The following morning, the mountain claimed twelve more contestants before sunrise.
No screams announced their deaths.
No bodies remained behind.
Only empty stone beds.
The surviving contestants avoided looking at the vacant spaces. In Mount Heiwu, noticing death too closely often invited it.
Liang Wen sat quietly beside Mei Lian.
Neither had slept.
The dream lingered.
The endless Go board.
The thirteen thrones.
The impossible figure waiting beyond them.
Most disturbing of all was the certainty that it had noticed him.
Not humanity.
Not the contestants.
Him.
The warning bell echoed through the dormitory.
Three slow chimes.
Every surviving contestant immediately stood.
The dead servants arrived.
Their stone-filled skulls clicked softly as they walked.
This time, no selections were made.
Instead, the servants escorted everyone together.
The tunnels twisted deeper than before.
The air grew colder.
Soon frost coated the walls.
Then came something impossible.
Snow.
Inside the mountain.
Soft white flakes drifted from the darkness overhead.
None melted when they touched the ground.
Wen picked one up.
His stomach turned.
It wasn't snow.
It was ash.
Human ash.
Thousands upon thousands of flakes drifted endlessly through the cavern.
The passage finally opened into a valley hidden inside the mountain.
The sight stole everyone's breath.
A city stood before them.
An entire city.
Ancient.
Silent.
Dead.
Buildings stretched across the valley floor beneath a black sky illuminated by a crimson moon.
The city looked abandoned.
Yet lights glowed behind many windows.
Movement flickered inside dark alleyways.
Shadows crossed rooftops.
The contestants stared in stunned silence.
Mei Lian's voice trembled.
"I know this place."
Wen looked at her.
She appeared terrified.
"My father brought me here once."
The words made his blood run cold.
"Where are we?"
She swallowed hard.
"The City of Winners."
No one spoke after that.
The answer was horrifying enough.
The dead servants led them toward the gates.
Massive stone doors stood open.
Above them hung a plaque carved with ancient characters.
WELCOME HOME.
The irony was unbearable.
The moment the contestants entered the city, the gates slammed shut behind them.
A voice echoed from nowhere.
"You have until dawn."
Nothing else followed.
No instructions.
No rules.
Just silence.
The contestants immediately scattered.
Some searched for shelter.
Others searched for food.
Several began praying.
Wen remained close to Mei Lian.
Something about the city felt wrong.
Not merely dangerous.
Hungry.
The streets were spotless despite centuries of apparent abandonment.
Paper lanterns swayed gently despite the absence of wind.
Doors stood open.
Inviting.
Waiting.
As they passed a tea house, Wen froze.
People sat inside.
Dozens of them.
Perfectly still.
A woman pouring tea.
A child laughing.
An old man reading.
None moved.
None blinked.
Dust covered every surface.
The figures were statues.
Stone statues.
Preserved in ordinary moments of life.
Wen stepped closer.
The child turned its head.
He stumbled backward.
The statue had moved.
Its stone eyes locked onto him.
The smile remained frozen.
Everything else shifted.
One by one, the statues throughout the tea house began turning.
Watching.
Observing.
Waiting.
Mei Lian grabbed his sleeve.
"We need to leave."
They hurried away.
Behind them came the sound of stone footsteps.
The statues were following.
Not quickly.
Not aggressively.
Patiently.
The streets grew increasingly crowded.
Every building contained more stone figures.
Merchants.
Soldiers.
Families.
Thousands of them.
All frozen.
All watching.
Night deepened.
The crimson moon climbed higher.
Then the screaming began.
A man burst from an alleyway.
One of the contestants.
Blood covered his face.
"They're alive!" he shouted.
"They're all alive!"
Something emerged behind him.
A woman.
Or what had once been a woman.
Her body was entirely stone.
Cracks covered her face.
Black Go stones protruded from her flesh.
She moved with terrifying speed.
The contestant barely managed another scream before she reached him.
Her fingers pierced his chest effortlessly.
The man's body convulsed.
His skin hardened instantly.
Stone spread across him.
Within seconds he became a statue.
The woman stepped back.
The transformation complete.
The newly created statue opened its eyes.
The contestant was still alive.
Trapped.
Conscious.
Unable to move.
The woman smiled.
Then walked away.
The city erupted into chaos.
Screams echoed from every direction.
The statues had awakened.
Contestants fled through the streets.
Some disappeared into buildings.
Others ran blindly through the darkness.
None escaped.
Wen and Mei Lian sprinted through narrow alleys as stone footsteps echoed behind them.
The city was hunting.
The winners were hunting.
A massive shadow suddenly landed ahead of them.
A stone man.
Nearly three meters tall.
His body was covered in ancient carvings.
His eyes glowed faintly red.
When he spoke, dust spilled from his mouth.
"New players."
Wen's heart nearly stopped.
The giant took another step.
"The game continues."
The ground shook beneath his weight.
Mei Lian grabbed Wen's hand.
"Run."
They did.
The giant followed.
Entire buildings collapsed as he pursued them.
Stone fists smashed through walls.
Statues joined the chase.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The city itself seemed alive.
Every street led them toward danger.
Every turn revealed more horrors.
Eventually they reached a temple at the city's center.
Its doors stood open.
Darkness waited inside.
Without another option, they entered.
The doors slammed shut immediately.
Silence followed.
The pursuing statues vanished.
For several moments neither moved.
Then a lantern ignited.
Another.
Then another.
Revealing hundreds of figures kneeling inside the temple.
Stone figures.
Thousands of them.
All facing a gigantic Go board carved into the floor.
At the board's center sat a single man.
Unlike the others, he wasn't stone.
He looked alive.
Ancient.
Thin.
His white beard reached the ground.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
Wen felt overwhelming pressure descend upon the temple.
The old man studied them quietly.
Then he smiled.
A sad smile.
The smile of someone who had lived far too long.
"You should not have come here."
His voice barely rose above a whisper.
Yet every statue in the temple lowered its head.
Respect.
Fear.
Perhaps both.
The old man looked toward the enormous board.
"I won this tournament nine hundred years ago."
Silence filled the temple.
No one breathed.
No one moved.
The old man's eyes drifted toward Wen.
"And I never left."
The words struck harder than any scream.
Nine hundred years.
A winner.
A survivor.
Still trapped.
Still playing.
The old man slowly placed a black stone upon the giant board.
A deep rumble echoed through the city.
Outside, every awakened statue stopped moving.
The crimson moon flickered.
The old man closed his eyes.
"The mountain is preparing for the final game."
Wen's pulse quickened.
"What final game?"
The old man opened his eyes again.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared within them.
"The game that destroyed Heaven."
The temple fell silent.
And somewhere far beneath Mount Heiwu, something ancient laughed.