Chapter 2
Yin Xiu drew the curtains and curled up on the sofa to watch TV.
The town’s television never showed anything related to the outside world. Like the screen in the square, it only showed players going through instances.
At that moment, a player sat in a classroom with his head down, trying to write something from memory. Beside him stood a slender, twisted teacher, almost inhuman in appearance, staring down at him. The teacher wore an eerie smile that sent chills down one’s spine, while the watched player trembled, not daring to look up. The entire classroom held its breath.
A comment drifted across the screen: “This instance is way too hard. No one from our town has cleared it yet, right?”
“Yeah... More and more players have been dying in instances lately. It’ll rain tonight, so I guess we’ll get some newcomers. Our town’s set up pretty well, but it’s been a long time since any came.”
“Sigh... I wonder how long the newcomers will survive. If you don’t memorize the rules before your first instance, you’ll almost never make it out.”
“Maybe I should just live in town like Yin Xiu. Why bother clearing instances? Staying alive is what matters.”
“What are you talking about? If you stay here too long, something’s bound to happen eventually. Didn’t you see the person who died in their house a couple of days ago? Their neck was twisted right off.”
“...I saw. I had nightmares for two days. At night, I’m too scared to move if I hear even the slightest sound.”
“Same here. I really can’t take it anymore. But Yin Xiu just glanced at the body and walked away without a trace of emotion. Every time he sees a dead person, it’s like he feels nothing. Isn’t he the real monstrosity in town?”
“Come to think of it, normal players get pulled into instances every so often, but he’s stayed in town and never gone in. I wonder why...”
“He’s always been strange. The Night Goddess comes looking for him every night. Living in the same alley as him means you can’t get a proper night’s sleep.”
“Hey, stop talking. Don’t forget that the town’s comments are shared. Yin Xiu can see them too. Be careful, or you’ll make him angry.”
The screen cleared in an instant. Not a single message remained.
Yin Xiu rested his chin on his hand, eyelids drooping as he watched TV with a drowsy expression. His long, slender frame was curled up on the sofa, dozing off.
Before long, another comment drifted across the screen: “If you’re still awake, go to sleep now. Be careful—the Night Goddess is here.”
As the comment drifted by, lights across the town quickly went out one after another.
The streets lay silent and empty. A cold gust swept through the dim alley.
Faint footsteps sounded in the alley, but no one appeared. Only an enormous, indistinct shadow swayed in the gaps between the walls.
The footsteps paused for a moment in front of each house. Each time they stopped, a dull but distinct chewing sound came from outside the door. The crunching noises made one’s scalp crawl in the night.
The footsteps continued down the alley, finally stopping in front of Yin Xiu’s door. This time, there was no chewing.
“Knock, knock!”
Someone tapped on the glass window outside Yin Xiu’s house. The knock was light, yet the entire door and window trembled.
Yin Xiu lifted his drooping eyelids and glanced toward the door.
He got up and walked to the window, then yanked the curtains open. In the moonlight, a deathly pale woman’s smiling face was pressed tightly against the glass, staring straight at him.
Her long hair hung messily to the ground. Her face was bloodless, but an unidentified red liquid stained the corners of her smiling mouth. Her enormous body nearly filled the narrow alley as she crawled through it in a grotesque, twisted pose.
“What is this?” The Night Goddess lifted the tiny iron bowl with her index finger. Clear water sloshed inside, with two swollen tea leaves floating on the surface.
“Tea,” Yin Xiu replied calmly, casually pouring himself a cup by the window.
The Night Goddess’s smile stiffened, and her expression gradually turned ferocious. In a low voice, almost through gritted teeth, she asked again, “What is this?”
“It’s tea.” Yin Xiu didn’t care. He raised the cup in his hand toward the woman outside the window. “Want a sip?”
With a sharp clank, the tiny iron bowl was crushed flat. The Night Goddess pressed her deathly pale face hard against the glass. Bloodshot eyes stared out at him, reflecting Yin Xiu’s expressionless face. “I’m not satisfied with your offering. I want a different sacrifice.”
