After Lin Zhouzhou is fired from the community mediation office, she is dragged into the infinite horror game Echoes of the Abyss that very night.
Clearance condition: Reach 100 fear points.
Room One: A red-clad ghost crawls out of the TV.
Lin Zhouzhou offers her a pair of hotel slippers. “The floor's cold.”
The ghost freezes. The System reports an error.
Room Two: A chainsaw killer stands in a pool of water.
Lin Zhouzhou glances at the blade. “The oil's not viscous enough. It'll fly off at high speed.”
The chainsaw falls silent for a moment.
Room Three: A trainee named A Zhen, combing her hair in the mirror, grips a wooden comb with teeth packed too tightly together. The ends of her hair are caught.
Lin Zhouzhou places her wide-toothed comb in front of the mirror. “It's not your fault. It's the comb.”
Room Four: At an amusement park, a little boy in overalls crouches in a corner of the ticket booth, playing with bottle caps.
The strap on his sandal has snapped and been patched with tape. He's waiting for his mother to pick him up. He's been waiting for two years.
Room Five: The System administrator stands on a balcony, his face constantly refreshing into a mosaic.
He's been waiting to get off work for three years. He waited until he died, and kept waiting even afterward.
Later, Sister Zhen's empty bottle of conditioner, Old Zhou's whetstone, A Zhen's red-thread-tied comb, Qiuqiu's three bottle caps, and Chen Mo's employee badge marked “Unfiled” are packed one by one into Lin Zhouzhou's canvas bag.
Later still, five names are signed on an arbitration application.
Respondent: The Echoes of the Abyss System.
The System has received it. Ruling: Unknown.
But the names are written there now, and they can't be erased. While everyone else runs for their lives in the horror game, she helps the NPCs...
