Tian Chengyun was an ordinary security guard at Bishuiwan Manor.
After graduating from college, he entered the workforce but struggled to find a job he liked. Positions with slightly better pay required a degree from a university ranked among the nation's top 211, while the jobs willing to take him offered about the same as what an average college graduate could earn. Some even paid less than jobs for vocational college graduates.
Unable to aim high or settle low, Tian Chengyun simply returned to his hometown to lie flat and give up. Armed with his college degree, he took a job as a security guard at the Clothing Factory for a monthly salary of 1,800 yuan, and laughed his way through every day.
That went on until a few years ago, when a wealthy businessman spent a fortune on Bishu Bay, outside Ancient Tablet Town, planning to build a resort manor there. With the advantage of being locals, many unemployed young men in the area found work on the huge project. Tian Chengyun was one of them.
The investors behind Bishuiwan Manor had deep pockets. Their requirements for security guards included at least a bachelor's degree and fluency in three languages. Candidates with graduate or doctoral degrees and overseas study experience were preferred.
Many local troublemakers from Ancient Tablet Town, most of whom had graduated from vocational secondary schools, were rejected. Only a handful, including Tian Chengyun, became security guards at Bishuiwan Manor. They earned 8,000 yuan a month, received social insurance and housing fund benefits, and had four days off each month. They could choose when to take their days off, but had to submit their schedules in advance.
The moment he received his security uniform, Tian Chengyun felt immensely grateful to his younger self, who had studied so hard through all those years of school.
But he had held this well-paid job for less than two years when disaster struck.
The sky was blotted out, communications were cut off, and that "Ghost" appeared inside the manor.
Tian Chengyun watched the polished, respectable elites who usually frequented the place sprint across the lawn in panic, dying like piglets penned in a slaughterhouse. An invisible, untouchable killer roamed the Castle, calmly reaping one soul after another.
In the despair of facing death, Tian Chengyun happened to notice that most of the people killed by the Ghost shared one thing in common: their bodies had fallen beneath the lights, as if the light itself had caused their deaths.
Thinking quickly, Tian Chengyun gathered his fellow security guard and two service staff who had happened to flee in the same direction as him. Together, they ran into a changing room on the first floor, turned off the lights, and gambled on the faint possibility of survival in the darkness.
It turned out he had made the right bet.
People outside died one after another. Screams and sobs rang out without end as the Ghost killed everyone, one step at a time. But it never came to the pitch-dark changing room, where they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. It was as if the people hiding there didn't exist.
Tian Chengyun counted the people with him:
There were four people in the changing room: himself, his fellow security guard Old Li, and the manor's service staff, Liu Yunzhi and Xie Ya'an. The two women were both extremely distraught. He could hear their muffled sobs in the darkness. Old Li was holding up a little better, but he was still tense and on edge.
"Listen, we can't just sit here and wait to die," Tian Chengyun said. "There's a Ghost in the manor. Everyone outside may already be dead, but we're lucky. I've figured out its killing pattern—it only kills people who are in the light."
"We can't hide in here forever, understand?" Tian Chengyun continued. "The phone lines are down, and there's no internet connection, but we have to get out of here and leave this haunted place. So we need to go outside and turn off the lights. Then we might be able to get away more safely..."
"No!" A scream rang out in the darkness. It was impossible to tell whether it came from Liu Yunzhi or Xie Ya'an. Then, through her sobs, she said, "I don't want to go out. There's a Ghost outside. I don't want to go out. I'm not going out, I'm not going out..."
Tian Chengyun clenched his teeth slightly. Then Old Li said, "I know where the circuit breaker is. We can go there and shut off all the lights in the Castle at once."
"Xiao Liu, Xiao Xie, if you're scared, wait here for us. When you see the lights outside go out, you'll know we made it," Old Li suggested.
"No, don't... You can't leave. I won't let you go!"
This time, Tian Chengyun recognized Xie Ya'an's voice. She clung tightly to the hem of his clothes in the darkness and cried, "What if the Ghost comes here?! You can't leave. You have to stay and protect me...I...I'm scared..."
Tian Chengyun immediately lost his temper. "You're not my girlfriend. Why do I have to protect you? Do I owe you something?"
"I don't care!" Xie Ya'an still refused to let go of his clothes. "Aren't men supposed to protect women? If the Ghost comes here, you have to... Ah!"
Before she could finish, Xie Ya'an screamed as Tian Chengyun shoved her against the wall.
"You don't seem to understand the situation!" Tian Chengyun roared. "The Ghost doesn't give a damn whether you're a man or a woman. To it, there are only the living and the dead! I just saved you because you happened to be near me, not because I owe you anything! If only one of us can survive, then you're the one who has to die! You bitch!"
After Tian Chengyun yelled at her, Xie Ya'an leaned against the wall and began to sob. "H-how can you yell at me? I...I'm a girl, and you're a grown man..."
"Forget her, Li Ge. Let's go." Tian Chengyun went to the door and opened it a crack.
"You go shut off the Outdoor Power Grid. I'll shut off the Indoor Power Grid," Old Li suggested. "We'll split up. It'll be faster."
"Okay." Tian Chengyun nodded.
Then Old Li pulled out a pistol, aimed it at the streetlight outside the window, and fired twice, shattering the bulb.
The security guards at Bishuiwan Manor were private security personnel on the same level as bank cash-in-transit guards. They were licensed to carry firearms, but their magazines could only be loaded with non-lethal Rubber Bullets. Live ammunition was strictly prohibited.
Even with a riot-control pistol that fired Rubber Bullets, only Old Li, the Security Captain, was allowed to carry one. Frontline guards like Tian Chengyun were only issued batons.
"All right, let's go." As soon as he finished speaking, Old Li stepped out first and carefully hugged the wall as he left the changing room.
Tian Chengyun followed. The two of them made their way down the dim hallway, then parted ways at the entrance.
Old Li followed the Castle's outer wall, searching for the Indoor Power Grid's main switch, hidden in a small utility room.
Tian Chengyun crossed the Welcoming Avenue, where bodies lay scattered everywhere, and headed for the Transformer Room to find the Outdoor Power Grid's main switch.
Back in the changing room inside the Castle, Xie Ya'an crouched on the floor, sobbing loudly. Between sobs, she bitterly cursed Tian Chengyun and Old Li, asking what kind of men they were. Liu Yunzhi stayed beside her without saying a word, lost in thought.
After walking for a while, Security Captain Old Li noticed something strange. All along the way, the lights were either switched off or had been smashed outright. The Castle's main hall was dim, too; at some point, someone had smashed the chandelier on the ceiling.
Has someone else figured out the Ghost's killing pattern? Did that person turn off the lights along the way? Old Li's expression grew grave. He lightened his steps and hurried toward the hidden utility room.
He hadn't gone far before his footsteps abruptly stopped, and horror spread across his face.
Beneath a streetlight stood a corpse that had already gone cold, its face still frozen in terror. Its features were twisted unnaturally.
In front of the corpse, a handsome young man was crouching on the ground, using a beautiful Parasol to cover his entire body like a turtle hiding inside its shell.