…In the thick fog, an old, battered bus slowly made its way down an endless highway.
There were seven people on the bus—three women and four men.
They sat silently, gazing out the windows at the dense fog outside, each with a different expression.
Confusion. Bewilderment. Fear…
But aside from that, all their faces were equally pale.
As if, somewhere along the road, they had experienced something terrifying.
The bus continued moving forward until it finally came to a stop outside an old, worn-down villa.
The villa was shrouded in thick fog, pitch black in color—mysterious and eerie.
The bus door opened, as if silently telling the passengers inside… it was time to get off.
One by one, the seven passengers stepped off the bus. They turned back for a glance, their eyes filled with a nameless dread.
Because in the driver’s seat—where a driver should have been—there was nothing.
That’s right. This bus… had no driver.
As the last passenger stepped off, the bus door closed by itself, then it started moving again, slowly vanishing into the depths of the fog…
The seven people standing outside the dark villa looked at each other, each seeing the same pale, dreadful expression on the others’ faces.
“…Let’s go.”
“I think… we no longer have a choice.”
At that moment, a thin man in the group spoke. He wore a pair of dark brown, wooden-framed glasses, and his delicate features showed a calmness unlike the others.
“Do… do we really have to go in?”
A beautiful woman with gold earrings asked in a trembling voice.
She was dressed stylishly—but not warmly—so she was cold.
Rubbing her arms, she shivered nonstop.
“What if… it’s not safe inside?”
The others remained silent.
At first, they thought this was some kind of prank, or that someone had invited them to take part in a reality show…
But once they realized there was no driver on the bus, all of them were consumed by deep fear!
Though they had all once been firm believers in materialism, the things they had experienced… defied all logic!
“So, what? Are you going to walk back into the fog?”
Ning Qiushui took a deep breath, trying his best to stay calm.
But his heart was pounding.
It had been less than an hour since he received that strange letter and arrived at this place.
Yet in that one hour, his entire worldview had been shattered!
“Did you forget about the fat guy—the one who jumped off at the crossroads?”
At the mention of the fat guy, the woman’s beautiful eyes instantly filled with overwhelming fear!
Her knees buckled, and she nearly fell!
Originally, there had been eight people on the bus.
They had all mysteriously awakened there, with no memory of how they got on board.
One of them was a fat man, who had cursed nonstop during the trip, insisting that this was just some twisted reality TV show organized by shady producers.
He claimed their phones had probably been swapped, the bus was being driven from below somehow, and the fog was just dry ice effects…
Eventually, when the bus stopped at a crossroads, he opened a window and jumped out, walking alone into the fog…
Up to that point, things still seemed somewhat within the realm of possibility.
But when the bus reached the next intersection, they saw something hanging on the fog-covered traffic light…
As the bus drew closer, they realized what it was—flapping in the wind atop the traffic light…
It was the fat man’s bloody, skinned human hide!
It had been peeled off completely, and they could still see his face—twisted in terror—as if he had seen something unimaginable right before his death.
Bright red blood dripped steadily from the pole of the traffic light…
That scene had utterly terrified everyone on the bus.
Someone, still not believing it, opened a window—only to let the nauseating stench of blood fill the entire bus…
At the mention of the fat man, everyone’s expression turned even uglier—some even started dry heaving.
“…Since no one dares to walk into that fog, then we have no choice but to enter this black villa…”
Ning Qiushui took a deep breath.
He was afraid too.
But for some reason, whether it was the blood-soaked human skin hanging on the traffic light or the overwhelming stench of blood, his reaction was far less intense than the others’.
Moreover, he was curious about that mysterious letter he’d received.
Who was the sender… and what exactly were they trying to tell him?
As Ning Qiushui took the lead, the others followed behind him. They pushed open the iron gate and stepped into the villa’s front garden.
It was deathly silent around them.
So silent it was eerie.
Everyone instinctively huddled close together. The beautiful woman with the gold earrings felt someone groping her, but simply frowned and said nothing.
Let them grope… better that than ending up skinned alive for no reason.
And so, the group arrived at the villa’s main entrance. Ning Qiushui knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock—
Not long after the knock, footsteps echoed from within. The people behind him instinctively backed away a few steps, eyes fixed on the door, visibly tense.
Creeeak—
The door opened.
But the horrifying scene they’d all imagined didn’t appear.
Instead, it was a very delicate, beautiful young girl who answered the door.
She looked around fifteen or sixteen years old.
“You’ve arrived?”
“Come in.”
The girl spoke, and only then did they realize… he was actually a boy.
A very beautiful boy.
But his voice was cold—emotionless.
The group watched as Ning Qiushui followed the boy inside. For a moment, they looked at one another, unsure if they should go in too.
“You’d better come in quickly…”
As they hesitated, the boy’s voice rang out again from inside the house.
“That fog… is very dangerous.”
At the mention of the fog, everyone immediately recalled the fat man’s gruesome death, and with a shudder of fear, they rushed into the villa one after another.
The villa’s lobby was spacious and classically decorated. To the left stood orderly bookshelves, to the right a wooden staircase leading upstairs, and in the centre were three large sofas arranged around a burning brazier.
