What Simon Wang said was always hard for me to believe.
Members of The Immortality Society use the cursed book 'Horror Stories' to construct stories and characters, then bring those stories into reality.
"When did this happen?"
I asked, and Simon Wang raised his hand, took out a calligraphy brush, and wrote the word 'book' in the air. Accompanied by a dazzling golden light, the thick 'Horror Stories' book appeared and began to flip open with a rustling sound.
This time, what I saw were not blank pages, but densely packed tiny characters filling every page. I stared in surprise, and when 'Horror Stories' flipped to the middle, it stopped.
The title 'Riverbend Village's Secret' came into view. I walked over step by step, looking at the introduction I'd seen before.
"Ethan, the story you experienced before has already become reality. This is the only time they've turned a story from the book into reality. Take a good look."
I flipped through the pages, reading quickly. Although I was skipping around, every word and sentence described things I had experienced. My name, Wang Jianhui's name, even Mr. Blackmask appeared in the story.
When I reached the end, I was astonished and asked,
I asked, and Simon Wang nodded.
"It wasn't like that from the start. You should remember, Ethan, in that story, at the center of the village, there was the Dry Well with a streak of red, like a bloodstain. It looked strange."
I thought carefully and did recall such a scene. It replayed in my mind.
"What was that about? It seemed like only I could see it at the time. Oh, and there was a sour, rotten smell, like the stench of a corpse."
At that moment, I remembered everything and couldn't help but ask.
"That's right, Ethan. To turn a story from the book into reality, you need an anchor. The blood you saw was real, living blood. But the anchor for a story can't be something alive—it has to be something dead."
When Simon Wang said this, my heart skipped a beat, and I stared at him in shock.
"And this dead object must be something special. I don't know the specifics, but in the living world, there must be many things The Immortality Society uses to realize stories. When the time comes, they become dead objects and serve as anchors for the story."
Now I finally understood. According to Simon Wang, because I possess Instinct, I can see the cracks between story and reality, and what I smelled was real—the scent of dead things seeping through those cracks.
And it was the moment I stepped into 'Horror Stories' that The Immortality Society began their work.