Liberating the Ruins

That night, I was working late at the museum when my reflection in a bronze mirror blinked at me.

I was certain I hadn’t blinked.

From that day on, I began seeing things I wasn’t supposed to see. Don’t look in mirrors after dark. Don’t turn around at midnight. Never accept anything handed to you by a paper figure. Those who break the rules don’t die. They become part of the rules, trapped in the same loop forever.

A department that couldn’t be found in any public records tracked me down: the Bureau of Investigation and Handling of Folk Anomalies, or the Folk Affairs Bureau for short.

My master told me: [Of all the people in this line of work who’ve survived for thirty-five years, there are fewer than ten in all of China.]

He handed me a business card, then paused.

[Now you make ten.]

My job is simple: go in, understand the rules, and come out alive.

But nobody told me this:

Once you can [understand] the rules, the rules will start to [understand] you too.