A frightened mouse scurried into the corner. Beyond the stained-glass window, the sunlight was blinding. Withered vines crept in from outside, spreading across the floor in patches like hideous scars.
A boy in a little black suit sat on the floor, a gaping wound torn across his neck. Blood spurted from it with a hiss.
His eyes were already starting to glaze over, but he still struggled to keep them open, looking pleadingly at Han Su, who stood in front of him.
Han Su was the same age as the boy, just ten years old, but his face held a maturity and resolve the other children didn't have. That was probably why all the kidnapped children were willing to trust him and follow him in trying to escape.
The area was deathly quiet. Nearby stood a girl with a ponytail, slightly taller than the others, wearing a birthday crown and a little dress. Behind her were skinny monkey, Tuxedo, and Pot Lid Head. Not one of them dared make a sound. The sight of the boy had terrified them, and tears glistened in their eyes.
Behind them came the feeling of eyes peering out. They belonged to the rows of delicate wooden doll girls inside the glass cabinets. They sat obediently in their cases, as if nothing were amiss.
Han Su looked at the boy, who had only one breath left in him. He slowly crouched down, took the boy's hand, pried open his fingers, and removed the weapon he still clutched tightly.
It was a strip of steel wrapped in cloth, its tip ground down to a sharp point.
Seeing the boy's gaze turn utterly hopeless, Han Su calmly told him, "You're not getting out. This won't do you any good, so let me borrow it."
"But you did really well this time. I'll remember that!"
"..."
If not for this boy, they probably would have been caught by that half-bodied monster woman with the lightning-fast movements back on the third floor.
Too bad he wouldn't survive. Anything else they said now would be a waste of time.
Han Su stood up. There was no time to wait for the boy on the floor to close his eyes. Turning to the others, he said, "Let's do what we planned. He's dead, but the rest of us still have to find a way out!"
"Start the fire."
"..."
The doll beside him, wearing a birthday crown, obediently nodded at once. Though tears still clung to her face, she reached into a delicate little pocket on her dress and pulled out a tiny folding toy. When she unfolded it, a small magnifying glass appeared.
She aimed it at the sunlight outside the window, then focused a bright spot onto the card she always carried with her, her most treasured possession.
The card read, "Daddy and Mommy love you."
The bright spot on the card turned black, then began to smoke. A weak flame flickered to life.
Han Su watched without blinking. Only when the flame appeared did he suddenly turn to the girl with the ponytail beside him and say, "Tie the glass cabinet shut. Don't let them out."
"Them?"
The girl with the ponytail turned around at once and looked through the glass. She saw only a row of worn, oddly shaped toy dolls staring fixedly back at her.
But she didn't ask anything else. She hurried over and grabbed both handles of the cabinet.
Only when the flame had taken hold did Han Su carefully, nervously take it from the doll's hand. Then, without hesitation, he touched it to the heavy purple curtains.
He'd done this many times before. His movements were practiced and fluid.
The fire surged up the curtains, as if a greedy snake were slithering through the room. Thick smoke soon began to billow.
Inside the cabinet, the puppets seemed to be baking in the heat. Their lifelike materials and little dresses began to blacken and warp.
Their painted smiles distorted in the wavering air, becoming grotesque and unreal. Suddenly, vicious curses rang out from the cabinet. The doll puppets dropped their pretense and began to struggle inside.
Their plastic arms pounded against the glass, one segment after another.
The girl with the ponytail had gone pale with fright. She instinctively tried to run, but thought of the others and forced herself to be brave. She reached out and clung to the glass. Tuxedo and Pot Lid Head snapped out of it too, rushing over to brace the trembling cabinet.
But the puppets' shrieks seemed to have stirred something outside. Heavy panting sounded in the corridor.
"Whoosh." "Whoosh."
With the floorboards groaning under the weight, some enormous creature seemed to be inching toward their room.
Everyone in the room was trembling, utterly panic-stricken.
But Han Su shouted, "Keep the cabinet shut. When I get the key, follow me! We can get out!"
"..."
"..."
