The First Chain

Zhao Xi's Phone slipped out of his wound, fell through the torrential rain, and hit the ground.

The five-story fall shattered the phone, destroying it completely.

The fragments of life Zhao Xi had filmed, the things he had said to himself in his loneliness, the life he had longed for and envied, and the darkness and brutality buried inside him all vanished together in the pouring rain.

His clothes were already soaked through. Only after Gao Ming heard the phone hit the ground did he begin climbing upward.

"Hold on tight! You reckless idiot! You actually jumped!"

"Be careful! You still have to get past the fifth-floor window!"

The investigator and Teacher Yao were soaked from the waist up as well. They hauled Gao Ming upward with all their strength.

With all five fingers clenched around the rope, Gao Ming had done everything he could. This should count as Zhao Xi destroying his own phone with his own hands.

When he reached the fifth-floor balcony again, Zhao Xi stood there watching him in bewilderment. His gaze was slightly different now, its cold numbness replaced by confusion and pain.

"Friends," "family," and "neighbors" had trapped him in an impossible situation. Unable to see a way out, he had finally stepped onto the edge of the building.

No one cared about him. Even after his death, everyone had complained about why he couldn't have died somewhere else. What rotten luck. Property prices in the complex would fall again.

In the final stretch of his life, he had met many people. Without even realizing it, they had kept pushing him closer to the window. Only Gao Ming hadn't done that.

The videos on the phone showed what Zhao Xi had wanted to do—the malice this honest man had hidden. But now he had destroyed that malice "with his own hands."

Dense black shadows seeped out of his body. They seemed to be a connection between Zhao Xi and some unknown world, or perhaps a special kind of energy.

Zhao Xi raised his head and stood alone in the room. Apartment 2507 had always been his home. On that rainy night, he had stood there like this for a long time, too.

As the rope dragged Gao Ming upward, he stared at Zhao Xi inside the room. A moment later, he made a decision.

Planting his shoes on the window frame of Apartment 2507, Gao Ming adjusted his position, released the rope, and jumped back inside.

Teacher Yao and the investigator were utterly dumbfounded. Even Teacher Yao, who hadn't sworn in over thirty years, let out a curse.

"Why did he go back in?!"

"This is the first time I've ever seen someone dare to jump back and forth across a fifth-floor windowsill." The disfigured investigator was truly exhausted, but he didn't dare let go. He was afraid Gao Ming would jump out again!

Gao Ming heard Teacher Yao and the investigator, too, but pretended he hadn't. Step by step, he approached Zhao Xi.

"You've spent your whole life giving way to others. You were afraid of causing trouble for your family, so even when life hit you with one crushing blow after another, you just brushed off the dust and kept struggling on." Gao Ming stopped in front of Zhao Xi. "I'll let everyone know what you've endured. I'll be your real family."

Rather than offering a handshake, Gao Ming spread his arms and gently hugged Zhao Xi. "You've already been through so much."

At their most vulnerable, people didn't need words of comfort. They needed a hug from family.

His bones shifted against one another, and his twisted neck pulled backward. Zhao Xi seemed very unused to this.

As Zhao Xi backed away, the black shadows seeping from his body seemed to find a target. They began surging toward Gao Ming.

Unable to enter Gao Ming's body, they gathered on the surface of his skin, resembling writhing black veins, or a thin chain with a life of its own.

Gao Ming reached out to touch them and felt oppression, pain, and despair. Those shadows held Zhao Xi's memories.

A fierce pain shot through his arm, and breathing became difficult. Gao Ming tried to grasp the chain. He had a strange premonition that if he could seize it, he would gain the same abilities as Zhao Xi—but Zhao Xi might disappear.

Zhao Xi watched Gao Ming in silence. As the black shadows left him, his wounds and eyes gradually returned to normal. Unfortunately, his body was also becoming insubstantial. It seemed that once Zhao Xi vanished completely, the black chain on Gao Ming's body would fully take shape.

