It was a small village nestled deep within the mountains, concealed by layers upon layers of lush, overgrown trees. The only path leading to the village was muddy from a recent rain, requiring extra care with each step.
Qiu Shi and a tall, mixed-race girl were walking along the path. The girl was exceptionally beautiful, with sharply defined eyebrows and large, bright eyes. She was even taller than Qiu Shi, wearing an old-fashioned dress seemingly out of place for the current times. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she softly sobbed, "Where on earth is this place?"
Qiu Shi asked, "Where were you before arriving here?"
The girl replied, "In my bathroom at home."
"I was in the hallway of my home," said Qiu Shi.
"The hallway...?" the girl asked.
Qiu Shi glanced up at the gloomy sky. "Did you open a door?"
The girl seemed to recall something as her expression shifted ever so slightly. "Yes," she said.
Qiu Shi looked back at her. "So did I."
A gust of wind blew past, rustling the leaves in the treetops and accentuating the eerie stillness all around. Snowflakes suddenly began drifting down from the sky, as if hurrying them along to reach the village nestled within the trees before nightfall.
Through conversation, Qiu Shi learned that the girl's surname was Ruan, her name Bai Jie. When he heard the name, Qiu Shi froze for three seconds before forcing out words of praise: "What a nice name."
Ruan Bai Jie shot him a glare. "All men are liars," she said.
"Huh?" said Qiu Shi, taken aback.
"Don't think I haven't read those dirty novels before," Ruan Bai Jie continued.
Qiu Shi fell silent, realizing this girl was not as delicate as he had imagined...
As they continued towards the village, the two exchanged information and learned they had both arrived in this desolate wilderness after opening a mysterious door—Ruan Bai Jie opened one in her bathroom, while Qiu Shi opened one in his home hallway.
"The door was black iron," said Ruan Bai Jie softly. "No decorations at all. I was puzzled about how such a door could suddenly appear in my home, but I didn't think too much of it and just happened to pull it open..."
The next second after opening the door, they found themselves in this wilderness.
"The one I opened was also a black iron door," said Qiu Shi, before a shadowy figure up ahead on the path caught his eye. The figure was quite tall, likely a grown man.
"Brother up ahead!" Qiu Shi called out from afar.
The figure halted, seemingly having heard Qiu Shi's voice.
Qiu Shi hurried up to him and clapped the man on the shoulder. "Hello there. Do you happen to know where we are?"
The man turned to reveal a bearded face. With his tall, sturdy build, he resembled a bear. "Are you new around here?" he asked.
"What do you mean, new..." said Qiu Shi.
Without another word, the man looked Qiu Shi up and down, then shot a glance back at the rather frightened Ruan Bai Jie. "Let's go," he finally said. "I'll explain once we reach the village."
Qiu Shi voiced his assent and the three continued on towards the village...
Qiu Shi voiced his assent and the three continued on towards the village. From conversation, Qiu Shi learned the man was surnamed Xiong, and told him to simply call him Xiong Qi.
Qiu Shi was about to inquire further, but Xiong Qi gestured for him to stop. "No more questions for now," he said. "You'll understand everything once we reach the village."
"Oh, alright then," replied Qiu Shi.
The rest of the way was spent in silence. The three hurried along, managing to reach the village path just as the light was nearly gone from the sky.
Xiong Qi breathed an audible sigh of relief upon arrival. He glanced back nervously into the darkness behind them. "Good we made it in time. Let's go meet up with the others first."
Newcomers, the others...Qiu Shi latched onto these keywords. Though he'd had an ominous feeling ever since arriving here, that feeling was growing stronger by the minute. Ruan Bai Jie seemed to sense it too—the fear in her beautiful face was palpable.
Xiong Qi led them to a three-story building on the village outskirts. He knocked on the door, and a young girl's voice called out from within, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Xiong Qi," he replied.
"Brother Xiong! Please come in, we've been waiting for you," said the girl.
Xiong Qi pushed open the door to reveal a spacious living room inside. About eight or nine people were gathered around a crackling fire, apparently discussing something.
"Newcomers?" someone asked, spotting Qiu Shi and Ruan Bai Jie behind Xiong Qi.
"New indeed," said Xiong Qi. He found an empty spot and sat down. "Have a seat you two. Little Ke here will explain the situation."
Little Ke was the girl who had opened the door. She looked to be only fifteen or sixteen, with delicate features. "Go ahead and sit," she said to Qiu Shi and Ruan Bai Jie. "I'll give you a quick rundown."
