He was once a legend in Corridor of the Strange, known by the ID “Shadowfade” and feared as an assassin of the uncanny. When that rules-based horror game, which had pushed players to their limits and drained their lives, spreads across the globe with a blood-red countdown and a cold mechanical voice, Jiang Chen knows his “game” has only just begun.
While others tremble in terror in the cracks between the strange domains, clinging to rules written in blood as they struggle to survive the pursuit of the uncanny, Jiang Chen strolls through deeper shadows. His SSS-rank talent, [Assassination], is an instinct he was born with. And the sole talent he gained as a completion reward, [Concealment], makes him a wraith who walks along the edge of every taboo.
“Rule One: Never look back in the hallway at midnight.” “Rule Seven: Refuse any food offered by the woman in red at the cafeteria.” “Rule Fifteen: Do not look the Night Watchman in the eyes.”
To him, the regulations that other Chosen Ones risk their lives to verify and revere as gospel are nothing more than floating words on a backdrop. Can’t look directly? Then there’s no need to look. His dagger exists for one purpose: to end lives.
One strange domain after another falls silent in his wake, and one indescribable horror after another perishes soundlessly in the dark. At last, the ultimate strange domain, shrouding countless worlds, descends with a crash. The source of the rules, an almighty incarnation, appears amid the worship of countless horrors. Its indifferent voice crushes across space and time: “All killing is forbidden here.”
All things fall silent. The power to kill is forcibly stripped away.
At the very instant this absolute prohibition is declared, a dim gray dagger appears out of nowhere and lightly touches the back of the incarnation’s neck, a being seemingly made of pure law.
The shadows ripple, and Jiang Chen’s almost whispered question drifts out.
