Ye Man was a college student. But after obediently attending classes for his entire freshman year only to get mocked as a bookworm, he’d never set foot in those damned lecture halls again. Now, living comfortably in an off-campus apartment, equipped with a 5MB broadband connection he’d gotten from a nearby service center, life was blissful—whether he was downloading games or binge-watching movies.
Chinese Paladin: Sword and Fairy 5 was officially released on July 7th, 2011.
Being a die-hard fan of the series, Ye Man downloaded the digital client the moment it went live. After immediately purchasing an official activation code, he plunged straight into the game.
The intricate, emotionally charged storyline was so engrossing that Ye Man found himself utterly immersed before he knew it.
Since his apartment wasn't in the bustling city center, the rent was pretty affordable. It had one bedroom, one living room, a bathroom, kitchen, balcony, and came furnished with appliances. While it wasn’t luxurious, it was more than enough for a gaming addict like him.
The soundproofing wasn’t bad either. At least, even when he cranked the speakers blasting bosses at midnight, his neighbors had yet to complain.
""Hah! Awesome! Finally beat it!"" Ye Man exclaimed after over twenty hours of intense gameplay, finally finishing the new game. Only then did he register the loud gurgling from his stomach. Rubbing his belly, he stretched his stiff limbs and wandered to the fridge, grabbing a bowl of leftover rice and a few eggs. He carelessly tossed them into a wok on the stove, stirred a couple of times, and soon returned to his computer desk with a plate of glistening fried rice.
As he shoveled forkfuls into his mouth, Ye Man replayed the game’s climactic moments in his head. The thrilling, twist-filled narrative still had his heart racing. Unable to contain his excitement, he shoved the plate aside and fired up Baidu Tieba—Reddit-like communities within the Baidu ecosystem.
""Jiang Shili! I freaking love that guy! Absolute badass! Pure man! And Xiao Man, so adorable—totally melted my heart! Chinese Paladin 5 is a masterpiece!""
After posting this fiery declaration, Ye Man scrolled through others’ reactions and analyses in the forum, his excitement gradually settling into a strange, profound emptiness that often followed finishing something epic.
""Sigh, gonna be hard to find another game this good. Whatever, time to see if there's any new novels out.""
He shoved the empty plate away. Browsing through the ‘New Releases’ and ‘Monthly Rankings’ lists yielded nothing that caught his eye. With a resigned sigh, he prepared to dig through his bookshelf for something newly updated in the stories he was already following.
Then something utterly bizarre caught his eye.
On the updates section in the bottom left of the homepage, every single novel listed showed its last update as... July 7th.
Ye Man instinctively checked his computer's date and time: July 9th, 2011.
""The hell? Did everyone just stop updating?"" he muttered. Maybe it was just a glitch with Qidian Chinese Network? Shrugging it off, he switched over to the Tudou Fan Group chat—Tudou being a nickname for a popular author—hoping to ask what was going on. But the group felt eerily quiet. In a group of 500, barely five people were online.
[JiangShili] 2:17 PM
Tudou! What the hell are you playing at?!
[JiangShili] 2:18 PM
Your new book just started a few days ago and you’re already dropping off? You trying to piss off your readers? You done?
[ImTudousFan] 2:20 PM
It’s over. More zombies under my building. What do I do?!
[Swordsman1] 2:20 PM
My area’s already locked down!
[ImTudousFan] 2:20 PM
We’re screwed. Zero food stockpiled. Not even water!
Ye Man stared, baffled. ""Did I join the wrong group?"" A quick check confirmed it was definitely Tudou's fan group. Annoyed, he typed:
[JiangShili] 2:20 PM
OMG, you guys on drugs? This ain't the Zombie Club! Take the zombie talk somewhere else, OK?!
[JiangShili] 2:20 PM
Seriously, where’s Tudou?! Been MIA for two days? You don’t pull this crap on a newly launched book!
[Swordsman1] 2:20 PM
Post updates my ass! Tudou’s probably zombie chow by now! Moron!
[JiangShili] 2:21 PM
Damn! What lousy attitude!
[CutieDol] 2:25 PM
Someone save me… I’m at
""Screw you idiots!"" Ye Man slammed the chat window shut in frustration, muttering under his breath. He craved a cold Coke. Flinging open the fridge door, his heart sank. It was completely empty. Groaning, he scooped some loose change from the coffee table, deciding he had to make a run to stock up.
His building had 21 floors; he lived on the 5th. Luckily, there was a small supermarket right downstairs, making shopping convenient. Grabbing his keys and keycard, he locked his security door and headed for the elevator.
""AHHHHH!""
As the elevator descended past the 3rd floor, a sharp, blood-curdling scream pierced the air from the hallway outside. Ye Man barely flinched, just cursed irritably. ""Who the hell watches horror flicks with their door open in broad daylight? For real? Zero consideration!""
The elevator dinged as it reached the lobby. Ye Man immediately shifted his focus. It had been ages since his last grocery run. He needed to stock up big time on snacks and soda.
Then, the elevator doors slid open.
Paralyzing horror slammed into him. Right there on the polished marble lobby floor, sprawled in front of the elevator door, lay the gruesomely severed body of a woman. She had been torn cleanly in half at the waist. Her upper torso’s chest cavity was completely hollowed out, organs violently ripped away. Her lower body lay yards away, viscera spilling grotesquely onto the cold floor like discarded refuse.
Her eyes, wide-open pools of terror, locked onto the ceiling overhead, frozen in the agony and sheer dread she must have felt moments before her death.
Staring at the horrific tableau, Ye Man froze. Instincts screamed for action, yet his limbs refused to obey. His mind scrambled, thoughts fragmenting into stunned, horrified silence. He stood as rigid as stone, breath catching in his throat, utterly incapable of processing the nightmare unfolding before him. The stench of iron and viscera hit him, thick and cloying in the sterile elevator air. Every fiber of his being screamed wrong, primal fear short-circuiting rational thought. The fluorescent lobby lights hummed overhead, casting stark shadows on the obscene display, illuminating the sticky, dark blood smeared across the pristine marble. The elevator door chime buzzed again, a jarring, surreal counterpoint to the carnage. Time stretched, each second hammering the reality home: this wasn’t a screen, wasn't a prank. The woman’s lifeless, silver-white eyes, reflecting the cold ceiling panels, seemed to hold a universe of terror condemned to haunt that hallway. Terror, pure and absolute, held Ye Man in its icy grip."
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