ADLH Chapter 15: Turn on the Lights
In the dead of night, when you’re suddenly jolted awake by a pressing need to use the bathroom, you stumble groggily to the sink. Have you ever felt a strange gaze upon you as you stood there, washing your hands?
When you suddenly look up—and see a face exactly like your own in the mirror…
Was it just your imagination?
Have you ever wondered, when your back is turned to the mirror, is the reflection turning its back too—or is it silently, coldly, still staring straight at you?
Have you ever been suddenly afraid of your own mirror? Staring at a face identical to yours with growing suspicion, you whip your head back around just to check—only to feel a chill crawl up your spine?
In the damp, dark bathroom, she huddled under the sink, trembling. Shattered shards of a mirror littered the floor around her, slicing open bloody gashes on her exposed legs and feet where her pajamas didn’t cover.
It was the height of summer, yet the icy coldness around her turned her skin purple.
Drip... drip...
Water from a poorly closed faucet echoed in the sink like a countdown to death.
“Help me… help me…”
The girl, face covered in tears, clutched her phone tightly. Her fingers trembled as she stared hopelessly at the emergency call that wouldn’t go through.
Then, a pair of corpse-like, bluish-gray hands, marred by livor mortis, reached toward her from within the shattered mirror. Slowly, oh so slowly, they wrapped around her shoulders.
The moment the hands touched her, the girl went rigid—as if she had died on the spot. Her face drained of color, eyes wide in horror as she numbly looked down at the ghostly hands on her body. Big, heavy tears rolled down her cheeks.
It was over…
Terror and despair flooded her mind. Her hand released the phone, letting it drop with a thud to the ground, still flashing its failed call attempt.
“Let me go... please, just let me go… I don’t want to die, I really don’t want to die…”
A soft, familiar giggle whispered in her ear—it was her own voice.
Gently, it said, “Why would I let you die? I’m just taking you to another world. Didn’t you want to see it?”
“No… no—AHHHHHHHHHHH—!”
A blood-curdling scream echoed through the bathroom and down the hallway.
The broken voice-activated light buzzed, and at last, rows of cold white lights flickered on.
But the silent bathroom only held a dropped phone beeping on the floor, and a floor full of broken glass.
In a brightly lit club room, a few trendy, pretty girls were chatting about dinner plans. They belonged to the school’s newly opened manga club—basically a chill hangout club for easy credits.
No one took it seriously. It was a low-effort group, and just getting in meant getting cozy with the club president.
The door creaked open, and in walked a girl with long, straight black hair and a sweet smile. The others quickly gathered around her—this was Chen Huanhuan, their club president.
Not only was she well-connected with the dean, she was also kind and popular. Many students adored her; some girls even joked about marrying her.
“What are you guys up to? Laughing so much—shouldn’t you be heading back for dinner?” Huanhuan asked with a smile.
The girls giggled sheepishly. “Oh, nothing much—we were just talking about that trending urban legend. The one where you peel an apple in front of a mirror at midnight. Do you know it?”
Huanhuan blinked in surprise. “So you’ve been staying late just to play that game?”
Before the girls could respond, two boys chimed in, “Yeah! They say if you do it right, you can see your destined lover in the mirror. People online swear it works. We’re gonna try it tonight—and we ordered a ton of takeout. President, you should join us!”
“Well, now I’m curious too.” Huanhuan smiled sweetly. “Guess I’ll stay and play along.”
She looked at the girls with care. “Besides, it’s dangerous for you to be out so late. I should keep you company.”
“President, you’re the best!” the girls teared up with gratitude.
The boys beamed too, vowing to escort them all safely back to their dorms afterward.
“But…”
Huanhuan’s voice suddenly turned sharp. She tilted her head slightly and smirked.
“Let’s try a new version of the game.”
Midnight.
Qian Ji stood with arms crossed in front of the abandoned school building, his face cold and stern. Behind him, two young men in identical blue tracksuits stood side by side.
They looked almost inhuman.
The one on the right sniffed the air like an animal. His companion leaned lazily against his shoulder.
The scent of decay and resentment made the sniffing man sneeze and shake his head hard.
When he did, fluffy white wolf ears popped out from his head, and his eyes turned a deep, icy blue.
