The ground shook violently and the track hummed from the vibration. Deep in the tunnel, blinding white lights fell on the two of them and the rumbling sound kept approaching.
The subway is arriving at the station.
Xiao Jinyu quickly turned around and clung to the edge of the platform with both hands, then easily climbed onto the platform. The man in glasses was also not stupid, the subway was about to crush them, and so he immediately climbed up.
On the platform, Xiao Jinyu stared at the subway that was getting closer and closer.
The subway got closer and the front had almost arrived at the platform…
It slowed down!
The first car flashed past Xiao Jinyu, and then the second and third cars.
When the first car had pulled into the station, Xiao Jinyu eagerly looked through the windows to see the situation in the subway; he hoped that there were people inside. However, the empty carriages were doomed to disappoint. The lights inside the six carriages illuminated the entirety of the subway car and there was still no one in sight.
Finally, the subway stopped.
Even if it’s empty, it was ok, at least they can get on the subway now.
The door opened and the two immediately rushed onto the subway together.
The previous analysis by Xiao Jinyu was actually very simple. The Zhongdu Metro’s subway has six carriages, each of which is twenty meters long. They got off the subway from the fourth carriage. After getting off the subway, they entered a dark space centered around a white house. This space is twenty meters long and twenty meters wide, which is exactly the length of a carriage.
As we all know, when the subway arrives at the station and opens its doors, the door of each car will open at the same time.
Just now, they exited the subway from the fourth car. But what if they didn’t leave from that carriage? What if they changed cars and exited from a different car? Would they have even entered this ‘White Garden’ space?
Entering through the fourth carriage again, the two strode across the door. Just crossing one car was not safe enough, so Xiao Jinyu walked through three whole cars before arriving at the first carriage, finally deciding to get off. However, just as he was about to leave the car, an inexplicable feeling surged in his heart. Xiao Jinyu stopped and raised his head to see the dark world in front of him.
… For some reason, he suddenly wanted to confirm whether or not that white house was outside the first carriage.
Right, there really wasn’t one.
Really wasn’t one.
But, was it really this easy to leave?
“Xiao Jinyu, are you not going to get off?”
The man in glasses looked at him weirdly and Xiao Jinyu’s mouth opened slightly but didn’t quite know what to say. The man in glasses was very anxious, just as he understood Xiao Jinyu’s thought process, the subway had arrived. It was as if God was on his side. Not waiting for Xiao Jinyu to leave the subway first, he rushed out of the car, muttering, “While it’s still dark, at least that creepy white house is gone. In this way, it should count as us leaving White Garden Station.”
The voice of the man in glasses stopped abruptly and he stared into the darkness. A trace of fear crawled onto his face like a vine.
Xiao Jinyu: “What happened?”
The man in glasses didn’t respond.
“Zhao Zhixin, what did you see?”
The man in glasses still didn’t respond, but he raised his trembling hand and his finger hung in midair, pointing straight ahead.
Xiao Jinyu’s expression changed, and he immediately got out of the subway. The moment his legs left the subway, he lifted his head. Seeing the white house in the distance, the young man’s face froze.
A few seconds later, Xiao Jinyu gritted his teeth, entered the subway again, and nonetheless, ran to the second car.
Obviously, before getting off the subway, there was only empty darkness outside. But as soon as they left the subway, that ghostly white house would appear before their eyes.
The third car, the fifth, the sixth…
No matter from where he leaves the subway, it will always stand quietly in the dark.
“What should we do…” the glasses man’s voice slowly became hoarse. He stood in front of the white house and looked at Xiao Jinyu in loss: “It’s always this, always this! It’s always this white house, just this house!”
“What do you mean what should we do?”
Zhao Zhixin stilled: “Ah?”
Calmly gazing at the white paper house, Xiao Jinyu was indifferent: “There’s nothing to do. Since we found the wrong one, then let’s just keep searching until we find the correct exit. Get off the subway.”
Zhao Zhixin: “Get off?”
Xiao Jinyu looked at him: “Yes, starting from the first car, see if the space in each one is the same.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Qjla, ktja vb sbe wfjc? Tbe vbc’a wfjc atja sbe kjca ab lcrqfma fjmt jgfj bearlvf bo fjmt mjg jujlc, gluta? Glvc’a kf jigfjvs mtfmx? Pa’r pera j qlamt yijmx jgfj klat cbatlcu firf, bcis atlr ktlaf tberf jcv atja relmlvf nlmalw’r mbgqrf.”
“Vlcmf la’r jii atf rjwf, kts mjc’a kf lcrqfma la jujlc?”
The man in glasses stopped: “Uh…”
Taking a deep look at him, Xiao Jinyu withdrew his gaze, ignoring him.
Why don’t you want to check the other five spaces again?
Because you’re afraid.
