Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

December 2025, 5.

7:20 PM.

On a train heading towards Tianhai, in an aisle seat.

Tian Qinghe's face was ashen, and he was preoccupied with only one question.

Why do people work on holidays?

He had taken his annual leave well in advance and arrived in Yehai City two days ahead of time, ready to enjoy a wonderful May Day holiday.

This was a vacation he had planned six months ago.

If everything is normal...

At this very moment, he should be lying on the beach, enjoying a freshly picked coconut in peace, freedom, and leisure, feeling the sea breeze.

But this morning, a phone call ruthlessly shattered this beautiful dream, saying that there was a problem with the "road sign" left by the bureau chief.

There was no other way but to rush back, since Yu Tianrong's whereabouts were the most pressing concern for the bureau.

Tian Qinghe thought lazily, then closed her eyes slightly, preparing to take a nap.

Within a few minutes.

"what--"

The child on the other side of the aisle suddenly screamed loudly for no apparent reason.

The sound was so loud it could pierce eardrums. Tian Qinghe, who was almost asleep, was jolted awake and nearly had her heart stop.

He endured.

But soon, the child escalated his behavior, running around in the aisle and constantly bumping into passengers sitting near the aisle, including Tian Qinghe.

The child's parents were still engrossed in scrolling through their phones.

Tian Qinghe's face turned ashen. After thinking for a moment, he took out his clue book.

I started writing and drawing on it.

Not long after, he drew the ghost that left the deepest impression on him.

On the white paper, a hideous demon crouches on the ground, chewing on a human head. Its chilling gaze seems to penetrate the paper, making it incredibly lifelike.

Just as the child was running past him for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Tian Qinghe seemingly unintentionally dropped the notebook in front of him.

Sure enough, the kid's attention was drawn, and with lightning speed, he picked up the notebook and was about to run away with a grin.

But when his gaze swept over the clue book, his face turned deathly pale, and he stood there frozen, as if he had been frightened into a daze.

Tian Qinghe smiled slightly as she took the notebook from the child's hand, finally finding some peace and quiet.

A soft chuckle, barely suppressed, came from beside him.

It was a woman wearing a black sun-protective suit and with long brown hair. She had clearly witnessed the entire process of Tian Qinghe intimidating the child.

"Your drawing skills are quite good."

The woman gave a compliment, saying she was also quite annoyed by the child.

"......Thanks."

Tian Qinghe raised her eyebrows.

"Are you going back to work?" The woman looked him up and down curiously. It was the holiday season, and most people were traveling from Tianhai to other places. There weren't many people on this return train.

There are very few people like Tian Qinghe who exude the aura of cattle and horses.

Tian Qinghe nodded.

"Wei Lan." The woman introduced herself briefly. It turned out she was a cartoonist specializing in horror.

They're professionals.

Tian Qinghe didn't say much, only that he was a welder.

"I thought we were in the same line of work." Wei Lan was somewhat surprised. The ghosts drawn by the man in front of her were truly terrifying, just like the ones she had seen with her own eyes.

However, judging from the calluses on Tian Qinghe's hands, he didn't seem to be lying.

The two chatted for a few minutes. Wei Lan's destination was also Tianhai. She was currently lacking inspiration and planned to go there to gather material.

What materials can we draw from Tianhai?

Tian Qinghe couldn't help but shake his head. He had lived in Tianhai for a long time, and every time he came out of the domain, he felt that the city was as safe as paradise.

“There are many,” Wei Lan said. “The Lin family massacre, the ghost ward, the Yin-Yang Street in Park…”

She listed them one by one, and Tian Qinghe listened for a while without offering any opinion.

Wei Lan's trip will be in vain this time.

He knew most of these things, except for those from a long time ago; the rest were just rumors.

and.....

As someone who had entered the realm, he knew very well that real paranormal events were extremely rare in reality.

He was referring to the kind of deadly, supernatural event.

Once it happens, it's always related to the person entering the domain.

It could be a strange creature, or a ghostly realm.

Just then, his phone vibrated. A colleague sent him a message informing him that there would be an online meeting later to discuss the "road sign".

Tian Qinghe sighed deeply.

Wei Lan, oblivious to his distraction, continued recounting the urban legends of Tianhai.

"...Have you noticed that the area around this train is all flat land?"

"What?" Tian Qinghe looked up.

"Plains".

Wei Lan repeated it.

She pointed out the window; beside the railway stretched an endless expanse of fields, and the setting sun cast a crimson glow over the plains.

"What's wrong?" Tian Qinghe didn't understand what she meant.

"That ghost story," Wei Lan glanced at him helplessly, "Never mind, I'll tell you it again."

"This story also takes place on a train."

“Back in the 1980s, there was a worker—oh, right, just like you, a welder—who took the train to work in Tianhai.”

"It's an old-fashioned green train, very slow, the kind with all hard seats."

"It was already late at night, and all around was a dark plain. Everyone in the car was asleep, including the welder."

"He had been asleep for who knows how long when a sudden, violent braking startled the welder awake. He looked up and realized that the carriage was pitch black—the power had gone out!"

"Followed closely by were three short and one long whistle sounds."

"Three short and one long?" Tian Qinghe's eyes flickered slightly; this signal was quite unusual.

"Correct."

Wei Lan nodded and continued:

"The welder was a little scared, worried that the train might have malfunctioned. He remembered someone saying that three short whistles followed by one long whistle was an alarm signal, indicating that a major accident had occurred on the train."

"But the strangest thing is..."

"After the horn stopped, the surroundings suddenly became eerily quiet."

"Inside the carriage, everyone else seemed to be asleep, as if they hadn't heard the horn."