**Chapter One: The Humble Li’s Group Join Approval**
Li Weiyi sat in the living room, staring at his mobile phone for over half an hour.
The extinguished screen reflected his curious yet somewhat anxious face.
He felt as if he were being monitored by the phone.
This kind of monitoring was not the sort where certain apps collect data through search histories, chatting keywords, and casually mentioned items, then push advertisements and shopping information.
That kind of phenomenon is not rare; many American dramas have secret organizations specializing in eavesdropping on information.
Li Weiyi had also experienced it when his girlfriend added a product to her shopping cart, only for him to receive advertisements.
But the situation Li Weiyi faced now was completely different.
This kind of monitoring felt like the phone was hiding something terrifying, secretly observing his every move. Even if he covered the camera and microphone or even changed his phone, he couldn’t avoid it.
Li Weiyi felt he had encountered an urban legend; it all began when he applied to join that damned urban legends chat group.
…
When Li Weiyi was young, he would stay at his grandfather’s house in the countryside during winter and summer vacations. In that edge of scientific popularization, many people still upheld ancient customs passed down for hundreds of years.
Things like divination, rituals, and exorcising demons were widespread, and there were many special professions such as shamans and mediums.
Li Weiyi’s grandfather was a well-known shaman in their hometown.
Though he was called a shaman, Li Weiyi had never seen his grandfather fight demons; most of the time, his grandfather engaged in divining, feng shui, and officiating funerals.
His grandfather even had the thought of passing on his skills to Li Weiyi, but he found those things tedious and boring, learning a few scattered bits before losing interest over time. Eventually, he buried those memories in a dusty corner of his mind.
Years later, nights began to grow long, urban legend events surged, and videos and forums about urban legends appeared online like mushrooms after rain.
In this context, Li Weiyi, who was neither particularly good-looking nor capable, leveraged the little knowledge he had to mix comfortably in this environment and was quite happy.
Before long, he unknowingly became the online figure known as Master Li.
After gaining some fame, he boldly quit his job and started an online store, mainly selling amulets, prayer beads, and items to ward off evil.
As for whether those items really worked, Li Weiyi himself was not certain.
Anyway, most people bought these things for peace of mind, and if he ever encountered an urban legend event, he could use reasons like the urban legend being too strong or the amulet being inadequate to excuse himself.
In short, urban legends were merely a tool for him to make money and woo girls.
While fiddling with his online store, Li Weiyi lingered on various video sites and chat groups, using mysterious terms he barely understood to dupe people.
Over six months, he used urban legends to intimidate others and switched between four or five girlfriends, casually talking about “fate” and after an exhilarating dual cultivation, declaring, “If we continue to entangle, there will surely be calamity,” and then strode away.
How should I put it… It was vile!
However, this way of life abruptly came to an end a fortnight ago.
…
One evening two weeks ago.
It was just getting dark, the world filled with a bizarre atmosphere under the dim sunset.
After returning home from buying materials, Li Weiyi quickly prepared a simple dinner, then sat alone in the living room, mixed red powder, spread out a stack of yellow paper, and focused on the tasks he remembered from his grandfather’s teachings, working into the night.
As the saying goes, a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water; the later the night, the more excited he became; every time night fell, Li Weiyi was particularly energetic.
After making a batch of amulets, Li Weiyi opened his computer, ready to browse various platforms for suitable targets of beautiful girls.
He skillfully logged in with a secondary account on a certain chat software, and just as he was about to enter the few new chat groups he added, a prompt caught his attention.
The message came from someone with the ID “One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats,” inviting him to join.
[“One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats” invites you to join “University City Urban Legends Chat Group”]
Confirm/Cancel
“Ha!” Li Weiyi stared at the group invitation, giving a knowing smile, “University City Urban Legends Chat Group? There must be a lot of female college students in there. Interesting.”
Muttering to himself, Li Weiyi decisively clicked “Confirm.”
[Welcome “Heaven and Earth Master Li” to the chat group.]
[You have successfully joined the University City Urban Legends Chat Group; you can start chatting with everyone now.]
Online Old Pervert 0: Newbie? Male or female? Males post lewd pictures, females post photos. GKD!
[Online Old Pervert 0 has been muted by the admin for 1 hour.]
Lonely Watcher at the Street Corner: @Heaven and Earth Master Li, no need to mind him; he, ah! Lives up to his name, an old pervert!
Li Weiyi, “…”
He had been navigating various websites for years and had never encountered a situation where he was teased by someone instead of teasing others.
Lonely Watcher at the Street Corner: Newcomers are in luck; today happens to be our group’s urban legend story night. You are fortunate; you will hear real urban legend events from the admin in this city.
Heaven and Earth Master Li: Oh…
Real urban legend events? Li Weiyi sneered inwardly. After being in this field for so long, the phrase he had heard the most was this one.