However, whether or not the man in glasses was afraid or not didn’t matter, nor was it important. After so long, Xiao Jinyu realized that this ghost really seemed to have grabbed two random people and thrown them into this strange space. Maybe there was some special condition, but it didn’t matter now. The man in glasses has never given any important opinions, and as long as he doesn’t drag him down, Xiao Jinyu was satisfied.
But thus far, while the man in glasses hasn’t been helpful, he wasn’t dragging him down either, so Xiao Jinyu left him alone.
Xiao Jinyu kept to his word, running to the first car, reinspecting everything.
The man in glasses really didn’t want to get off the subway, but staying on the subway by himself made him even more afraid. So he stretched his leg out and got off the subway. Turning on the flashlight on his phone, he followed behind Xiao Jinyu to help with the inspection.
The two quicked finished inspecting the first area and entered the second.
Just a minute after the two left the subway, as they were about to start inspecting again, a familiar bang attracted their attention.
The two turned around at the same time.
Xiao Jinyu raised his flashlight, looking at the subway.
Man in glasses: “…the subway left again.”
Xiao Jinyu silently glanced at the subway, before retracting his gaze: “Let’s continue.”
This time they left from the second car, so they were stuck in the White Garden space of the second car. After inspecting every corner of the platform, without thinking, Xiao Jinyu jumped down the platform to inspect the tracks. Because the subway was still there when they inspected the first car’s space, they couldn’t explore its tracks. But now that the subway had left, they could inspect it.
In the end, the subway tracks looked very similar and Xiao Jinyu wasn’t able to figure out any differences between these subway tracks and the ones from the fourth carriage’s subway tracks. It was all crushed stones, metal tracks, and yellow traces due to years of use.
“Crunch—”
The soles of their shoes stepped on the gravel, their heads down, inspecting every corner of the subway tracks. Suddenly, there was a bang. The man in glasses was frightened: “What happened?”
There was a small pain on his forehead as Xiao Jinyu raised his head and looked in front of him. He stretched out his hand in surprise and felt the invincible wall blocking his way.
Seeing this scene, the man in glasses sighed in relief, “Oh, it turns out we reached the end. I wondered what happened, that scared me to death.”
“Where’s the body?!”
“Ah?”
Xiao Jinyu retracted his flashlight, aiming it behind him, walking back quickly: “The white house is still here with no other changes. But the corpse! Where’s the body that commited suicide by jumping on the tracks?!”
Finally understanding what Xiao Jinyu was saying, the man in glasses’ eyes opened wide.
Right…
Where’s the body?
***
The platform vibrated slightly and a blinding light shone from a distance.
Xiao Jinyu moved his gaze away from the stopwatch on the phone screen and looked at the subway that was approaching the platform.
Ten minutes.
Starting from when the previous subway leaves the station, after ten minutes, the next subway will arrive again.
After the man in glasses walked out of the first car, Xiao Jinyu decisively walked out of the car as well. This time, he didn’t inspect the space again, nor did he speak. Instead, he stood by the subway door, his head down, staring at the stopwatch on his phone.
“Boom!”
The doors closed for the third time and the subway left the station for the third time.
“This time it’s also ten minutes,” Xiao Jinyu put away the stopwatch.
The man in glasses had been standing beside Xiao Jinyu, watching his every move, but he still couldn’t help but show a confused expression, “So this subway will return every ten minutes. And after arriving, it will open its doors for ten minutes before leaving again.”
Xiao Jinyu: “To be exact, only after all passengers have left the subway will the ten minutes start.”
The man in glasses nodded his head: “Oh oh, so in other words, the time will only start after the two of us have left the subway?”
“Yes.”
There were still ten minutes before the next subway would arrive and Xiao Jinyu didn’t want to waste any time. He directly jumped off the platform and lifted his flashlight before inspecting the first car’s subway track.
The young man was very serious as he inspected the subway tracks inch by inch, not leaving a single detail behind. They walked twenty meters down from one end of the tracks to the other end. Xiao Jinyu stopped and the man in glasses next to him said: “The body really is gone.”
A thought emerged in his mind, and Xiao Jinyu turned on his phone to check the time. “It’s almost time. Let’s wait for the next subway.”
The two climbed up the platform and waited for the fourth subway.
……
One hour later.
There were six carriages on the subway and two had gotten off at each car and checked each space. Other than the fourth carriage that they had arrived in, they had already exited each car. In each of the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth car’s space, there was only the white house and the body on the tracks was nowhere to be seen.
So after all that, there was only the fourth carriage left.
After waiting for another ten minutes, the seventh subway arrived.
Xiao Jinyu walked straight to the fourth car, getting off.
On the dark and quiet subway tracks, the two young men raised their flashlights and inspected every inch of the tracks. Not reaching the full twenty meters, not even ten meters, Xiao Jinyu stopped. He calmly gazed at the corpse on the tracks and the blood splatters on the tunnel walls.
“So only the fourth carriage has this body.”
Gently rubbing his lower lip with his fingers, Xiao Jinyu stared deeply in thought.
The fourth carriage…
The fourth.
What meaning is there to this number, that the ghost would place his body in the fourth carriage?
