Lin Yuning receives a text message three days late.
It was sent by her younger sister, Lin Zhixia.
[Sis, if you see the ninth rule, don't trust me. Whatever you do.]
But when she rushes home, her mother says, “Where did you get a sister? You've always been an only child.”
In the photos, Lin Zhixia's place has been erased into a blank space. The chat history is nothing but empty lines. The four chairs at home have become three. Even the community records System shows that the Lin family has only ever had one daughter.
Everyone has forgotten Lin Zhixia.
Only Lin Yuning remembers.
To find her sister, she follows the words on the back of a photo and arrives at Anmin Lane at 12:09 a.m. There stands Building 9, which doesn't exist on any map, with eight rules for residents posted inside the elevator.
If you hear knocking, don't answer.
If someone outside claims to be family, turn off the lights immediately.
Don't trust your reflection in the mirror.
Do not enter 404.
Lin Yuning thinks that if she finds her sister, she'll be able to bring her home.
Until she discovers that clearing the game doesn't mean getting out alive.
It means one person will disappear from the real world.
Even more terrifying, the person who truly cleared it last time might have been Lin Yuning herself.