In the following hour or so, Li Weiyi didn’t pay much attention to the University City Urban Legends Chat Group; in his view, the discussions among the group members were utterly unnutritious, filled with erroneous urban legend knowledge that was so flawed he couldn’t even be bothered to point it out.
As time passed, it approached midnight, and just as Li Weiyi was getting ready to shut down his computer and sleep, a new message from the University City Urban Legends Chat Group caught his eye.
One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats: @All members, today’s urban legend story night will start in five minutes, and in five minutes, all will be muted.
So-called real urban legend events are about to begin? Li Weiyi chuckled meaningfully, sat up straight, and waited in front of his computer.
In other urban legend chat groups, he often followed the voices of the most authoritative persons before jumping in to refute their views with his knowledge to gain popularity. This was his usual tactic.
Having accepted the invitation to the University City Urban Legends Chat Group for less than pure reasons, he now saw an opportunity arise and contemplated doing the same old thing.
[The group admin has muted everyone.]
One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats: This story takes place in a corner of Huacheng; the protagonist of the story is named Xiao Zhang, and it begins one morning when he finds money.
On that initial day, he found a piece of one yuan at the entrance of the community and didn’t think much of it. The next evening after work, he found a ten-dollar bill in the same place.
But on the third evening, after finding the bright red hundred-yuan bill, he became even happier and thought he was in luck, finding money continuously.
…
“Is this it?” Li Weiyi shook his head in disdain upon reading this part. “Isn’t this just a story about getting tempted momentarily and picking up ‘ghost money,’ which leads to being haunted by vengeful spirits?”
“This is an age-old trope. It seems this chat group’s level is not high!”
He mumbled a few words to himself, closed the University City chat group, and went to the bathroom, planning to come back and check the chat history afterward.
Awhile later.
After freshening up, Li Weiyi sat in front of the computer again, towel-drying his hair as he reopened the University City Urban Legends Chat Group.
After entering the chat group, he noticed that the ID “One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats” had not finished telling the story and couldn’t help but frown.
“Seriously? This tired story can be told for over ten minutes?”
Li Weiyi had heard this story from his grandfather over twenty years ago, which claimed that the money one earned in a lifetime was limited; if you spent it all, you’d roughly reach the end of your life.
If something wished to harm you, it would send you the money you’d supposed to earn beforehand; once you spent it, you would be close to d*ath.
When Li Weiyi heard it as a child, he wasn’t particularly scared; growing up, he considered it a parable for educating kids about honesty and didn’t take it to heart.
…
One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats: After washing up, Xiao Zhang sat in front of his computer when suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
He cautiously asked from the door, “Who is it?”
No one answered from outside; the haunting knocking continued, the sound very faint, mixed with a scraping metal noise, as if a hand with long nails was knocking on the door.
…
Upon seeing this, Li Weiyi furrowed his brows slightly; he felt uncomfortable in his heart, suspecting that the protagonist’s actions might have some similarities to his own.
…
One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats: Xiao Zhang was generally quite bold; after hearing the knocking, he unwittingly stood up and approached the door, peering through the peephole to see outside.
Upon doing so, he nearly lost his soul; outside the door, a white dress “stood” there, headless, without arms or legs…
…
“Gee! Boring!”
The long, tiresome story drained Li Weiyi’s patience. He spat at the screen, turned off the computer, and returned to his bedroom, lying on the bed, playing with his phone before falling asleep without realizing it.
Li Weiyi was awakened by a full bladder.
When he woke up, his head was fuzzy, and he couldn’t recall where he was for a moment.
Lying in bed for a while, Li Weiyi finally remembered to glance at the alarm clock on his bedside table; it read exactly 2:22 AM.
The room was chilly as if the temperature had dropped without his notice.
He rubbed his aching temples, slowly sat up, put on his slippers, and stepped out to relieve himself. Just then, the sound of knocking at the door pierced his ears.
“Knock knock… knock knock…”
The knock was very light, mixed with scraping metal sounds, sounding as if a hand with long nails was tapping on the door.
Upon hearing the knocking, Li Weiyi instantly sobered up, and goosebumps erupted all over his body.
He concentrated on the sounds from the pitch-black living room, frowning.
He lived in an old-style tenement building left behind by his parents; it was not small in size and had convenient transportation, but its only flaw was terrible sound insulation—if one family argued or a child was being scolded, sounds could travel far, and even through the door, the whole floor could hear it.
Now, after listening carefully, Li Weiyi was surprised to discover the knocking sound did not come from his front door; it sounded like it originated from the other end of the hallway.
Realizing this, he mustered his courage to approach the door and peered through the peephole, his vision cutting through the dark hallway to see a dim yellow light on the other side, where a white dress stood…
In an instant, Li Weiyi’s hair stood on end, and he staggered back two steps.
After calming down his frightened emotions, he looked outside again, and this time he could clearly see that it was a white dress hanging on a clothesline.
The moon had moved into a strange position, and the pale moonlight shone down quietly.
