Chapter One: I Only Wanted a Family Portrait
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Bai Wan walked wearily along the road. Ahead, there was a bus, but he didn’t dare to board it. From past experience, whenever he got on, there was a 50% chance the bus would be out of service—reasons ranging from a flat tire, traffic accidents, to the driver’s midlife heartbreak, and so on. Looking inside the bus, he saw a woman cradling a hungry baby and an old man peacefully basking in the sun on a seat. Bai Wan decided to spare them today.
Giving roses leaves a lingering fragrance on the hand.
“Another good deed done today,” Bai Wan smiled faintly, his weary heart lifting somewhat.
It took him quite a while, but he finally made it home. Standing before his front door, he carefully put on gloves and inserted the key into the lock.
Click!
The door opened, and Bai Wan examined the interior carefully. Only after seeing the routine mess of garbage piled everywhere did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Yes, this was indeed his own home!
Sometimes, when he opened the door, it would glitch, leading to strange places—neighbors’ homes, public restrooms, or even unknown dimensions…
One night, Bai Wan was awakened by the urge to pee. After relieving himself, he came out of the bathroom in his pajamas, feeling content. But upon opening the door, he found himself in a strange wilderness. Nine moons hung in the sky, leaving him disoriented in the wind.
Bai Wan, exhausted, sank onto the sofa and leaned back lazily. His room was a chaotic mess: a Switch console left powered on, manga scattered carelessly on the floor, and most strikingly, a large photo frame on the table.
Inside it were four people and a cat, all glaring angrily at Bai Wan.
“You good-for-nothing brat! Look at the mess you made, and you still have the nerve to rest? Go get me a cigarette!”
“Useless brother, I want to watch TV! Turn it on, turn it on! It’s so boring in the photo!”
“Always out messing around! Hurry up and find a way to get us out. Why did I have a son like you?”
“Meow!!!”
Hearing this, Bai Wan shrank back timidly into a corner and muttered weakly, “I didn’t mean it… I just wanted to take a family portrait! What’s wrong with that?”
He felt utterly drained.
Since he could remember, his body had been a source of glitches. In middle school, when the entire class was watching “The Ring” at midnight, Sadako crawled out of the screen halfway through the movie, terrifying two students to death on the spot, earning the school a notorious reputation.
In university, a meteor struck the campus, wiping out half the school. Fortunately, it was during a holiday, so casualties were minimal. Still, for everyone’s safety, Bai Wan took a leave of absence.
He even wished to leave for another planet quickly, fearing his fragile body could no longer endure Earth’s perils. But as he grew older, he gradually gained some control over his glitch powers, allowing Earth to survive.
Unfortunately, last month he let his guard down.
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Last month was the Mid-Autumn Festival. On this day of reunion, on a whim, he took a family photo—and the entire family turned into paper-thin figures.
“I shouldn’t have had you!” Bai Wan’s mother, Zhang Yanfang, looked dazed.
She couldn’t help but recall her tragic life after Bai Wan’s birth.
Back then, he was still a baby.
Yanfang held a chamber pot under him as he pooped, but just as the waste was about to fall in, the pot vanished into thin air, leaving her dumbfounded, hands dragging helplessly as the mess dropped to the floor.
Before bed, Yanfang told him the story of the Seven Dwarfs and Snow White. By the end, facing the seven dwarfs gathered eagerly around her, she finally broke down and fainted.
She had worked so hard to raise Bai Wan, and now he had turned the whole family into photos…
Such a rebellious child!
“All right, all right, don’t be angry,” Bai Wan’s father, Bai Tian, soothed gently. “Every child goes through a rebellious phase. When I was young, I was rebellious too—kicking soccer balls and breaking classroom windows, always getting scolded by teachers…”
“But at least you didn’t destroy half the school, did you?” Yanfang said coldly.
Bai Tian replied, “He’s still young and lacks judgment, but you have to give him a chance to change. As parents, our job is to guide patiently, not just criticize.”
Seeing his dad defend him, Bai Wan felt a surge of courage.
“Exactly! Who doesn’t make mistakes? You have to give me a chance to fix them!” he shouted indignantly.
Grandpa, sister, and mom all shouted, “Shut up!”
“Ow…” Bai Wan weakly covered his mouth.
“Honey, it’s because you always spoil Wan’er that he ended up like this!”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s your dad who always takes his side! That’s why he’s like this!”
“Meow meow!!”
Listening to his family’s accusations, Bai Wan felt like crying. “Family, now’s not the time to scold me. Last week, I was selected by the eerie game, and tonight I have to enter it.”
He grew more and more desperate.
In Lancheng, a terrifying legend circulated. Whoever was chosen by the black admission letter had to endure round after round of the eerie game.
A week ago, one of his female classmates was unfortunate enough to receive the notice and was crying her eyes out.
Curious, Bai Wan impulsively grabbed the admission letter to see what it looked like.
Who would have thought that in broad daylight, it would change the girl’s name into his own?!
Damn it! Even this can glitch?!
At that moment, Bai Wan held the letter with a stiff expression, and the girl who had been sobbing stopped crying, her mouth agape as she stared at the letter in disbelief.
“Don’t blame the kid; mom taught you well—don’t take other people’s things!” Yanfang scolded bitterly.
“Enough, don’t blame the child now. I heard this eerie game is really sinister,” Bai Tian frowned, looking at the black admission letter.
The game had an extremely high death rate.
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Many who joined never returned.
“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll be careful. Though dangerous, this game is also our chance,” Bai Wan glanced at the time; the game was about to start.
He grabbed a rope and slung the half-meter-wide photo frame onto his back.
Without a doubt, the eerie game would involve supernatural forces.
Maybe this way, he could turn his family back to normal.
Bai Wan was determined to bring his family into the eerie game world and find a way to save them.
At exactly eight in the evening, Bai Wan felt the black admission letter heat up in his hand.
A crimson light burst forth.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a white, unknown space.
“The legend of the eerie game is real,” Bai Wan said in astonishment.
In an instant, it had transported him to this mysterious place.
This eerie game was no joke, not like the cheap TVs his family owned.
Despite his fear, he felt a flicker of hope.
This meant his chances of saving his family had grown.
Ahead, a white light screen lit up.
Words began to appear one by one:
【Player Name: Bai Wan】
【Age: 23】
【Gender: Male】
【Generating talents based on real-life data, please wait...】
【Talent generated: ????...*()...*】
【Talent generation failed, retrying...】
【Retrying... ????*&...%￥】
【*&...&*...@%#*#%@】
The screen flickered uncontrollably.
Finally, to Bai Wan’s dumbfounded gaze, it dimmed—just like the many TVs his family once bought...
“????”
“Hey!! Don’t do this! Why are you freezing up too? How are you any different from my family’s broken TVs?!”
Bai Wan was on the verge of tears.
The eerie game had ultimately followed the same path as his garbage TVs…