The Rules of the Third Night

The night his older sister vanished, she left behind only a note bearing the words “Long Night” and a recording of an old-fashioned announcement, its tone so polite it was almost eerie.

Gu Yu entered her password, and the System displayed a message: “Welcome back.”

It had mistaken him for Gu Wan.

From that day on, Gu Yu entered one space after another under an “assumed identity.” These spaces were called “instances”: Ward 318, where silence was forbidden; an empty host’s chair that someone had to take; and a bowl of tea that had to be finished before dawn. The rules were stated calmly, but the traps were hidden in the most inconspicuous wording.

He wasn’t the only one searching for someone in the long night. And Gu Wan’s name was slowly changing from “missing person” to “pending” on the reserve list.