Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 104 Moonless Terrace

Consciousness felt as if it had been twisted into a tangled mess of hemp thread.

Deprived of his senses, Bai Yu could no longer distinguish up from down, left from right, or even perceive the passage of time. He felt as if his soul had been stuffed into a high-speed spinning washing machine, frantically colliding and tearing at countless cold, sharp fragments of space.

The terrifying suction from the Sea of ​​Stasis, like an invisible hand, forcibly dragged him into a completely unfamiliar dimension.

In this chaos, the only clear sound was the eerie, mechanical voice he heard before his consciousness faded away.

"...Next stop...buzz...please...get ready..."

……

I do not know how long it has been.

It may be just a moment, or it may be eternity.

A rhythmic clanging sound, like an ancient pendulum, pulled his consciousness back from its near-disappearance.

Bai Yu suddenly opened her eyes.

What came into view was no longer that still, gray ocean.

He was sitting in an old train carriage.

The interior of the carriage was filled with a retro feel from the last century. The dark green leather seats were smooth and shiny from years of use, with a few fine cracks on them. The dim incandescent light overhead swayed slightly with the movement of the carriage, casting dappled light and shadow on the polished floor.

Outside the window was a deep darkness where no starlight could be seen, as if the train was traveling through an endless void.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

The sound of wheels hitting the rails was monotonous yet rhythmic, like a lullaby, echoing for a long time in the empty carriage.

Yes, it was completely deserted.

Apart from himself, there were no other passengers in the entire carriage.

A hint of wariness flashed in Bai Yu's eyes. He immediately checked his physical condition.

Very good, no missing limbs.

Immediately afterwards, he subconsciously raised his hand, trying to contact Anmu and the others.

However, the tactical wristwatch specially made by the Bureau of Investigation on his wrist had lost its powerful encrypted communication function. At this moment, it was like an ordinary electronic watch, with the screen completely black and no signal.

More than just watches.

He discovered that all the high-tech equipment he had received from the Bureau of Investigation, including his combat suit with a miniature force field shield, had been replaced with his current ordinary casual clothes at some point.

Bai Yu's brows furrowed tightly.

He slowly closed his eyes, trying to mobilize the "nothingness" power within his body.

However, his soul, which was as deep and unfathomable as a black hole, was now like a frozen lake, and no matter how he called out, he received no response.

His power... was suppressed.

He was forcibly suppressed in the deepest part of his soul by a power of rules he had never encountered before.

"interesting……"

Bai Yu showed no panic on her face; instead, a glint of challenge flashed in her eyes.

He has once again ventured into a completely new "domain".

Just then, the broadcast system on the roof of the carriage suddenly emitted a hissing sound due to electrical interference.

Immediately afterwards, the indistinct electronic female voice he had heard in the vortex rang out once again.

"...Next stop...Platformless..."

"...The next station is...Wu Yue Tai..."

"...Passengers who need to disembark, please prepare in advance..."

No platform.

Bai Yu silently pondered the name in her heart.

As the announcement ended, the train, which had been traveling at high speed, began to slow down gradually and smoothly.

The darkness outside the window, like ink diluted with water, gradually faded.

The outline of a dilapidated and desolate train station was faintly visible in the darkness outside the window.

Finally, with a screeching sound of brakes, the train came to a stop after a violent jolt.

"Ding--"

The car door opening alarm sounded.

"Squeak-"

The old car doors, bearing the marks of time, slid slowly to the sides with a scraping sound.

The cold air, mixed with the smell of damp earth and rotting wood, rushed in from outside the door.

Bai Yu slowly stood up and walked to the car door.

Outside the door is an old platform that looks like it has been abandoned for many years.

The entire platform is made of thick sleepers that have turned black from the erosion of time.

In the center of the platform, a lone, rusty iron lamppost stood. At the top of the lamppost, a dim, yellowish incandescent bulb emitted a faint, will-o'-the-wisp light, barely illuminating a small area around it.

Below the light, a wooden bus stop sign hangs, its paint mostly peeling off.

Above the bus stop sign, three somewhat blurred Chinese characters are written in a calligraphy style that evokes a sense of age.

—No platform.

Outside the platform, there was an endless darkness shrouded in a thick, impenetrable gray fog.

Before Bai Yu lay his first choice since entering this field.

Should we stay on this train, which is full of unknowns but at least still running, and head to an even more unknown next stop?
Or should we get off this train and explore this strange "platformless" place for ourselves?
Bai Yu hesitated for only a few seconds before making her choice.

He lifted his foot and stepped off the train.

Because he knew very well that when facing this kind of rule-based nightmare realm, passively waiting would only lead to the worst possible outcome.

Only by actively engaging with the rules, testing them, and even... breaking them, can one find a glimmer of hope on this hopeless chessboard.

Just as his feet stepped onto the cold, solid wooden platform, the old train door behind him slowly closed with a creak.

Immediately afterward, the train started moving slowly again with a clang, and finally, like a ghost that had completed its mission, it silently drove into the endless darkness and disappeared.

Bai Yu's escape route has been completely cut off.

……

On the gray sandy beach of the still sea.

After completing a precise predation, the eerie vortex that had devoured Bai Yu, like a satiated monster, slowly shrank in a silent twisting motion, and finally disappeared completely.

The sea surface once again returned to its eternal stillness, like a sheet of gray glass.

It was as if everything that had happened before was just an unreal illusion. Only An Mu, Mo Fei, Lan Ce, and Lu Yueqi remained standing there on the beach, dumbfounded.

"Old... Bai..."

Mo Fei's burly body trembled violently uncontrollably. He stared at the empty gray sea, his crimson eyes filled with uncontrollable shock, anger, and a deep-seated fear.

