Chapter 1

Chapter 1

[The Golden Crow rises and sets among towering buildings, while the Moon Toad croaks mournfully across the desolate wilds.[^sun-moon] The earth no longer receives the nurturing love of the Mother Goddess; graves of fallen gods stand everywhere. As demons and monsters slowly awaken, where will frail humanity find shelter within its fragile forest of steel? Wake up, humans! A terrible, all-destroying day of doom is coming, yet even now, you continue to ignore me.]

Do not be afraid.

That melodramatic rant about the end of the world was nothing more than a voice inside Xie Qingling’s head.

It had started two weeks ago.

After Xie Qingling took a fall, this voice had appeared in her mind.

Strange, incessant, and rambling.

At first, Xie Qingling had been frightened too. She suspected she had developed some kind of psychiatric disorder.

She had even taken time off to visit the No. 1 Psychiatric Hospital in Blue Star Future Tech City for a thorough examination.

The results showed that her brain waves were entirely normal, with no signs of any pathological changes –

Now that technology had advanced all the way to the year 2252 of the Blue Star Era, humanity had abandoned every antiquated, inefficient method and mode of understanding. Doctors could accurately examine the state of a person’s health and obtain precise information.

So Xie Qingling had most likely, probably, perhaps… simply experienced an auditory hallucination.

As long as she ignored the voice in her head, it had no effect on her daily life whatsoever.

The psychiatrist said that the pressure from her studies, combined with spending every day around corpses soaked in formalin, might have caused such an unusual hallucination.

As a fourth-year forensic medicine student, Xie Qingling would graduate soon. She planned to take a gap year afterward to rest and recuperate.

The voice might not be affecting her life for now, but if the condition continued to develop, there was no telling what other troublesome complications might arise.

[After the War of Shamans and Demons, humans became masters of the earth, reshaping nature step by step with their own hands. In ancient times, you took nature’s gifts while also making covenants with the gods and seeking their protection. Yet humans, oh humans, why did you betray your word and forsake your former companions? Why did you abandon your faith, leaving the gods who subsisted on incense offerings displaced and homeless?]

[One day, you will pay the price for your arrogance and ignorance.]

Right. Pay the price.

What are you going to do, jump out and hit me?

Xie Qingling rolled her eyes inwardly, rendered speechless by this melodramatic hallucination with a personality of its own.

The War of Shamans and Demons, masters of the earth, covenants with gods, consuming incense offerings – Xie Qingling had only ever encountered scattered mentions of these unfamiliar things in exhibits at a traditional folk culture museum when she was a child.

But by now, artifacts and records relating to folk traditions had been lost on a massive scale. Even the museum’s collection consisted only of fragments, nowhere near enough to piece together a complete story.

Who knew the hallucination in her head could be so inventive? It almost sounded convincing.

Xie Qingling rubbed her temples and closed her eyes against the mounting headache.

“Qingling, does your head still hurt? Want me to bring you something to eat?” Her roommate Jiang Lulu noticed her poor complexion and asked with concern.

Ever since Xie Qingling had inexplicably taken a fall and begun hearing things, she had become the focus of special attention in the dorm.

Her roommates were constantly prepared to call an ambulance at the first sign that something was wrong with her.

Room 402 was a mixed-major dorm shared by three students. Jiang Lulu studied law, while their other roommate, Dong Jia, was in the dance department.

There had originally been a fourth student in Room 402, but the girl could not quite stomach living with a roommate who dealt with corpses every day. She applied for a transfer not long after moving in.

The remaining three had gotten along wonderfully over the past four years and were very close.

“I’m fine. I just didn’t get enough sleep this morning. I’ll go to the cafeteria with you today, so you don’t have to bring anything back for me,” Xie Qingling said.

“Yes! We haven’t eaten together in ages.” Dong Jia clapped happily, then suggested with a smile, “There’s a new stall in the cafeteria selling rice balls. I heard they’re amazing. Want to try them today?”