“This is the place.”
He flicked his ears. Though his expression was sharp, the motion made him look a little silly. His brother lazily took out a tissue and wiped his nose.
“Stop sniffing weird stuff, Fenghuo.”
“You’ve said that a hundred times, Langyan.”
“And you never listen.”
“That’s because I don’t want to.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Because I’m a wolf. I sniff stuff—it’s instinct! Just like how you can’t sleep unless you curl up with my tail over your nose.”
“...Fair enough.”
The two brothers, both cold-faced but low-energy, bickered like they couldn’t care less. Born from the same womb and linked by life itself, wolves prized loyalty above all.
Even at their worst, they’d just end up grooming each other.
Qian Ji ignored them. His golden slit pupils watched the air, where a red mist invisible to ordinary people hovered. His tall, muscular body stepped through the locked glass doors as if they weren’t even there.
Golden-red light flashed as he vanished into the unlit building.
Naturally, the two wolf brothers followed.
Along the way, they gave a lazy report on the intel they’d gathered.
Langyan yawned. “This is a regular mid-tier college. No major crimes ever happened here. A few people went missing, but no footage ever showed them vanishing inside campus. No ghost stories either. Two years ago, they built a new teaching building and planned to turn this one into dorms. It’s been locked up since.”
“Then suddenly, this place got filled with demonic energy,” Fenghuo added, wrinkling his nose. “Smells like death. Someone probably died here.”
“Ugh, so annoying~” Langyan’s ears twitched.
“Yeah, annoying.” Fenghuo’s ears twitched too.
Qian Ji stopped walking and slowly turned his head. His golden eyes gleamed as a white membrane flicked across them.
It was as if flames burned inside his glassy pupils, emitting oppressive heat and light.
“Get lost if you want, but shut up if you’re staying.”
His voice was thunder. Dragons naturally commanded other beings—and wolves knew they’d die if they crossed him.
In Qian Ji’s eyes, the wolf twins were neither close allies like Jun Hua nor irritants like Ruan Xingzhou—so they didn’t matter much.
His figure dissolved into golden light.
Two pairs of blue eyes stared at each other for a moment.
Wolves were smart. They considered fighting back, but they weren’t strong enough—so instinct told them to follow the alpha.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Langyan stepped into the dark corridor. Fenghuo was about to follow when he paused.
He sniffed the air again—strange, why did he smell a familiar human scent?
He turned toward the source, frowning, but just as he was about to investigate, a hand grabbed his collar and yanked him inside.
“Hurry up. We’ve got work to do.”
His arms dropped limply by instinct as he was dragged along, neck-collared like a misbehaving pup.
Ten minutes later.
Ruan Xingzhou stood outside the same building, eyes on a blinking red dot on his phone. He confirmed the location, tucked the phone away, and pulled a small tool from his bag.
With practiced ease, he picked the lock.
The iron chains clattered to the ground. Dust-covered glass doors groaned open.
His leather shoes clicked across the marble floor, the sound echoing eerily down the hallway.
He shone a high-powered flashlight into the unnatural darkness. Oddly, the beam barely reached a few feet.
“Why isn’t this working?”
Ruan frowned and toggled the light a few more times—but it stayed dim.
A soft female giggle echoed from the shadows, as if mocking a foolish human.
Ruan froze.
“Oh right,” he muttered. “I forgot. This world has ghosts.”
Expression blank, he let out a long sigh. Then, fingers pinching his collar, he tilted his head slightly and whispered:
“Turn on the lights.”
“Yes, sir!”
Suddenly—
A team of over twenty people appeared around the abandoned building. They rushed into position, each pair hauling ultra-powerful concert-grade lights and circling the structure.
THUNK!
Over a dozen massive spotlights fired up at once, flooding the building with blinding light.
It was as bright as freaking daytime.
Even the ghosts felt their eyes getting scorched. A stream of grumbling curses echoed down the corridor.
Bathed in the glow, Ruan Xingzhou grinned faintly.
“Who said horror stories have to be told in the dark?”
[Author’s Note – Bonus Scene]
Ruan Xingzhou: Who said horror stories can’t be told with the lights on?
Ghosts: GET OUT!!
Comments
Post a Comment