Not every subway station connects to the Ruins Realm. Only “old stations” that have been open for more than thirty years and have experienced a major accident, such as a cave-in or someone falling onto the tracks, have entrances. These entrances appear only between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., while the subway is out of service. They may take the form of a green glow in a crack in the wall or an abandoned elevator that opens by itself. Inside lies a distorted mirror image of the city, with abandoned subway cars and familiar street signs, but buildings collapse at random. “Fragments of obsession” float in the air, formed after death by people who died with regrets. Touching one lets you see that person's memories. The realm is also home to “Ruins Beasts” that feed on obsessions. They look like blurred human silhouettes, and anyone they latch onto gradually loses their own memories. Chu Ming is a night-shift technician on the subway maintenance crew. As a child, he once went missing at an old station, though in truth he briefly entered the Ruins Realm. He awakened the ability to “hear the tracks”: by listening to the vibrations of the rails, he can predict where an entrance to the Ruins Realm will appear. He can also understand the Ruins Beasts' whispers and learn that their weakness is the objects they were obsessed with in life...
