The Bride's Bridesmaid

A bride was standing outside the door.

She held a tray of wedding candies, her voice exceptionally sweet. "I'm getting married today. Have some wedding candy."

Yinge's pupils constricted, and her whole body began trembling uncontrollably.

Because she saw that the bride's head hung precariously from her neck like a rotten watermelon, brain matter and blood from her scalp seeping into her bright red wedding dress.

[On the night of December 9, a bride fell to her death in the Qingnian Road residential complex in this city...]

The report from the video she had just watched about the bride jumping from a building seemed to echo in her mind again.

As the echo grew louder and louder, Yinge's heart rose to her throat, yet drowsiness surged over her at the worst possible moment.

She tried desperately to force her eyes open, but everything before her grew increasingly blurry.

"No, this isn't drowsiness!!!"

"Th-this feeling..."

"Am I going to die?"

"Wake up, wake up! There's almost no time left!"

Hearing the shout, Yinge yawned and sat up groggily.

What had she been about to do again?

Go to work?

Right, work.

Yinge's mind was muddled, and her subconscious still wanted to sleep for another two minutes.

But the next moment, she got out of bed, dressed, and put on her shoes in one smooth motion, then skillfully turned and entered another doorway.

Time to wash up, Yinge thought.

"Morning!" A gentle voice rang out, carrying a trace of familiarity, as though she had heard it somewhere before.

Yinge habitually replied, "Morning."

She stretched and rubbed her eyes. A dressing table seemed to appear before her, and the greeting seemed to have come from its direction.

Wait, a greeting? A dressing table?

Didn't I live alone? Where did that greeting come from? And my room was just a tiny studio. Where did a second bedroom come from? And where did this dressing table come from?

The many abnormalities instantly jolted Yinge out of her daze.

She rubbed her eyes, and her vision gradually cleared.

In an instant, she determined that this was not her little rented apartment.

The room was covered in bright red double-happiness characters. Even if she had never seen a wedding herself, she could tell at a glance that a celebration was about to take place here.

Yet such a festive scene sent waves of chill through her heart.

Because she noticed that before the dressing table, a comb was floating in midair, bobbing up and down as if it were combing the hair of someone seated there.

But the problem was, there was no one in front of the dressing table!

The unfamiliar surroundings combined with the bizarre sight made Yinge's heart pound. She instinctively wanted to step back, but something even more terrifying happened.

She discovered that her feet would not obey her at all. They actually took a step forward!

Then came a second step, and a third.

At this point, Yinge clearly felt that she could no longer control her body.

What exactly was going on?

But before she could think any further, she could only watch as "she" walked up to the dressing table.

She?

No, the face appearing in the mirror was not even her own.

Before Yinge could recover from the shock, her hand moved beyond her control and reached toward the patch of air in front of her.

No, that was not air!

A delicate, smooth, sticky sensation traveled from her hand to her mind.

Hair. Wet hair!

Even though she could not see it, Yinge immediately identified what she was holding.

She wanted to pull back her hand and turn around to run, but her body would not listen to her.

She watched "herself" pick up a small mirror, place it behind the wet hair she had just touched, and say with a smile, "Look how silky your hair is. You'll definitely look beautiful when you try on the wedding dress later."

The moment those words left her mouth, immense helplessness and terror engulfed Yinge, because she realized that not only did this body not have her face, it did not even have her voice.

Even more horrifying, a reply suddenly came from thin air. "That's right. I think so too."

It was too bizarre!

Countless thoughts flashed through Yinge's mind. Had she been kidnapped, or was she dreaming?

No, if she had been kidnapped, where was the kidnapper? And why could she not control her body?

Could this really be a dream?

But the feel of the hair in her hand, the voices around her, and this strange bedroom all felt so real.

Just as Yinge's thoughts descended into chaos, a man walked to the bedroom door and urged them, "You'd better hurry up. The time is almost here."

Before Yinge could react, she turned toward the man and teased, "Groom, why are you in such a hurry? We're going to try on wedding dresses today, not get married."

Only after turning around did she discover that several other people were sitting in the living room, men and women, old and young.

But before she could get a good look, the groom spoke again. "Enough. Instead of wasting time talking nonsense, think about what bridesmaid dress you'll pick later so we don't waste any time."

