"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" He Qi mumbled under his breath, only to have a hand ruffle his hair.
Xie Mingchi chuckled and pulled his hand back. "What could possibly be wrong? Didn't we already get it checked out? Everything came back normal. It's probably just your subconscious messing with you. Don't overthink it."
He Qi went quiet for a while, then muttered, "But… what if it's a sign?"
Xie Mingchi blinked. "Huh?"
"You know how people say dreams sometimes come true?" He Qi tried to explain. "Bro, it's not like I want you to die or anything, but maybe we should take it more seriously—"
"What are you going on about?" Xie Mingchi elbowed him in the ribs. "You're such a scaredy-cat and you're bringing this up? You're not worried *you'll* end up having nightmares later?"
He Qi's face flushed red. "I'm not scared—"
"Great, then do me a favor and get me a glass of water," Xie Mingchi said, tilting his head toward the door. "Thanks."
He Qi glanced at the pitch-black hallway and clenched his jaw. "Fine, I'll go!"
Watching him leave, Xie Mingchi couldn't help but feel a little amused at himself.
The kitchen was downstairs, along with the water heater. Sending a kid who just started talking about creepy omens down to the first floor alone? That was borderline cruel.
He Qi called him "bro," but they weren't related by blood.
Xie Mingchi had grown up in an orphanage. They said they found him in the woods behind the building, around six or seven years old, but practically feral—completely unresponsive, like he didn't understand human speech.
Then, a few days later, he vanished.
The staff assumed he'd run off to find his family. But that same night, he returned—carrying a baby in his arms.
That baby was He Qi.
No one at the orphanage could understand how a kid that young managed to carry a newborn through the mountains alone. But he did.
After that, it was like Xie Mingchi came back with a soul. He became alert, talkative, like someone flipped a switch.
Still, whenever anyone asked him where He Qi came from, all he could remember was walking into the forest and finding him. Nothing more.
He Qi had followed him around like a shadow ever since. And Xie Mingchi, in turn, treated him like a real little brother—helped him through school, brought him home to live together.
Xie Mingchi stared blankly at the notebook in front of him, fighting off sleep, but He Qi still hadn't returned.
That was odd.
It didn't take that long to go downstairs for water. And considering how scared the kid was, he should've come back in a hurry.
Something was off.
Xie Mingchi frowned and got up from his chair, heading for the hallway.
…
A few minutes later, every light in the two-story villa was on. The entire house was lit up like daylight—but eerily, He Qi was nowhere to be found.
The front door and all the windows were shut tight.
In other words, he had disappeared from inside the house—without a sound.
There were no signs of struggle. Nothing in the house was out of place. It didn't look like a kidnapping.
The only thing that stood out was the shattered glass on the living room floor—water spilled everywhere.
And in front of it stood a large, full-length mirror, about a meter wide.
…Had He Qi vanished while carrying that glass of water, right in front of the mirror?
Xie Mingchi muttered, "That's impossible..."
He stepped toward the mirror. Just as he looked up at his reflection—
All the lights in the house went out.
Darkness swallowed the room. And then, he heard it.
A girl's laughter—soft, airy, echoing through the house like it had no walls.
It came from—
The mirror.
Xie Mingchi's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand toward the glass—and that's when it happened.
His reflection didn't move.
Outside, the rain had stopped. Moonlight poured through the windows, casting twisted shadows of trees onto the walls. A cold wind slipped through the window cracks, carrying with it the chill of post-storm air and the sharp, metallic scent of rain.
The moonlight bathed Xie Mingchi's face in a pale, almost ghostly hue—at least, the version of him *in the mirror*.
That reflection's eyes were still glowing red—unnaturally so.
Then, he saw it.
The reflection grinned, slow and unsettling, and raised a hand to wave at him.
And worst of all—it was tempting.
He didn't know why, but part of him wanted to step into that mirror. To meet the other version of himself.
A thought struck him—what if He Qi had seen this, too?
What if he'd followed the mirror version of himself into the glass?
It sounded crazy. But right now, it was the most logical explanation.
Xie Mingchi reached out and touched the mirror. He expected cool glass—but his fingers passed right through it.
And then something yanked him in with immense force.
…
"Ah, finally, you're here…"
A voice echoed through the void—high-pitched and sharp, with a flirtatious lilt that made his skin crawl.
"So many guests this month… let me check which number you are…"
Pages rustled nearby, but Xie Mingchi couldn't see a thing. Everything was a haze. He couldn't even tell where the voice was coming from.