"Brother Zhao, I meant every word I said. I can take you to meet our other family members in the future, too." Pain that seemed to tear his mind and will apart twisted Gao Ming's expression. He desperately held down his trembling arm.

Inside Apartment 2507, Zhao Xi was making his final choice as well. He stood motionless for a long time, then slowly turned his neck. He looked toward the full-length mirror in the living room, gazing at the upside-down world within it. The mirror did not reflect his body.

His hand, covered in calluses and wounds, waved gently. There was still no Zhao Xi in the mirror.

The mangled corpse seemed to understand something. Zhao Xi turned in silence. Instead of continuing to take Gao Ming with him as he jumped from the building, he walked toward the hallway.

The neighbors in the phone's WeChat group were all fake. He had been the only person in the entire apartment building all along.

Zhao Xi descended the stairs. The shadows shrouding the apartment building began to disperse behind him, and the temperature slowly rose everywhere he passed.

"Brother Zhao! I wasn't lying to you!"

Seeing Zhao Xi leave, Gao Ming immediately chased after him. Hearing his voice, the investigator and Teacher Yao hurried out as well.

"Zhao Xi left?" Teacher Yao was only mildly surprised, but the disfigured investigator's eyes were filled with disbelief.

"How did you do it?! Quick! I have to write this down! We resolved an anomaly event before dawn! This is nothing short of a miracle!" Overcome with excitement, the investigator clasped both of Gao Ming's hands.

"Adults need understanding and comfort, too. I just wanted to become his family, and then he left." Seeing the investigator begin scribbling furiously, Gao Ming quickly stopped him. "Don't just write down nonsense! I only understood his state of mind through extensive analysis, combined with having been his neighbor for years. This method can't be replicated."

"Amazing! I knew you were special the moment I first saw you!" The investigator simply wouldn't let go.

"You didn't even acknowledge me the first time you saw me."

"That's not important!" the investigator said earnestly. "If you're interested, you could join our Investigation Bureau! I'll recommend you!"

"If I can't find a job, I might consider it." Gao Ming pointed toward Zhao Xi's apartment. "There should still be some clues in his room. You can go take a look."

After sending the investigator away, Gao Ming wasted no time and ran downstairs after Zhao Xi. Clearing a game came with rewards.

By the time he reached the first floor, Zhao Xi had already left. The shadows receded, revealing a Black-and-White Posthumous Photo lying on the floor by the hallway entrance.

Gao Ming was just about to pick it up when Teacher Yao suddenly cried out beside him.

"What's wrong?"

Under Gao Ming's gaze, Teacher Yao raised both hands. His body was fading along with the shadows. "I... don't think I can leave this place anymore."

"Teacher Yao!"

The temperature rose, and the hallway lights flickered once. Teacher Yao's body melted into the shadows.

When the lights came fully on, Teacher Yao was gone. Only a black-and-white Posthumous Photograph remained where he had stood.

Gao Ming picked up both Posthumous Photographs. Teacher Yao's black-and-white photograph looked ordinary. On the front was his slightly helpless smile; on the back were crooked words written by a child.

Family Photo (a dying man): I heard the voice within my heart. Rather than lie in a hospital bed waiting to die, stripped of freedom and dignity, I would rather experience what it feels like to be alive again.

In reality, Teacher Yao was terminally ill and unable to leave his bed. In the world shrouded by shadows, he seemed to have rediscovered the feeling of being alive.

Was this really Teacher Yao's own choice?

Gao Ming took out the second Posthumous Photograph. In the photograph, the twisted, terrifying Zhao Xi was falling from the balcony, while Gao Ming stood at the window, gripping him tightly.

Apart from Gao Ming being in color, the photograph also showed black veins like chains coiled around the arm with which he held Zhao Xi. Those veins bound the arms of the man and the ghost together.

Family Photo: The bonds between family members are promises and responsibilities, but also authority and control. I willingly become a part of you, hoping you can let more people know of my suffering.

(End of chapter)