Picking a bridesmaid dress?

I'm the bridesmaid?

Yinge was deeply shaken, but the groom gave her no time to react. After speaking, he headed into the bedroom.

Yet something even more terrifying happened: all sound suddenly vanished at that moment.

The groom's foot, which had just stepped forward, froze in midair. This clearly defied the laws of physics.

Even the clock on the wall had stopped moving, as though it had gone on strike.

The instant that thought appeared, slow footsteps abruptly sounded behind her.

Who was it?!

But no matter how full of doubt she was, Yinge could not turn her head to look. She could not even move her eyes.

As the unknown footsteps drew closer, a gust of cold wind swept over her, and her heart leaped into her throat.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The sound of dripping water rang out, but what fell to the floor was not water. It was blood!

So much blood!

Following the bloody liquid upward, she saw a blood-red wedding dress, then long black, sticky hair that dripped continuously with blood. The person wrapped in that bloody wedding dress...

Yinge clearly saw a head with its brains burst open and a face reduced to a bloody pulp.

A freezing chill spread through her body, as though she had fallen into an icy abyss.

At the same time, a report sounded deep in her mind, awakening her buried memories.

[This morning, a bride fell to her death in the Qingnian Road residential complex in this city...]

The bride... was this the bride who had already died!?

Realizing this, she was plunged into absolute terror.

But the bride had already walked in front of her and suddenly pressed her face close.

Yinge wanted to close her eyes, but having lost control of her body, she could not even perform such a tiny action. She could only watch as that bizarre, bloody head stopped before her.

The extreme terror nearly stopped her heart.

But soon, the bride left. She went to stand somewhere everyone could see her, leaving behind only a few words:

"Find him..."

"Kill him!"

A voice filled with bone-deep hatred came from the bride's body.

Find who? Kill who? What did that mean... Yinge could no longer stay calm.

Every day, she traveled only between her company and home. Although she lived in the same residential complex as the bride, they had never met, and she knew little about her.

Did the bride mean that she had been murdered rather than committed suicide, and wanted Yinge to find the killer?

But wasn't the bride already dead?

What exactly was going on?!

But at that moment, no one could answer Yinge's questions.

The flesh on the bride's face had barely been held together by a layer of skin. When she smiled, it fell away like snowflakes.

Seeing that scene and recalling the bride's words, terror flooded Yinge's heart like a tide.

But after letting out a strange laugh, the bride vanished from where she stood.

With her disappearance, Yinge's body suddenly became able to move.

Yet this "movement" was still not under her control.

She watched the groom's foot, frozen in midair, come down.

Everything returned to normal, as though that bride had never appeared.

The groom strode forward, passed Yinge, and embraced a patch of air before the dressing table, his expression delighted. It was utterly eerie.

"Baby, it's almost time. You're already beautiful. Let's go." His voice was incredibly gentle.

Seeing this, Yinge instantly understood. That patch of air was the bride!

Soon, the groom took the bride's hand and led her toward the door.

Absurd. Bizarre. Cold. Sinister...

Yinge felt chilled to the bone.

She followed everyone outside.

The moment she stepped out, she saw the familiar layout of the floor.

This really was the Qingnian Road residential complex.

The Qingnian Road residential complex was old, and its facilities were poorly maintained. There was no elevator, so residents could only use the stairs.

More importantly, a large "6" was written on the stairwell wall. This was the sixth floor!

Yinge lived on the sixth floor too!

She even already knew roughly where her rented apartment was, but she could not so much as turn her head to look at it.

Left with no choice, she suppressed the fear in her heart and began to think.

After confirming that this was the Qingnian Road residential complex, Yinge became even more certain that the bride in the bloodstained dress was the bride from the video who had supposedly killed herself.

What was she supposed to do now?

She could not even control her own body. She could not run even if she wanted to.

The moment that thought surfaced, the dim yellow light in the hallway suddenly went out.

Yinge froze, and her footsteps instinctively stopped. In such a bizarre situation, darkness was always frightening.

Fortunately, the light came back on an instant later.

Though weak, it was better than nothing.

Yinge let out a slight breath of relief and raised her hand to wipe away the cold sweat on her forehead.

Wait...

She stared at her hand, her pupils shrinking.

She could move?