Chapter 1
A silver-haired girl knelt in a pool of blood.
The rain was still falling, pattering softly against her bare shoulders. Her soaked shirt hung loosely from her frame, tracing a waist impossibly slender, and the two curves at her chest that had no business being there.
She clutched a misshapen cake box to her chest, knuckles white from the force of her grip.
Silver-white hair fanned out across the muddy water, a few strands plastered to her pallid cheeks. Those eyes—pupils an eerie, bloody crimson—stared blankly down at her own hands.
Slender wrists. Long fingers. Skin so fair it was nearly translucent.
Not her hands.
"…"
The girl parted her lips, and the sound that came out was like sleep-talking.
"So… is it actually illegal to go out and buy a cake?"
At that moment, only a single thought remained in her mind:
That 5-yuan delivery fee really shouldn't have been skipped.
——Two hours earlier.
Lu Li had always considered himself a man of principle.
For instance: saving money was a virtue. And for instance: if he'd promised his little sister something, he would see it through no matter what.
These 2 principles usually coexisted without conflict—until tonight. That is, that godforsaken rainy night, when the 2 of them came into violent collision…
9:30 PM. Inside the rental apartment.
Lu Li stood at the window, watching the torrential rain pour down outside like the end of the world, then looked back down at his phone screen.
The delivery checkout page. That one small line of text was particularly glaring.
Delivery fee: ¥5
What did 5 yuan even mean?
5 yuan could buy a soda and a grilled sausage at the convenience store downstairs. Save it up 4 times and that was 20 yuan—enough for a late-night snack for both him and his sister.
"Bro… the rain outside is really bad."
A soft, gentle voice came from behind him. Lu Qi was curled up on the sofa with her knees to her chest, wrapped in that faded pink coral fleece blanket, only a small, fair face peeking out.
On his phone, the message still glowed—
"Bro, I want cake. (´•ω•̥`)"
Followed by a sticker of a crying cat.
Lu Qi was his biological little sister—and the only family he had left in this world.
Ever since their parents went missing, the two siblings had been like weeds forcing their way up through cracks in concrete, clinging to each other and surviving to this day.
She was well-behaved most of the time, rarely asking for things—but when it came to sweets, she had a small, almost obsessive devotion.
"Maybe we should just forget it?" she said quietly.
"I really want some… but the rain is too heavy. It's not worth it for a cake."
"It's fine."
Lu Li turned off his phone screen.
"I was about to go downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes anyway. It's on the way."
"But Bro, you don't smoke."
"…Then I'll go buy a bottle of soy sauce."
"We just bought soy sauce yesterday."
"Lu Qi!" Lu Li put on a stern face, attempting to assert his authority as the older brother.
"Yes!"
"Shut up and wait for me to come back."
"Got it! Bro is the best! Be careful out there——!"
To the cheerful lilt of his sister's trailing voice, Lu Li grabbed the long-handled black umbrella by the door and heroically pushed it open.
Since he refused to pay that damned 5-yuan delivery fee, and he refused to let his sister down, there was only one option left—
Besides, the shop was only 2 streets away from their apartment complex. 15 minutes at most.
****
By the time he'd bought the cake and was heading back, Lu Li already regretted it.
He'd barely taken 2 steps out of the shop when a gust of wind nearly flipped the umbrella inside out.
His shoes had been soaked through on the way there. He pulled out his phone to check the time, and found the signal bars had been replaced by one big X.
….No response.
"No signal?"
He'd walked this road many times. There had never been a signal problem here before.
‘Whatever—probably the cell tower acting up in the rain.’
He kept walking.
On both sides of the alley were old residential buildings, most of their windows unlit. Something hung in the air—an indistinct, unplaceable smell. Faintly like rust…
‘…?’
The young man began trying to trace it mentally, searching for an everyday source that could account for that metallic smell.
An uneasy feeling rose in his chest.
Zzzt.
The dim yellow streetlight ahead flickered twice, then went out without warning.
Then the next one.
The darkness spread like dominoes, cascading down the alley toward him.
‘Something's wrong.’
‘Something is wrong.’
Under normal circumstances, Lu Li would have turned around immediately—he'd rather take a detour long enough to break his legs than look back. His survival instincts had always been sharp.
But tonight, something was different.
He suddenly thought of Lu Qi's expectant eyes. He thought of that 5-yuan delivery fee…
"Evil spirits begone… evil spirits begone…" he reassured himself internally. "Trust in science… get home fast… do not linger."
Lu Li pressed forward, steeling himself.
But the deeper he went, the stronger that smell grew—until it was thick enough to turn his stomach.
Ahead was a bend in the alley. Once he turned it, he'd be able to see the road home.
But… there seemed to be a faint light coming from around the corner.
‘There's light… that means it's safe, right? Right?’ Lu Li thought.
Then he held his breath, and carefully leaned his head around the corner—
And what he saw next was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Beneath the one streetlight that was still on, something stood.
A formless, indistinct mass—like thick black sludge oozing up from a drain, writhing across the ground, its surface occasionally swelling into bubbles that burst with faint pops.
It had no eyes.
But Lu Li knew it was looking at him.
****
The umbrella slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a sharp crack.
In that instant, what flashed through his mind wasn't his life flashing before his eyes, nor any great philosophy of living.
It was a single signal——Run!
He desperately wanted to turn and bolt, to flee this hellhole—but his legs felt like they'd been filled with lead, utterly unresponsive.
Fear was an ice-cold hand clamped around his heart, squeezing until even breathing became difficult.
The next moment, the monster moved.
Like a bolt of black lightning, it surged toward him without a sound.
The rain split apart. A rancid wind slammed into his face.
‘It's over.’
There was no shattering agony of bones breaking inch by inch as he'd imagined.
The instant it made contact with Lu Li, the black mist exploded—dissolving into countless fine threads that wound around his wrists, his neck, his ankles——then bored into his skin.
In an instant he felt a cold that reached far deeper into his bones than the rain around him ever could.
Then came the pain. Something was moving through his veins. His bones were continuously restructuring.
His knees buckled, and Lu Li collapsed into the standing water.
After the cold came the heat.
Blood as scorching as magma surged through his veins. The flesh that had once belonged to a human being was being continuously remolded under the influence of some overwhelming force.
His consciousness sank…
What flashed through his mind was a hunger—a ravenous urge to tear apart and devour every living thing before him.
It was like sinking to the bottom of the deep sea, surrounded by thick, viscous fluid… never wanting to surface again.
Dimly, Lu Li seemed to hear a strange sound—
"Found it…"
"The perfect… vessel…"
His consciousness sank completely.
His final thoughts were of the cake. Of his sister. Of the promise he'd made her.
Then, he fell into darkness.
He didn't know how much time passed.
His consciousness surfaced from deep water. First came the sound of rain, soft and steady.
Then feeling returned—his back against cold concrete, pooled water beneath him.
"Mm…"
‘Cold… so cold.’
Lu Li let out an instinctive groan, as if hoping to drive away the chill.
But the moment that sound left her lips, she snapped her mouth shut.
Because the voice that entered her ears was a completely unfamiliar one.
It was too soft, too gentle—and carried a certain… unguarded, drowsy sweetness, the kind a girl might have just waking up.
"…?"