The next day, when Chen Mo snapped his eyes open, he realized the alarm clock had already struck 10 a.m. He had slept for nearly 12 hours straight. Suddenly remembering something, he grabbed his phone and saw the black icon still vividly present, proving that last night's experience wasn't a dream. He opened the mysterious app, and the screen first went pitch black, then the perspective shifted downward, as if the controller was in some strange space. Four options appeared in sequence: Story, Points, Chat, and Shop.
Chen Mo tried the Story option first. The sub-interface displayed two terrifying images. The first showed a rainy, torrential night, with a blood-soaked, horrifying female ghost standing in front of a speeding taxi. The second depicted a rooftop where a woman, her face twisted with malice, floated in midair. Without a doubt, these two images corresponded to the two stories he had already completed. He swiped the screen, and a prompt appeared: "No new stories available."
Opening the Points option, to Chen Mo's surprise, he already had 5 plot points. He figured that although the second story hadn't completed the sealing of the vengeful spirit, it still earned some basic score. The third option, Chat, immediately triggered a cascade of dinging notifications as a bunch of dialog boxes popped up. It felt very much like a WeChat group, except this group seemed to have no admin. As soon as he entered the channel, a prompt appeared to join the group chat, and someone quickly sent a message: "Welcome, newbie! Show us your photo!"
Chen Mo quickly typed to change the subject: "Newbie reporting in. Hi everyone, I'm Chen Mo. What were you all talking about?"
"Talking about yesterday's horror story," someone immediately replied. "Can't believe Old Zhuang didn't make it. Such a shame." "Yeah, Old Zhuang was a good guy. My first mission was with him." The group filled with sighs, and then someone typed: "Newbie, were you a participant in yesterday's horror story too?"
"Yes," Chen Mo typed.
"This newbie is impressive. Surviving alone in a trigger mission with no preparation at all."
"What's a trigger mission?" Chen Mo asked.
"You don't know? The horror stories released by the Creepy Radio are either mandatory missions with advance warnings or trigger missions. Listeners chosen by the Creepy Radio are naturally more prone to encountering real-world paranormal events. Once they do, it can generate a horror story, pulling the trigger and some selected listeners into the story as participants."
"Sounds kind of terrifying."
"Yeah, it's the worst-case scenario for us. But there are ways to avoid it."
"How?"
"Use plot points to exchange. One point gets you 10 days of absolute safety. Whether it's a mandatory or trigger mission, during that safety period, you're guaranteed not to be chosen by a story."
"Of course, we'd recommend spending it on more practical exchanges, since that's the key to escaping this world."
"Escaping this world?"
"Yes, as long as you clear all ten stories from the Creepy Radio."
"And all ten stories must be the radio's mandatory ones. Temporary missions triggered by participants encountering real-world paranormal events don't count."
"That hard? Has anyone actually done it?"
"Kid, you can give it a try."
Chen Mo thought for a moment and typed: "In our Group Seven, who's cleared the most stories?"
"Su Mu, five times."
"Who's Su Mu?"
"You know Midnight Ghost Talk?"
"Yeah, the host of our Group Seven."
"Su Mu is Midnight Ghost Talk."
"So her name is Su Mu. Just like the name, she gives off a gloomy, twilight vibe."
"By the way, what's the point of the host?"
"Pretty much like our team leader."
"Every so often, the Creepy Radio releases a beginner script under the host's name. Those who survive it automatically join the host's program group. Conversely, each program group must have someone activate this authority."
"I see. Thanks, everyone."
"No problem. Let's all work hard to survive together."
Before exiting the chat interface, Chen Mo glanced at the side list, which showed about twenty people online. Just then, a backend notification popped up, indicating he'd received a friend request. While accepting it, Chen Mo opened the last option, Shop, where exchange items appeared.
Time Voucher, consumable, 1 point exchange, grants 10 days of absolute safety. Money Voucher, consumable, 1 point exchange, grants 10,000 RMB. Ghost-Repelling Talismans (10 pieces), consumable, 10 points exchange, senses spirits upon use; automatically burns when a vengeful spirit approaches within 10 meters, with a weak exorcism effect. Ghost-Seeing Tears (3 drops), consumable, 10 points exchange, applied to eyes to break some spirit illusions, weak effect. ...
Staring at his meager 5 points, Chen Mo felt a pang of frustration. Aside from letting him make a small fortune, it seemed pretty useless. Both the ghost-repelling talismans and ghost-seeing tears were great items for someone like Chen Mo, who might deal with vengeful spirits at any moment. Though their spiritual power was weak, they offered both offense and defense, very practical. The only downside was the price—even the cheapest was beyond his reach.
"Can't you just sell them one by one?" he grumbled.
After careful consideration, Chen Mo decided to keep his plot points and not exchange anything for now. Safety time and money were tempting, but they wouldn't boost his survival chances in the next story. Plot points were too precious to waste on those. Besides, he still had Old Zhang's spirit-repelling flashlight for protection. Better to save the points for something more useful.
Closing the shop interface, Chen Mo noticed several more friend requests had come in. It turned out the mysterious app had a feature similar to QQ groups—after mutual verification, two listeners could establish an independent, private chat channel. After accepting the verifications, Chen Mo found these people mainly wanted details about his last horror story. From their messages, he could sense a strong will to survive.
After all, entering this space meant facing real vengeful spirits and all kinds of terrifying, eerie events at any time. Having more information might just be the key to staying alive. After replying to their questions one by one, Chen Mo saw the clock had hit noon. Out of habit, he got out of bed, quickly washed up, and was about to grab some food and head to work when he suddenly stopped at the door.
Was there any point in pretending to maintain this job, this life?