Friendships built on money crumbled like paper once Mason Wan's parents ruthlessly cut off his allowance, leaving gaping holes everywhere.
All of this made Mason furious. He even went home and tried to threaten his parents, but the result was brutal: his father warned that if Mason didn't study and kept wasting his days in debauchery, he'd sever their relationship. He even had a lawyer draft a legal notice. That scared Mason.
Mason had a girlfriend—she was the campus beauty. While they were together, Mason spoiled her: a new purse today, a necklace tomorrow. But now, with his finances cut off, his girlfriend also left him.
Facing all this, Mason did become a bit more obedient, but his old temper lingered. When others mocked him, he couldn't help but get angry and ended up hitting someone. This time, though, it wasn't so easy to get away with it.
That night, after Mason got into a fight, the person he hit called over a bunch of friends, planning to give Mason trouble when he returned to the dorm.
Mason was still shouting back. The other side demanded compensation, but Mason had no money at all. Then, they started mocking him.
"Aren't you the rich kid? You have so much money—how come you can't even pay for medical bills now?" and so on.
In the end, Mason couldn't take it and started fighting with them. The dorm room was cramped, chaos broke out, and with a loud bang, Mason's eye struck the metal bunk bed. Blood poured out, and he passed out.
The others were terrified, thinking they'd killed someone, and ran off. Mason was left with a damaged cornea and a long scar across his cheek. His parents were devastated. The doctor said that if Mason wanted surgery, he'd need a suitable cornea, but waiting for one through normal channels would take too long. Even after surgery, his vision would likely be severely affected.
For their son's sake, Mason's parents spent a lot of money and pulled some strings. A week later, they managed to get a pair of matching corneas through special channels. The surgery was a success—Mason could see the light again. Except for the terrifying scar down the middle of his nose, his vision was basically fine.
After Mason regained his sight, the ordeal had changed him. It was as if he’d become a different person—no longer causing trouble.
But something strange happened. One night, Mason saw something drifting—a white figure passing through walls, right in front of him. That night, Mason screamed in terror.
He thought it was just stress-induced hallucinations, but after that night, Mason kept seeing bizarre things. They were all pale and white. Sometimes, he’d even run into things shrouded in black mist while walking down the street. Despair and fear consumed him.
He told his parents everything, but they couldn’t see any of it. They assumed Mason was traumatized by his previous accident and took him to a psychologist, who prescribed calming medication.
But Mason could still see them, and he was on the verge of losing his mind. He started to realize these things were ghosts. Thankfully, they only glanced at him blankly before wandering off—they never did anything to him.
To adapt, Mason told his parents he was fine. He didn’t want them to worry anymore, and he started focusing on his studies.
But one night, Mason had a nightmare—a ghost with a rotting cheek chased him, threatening to eat him.
Mason woke up exhausted and desperate. He went everywhere seeking fortune-tellers and psychics, but most were just frauds.
Then, one day, Mason met a Taoist who read his fortune. What the Taoist said thrilled Mason: he told him he’d gotten himself into trouble with ghosts.
Normally, ghosts in the living world hate being seen by people. If you do see them, you might anger some of them or attract trouble. That’s probably why Mason had that nightmare—he’d seen a ghost somewhere and now bad luck was following him.
The Taoist gave Mason some talismans and warned him never to head west when walking. He also said Mason’s element was fire, so he should avoid places with lots of water, or he might attract misfortune.
Mason memorized this and followed the Taoist’s advice closely. He could still see plenty of ghosts, but he pretended not to notice them.
University studies were demanding, but by his sophomore year, Mason had fully adapted to seeing these things.
A year passed without incident. Mason figured the ghost he’d seen before was probably looking to cause trouble, but since nothing had happened for so long, it must have moved on.
Mason hadn’t been to the park in ages, but he decided to go for a stroll. He’d recently taken a liking to a freshman girl named Rachel. He liked her a lot and wanted to pursue her, so he asked Rachel out directly—and to his surprise, she agreed.
Overjoyed, Mason dressed up that day and looked sharp. He didn’t waste money recklessly anymore, and his parents, seeing how he’d changed since the accident, gave him a generous allowance.
During their date at the park, the two laughed and chatted. Mason found Rachel to be very open—she didn’t shy away from personal topics—and they got along well.
When they reached the park’s lake, Rachel suggested they go boating. Mason was a little nervous but agreed, figuring it was broad daylight and nothing could go wrong.
They rowed out onto the lake, laughing and talking. But then the wind picked up, and it was cold—Mason felt uneasy, like something was wrong.
Suddenly, Rachel, who’d been smiling, lowered her head and went silent. Mason thought it was odd. Then, with a strange hiss, green saliva dripped from Rachel’s mouth, and dark circles appeared under her eyes. Mason was startled but reached out anyway. At that moment, Rachel grabbed Mason’s hand, her eyes glaring fiercely at him.
Green fluid began pouring from Rachel’s mouth, eyes, and ears. Her hand was ice cold, and as she opened her mouth, green slime clung to her teeth. Mason panicked. The lake had been full of couples boating, but now, there was no one in sight.
The entire lake started to ripple. Rain began to fall, and the wind howled fiercely.
"Who are you? You..."
Mason, frantic, asked, knowing this wasn’t really Rachel. Then Rachel suddenly spoke in a deep, unnatural voice.
"It’s nice and cool at the bottom of the lake. Come keep me company."
The boat capsized, throwing Mason into the water. Rachel seemed to dissolve into bloody pulp, flesh and slime splattering everywhere. A hand as white as paper gripped Mason’s neck.
Mason was drowning, screaming for help.
"Mason, Mason..."
With the sound of slapping, Mason regained some consciousness. It was Rachel, gasping for breath, her hair dripping wet, performing CPR and pressing on Mason’s stomach over and over.
Finally, after spitting up a lot of lake water, Mason came to. Later, in the hospital, he learned it was Rachel who saved him.
During the boating trip, Mason suddenly panicked, acting like he’d lost his mind. He stood up, screamed, and fell into the water. Rachel jumped in after him, pulling Mason to the surface. Other boaters rowed over and dragged Mason ashore.
Mason was deeply grateful, but Rachel grew suspicious. She bluntly said she thought Mason might have an underlying mental illness.
Mason couldn’t argue. Still, Rachel kept smiling and spending time with him, and the incident was nearly forgotten. Mason truly fell in love with Rachel, and they began dating.
Mason couldn’t keep his secret any longer. One day, while drinking with Rachel, he pulled her close and confessed everything—his freshman year accident and his visions of ghosts.
Rachel clutched her stomach, giggling. Mason could only drink in silence, knowing no one would believe him. But then Rachel said, "I believe you," and gently hugged Mason.
Rachel’s thinking was simple: if there are people, there must be ghosts. Every day, she pestered Mason to describe what the ghosts looked like, especially after the bizarre drowning incident.
After several months together, Rachel saw no signs of Mason being mentally unstable.
Time flew by. In their junior year, Mason convinced Rachel to intern with him at his family’s company. He’d made up his mind—he wanted to spend his life with this straightforward, innocent girl.
Everything was going well, until one night Mason had another dream. This time, he saw the same ghost that had chased him before, now severely decayed, sitting in his family’s living room.
Mason woke up terrified, thinking it was just a nightmare. But his luck ran out—on his very first day of interning, he suddenly collapsed for no reason.
His family and Rachel were frantic, rushing Mason to the hospital. After a thorough exam, doctors found nothing wrong. Mason was suffering from a mysterious illness.
For three months, Mason lay unconscious in a hospital bed. By then, Rachel seemed to realize something. She decided to find someone who could deal with ghosts and save Mason.