Her finger slowly pointed at Yin Xiu inside the house. A menacing growl rumbled in her throat. “You. You’ll be my sacrifice.”
“No.”
Yin Xiu answered decisively, his eyelids drooping. “Can you stop bothering me every night? I can’t get a decent night’s sleep. You’ve eaten all that meat, so what’s wrong with having a sip of tea? Why are you so fussy?”
Their voices carried clearly through the night. Nearly everyone in the alley could hear Yin Xiu, and they couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath beneath their blankets.
They had seen the enraged Night Goddess bite someone’s head off. They had also seen houses trampled flat overnight, with bodies broken into pieces across the ground.
Yin Xiu was the only person in town who dared speak to the Night Goddess like that. He was really dancing on the edge of death.
The Night Goddess’s expression began to twist. She swung her enormous palm at the glass window of Yin Xiu’s house. A crack split across the entire pane with a sharp snap, making everyone else’s hearts jump.
“I’m going to devour you alive, Yin Xiu! I swear I’ll devour you alive!” As the woman snarled through gritted teeth, she repeatedly slammed her body against Yin Xiu’s doors and windows. Her shrill cries stabbed at people’s ears in the dark, and the creaking of the doors and windows was even more terrifying.
The flimsy door shook with a loud bang, its screws coming loose. The glass window quivered incessantly, cracks spreading across it.
The rules said that houses were safe at night as long as the doors and windows were tightly shut. But if they were smashed in, that might not be true. No one had ever dared find out whether the doors and windows could be broken.
“So noisy.” Yin Xiu pulled the curtains shut, moved a table to block the doorway, then went back to the sofa to watch TV.
For all 365 days of each of the six years he’d lived here, the Night Goddess had bothered him.
Yin Xiu had long since gotten used to his routine of watching TV at night and fishing and dozing during the day.
Amid the Night Goddess’s howls, quiet voices began to murmur in the town’s darkness. “He’s made the Night Goddess angry again. He knows she has a bad temper.”
“There’s nothing she can do about him. He hasn’t broken any rules, and she can’t get inside.”
“How long does this guy plan to stay here? He doesn’t enter an instance or leave town. Who lives in a place like this for six years?”
“The other players are afraid of us, and afraid of the Night Goddess. He’s not scared at all. And that knife he carries...”
“Forget it. Let’s go check on the others. The town feels damp and uncomfortable tonight.”
“Maybe it’s about to rain.”
A few minutes later, raindrops began to fall from the sky. Their pattering filled the town as a damp breeze swept through the alleys. Almost at the same time, the huge rattling crashes against the doors and windows abruptly stopped.
Yin Xiu paused and turned to look at the window. Had she gone back this early tonight?
Usually, she wouldn’t let him sleep until dawn.
Yin Xiu got up and pulled back the curtains. The enormous body was gone from the deep, shadowy alley. Only raindrops fell from the sky and splashed onto the ground, soaking the scattered rule sheets.
Lights began to come on in the distant rain and mist, and voices gradually rose.
Rainy nights were the only nights when people could open their doors. For the players in town, they offered a rare taste of freedom—and a chance to find newcomers and add to their ranks.
But none of that had anything to do with Yin Xiu. He drew the curtains and hurried back to bed.
On a rare, undisturbed night, listening to the voices and rain outside, he was sure to get a good night’s sleep.
Yin Xiu burrowed under the covers. His consciousness had only just begun to grow hazy when, amid the night rain, an unusual set of footsteps suddenly sounded at the entrance to the alley.
His eyes snapped open, and he focused on the sounds around him.
The footsteps splashed through puddles as they slowly made their way down the alley. They passed calmly amid the sounds of all the other players, gradually drawing closer, as if headed somewhere in particular.
No one stopped him, and no one paid him any attention, as though the entire town were ignoring him. His footsteps alone cut clearly through the rain, coming straight to Yin Xiu’s door before stopping.
Yin Xiu lay still in bed, looking toward his door.
Outside, beneath the fragile door that the Night Goddess had battered so fiercely, a long shadow stood.