The ones who had followed him this far were all children he'd chosen carefully. They were young and frightened, but they still forced themselves to shut their eyes and keep pushing against the glass behind them.
The puppets in the cabinet were in even more agony as the flames scorched them from above. They pounded frantically, and some of the glass shattered. Plastic arms reached through and scratched several bloody marks into the girl with the ponytail's arm.
The girl with the ponytail was in so much pain that tears welled up, but she stubbornly refused to let go.
The puppets' shrieks, the spreading flames, and the billowing black smoke all made their hearts pound with terror. It felt as if a pair of icy hands had closed around each of their hearts, and their little faces were deathly pale.
They could only look to Han Su, their one source of courage. But by then, he had already reached the door and crouched beside it, covering his nose and mouth.
He counted silently, ignoring the chaos in the room.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. The floorboards creaked under the strain.
A strong stench of decay filled Han Su's nostrils. He tightened his grip on the sharp strip of steel, his eyes narrowing like an adult's.
The footsteps stopped outside the door. The red-painted wooden door slowly swung open, and a white, bloated monster squeezed inside. It was so huge that it nearly filled his entire field of vision.
From its outline, it seemed to be a man. It stood a full two meters tall, with swollen legs.
Han Su couldn't see its face from behind, but he could see the neck and skin exposed beneath its clothing.
They were as pallid as a corpse's. It looked as though the monster had been soaked in water for more than ten days, swollen grotesquely like a bloated corpse. Its black trench coat and coarse work pants were stretched to tatters. A brass-colored antique key dangled from its belt.
Han Su forced down his revulsion, the same revulsion he felt every time he saw this monster. He stared fixedly at the hole in its coat.
It wasn't time yet.
He had to wait for it to take a few more steps, until it got close to the wardrobe.
"Hah... hah..."
The white-skinned monster had poor eyesight. It was several meters into the room before it noticed the spreading flames. It immediately panicked, wrenching its heavy legs up and lumbering toward the burning room.
Through the rolling smoke, it didn't even notice the children trembling in front of the glass cabinet.
Even the puppet dolls inside fell silent when the monster appeared. They huddled in the cabinet, letting the flames rage around them.
As if the monster were even more frightening than the fire.
But right then, Han Su charged out with the strip of steel in his hand.
Not yet ten years old, he planted both feet against the wall and kicked off. His small body sprang forward like a little leopard, hurtling toward the bloated monster.
Every step had been calculated, including the timing, his posture, and where he would land.
Gripping the steel strip tightly in both hands, he drove it into the man's back, straight through the eye-shaped tear in the trench coat.
That spot lined up with his heart.
"Thud!"
The strip pierced the monster's back, but it was too short, and Han Su wasn't strong enough to drive it in very far. It sank only six or seven centimeters.
The pale monster jerked upright in pain. Its body was as bulky as an elephant's, and its strength was just as immense. Han Su, clinging to its back, was immediately flung away.
He slammed into the wardrobe, and it felt as if every bone in his body were about to crack. But he endured it without making a sound, sliding sharply down until he landed on the floor.
The next moment, the monster crashed into the wardrobe.
The impact drove the strip of steel protruding from its back even deeper into its body.
Han Su had slid down just in time to avoid being crushed between the monster and the wardrobe. Seizing the opportunity, he snatched the brass key from the white-skinned monster's waist, ducked under its legs, and dashed toward the door.
At the same time, he shouted, "Run!"
Every child in the room jolted into motion and bolted after him like a pack of frightened little mice.
But the girl with the ponytail was too close to the cabinet. Just as she tried to run, a plastic hand shot out and grabbed her ponytail, yanking her head back.
With nothing holding them in, the puppet dolls swarmed out of the cabinet. In an instant, they had buried her beneath their bodies.
Her terrified scream rang out amid the flames, but nobody dared look back. They could only keep running toward the door.
But no one expected the monster, which had a steel strip in its heart and had seemed to slow down, to suddenly get back up. It angrily flailed its two fat, swollen arms, groping wildly around.
Pot Lid Head and Tuxedo, running past it, were grabbed and hurled aside.
