bookbashuk Chapter 1 The Designer's Farewell Performance
Chapter 1 The Designer's Farewell Performance
2:44 AM.
Lu Dan stared at the computer screen, the blue light reflecting on his pale face from long hours of staying up late, his pupils reflecting the dense black Song typeface.
He is a well-known horror script designer in the industry, skilled at weaving the most desperate dead ends with the most rigorous logic.
But he has now encountered a bottleneck.
"Not enough... This level of fear is too cheap."
Lu Dan muttered to himself, his finger hovering over the Enter key.
He had just designed a scene called "Midnight Stairwell," which even he found boring.
Today's audiences and gamers have become too sophisticated; simple ghosts and screams no longer excite them.
True fear should stem from the unknown, from those extremely ordinary yet inexplicably misplaced details of life.
For example, when he reached for his coffee cup, he touched a cold, wet hand.
Lu Dan abruptly withdrew his hand.
There were no hands on the table, only a cup of black coffee.
However, a postcard had appeared next to the coffee cup without anyone noticing.
Its material is very special; it feels like some kind of dried leather.
A clown is painted in the very center.
The clown was painted with extreme realism; the white powder on his face had peeled off, revealing the dark red skin underneath.
Its mouth was painted with lipstick all the way to its ears.
No matter which angle Lu Dan looked from, those dead fish-like eyes seemed to be staring intently at him.
"Who put this here?"
Lu Dan felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end.
He lives alone, with the doors and windows tightly closed; there could not possibly be a second person in this room.
He grabbed his phone and tried to call the property management office to inquire about the surveillance footage.
The moment my fingertip touched the screen, a sharp, electric-like pain shot through my fingertip.
The screen is on, but there are no signal bars.
The dialer interface remained in a strange state.
White noise started playing, as if the other end of the phone was connected to the depths of the earth.
Immediately afterwards, WeChat pop-ups started flashing wildly.
The message, sent three hours ago, has turned into a spinning gray circle.
Sending...
Sending...
Sending...
These three words seemed like some kind of curse, stuck firmly on the screen.
The clown's grin on the postcard, which had already stretched to his ears, widened even further, revealing his gleaming white teeth. A line of small, blood-red text appeared beneath the postcard:
We cordially invite renowned designer Mr. Lu Dan to provide personal guidance.
[Script selection in progress... Loading character: Passerby A]
May you die a peaceful death.
The lights in the room suddenly went out.
The darkness was like a giant maw, instantly swallowing Lu Dan's consciousness.
"Sizzle—"
The ear-piercing screech of brakes, accompanied by the sound of tires screeching on the wet ground, forcibly tore open Lu Dan's eardrums.
The icy rain lashed my face like whips, stinging painfully.
Lu Dan suddenly opened his eyes.
Before me lay a dark, damp, old alleyway.
The dim streetlights, with their unstable voltage, flickered on and off, casting distorted and menacing shadows of the roadside trees, like menacing ghostly hands.
He sat astride a dilapidated electric scooter, wearing a soaking wet yellow deliveryman's raincoat.
Rainwater dripped down the brim of my hat, flowing into my neck and chilling me to the bone.
"This is......"
Lu Dan took a deep breath, the musty smell mixed with the earthy smell.
This sensory experience is so realistic.
If this is a dream, then it's a bit too much focus on details.
[Script loaded: "Qingyu Old Building, Seventh Night After Death"]
Current Role: Deliveryman (Extra/Cannon Fodder)
[Character Task: Deliver the order to Room 404, Building 3, Qingyu Apartment]
[Survival countdown: 15 minutes.]
[WARNING: Please strictly adhere to the character's established persona and avoid out-of-character (OOC) behavior. Any actions that deviate from the expected behavior of a "normal delivery driver" will result in elimination.]
Lines of translucent blood-red text appeared on my retina and then disappeared.
As a senior designer, Lu Dan forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart within just three seconds.
He knows this routine all too well.
This is a typical Chinese horror script.
His current identity—a late-night food deliveryman, delivering food to 404—is practically a death sentence in a horror story.
Following the usual formula, the only purpose of this character's existence is to serve as the first sacrifice, using a piercing scream to tell the main characters and the audience: the game has begun.
It's almost certain death from the start.
"Ding! You have a new takeout order. Please deliver it promptly."
The cell phone hanging on the front of the car emitted a mechanical female voice, which sounded particularly jarring in the rainy night.
Lu Dan looked down at the order details.
Customer's note: I only want white rice and three chopsticks. Leave it at the door, and please do not knock! Please do not knock! 50 yuan tip.
Lu Dan was well aware of the rule that "OOC is strictly prohibited".
A delivery driver struggling to make a living in the middle of the night in the pouring rain should not be flustered when faced with a bizarre order; he should feel unlucky but has no choice but to accept it.
If you don't deliver, or if the order is late or canceled, it may violate the underlying logic of being a food delivery driver and you will be directly eliminated by the system.
If you send someone away, it's like voluntarily walking into the gates of hell.
Lu Dan gritted his teeth, wiped the rain off his face with his sleeve, and let out a low curse befitting his character: "Damn, this is insane."
