At some point, strange stories began to crop up more and more often.
Three-meter-tall humans falling like raindrops, scraps that gnawed at your organs after you swallowed them, a town repeatedly swallowed by hot syrup, a high-stakes gambler who didn't exist at the table...
[Have you heard?]
For people who loved to socialize, it became the start of a conversation no one could avoid.
Before he was invited to attend this national defense university, Chen Mo had never imagined that those strange stories were real, or that they constantly threatened human lives.
They all shared a name: strange tales.
In his first class, his homeroom teacher told him, [At the very beginning, strange tales were nothing more than fictional stories. But in a village at the end of the last century, a country boy died, and in his place, Strange Tale Zero was born.]
[After it appeared, the “strange” in strange tales no longer meant merely unusual. It meant ghosts and monsters.]
[Humanity has returned to the dark, primordial jungle, fighting unseen beasts with our lives on the line. If we only hunker down, we'll be defeated. We must take the initiative and find a way forward in the unknown.]
[And so, to stand against strange tales, strange tale hunters came into being.]
[The purpose of strange tale hunters is to hunt strange tales and protect humanity.]
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Strange Tale Zero: Strange Tale House
An abandoned baby appeared in the village.
He had pale skin, white hair, and rabbit-red eyes that wouldn't open. When sunlight touched him, his whole body cracked, revealing mottled wounds and pale pink flesh.
None of the villagers dared approach him. They thought the freak would soon die and rot away, but he grew up naturally, as if raised by heaven and earth. After stealing an adult's clothes, he ran through the mountains like a wild animal. Whenever he saw someone, he would ask, [Has anything strange happened lately?]
He seemed to be obsessed with strange and bizarre stories like himself. Whether it was a long, thin ghost that appeared at night or an uncanny beast washing itself by the creek, whenever a villager told him an odd tale, tears of gratitude would spill from his red eyes, and he would keep saying, [Thank you.]
Every so often, a villager would spot him at the site of a strange occurrence the following day.
The villagers didn't like him. They despised anything abnormal, anything different, anything beyond their understanding. But they also feared the monster might have some supernatural power, so they didn't dare drive him away or kill him.
Then one day, a young man in the village had a sudden idea. He made up a strange tale and told it to the white monster.
[They say that if you run and run along the mountain path until you reach the edge of a cliff, then gather your courage and leap down, you'll see the legendary Smiling Dragonfly.]
[The Smiling Dragonfly has patterns like a human face. It's small and delicate, with a hollow body. As it dances through the air, it makes a sound like someone weeping.]
[Anyone who sees it will escape the bonds of the earth and never fall again.]
The white monster seemed to believe his lie. The next day, it was found dead beneath the cliff, its lifeless red eyes still fixed stubbornly on the sky.
The village seemed to return to its former peace.
But whenever the moon shone clear and full, the young man would dream.
Beneath a moon as large as a jade disc, a snow-white boy in nothing but a thin robe curled up amid the radiant moonlight. His limbs were flawless and beautiful. His eyes, brighter than crimson agate, glanced back at him. The boy opened his mouth, revealing a sky-blue dragonfly, its wings beating faintly.
The boy and the dragonfly smiled together, silently saying to him,
[Thank you.]
This is the story of a human lost in a strange tale, who became a strange tale himself.
His name was Strange Tale House.
Theme: Do not lose yourself