Qiu Shi and Ruan Bai Jie exchanged a glance before taking seats near the door.
"There's not much to it, really," said Little Ke, rather aloof. "We need to stay in the village for a while to resolve some issues. Once that's taken care of, we'll be fine."
"What kind of issues?" asked Qiu Shi.
"We're not sure of the specifics yet," answered Little Ke. "We'll have to speak with the village chief tomorrow..." She peered over at Qiu Shi. "Are either of you materialists?"
Qiu Shi raised his hand. "I am."
"Then you'll need to amend your beliefs a little," said Little Ke.
"What do you mean?" asked Qiu Shi with a frown.
"It means," said Little Ke, "that supernatural events occur here."
Qiu Shi fell silent.
The others were quite cold towards the two newcomers, barely exchanging even a greeting beyond Little Ke's explanation. Before entering, Qiu Shi had assumed the group was discussing something, but he soon realized not a word was being said. Several people simply sat staring into the fire, while others fiddled on their phones despite the lack of signal.
After quickly counting, Qiu Shi noted there were thirteen people present including himself—nine men and four women, most seeming relatively young and none appearing over forty years of age.
The firewood crackled and popped. After sitting a short while, Ruan Bai Jie appeared rather tired. She looked around and seeing no intention from the others to leave, timidly asked: "Pardon me, but is there a room where I might sleep? I'm quite exhausted."
Qiu Shi might have imagined it, but the moment Ruan Bai Jie uttered those words, the very air in the room seemed to freeze over.
Xiong Qi got to his feet. "Might as well turn in for the night. Otherwise we'll end up just sleeping here in the living room. Let's divide up the rooms." He glanced over at Qiu Shi. "You two stick together. And be careful at night—don't go wandering around..."
"With him?" exclaimed Ruan Bai Jie. "But, I mean..."
Xiong Qi sighed. "Worried about propriety between men and women? After your first night here, you'll see those kinds of rules no longer apply. When it's life or death, there's no time to fuss over such things."
Ruan Bai Jie seemed about to protest further when she noticed the odd atmosphere developing amongst the group. She held her tongue and reluctantly agreed to room with Qiu Shi.
Seeing her apprehension, Qiu Shi tried to offer reassurance: "Don't worry, I won't try anything."
Ruan Bai Jie gave a small nod.
There were nine rooms on the three floors, but it was clear no one intended to sleep separately—at minimum they paired up, with one room holding three occupants.
"Let's go then," said Xiong Qi. "See you all tomorrow."
The group dispersed. Just before leaving the living room, Little Ke suddenly approached Qiu Shi and whispered: "Don't trust others too easily. As long as you survive this time..." She hurried off before he could question her further, apparently disinclined to say anything more.
"Shall we go rest?" said Ruan Bai Jie.
Qiu Shi nodded, and the two headed upstairs to their assigned room on the right side of the second floor hallway. The room contained only a single bed with a poster of a woman hanging beside it.
With no electricity, their only light source was an oil lamp, bathing the entire room in a dated, sepia tone. The air held a faint moldy smell.
Qiu Shi had expected Ruan Bai Jie to express some disgust at their lodgings, but surprisingly she adapted even quicker than he did—promptly washing up and climbing straight into bed. On the contrary, it was Qiu Shi who felt rather awkward as he sat on the bed's edge.
"Go ahead and sleep," said Ruan Bai Jie, her voice muffled beneath the covers. "Aren't you tired too?"
"A bit," replied Qiu Shi.
"After the strange day we've had, of course we'd be exhausted," said Ruan Bai Jie. "I'm even wondering if you all might be some TV crew here to prank me. But what kind of prank would go to such lengths..."
Qiu Shi lay down beneath his own covers, taking care to keep a respectable distance. "It certainly has been odd," he agreed.
Ruan Bai Jie continued, "And did you notice everyone's expressions? The fear in their eyes?"
"They're definitely afraid of something," said Qiu Shi.
"Exactly," said Ruan Bai Jie softly. "So what could they possibly be so afraid of...?"
Just as Qiu Shi was about to reply, the sound of steady breathing filled the air—Ruan Bai Jie had already drifted off to sleep beside him.
Qiu Shi stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought amidst the dim lamp light. He actually admired Ruan Bai Jie's poise. To suddenly find herself in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strange people, yet still able to close her eyes and sleep...
As he mulled it over, drowsiness gradually overtook Qiu Shi as well. He closed his eyes and slept.
