Jin Qiang stood in his tiny kitchen, staring blankly at a half-empty bottle of lukewarm water before taking a long sip.
He wasn't thirsty. Not really. But he needed to do something, anything, to keep the nerves from crawling under his skin.
He leaned against the counter, the cold tiles pressing against his back as he eyed the countdown on his phone. Every second that ticked by felt like it was leading to something far worse than just a livestream.
[🎥Next Haunting Event: Playground of the Forgotten – 02:56:12]
"I should eat something…" he muttered under his breath in a flat tone. "It might just be my last meal."
"Yup, you definitely should eat, Qiang-ge~ You'll need the energy for later~ Tehee~" Xiao Hei brightly commented, as he hovered beside Jin.
Jin Qiang exhaled slowly, as his eyes drifted to the corner where his shoes were sprawled, and for some reason, the idea of preparing made the dread feel slightly more manageable.
Or at least, that's what he told himself.
One hour later….
The apartment looked like the aftermath of a panicked shopping spree at a dollar store.
On the floor was a mess of his so-called "protection" items, which he had rummaged from his apartment, and some he had just bought when he went out to buy his possibly last supper.
The items scattered on the floor were a cheap talisman he ordered online a few weeks ago, which had 'Certified Spirit Repelling!' in Comic Sans font, a small squirt gun filled with salt water, his old e-scooter black helmet, first aid bandages, duct tape, snacks he probably wouldn't be able to eat, and a dented baseball bat.
Jin taped a flashlight to the helmet and shoved everything that could fit into his backpack, alongside a power bank and a change of clothes. He even considered bringing salt with him to make a salt circle around himself, but decided it would just look pathetic on stream.
Xiao Hei floated nearby, looking absolutely unimpressed. "You know none of that is going to help, right?"
"I know." Jin tightened the last strip of duct tape. "It just… makes me feel better."
"Ahhhh~" Xiao Hei nodded solemnly. "The illusion of safety. Very powerful! Very human!"
"Don't you have any advice that isn't just 'accept your doom'?" Jin asked with a shaky breath, as he grabbed another flashlight from the drawer, unsure of what else he could bring.
"Hmmm~ Let me think~" Xiao Hei said as he imitated the thinker's statue posture.
"Offering... offering..." Jin muttered to himself, pacing back and forth in his tiny apartment.
What could he even offer? A token of goodwill? A life?
He then shuffled to his closet, but stopped in front of it, uncertain.
Was he supposed to bring something symbolic? Maybe a stuffed animal like a kid would? The idea felt ridiculous, but then again, so did everything about this.
With a deep sigh, Jin opened the door.
And inside was the usual mess, crushed winter coats, a few shirts on bent hangers, a pile of forgotten shoes, and storage boxes below. He rummaged through the layers of winter coats and storage boxes until something cold and plastic brushed against his fingers.
He pulled it out and blinked at the old action figure in his hand.
It was quite worn out as the colors faded from age and cheap paint, but it was unmistakably his.
The action figure was a chunky, off-brand superhero with one arm that was slightly looser than the other. The painted eyes had chipped off, giving it an odd and unsettling stare.
Jin Qiang remembered it well. It was his favorite toy, as it was the only toy that belonged to him solely as a kid. He referred to it as his so-called "protector" and used to keep it under his pillow when the nightmares were bad.
He turned it over in his hand, the faint outline of a sticker still on the back, 'Captain Brave-X! Defender of Dreams!' Jin snorted quietly. "Dreams, huh..."
He looked over at Xiao Hei, holding the toy up like it might hold the answer to everything.
"Will this work?"
The cursed phone floated over lazily, spinning upside down midair as Xiao Hei regarded the toy with exaggerated squinting.
"Hmmm~ Yeah, that should be fine, I guess?" he said with a shrug, his voice light but his eyes flicking, just once, with something unreadable. "It's not the object that matters, but the one who owns it. So as long as it's yours. You should be fine~Hehe~"
Jin frowned. "What does that mean?"
Xiao Hei gave a big grin and did a lazy spin in the air again. "Oh Nothing~ So!~ Are you ready Qiang-ge? It's almost time to go~ You don't want to miss the train right~"
Jin stared at the toy a bit longer, then quietly tucked it into his backpack between the flashlight and the squirt gun.
"Okay…. I think I'm ready to go." Jin muttered under his breath.
"Wohoo~ I can feel the tension already. Hehe~" Xiao Hei teased, practically vibrating with excitement.
Jin didn't respond. He couldn't.
His mind was a thousand miles away, thinking about everything that had led him to this moment, the cursed livestream, the weird system, the terrifying countdown, and now... this godforsaken Playground of the Forgotten.
As he was deep in thought, a sudden ringing sound broke his focus.
The phone had chimed again and flashed a new notification.
