Chapter One: Crimson Twilight
6
At the center of the intersection, the giant 3D Akita dog billboard no longer displayed a dog—instead, it showed a woman.
Dressed in a lavish twelve-layered robe, her face as pale as paper, her black hair cascading to her ankles, she sat atop a lantern floating mid-air. Legs crossed, chin resting on her hand, she looked down at him with an amused smile playing at the corners of her lips.
"Let me see..." Her voice echoed throughout the neighborhood. "Chinese Squad, ID 073, Zhao Yan. Occupation... firefighter? Pfft, that job really suits this game, doesn't it?"
Zhao Yan remained silent, his gaze fixed intently on her.
"Don't be so fierce," the woman giggled, covering her mouth. "I'm the commentator for this 'Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.' You can call me Lantern Spirit. Of course, I'm also one of the NPCs you might need to curry favor with."
She waved her hand.
The sky directly above Zhao Yan suddenly brightened.
It wasn't the sky itself glowing, but a massive, semi-transparent screen—like a holographic projection, yet so real you could see every pixel. The screen was divided into countless small squares, each displaying a different scene: glaciers, deserts, jungles, ruins, and eerie streets just like the one he stood on.The largest, central grid now clearly displayed his own reflection—standing at the Shibuya intersection, head tilted back, with the headless monster still wildly slashing behind him. In the distance, at the corner, he could glimpse the huddled silhouette of that girl.
Text cascaded down the screen's edges like a waterfall, in every language imaginable. Yet Zhao Yan understood it all, as if it were etched into his mind.
[Holy crap! This firefighter dude is so badass, going head-to-head with a Banshee!]
[Hannya? Is that thing even Hannya? Looks way scarier than the legends describe]
[How much longer is the newbie protection period? Didn't Aokigara say ten minutes earlier?]
[Team China's starting this in hell mode, getting thrown straight into a monster horde.]
[Betting fifty cents he won't last half an hour—no skills, no gear, just pure recklessness.]
[Don't talk like that. Firefighters have nerves of steel—look how decisively he saved that girl just now.]
[Wait! Another white light over there! Teammates?]
Zhao Yan glanced in the direction the comments pointed. Sure enough, white lights began flickering one after another in the corners of the intersection. As each light faded, a figure emerged—a young boy in sweatpants, a woman wearing glasses and carrying a briefcase, and a middle-aged man in work clothes, still clutching a wrench.
Counting himself, there were exactly five.
"Just as you see," Aoi's voice chimed in again, tinged with schadenfreude. "Seven billion global viewers are watching you right now. By the way, your current view count—"
The number in the upper right corner of the screen flashed rapidly before settling at: 412,907,533
Over four hundred million.
Zhao Yan's throat tightened. This wasn't a livestream—it was like they were being roasted over a fire.
"Relax," Lantern Qing's eyes crinkled with amusement. "You won't be alone forever. Your teammates have all arrived. But before that—"
Her smile suddenly turned icy, her voice deepening as it echoed through the empty streets, carrying a chill:
"Let me remind you of the rules once more. Listen carefully."
"First, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons lasts six hours. Survive until dawn to complete half the challenge."
"Second, find the one among you who has been 'replaced.' Remember, they look just like any ordinary person, but they are not your teammate."
"Third, every time someone dies, the entire team loses ten percent of their 'survival points.' If survival points hit zero—"
She didn't finish, merely snapping her fingers lightly.
A piercing scream erupted from the distant alley, followed by the bone-chilling crack of crushed bones. Zhao Yan caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye: the sailor-suited girl emerged from the alley, crimson liquid dripping from the corner of her mouth, her compound eyes at the back of her head glowing with an eerie light.
The screen exploded with comments.
[Holy shit! That office worker... gone?]
[That's brutal! How long has this even been going on?]
[What happens when survival points hit zero? Does the whole team die?]
[Of course! This game is literally trying to kill us.]
Aoi Lan watched it all unfold with satisfaction, her form slowly fading into transparency. "Oh, right—forgot to mention. That protective barrier? Only five minutes left. After that, the newbie perks are gone."
"Wishing you all... a pleasant game."