In the dead of night, Qiu Shi was shocked awake.
Lying in bed, he heard a vague pounding sound—like fierce winds rattling a dilapidated window, or footsteps of something stalking the floorboards overhead.
He opened his eyes but the room was awash in a hazy darkness.
The snow outside had stopped without him noticing. An enormous moon hovered high in the sky, casting a cold bluish glow across the floorboards by the bed.
As Qiu Shi's gaze slowly shifted towards the bedside, his breath caught in his throat.
A woman's silhouette sat there, her long black hair obscuring Qiu Shi's view of her face as she kept her back to him. Sensing his awakening, she slowly turned her head...
The scene was so eerily reminiscent of a horror movie that Qiu Shi froze momentarily. But emboldened by his steady nerves, he bolted straight up in bed and shouted, "Who the hell are you?! Why have you snuck into my room?!"
The woman paused briefly, then a familiar voice rang out: "What do you mean? It's me."
It was Ruan Bai Jie.
Qiu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. "What are you doing sitting there so late into the night?"
"Did you see that well in the front yard?" asked Ruan Bai Jie. "The one in the courtyard."
"Well?" said Qiu Shi, puzzled. "What well?" He was about to climb out of bed when his gaze inadvertently shifted right—only to find Ruan Bai Jie still sound asleep beside him.
"That well I'm talking about," continued the woman who sounded exactly like Ruan Bai Jie. "Let's go take a look together."
Qiu Shi fell silent.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" asked the woman.
"I was just named an Outstanding Party Member and Cadre last month," declared Qiu Shi.
The woman said nothing.
"I'm a staunch materialist," Qiu Shi added.
More silence.
Qiu Shi scratched his cheek. "So, mind finding someone else to scare instead?"
The woman slowly turned her head once more. In the moonlight, Qiu Shi saw her face—too grotesque for words, deathly pale and bloated, eyeballs bulging out of their sockets. She was a stranger, yet her voice so familiar. "Are you not afraid of me?" she asked.
Qiu Shi was quiet for three seconds. He glanced down at his covers. "Please don't," he said. "I only brought one pair of pants over."
The woman fell silent again.
Qiu Shi dragged a hand down his face. "Seriously, I might just wet myself." Having said so, he began shaking Ruan Bai Jie awake beside him. "Get up!!!"
Ruan Bai Jie groggily opened her eyes. As she rubbed the sleep from them, the first thing she saw was the woman perched at their bedside. "Who's this? Qiu Shi, did you really go and find some woman to bring back in the middle of the night? How shameless can you be? What does she have that I don't?"
Qiu Shi: "..." Was that really the issue here?
After cursing Qiu Shi out in a whisper, Ruan Bai Jie suddenly sensed something amiss. Her large dark eyes went wide. "Why does her neck look longer and longer the more I stare at it...?"
Qiu Shi looked again and saw the woman was now standing, tilting her head to one side at an odd angle as her neck distended like a mutated snake's.
The freakish sight shocked them speechless until Qiu Shi could stand it no longer. "Run!" he yelled, grabbing Ruan Bai Jie's hand and bolting for the door.
Turned out Ruan Bai Jie could run even faster than Qiu Shi when her life depended on it. In a gust she had vanished from the room ahead of him.
Qiu Shi shouted after her retreating figure: "Hey, slow down!"
Her voice already distant, Ruan Bai Jie shouted back: "If I slow down, I'll be dead meat!"
Qiu Shi sighed. Women...
The two sprinted like rabbits all the way downstairs, finally catching their breath once certain the creature had not given chase. While Qiu Shi was still gasping for air, Ruan Bai Jie had already resumed her weeping—eyes brimming with tears as she geared up for another round of hysterics.
"Oh stop that crying already," said Qiu Shi. "What if that thing hears you and comes looking?"
"You don't care one whit about me," sobbed Ruan Bai Jie. "All you think about is that woman..."
Qiu Shi: "..."
Perhaps his expression was too disgusted, for Ruan Bai Jie managed to force back her tears. Sniffling delicately, she sank onto a stool by the front door and dabbed at her wet eyes.
They now stood in the empty first floor living room. Despite all the earlier commotion, not one person had emerged to check things out—beyond their labored breathing, the house remained eerily silent.
After catching his breath, Qiu Shi hesitated. "What should we do now?" Both he and Ruan Bai Jie were utterly clueless when it came to such matters. Standing stiff as poles in the living room, neither had any idea how to proceed.
