My name is Chen Wei [1], 23 years old, and I am a detective. Well, not a full-fledged one yet, but I'm working on it. I spend most of my days in the dank office of my my mentor, an experienced former police officer. He's teaching me the ropes, showing me how to read a crime scene and question witnesses, how to spot a lie and tell the truth. It's not the most glamorous profession out there, but I'm determined to make it my own.

When I'm not at the office, I like to hang out at the local coffee shop. It's a cozy little place with mismatched furniture and a friendly barista named Sarah who always knows how to cheer me up. I usually order a latte and a croissant, and then settle down with my notebook to write. I've always been a writer at heart, and I'm working on a novel with the hope of getting it published someday.

I recently found another missing poster of a young girl. She was last seen at Yinmeng Station[2], at midnight, yesterday. This is the fourth missing notice - not of the city, but at the station alone.

"Fuck... another disappearance. People are going missing left and right nowadays." I sigh. What has the world come to? So, on this particular night, I found myself at the deserted train station, searching for clues to this mysterious disappearance. It wasn't the kind of case that my mentor, old man Wu[3] would take on, but I couldn't resist the lure of a mystery. I had heard plenty of rumors of strange occurrences happening at this station at night, along with hearing faint whispers. I had decided to investigate.

I finally reached the station.

"What a damn long walk..." I mutter, slightly exhausted.

I check the time - it is 1:03am. I think I shouldn't've come here this late, but I had other stuff to do. Besides, it gets really crowded in the morning. Thinking about my day, as I looked around, the wind was cold, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

I stood alone on the deserted platform, my breath forming a cloud in the chilly air. The station was as empty as a ghost town. Forget passengers, not a single staff member or security was present. The damp smell penetrated my nose. The silence was deafening, broken only by the occasional gust of wind that rustled the empty benches and made the scattered pieces of litter dance around the platform. The overhead announcement system crackled to life intermittently, but the words spoken were meaningless to the empty platform, as if the announcement was intended for no one.

As I stood on the platform, I couldn't help but feel a sense of eerie emptiness. It was as if the entire world had disappeared, leaving behind only the empty platform and me. The emptiness seemed to stretch on forever, like an abyss that I could fall into if I wasn't careful.

Despite the desolation, there was a strange kind of beauty in the emptiness. The platform looked almost pristine, with no signs of wear or tear from the constant traffic of people and luggage. It was like a blank canvas, waiting for someone to come and fill it with color and life. But little did I know, the only color that would fill this canvas was blood, and the life that once inhabited it was now a thing of the past.

But then I noticed something strange. On the ground, near the edge of the platform, there was a small, crumpled piece of paper. I walked over to pick it up, and as I did, I heard a faint whisper, as if someone was speaking to me.

I froze. my heart pounding in my chest. I looked around, but there was no one in sight. The whispering continued, growing louder and more urgent. I couldn't make out what was being said, but I knew that it was important. It HAS to be something important!

I glanced to the other side of the platform. There was a broken, dusty mirror laying facing the ceiling at an angle. I swear I saw something inhuman dangling at the ceiling above me before turning into a shadow and disappearing into the darkness of the platform. I though I was hallucinating but the mirror was broken, and each fragment mirrored the exact movement, so I couldn't have been wrong.

Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind, and the whispering stopped. I looked down at the piece of paper in my hand and saw that it was covered in strange symbols that I couldn't understand. I knew that this was no ordinary piece of paper.

"How strange... I swear these weren't there before! What could it even mean?"

I decided to take it with me and study it further. As I was about to depart, a faint rustling sound caught my attention. I whirled around, my hand reaching for the pocket knife in my coat. But there was nothing there, just the empty platform and the silent darkness, getting darker every second... only to be banished by the piercing rays of the sun at dawn.

As I walked away from the station, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. It was as if someone, or something, was following me. I quickened my pace, my mind racing with questions.

"Who had left the piece of paper on the platform? What was the meaning behind the symbols?" I said my thoughts aloud.

And above all, what message was the whispering voice attempting to convey to me? Was it a recording? A mere prank? No, scratch that! This prank was too elaborate to be plausible...

Little did I know that this was just the beginning of a journey that would take me deep into a world of demons and cultivators, of dark secrets and forbidden magic. A world where the veil between worlds was thin, like a shadow, and anything was possible.

As the wind howled around me, I pulled my coat tighter around my body and set off into the night, determined to uncover the truth.

* Our MC lives in Mingyue City, Ming, 明 means bright and Yue, 月 means moon. Mingyue City, Bright Moon City [The irony...]

[1]- Chen Wei - 陈伟 Here, Wei, 伟 means great/grand.

[2] - Yinmeng Station - 阴梦站 - roughly translates to Dark Dream Station.

[3] - Old Man Wu - Wu Xian - 无仙 - translates to endless wisdom [correct me if I'm wrong]