Pot Lid Head hit his head against the cabinet. His neck twisted grotesquely in an instant, losing all tension like a rubber band. His head bobbed up and down like a rattle drum.
The monster's fingers dug into Tuxedo's flesh and crushed his bones. Blood mixed with fragments spilled from his mouth.
The doll and skinny monkey, who were a little slower than the others, managed to get past the monster and run for the door.
They were desperate to catch up with Han Su. The monster behind them was terrifying, but Han Su in front of them scared them too. They were afraid he'd leave them behind, abandoning them beside the rampaging monster.
But just as Han Su, closest to the door, was about to run out, something suddenly occurred to him. He shouted a warning:
"Stop! Stop!"
He yelled with all his strength, but skinny monkey couldn't control himself and kept rushing toward the doorway.
At that very moment, a heavy gust of wind slammed into them. A dust-covered piano flew over their heads and crashed right beside the doorway.
Skinny monkey, who had just reached the door, was caught beneath it. The clever child was crushed into a mass of bloody pulp simply because he'd been one step too fast.
Han Su's heart clenched violently, but he gritted his teeth and sprang up, landing on top of the piano beside the door. Then he turned, grabbed the doll's arm as she ran up, and pulled her over the piano with him, into the pitch-black corridor outside.
"The door... the door should appear now..."
Clutching the key tightly, he silently repeated the words to himself, then looked up.
A bizarre sight appeared. At the far end of the pitch-black corridor, the space began to twist, as if something were forcing its way in. When his vision cleared, he saw a door ahead marked "EXIT."
The door's style and design were completely different from those of the Ancient Castle, as if two things from entirely different worlds had been forcibly pieced together.
Han Su was overjoyed. Dragging the doll with one hand and gripping the brass key he'd stolen from the monster with the other, he sprinted toward the iron door.
Behind him, the monster stumbled to the doorway, only to be blocked by the piano it had thrown there.
Its body was too heavy to jump over the piano. It could only roar furiously and tear the obstruction to pieces.
Taking advantage of the delay, Han Su practically dragged the little doll toward the iron door. A large patch of skin had been scraped from her tender white knee, and blood was running down it.
But she didn't make a sound. She understood that they were running for their lives.
The brass key in his hand had come from the monster. It was icy cold and coated in some strange slime. The slime seemed to have a mind of its own. Catching Han Su off guard, it suddenly turned slick and wriggled right out of his grasp.
The key clinked onto the floor.
Han Su had never encountered anything like this before. Cold sweat sprang across his forehead as he bent to pick it up. Behind him, the monster had already charged into the corridor.
"Big brother!"
The doll's clear voice rang out. As Han Su dragged her along, she'd seen the key slip away. She reacted quickly, snatching it up as soon as it hit the floor and hurriedly holding it out to him.
Even now, her face wore a happy smile, as if she felt she had finally stopped being a burden.
She had actually helped.
"I..."
Han Su grabbed the key. Without even turning his head, he relied on its familiar feel and reached behind himself to insert it into the lock.
He felt a rush of gratitude toward the youngest child, who was obedient and clever, and always managed to help at the critical moment.
But right then, the doll's delicate little face suddenly burst apart before his eyes.
Her eager smile still lingered in front of Han Su, but her head had split open.
Blood spattered across Han Su's face. Through the red haze, he saw the monster by the doorway. It had just come out of the room, but its huge body could no longer catch up with them. So it began to melt.
Flesh and blood flowed like water, flooding the corridor and rapidly drawing closer. In the mass, he could even make out its melting face, its arms, and its flesh.
An arm made of slime had lashed out and smashed the doll's head. Its sharp nails had even grazed Han Su's right eye, leaving a cold mark.
His eye didn't hurt, but it felt as if the air had leaked out of it. Two seconds later, sticky liquid ran down his entire face.
But Han Su no longer had the strength to care. He only stared with his uninjured eye at the little girl, whose hand still gripped his.
Behind him, the iron door had opened, and blinding light poured in from outside.
