Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

What did Mom wear when she went out? Jianzi tried hard to remember. When she took me to school this morning, she was wearing a beige cardigan and a dark blue skirt... right? But her memory was like looking through frosted glass; she couldn't see clearly no matter how hard she tried.

She went to her mother's bedroom. The door was ajar. She gently pushed it open.

Everything in the room was in perfect order. The blankets were folded neatly, and the bottles and jars on the dressing table were arranged in an orderly fashion. But her gaze was drawn to something on the rug at the foot of the bed.

These are Mom's indoor slippers. They're placed side-by-side, the toes pointing towards the bed, as if she had just taken them off and was about to get into bed.

But she went out, didn't she? Why would she go out without shoes?

A chill ran from the soles of her feet up to Miko Yotsuya's spine. She froze, her eyes fixed on the pale purple slippers. They sat there quietly, yet seemed to be silently screaming about something bizarre.

Mom didn't "walk" out through this door.

Oh, right! Where's Kyosuke? And where did her younger brother go?

Day 1, 22:45

Her best friend, Baihe Chuanhua, came to keep her company. Seeing her curled up in the corner of the sofa, her face pale, her usually cheerful and sunny best friend comforted her.

She called the police, who arrived quickly, but it was just a routine inquiry. They reviewed the security footage from downstairs in the apartment building. The footage showed that at 4:58 PM, her mother did indeed walk out of the apartment building, wearing a beige cardigan and a dark blue skirt, walking normally towards the convenience store.

After that, she turned into the blind spot of the security camera at the convenience store entrance and never appeared in any subsequent surveillance footage again. It was as if she had been swallowed up by that shadow.

And what about the younger brother? He saw the note at home, went to the convenience store ten minutes earlier than Jianzi, and then, like her, never returned.

The police said they would continue their investigation and told Jianzi to stay in touch before leaving. There was nothing they could do; less than 24 hours had passed since she went missing, not even long enough to warrant a formal missing person report.

The room fell into an even deeper silence. Miko Yotsuya sat silently on the sofa. The ticking of the clock on the wall was amplified infinitely: click, click, click… each tick seemed to pound on Miko Yotsuya's heart.

She preferred to believe it was a human crime.

Because Yotsuya Miko feared that something even more terrible would happen.

Day 2, 17:50

When Jianzi came home from school and passed the street where his mother had disappeared, he saw that there was another strange telephone pole.

It was broken, bright red, and stood there, the broken edges covered in red paint.

Her mother and younger brother have been missing for over 24 hours. Jianzi has taken leave from school and continues searching, calling, and asking everyone she can possibly reach. All her efforts are in vain. Her family has vanished like a drop of water evaporating into thin air.

The police have opened a case, but it's unclear when they'll find them. Jianzi went to the balcony for some fresh air, her gaze unconsciously sweeping across the alley below. Dusk fell again, and the streetlights came on one by one. In that instant, Jianzi felt as if her blood had frozen—

Under the streetlights stood a woman wearing a beige cardigan and a dark blue skirt. Her back was to Miko; her figure, hairstyle, and clothing were exactly like her mother's. She stood there quietly, motionless, facing the convenience store.

"Mom!" Jianzi cried out in disbelief and suddenly pushed open the balcony window.

The woman downstairs seemed to hear the sound, and extremely slowly, haltingly, began to turn around. The movement wasn't like that of a living person, but more like that of a rusty puppet pulled by invisible threads. Her body turned, her shoulders, her profile…

Just before her face was about to turn, the streetlights suddenly flickered violently a few times!

*Snap.* The light dimmed for a moment, then returned to normal.

There was no one under the streetlights.

Only a cold, dim light shone on the empty sidewalk. It was as if everything that had just happened was merely a hallucination caused by Miko's extreme anxiety. But her nails dug deeply into her palms, the sharp pain a stark reminder to the girl that it wasn't a dream.

Day 2, 21:10

This can't go on any longer.

Yotsuya Miko understood that she had to clearly realize that all of this might not be something that could be explained by common sense, but rather something from the world that she least wanted to touch upon and feared the most.

But her mother and younger brother both ended up there.

She had no power to resist, but how could she just leave it to chance?

With no one to help her, Miko Yotsuya frantically searched through her phone's contacts, realizing this in despair.

She arrived at the entrance hall, and even the soul of her father, whom she had been ignoring, was nowhere to be found.

The girl's heart sank to the bottom, but even so, she still mustered her last bit of courage and walked out of the house.

Day 2, 22:10

It's raining again.

It wasn't the torrential rain of yesterday, but a sticky drizzle, like countless fine needles pricking your face, so cold you wanted to shrink your neck. Jianzi stared at the asphalt road beneath his feet, the rainwater making the surface shine, reflecting the pure black sky, and... more and more utility poles nearby.

But she clearly remembered that there were only three telephone poles on this road after school the day before yesterday, five yesterday, and today... When she counted to the seventh pole, she suddenly dared not count anymore.

The utility poles were all dark gray, covered with dark green moss. In some places, the cement had peeled off, revealing blackened wood underneath, like gums that had lost all their teeth. But what terrified Jianzi even more was that there was a figure standing under each utility pole, head down, hair wet and plastered to his face, making it impossible to make out his features.

But Jianzi knew they were looking at him—a cold, sticky gaze, like a snail crawling across his skin.