[New System Message: "Host Journey Plan"]
[System: Estimated Time of Arrival: 1 hour 30 minutes.]
[Route: Begin at the nearest Train Station.]
And suddenly, the lights in his apartment flickered. Once. Twice. Then steadied.
Jin Qiang and Xiao Hei both froze.
"Was… that you?" Jin asked as he glanced at Xiao Hei, who was beside him.
Xiao Hei moved his head, gesturing that it wasn't him and then whispered, "...Did you pay the electric bill?"
"I.... I think so?" Jin whispered back.
They stared at each other in silence for a second before Jin shook his head and pulled his navy-blue hoodie over his head, put on a black jacket, slung his backpack on, and took a deep breath.
"Okay, let's get this over with..."
His pulse throbbed in his ears, drowning out the noise in his head.
And whether this was real or a well-planned out and high-budgeted prank of some sort… In which he's still hoping for the latter.
He was going to find out soon… once he arrived at the designated location.
Jin took the hovering phone, connected an earphone, and stood in front of the door, taking one last glance around his room, noticing the glaring mess he had created with his last-minute packing.
It was so small, so insignificant, yet for the first time, it felt like a lifeline he was about to leave behind.
A lifeline he might never see again.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
He checked the livestream overlay and glanced at the ticking countdown displayed just below the 3 stream overlay buttons.
[🎥Next Haunting Event: Playground of the Forgotten – 01:40:25]
Jin closed the door behind him, and as his footsteps echoed in the empty hall, a deep sense of finality settled over him.
He wasn't sure what to expect, but he knew this much….
Whatever happened next would shape the rest of his life.
If he had a life left to live after tonight….
The train station was only a short walk away, but the trip felt longer than it should have.
As he passed through the busy streets of Zhi'an, the noise of the city seemed to fade, swallowed by the gnawing silence that had settled deep in his chest.
Even the bustling crowds seemed like distant echoes, too preoccupied with their own lives to notice the haunted man among them.
By the time he reached the train station, the clock had shrunk the countdown even further.
[🎥Next Haunting Event: Playground of the Forgotten – 01:27:05]
Jin bought his ticket and boarded the train without incident.
He found a seat by the window, staring out at the rapidly fading city lights. His mind kept racing with thoughts and questions he couldn't answer, things he didn't understand.
And all the while, Xiao Hei's voice drifted in and out of the wired earphones he had connected to the cursed phone. It was a great and a bad idea at the same time.
It was great since no one else could hear the excited ghost yapping on about how excited he was, and was interacting with the viewers online. It was bad because he really couldn't keep quiet, and kept reminding Jin of the time, which made him more nervous as the time went on.
"Only 90 minutes to go, Qiang-ge~ Don't forget to smile! Hehehe~"
Jin's fingers dug into the armrest of the seat. It wasn't much, but it was something to hold onto.
The train jolted as it picked up speed, the rhythmic sound of the wheels clattering along the tracks somehow soothing yet unnerving at the same time.
Jin just kept his gaze fixed outside, the darkness outside the window only broken by occasional flickers of streetlights.
He could feel his heartbeat thudding in his chest, and despite the steady hum of the train, the silence in the cabin seemed suffocating.
"Only 70 minutes, Qiang-ge~" Xiao Hei's voice piped up again, as if trying to mock him with its unnatural cheerfulness.
"Isn't it exciting? The viewers are on the edge of their seats! They're watching your every move! You're going to be the star of the night!"
Jin's grip tightened on the cursed phone in his hand, as he read the scrolling comments pass by.
[👁Viewer count: 5,247]
[1,462 Alive | 3,785 Dead]
[Alive – Live Chat]
[🧂SaltedHero: Okay, but why is the helmet lowkey genius??]
[🍿ChillMe2: New drinking game! Take a shot every time Xiao Hei says "Qiang-ge~" 🍻]
[🫡Miya#01: Real or not, you're brave for doing this. Sending good energy your way 🙏]
[📸PicaPica: Ugh~ Why is this stream so glitchy… But anyways it's still interesting for now so I'll keep watching~ HAHAHA]
[Dead – Live Chat]
[👑GhostieQueen: It's always the quiet train rides before hell starts.~ ]
[🖤 GrimGlee: Look at him~ So tense! I'd offer a back massage, but don't think he'd survive it.]
[🌑 MidnightTerror: I LIVE for this! The anticipation, the chaos, the upcoming nightmare! If you're not on the edge of your seat, then what are you even doing here? 😈💣.]
[💀ShadeMaster: You're getting near~ hahah~ The Playground of the Forgotten is waiting…. and so are we!]
(What the hell am I even doing?)
Jin asked himself, turning back to stare at the now pitch-black horizon through the window.
A part of him still wanted to stop.
To turn back.
Cause somewhere beyond that horizon…
Was a playground for the dead….
And tonight…
He was either going to be a guest or…. a resident.