Four people were sitting around the brazier.
They stared silently into the flames, not saying a word.
The atmosphere grew colder and colder in that heavy silence.
“Excuse me… what is this place?”
“Why were we brought here?”
“What’s with the fog and the bus?”
“……”
Finally, after some thought, Ning Qiushui asked these three questions.
But still, no one answered him.
The four around the fire didn’t even glance his way.
At that moment, Liu Chengfeng—the bearded man standing behind Ning Qiushui—couldn’t hold it in anymore:
“Hey, we’re talking to you!”
“What, are you all mute?!”
His voice was thunderous, echoing through the hall and making everyone’s ears ring.
Finally, the man in a suit sitting across from Ning Qiushui spoke:
“I know you all have a lot of questions…”
“If you can return alive from the first Blood Gate, I will answer them for you.”
At those words, an ominous chill ran through everyone’s hearts.
“Blood Gate? What’s that?”
Ning Qiushui’s eyes flickered as he recalled a mysterious phone call he’d received from a woman earlier. He asked immediately.
The suited man didn’t even raise his head. He simply pointed toward the third floor of the villa.
“Your time is short. In less than five minutes, the Blood Gate will open. When it does, you will enter its terrifying world to complete the task assigned by the gate.”
“After completing the task, the bus will come to pick you up.”
As he finished, a short, thin girl with twin ponytails, named Yan Youping, spoke timidly:
“What if… what if we don’t complete the task?”
The suited man slowly raised his head and looked directly at her.
His calm yet indifferent gaze made Yan Youping tremble inside.
“You’ll die.”
“And it will be… a very miserable death.”
Everyone’s legs turned to jelly at that.
They wanted so badly to believe this was just some elaborate prank.
But the seriousness on the suited man’s face snuffed out the last shred of hope in their hearts.
“Is it… is it possible to not go?”
Another young man, who had dyed his hair blonde, gulped and asked cautiously.
The suited man gave him a glance.
“Yes.”
“But… you’d best never fall asleep again.”
The blond-haired man froze.
“W-why?”
The man in the suit gave a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Because if you refuse to go into the Blood Gate and complete the task, then… something will come out from behind the gate to find you.”
“No matter where you run, they will find you.”
“And then…”
The man in the suit didn’t finish his sentence—but everyone already understood what the ending would be.
Ning Qiushui glanced at the third floor, then turned to the man in the suit and asked:
“Before we go in… do you have any final advice?”
The man in the suit was slightly surprised, then shifted his gaze toward Ning Qiushui. Seeing the calm in his eyes—so different from the rest—a subtle, almost imperceptible hint of admiration flickered across his face.
“Advice… yes, I do.”
“The stories behind each Blood Gate are incredibly dangerous, but there is always more than one way to survive. As long as you find the right path, completing the task and surviving… won’t be that difficult.”
Ning Qiushui nodded.
“Thank you.”
After he said that, he actually stepped forward first, heading up the stairs.
Seeing how decisive he was, Liu Chengfeng—the man with the beard—struggled internally for a moment, then gritted his teeth and followed.
“Damn, bro… you’ve got guts!”
He whispered once he caught up behind Ning Qiushui.
He had actually been watching Ning Qiushui since earlier on the bus.
It was hard not to notice him.
Whether it was when the fat man’s flayed skin was discovered, or when the thick stench of blood filled the air—Ning Qiushui barely flinched.
“Guts?”
Ning Qiushui let out a self-mocking laugh.
“You think we really have a choice?”
Liu Chengfeng was a tall man, so even though he was a step below Ning Qiushui on the stairs, he was only slightly shorter.
“When you saw that guy’s skin, you didn’t even blink… Bro, were you, like, inthe business before?”
“In what business?”
“You know… a hitman.”
“You’ve read too many novels. There aren’t that many hitmen in real life.”
“Uh… then…”
“I’m a doctor.”
“Oh~ makes sense. A forensic pathologist?”
“Close. Veterinarian.”
Liu Chengfeng: “……”
The two chatted quietly as they reached the third floor of the villa.
Once there, they fell silent.
A thick stench of blood mixed with the rotting smell of wood filled the air.
The third floor of the villa was completely empty—except for a single wooden door, stained deep red with blood.
On the door, written in bright crimson blood, were the words:
[Take care of the bedridden elder for five days]
“Taking care of an old person… this is our task this time.”
Ning Qiushui’s eyes flickered thoughtfully.
The others began to arrive one by one. When they saw the bloody words on the door, they were all stunned.
“That’s… it? Just that simple?”
The woman with the gold earrings, Wang Yuning, couldn’t quite believe it.
Everyone began whispering among themselves—until suddenly, they all stopped at once, as if some collective instinct kicked in. Together, they turned to look at the wooden door.
Creak creak—
From behind the door, it sounded like something was trying to push it open.
Soon, the door was pushed ajar by a pair of pale, white hands.
As the blood-stained door slowly opened, everything before their eyes went dark—
And they lost consciousness.
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thank you so so much for translating this story, I’ve heard great things about it!<3
I'm looking forward to reading this (*/ω＼*)