Chapter 1 Little Ghost (1) Popular horror manga "Strange Tales" returns...
When Xie Tan woke up, he felt cold first.
His eyes were obscured by large, withered leaves, and he could only see a glimpse of the decaying, curled veins of the stems and leaves.
It was hard beneath me, like lying flat on a cold stone slab.
His limbs were bound by vines, and the fine plant fibers pricked his skin, causing pain with the slightest movement.
A cold wind swept slowly by, treating him as part of everything, and a chill crept from his feet to his head, while the leaves rustled.
He was outdoors.
Xie Tan tilted his head, and withered leaves fell, revealing the night sky encircled within the U-shaped building.
The starlight was dim, and the moon had a faint, indistinct red hue, like the twilight hadn't completely faded.
He looked around. It was a school, with old, dilapidated buildings and rows of dark windows that looked like holes that didn't let in any light, silently watching him.
There was no sign of human habitation; it was clearly abandoned long ago.
He lay on a long stone table surrounded by bushes and flower beds.
The stone table is irregularly shaped, mostly oval, making it convenient for students to rest or have outdoor art classes.
The plants were neglected, and the vines grew wildly, climbing out of the flower bed, burying the fallen stone chair, and piling up the long table.
It looks more like an open-air altar.
What is he doing here?
Who was it that couldn't stand this "monster" and played this prank?
This looks familiar.
Xie Tan tried hard to recall what happened before he fell asleep.
As expected, he didn't receive an invitation to his high school graduation party, and he didn't want to join in on something that wasn't his business.
He bought a sandwich at a convenience store for dinner and saw a barrage of advertisements on his way home.
[The popular horror manga "Strange Tales" returns with a new series, "Graduation Season," launching tomorrow. The main storyline, buried for ten years, will finally surface. Stay tuned!]
Xie Tan knew about this comic; "popular comic" was not enough to describe its popularity.
This is the most popular horror IP. Even people who are not interested in horror stories have heard of the name "Strange Tales".
The new work has returned, and it has been generating a lot of discussion lately.
When Xie Tan returned to school to retrieve his college application booklet, he overheard his classmates excitedly discussing the new stories behind it.
Since he had nothing else to do, Xie Tan went to the bookstore and bought the complete set of "Strange Tales" to catch up on the new work before its release.
I'll eat a sandwich and read comics today.
Consider it a graduation celebration for myself.
He became so engrossed in watching that he had been staying up all night for a week straight, his days and nights reversed, only managing to sleep for a short while when he couldn't stay awake any longer.
He didn't know why, but he just didn't feel like sleeping.
Especially today, in a secular sense, is a day worth celebrating.
So he stayed up all night again, even though he had a headache and palpitations, he didn't stop.
Then... he felt a sharp pain in his heart and lost consciousness.
So he died suddenly?
So what's going on now? Is this the underworld?
Xie Tan looked around again and finally remembered why it felt familiar—it was the opening trailer image for the new "Strange Tales" series, "Graduation Season"!
After finishing the comic, he searched for information about the new series.
The official teaser image shows a dilapidated school. In the bottom right corner, a person is bound to an altar by vines, while a terrifying, bluish-purple infant ghost approaches from the left.
To create suspense, the background is clear, but the altar, the bound person, and the infant ghost, which are the focus of the picture, are all shadows.
Only the baby ghost's mouth, split to the roots of its ears, was highlighted, as if it were laughing.
Beside it, there are the eerie and ethereal words "Little Ghost," the title of the first story.
Having finished reading the comic, Xie Tan has some understanding of the comic author's narrative habits. Just as the comic forum speculated, the person in the preview image should be the sacrificial character from the beginning, which will lead to the new series of stories.
And he was the cannon fodder.
Xie Tan: "..."
Could it be that he shares the same name as a cannon fodder character?
But this is just a preview image. Only ghosts are qualified to have names and name this story. It's hard to say whether the cannon fodder can even survive a page. Without names, how can they share the same name?
He didn't complain either. It's a completely new story, and nobody knows the plot. He also had no complaints about the previous stories. It's quite good.
This does not conform to the time travel theorem.
It can't be that he's unlucky.
...
That makes sense.
"Hello baby, meow!"
Suddenly, a small, jet-black animal appeared, rolled in the air, and stopped in front of him, tilting its head to look at him.
The cat is so big, and it looks like a feline, with round, pale ears. Is it a black panther cub?
Xie Tan guessed: "System?"
"Yes, host, number 7 is at your service, meow!" The black panther cub twitched its ears, like shaking jelly.
Although it meows happily, it's a genderless, mechanical sound.
"This is the world of the comic book 'Strange Tales'. You died from overworking and transmigrated into the cannon fodder sacrificed at the beginning of a new series. I am your popular character development system, meow!"
