Safe... for Now

Lightning outside split the darkness.

Rumble!

Taking advantage of the thunder, Zhou Kai pushed open the cabinet door, carefully avoiding a creak from the rotting wood.

He stepped out.

This medieval-style wooden house had fallen completely into ruin.

The roof had caved in, leaving a gaping hole.

Cold rain mixed with a rank stench, whipped up by the gale and slammed against Zhou Kai's pale face.

He didn't wipe it away.

The rain wouldn't stop.

There was no point wiping it off.

His peripheral vision caught the clock on the wall, still ticking.

...It's come in again. he thought.

Rumble!

The rolling thunder crashed once more. Beyond the grimy window, a twisted shadow flashed past.

Using the thunder as cover, Zhou Kai drew a deep breath and rushed into the inner room.

He ducked.

He rolled.

His movements flowed seamlessly. He ended up flat on his back, staring intently at the rotting underside of the bed.

"Four, three, two, one..."

The moment he finished counting down, a crash sounded in the outer room.

The door had been smashed apart by something.

The wind howled louder.

The rain fell harder.

But what truly made his heart stop was the heavy, icy footsteps mixed in with the wind and rain.

Something had come in!

Thud... thud...

Thud... thud...

The unknown presence paced slowly through the living room.

Then, without warning—

BANG!!!

The wardrobe where Zhou Kai had hidden earlier was smashed to pieces by a chain hammer dragged in from the storm.

Wood chips burst everywhere.

Countless odds and ends flew in every direction.

Zhou Kai's pupils contracted. He didn't dare draw a breath.

If he were still in the wardrobe...

He would be dead!

Reduced to a bloody pulp.

This wasn't a guess.

It was a memory—a death he had already suffered several times.

Zhou Kai remained motionless, forcing down his breathing and heartbeat.

He was waiting.

Outside, the figure dragging the chain hammer continued to pace, as if searching for something.

After a few breaths, it shoved its way through the bedroom doorframe and entered.

The icy wind flooded the entire room.

A pair of enormous feet stopped beside the bed.

They were bare, exposed and purplish-blue, like those of a drowned corpse.

When the lightning flashed again, Zhou Kai could even make out the dark red, clotted blood on the toes from the corner of his eye.

Stay calm...

Wait...

Amid the stench, Zhou Kai held his breath. Under the shadow of death, he forced his wildly pounding heart to steady.

He couldn't make a sound.

If it noticed him... he was dead.

A minute passed.

Zhou Kai's limbs were already stiff, and the stones and nails beneath him dug painfully into his back.

Has it left... this time...?

Last time, he had been right here. He shifted position to squeeze farther underneath the bed and made the faintest sound.

Then—

The hammer came down.

He became a puddle of gore.

This time, he had learned his lesson. Once he crawled under the bed, he didn't make another unnecessary movement.

But whether he would survive was still uncertain.

Every time I die in the Nightmare, my body in the real world gets weaker... I can't die again!

Zhou Kai kept his eyes fixed on the shadow cast by those enormous feet, waiting for a chance.

Another two minutes passed.

A muffled crack sounded outside, like a tree trunk snapping. The Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier seemed to have been drawn away... Its footsteps gradually faded.

Until they could no longer be heard.

But Zhou Kai still didn't dare move.

He had to account for the possibility that the thing might come back.

Wait for one more thunderclap.

Rumble!

Thunder crashed at the very moment the thought crossed his mind.

Now!

He endured the pain, rolled out from under the bed, and quickly got to his feet.

Blood seeped from the punctures in his back, spreading into dark red plum blossoms on his old white shirt.

There was no time to deal with it.

Zhou Kai pressed himself against the window and listened.

The wind and rain raged as thunder rumbled.

Good.

The monster really seemed to have left.

He was finally safe...

For now.

Zhou Kai was from Xishan City and had just graduated from university. His major was the obscure field of classical studies, and he had repeatedly failed to find a job.

For the past three months, he had relied entirely on support from his older sister, Zhou Qing, who worked at a well-known pharmaceutical company. At her suggestion, he had signed up at a boxing gym, hoping to learn some self-defense and escape his slump.

He had only gone for one day.

Then the Nightmare found him.

Starting this Monday, he had entered this Nightmare four days in a row.

Today was the first time he had survived longer than five minutes.

Every time he died, his body in the real world grew weaker.

Judging by his current condition, if he died five more times at most, he would die in the real world too.

He had to figure out what was happening!

He had to survive!

He had to find a way out of the Nightmare!

As long as the monster was gone, the storm was the best cover.

Zhou Kai could finally begin exploring.

The bedroom still had that same decaying European style.

A strange stain, as if something had melted there, soaked through the blanket on the heavy bed.

Zhou Kai reached out and lifted it.

Rustle.

The blanket fell apart.

Its fibers had completely rotted away.

After searching, he found nothing in the bedroom except the decaying furniture and several photographs whose faces were impossible to make out.

"There are photographs, so I can at least tell this place is set sometime after the nineteenth century."

Zhou Kai returned to the living room.

Nearly half of it had collapsed, all the "work" of the Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier.

For now, he searched the intact half.

There was one place that had caught his attention from the start, but he hadn't had a chance to check it out.

A corpse in the living room.

From a distance, he could see a pair of long boots sticking out from the short passage connecting the kitchen and living room.

Zhou Kai took a decorative axe off the wall... The wooden handle had rotted and could barely be held.

But that didn't stop him.

He took off his shirt, twisted it into a strip of cloth, and tied it tightly around the axe.

A makeshift chain axe was ready.

He swung it once. The air whistled.

The heavy feel of the metal gave him a good deal of reassurance.

Holding it ready to swing at any moment, Zhou Kai cautiously stepped into the passage.

Then he let out a long breath.

"This guy... is definitely dead."

The so-called "corpse" was actually a pile of bones wrapped in heavy clothing.

But this was the Nightmare.

Zhou Kai still crushed the skull with the axe blade.

Just in case.

He glanced into the kitchen. It was safe, and strangely well-preserved.

Zhou Kai dragged the bones inside and began searching.

The heavy clothes looked like hunting leathers sewn together with a padded coat. They were too rotten to wear and gave off a sticky, foul stench.

The dead man had probably been a hunter.

In a small inner pocket was a leather pouch.

Inside were a photograph and a Badge.

The photograph showed a man and two women. On the back, someone had written in letters: "Family, dear Louis, Meimei, and me."

"Why is my Nightmare in the West?"

Zhou Kai suppressed the unease in his heart and examined the other object.

The Badge.

It was made of brass and covered in green patina. Engraved on it was a deity with open arms, as if protecting its people.

"What's this thing for?"

Zhou Kai frowned.

The next moment, his expression froze.

[Item Acquired: Residence Permit (Helen-Backerberg Parish)]

[Can currently be set as "Home." Once the setting is complete, you can return to the main world.]