The monster's surging flesh crashed toward them like a wave. Han Su slowly released the little girl's hand and let her small body fall, while he himself stepped back.
His feet left the ground. He fell freely.
In front of him, flesh roiled furiously on the other side of the door. Above him was a sky full of dazzling white sunlight.
"Whoosh..."
Han Su suddenly woke with a gasp.
Sitting upright, he realized he was in a university lecture hall. Both arms had gone numb from being used as a pillow, and his sleeves were damp with sweat.
The classmate beside him turned around with a grin. "Damn, Han Su, you actually dared to sleep through the nun's lecture? What, have you finally decided to join us filthy rich people in living it up?"
"..."
Han Su took a long moment to collect himself before realizing he'd made it back.
Once again, he'd escaped alone.
He checked the electronic watch on his wrist. The time read 4:52 p.m. Time was still moving forward, as if nothing had happened.
He sat motionless, taking a long while to absorb the emotional shock and the new Memory Shards before slowly turning to his friend Xu Ji. "Let me borrow your mirror."
Xu Ji's face changed at once. "Don't say that kind of thing. I don't wear makeup. Why would I have a mirror?"
As he spoke, he glanced around, then took a mirror from his little bag and handed it over. Lowering his voice, he added, "It belongs to my girlfriend. She left it with me."
Han Su opened the mirror and saw his own nineteen-year-old face.
He was handsome and pale, with features that could once have been called beautiful. But a vicious, needle-like scar ran from his right eye to his hairline, making him look almost frightening.
It wasn't just the scar. His right eye had turned a faint grayish white, giving him an ugly, grotesque look, like a beaten dog.
"What's wrong? Gonna complain about that scar again?"
Seeing Han Su examine it, Xu Ji grinned. "You've made plenty of money from your part-time job. Why not get scar-removal surgery?"
"If you don't have enough, I'll lend you some."
Han Su didn't answer. He stared at himself in the mirror, thinking quietly: Maybe everything would have been fine if the key hadn't slipped. Maybe both of us would've made it out.
"Han Su, someone's looking for you."
Just as he was packing up to leave, he heard a familiar classmate call from outside.
Han Su turned and saw a man and a woman standing outside the tiered lecture hall.
The man wore a suit, while the woman wore a white dress and a string of smooth, delicate pearls around her neck. Their driver stood behind them, carrying a bag.
They looked important, and probably came from a wealthy family. But their faces bore the sorrowful, defeated air of people who had spent years immersed in grief.
"Seriously, again?"
Before Han Su could say anything, Xu Ji's expression changed. "It's been almost ten years..."
"Xiao Han, Xiao Han, you're here..."
Before Xu Ji could finish complaining, the couple spotted Han Su and hurried over.
The woman's expression was both grief-stricken and ingratiating as she pleaded, "Please, please don't get tired of us..."
"Have you... have you remembered anything lately?"
"We truly mean no harm, and we don't want to bother you. Honestly, we just want to find out what happened to Manman. Even if... even if all we can find are her remains..."
"..."
The classmates nearby instinctively stepped aside.
Everyone knew that their college classmate Han Su had been kidnapped once when he was a child.
Dozens of other children had been kidnapped at the same time. It caused a huge commotion, and investigators from across the entire city were mobilized.
Unfortunately, by the end of it, Han Su was the only one who came back alive.
He told the police he'd been trapped in a dilapidated castle. The other kidnapped children had been there too, and there were monsters in the building that had eaten them.
At his words, the Public Security Bureau went on high alert. They sent in special forces and a large contingent of officers to search the area, but they couldn't find any castle, let alone any monsters.
Everyone assumed Han Su had been so badly traumatized that he was babbling nonsense.
But that was the truth: all the children had disappeared after that, and no one had ever seen them again. No other clues had ever been found, either.
After all these years, many of the parents had given up hope and learned to live with their grief. But some still came to see Han Su, hoping he might remember something useful—even if all they could recover were their children's bones.
This couple was among them.
Han Su understood. After all, just a few minutes earlier, he'd tried to help their daughter escape.
She really was adorable.
She'd just lost her head in an accident.
Before you continue