It seemed very energetic, like someone starting their first job after entering the workforce. Without Xie Tan needing to probe or ask, it enthusiastically declared, "Our goal is to become the number one most popular character in the comics and sweep the entire comic series! You can then have a second life and your wish will come true. Go for it, meow meow!"
"..." Xie Tan said indifferently, "Find someone else."
"Eh!?" The cat's attempt failed miserably, its golden eyes widening. "Why, meow? Don't you want to be resurrected, meow? Because you're dressed as sacrificial cannon fodder, your fate was supposed to end at the beginning. If you don't work hard to gain popularity, you won't be able to survive in this world, meow."
"Once you become the most popular character, the mission is complete, and you'll be given a second life. You can then choose whichever world you want to live in!"
Xie Tan remained expressionless and repeated, "No need."
Having a second life does not mean you can have a real life.
Perhaps it's best to stop here.
The little leopard frantically circled in the air, chasing its own tail: "But, but..."
"There's no 'but,' you forcibly brought me here without asking my opinion..."
"But you made a wish! So I found you, and with this new life, your wish will come true. Isn't that good, meow?"
Xie Tan realized that "second life" and "wish fulfillment" were two rewards.
"What's this wish you're talking about? I don't have one..." He paused.
He remembered that there was an author's note at the end of the previous series of "Strange Tales".
The author, "Pen Knife," is depicted as a cold, black fountain pen with a sharp blade at the nib and an eye at the nib's air hole.
Next to the pen is a message box. The message is short, thanking the publisher, online platform, readers and fans, and then it's time to promise the next series.
[If you have any wishes, you can make a wish to the great Pen and Knife Master! The Pen and Knife Master will choose the luckiest child and grant their wish in the next series!]
By the time Xie Tan saw this, dawn had already broken.
His mind was hazy, and his heart was pounding erratically. His thoughts were stirred by the words, and he subconsciously made a wish in his heart.
He daydreamed... he wanted to get rid of the strange pheromones and live a normal life.
Xie Tansheng was born in an ABO world where most people differentiate during junior and senior high school, while a few are differentiated from birth; he is the latter.
These few people fall into two extreme categories: those with naturally superior pheromones, destined for the top and the highest levels, or those with naturally inferior pheromones, destined to be eliminated. He is the latter.
He is an omega with the worst pheromones.
Other pheromones have floral, fruity, and milky scents that are sweet, alluring, and intoxicating to Alphas.
His pheromones, however, were different—corrupt, eerie, cold, and old, like a damp, worn-out book in the attic of a haunted house, or a flower quietly decaying at midnight, filled with ominousness.
His mother died early, and his father went abroad to start a new family. Apart from sending him money on time, he ignored him completely. On the day he graduated, he sent him the last money and cut off all contact with him.
Going to school isn't good either; someone like him will end up the same way no matter where he is.
People rejected him, feared him, loathed him, and avoided him like the plague; even he himself was disgusted by it all.
He had thought more than once that it would be great if he were a beta without pheromones.
He could only dream of such an ordinary and stable life.
As the recollection ended, Xie Tan suddenly realized that perhaps he was initially attracted by the comic book worldview that lacked ABO elements and pheromones.
He was immersed in another world rife with terror, yet he felt a strange sense of safety.
So, still wanting more, I watched until the end and subconsciously made a wish.
But that message was supposed to be a wish list for readers to make about the plot or characters they want to see in the new series, so how did it turn into a cross-dimensional Aladdin's lamp?
And no matter how much you love a work, who would want to actually travel to a world full of ghosts and monsters where people can die at any time?
Do you know what the saying "distance makes the heart grow fonder" means?
But as he thought about his wish, a slight ripple still stirred in his heart.
The vines binding him weren't tied in a tight knot, but they just couldn't be untied.
Xie Tan turned his head and stared at the vines, wondering whether he should bite them open. Suddenly, the vines clinging to the stone table stirred and retreated to both sides, raising a wisp of black mist.
The black mist gathered above him into a terrifying little demon with a purplish-blue body and a huge head, casting a shadow that completely enveloped him.
The little devil's features were sunken into his swollen face, only his eyes, with their whites showing, stared at him, then suddenly curved upwards.
Its purple lips split to its ears, emitting a strange, giggling laugh.
It bent down and opened its mouth wide enough to swallow him whole.
Xie Tan was completely frozen in place, facing the enemy at close range; there was no way to escape.
The ripples in my heart disappeared.
What second life, what wish fulfillment? Starting out as cannon fodder to be sacrificed to the heavens, "the luckiest child" is actually an irony.
"It's pointless." Xie Tan closed his eyes, lying down to await his death, the little leopard's urgent meows ringing in his ears.
The closer the laughter got, the more he could feel the imp's approaching presence.
