Escape from the Thriller World – Chapter 1

Volume One: The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village

Hell Hotel

The time when Hell opens.

Ning Lan is a grown woman of twenty-eight.

            

In her parents’ eyes, she’s an old maid who can’t get married. This time, returning home, Ning Lan is once again forced into the matchmaking scenario. She absolutely doesn’t want to go back because she’s deeply closeted.

Ning Lan left her parents’ county town and came alone to the main city to make something of herself (“da pin” – literally “to fight hard for success”).

Reality wasn’t as beautiful as she imagined. After graduation, she worked at several companies but couldn’t tolerate the office politics (“gou xin dou jiao” – literally “hook hearts and fight angles,” meaning workplace scheming and intrigue), so she quit to stay home and make a living writing novels for manuscript fees.

            

Ning Lan thought about how her writing would have to go on hiatus for the few days she’s back home. She opened her laptop on the desk in advance and logged into the author interface’s control panel.

In her latest article 《Strange Occurrences in Fengmen Village》, she noted her leave and pending return.

With a “pa da” sound, she closed her laptop.

            

Ning Lan let out a heavy sigh, her mood gloomy.

She thought she was just a mediocre suspense novelist, and probably didn’t have many readers waiting for her updates.

She belittled herself, feeling her actions were completely unnecessary.

            

Ning Lan pulled out her phone from her jeans and booked a high-speed rail ticket to her hometown Wanzhou for tomorrow on an app.

That day, she stood at the platform of Chongqing North High-speed Railway Station with her heavy suitcase, waiting for train G952.

Her facial features were defined and delicate, with long fluttering eyelashes, soft tender lips, and eyes gleaming with depth.

            

“Miss, hello, do you need help?” A man in a suit and tie approached, eagerly offering assistance.

Ning Lan politely declined: “No need, thank you.”

Her tone carried coldness and disdain, as she had always disliked excessive physical contact with men.

            

The platform attendant gestured for them to line up in order; the train was about to arrive.

The suited man tried to continue making small talk with her, but she brushed him off (“tang sai” – literally “to block with excuses”).

The high-speed train slowly approached her, entering the station.

            

Ning Lan took advantage of this moment to shake off the persistent man from earlier, and quickly boarded the train.

Ning Lan made her way through carriage 8, holding her ticket for seat 16F while searching for her seat.

Seat 16F was by the window, and blocking her way was a lady wearing a deep gray wool coat and black sunglasses.

            

Ning Lan could never have imagined that she would later develop an inexplicable (“yuan bu ke miao yan” – literally “a fate that cannot be wonderfully explained”) grudge with this woman.

“Excuse me, ma’am, could you let me through? I’m sitting inside,” Ning Lan said, pointing to the inner seat.

The woman elegantly removed her sunglasses and stood up coldly, holding her sunglasses while pointing inside.

            

Ning Lan nodded and said “thank you.” She sat down expressionlessly, with the air around them emanating coldness.

This must be what they mean by a frost-like woman (“leng ruo bing shuang” – literally “cold as ice and frost,” meaning extremely aloof).

A train attendant came by pushing a small cart. Ning Lan glanced at the attendant and ordered a coffee.

            

Ning Lan pulled out some change from her wallet and handed it to the attendant, who nodded and poured her a hot coffee.

As she took the coffee, her hand trembled, spilling it on the ice-faced woman’s coat.

“If your hands shake, drink less coffee,” the woman’s lips moved as she spoke.

            

“Sorry, sorry!” Ning Lan frantically pulled out tissues from her bag to wipe it.

The ice-faced woman uttered: “Remove your hand.”

Ning Lan smiled awkwardly in apology and said: “Miss, I’m really sorry!”

            

The ice-faced woman closed her eyes and turned away, ignoring her. Ning Lan pulled out her phone to check the time: 12:00

The midnight exchange, when hell opens.

The train rushed through a tunnel near Liangping, unaware they were heading toward a world of horror…

            

The train carriages began breaking apart in the tunnel, making piercing “zhi zhi zhi” screeching sounds.

“It’s malfunctioning, malfunctioning, can’t brake!” the train driver roared while stepping on the brakes.

The train attendant pulled the alarm as the carriages rapidly derailed and continued forward…

            

The tunnel’s darkness instantly enveloped the entire train carriage, and the shadows of people around gradually got swallowed by the blackness.

The carriage swayed side to side, and under the force of inertia, bodies began to lose control, violently shaking and even falling.

Waves of terrified and panicked screams echoed through the train carriage, with the passengers in the seats behind them screaming hysterically.

            

When people are in darkness, their subconscious urges them to grab onto familiar people nearby for a sense of security.

The couple sitting next to them huddled together, trembling in panic.

As the noise and terrified screams filled their ears, Ning Lan calmly pressed her palms together and said: “What joy is there in life, what suffering is there in death, Namo Amitabha Buddha.”

            

“How affected,” (“jiao rou zao zuo” – literally “artificial and pretentious”) the ice-faced woman said calmly.

Ning Lan rolled her eyes and said: “You’re really something, still throwing shade at death’s door.”