He twisted the accelerator.
The electric scooter panted like an old ox as it carried him toward the old tenement building deep in the alley, which stood like a tombstone.
Qingyu Apartment is a U-shaped building from the 1980s.
The green paint on the exterior walls had long since peeled off, revealing the dark red bricks underneath, which looked like streaks of blood.
The motion-activated lights in the hallway were not working.
Lu Dan turned on his phone's flashlight.
The stairwell was narrow and cramped, piled with clutter: a rickety chair, a dusty stroller, and rows of black garbage bags.
It emitted an unpleasant, sour smell.
He has to go up to the fourth floor.
At each corner of the staircase, there is a red "福" (good fortune) character pasted on it.
First floor... Second floor...
When Lu Dan reached the third floor, he heard a sound.
"Thump, thump, thump."
The sound of a hard object hitting the ground came from above his head.
Lu Dan paused, cold sweat instantly soaking through his clothes.
He could feel his adrenaline surging. Reason told him to run, but the rules were like a gun to his head.
He's a food delivery driver; he just thinks the hallway is a bit too dark, and he doesn't know anything about ghosts.
He had to keep going.
Lu Dan steeled himself and tried his best to make his footsteps sound heavy and impatient in order to cover up his inner fear.
He climbed the steps to the fourth floor one by one.
The air on the fourth floor is colder than down below.
The corridor ends at 404.
The door to room 404 was different from others, covered with yellow talismans, some of which were already tattered and rattled in the draft.
A brazier stood by the door, the ashes of the paper money inside still burning, with occasional sparks flickering in the darkness.
Lu Dan stood at the door, holding a takeout order containing only white rice and chopsticks.
The atmosphere here is so oppressive it's suffocating.
According to the script, at this very moment, there must be something inside the door pressed against the door panel, listening to the sounds outside.
"call......"
Lu Dan adjusted his breathing.
The task is to deliver the item, and the customer has requested that the door not be knocked on.
In such cases, the delivery driver might knock on the door out of curiosity or without reading the notes, and then be dragged inside.
It seems that as long as you leave the takeout, you can survive.
But Lu Dan himself was a designer, and he knew what designers loved to do most—play word games.
If someone simply abandons their loved one and leaves, they're probably not far from death.
He glanced at the time on his phone screen.
2: 58.
The latest delivery time is 2:59.
If it is not delivered, the system will kill him immediately.
Lu Dan squatted down, preparing to place the takeout at the door first.
The tightly closed door to room 404 creaked.
The door opened a crack by itself.
A cold wind blew out from the cracks, instantly extinguishing Lu Dan's faltering rationality.
Through the gap, Lu Dan saw an eye.
The eye was bloodshot, the pupil was unfocused, and it was staring intently at him.
Its position is extremely low, less than half a meter from the ground—which indicates that the thing behind the door is lying on the ground or upside down.
"takeout"
A hoarse voice drifted out from under the door.
"Bring it in... for me..."
This is an invitation to death.
Lu Dan's scalp instantly exploded.
[Warning: Strong fear fluctuations detected. Please maintain your composure!]
The system's warning red light flashed wildly in my eyes.
What would a typical food delivery driver do if they saw this? Scream? Run away?
No. If you scream and run away, it will inevitably trigger a chase. In a chase on a demon's territory, an ordinary human will surely die.
A reasonable response must be given that allows for refusal to enter without compromising one's public image, while still ensuring survival within the rules.
Lu Dan's brain was working frantically.
He suddenly stood up straight, staring intently at the order slip in his hand, and shouted in an angry and agitated voice:
"Take what?! The note says to leave it by the door, and company policy says no one can come inside! I need to finish my next order, what if I'm late?"
Anger is the best mask for humans to cover up their fear.
It is also a real outburst from working-class people when faced with unreasonable demands that they want both.
The voice behind the door seemed to be silenced by the roar.
Taking advantage of that moment of hesitation, Lu Dan quickly placed the takeout on the ground, took out his phone, and snapped a photo.
Lu Dan didn't dare look at the photo, clicked "deliver," and turned to leave.
His movements were fluid and without hesitation, but he dared not run.
He was afraid that running in the stairwell would trigger his predator instincts.
He walked quickly, muttering under his breath, "Crazy, so many fuss..."
Behind me, I heard the sound of fingernails scratching at the door panel.
Just as Lu Dan was about to step down the stairs to the third floor, the broken motion-activated light above his head suddenly turned on.
The stark white light cast his shadow on the wall.
Lu Dan glanced at the wall subconsciously.
A shadow appeared on the mottled wall.
The shadow was long and twisted, lying on his back.
A damp, cold touch pressed against the back of his neck.
Congratulations on completing the beginner's quest: A Narrow Escape.
[Story Update: The main characters have arrived downstairs.]
Current status: It has been marked.
Lu Dan stopped in his tracks. He knew that if he turned around or showed that he knew there was something on his back, he was doomed.
Because ordinary people can't see ghosts.
He stiffly raised his hand and touched the back of his neck: "This dilapidated building is leaking too."
He then walked down the stairs step by step.
Downstairs, a black private car was slowly driving into the rain-soaked residential area.