Nightmare Light

Chapter 1 Paper Wedding
Paper people, paper horses, paper sedan chairs.

The paper bride smiled in the sedan chair.

……

Lin Wang woke up.

Confused and bewildered.

In the dark and collapsed ancestral hall, the air was foul and the wind was howling. The dark red lanterns flickered, and on the beams, the pale "囍" character fluttered in the wind.

"Where...is this?"

Lin Wang shuddered, his eyes gradually widened, and he looked around in confusion.

His mind was frantically recollecting, trying to figure out how he ended up here.

In his memory, he was a psychological counselor who was providing psychological counseling to a client. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this strange and eerie ancestral hall.

"I remember I was counseling a patient... Did I really mess myself up?"

"Wait...something's wrong! I'm clearly from the North! Who the hell am I?"

While searching his memories, Lin Wang was extremely shocked to find that another complete memory appeared in his mind at the same time!

In that memory, he was also called Lin Wang, but he was a person from another world, belonging to a nation called "Northerners"!

However, what he couldn't understand was that these two lives and two memories could not explain why he appeared in this hellhole!

Two people with the same name, but completely different personalities, two lives, two completely different memories, flooded into my mind like a tide.

Lin Wang only felt dizzy. But he knew that now was not the time to feel dizzy, as the surrounding environment was obviously abnormal!
Also, it’s not safe!

I must immediately figure out my surroundings and leave this damn place as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, Lin Wang shook his head, stood up with his hands on the ground, looked around, and tried to figure out what kind of hell this place was.

This place doesn't look right...

On the beams, red and white paper strips were like dozens of arms, whimpering and swaying in the chill wind;
On the pillars, there was a "happiness" sign on the front and a "sorrow" sign on the back, flickering in the darkness;
Behind the altar, where the memorial tablet should be, stood a statue with long arms, short legs, a large head and a crooked body. It was covered in black rags, its features hidden in the shadows, and it looked nothing like a human.

A clay sculpture of a headless animal, cut in half, was placed on top, the cut surface showing black and red veins, dripping with juice;

The painting style is too unscientific!

Lin Wang was complaining madly in his heart.

This place seems to be filled with strange things no matter how I look at it. I must leave here as soon as possible and find a safer place. Then I can figure out why I ended up here...

Lin Wang made this decision quickly.

But just as he was about to act, a suona sound was heard outside the ancestral hall.

Normally, in such a strange environment, people should breathe a sigh of relief when they hear any sound.

But, suona?!

Lin Wang slowly widened his eyes.

He took a breath, crouched down, and ran towards the window quietly.

Fortunately, although there were many strange things about him, his body was indescribably agile and strong, much better than his original physical fitness.

So Lin Wang quickly ran to the window without making any sound.

He squatted under the window and quietly looked out...

This sight frightened him so much that he broke out in a sweat!
Outside the door, there was a wedding procession, pouring wine and throwing flowers, holding wedding banners and playing suona. The wedding procession carried the groom's sedan chair, and the bride in wedding dress sat next to the champion horse.

It's festive, but...

This entire wedding procession, everything, including the people, belongings, horses, and the bride on the horses, are all -

Paper! Fold! Of!
The paper-made wedding procession, which is highly similar to real people but crudely crafted, has numerous creases on every part of its body and rustles in the wind;

The clothes and facial features are painted with paint, funny and hideous;
Perhaps due to its age, all colors have a dark undertone.

More importantly, the direction they were heading was clearly the ancestral hall!

"Let's not even talk about whether this group is scientific or not...they're probably going to this ancestral hall to celebrate a wedding!"

Lin Wang immediately came to this conclusion in his mind.

In this case, meeting such a weird guy will definitely not bring good things.

Any logical person knows this.

So Lin Wang turned around and ran away.

The main entrance of the ancestral hall was blocked by the wedding procession, so Lin Wang could only run deeper into the hall.

He hoped to find another exit like a back door behind the ancestral hall.

But Lin Wang was soon disappointed.

This ancestral hall is a "two-story" style small ancestral hall commonly seen in rural areas. There is a courtyard in the front and a main hall in the back. There is an incense burner in the courtyard, and tablets and statues of gods are placed in the main hall.

Obviously, such a small ancestral hall has only one exit on the front.