He let out a roar and turned to rush towards the direction where the vortex disappeared!

"Old White!"

"stop!"

Anmu's majestic roar exploded in his ears like thunder!

He grabbed Mo Fei's shoulder and used his steel-like arms to pin Mo Fei to the spot!
"Let me go! Captain! I need to save him! I'm going to tear that damned vortex to shreds!" Mo Fei's eyes were bloodshot as he struggled like a maddened beast.

"Calm down!" An Mu's voice was also filled with pain and anger, but he had to force himself to remain calm as a commander. "Going there now will only lead to your death! Do you want Bai Yu's sacrifice to be in vain?"

An Mu's words were like a bucket of ice water, poured over Mo Fei's head, shattering his reason which was almost consumed by rage, and slowly bringing his frantically struggling body to a stop.

He slowly turned his head, looking at the desolate gray sea, and finally, he slammed his fist into the sand beside him, letting out a painful roar filled with helplessness and self-blame.

"Damn it...damn it! It's all my fault! If I had been a little faster...if I had..."

Lan Ce's face was equally pale, devoid of any color. His eyes, which were usually filled with calmness and rationality, were now brimming with undisguised shock and bewilderment.

The curve representing spatial fluctuations on the detector in his hand plummeted from an extremely chaotic peak to a level infinitely close to zero in an instant.

“...The spatial coordinates...have completely disappeared…” His voice was as dry as a piece of dried tree bark. “We…lost him. He has been dragged into an unknown dimension that we cannot perceive at all by that force.

Lu Yueqi had already collapsed to the ground.

Her pale face was completely soaked with hot tears. She just clutched the old sextant tightly in her arms, her petite body trembling uncontrollably like a withered leaf blown by a storm.

Just then, the sextant in her arms, which had been dormant all along, suddenly lit up with an extremely faint golden light.

A faint energy fluctuation filled with the concepts of "protection" and "connection" flashed by from inside the sextant.

"He...he's still alive!" Lu Yueqi suddenly raised her head, a faint but incredibly firm light of hope rekindling in her tear-blurred eyes. "I can feel it! He...he's still alive! This sextant...it still has a connection...with Bai Yu!"

An Mu looked at the sextant in the girl's hand, which was emitting a faint golden light, and a resolute look flashed in his sharp eyes.

He slowly released his grip on Mo Fei's hand, then reached out and pressed hard on Mo Fei's shoulder, which was trembling slightly with grief.

“Listen, Mo Fei.” His voice was low but full of power. “Bai Yu, he won’t die so easily. He’s the best investigator in our team. He will definitely find his way home in that unknown world.”

"What we need to do now is not to wallow in self-pity."

He turned around, his tall figure appearing incredibly steady and reliable in the greyish-white light of the sky.

"We must get out of this damned place first, return to headquarters, and report everything that has happened here. Then, we must use all our resources to find the 'thing' that took Bai Yu away, and find a way to bring him back."

He slowly turned his head, his sharp eyes sweeping over everyone present.

"No matter what kind of hell he was dragged into."

"We will definitely bring him back."

"I promise."

……

"when--"

A distant, ancient bell tolled without warning, slowly drifting from the dark depths shrouded in thick fog.

The sound of the bell was so ethereal, so full of unreality, as if it had been transmitted directly to Bai Yu's ears from another dimension forgotten by time.

Bai Yu suddenly raised her head, her eyes fixed on the direction from which the sound came.

There was nothing there except for a thick, impenetrable fog.

He slowly spread his senses, trying to explore the unknown fog.

However, his mental energy vanished the moment it came into contact with the mist, receiving no response whatsoever.

The mist was like a wall built of the "unknown," completely isolating him from the outside world.

Bai Yu did not make any more futile attempts.

He slowly withdrew his gaze and began to calmly analyze the only "clue" in front of him.

That lonely stationmaster's office standing on the platform...

It was a Japanese-style wooden building full of age. The dark brown wooden walls were mottled from years of wind and sun exposure, and the roof was covered with a thick layer of moss.

The entire building has only one small window, lit by a dim, yellowish light that glows like a will-o'-the-wisp.

That was the only place in this desolate world where life might exist.

It is also the only target he can currently investigate.

Without the slightest hesitation, Bai Yu took a step forward, walking resolutely towards the wooden building filled with an ominous and eerie aura.

His footsteps were very light, making almost no sound.

He was like a top assassin lurking in the darkness, concealing all his presence to the extreme.

Soon, he quietly arrived at the window that was lit by a dim yellow light.

He didn't immediately peek inside.

He simply stood quietly by the window, tilting his ear and trying hard to listen to the sounds coming from inside the room.

However, the room was deathly silent.

There was no sound of conversation, no sound of movement, not even... a single breath could be heard.

Bai Yu frowned slightly.

He slowly straightened up, pressed his body tightly against the cold wall, and then carefully moved his gaze little by little toward the dusty window.

Just a glance.

His usually calm and collected eyes narrowed in an instant!

The stationmaster's office was empty.

An old wooden table, bearing the marks of time, sits quietly in the center of the room.

On the table, an old kerosene lamp cast a dim, yellowish light.

Beside the kerosene lamp lay an old-fashioned train timetable.

The timetable paper has yellowed, and it is covered with a dense collection of station names in a kind of ancient, distorted symbol that is incomprehensible in Bai language.

However, in the last column of the timetable, next to today's date, two Chinese characters were clearly written in blood-red ink.

—Bai language.

Next to his name, in the same ink, was a pattern that felt incredibly familiar to him.

A peculiar symbol formed by countless twisted lines, resembling both a closed eye and a constantly spinning vortex.

(End of this chapter)