ming twice. Deep down, she seemed to believe in it.
Xu Fang remembered the time he’d met up with his friend Song Yu. That day had been simple: they’d had a meal, drunk some booze, then crashed.
But his memories and reality didn’t line up. Even now, he still didn’t know whether that had been a dream or not.
Forget it. No point thinking about it. Let’s check Horror Web.
Opening the site, Xu Fang first entered the author info page and checked on Gussy. Since he’d activated the physical link mode, he could see from Gussy’s point of view on his phone—a pitch-black space. Gussy was still shut inside the box.
He couldn’t control it from his phone like he could from a computer. All he could do was see through its eyes.
After a while, Xu Fang tapped into the comment section.
There were over a thousand comments, all anonymous.
[Anonymous] Floor 1103: More chapters, more chapters!
[Anonymous] Floor 1104: This book’s awesome, five stars!
[Anonymous] Floor 1105: Keep it up, author! ^0^~
[Anonymous] Floor 1106: What’s the next mission for the horror system? Any spoilers?
[Anonymous] Floor 1107 replying to Floor 1106: Next mission is to scare the principal (fog).
[Anonymous] Floor 1108 replying to Floor 1106: Don’t listen to that clown, next mission is to scare Kim San Fat!
[Anonymous] Floor 1109: Don’t spread nonsense. The author won’t write that. The MC’s still too weak. There’s no way the mission difficulty’s gonna spike that hard.
[Anonymous] Floor 1110 replying to Floor 1109: Found an honest guy (lmao).
[Anonymous] Floor 1111: Yay~ I’m single!
…
…
[Anonymous] Floor 1150: Dear author, your updates have been kinda slow lately. Did something happen?
Seeing that, Xu Fang wanted to reply, but then realized he couldn’t communicate with the readers at all.
It was true, his update speed had been slowing down these last few days.
It wasn’t that he’d run out of ideas. On the contrary, he already had outline after outline drafted in his head. The real reason for his dragging things out was subconscious resistance.
Horror Novel Web was incredible, and terrifyingly powerful. But ever since he became an author, Xu Fang hadn’t gained anything tangible from the site. Instead, he’d nearly died, more than once.
Toward this website, all he had was awe, fear… and hatred. If he’d never gotten involved with it, he wouldn’t have run into those terrifying organizations, wouldn’t have had cops hunting him, and definitely wouldn’t have been thrown into that hellish, bloody “game,” forced to taste what dying felt like…
Every last bit of it traced back to Horror Novel Web. Sure, at the start, Xu Fang had been greedy. He thought he’d picked up a cheat and let it give him an illusion of being above everyone else. Then it shredded that beautiful illusion and slammed him into a brutal reality.
With every update from Horror Novel Web, its demands on its authors grew harsher. It had not only removed the system shop, it had also increased the chances of running into a bizarre event.
Xu Fang let out a long breath. He never should’ve become an author in the first place. If he had a choice, he’d rather give up being a Horror Novel Web author and live the life of an ordinary person.