Lin Wang could only run deeper into the ancestral hall, but this hall was not very large. Even if it was placed on Earth, it was the size of an ordinary ancestral hall in an ordinary village. It had a large house in a yard, and even a mouse would have nowhere to hide.

The sound of suona is getting closer.

Beads of sweat appeared on Lin Wang's forehead. He was a naturally generous person, but even the most generous person couldn't help but feel nervous in this situation.

In a moment of desperation, Lin Wang spotted the altar in the center of the hall. A stained tablecloth drooped almost to the ground. Without time to dwell on it, he quickly took two steps and dodged beneath the table, gently propping up the tablecloth with his hand.

The shaking of the tablecloth stopped and he huddled up under it.

Just as I hid myself, I heard the creaking of a wooden door outside. Along with the creaking, the rustling sound of paper rubbing against the ground also entered the courtyard.

The sound was like a bunch of mice gnawing on food. Lin Wang felt all the hairs on his arms stand up.

He held his breath, crouched down, and looked out through the gap between the curtain and the ground.

Paper shoes and paper feet, densely packed like pale waterweed, twisted and swayed with strange steps, gradually approaching the shrine.

Among them was a pair of black and red embroidered shoes made of paper.

Lin Wang held his breath, and those paper figures... made sounds.

A hoarse, abrasive tone, like the sound of crumpled paper, rang out in the ancestral hall.

What horrified Lin Wang was that the words spoken by these paper figures were actually a language he was familiar with!

Not Chinese, nor any other language on earth.

But he could still understand.

"Only God sees it, and only you should return!"

"The wife of a man who has died young is a good wife for him to have at home!"

"..."

The white hairs on Lin Wang's forehead were covered in sweat, and he felt more and more nervous.

The matter is very clear. This group of strange paper people in the ancestral hall are holding a wedding!
To the paper bride.

But the problem is...

Who is the groom?

Damn it, could it be...

Lin Wang had a terrifying inference in his mind.

He looked down at himself. The light under the altar was dim, but his festive red wedding suit was still faintly visible.

Inside the ancestral hall, the paper figures' voices grew increasingly rapid, and their shadows cast on the floor became increasingly distorted and eerie.

"You should return home!"

"You should return home!"

Run! If I don't run, I'll probably become a groom!
The thought of survival surged wildly in Lin Wang's mind.

He crouched down and peeked out. At this moment, outside the table, the paper figures in the main room just formed a circle around the paper bride.

The tone was hurried and the hands were gesticulating. In the gloomy ancestral hall, the scene was as weird as it could be.

But now, their eyes are not looking at the altar!

This is an opportunity!
There won't be a better opportunity than this.

Lin Wang lowered his body, used his hands and feet, and retreated to the middle between the altar and the statue, then tiptoed to the side of the main hall.

At this moment, he touched a small wooden sign on the ground. It felt very delicate, but he didn't bother to study it. He just stuffed it into his pocket.

His entire attention was focused on how to escape.

As long as he could reach the side of the main hall, he was confident that he could use his physical strength to get ahead of those paper figures and escape from the ancestral hall!
When leaving the altar, Lin Wang looked up at the statue above his head.

The statue had a big head and a crooked body, with several arms growing randomly on its body. It didn't look like a normal god at all.

He didn't have time to think about it, but just concentrated on tiptoeing out of the altar, walking around the wall and towards the door.

The door was getting closer, and the tone of the paper figures was becoming more and more urgent.

Lin Wang even heard a certain anxiety in the words of those paper figures.

Fortunately, the door was getting closer.

He held his breath and moved towards the door step by step.

three meters.

Two meters.

one meter……

The door of the main hall is within reach!
Lin Wang could already see the gloomy and pale sky outside the door, and could even smell the cool and dry air outside the house. Even the sound of the suona had stopped!

and many more……

Suona? !
When did the suona stop?
Lin Wang felt the blood in his body turned cold.

His body stiffened, his eyes widened, and he slowly turned around.

Behind him, at some point, all the paper figures had stopped moving, their strange facial features painted with paint, and their small black and red eyes, all stared straight at him.

They raised their hands, staggered, and walked towards Lin Wang.

"The groom has arrived!"

　I'm a newbie, please be gentle~
　　Also, please give me some advice: What should the heroine be named?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)