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“This world, does it have ghosts or not? If it does, where are they, and how can one see them, hear their voices? After completing the game, you will find the answer in your heart.”

“Attention, this task is extremely dangerous, please choose carefully.”

Inside the apartment, the dim light from the black cell phone screen illuminated the delicate face of the young girl in the darkness.

Zhao Mingyue held the black cell phone in her hands, reading every word on the screen without missing a single one, taking a deep breath, she hesitated over the option “Do you accept the task? If no choice is made within twenty-four hours, the task will disappear forever.”

Her sister had been missing for two years, and all the methods she could think of to find her were in vain. This black cell phone with a hint of metaphysical color was her last hope.

After a moment of hesitation, her finger finally moved to the “Agree” option on the screen.

“If you want to see another world, you need a little ceremony and help. The following game is called Combing Hair: Please enter the bathroom alone at 12:40 AM, close the door tightly, extinguish all lights, tie a red string around your right wrist, with the other end of the string outside the door, then face the mirror, light a red candle in front of the mirror, close your eyes, hold a comb in your right hand and comb your hair, while silently chanting the name of the person you most want to see.”

“An old saying goes, ‘The mirror is the reflection of the world, do not comb your hair in front of the mirror at night, do not speak of dreams in front of the mirror in the morning,’ and at midnight the yin energy is at its strongest. If you comb your hair in front of the mirror at midnight, you will see another world, perhaps you will see the face of the person you miss, or you may see a stranger coldly watching you.”

“Success after fifteen minutes, note that during this period, no matter what happens, you must do the following: do not make a sound, do not make any unnecessary movements, do not open your eyes.”

After reading the task, Zhao Mingyue swallowed, checked the time, it was already 12:20 AM, the last twenty minutes before the required time for the task.

“Never mind, let’s try it first, maybe it really works.” She cheered herself up in her heart, in fact, she was also unsure because she found this black cell phone in a mysterious package at her door three days ago.

There was no sender, only her name as the recipient, and there were no clues inside, only a sentence left.

‘Do you want to find your family?’

When she turned on the phone, the first thing she saw was a slightly yellowed photo on the homepage: in front of the old orphanage, a little girl in a white dress stood quietly at the door, she was as perfect as a doll, and as healing as an angel, her cute face showing a happy smile, holding a poorly made and even somewhat creepy rabbit doll in her arms.

The doll was not good-looking, but the little girl hugged it as if it were a treasure.

In the lower left corner of the photo, there was a line of small print:

Bai Sisi and her Miss Rabbit.

Besides that, there were only two apps on the phone, one like a Ferris wheel, which couldn’t be opened for the time being, and one with a completely black icon, which was the app that issued her tasks.

She remembered that when she first got the phone, there were a few bullet-screen messages from a few days ago.

【Silly girl, run, you’ve got something you shouldn’t have!】

【Wow wow wow, is this the heroine, so cute QAQ】

【Girl, congratulations on getting the SSR reward at the start, but listen to the advice of an old brother, throw the phone down the building.】

【I mourn for you for one second (funny face)】

【Don’t chant Bai Sisi’s name, don’t look at her cute appearance, her brother is not easy to mess with (serious face)】

【Shh, let me tell you quietly, the previous owner of this phone was a gentle, elegant, and amiable person.】

From these bullet-screen messages, she could analyze some clues, such as the previous owner of the phone seems to be the brother of the little girl in the wallpaper, this person is very powerful, and there is a certain danger in taking the phone.

It is also possible that these bullet-screen messages are deliberately made up by others.

But she didn’t have the mind to think about these now, she had to try this task, whether this black phone was someone’s prank on her, or if there really was a big problem, depended on this task.

Twenty minutes was still enough time, Zhao Mingyue put away the phone, took out her own phone to turn on the light, and started searching in the apartment.

“Red candles, red string, and a comb.” She took out the red candle from the drawer, she also had a red string, which was left over from when her sister used to knit scarves, and she took the comb from the bedroom and came to the bathroom door.

Taking a deep breath, the familiar bathroom seemed extraordinarily terrifying at this moment, due to the power outage, the house was pitch black, and the bathroom door was making a slight creaking noise as if blown by the wind.

The apartment building where she rented a room was very old, and the bathroom door in the room was still an old yellow wooden door.

Entering the bathroom, she closed the door, locked it, tied the red string around her wrist, and dropped the other end outside the door. Then she stood in front of the mirror, bent down to light the candle, and fixed it on the washbasin, right in front of the mirror.

There were only five minutes left until the task started, and the time on the phone showed 12:35 AM.

Extinguishing the phone’s light, Zhao Mingyue relied on the faint light of the candle to look at herself in the mirror. Perhaps it was the wind, but the candlelight seemed very dim, which should have illuminated the entire small bathroom, but now it could only barely light up the area around the mirror.

The candle flickered, giving the feeling that the surroundings were being swallowed by darkness. She stared at herself in the mirror, not knowing if it was her illusion, but she always felt that the mirror image of herself was a bit strange, as if a stranger was standing there…

“One more minute to go,” she thought.