The hallway facing the courtyard was dark, with windows on both sides that seemed unfathomably deep.
The white dress dripped with water, seemingly just washed, and the sound of water droplets hitting the metal floor was very light but startlingly loud in the quiet night.
“Knock knock… knock knock…”
The sound seemed to come from someone knocking at the door.
Li Weiyi breathed a sigh of relief, muttering to himself, “I knew it would be like this.” After saying this, he rubbed his head and went to the bathroom.
After a smooth release, when he came out, he unknowingly glanced back toward the front door as he passed through the living room.
The room was pitch black, with just a little dim light filtering in from the streetlamp outside, and the outline of the door seemed to have taken on a strange, distorted shape.
The story he had seen in the chat group inexplicably resurfaced in his mind, and Li Weiyi felt a vague sense of unease.
He turned around, grabbed a handful of ready-made amulets from the coffee table, and returned to shove them under his pillow, finally feeling secure enough to sleep.
…
Whether it was due to catching a chill from getting up at night or not, after that night, Li Weiyi came down with a severe cold and, relying on the food stored in the fridge, lay at home for several days.
Three days later, when his condition improved, he stepped outside, and as soon as he did, he caught a whiff of heavy incense. The empty hallway was lined with flower wreaths, and a few strands of ashes from burnt joss paper danced with the breeze.
The corridor seemed to have transformed into a funeral parlor.
Three people had died in the hallway within three days; the first deceased had the surname Zhang, and it was said that they were holding a bunch of crumpled banknotes when they died.
Upon hearing this news from an aunt at the street corner, Li Weiyi was immediately drenched in cold sweat and crazily sprinted back home, logging onto his computer to find the University City chat group.
However, that chat group had vanished as if it had evaporated, without a trace or any notification.
Li Weiyi’s mood plummeted to the abyss.
That night he had a nightmare, dreaming that at midnight he woke up and, using the faint moonlight coming through the window, saw a strange woman beside him.
She wore a white dress, lying face up, flat and straight like a corpse, her face even paler than the dress.
“Who are you?” he trembled and asked.
The person did not respond; her body slowly rose, hovering in mid-air, slowly moving closer.
He felt all his bones go soft and slowly turned his head to stare at her, completely dumbfounded.
That corpse-like figure hovered above Li Weiyi, still face up, her arms pressed to her sides, long black hair hanging down, wafting a foul odor.
Suddenly, she flipped over.
Li Weiyi saw her ghostly white face, and a pair of murky, pale eyes, and heard her say, “How much money do you have left?”
…
Awakening from the nightmare, Li Weiyi piled all his amulets and prayer beads, like building a nest, on the bed, keeping them as company through the night, finding it hard to fall asleep.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he could see the terrifying woman’s face.
He spent several days in a daze, engulfed by fear, until he received that group invitation.
[“One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats” invites you to join “New University City Urban Legends Chat Group Approval Group”]
Confirm/Cancel
Panic swelled within him, and his pupils slightly constricted. Before Li Weiyi could click “Cancel,” the cursor on the computer screen seemed moved by some eerie force, clicking “Confirm” instead.
[You have successfully joined the New University City Urban Legends Chat Group Approval Group; you can start chatting with everyone now.]
The entire chat group was lifeless, with over two hundred members, their avatars grayish and dull, except for his own avatar and that “One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats.”
Just as Li Weiyi was in a panic to exit the chat group, he received a message from “One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats.”
One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats: @Heaven and Earth Master Li, congratulations on passing the preliminary offline review, and you’ve joined the second review group. Please change to a fitting ID for your status.
One Hundred and Two-Thirds Cats: @Heaven and Earth Master Li, we will soon organize your final group entry review, please get ready and wait. Currently, there are still 19 people ahead of you.
Li Weiyi, “…”
…
Since joining that so-called approval group, seven or eight days had passed, and Li Weiyi was on the verge of despair.
He had tried countless ways to rid himself of the nightmare-like chat group, but it always reappeared in his life through bizarre means.
Based on his observations over the past few days, the number of people accepting reviews decreased by two or three each day, and as of yesterday, only two individuals remained ahead of him.
This meant that today, by the latest tomorrow night, he would face the review from that eerie chat group.
As he waited and endured in the long, torturous nights, the sky darkened without him noticing.
Li Weiyi’s phone vibrated softly, buzzing like the whispering of a devil.
He picked up the phone to take a look, a miserable smile appearing on his face.
The screen displayed: [@Humble Li, please spare me; tonight you will receive the second review for group entry. Please go to the South Suburb Slaughterhouse at midnight and wait until dawn alone.]
“South Suburb Slaughterhouse… Ha… Slaughterhouse…”
Li Weiyi murmured to himself, his eyes vacant and hollow, like a d*ath row inmate waiting for execution.
The South Suburb Slaughterhouse in Huacheng had been abandoned three years ago due to urban legend events.
It was said that a group of animals that raised humans resided there…