…

            

The chaotic sounds of the crowd were so loud that Ning Lan covered her ears, until she felt her head hit the tempered glass window. She bit her lip and then passed out….

When Ning Lan opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on a soft, comfortable bed.

She walked to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror – not a scratch on her!

            

The wound on her head had healed too, but she clearly remembered being cut by glass shards?

She got up and realized she seemed to be in a hotel room, and there was now an electronic watch on her wrist?

Ning Lan opened the door to find an endless corridor, with each room marked with a number.

            

She looked up at her room number: 1995.

The hotel’s central broadcast system then came to life, echoing through the corridor.

“Welcome new players, please proceed to the Hell Hotel lobby to receive your mission rules,” a deep, magnetic male voice announced.

            

The new players emerging from their hotel rooms looked at each other in confusion. Before they could question one another, the electronic watches on their wrists violently vibrated once.

Ning Lan pressed the button on the electronic watch, and it played a voice prompt: Please proceed to the lobby via the transfer level, located 125 steps straight ahead of you.

All these rookie (“cai niao” – literally “vegetable bird,” meaning inexperienced newcomer) players were housed on this floor.

            

Following the male voice from the broadcast about the hotel lobby, the players used their electronic watch’s voice prompts to reach the elevator in the floor’s transfer area.

Above the elevator was a scanner that would identify their player status, with the electronic watch serving as their identity symbol.

The scanner performed a complete scan of Ning Lan and said: Player 1995, welcome to your first mission, good luck.

            

Ning Lan looked up at the electronic scanner, noticing what seemed like someone “watching” them through the circular opening.

After Ning Lan’s identity verification passed, she stepped into the elevator, which instantly plunged downward to the hotel’s ground floor lobby.

The rookie players gathered in the center of the lobby, each holding a copy of the game mission rules.

            

The lobby broadcast sounded again: “New players, please thoroughly read the game mission rules, your debut is about to begin.”

Ning Lan opened the game mission rules:

1. Complete ten horror missions to leave Hell Hotel.
2. Mission difficulty levels will stack progressively (beginner, intermediate, advanced, difficult, hell, etc.)
3. Those who leave without completing missions will have their souls punished by the devil.

Just as Ning Lan read this rule, a new player ignored others’ attempts to stop him and frantically ran toward the hotel lobby’s revolving door, trying to escape.

            

The revolving door suddenly made a “ka cha ka cha” sound, and his entire body was sucked into the high-speed rotating door, instantly torn into pieces, flesh and skin splitting open.

The revolving door, like a meat grinder, shredded his body to pieces, with bits of flesh splattering out, some landing on another new player’s shoes, who fell to the ground in terror and wet himself.

His head was violently ejected from the revolving door, face covered in blood splatter, eyes wide with rage.

            

Several timid new players became hysterical: “Escape, how can we escape from here!”

“Aaaah, are we really going to be trapped to death in this hotel?” said the man who had wet himself, stepping backward several steps.

“Did you see that? The devil’s punishment! We better honestly complete the missions!” another player cried while holding his head.

            

The rookie players were still introducing themselves, and some were even trying to form alliances (“la bang jie pai” – literally “pull groups and form factions”), begging others to help them escape together.

Ning Lan learned from their conversations that they had all died in accidents before arriving at Hell Hotel.

Does that mean she was already dead in reality?

            

With this question in mind, she pinched her arm, and she could feel the pain when she gritted her teeth.

The dead shouldn’t feel pain, so perhaps they were all “saved” by that “devil”?

The ultimate purpose of this game mission remained unknown…

            

Ning Lan silently scanned through the game mission rules quickly, roughly understanding the game mission they were in.

An hour later.

The hotel lobby broadcast sounded again: “Missions have been matched to all players, please proceed to the Script Performance Hall on the 50th floor to prepare.”

            

The new players stepped heavily into the elevator, and the scanner once again verified their identities.

Ning Lan walked quickly forward, and after authentication, they were sent to the Performance Hall on the 50th floor.

The Performance Hall had a strong 3D technological design. The novice players entered space capsule pods one by one, and Ning Lan casually picked up the 3D purple light glasses required before entering the pod.

            

If a player dies in the game mission, the capsule pod will automatically destroy their body.

The capsule pod door slowly closed, and the pod began counting down to game start: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…

“Hong long hong long…” the capsule pod rumbled.

            

The electronic watch vibrated to remind her of this mission’s task; they needed to complete the entire mission according to the watch’s prompts.

Ning Lan was truly “lucky” – her first mission was based on the Hong Kong film 《The Wicked Ghost》 (“Shan Cun Lao Shi” – literally “Old Corpse in the Mountain Village”).

In an instant, Ning Lan found herself in a gloomy room. Under dim lights, a writing brush sat on a dust-covered wooden table.

            

Looking around at the people sitting opposite her, they must be her companions for this game mission.

Mission Act One: The Spirit of the Pen (“Bixian” – literally “Pen Fairy,” refers to a traditional Chinese divination game similar to a Ouija board, but using a writing brush to communicate with spirits)

---

---