There are a lot of answers, and there is no real need to guess this ghost’s thoughts. Maybe they just picked a random number. It’s like how it’s a white house but it was named, ‘White Garden’. Maybe it’s because this ghost liked the number ‘four’, or maybe it’s because the first carriage they got off from was the fourth one.
But…
Xiao Jinyu gazed at the corpse on the ground silently.
But the most likely reason would be that this person died by jumping onto the fourth platform’s rails.
He might not have chosen this car deliberately, but at the time of his death, he was under the fourth carriage.
So…
“Since you didn’t immediately kill us, but only trapped us here, what are you trying to do? Or in other words… what do you want us to do for you?”
Suddenly, something seemed to shine in the light.
Xiao Jinyu lifted his head and looked at the platform.
…What was that?!
He quickly climbed up the platform.
On the platform, several colorful lights danced in the air, fluttering like butterflies.
Xiao Jinyu shouted: “Zhao Zhixin, do you see anything!”
Zhao Zhixin was taken aback and quickly climbed up the platform. He looked toward Xiao Jinyu and shook his head, “What thing? No, is there anything?”
Xiao Jinyu pursed his lips.
So only he can see these lights.
An hour earlier, he had seen these lights flickering around the body’s head. What do these lights mean? They floated in midair, not bound by the rules of physics, seemingly orbiting something under the force of gravity.
Xiao Jinyu observed this without making a sound.
Lights, body, White Garden…
Suddenly, these lights broke their rotational pattern. There was then no regularity to their movements.
Xiao Jinyu watched this scene in astonishment, and then, without warning, the lights smashed into the tracks.
The next second.
“Rumble—”
The eighth subway sped past Xiao Jinyu and those lights were covered by the subway, disappearing from his sight.
The subway sped past, right in front of his eyes, and Xiao Jinyu’s face paled, forehead also full of sweat. He unconsciously followed those lights just now and didn’t realize that the next subway was about to arrive. These lights were dancing in the air regularly, but as soon as the subway was about to arrive, they sped towards the tracks and got caught under the subway wheels.
He suddenly thought: Do these lights represent you?
In any case, these lights must be the key to breaking out of this space.
Like finally seeing the light representing dawn after being in the boundless night, Xiao Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief. The next thing he needed to do was wait; wait for this subway to leave the station, then inspect the body on the tracks and the weird lights.
Next to him, the man in glasses whispered, “If this was really a ghost, if it wanted to kill, then kill. Why trap us here and not let us go? But Xiao Jinyu, don’t you feel that something’s wrong, something isn’t quite right?”
Xiao Jinyu glanced at the man in glasses: “What do you think is wrong, did you see something?”
Zhao Zhixin rubbed his arms and shook his head: “No, it’s just that my head hurts a bit. Maybe it’s because I saw that corpse’s head just now, so I feel uncomfortable. He could have chosen any suicide method, but he just had to choose this one. It looks very painful.”
So it turned out to be this, Zhao Zhixin didn’t see those lights in the end.
Withdrawing his gaze, Xiao Jinyu made a decision. When the subway leaves, he will go inspect the corpse again. But just as he turned his head, a white shadow flashed past in the surrounding light. A few seconds later, Xiao Jinyu was still thinking about those lights when, suddenly, he turned his head and looked at the white house standing in the center of the space.
Then, he ran towards the house.
Standing in front of the white house, Xiao Jinyu’s expression was weird, not making a sound.
The man in glasses ran over, “What happened? Now, what happened?”
Xiao Jinyu: “Look at what’s different.”
“Ah?” After carefully observing the white house, Zhao Zhixin shook his head: “Did it change? It’s still the same house with four rooms on each floor, no furniture but has stairs.”
“Do you remember its original size?”
Zhao Zhixin stilled.
Xiao Jinyu’s expression sank, “It was originally about one meter wide and two meters high, just about half a head taller than me. But now…”
Xiao Jinyu raised his head and looked at the roof of the white house that was now almost three meters high.
“It got bigger!”
The author has something to say:
Little Goldfish: Obviously, it’s a white house. Why is it called ‘White Garden’? →_→
White Garden: What, does it not sound nice? I’ll tell you that even if others wanted to admire me, they can’t!╭(╯^╰)╮
A certain “Kneel down and call dad” and “Piggy Shampoo”: …Stop arguing, don’t fight anymore wuwuwu!
—
Some people said that they don’t understand. Do you guys not understand what happened in the plot or do you not understand how it got to this point, or what else is it? If you’re guessing the ending, the world’s rules haven’t been explored to the fullest yet so not understanding is normal. It wouldn’t be so easy for you guys to guess correctly [puts hands on hips].
When this scenario is over, I’ll probably start talking about worldbuilding~
I welcome you all to comment your opinions oh~ muah =3=
Going to eat dinner now~
I’m going to take a guess and say that ZZ is the ghost who’s forgotten dying.
It’s like infinite flowww