Another glance at the phone, time was inching closer, her heart was beating unusually fast, her palms were slightly sweaty, she timed it right, with the red string tied, her right hand grabbed the comb on the counter, and she tightly closed her eyes.

The comb gently brushed through her short hair, without any unusual sensation, while in her mind she silently repeated her sister’s name.

‘Zhao Yi, Zhao Yi…’

For Zhao Mingyue, time seemed to crawl at a snail’s pace, as if someone had their hands around her throat.

She didn’t know what would happen next. Before this, she had been a staunch atheist, and even now she kept telling herself that her fear was just a psychological suggestion. The eerie game and its ominous instructions all hinted at the existence of ghosts in this world, and here she was, alone in the bathroom, a place believed to be heavy with yin energy. It was natural to feel panicked.

Surrounded by darkness, she continued to chant her sister’s name over and over in her mind, counting down the time.

It gave her the eerie sensation of a death countdown.

At this moment, every tiny noise in the room seemed amplified in her mind. She heard water droplets falling from the faucet onto the ceramic surface, ticking away like a clock, and it sounded like someone was walking slowly in the hallway outside.

Worse still, she was sure she had closed the bathroom window, but why was there a bone-chilling breeze on her skin? Such a small, enclosed space shouldn’t have such a draft, as if an invisible person was standing behind her, blowing air on her.

A shiver ran down her spine, and a sense of unease lingered.

‘Zhao Yi…’

She kept chanting her sister’s name, and ten minutes had passed without incident. All the unease was just her own fear.

At that moment, she felt a twinge of disappointment, wondering if the black cell phone was indeed just someone’s idea of a cruel joke.

But just as the tenth minute passed, she suddenly heard a voice.

“Mingyue…”

“Zhao Mingyue!”

Zhao Mingyue’s body trembled, nearly causing her to open her eyes. She was certain she hadn’t misheard; the voice came from behind her! She recognized the voice, she had heard it somewhere before but couldn’t recall where.

The voice grew louder as it approached from the living room, slowly making its way toward the bathroom where she was. With each step, the voice softly called out “Zhao Mingyue,” matching the frequency of her mental chants.

Who was this person outside, calling her name? No, what was this thing outside, and was it even human?

The voice was soft, but when it reached the bathroom door, it suddenly intensified, becoming shrill and off-key, as if in a hurry. At that moment, Zhao Mingyue felt the red string tied to her wrist being pulled taut by a force, as if someone on the other side of the door had tied it to their hand.

Her combing paused, a chill ran down her spine, and her heart was so frightened. She had lived so long, and felt that her worldview was shattered.

“Thump, thump, thump!”

The urgent sound came from behind her, the “person” still calling her name incessantly, and when she didn’t respond, they began to knock on the door with force.

No, to be precise, it was more like pounding on the door.

“Thump! Thump! Thump!”

The pounding grew faster and stronger. The thing stopped calling her name and instead, there was the sound of nails scratching at the door, rustling and scraping.

Zhao Mingyue’s fingernails were almost digging into her palms, her back drenched in cold sweat.

The red string around her wrist was painfully tight, and her combing was stiff. Her eyelids twitched, resisting the urge to go out and see what was behind the door.

Finally, the fifteen minutes were up. As the last number she counted fell, the sounds in the bathroom eerily vanished, and the red string fell limp, as if nothing had ever happened. The silence was deafening.

Just to be safe, she counted an extra minute before opening her eyes.

The first thing she saw was her own reflection in the mirror.

There was no significant change, except that the candle, which had hardly been used, had burned out.

A candle burning out in fifteen minutes made Zhao Mingyue’s throat tighten. She quickly pulled out her cell phone from her pocket, turned on the flashlight, and shone it on the wooden door behind her.

The door was intact. She couldn’t be sure if the thing that had been pounding on it was still there, and she didn’t dare to open the door. But as her gaze moved downward, she noticed something.

“Why is there a doll?”

Out of nowhere, a rabbit doll appeared on the floor, leaning against the door, head bowed, as if it had just appeared and blocked the door, saving her life.

After a long pause, Zhao Mingyue mustered the courage to approach the door and picked up the rabbit doll stained with dried blood.

As she picked it up, she remembered something.

“Isn’t this the doll from the photo, the one the little girl was holding?”

Before she could examine it closely, the black cell phone in her pocket vibrated. She took it out and saw several lines of blood-red text on the screen.

【Congratulations, you have obtained the ghostly prop】

【Bloodstained Doll】

【Her sister told her not to be afraid at night, Miss Rabbit is your friend, she will protect you in the dark. So on that rainy night, when the killer chopped off her head and dismembered her body, she still didn’t let go of her hand】

【With this prop, you can summon the female ghost: Bai Yu】

【Be warned, this ghost is extremely dangerous, please handle with extreme caution.】

Just as she finished reading the prompt, the red string on her wrist suddenly tightened again, and the mirror behind her cracked with a snap. A thin male voice echoed from the broken mirror.

“Is anyone there…”

“Is anyone there!”

“Is anyone there!!”

“If no one’s there, I’m coming in…”