Tian Chengyun

Tian Chengyun is an ordinary security guard at Bishuiwan Manor.

After graduating with an undergraduate degree, he struggled to find a job he liked. Positions with slightly better benefits required at least a 211-university degree, and the jobs willing to hire him offered pay comparable to—or even worse than—that of a vocational school student.

Unable to aim high but unwilling to settle for less, Tian Chengyun simply returned to his hometown to lie flat and rot. He used his bachelor's degree to land a job as a security guard at a clothing factory, earning 1,800 a month and living a carefree life.

This lifestyle lasted until a few years ago, when a big boss spent a fortune in Bishuiwan outside Ancient Tablet Town to build a vacation manor. Being close to the source, many unemployed local youths found work through this massive project, and Tian Chengyun was one of them.

The investors of Bishuiwan Manor were wealthy and demanding; the requirements for hiring security guards were at least an undergraduate degree, fluency in three languages, and priority given to postgraduates or PhDs with overseas study experience.

Many local thugs from Ancient Tablet Town with vocational diplomas were screened out. Only a few, including Tian Chengyun, became security guards at Bishuiwan Manor, earning a monthly salary of 8,000 with full social insurance and housing funds, plus four days of leave per month that could be scheduled with prior notice.

The moment he received his security uniform, Tian Chengyun felt immense gratitude toward the version of himself that had studied so hard under the cold window.

But he had worked this well-paying job for less than two years when the accident happened.

As the sky was obscured and communications were cut off, that "ghost" appeared in the manor.

Tian Chengyun saw the usually polished and elegant social elites running frantically across the lawn, dying like pigs trapped in a slaughterhouse. An invisible, intangible killer roamed the castle, methodically plucking the souls of everyone it encountered.

In the despair of death, Tian Chengyun accidentally discovered that most of the people killed by the ghost shared a common trait: their corpses all fell under the light, as if the light source itself were the cause of their deaths.

Thinking quickly, Tian Chengyun pulled his security colleague and two waiters who happened to be fleeing in the same direction into a changing room on the first floor. They turned off the lights, gambling on a slim chance of survival in the darkness.

As it turned out, he had bet correctly.

People outside died one after another; screams and wails were incessant. The ghost was killing everyone step by step, but it never entered this pitch-black changing room, as if those hiding inside did not exist.

Tian Chengyun counted the number of his companions:

There were four people in the changing room: himself, his security colleague Old Li, and the manor waiters Liu Yunzhi and Xie Ya'an. Both women were extremely emotionally unstable; their suppressed sobs could be heard in the dark. Old Li was in slightly better condition, though he was also in a state of extreme nervous tension.

"Listen, we can't just sit here and wait to die," Tian Chengyun said. "There's a ghost in the manor, and everyone outside might already be dead, but we're lucky. I've discovered the ghost's killing pattern—it only kills people who are illuminated by light."

"We can't keep hiding here, you know?" Tian Chengyun continued. "The phones don't work, and there's no internet connection, but we have to get out. We have to leave this haunted place. So we must go outside and turn off the lights; perhaps then we can leave safely..."

"No!" A scream came from the darkness—it was impossible to tell if it was Liu Yunzhi or Xie Ya'an—followed by her tearful voice: "I don't want to go out, there's a ghost out there, I don't want to go out, I'm not going, I'm not going..."

Tian Chengyun gritted his teeth slightly, then heard Old Li say, "I know where the circuit breaker is. We can go there and turn off all the lights in the castle at once."

"Xiao Liu, Xiao Xie, if you're scared, just wait here for us to come back. Once you see the lights outside go out, that means we've succeeded." Old Li offered his proposal.

"No, don't... you can't leave, I won't let you leave!"

This time it was clear: it was Xie Ya'an's voice. She gripped the corner of Tian Chengyun's uniform tightly in the dark and cried, "What if the ghost comes over?! You can't leave, you have to stay and protect me... I, I'm scared..."

Tian Chengyun's anger flared instantly: "You're not my girlfriend, why do I have to protect you? Do I owe you something?"

"I don't care!" Xie Ya'an refused to let go of his uniform: "Aren't men supposed to protect women? If the ghost comes, you have to... ah!"

Before she could finish, Xie Ya'an let out a shriek 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 if you're a man or a woman! In the ghost's eyes, there are only the living and the dead! I saved you earlier because you happened to be close to 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 being yelled at by Tian Chengyun, Xie Ya'an leaned against the wall and sobbed: "How, how could you be so mean to me... I, I'm a girl, and you're a grown man..."

"Forget about her, Li Ge, let's go." Tian Chengyun walked to the door and cracked it open.

"You go turn off the circuit breaker for the outdoor power grid, and I'll handle the indoor one," Old Li suggested. "Splitting up will be faster."

"Alright." Tian Chengyun nodded.

Then, Old Li pulled out a pistol and fired two shots at the street lamp outside the window, shattering the bulb.

—The security guards at Bishuiwan Manor were private security personnel on par with bank cash-in-transit guards and were legally permitted to carry firearms, but the magazines could only be loaded with non-lethal rubber bullets; live ammunition was strictly prohibited.

Even for riot pistols using rubber bullets, only the Security Captain, Old Li, was equipped with one. Low-level guards like Tian Chengyun only had batons.

"Alright, let's go." As soon as he finished speaking, Old Li stepped out of the room first, carefully hugging the wall as he exited the changing room.

Tian Chengyun followed, and the two passed through the dim corridor before parting ways at the main entrance.

Old Li moved along the outer wall of the castle to find the indoor power grid main switch hidden in a small compartment.

Tian Chengyun crossed the Welcoming Avenue, which was littered with corpses, to find the outdoor power grid main switch located in the transformer room.

In the castle's changing room, Xie Ya'an crouched on the ground, crying loudly and spitefully cursing Tian Chengyun and Old Li for not being real men. Liu Yunzhi stayed by her side, silent, lost in her own thoughts.

After walking for a while, Security Captain Old Li discovered something strange—along his path, he noticed that the street lights had either been turned off or directly destroyed. The castle lobby was also dim, and the chandelier on the ceiling had been smashed by someone at some point.

Has someone else discovered the ghost's killing pattern? Was it that person who turned off the lights on the road? Old Li felt a heavy weight in his heart. He lightened his footsteps and continued forward, jogging toward the location of the hidden compartment.

He hadn't run far when his footsteps stopped abruptly, and a look of horror appeared on his face.

Under a street lamp, he saw a corpse that had already stopped breathing standing perfectly straight, the expression of terror from before its death still lingering on its face, its features unnaturally twisted.

And in front of the corpse, a handsome youngster was crouching on the ground, covering his entire body with a beautiful parasol, like a turtle hiding in its shell.