I heard rustling footsteps beside me; something was following me.

Seeing her teeth chattering, she struggled to control her fear and her terror.

Just then, a woman peeked out from behind a telephone pole diagonally in front of them.

It's my mother!

As soon as Jianzi saw her mother, she wanted to rush into her arms, but even though Jianzi called out, she kept her head down, her hair covering most of her face. She was wearing the off-white coat she had worn on the day she disappeared, and water dripped from the hem of the coat, but it did not wet the ground.

The water droplets disappeared as soon as they hit the ground, as if swallowed by the road surface. Jianzi ran a couple of steps and then suddenly stopped—her mother's neck was strange; it was too long, like a stretched rubber band, her head hanging askew on her shoulder, swaying gently with Jianzi's steps.

“Mom…” Jianzi’s voice was stuck in her throat, as if something was blocking it.

She slowly raised her head.

It has no eyes.

Where her eyes should have been, there were only two dark, gaping holes, from which a dark red liquid seeped down her cheeks, dripping onto her coat and spreading into dark, mottled patterns. Her mouth was wide open, the corners of her lips stretching to her ears, emitting a "hoarse" sound, like a broken bellows.

Just then, a red lightning bolt flashed across the sky, illuminating the entire street. Jianzi saw that the telephone poles were twisting and deforming, turning into huge, eyeless monsters, while the figures, including her mother's, began to melt, turning into puddles of black slime that flowed down the cracks in the ground.

"Ah, you really can see me~~~"

A thick, nauseating sound rang out. Seeing everything go black, fear made her heart stop.

Day 3, 12:10 AM

Seeing that her son had woken up, she was unable to move.

She was by the roadside, on this street, but this street was no longer the same.

The sky turned blood red; there was no sun, no moon, and a dark fog permeated the streets, creating a chilling and terrifying atmosphere.

Standing in front of Miko Yotsuya were two telephone poles.

No, that's not a telephone pole.

What Jianzi saw was his mother and younger brother, covered in blood, their clothes tattered, their bodies riddled with bite marks, grotesque and terrifying, but their faces held a fleeting expression of pain and horror.

Just like her, unable to move, unable to change.

Just then, at the edge of her vision, Jianzi saw a blurry red figure, getting closer and closer.

Then she saw what he looked like—he looked like a staggering vagrant, with scarlet skin, covered in black wounds, eyeless, twisted and deformed monster.

Seeing the greedy smile he gave her, Miko then walked towards her mother, Touko, and her younger brother, Kyosuke.

Click, click, click~~~

A sickeningly loud sound of flesh and bone grinding against each other echoed through the deserted street as he gnawed on the 'telephone pole,' his gaping maw tearing off pieces of the bleeding 'object'.

A wave of horror washed over Miko. Could the telephone poles she'd seen on the street these past two days be...?

Unable to move, Miko screamed in her heart as she watched the monster devour her mother and brother. Anger almost overwhelmed her!

But, when this monster approached Jianzi...

Fear completely overwhelmed Miko's heart. She looked at the monster, the evil spirit, as it approached her, and at its teeth dripping with blood.

—'No no ...

Miko Yotsuya let out a silent scream of fear!

"Hey~~~ brat, what have you done to my harpy again?!"

Just as the blood-red demon was about to devour Jianzi piece by piece, a knight shimmering with golden light suddenly appeared under the moonlight of the dark otherworld.

Facing the red demons, the paladin who had suddenly descended upon hell raised his flaming straight sword.

"Hmph, unable to discern the difference in strength, you dare to challenge an angelic paladin? Take my Heavenly Fist!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: I watched the "Next Day" series online last night and was disgusted by it. It was quite scary and I couldn't sleep last night, so I'm venting by watching the "Meet the Child" episode.

Having transmigrated, my only purpose is to kill! : 70. It actually eats people? This is no ordinary demon; we must strike hard!

Something's not right. Something's definitely not right.

As Tsuruga approached the street, he heard not only faint screams, but he also sensed an unseen boundary cutting through the space.

Then, almost in a very short time, he found out what the ghosts had been up to while he was away that week!

The gift of knowledge that Alaya gave him truly made him understand these things that he had never known before.

Then, not only here, but the entire environment of Tokyo is strange.

There are more and more ghosts on the streets, the yin energy is getting heavier and heavier, and for some reason, many of the ghosts have become more active and malicious.

Generally speaking, the ghosts here only attack people who can see them.

At least a week before Tsurugi went on his last mission, he had not witnessed any ghost attacks on people.

Those who cannot see ghosts, and who do not have the ability to see spirits, are as if they exist in two different dimensions from them, unable to see them or interfere with them.

But now, it seems some ghosts have acquired some skills.

They create yin energy, or other negative energy, and then gradually draw people's minds toward it, eventually making them see it.

Moreover—they also possess the ability to create barriers, or rather, to access another world known in their native culture as the 'Time of Twilight'.

By creating the same routes and environments, such as streets, alleys, and trams, the attackers repeatedly strike a person in a continuous loop, dragging him into this terrifying alien world day after day.

In other words—

These ghosts have started actively preying on humans!

Tsugumi squinted her eyes

He wasn't one to meddle in other people's business, but the fact that an alien creature was eating people in front of him was definitely not something he would meddle in.