★Storm-locked Manor × Serial Killing Game – A classic suspense setup: A tour group stumbles into a mysterious Gothic villa where members are picked off one by one. A rain-soaked axe killer stalks the halls, dialing tension to breaking point!
★Human Chess × Unexpected Twists – Nine strangers, each hiding deadly secrets, turn on each other to survive. As an ancient totem’s truth emerges, the finale will shatter expectations!
★Occult Sigils × Forbidden Rites – The ninefold pattern carved on victims’ backs holds apocalyptic power. A madman’s sacrificial spree to awaken it will freeze your blood!

Nine strangers receive identical "7th Anniversary Free Tour" invites from the same agency. Their planned trip to Xinjiang’s Ailik Lake derails when a wrong turn — and a sudden avalanche — strands them in the wilderness.
Just as hope fades, the guide leads them across a swaying rope bridge to a Gothic villa looming in the distance. Salvation!
But that first night, the killings begin. A cloaked figure wielding a silver axe moves through rain-lashed shadows, harvesting lives. As bodies pile up, paranoia consumes the survivors.
Who is the mastermind? Why target them? When the ninth victim escapes death, a horrifying truth surfaces: the murderer believes carving sigils on nine backs and arranging them in a ritual array will unleash the totem’s primal force…

Wang Wenjie, a post-90s rising star and winner of the 11th New Concept Writing Competition, masters forensic entomology and criminal psychology — with actual training in hypnosis and cold reading. His works like "Strange Tales: Campus Lockdown", "The Forensic Specialist", and "Japanese Strange Tales" are bestsellers across Greater China and Southeast Asia.

Author’s Note
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Gothic Villa
Chapter 2: Communal Bathhouse
Chapter 3: Blizzard Mode Engaged
Chapter 4: The Game Continues
Chapter 5: Danger in Every Shadow
Chapter 6: Mechanism Activated
Chapter 7: Pulling the Strings
Chapter 8: Just a Deadly Game
Chapter 9: The Final Reckoning
Chapter 10: Buried Truth

Six years ago, on a bitterly cold winter day much like this one, the entire city lay buried under layers of white snow. It reminded my uncle Lin Yu of a white Gothic villa — where a group of people had once stayed and experienced the most unfathomable events of their lives.
In my understanding, white Gothic architecture was more common abroad. Before hearing this "story," I’d always assumed it was just an ordinary villa, nothing remarkable.
When my uncle learned what I thought, he lit a cigarette, exhaled a plume of smoke, and gazed out the window before recounting the entire journey to Ailik Lake six years ago.

January 28, 2004.

A heavy snow fell that morning. Lin Yu, along with his wife Shen Xiaoyun, set off for Ailik Lake to admire the local scenery. If not for their strained marriage — on the verge of collapse — this seasoned detective would never have joined a free group tour in the first place.
Accompanying them was Lin Yu’s old friend, Cai Tian.
Under the guidance of their cheerful tour guide, Qin Qin, the three of them joined seven other strangers on the trip. The bus departed from Tianya City, heading north. After a day and a night on the train, they transferred to a long-distance coach bound for Ailik Lake in Karamay.
They were mesmerized by the endless snow-capped mountain ranges, a scene straight out of a painting. Qin Qin assured them the destination would be hundreds of times more breathtaking.
The group was mostly silent during the journey, with only Qin Qin explaining the itinerary: a week-long trek around Ailik Lake, then onward to the Altay region before returning to Tianya City.
Lin Yu and Shen Xiaoyun were lost in their own thoughts. He wanted to reconcile; she remained cold and indifferent. Frustrated, Lin Yu leaned back and half-closed his eyes, puzzled. How did Cai Tian get these free tour vouchers? Is everyone on this trip here for free?
When they finally disembarked after the long trip, the group was stunned. The landscape was far harsher than Lin Yu had imagined. A biting wind lashed at their faces, as if they’d plunged into an icy abyss. The endless white void disoriented them completely.
The gale carried stinging ice particles, making it hard to keep their eyes open. Qin Qin led them across a narrow snow slope until a wooden suspension bridge came into view.
The bridge swayed violently in the wind, its black ropes coated in frost. Lin Yu’s gaze fixed on it, squinting through the blinding snow for answers.
The group paused at the bridge’s entrance, waiting for the wind to die down. Once the swaying lessened, they hurried across — all except Lin Yu and Shen Xiaoyun.
Terrified of the unstable bridge, Shen Xiaoyun hesitated. Seeing her fear, Lin Yu frowned slightly, then took her hand and carried her across in long strides.
On the other side, the storm grew fiercer. Qin Qin guided them along a winding, snow-covered mountain path.
The scenery awed the travelers. The perpetual snow and silvery glaciers exuded a majestic, sacred beauty — utterly unlike Tianya City’s landscapes, carrying a unique, almost alien charm.
Even Lin Yu was captivated.
But soon, a strange tremor shook the ground beneath them. Qin Qin sensed it too and suddenly shouted, "Avalanche!"
Panic erupted. Qin Qin frantically directed the group to flee in one direction, but no one could outrun the cascading snow. Lin Yu glanced back — massive white waves rolled toward them, sealing their fate on the brink of death.
By the time they escaped the avalanche’s path, even Qin Qin couldn’t tell where they were. The wind had coated everyone in thick snow as they trudged forward, exhausted.
After what felt like hours, a white structure loomed before them like a mirage — inexplicable, surreal.
A white Gothic villa, tilted precariously over a vast frozen lake, as if floating on its surface. The building blended seamlessly into the snowy expanse, its construction a mystery. Black birds circled overhead, their mournful cries completing the scene — like something out of a fantasy film.