Her final words hung in the air as her form vanished completely. The billboard returned to normal, but the 3D Akita dog was now a bloody mess, still mechanically bouncing on the screen.
Zhao Yan snapped back to reality and glanced down at his wrist—unnoticed, a black bracelet had appeared there, displaying a countdown:
00:04:37
00:04:36
Only four minutes of protection left.
He quickly turned to his newly arrived teammates: "Hey! Everyone over here! Hurry!"
The boy in the tracksuit reacted first, sprinting over with panic etched on his face. "Where the hell is this? Who was that woman just now?!"
The woman in glasses followed, adjusting her spectacles as she paled. "I was working overtime in the office just now. How did I end up here?"
The work-clad man lagged behind, gripping his wrench tightly as he eyed the surrounding "pedestrians" warily. His voice was hoarse: "Those things... they're not human, are they?"
Zhao Yan had no time to explain. Pointing at the headless monster still furiously hacking at the barrier, he barked, "No time for chit-chat! The barrier's gone in four minutes. That thing's dangerous. We need to find cover fast!"
"Hide? Where?" The boy in the tracksuit looked at the eerie shops surrounding them, his eyes filled with terror. "Those stores..."
His words were cut short by a piercing hiss. The glass door of the nearby cosmetics shop shattered with a crash. The eyeballs preserved in formaldehyde on the shelves suddenly came to life, rolling across the floor and crawling toward them.
"Holy shit!" The boy in the tracksuit stumbled backward in terror, nearly falling.
The woman in glasses shrieked, clutching Zhao Yan's arm tightly. "What do we do? What do we do now?"
Zhao Yan forced himself to stay calm. His firefighter instincts kicked in as he quickly scanned his surroundings—the cosmetics store to his left was out of the question; the convenience store to his right had its glass doors shut; behind him lay the entrance to Shibuya Station, pitch black, its interior unknown.
"To the convenience store!" Zhao Yan decided instantly. "Quick! Hold the door shut!"
He charged forward first, yanking the convenience store door open—thankfully, it wasn't locked. The others rushed in behind him. Zhao Yan slammed the door shut behind them, and the construction worker immediately grabbed a shelf, wedging it firmly against the door.
"Huff... puff..." They all gasped for breath, their eyes still wide with terror as they stared out the window.
The headless monster was still outside, its six arms wildly slashing at the air. The barrier rippled in concentric circles, looking increasingly unstable.The surrounding "pedestrians" had gathered around. The frog-headed man in the suit pressed his webbed feet against the glass, croaking eerily. The faceless old woman stood nearby, her mirror-like face reflecting their disheveled figures back at them.
The bespectacled woman clung to a shelf, her face pale. "We... we really have to stay here for six hours? And figure out who the replacement is?"
"What else can we do?" The workwear-clad man wiped sweat from his brow, gripping his wrench tighter. "That woman said it herself—if we don't find the imposter, we might not even know how we died."
The boy in the tracksuit crouched on the floor, hands clutching his head. "What the hell is this place... I want to go home..."
Zhao Yan remained silent, staring at the wristband on his wrist. The countdown ticked away, second by second:
00:02:18
00:02:17
He glanced at the other three—the bespectacled woman, who looked like an office worker, her eyes filled with anxiety; the workwear-clad man, weathered and seemingly steady, yet his hand gripping the wrench trembled slightly; the boy in the tracksuit, not much older than a student, scared to the point of tears.
Among these three, one was the "replacement"?
Zhao Yan's heart sank. They were complete strangers, with no way of knowing who was a true ally and who was a monster in human form.
Suddenly, a thunderous crash echoed from outside the window.
The headless monster swung its axe at the barrier, sending ripples across it that grew larger and larger, showing signs of cracking.
The countdown on the bracelet showed only one minute remaining.
00:00:59
00:00:58
The air inside the convenience store instantly froze. Everyone could hear their own heartbeats, the eerie screams of the monsters outside the window, and the cold ticking of the countdown on the wristband.
Zhao Yan clenched his fists. The wound on his back still throbbed faintly, but at that moment, only one thought occupied his mind—
He had to survive.
Not just survive, but find that replacement.
The countdown continued.
The monsters outside the window were already stirring.
This nightmare game had only just begun.