[^sun-moon]: In Chinese mythology, the Golden Crow represents the sun and the Moon Toad the moon.
Xie Qingling had no objections.

It was afternoon, and the cafeteria was mostly empty, but the new stall had drawn a large crowd eager to try it.

At a glance, the dense line in front of the window stretched well over ten meters.

Fortunately, the stall served its food quickly. It took only seven or eight minutes for the three of them to receive their dinners.

Each rice ball was only the size of a fist, with a glossy, jade-like layer of rice wrapped around vegetables and meat.

Xie Qingling took a bite. The flavor was very light and refreshing – not bad at all.

The rice was a special variety, and other seasonings had been added as well, giving it a taste quite unlike an ordinary rice ball.

“Delicious!” Dong Jia beamed, dimples appearing in her oval face. “It seems pretty low in calories too. Looks like my dinners are sorted from now on.”

For a dance student, maintaining a slender figure was extremely important. Dong Jia often wailed over pictures of delicious food, yet never dared take a single extra bite.

Amused, Xie Qingling was about to say something when the voice sounded in her mind again.

[You proclaim yourselves the wisest of all creatures and claim the power to steal from heaven and transform the earth, yet you are helpless against a tiny cockroach. In an age more distant than antiquity, through an immense stretch of time beyond even your ancestors’ reach, cockroaches always held a place upon this earth. They are the truly great species. Surrender your title as masters of the earth to them!]

[Shh. Do not argue. Cockroaches have already invaded your food and contaminated the delicacy in your hands, yet you know nothing of it.]

…Disgusting.

What madness had seized this hallucination? Had it given up on attacking her mind and moved on to contaminating it instead?

Xie Qingling stopped chewing and lowered her eyes to the rice ball in her hand. The pork cutlet and meat floss inside were perfectly clean. There was no cockroach at all.

What nonsense. There was clearly –

“Urgh – ” Jiang Lulu, who had been eating with her head down, suddenly went ashen and retched.

Xie Qingling and Dong Jia stared at her in confusion.

On the verge of tears, Jiang Lulu dug a long, slender leg out of her rice ball with trembling fingers. “I… I bit into this…”

The leg bore sawtoothed ridges and bristling hairs. It looked exactly like a cockroach leg…

Dong Jia looked ready to cry. She set down her rice ball; it no longer seemed appetizing in the least.

Jiang Lulu photographed the rice ball as she fumed, “As soon as I finish editing my résumé, I’m calling the cafeteria manager to complain!”

[This is a nymph-stage cockroach. It was very young, the equivalent of an adolescent human.]

[An hour ago, this young creature was still hopping about, enjoying the prime of its youth. Alas, the careless cafeteria worker failed to notice it.]

[He ignored the cockroach’s struggles and screams. One press, one squeeze, and a young cockroach lost its life. The rice ball you regard as food became the coffin that shrouded its corpse. Rest in peace, young fellow.]

Xie Qingling was speechless. Do you realize you’re going to disgust a young human to death?

Her expression darkened.

It seemed this might be more than an auditory hallucination.

“Let’s go.” Dong Jia fought back the urge to vomit. “I feel like I’ll need three bags of chips to heal my wounded heart. For the next week… no, for the rest of the semester, I don’t want to eat in this cafeteria again.”

“Let’s go.” Xie Qingling was the first to stand.

She had lost her appetite completely, and her thoughts were in turmoil.

If it was not an auditory hallucination, then what was it? How could it accurately predict something that happened in her life?

Xie Qingling could make no sense of it. Her head felt ready to explode.

The three of them rose and headed down the stairs.

At that moment, the voice in Xie Qingling’s head spoke again.

[Is it because life has been too peaceful that humans never take the warnings they receive to heart? Even after I dressed up my delivery, humanity still refuses to spare me so much as a glance?]