A cold wind carried the faint, musty smell of abandoned buildings, and the vines seemed to slowly turn to rot, with a raw, unpleasant plant scent.
He was slow to realize that this was his pheromone.
Time stretched out, but the imagined pain never came.
Xie Tan heard the little devil making a strange inhaling sound from his nose and slowly opened his eyes.
The little devil had just stopped sniffing around when the terrifying all-white eyes turned and its gaze fell on him again.
Then Xie Tan saw the little devil retract his menacing teeth, hug him with a look of ecstasy, and whimper like a cat smelling catnip: "...Smells...smells so good..."
Xie Tan: "?"
A note from the author:
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Starting tomorrow, updates will be at 9 PM every night. The bosses are treating! [Sprinkling flowers]
**
Pre-orders included: [The savior gave up after viewer spoilers]:
On day x, dense fog isolates various places, making them impassable and turning them into restricted areas. The world inside and outside is reversed, and this is known as "the day of the gods' disappearance".
Most people have disappeared along with the region, and their living space is still shrinking.
The survivors who awakened their supernatural abilities established a cloud fortress in the sky and formed an alliance.
Zhou You, the youngest S-class ability user and rising star in the alliance, led his team deep into the special-grade restricted area No. 07. He desperately pressed down the lever to return the watch to center, but was seriously injured in the process.
After being in a coma for ten days, Zhou You finally woke up and found himself in the Alliance's infirmary. The doctor coldly said, "If you get injured again, I won't be responsible for you."
Zhou You was completely relaxed by his friend's tough-talking but soft-hearted words.
Just as he was about to crack a joke as usual, a comment suddenly appeared in front of him:
[Indeed, they ignored it. The little black bird was trapped in the 03 restricted area and on the verge of death, and our doctor just turned around and ran away.]
Zhou You's smile faltered. [Black Bird] was his special ability, and Forbidden Zone 03 was his next mission location.
...What is this? The aftereffects of residual negative energy from the forbidden zone? An illusion cast by the enemy?
**
The action-packed manga "Reversal World" is a huge hit, attracting countless fans, especially the protagonist Zhou You.
He hated trouble the most and avoided other superhumans, refusing the alliance's invitation three times. But he was eventually moved by the alliance members who saved others, so he offered his help and joined the alliance.
He was naturally free-spirited, yet he had many concerns. He inherited his mentor's beliefs, became the most trusted support for his companions, and held up the sky for the alliance.
He was afraid of pain, but he would get a prosthetic body when he was injured. He suffered from headaches due to overuse of his powers, but he still handled Alliance affairs and volunteered to be his friend's test subject.
He valued his life, yet he ventured into the most dangerous forbidden zones, facing the most ferocious monsters. Injuries were commonplace, and death was ever-present.
Despite countless twists and turns, and the hardships and growth along the way, he always faces everyone with the gentlest smile, not wanting them to worry.
He is the hope of the end times, the well-deserved savior.
He will bring it back to the human world.
Viewers were swept up in the passion and bonds, but the later plot took a shocking turn, resulting in a madman feeding everyone shit and causing everyone's death.
The alliance made a wrong decision and couldn't explain it, so they made Zhou You take the blame, imprisoned him, and delayed his treatment, yet no one objected.
Seeing that there was no way to reverse the situation, the Alliance launched the secret Project X, actively accelerating the expansion of the restricted area. Once the whole world was connected into one restricted area, Zhou You would then be sent to clean up the mess.
With little time left to travel, he indeed chose to sacrifice himself, transforming into a black bird. With his final cry, his remains became the pivot of the entire world, returning it to its proper place.
He loved freedom most and dreamed of wandering the world, but he was forever buried in the underworld.
And everyone accepted his fate.
The X Project was established on his first day in the League.
Despite the anime's reboot, viewers couldn't let go of Zhou You and continued watching, passionately cursing the eccentric author while frantically spamming the comments section, urging Zhou You to run away.
Unexpectedly, the plot really did change.
With the restricted area overrun, Zhou You lay on the ground, ignoring everything else—the poles, the missions, his companions, the alliance—and letting the monsters surround him.
But he saw the face of some bastard first.
Ember, a pure-blooded villain in the anime who is evil from beginning to end and opposes the Alliance, is Zhou You's nemesis.
In the finale, the ghost disappeared with the underworld, and his nemesis also died. Feeling extremely bored, he simply took his own life.
At this moment, Ember looked down at him with interest and asked smugly, "Great Savior, aren't you going to run? Aren't you afraid I'll capture you?"
Zhou You calmly agreed: "Okay."
He gave up.
Ember was stunned: "...Huh?"
Later, the Alliance members went mad, trying to reclaim their savior, only to find their greatest enemy standing in their way, like a dragon guarding its treasure, grinning mischievously: "But he chose me!"
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