No one remembered how they had come to Antu Driving School.
When Li Wen opened her eyes, she was sitting in a scratched-up Jetta driving-school car. In the passenger seat, a man wearing a faded blue instructor’s uniform with a cheap whistle around his neck eyed her appraisingly. He was Wang Xuewei, the school’s only instructor. His lips curled into a smile, but there was no warmth in it. “New here? Learn the rules first.”
The student handbook he handed her was printed on coarse paper. Along with the usual driving lesson regulations, its later section, “Special Exam Rules,” was deeply unsettling:
- The written theory test is always held at midnight. If a woman in a red dress appears on the surveillance screen, close your eyes and count to thirty at once. No matter how many times she knocks on the screen, do not open your eyes.
- While practicing reverse parking, if an unfamiliar student’s face appears in the rearview mirror, you must say, “Please line up by number.” Never ask their name.
- During the night road test, if the streetlights flash three times in a row, pull over and turn off the engine for ten minutes. No matter what sounds you hear during that time, do not open the car door.
- Final rule: You may leave the driving school with “graduation eligibility” only after passing every exam in order. Anyone who tries to climb over the wall or damage a vehicle will forfeit their exam eligibility and remain here forever.
Li Wen soon discovered that the school was full of traps. During the second exam, one student failed to speak to the “person” in the rearview mirror and vanished with their car into the thick fog on the practice lot the very next second. Someone else broke the rules during the night test and was dragged into the darkness by a hand reaching out from under the car. The next day, a bloodstained scrap of clothing had appeared in the practice lot’s drainage ditch.