He frowned. "Where did you take him?"
No response.
The girl cleared her throat like she hadn't heard him at all. "Congratulations! You are now Nightmare Puppet Master No. 273. You have 273 days left to live."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence, icy and cold.
Xie Mingchi clenched his fists. Again—273.
He smirked. "Great. But where's my brother?"
"...Wait, 273?" The girl suddenly sounded confused.
A swirl of white mist filled his vision. Xie Mingchi raised an arm to shield his eyes. When he lowered it, a glowing blue flame flew straight at him—and stopped just inches from his face.
"Jesus," he blurted, taking a step back. "Any closer and we'd be kissing."
The flame didn't respond—then, like a startled cat, it suddenly bounced back a few feet and screeched in that same girl's voice: "Red eyes! He's got red eyes!!!"
Xie Mingchi blinked, baffled, as the flame began darting around, shrieking in panic: "It's really him! The red-eyed one!"
"..." Xie Mingchi was speechless.
*Shouldn't I be the one freaking out?*
The white mist began to lift, and faint light filtered in. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the snap of invisible strings breaking. Slowly, the world came into focus.
He was in a long, endless room, shelves stretching off in both directions. Each shelf was filled with hand-sized dolls.
They looked like puppets—every one of them holding a thin white string, faces blank and still.
As if sensing his presence, they all turned their heads at once to stare at him.
Xie Mingchi: "..."
They seemed like they were made of wood—but somehow he knew they weren't. The texture looked softer. Not quite rubber, not ceramic either. He couldn't tell what they were made of.
But he didn't care.
No matter how creepy this place was, he was only here for one thing. "Where's my brother?"
The blue flame, now hovering beside him, sighed like it was tired of the question. "Number 273, just follow my instructions. I'll let you see him."
"Welcome to the Void, the border between the real world and the Puppet Realm," the flame continued in its flirty, eerie voice. It floated toward a puppet on the shelf. "You're going to die soon. Choose your Ghost Puppet."
As bizarre as this was, Xie Mingchi actually laughed out loud, the sound edged with sarcasm. "Are you serious? You're just gonna tell me I'm dying like that?"
"What even is a ghost puppet?"
"Why would I choose one?"
"What is this place?"
"Are you threatening me by kidnapping my brother?!"
The flame acted like he hadn't said a word. "Each Ghost Puppet has only one master. You'll be partners."
As it spoke, ghostly images flickered above the puppets' heads—likely glimpses of their former selves.
Most of them were crying pitifully. Some were clawing at ropes around their necks. Others tried pulling knives out of their stomachs, spilling guts and gore everywhere.
Xie Mingchi frowned and quietly stepped forward. Suddenly, he kicked something round on the floor.
A head.
It rolled a few times, then stopped to face him—smiling.
The grin reached all the way to its ears.
He looked away. *Don't look. Don't engage.* He walked around it.
Suddenly, he caught a scent—something fragrant, a mix of strong tea and a faint medicinal aroma.
It was… pleasant.
He slowed, eyes scanning the shelves, until one puppet caught his eye.
It wore traditional robes, an ancient scholar's garb, its entire figure refined and otherworldly. One of its white strings had snapped.
Unlike the others, it was smiling. And above its head—no horrific ghostly image.
Was it just his imagination, or had the puppet's hand trembled the moment they locked eyes?
"This one," Xie Mingchi said without hesitation, pointing. "I want this one."
The flame peeked over his shoulder, caught sight of the puppet, and immediately retreated, scribbling frantically in its little book. "You… y-you take it yourself."
Xie Mingchi obeyed, carefully lifting the puppet off the shelf. To his surprise, it was warm. It felt… human.
The flame looked even more terrified now. "Number 273! Are you ready? Can you leave now?!"
Its voice was shaking.
Xie Mingchi frowned. "Leave?"
The flame took that as a yes and breathed a visible sigh of relief.
Its voice floated around him, barely audible: "Please enter the Puppet Realm, Number 273. Survive, and earn back your life."
Xie Mingchi was still confused. "Wait, what—?"
In the next instant, the entire world shifted. The towering shelves and rows of puppets vanished.
He felt like he was falling, being pulled into a deep abyss that twisted and folded around him.
"Wait—what about my brother?!"
The flame's voice echoed faintly, already far away: "He'll be waiting for you at the destination."
I...
Before he could get the curse out, Xie Mingchi felt a sudden jolt of nausea and vertigo—then he landed on a moving train.
…Crap.
Whatever this was, he was in deep now.