[But humans, oh humans, never trust to luck. What must come will come. Look! Look! The Shanxiao that failed last time has prepared another trap.]

Failed last time?
The Shanxiao?

It had prepared another trap?

Had she already fallen into one of its “traps” before? But nothing had happened to her. She had not been injured.

…No. Something had happened.

Everything had begun to change after that inexplicable fall on the stairs.

Could it be that her fall had not been “inexplicable” at all, but the work of something called a Shanxiao lurking in the shadows?

But why had the Shanxiao targeted her?

[It appears you are not entirely beyond salvation. At last, you have taken a fraction of my wise words to heart.]

[The Shanxiao flitting among the high-rises has lost its beloved playground. All it could do was snap off a few drooping willow branches by the river and steal the sunflowers blooming on windowsills to weave itself a crown from home.]

[The mischievous Shanxiao only meant to play a prank on you, but you ruined its most cherished crown. Petty as it is, it decided to take revenge. Oblivious to everything, you once escaped from its grasp by sheer luck.]

[But until it has vented its anger, the Shanxiao’s desire for revenge will follow you forever. If you do not believe me, look – the turn in the stairwell is already covered in moss from Mount Zhaoyao.]

The turn in the stairwell?

Xie Qingling stopped and looked up at the landing between the third and fourth floors. It was completely empty. There was nothing there.

No Shanxiao, no moss – not even a ghostly shadow.

[Stubborn human, cast aside your obstinacy! The sullied eyes of humankind cannot perceive every being in this world. Persist in your stubbornness, and an even greater calamity will soon befall you!]

Just then, Jiang Lulu barreled toward the landing. Having bitten directly into the remains of a cockroach, she wished she could sprout wings and fly back to the dorm, where scrubbing her teeth with toothpaste five hundred times might offer her soul a little comfort.

She was walking quickly when her foot suddenly slipped. Her lower body shot forward with the momentum, while her upper body pitched helplessly backward.

What was happening?

The floor was so slippery!

Had the cleaner forgotten to mop it?

It all happened too quickly. Jiang Lulu had no time to react. She could only go rigid as she fell.

She was doomed. There were stairs behind her. Was the back of her head going to strike an edge and leave her an idiot? Or would she end up like Xie Qingling, a psychiatric patient in waiting who heard voices?

In that split second –

The expected pain never came.

Someone caught Jiang Lulu’s head, cradled it against herself, and hauled her backward.

Xie Qingling swept in like a divine savior and kept Jiang Lulu’s head from hitting the floor, though there was little grace in the way she did it.

Dong Jia was dumbstruck.

She looked from Xie Qingling’s grim face to the still-shaken Jiang Lulu and whispered, “Are… are you two okay? That was… that was so close. I thought Lulu was going to fall. Good thing Qingling moved fast.”

That had been more than fast. It had almost seemed as though she knew what would happen in advance.

But Dong Jia did not dwell on it. She swallowed the rest of what she had been about to say.

“Aah, I can’t take this anymore! Why is the floor so slippery? Did the cleaner slack off and skip mopping?” After Jiang Lulu finally regained her balance, the spirit of a law student blazed to life within her. “This is intolerable! To keep anyone else from getting hurt, I’m reporting it!”

She had no idea just how dangerous the moment had been.

“Forget it. It might not be the cleaner’s fault.”

Xie Qingling let go of Jiang Lulu and lowered her gaze to the steps.

They were spotless and completely bare.

Her expression grew darker still. She picked up a mop propped against the wall and swept it wildly across the steps.

[For unfortunate humans, luck often reveals itself in the instant their courage surges forth. With such flashes of courage and wisdom, your ancestors escaped disasters great and small more times than anyone can count.]

[And so, the Shanxiao’s meticulously laid trap was easily destroyed by your wild sweeping and thrashing. Yet the furious Shanxiao will not let matters rest so easily. After all, moss is not the only thing found on Mount Zhaoyao.]