"It's snowing outside," said Ruan Bai Jie suddenly. She slowly made her way to the doorway overlooking the courtyard. "Snowing again in the dead of night..."
Qiu Shi joined her at the entrance. A thin layer of snow already covered the courtyard grounds. He also spotted that well the female apparition had mentioned. Indeed, right at the courtyard's center stood a well, positioned rather awkwardly—directly obstructing the view of the main gate, which Qiu Shi knew spelled trouble in feng shui terms.
"Obstructed speech, obstructed passage," murmured Ruan Bai Jie. "Cleverly designed, this well." A smile spread across her face, eyes curving into beautiful crescents.
"Hmm?" said Qiu Shi. "You understand feng shui?"
"My family is in the business," explained Ruan Bai Jie. "I picked up a little." She slanted a look his way. "What about you? What kind of work?"
"I'm a designer," said Qiu Shi.
"Ah, and not a hint of balding," remarked Ruan Bai Jie. "Can't have been at it long then."
Qiu Shi: "..." A real way with words, this one.
"Care to guess what I do?" Ruan Bai Jie gave her long hair an elegant toss.
"A model?" guessed Qiu Shi. He rarely saw girls as tall as Ruan Bai Jie, and with her slender figure and refined temperament, her only flaw seemed to be somewhat lacking in the chest area.
"Wrong," said Ruan Bai Jie, smiling brightly. "I'm a fortune teller."
Qiu Shi looked at her in surprise.
"Let me divine a bit for you." Ruan Bai Jie's fingers swiftly pinched together calculations. "With the fullness of tonight's moon, I foresee death in our near future."
Qiu Shi forced an awkward laugh. "How'd you make that kind of leap in logic? A full moon means impending death?"
Ruan Bai Jie paid him no mind. She headed off into the snow-covered courtyard, beckoning Qiu Shi along. He started in alarm at her sudden action. "Where are you going so late into the night...?"
"I want to examine that well," she replied.
"Best leave it for morning when it's safer," said Qiu Shi, though he still followed along out of concern for Ruan Bai Jie's safety.
Dressed all in white, Ruan Bai Jie walked with featherlight steps across the snow-laden ground, resembling an ethereal sprite as she slowly approached the well. But rather than peer inside, she stopped some distance away and turned to Qiu Shi instead. "On second thought, I don't really feel like looking anymore. Let's head back."
Qiu Shi was baffled. "Weren't you the one who wanted to check out the well?"
"It's too cold," said Ruan Bai Jie. "I'm nearly frozen stiff." So saying, she naturally slipped her hands into Qiu Shi's arm and proceeded to drag him back towards the house.
Qiu Shi discovered she had a powerful grip—try as he might, he could not break free of her hold.
"Ruan Bai Jie?" he said, rather shocked by this sudden display of strength.
Only when they reached the front door did Ruan Bai Jie finally release him. "Let's hurry back where it's warm. Maybe we can still catch a bit more sleep..." Without another glance at Qiu Shi, she headed upstairs by herself.
Qiu Shi could only follow after her back into their room. Thankfully the earlier horror of a woman was nowhere to be seen, though the window now stood wide open, letting in gusts of frigid air.
Ruan Bai Jie climbed straight back into bed and shut her eyes, ready to drift off any second. Qiu Shi however found sleep impossible. He rekindled the oil lamp and spent the remainder of the night keeping watch. Outside, the wind and snow howled ceaselessly. Inside, a beauty slumbered peacefully beside a man still a stranger to her, betraying not an ounce of wariness as she slept soundly on the same bed. Her breathing was deep and even, a delicate blush upon her fair cheeks, looking especially alluring in the dim light.
Qiu Shi stole a glance her way before quickly shifting his gaze. He was no incorruptible gentleman, yet neither was he the sort to take advantage of a vulnerable woman.
The next day, it was nearly 8am before the faintest trace of sunrise edged over the horizon.
After a night of heavy snowfall, the world outside was a sea of white.
Ruan Bai Jie awoke with some grunts and groans, first stretching out an arm before hastily pulling it back beneath the covers. "Brr, it's freezing..."
Seeing her actions, Qiu Shi thought to himself: Weren't you the one insisting it wasn't cold last night?
"Qiu Shi," said Ruan Bai Jie. "Go find me a change of clothes, will you? All I have is this dress on...I'm just too cold."
Qiu Shi agreed. He had intended to scrounge up warmer attire for himself anyway, considering it was still sweltering summer back in his own world.